CO129-285 - Acting Governor Major Gen Black - 1898 [9-10] — Page 195

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ENCLOSURE 1

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Rea? 24 CUT 36

EXTRACT FROM DR. EITEL'S HISTORY OF HONG-KONG,

"There is, however, on the Kowloon Peninsula, and within British territory, an ancient rock inscription, on a large loose-lying granite boulder, which crowns the summit of a circular hill, jutting out into the sea, close to the village of Matauchung, directly West of Kowloon city. This inscription, consisting of three Chinese characters (Sung Wong T'ong,lit. Hall of a King of the Sung) arranged horizontally, was origi- nally cut about half an inch deep in the northern face of the boulder. The Chinese Government helieve it to be a genuine inscription, about 600 years old. The original characters, having become nearly effaced in course of time, were renewed at the beginning of the present century (1807) by order of the Vice- roy of Canton, the date of this restoration being recorded by a separate inscription the characters of which are arranged perpendicularly. The memories attaching to this inscription and to the whole hill, which still shows the outlines of the original entrenchments, are so sacred in the eyes of Chinese officials and literati, that excavations and quarrying were prohibited in that locality under the severest penalties. When the Peninsula was leased and subsequently ceded to the Bri- tish Crown, the Chinese Government specially stipulated that the rock inscription and the whole hill should remain untouch-

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