Directory_and_Chronicle_1892 — Page 648

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HONGKONG

the adjoining hills. A tramway, on the wire rope system, has been laid to the Victoria Gap, where the stationary engine is fixed, the lower terminus being close to S. John's Cathedral, and was opened to traffic on the 30th May, 1888. Passengers can alight at the Kennedy, Bowen, and Plantation Roads, where platforms are provided for their accommo dation. Within the past few years the number of bungalows and houses on and about the Peak has increased so much that they now form quite a considerable alpine village. The Military erected a sanitarium on the heights in 1883; and in June of the same year the Peak Church was opened for worship there. Comfortable accommodation for visitors is now afforded by the Peak and Mount Austin Hotels. The road from Victoria Gap westward leads to Victoria Peak, which is 1,823 feet above the sea and rises almost abruptly behind the centre of the city of Victoria. On the summit is placed the flagstaff from whence is signalled the approach of the mails and other vessels. Mountain Lodge, the summer residence of the Governor, is built in a little hollow beneath the Peak summit, facing south. An excellent and well graded road, commencing on the Bowen road, leads to Magazine Gap, near which a second hill village of foreign residences has been formed on the southern side of the hills at an elevation of about 900 feet above the sea.

THE RURAL DISTRICTS.

There are several villages on the island, the largest of which is Shau-ki Wan, situate in a bay in the Li-ü. Mun Pass, a great resort of Chinese fishing craft. Aberdeen, known to the Chinese as Shek-pai-wan, on the south of the island, possesses a well sheltered little harbour, also much frequented by fishing craft. Two large docks of the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company are situated there, and add to the importance of the place. Pokfolum, on the road to Aberdeen, about four miles from Victoria, was formerly place of resort for European residents in the hot weather, and some elegant bungalows have been erected in pleasant and picturesque situations, commanding fine sea views and cool breezes, but since the development of the Peak district, Pokfolum has been comparatively neglected. The sanitarium of the French Missions is located at Pokfolum, and is a fine building with an elegant chapel attached. The Dairy Farm is also situated there. Wong-nai Chung is snugly located at the head of the valley of that name and is the most accessible of all the villages from Victoria. Stanley, situated in a small bay on the south-east of the island, was once the site of a military station, but most of the barrack buildings were pulled down some years ago, and the village is now stationary. A cemetery on the point contains numerous graves of British officers and soldiers. One of the places most in favour with pedestrians who are not afraid of a good long tramp is the little village of Tytam, nestling among trees at the mouth of the stream of the same name, which here enters Tytam Bay, the most extensive inlet on the southern coast. There are good carriage roads from Victoria both to Aberdeen and Shau-ki Wan, and bridle roads to Stanley and Tytam. Saiwan is a small village picturesquely situated in Saiwan Bay, just outside the Ly-ee-mùn Pass, and is also much frequented by picnic parties. In the belief that it was a healthy locality, small barracks were erected there early in the forties, but the experiment proved most disastrous, for in five weeks out of a detachment of 20 English soldiers, five died and three more were removed in a dangerous condition. The buildings were therefore soon abandoned. Shek O is a small but prettily located village occupying a small valley shut in from the water on the northern coast, not far from Cape D'Aguilar.

KOWLOON AND OTHER DEPENDENCIES.

Across the harbour is the dependency of British Kowloon. The peninsula was first granted in perpetual lease by the Kwangtung Government to Sir Harry (then Mr.) Smith Parkes, but was definitely ceded to Great Britain in 1860, when its cession formed Article VI. of the Peking Convention. It has an area of four square miles, and has latterly made considerable progress. Yau-ma Ti, the principal village, has increased in population, and bids fair to some day become an important town. The Military and Police Rifle Ranges are at the back of and near to this place. A company of infantry is stationed at Tsim-tsa Tsui, where small barracks and officers' quarters are located. At Tsim-tsa Tsui, too, a number of European houses, a hotel, and a club have been erected and numerous gardens laid out, and this portion of the peninsula, which faces Victoria, is gradually developing into a European residential settlement. A fine praya, with a massive granite wall, has been constructed there, and an extensive range of godowns built and several fine wharves made, for discharging cargo and coaling. A well equipped Observatory is situated on Mount Elgin; and a large and handsome Police Station for the Water Police occupies an eminence just above the new praya. In front of this Station is a Time Ball, which is dropped daily. A steam ferry plies regularly between Tsim-tsa Tsui and