[ { "id": 204668, "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-1963", "page_number": 149, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "KASHMIR HOLIDAY\n\n133\n\ngrazing round the tents and our staff from the boat, now transformed into mountaineers, plus the owners of the ponies were all waiting to receive us. Two of the ponies had been hired to carry the ladies on the trek but in point of fact they were never used except by Gaffar and his son when their feet got sore.\n\nA large log fire was already alight outside the larger tent, hot water was waiting for the canvas baths and a three-course dinner was being cooked outside the cook's tent down-wind. This, I would add, was the normal evening routine throughout our trek, for the ponies with all our tents and supplies would pass us during the morning and everything was set up before we reached camp at night. Generally one pony stayed with us to carry the lunch and our spare clothes, and later we perched on the top two live hens that we had bought from some shepherds we met on the way. They were intended for dinner one night but we became so fond of them that they survived the expedition and came all the way back to the boat with us.\n\nThe way led along the west side of the Liddar river, past Arau, the last village before the pass, and to the foot of the great Kolahoi glacier. Here we camped, at 8,500 ft., and spent the next day exploring the pink-coloured glacier and watching life in the valley: marmots, snow pigeon, white-capped redstart, chough and Himalayan griffon. By the third evening we had reached the Yamher Pass and as it was too late to attempt the crossing we camped at the foot in a bare plateau. By now we were far above the tree line and as it was very cold we had gathered wood on the day's walk and stacked it on the top of the ponies' packs.\n\nNext day we were lucky for there was not a cloud in the sky and when we reached the top of the Yamher at 14,000 ft. the high peaks of the Himalayas stretched in a great semi-circle before us. Dead ahead, clear and glittering in the sun, was the unmistakable magnificence of Nanga Parbat (26,660 ft.) whilst to the west was the fringe of the mountains in the Hindu Kush. Eastwards lay the peaks of Ladakh and Baltistan. It was unforgettable.\n\nTo the uninitiated the only part of the whole walk which may bring a slight fluttering in the stomach is the first 500 feet of the descent from the top of the Pass. But help is always at hand", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211492, "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-1988", "page_number": 208, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "184\n\nto human frailties. I cannot express adequately the depth of my feelings and spiritual belief, as I have no facility with words. I have had my share of grief and joy. I hope I am a stronger, more understanding and more magnanimous person as a result. I am fortunate in having had parents who continue to be a sustaining model for me, a husband who gives me love and companionship, two daughters, a son-in-law and two grandchildren who shower me with affection; for my sisters and their children who make my life richer by their unstinting gift of love; and for many relatives and friends whose generosity and fellowship often overwhelm me. Surely my cup runneth over! If I have hurt or offended anyone, it is because I am so human. In the end, I thank God, from whom all blessings flow, and hope that I will leave this world with dignity and without fear, with the prayer that Tennyson wrote in \"Crossing the Bar\".\n\n\"Sunset and evening star,\n\nAnd one clear call for me!\n\nAnd may there be no moaning at the bar,\n\nWhen I put out to sea,\n\nBut such a tide as moving seems asleep,\n\nToo full for sound and foam,\n\nWhen that which drew from out the boundless deep\n\nTurns again home.\n\nTwilight and evening bell,\n\nAnd after that the dark!\n\nAnd may there be no sadness of farewell,\n\nWhen I embark;\n\nFor tho' from out our bourns of Time and Place\n\nThe flood may bear me far,\n\nI hope to see my Pilot face to face\n\nWhen I have crost the bar.\"\n\n11", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212340, "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-1990", "page_number": 282, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "In the matter of the forcible stoppage of work, and the repeated closure of a worksite, a joint presentation of further evidence.\n\nWe cordially request Your Benevolence to send an official to investigate and clarify the position to avoid the situation of a public bridge being destroyed.\n\nThere is a river at Kim Hau (1) which lies between Sham Chun, and Sha Tau Kok and Tai Pang () and so on, and which is on a most important road for anyone travelling from east or west. Everyday thousands of people pass there. The Cheung () clan, living over three li away at Wong Pui Ling (Bai) came in violence and took it for their own, establishing a ferry across the river there for their profit. All this happened years ago.\n\nEveryone coming there, at any time of day, must use the ferry. Bridal parties and funerals have to pay particularly heavy sums. Every Winter the river dries up, and the flow of water reduces, and then people have to wade across with obvious difficulty. Sometimes wooden hand-rails are put up beside the crossing, but these are frequently destroyed, and people are reviled and struck there. Every kind of perverse and unprincipled behaviour can be seen, too frequently to record.\n\nThese many years we the gentry and others have donated cash, and rice to sell at low rates. This is because, when they cannot run the ferry profitably they force the coolies to go into the water to cross; several dozen sacks of rice have been lost here as a result, and we the gentry and others cannot bear to see their suffering. We have been thinking of building a bridge for many years.