Directory_and_Chronicle_1899 — Page 727

HONGKONG

279

An

flagstaff, from which the approach of the mails and other vessels is signalled. 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 severai villages on the island, the largest of which is Shau-ki Wan, situate in a bay in the Ly-ee-mùn 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 a place of resort for European residents in the hot weather, and some elegant bungalows were 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 the barrack buildings have been pulled down, 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 Tuk, 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, and as a memorial of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee a new road round the island is being made. Saiwan is a small village picturesquely situated in Saiwan Bay, just outside the Ly-ee-mùn Pass, and is also much frequented by pienic 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 by 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 hids fair to some day become an important town. There is a considerable Chinese junk trade at this place, and amongst other industries is a preserved ginger factory. The Military and Police Rifle Ranges are at the back of and near the village. Gas Works were erected here in 1892, and the settled portion of the peninsula is now lighted with gas. Waterworks were established in 1895. A regiment of Indian infantry is stationed at Tsim-tsa Tsui, where barracks and officers' quarters are located and a Mahommedan mosque has been erected. At Tsim-tsa Tsui, too, a number of European houses 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 bund, 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. There is also a briquette factory. The Navy maintains a small naval yard, subsidiary to the principal establishment on the Hongkong side. 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-tṣa Tsui and Victoria ferry boats also run between Victoria and Yau-ma Ti and Hung-ham, where the principal docks of the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Co. are situate. The Cosmopolitan Dock and works, also belonging to the same Company, are situated at Fuk Tsun Heung, formerly known as Sam Shui Po.

În 1898 an agreement was entered into whereby China cedes to great Britain for ninety-nine years the territory behind Kowloon Peninsula up to a line drawn from Mirs Bay to Deep Bay and the adjacent islands, including Lantao, the extent of the new territony being about 200 square miles