Directory_and_Chronicle_1922 — Page 1046

972

HOIHOW

The harbour of Hoihow is an open roadstead, unprotected against the North-east monsoon, which blows here with undisturbed vigour from September to April. The working of cargo is, therefore, normally difficult during those months, and at times in- possible. In addition to the above disadvantages those months are also the dry months when no rain fal's up-country, and consequently no water comes down by the Po Chung River to the sea. Again, the tides are more erratic in the winter than they are in the summer: sometimes there are two tides during the twenty-four hours, sometimes one, and sometimes none. Cargo then, having heen loaded with difficulty into a cargo- boat alongside the importing-steamer, has to face a stormy passage of two to three miles to the spit, which runs parallel to the town of Hoihow and a mile distant from it. Once at the spit the cargoboat may be able to pole up the two miles of shallow muddy water which separates it from Hoihow-to sail is impossible, as the wind is always dead ahead-or may have to wait for hours until there is sufficient water, a few feet only, to enable it to continue its drawn-out voyage from ship to shore.

As regards health, there is less fever in Hoihow than anywhere else in Hainan. There is excellent water to be had by the sinking of artesian wells, but so far few for eigners have had sufficient energy to do this and prefer to follow the old method of sending a woman with a couple of buckets to fetch pure drinking water, at a long distance, from a well whose contents are kept pure by the innumerable little fish that dart hither and thither across its stoneflagged bottom. The water in the actual wells at Hoihow is brackish, partly from seawater that filters into the wells and partly from the alkiline conditio.. of the soil.

The trade of Hoihow remains more or less stationary. The native commercial com- munity of Hoihow is one that is always being drawn in different directions by op- posing interests. There is a Chamber of Commerce, which works in conjunction with the Five Guilds, representing the merchants of Canton, Swatow, Kochow, Fuh- kien and Hainan.

No foreign settlement has been formed at Hoihow for the very excellent reason that there is no space for such a settlement, unless the foreigners concerned saw their way to disburse large sums of money in reclaiming the swamp on the verge of which the town of Hoihow stands. From Hoihow itself a tongue of dry land, known as the Tê Shêng Sha, or Victory Spit, runs westward for a distance of about a mile until it loses itself in the morass that there encompasses it on three sides. This strip of dry land is very narrow and has been entirely taken up. The consequence is that any future development, if any, must be out into the marshy ground that borders the Victory Spit. With the exception of the Roman Catholic Orphanage, erected in 1895, the American Presbyterian Mission Hospital and doctor's residence, and the Customs Indoor Staff, the French Post Office, the French School for Chinese, the French doctor's residence, the French Hospital, the houses occupied by the foreign residents are Chinese converted into European habitations by alterations and improvements. H.B.M. Consulate obtained a site after fourteen years' negotiations, and a Consulate building was erected in 1899 to the south-west of the Hospital; towards the end of 1897 a piece of land was granted, and a French Consulate has been built on the Northern side of the river and facing Hoihow town. The buildings of the former German Consulate, at the extreme west of the suburb inhabited by foreigners, were com- pleted in 1914. Since the beginning of 1899 a free school has been opened by the French Government for teaching the French language to the Chinese, and an officer from the Tonkin Medical Staff was detailed to this port for the purpose of giving the natives and others free attendance and medicine. The foreign residents at present number about 77. The net value of the trade of the port in 1920 was Hk. Tls. 5,822,072, as compared with Hk. Tls. 5,716,091 in 1919, Hk. Tls. 4,542,675 in 1918, Hk. Tls. 5,917,004 in 1917, and Hk. Tls. 6,117,887 in 1916. A large export trade in pigs, poultry, eggs, bullocks and provisions is carried on with Hong- kong. There has been some talk among the natives of opening mines, constructing railways, and bringing out timber from the virgin forests of the interior. While all this may not be realised on any scale for some years to come, it has been noticed that foreigners are beginning to explore the island, and the Commissioner of Customs opines that the searchlight of modern civilisation will reveal much that is of value to science as well as to commerce. "Perhaps," he adds, "when this is accomplished it will be seen that this 'Island of Palms' is not the least rich nor the least fertile of China's possessions." The island of Hainan is described as a terra incognita to the world.

The postal service was at first conducted at the British Consulate only; when the Chinese Imperial Post was created, a branch of that service was also established at