32
BARBARA E. WARD
There was also an illicit still for making rice spirits, owned by the last mentioned. Beyond the village on the narrowest part of the strait were three stone sheds known as “fish huts”, and used by three separate fisher families for storing nets, fish baskets and other items of gear. Across the other side of the strait, on the second island, were a couple of concrete pits, used as tanks for dyeing sails and nets, and a wooden steaming vat. These were the property of the "headman".
Most of Hong Kong's shoreline is steep and rocky. Kau Sai island is no exception. The village is built on one of the few stretches that offer a small ledge above high water mark. It is about thirty yards in width in most places. In front of the temple, south-eastwards from there, and at another point about half-a-mile beyond the northern end of the village, land has been reclaimed from the sea. The fishermen state that this process was started by their forebears. In 1950 the reclamations consisted of accumulations of large boulders carefully arranged to afford as flat a surface as possible. In front of the temple the reclaimed area formed a large semi-circular platform about fifty yards in diameter, raised about six or seven feet above the natural beach and contained by a sea wall, like a ha-ha. Both wall and platform had been sealed with concrete some time before the Japanese occupation. On the southern edge of the platform, near but just beyond the temple, lay the village well. The water, being somewhat brackish, was used mainly for washing. Sweet water was fetched by boat from a never-failing stream about a mile away to the north.
From the temple southwards a little beyond the end of the village the reclamation had been filled in with beaten earth to make a broad path. Beyond that, flanking both sides of the strait, there were simply two wide stretches of carefully gathered boulders. These parts of the reclamation were still being added to. The same was true of the essentially similar boulder reclamation north of the village.
The existence of flat or flattish areas near the water's edge was a necessity for the fishermen who used them for net and fish drying, sail making, rope twisting and so on. Nets being at that
32
BARBARA E. WARD
There was also an illicit still for making rice spirits, owned by the last mentioned. Beyond the village on the narrowest part of the strait were three stone sheds known as “fish huts”, and used by three separate fisher families for storing nets, fish baskets and other items of gear. Across the other side of the strait, on the second island, were a couple of concrete pits, used as tanks for dyeing sails and nets, and a wooden steaming vat. These were the property of the "headman".
Most of Hong Kong's shoreline is steep and rocky. Kau Sai island is no exception. The village is built on one of the few stretches that offer a small ledge above high water mark. It is about thirty yards in width in most places. In front of the temple, south-eastwards from there, and at another point about half-a- mile beyond the northern end of the village, land has been reclaimed from the sea. The fishermen state that this process was started by their forebears. In 1950 the reclamations consisted of accumulations of large boulders carefully arranged to afford as flat a surface as possible. In front of the temple the reclaimed area formed a large semi-circular platform about fifty yards in diameter, raised about six or seven feet above the natural beach and contained by a sea wall, like a ha-ha. Both wall and platform had been sealed with concrete some time before the Japanese occupation. On the southern edge of the platform, near but just beyond the temple, lay the village well. The water, being somewhat brackish, was used mainly for washing. Sweet water was fetched by boat from a never-failing stream about a mile away to the north.
From the temple southwards a little beyond the end of the village the reclamation had been filled in with beaten earth to make a broad path. Beyond that, flanking both sides of the strait, there were simply two wide stretches of carefully gathered boulders. These parts of the reclamation were still being added to. The same was true of the essentially similar boulder reclama- tion north of the village.
The existence of flat or flattish areas near the water's edge was a necessity for the fishermen who used them for net and fish drying, sail making, rope twisting and so on. Nets being at that
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