237
HONG KONG
View of the Harbour and City - Street with Palaces and Chinese Quarter - Chinese Men and Women - Club and Barracks - Visit to the Frigate by the Bishop and Governor-General - Jardine and Matheson Establishment.
I didn't write to you from Hong Kong: there was no possibility of writing - it was so hot. I can't understand how people there sit in offices writing, counting, publishing journals! The sun was in its zenith, when we were there, the rays shone straight down; how could anyone possibly do anything! I am now writing at sea and don't know when and where I'll post this letter; perhaps in China; but we'll only be going to China after Japan. In any case, I just want to say a few words about Hong Kong, and that only because I promised to tell you about every place we visited; strictly speaking, there is nothing to tell about Hong Kong, unless one does it properly, in which case one would have to write a whole commercial or political treatise, which is not my aim: remember our agreement - about what to write!
When one first anchors in Hong Kong harbour, one has the impression of having arrived at a reasonable place: wherever one looks, there are high green hills, treeless, it's true, but maritime areas just beyond the equator and the tropics are almost all devoid of vegetation. One expects that the trees are there somewhere, further in the valleys: but here one has to imagine them very much further, with no hope of reaching them by foot or otherwise. If you look right at the island of Hong Kong, your gaze will everywhere meet, as with a wall, with a reddish-yellow mountain, green in parts from grass. At its foot, along the shore, cluster houses, and peering out amongst them, as if for show, are bunches of banana leaves, splitting and yellowed from the sun's rays, and sometimes from behind a fence, one can see, looking like a wide broom, the top of a tree, killed by the sun.
However, there is an inexhaustible abundance of sand and rocks. The English have managed to make use of this material too. At different points on the mountain side, you see either a solitary stone house or a clearing prepared for building: labour and skill have already even reached the rock face. Having seen the splendid houses of the embank-
237
HONG KONG
View of the Harbour and City - Street with Palaces and Chinese Quar ter - Chinese Men and Women - Club and Barracks - Visit to the Frig- ate by the Bishop and Governer-General - Jardine and Matheson Establishment.
I didn't write to you from Hong Kong: there was no possibility of writing - it was so hot. I can't understand how people there sit in of- fices writing, counting, publishing journals! The sun was in its zenith, when we were there, the rays shone straight down how could anyone possibly do anything! I am now writing at sea and don't know when and where I'll post this letter; perhaps in China; but we'll only be go- ing to China after Japan. In any case I just want to say a few words about Hong Kong, and that only because I promised to tell you
you about every place we visited, strictly speaking there is nothing to tell about Hong Kong, unless one does it properly, in which case one would have to write a whole commercial or political treatise, which is not my aim: remember our agreement - about what to write!
When one first anchors in Hong Kong harbour one has the im pression of having arrived at a reasonable place: wherever one looks there are high green hills, treeless, it's true, but maritime areas just beyond the equator and the tropics are almost all devoid of vegetation. One expects that the trees are there somewhere, further in the valleys: but here one has to imagine them very much further with no hope of reaching them by foot or otherwise. If you look right at the island of Hong Kong your gaze will everywhere meet, as with a wall, with a reddish yellow mountain, green in parts from grass. At its foot, along the shore, cluster houses and peering out amongst them, as if for show, are bunches of banana leaves, splitting and yellowed from the sun's rays, and sometimes from behind a fence one can see, looking like a wide broom, the top of a tree, killed by the sun.
However there is an inexhaustable abundance of sand and rocks. The English have managed to make use of this material too. At differ- ent points on the mountain side you see either a solitary stone house or a clearing prepared for building: labour and skill have already even reached the rock face. Having seen the splendid houses of the embank-
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