Directory_and_Chronicle_1887 — Page 505

PORT HAMILTON.

This, the latest acquired British naval station, consists of the Nanhow group of islands off the Corean coast, situate in lat. 34 deg. 2 min. N., and long. 127 deg. 18 min. E., occupying a commanding position at the entrance to the Broughton Channel connecting the Yellow Sea with the Sea of Japan. Port IIamilton is about 35 miles distant from the Corean mainland, and comprises the three islands of Sodo, Sunhodo, and Observatory Island: the two former being some three miles in length by one in breadth, and the latter about three-quarters of a mile long by a quarter of a mile broad. Sodo and Sunhodo are deeply indented, their northern ends nearly meeting and forming as it were the apex of a triangle, of which Observatory Island, which lies at their southern extremities, forms the base, and inside which is enclosed a fine well sheltered harbour. To the harbour there are three entrances, but that from the south-east is the only one practicable to large vessels. The islands are bold and striking, consisting almost entirely of hills from 600 to 800 feet high, the sides of which are for the most part clothed with verdure. There is a large village of some 200 houses on the north-east coast of Sodo, and two smaller ones on the opposite coast of Sunhodo. The people are of Corean origin, primitive in manners, incurably lazy, and revoltingly dirty in their habits. They gain their living chiefly by agriculture, raising rather scanty crops of maize, wheat, &c. on the islands, and partly by fishing. About one-fourth of the soil is under cultivation. The Naval Authorities have established their depôt on Observatory Island, where a jetty has been built and a road formed to the barracks, which consist of wooden huts. The garrison consists of a company of Royal Marines. The climate is extremely healthy, the heat seldom being oppressive, and the evenings always delightfully cool and fresh. The islands were first occupied by the British fleet on the 10th May, 1885.

STAFF.

DIRECTORY.

Captain-Warren F. Trotter, R.M.A.

do. Randal McDonnell, R.M.L.I.

Lieut. Herbert W. L. Holman, R.M.L.I. Surgeon-A. G. Wildey, R.N.

Garrison 100 Marines.

WLADIWOSTOCK.

This port, on some charts still called Port May, lies in latitude 43 deg. 7 min. N. and longitude 131 deg. 54 min. E., at the southern end of a long peninsula reaching into Peter the Great Bay. Of all the Russian ports on the sea of Japan in the maritime province of East Siberia, it is by far the most important, both as a military and commercial centre. It is a free port except for the importation of alcohol, which is subject to duty. Wladiwostock is one of the most magnificent harbours in the East. From its peculiar long and narrow shape and the once supposed hidden treasures in the slightly auriferous soil of its surrounding hills, it has not inappro- priately been called the Golden Horn. The entrances to the harbour are hidden by the large Russian Island, still better known as Dundas Island, which divides the fairway into two narrow passages, an eastern and a western one. This fine sheet of

water first runs for about half a mile in a northern direction and then suddenly bends to the east for a distance of about one mile. On all sides it is surrounded by hills, low on the southern and higher on the northern shore, and which slope sharply