the hills.
and comfort. Hong Kong cannot be said to possess any vegetation, a few goats find pasturage; after the heavy rains of May, June & July, some come what of a greenish hue like a decayed Stilton cheese; but the hills with whitish brown or red-streaked ridges, the scattered masses of black rocks, give a most uninviting, and desolate aspect to the Island, which is unrelieved by the adjacent mainland whose physical features are precisely similar to those of Hong Kong, its mountain tops & sides presenting the appearance of Negro streaked white leprosy.
Geology
There is no granite formation on the island; it participates of the same geological character as the whole south coast of China excepting that it seems to be of older formation. The structure is briefly described as consisting of decomposed granite intermixed with strata of a red disintegrating sand stone running into a stiff, ferruginous looking clay. Here and there large boulder stones, which gunpowder will not blast, may be found embedded in the pudding earth, or they are strewed over the tops, and sides of the mountains. Quartz, and Felt spar are found in the rocks. That the granite is rotten and passing like dead animal and vegetable substances into putrescent earth is evidenced from the crumbling of the apparently solid rock beneath the tread, and from the noisome vapour which it yields when the sun strikes it fervidly.