[
    {
        "id": 206063,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1970",
        "page_number": 143,
        "title": "RAS-1970",
        "content_text": "138 \n\nS. F. BALFOUR \n\ninto two parts: the one, Tanka and Hoklo, and the other, Punti and Hakka. \n\nThe Tanka live for the most part in boats. They support themselves almost entirely by fishing. Their only industries are net and rope-making, and dyeing with betel nut. They are rarely shopkeepers and never agriculturalists. In certain centres they form vast congregations of craft of all sizes but the nearest thing they achieve towards living on the shore is a kind of dwelling formed from what was originally an old boat too leaky to stay afloat which has been placed on struts. The very curious town of Tai O on Lantao Island is an example of this peculiar culture-dwelling. Whole streets of house-boats line the creeks, their front doors giving onto the water which is reached by a ladder. Every household has a boat moored beneath it and the traffic of boats to and fro is comparable to that of a town. Except that sometimes the struts of these dwellings are formed of granite slabs, probably borrowed elsewhere, there is a complete absence of stone or even of any notion of construction. The houses are constructed of old planks nailed together without system, their roofs are very poorly thatched with dried grass, there are no rooms beyond a covered verandah on which the cooking is done and an interior bedroom with one raised corner which forms a bed for the whole family.* \n\nOn the other hand, their boats are extremely well made. The biggest junks are constructed either for trawling or line fishing in deep water. They are made of teak or pine wood and have high sterns with accommodation for several generations of families. A feature which has apparently only been recently adopted in Europe is their water-tight compartments, so that if a leak is sprung, only one part of the ship need be baled out. Another feature which is more efficient than our European sailing craft is the rudder full of holes that can be easily turned without impairing its breaking value. The ships are cared for most regularly. Careening is done once a fortnight for pine wood craft and once a month in the case of teak. It is rather typical of their makeshift methods of house-building that they use the grass most suitable for careening in thatching their house-boats, \n\nThe Hoklo are also boat dwellers and are found in most of the main anchorages but their numbers are more frequent towards the east of the region, and in parts of Mirs Bay they predominate over \n\n* See also pp. 197-200 of this Journal. Ed.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 210157,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1984",
        "page_number": 128,
        "title": "RAS-1984",
        "content_text": "107\n\nsee, had a reputation for civility. The larger farming villages included Little Hong Kong and Wong Nei Chung. The smaller villages and hamlets included Hok Tsui, Chai Wan, To Tei Wan, Tai Tam (at Stanley), Tin Wan (at Aberdeen), Wan Chai, Tai Tam Tuk, Kwan Tai Lo, Wong Ma Kok, So Kon Po, Shek O and Pokfulam, whilst the port villages cum small towns included Chek Chu (Stanley), Shau Kei Wan and Shek Pai Wan (Aberdeen).” Most of these settlements exist today, albeit greatly changed, although a few have gone.\n\nWhat did these places look like in the 1840s when they first came under British rule? Fortunately, in those days before the camera, one of the officers stationed on the island and entrusted with the first contour survey (1843-1845) entered some useful descriptions in his letters home. This was Lieutenant Thomas Bernard Collinson of the Royal Engineers, a gifted young man who died a major-general at the age of 81 in 1902.\" In a letter he wrote:\n\n\"There is really a great deal more to be seen in Hong Kong than its appearance promises. Besides the town of Chuck Chu [Chek Chu] there are 10 villages and at least 400 acres of well cultivated ground. Some of the villages certainly consist of only 7 or 8 houses, but they are distinct villages with ground attached. The largest is Shapwont as it is printed,\" or “Chuckpyewan\" as it is called by the inhabitants, and “Aberdeen\" as it is called by the Governor. Her Majesty's surveying vessel employed by the Board of Ordinance has been anchored for a fortnight exactly at the figure 6 at Careening island [on the Chart of the anchorage] and begins to know something of Aberdeen and if the old Aberdeen is anything like the new, it must be a straggling village scattered round a small bay, with an ill-paved sort of quay in front and about 50 fishing boats lying about a great rock in the middle, a good supply of shops where bamboo hats, mats, sails, ropes and baskets; rice, fruit, vegetables, tobacco, earthenware and fireworks are all sold together; these being the staple commodities of a Chinese country shop and cakes by the bye, with plenty of pork fat in everything and a thousand of the dirtiest men women and children that ever talked altogether in a singsong:",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 210464,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1985",
        "page_number": 71,
        "title": "RAS-1985",
        "content_text": "52\n\nBARBARA E. WARD\n\nSai, where the rise and fall of spring tides could be as much as 25 feet, was that it had such a place. It lay on the east side of the temple and was in fairly constant use during spring tides. Legs to support the junks were kept in the temple, as a rule, and freely used by all. The purpose of careening was, of course, to examine the boat's bottom, and remove the accumulation of marine growth. This was done by burning, with bundles of dried grass held on pitch forks, and scraping by hand. Any cracks in the hull were caulked, and the whole bottom then treated with tung oil. One of the innovations of the late 'fifties was the use of anti-fouling paint instead of tung oil. This, though more expensive, gave better protection and cut down the frequency of careening to about once in every two months.\n\nAnother regular task, performed at least once a month in the days of sail and before the introduction of nylon, was the dyeing of sails, sail cloth and nets. This process, intended as a preservative measure, involved a whole day's work for an entire crew, preceded by several days' preparation on the part of one or two members. The dye-stuff used was prepared by crushing and soaking a root known as shue-leung. This was then transferred to the dyeing tanks on the second island where nets and sailcloth were dipped, dried and dipped again two or three times before being steamed for several hours and finally spread out to dry. Dyeing had to start early in the morning. It required good weather and the payment of $4 dollars a day to the Hakka 'headman' who owned the tanks and steaming vat. With mechanisation and the nylon revolution regular dyeing sessions were no longer necessary, but sail cloth (used for awnings) and some pieces of netting still had to be dyed from time to time.\n\nSeasonal rhythms\n\nSeasonal rhythms naturally varied with the type of fishing. The long-liners' main season was during the first four months of the lunar calendar, the purse-seiners' in the sixth, seventh and eighth months. The main seasons were looked to for the extra profit that would go into boat building or repairs, buying new gear, marrying a son or daughter, or installing a new engine. For the rest of the year subsistence was about all that could be",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x",
        "rank": 0
    }
]