BRIDGEMAN'S LETTERS FROM CHINA AND HONG KONG
81
pulled down and so there is an end to all amateur acting for the future.12
Shortly after the ignominious end of amateur dramatics in Hong Kong, Orlando found a pastime to his taste. Perhaps his interest originated with the visit to the Macao aviary, for he began to keep birds, but even this seemingly innocuous pastime had its hazards.
My only amusement here is in keeping birds. I have a great many canaries and remarkably fine one(s). They sing beautifully and in the daytime I sit in my balcony and read and listen to their beautiful singing. They are at times almost too much, for the moment one begins they all strike up and sing and try (to see) which can make the most variations.13
Early in the new year, he found another small amusement, the band, and a new problem, rats.
My chief amusement here is listening to the band at practising hours, so heavily does our time hang on our hands. I walk occasionally for a couple of hours in the afternoon, and the rest of the day I read and write. You talk of mice overrunning your house, our places are so full of rats that even whilst we are reading and writing in our rooms they come out and play in the middle of the floor. They eat up the legs of our tables and chairs which are made of camphor wood and of which they are very fond. Your description of one being found drowned in the milk is certainly very nasty, but even there you are better off than us, for we have not even the luxury of milk for them to drown themselves in. Although in China, I have not tasted one cup of tea half so good as I have in England.14
Within a few months, Bridgeman had acquired a taste for Chinese tea and was even admitting a fondness for it.15 He even went as far as to admit that some of the best tea he had ever tasted had been in Hong Kong. He became such a connoisseur of tea that he insisted on keeping his own teapot at mess as the other officers didn't brew it quite to his liking.
By his own admission Orlando had few close friends while stationed in China and Hong Kong.16 His letters give the impression he led a very isolated and solitary existence. Occasionally though, mention is made in his letters of individuals of interest to the present day student of nineteenth century China. Thomas Francis Wade,
BRIDGEMAN'S LETTERS FROM CHINA AND HONG KONG
81
pulled down and so there is an end to all amateur acting for the future.12
Shortly after the ignominious end of amateur dramatics in Hong Kong, Orlando found a pastime to his taste. Perhaps his interest originated with the visit to the Macao aviary, for he began to keep birds, but even this seemingly innocuous pastime had its hazards.
My only amusement here is in keeping birds. I have a great many canaries and remarkably fine one(s). They sing beautifully and in the daytime I sit in my balcony and read and list to their beautiful singing. They are at times almost too much, for the moment one begins they all strike up and sing and try (to see) which can make the most variations.13
Early in the new year, he found another small amusement, the band, and a new problem, rats.
My chief amusement here is listening to the band at practising hours, so heavily does our time hang on our hands. I walk occasionally for a couple of hours in the afternoon, and the rest of the day I read and write. You talk of mice overrunning your house, our places are so full of rats that even whilst we are reading and writing in our rooms they come out and play in the middle of the floor. They eat up the legs of our tables and chairs which are made of camphor wood and of which they are very fond. Your description of one being found drowned in the milk is certainly very nasty, but even there you are better off than us, for we have not even the luxury of milk for them to drown themselves in. Although in China, I have not tasted one cup of tea half so good as I have in England,14
Within a few months, Bridgeman had acquired a taste for Chin- ese tea and was even admitting a fondness for it.15 He even went as far as to admit that some of the best tea he had ever tasted had been in Hong Kong. He became such a connoisseur of tea that he insisted on keeping his own teapot at mess as the other officers didn't brew it quite to his liking.
By his own admission Orlando had few close friends while sta- tioned in China and Hong Kong.16 His letters give the impression he led a very isolated and solitary existence. Occasionally though, mention is made in his letters of individuals of interest to the present day student of nineteenth century China. Thomas Francis Wade,
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