\n\nLast year Cheung Tsan-tai and Lei Chung-chong (*44) both wealthy men, and others, twice gathered material for construction, but it was deliberately entirely destroyed on both occasions. The people really feared we would have to go back to the original position.\n\n---\n\nPage 259", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213107, "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-1993", "page_number": 175, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "157\n\nThe villagers in the central part of the northern New Territories, accustomed to marketing at Sham Chun, were able to make do after 1899. They had the old satellite market of Shek Wu Hui (Sheung Shui) within British territory; as soon as the new frontier came into effect, Sheung Shui saw its business boom - it quickly replaced Sham Chun as the primary market for this area. At Sha Tau Kok the population within British territory accustomed to shop at Sha Tau Kok had no alternative but to continue to do so. Problems abounded. Village memories of the Customs are uniformly bad.\n\nThe Customs officials caused the goods of the merchants to be seized unless bribes were paid. They demanded a payment of 18 bushels of rice from each merchant. The villagers from the New Territories would come to the market to have their cloth dyed. Even if the amount of cloth was very small, 25 or £10 would be charged as a licence fee - if it was not paid, the goods would be seized and the villagers penalized. As for the merchants, if they sold a pig, or if a seed-pig was bought for rearing in the villages, when they went to the Customs they would have to pay $40 per tan as registration fee for the pig. At festivals, the village ladies would come to the market to buy oil or local sugar in small quantities. They would have to pay 50 or 60, or even 120 or 130 cash (#5 - #13) as fee before they could get an export licence. For cattle, for every cow crossing the frontier - in either direction for farm work, a Certificate had to be issued, at $20 Haikwan.\n\nAnd, if the Certificate was lost, there was heavy punishment, and a replacement had to be taken out, to avoid confiscation of the cow. Further, at the harvest, if the crop was carried across the frontier, you had to pay what was demanded - it is said that a percentage of the crop was taken. The Customs swallowed money whatever purchases were made. These sorts of evil practices caused the villagers to hate the Customs to the very pit of their stomachs.\n\n12\n\nIt is unlikely that the Customs were as corrupt as they are often portrayed by the villagers. The payments complained of were all reasonable, if it was accepted that the transactions were \"imports\" or \"exports\". The villagers could never see that their day-to-day marketing should be so regarded - they were only doing what their ancestors had always done.\n\nThe elders of the Shap Yeuk petitioned the District Magistrate on 19 April 1899, begging that the lease of the New Territories be not proceeded with. Their concern was, essentially, that if it did proceed, then they would be faced with “excessive taxation\", especially Harbour Dues and Marine Fees, given that the waters off Sha Tau Kok would become Hong...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214294, "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-1998", "page_number": 152, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "deacon Gray35 finds shops in Canton still producing bows and arrows in the late 1860s showing that they continued to be used. This retention of the bow was probably also due to a feeling that it was a gentleman's weapon and more honourable to use. Indeed, proficiency with the bow was one of the attributes required of a military mandarin.\n\nWhilst such weapons as the matchlock and bow could be effective, they did not generally cause many casualties. This may have been due to lack of deliberate aim, although none of the projectile weapons, either side, were very accurate. The tactic used by the Europeans to overcome this was the use of volley firing. Then, even with the inherent inaccuracy, there was a fair chance that enough bullets would find their mark. Of course steady troops that could reload and fire almost continuous volleys, and only charge when ordered, were a necessary part of the tactic. As mentioned in the introduction, it is this training and disciplined use of troops, that the Chinese forces seemed to have neglected.\n\nThe cut and thrust weapons were also varied and covered a wide range of spears, pole arms and swords. As might be expected, when it came to hand to hand fighting these were the equal to the bayonet, although again the training and discipline of the European troops would have been an advantage.\n\nFinally the Chinese had a number of arms that almost defy classification. These were used in defending forts against storming parties. There was a form of grenade, made of clay filled with combustible material, and a similar weapon that relied more on its bad smell than its explosive power.* And Lt. Colonel Fisher reports that at one fort they found: \"Their construction was as follows:- A pit was dug in the ground, and in it was placed large iron shells loaded with powder; a match communicated between the shell and a flint-gun lock, which it was intended to fire, by a string attached to the trigger, and crossing the pit-fall. Over the whole, was laid a mat lightly strewed with earth. The modus operandi was, that on entering the fort, we should run over the mat, which would let us down; falling on the string, we should pull the trigger, and be blown up.\"38 It appears that the land mine has to be added to the list of ancient Chinese inventions, even if it is not one to be proud of.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 } ]