[ { "id": 205824, "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-1969", "page_number": 130, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "124\n\nSOME NOTES ON ETHNO-BOTANY IN THE NEW TERRITORIES OF HONGKONG\n\nARMANDO DA SILVA*\n\nThere is an old Cantonese proverb that goes \"Kau shan yak shan, kau shui yak shui, (*****). When translated it means \"When in the hills, live off the hills, when on water, live off the water\". In many of the smaller villages of the New Territories, and especially among the more isolated coastal ones, this maxim is still practised to some extent in everyday life. Most of the older villagers possess an intimate knowledge of various qualities of common plants. Many plants that thrive in the neighbourhood of settlements owe their survival because they have some useful or medicinal qualities to offer, which distinguish them from mere brushwood destined for the kitchen stove.\n\nA source of income for coastal settlements derives from economic activities related to the use of beaches by Tanka and Hoklo fishermen for careening their boats. These fishermen also use the beaches to dry and mend their nets. As these tasks must be done frequently to prevent rot and tear, many villagers often find it profitable to provide services for the fishermen. Large vats are installed so that salt can be boiled out of the nets. Other vats are used for dyeing and for applying net preservatives. Most nets are made from imported ramie or coconut coir fibers. However, a plant common to many coastal villages is often used to make fibers for fishing nets. This is the Agave, called by Tanka and Hoklo fishermen poh lo ma (\"pineapple hemp\"). It is also known by its other Chinese name of lung sit lan (⃧ \"dragon tongue orchid\") because of its high flowering stamen. The Agave thrives on drier sandy soils near beaches and does not seem to be affected by salt water spray. After the spines are removed from the plant, fiber is extracted by pounding and retting. The juice is often used as an insecticide and the saponin content as a form of soap for washing clothes.\n\n* Mr. da Silva has a Master's degree from the University of California at Berkeley and is presently with the Department of Geography, University of Hawaii. His article \"Fan Lau and its Fort: an Historical Perspective\" appeared at pp. 82-95 of last year's Journal. Mr. da Silva states that the present article refers, in particular, to some coastal settlements in Lantau and the Saikung Peninsula where he spent much time visiting and observing people and things from October 1962 to September 1963, and again in the summer of 1964.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208681, "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-1979", "page_number": 138, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n111\n\nall agreed was quite tasty. His helpers in the galley are Fathers Keelan, Downs and Madison.\n\nFather Toomey is named temporary head of the Red Cross in Hong Kong, by the repatriated manager, Mr. Fifer. The Red Cross, by the way, is on hand but not operative and the Japanese do not seem to take kindly to it.\n\nWhen the repatriates went on board the Asama Maru, no one was allowed anywhere near the pier, although we stood on the hill-top and watched them embark. No one was allowed to go on board either, from the Camp. We were anxious to learn if there were any other Maryknollers on board from the North, but could not secure the information. The Asama Maru remained at anchor that night and all the next day and night, when it left on its long voyage around the Cape.\n\n30-The Camp is extremely quiet after the departure of the Americans, and even the British remark on it. We are now awaiting orders to move into our new quarters. The father of Mr. Wong, our Chinese Superintendent, died in Hong Kong, and Father Toomey says a Mass for the repose of his soul. By the way, in the administration of the Camp, the Japanese early placed a Chinese superintendent in charge of each section of the Camp, as sort of liaison officer, and ordinarily we had to negotiate through him with the Japanese.\n\nJULY\n\n1-We are to move tomorrow into Block A-3. The Sisters keep one of their rooms on the third floor, and we 16 Maryknollers get three rooms on the same floor but in the other half of the flat. By arrangements with Mr. Wong, we are also allowed to retain our little chapel on the same floor. The other Americans take up quarters in the various small servants' rooms in this block, while the British take over the remaining larger room downstairs.\n\n2- Moving all day and getting settled, even though we have few possessions, leaves us pretty tired at night. We had to move our camp cots, as when the repatriates left, their rooms were almost completely denuded of their meager furnishings by those, of course, who had even less. We find that we will have the use of the two small kitchens on the top floor, one being for all the Americans and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211813, "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-1989", "page_number": 228, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "203\n\n21.1.1858 (Thur)\n\nEntertainment by Mr. George Henri.\n\nR: As there appeared no review of Mr. George HENRI's miracles on December 29 there is some doubt as to whether they were indeed performed on that date: perhaps they were postponed to January 21. Then the Herald showed itself “so astonished that had he asked us what we wished him to do next we should have requested him to produce Yeh before our eyes\". This alluded to Yeh Ming-ch'en, the Chinese Imperial Commissioner for Foreign Affairs who had played a major role in the second Anglo-Chinese war. He had been captured on January 5 1858 and taken to Calcutta by the British. (NCH 23.1.1858).\n\n9.2.1858 (Tue)\n\nT.J. DIBDIN: \"The Birthday” (1799)\n\nT: Comedy (3 acts)\n\nC. DANCE: \"The Dustman's Belle\" (1846)\n\nT: Comedy (2 acts)\n\nJ. KENNEY: \"Raising the Wind\" (1803)\n\nT: Farce (2 acts)\n\nC: Officers of H.M.S. Pique\n\nTh: On board ship\n\nR: The description of the circumstances under which the Herald's reporter was drawn to the \"Pique\" (a British frigate with crew of 350) is too vivid for the reader to forgo: Tuesday last was a depressing day for a melancholic tempered man, and even we, not constitutionally sad, felt its influence. The morning dawned through an atmosphere in which rain and mist were struggling to see which should do its worst to make everything look disagreeable. As the day moved on, the rain gained the ascendancy and pelted down most pitilessly; overhead the sky looked dull and murky; underfoot the soil of Shanghai, mingling lovingly with the weeping clouds, produced a mixture as tenacious as the grasp of a miser, and dirty as the soul of a time-serving parasite. The mail, with the usual fatality which crowds one mishap upon another, though overdue, had not arrived. To take the gun was simply to commit a felo de se in a sea of mud; and to hum a snatch of a tune was as great an exertion as to dance an Irish jig in fetters, or laugh at the present Sir R. Peel's facetiousness.* In this desolate mood we were plunged, when suddenly a bright recollection flashed upon us. We rose hastily from our chair and consulted a paper which had been lying neglected in a corner: it was the Pique's playbill. The sight of the 'Birthday', the 'Dustman's Belle' and 'Raising the Wind' acted like a charm upon us, and a few minutes afterwards we had crossed the Bund, escaped the insidious dangers of those man-traps of jetties which the Municipal Council are daily suffering to grow more and more like that bridge with many pitfalls invented in the vision of Mirza (this is a reference to \"The Vision of Mirza\" by Joseph Addison, first published in \"The Spectator\" in 1711 and reprinted in 1856 – JH); and committed the safety of our person to a China-boatman and his magnified eggshell. The rain pelted, but we laughed at it; the gusts blew spitefully, but we clutched the tighter and defied them; the darkness did its best to mislead us, but the bright glow from a sailor's pipe guided us with more trustworthiness and safety than a beacon light under certain auspices could have done, and we reached the Pique in safety. Here we found all light, bustle and tiptoe expectation. The main deck had been cleared of its grim everyday tenants - the cold frowning implements of old Mars and their room occupied by the flimsy, but joy-inspiring fripperies of Thespis. We passed along row after row of happy, eager faces and took our seat in front, amongst the guests whom the ship's company of the\n\n* Sir Robert Peel (1822-1895), diplomat and politician; popular in social life and gifted with \"rare powers of irony, but also \"absence of dignity\" and a \"want of moral fiber in his volatile character\" (Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 44, p. 223-224).", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 } ]