BRIDGEMAN'S LETTERS FROM CHINA AND HONG KONG
79
The obvious solution would have been to obtain leave home, but, as Orlando explained to Selina, this was not easily achieved.
My mother in her last letter says to me "get leave and join us there (on the continent) this winter." She little knows the difficulty of getting leave in India.* It will be given first to the senior subalterns for a couple of years, or perhaps three and when they return then as many more as can be spared, always in rotation. It will be therefore several years before it comes to my regular turn for leave. No dear pussy, the only way that I can get home is by exchanging, and the sooner you can manage it for me, the better.8**
Bridgeman's immediate future was to be spent in Hong Kong, where he arrived in November 1842 and was to remain until he left for the voyage home in late 1843. His first letter from Hong Kong recorded a visit to Macao, a place which he seems to have found pleasant and enjoyable. He was very impressed by the "continental" character the homes and gardens of the merchants gave to Macao. And, like so many visitors to Macao at that time, he was most impressed with the famous "living" bird of paradise kept in an aviary there.
Hong Kong, though, he did not find so pleasant or interesting, nor did he find the activities of his fellow officers compatible with his own concepts of recreation:
I am going this afternoon to see the thoughtless part of the garrison play cricket. I call them thoughtless because I conceive it to be perfect madness on the part of any man to play cricket under a vertical sun. For my own part I never join in sports that require such strong exercise, for more reasons than one. In the first place I dislike exerting myself and putting myself into a profuse perspiration when perfectly unnecessary, and in the next place so much exposure to the sun is most likely to bring on fever and ague to a ten times worse degree than I at present have it, and I have no great desire to leave my bones
* Hong Kong and China in military parlance of the period were considered extensions of India. This probably came about because many of the troops sent out to China were on Indian service and/or Indian service conditions.
"Exchanging" meant that Bridgeman would trade places with another officer of similar rank in another regiment.
BRIDGEMAN'S LETTERS FROM CHINA AND HONG KONG
79
The obvious solution would have been to obtain leave home, but, as Orlando explained to Selina, this was not easily achieved.
My mother in her last letter says to me "get leave and join us there (on the continent) this winter." She little knows the difficulty of getting leave in India.* It will be given first to the senior subalterns for a couple of years, or perhaps three and when they return then as many more as can be spared, always in rotation. It will be therefore several years before it comes to my regular turn for leave. No dear pussy, the only way that I can get home is by exchanging, and the sooner you can manage it for me, the better.8**
Bridgeman's immediate future was to be spent in Hong Kong, where he arrived in November 1842 and was to remain until he left for the voyage home in late 1843. His first letter from Hong Kong recorded a visit to Macao, a place which he seems to have found pleasant and enjoyable." He was very impressed by the "continen- tal" character the homes and gardens of the merchants gave to Macao. And, like so many visitors to Macao at that time, he was most impressed with the famous "living" bird of paradise kept in an aviary there.
Hong Kong, though, he did not find so pleasant or interesting, nor did he find the activities of his fellow officers compatible with his own concepts of recreation:
I am going this afternoon to see the thoughtless part of the garrison play cricket. I call them thoughtless because I conceive it to be perfect madness on the part of any man to play cricket under a vertical sun. For my own part I never join in sports that require such strong exercise, for more reasons than one. In the first place I dislike exerting myself and putting myself into a profuse perspiration when perfectly unnecessary, and in the next place so much exposure to the sun is most likely to bring on fever and ague to a ten times worse degree than I at present have it, and I have no great desire to leave my bones
* Hong Kong and China in military parlance of the period were considered extensions of India. This probably came about because many of the troops sent out to China were on Indian service and/or Indian service conditions.
"Exchanging" meant that Bridgeman would trade places with another officer of similar rank in another regiment.
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