1887-1903
HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
27
carriages (drawn, for the most part, not by animals, but by men), and teeming with a busy population, in the centre of the town chiefly European, but towards the west and east almost exclusively Chinese.
76. Ascending higher up, he would find churches, public buildings, and many houses, all of exclusively European design (extending now about one-third of the distance up the mountain), for the most part detached or semi-detached, some of handsome appearance and nearly all fronted with stone arched verandahs, which at a distance give somewhat of a palatial flavour even to the smallest; he would see, moreover, beautifully laid-out gardens, public and private, and solidly constructed roads, some of them bordered with bamboos and other delicately fronded trees, and fringed with the luxuriant undergrowth of semi-tropical vegetation; while meeting here but comparatively few passengers he would scarcely realise the neighbourhood of a large population, except from what has been aptly termed "the indescribable hum of congregated humanity" arising from the town and harbour beneath.
77. Ascending still further to the summit of the ridge, he, in the course of a two-mile walk, would observe that not only Victoria Peak, but Mount Gough, Mount Kellett, and the heights above the Magazine Gap, with the many intervening knolls and ravines at a high elevation, are, for the most part, intersected by roads, and studded with houses, similar to those last described, built, in one or two places, so close together as to present almost an urban aspect; and looking down whence he came, he, while no doubt recognising the grand mountain-amphitheatre of his early recollection, would at the same time notice that its arena, occupied by city and shipping, has changed as though by the wand of an enchanter.*
78. Hong Kong has indeed changed its aspect; and when it is remembered that all this has been effected in Her Majesty's reign, and indeed during a space of less than fifty years, on ground in immediate contact with the most populous Empire in the world, by a comparatively infinitesimal number of an entirely alien race, separated from their homes by nearly the whole earth, and, unlike their countrymen in Australia and Canada, living in an enervating and trying climate; and when it is further remembered that the Chinese, whose labour and enterprise under British auspices have largely assisted in this development, have been under no compulsion, but have come here as free men, attracted by liberal institutions, equitable treatment, and the justice of our rule; when all this is taken into account, it may be doubted whether the evidences of material and moral achievement, presented as it were
*Besides the houses and shipping every one of several thousand boats and sampans carries a light after dark; so that, seen from the Peak on a dark night, the wide expanse of the city and harbour beneath has the effect of a nether firmament with more stars in it than a similar space above.
65
1887-1903
HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
27
carriages (drawn, for the most part, not by animals, but by men), and teeming with a busy population, in the centre of the town chiefly European, but towards the west and east almost exclusively Chinese.
76. Ascending higher up, he would find churches, public buildings, and many houses, all of exclusively European design (extending now about one-third of the distance up the mountain), for the most part detached or semi-detached, some of handsome appear- ance and nearly all fronted with stone arched verandahs, which at a distance give somewhat of a palatial flavour even to the smallest; he would see, moreover, beautifully laid-out gardens, public and private, and solidly constructed roads, some of them bordered with. bamboos and other delicately fronded trees, and fringed with the luxuriant undergrowth of semi-tropical vegetation ; while meeting here but comparatively few passengers he would scarcely realise the neighbourhood of a large population, except from what has been aptly termed "the indescribable hum of congregated humanity" arising from the town and harbour beneath.
77. Ascending still further to the summit of the ridge, he, in the course of a two-mile walk, would observe that not only Victoria Peak, but Mount Gough, Mount Kellett, and the heights above the Magazine Gup, with the many intervening knolls and ravines at a high elevation, are, for the most part, intersected by roads, and studded with houses, similar to those last described, built, in one or two places, so close together as to present almost an urban aspect; and looking down whence he came, he, while no doubt recognising the grand mountain-amphitheatre of his early recollection, would at the same time notice that its arena, occupied by city and shipping, has changed as though by the wand of an enchanter.*
78. Hong Kong has indeed changed its aspect; and when it is remembered that all this has been effected in Her Majesty's-reign, and indeed during a space of less than fifty years, on ground in immediate contact with the most populous Empire in the world, by a comparatively infinitesimal number of an entirely alien race, separated from their homes by nearly the whole earth, and, unlike their countrymen in Australia and Canada, living in an enervating and trying climate; and when it is further remembered that the Chinese, whose labour and enterprise under British auspices have largely assisted in this development, have been under no com- pulsion, but have come here as free men, attracted by liberal institutions, equitable treatment, and the justice of our rule; when all this is taken into account, it may be doubted whether the evidences of material and moral achievement, presented as it were
*Besides the houses and shipping every one of several thousand boats and sampans carries a light after dark; so that, seen from the leak on a dark night, the wide expanse of the city and harbour beneath has the effect of a nether firmament with more stars in it than a similar space above.
65
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