RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1961
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch

RASHKB and author

Vol. 1 (1961)

ISSN 1991-7295

21

A most odd and interesting bird to be seen around Victoria from Garden Road to the University is the Rose-ringed Paroquet, presumably introduced but now firmly established as a resident. Sometimes parties of up to sixteen birds have been seen.

A noisy but seldom seen family are the Cuckoos, who are well represented here, nearly all of them summer visitors. The Indian Cuckoo, or ‘One-more-bottle Bird', the Large Hawk-cuckoo or 'Brain-fever Bird', and the Plaintive Cuckoo or 'Rain-bird', are three summer visitors to certain favoured localities, mainly in the northern New Territories. The Koel is more common and widespread. All these four are parasites of smaller birds, too lazy to make a nest of their own. The Crow-Pheasant and Lesser Crow-Pheasant (which are neither crows nor pheasants!) are also quite common and widespread: both of them are to some extent hill birds, and the former likes more wooded country than the latter.

Two species of owl are resident in the Colony, the Barred Owlet, whose bubbling call is heard in the northern New Territories, and the Collared Scops Owl both there and on Hong Kong Island, especially on The Peak.

The Savannah Nightjar must breed in the Colony, for its whip-lash call is heard frequently over many open spaces in the New Territories during the spring and summer, but no nest has yet been found.

House-swifts nest, several pairs at a time, under the verandahs of shops and houses in at least half-a-dozen towns. Many thousands of these and the Large White-rumped Swift pass through the Colony on migration.

The kingfishers are one of the sights of Hong Kong's bird-life. The Common Kingfisher, the one seen in Europe, is here all the year round and almost certainly nests. The White-breasted Kingfisher and Black-capped Kingfisher are both large, very gaily-coloured birds, although the first is much more common than the second. The Pied Kingfisher is confined to the Deep Bay area, where probably only one pair nests, although formerly this species used to be quite common also.

The Great Barbet, which as might be expected of a close relative of the woodpeckers is a lover of big trees, may be heard calling its monotonous 'coo-lee-you' from the Norfolk Island Pine in the Botanical Gardens and from several woods in the north-eastern New Territories where it breeds. A small relation, the Wryneck, may be seen in winter, quite frequently in scrubby foothill country.

Swallows are a well-loved and common summer visitor to the Colony, and occasionally a few birds may be seen even on the coldest days of winter. Large numbers also come through on passage.
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v
46

BEK-TO CHIU

TUTCHERIA SPECTABILIS (CHAMP.) DUNN.

Family: Theaceae 山茶科

A

榻捷本

Tutcheria is a comparatively new genus, created in 1908 by Mr. Dunn, Superintendent of Gardens and Forestry Department, in honour of his assistant, Mr. W. J. Tutcher who was the first to draw attention to its distinctive characters. The most important of all was the structure of the fruit and seeds. The capsular fruit, on ripening, splits into four, five or six valves which are completely deciduous, dispersing the laterally compressed or angular seeds, two and five in each loculus. The columella alone is left on the persistent perules.

Because the blooms are Camellia-like, before 1908, the plant was referred to as Camellia spectabilis, Champion and its significance of being indigenous to Hong Kong was overlooked. There is a medium size tree reaching up to 40 feet, with a spreading crown of handsome glossy evergreen leaves, in the upper part of the Old Botanical Gardens. This is well worth a visit, especially in May and June when the blooms are in season.

The showy white cup-shaped flowers, about 4 inches in diameter, are Camellia-like, with tangerine orange anthers that form a mass at the centre and are slightly fragrant. The white petals are tinged yellowish and greenish at the tips and the outer surfaces are each traversed by a stripe of a light golden sheen. The perules are pale green with a golden sheen and the single stout style, apically dividing into three to six short erect arms, is apple green. The flowers, almost sessile, arise singly from the axils of the upper leaves and appear stately and distinctive.

The capsules are large, 1 to 2 inches in diameter, subglobose and woody, covered with a soft green pubescens. It takes six months to ripen. The seeds are again viable for a short time.

Other species of this genus have been recorded from S. China, Formosa and the Liuchiu Islands but the species spectabilis is native to Hong Kong and has been introduced into Great Britain for cultivation.

I
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v
48

BEK-TO CHIU

RHODOLEIA CHAMPIONI, HOOK #

吊鐘花

Family: Hamamelidaceae ### 金縷梅科

Common name: King of Hanging Bells

Hooker, who described Rhodoleia from Hong Kong named it championi to commemorate Col. J. G. Champion who was the first to collect this plant while stationed here 1847-1850, as an ensign in the 95th Regiment. Champion wrote on his record “the handsomest of Hong Kong's flowering plants". Hance in 1870 described the flowers as "of extreme beauty and rarity". Justifiable statements to all who are acquainted with the flowers of this plant. Indeed the colour combination of the flowers is uniquely striking and perhaps breathtakingly oriental. The involucre of bracts is of a pale yellow, gold, pink and russet brown; the petals of rose-carmine and the stamens, black. Besides its beauty, the fact that the plant is indigenous and only found on Hong Kong island, is worthy of note.

Bentham described the flowers as having "the appearance of a semi-double Camellia". This is so and they particularly resemble Camellia hongkongensis. The apparent flowers are each composed of a cluster of five flowers, aggregated compactly on a recurved peduncle (and hence "hanging" or pendulous) at the axil of the upper leaves of the branches, with the petals of the flowers arranged at the circumference, held at the base by an involucre of overlapping bracts. This unit is in fact an inflorescence of the capitulum type, comparable with that of a chrysanthemum,

The shrubs or small trees, reaching up to 20 feet high, are evergreens, bearing coriaceous dark green leaves with a bluish bloom on the upper surfaces. The flowers start to bloom from January to March, being at their best in February, the Chinese New Year time. The fruits are woody composite capsules, maturing at the end of six months, when each dehisces both loculicidally and septicidally, setting free many small winged seeds.

Trees of Rhodoleia championi that bloom regularly, are to be found in the New Botanical Gardens, near the Pavilion and in a sheltered valley in Little Hong Kong, off Shouson Hill.

The genus Rhodoleia has two other species: one from China and the other from Java and Sumatra.
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653
12

S. G. DAVIS

The sites at Tai Wan, Hung Shing Ye and Yung Shu Wan on Lamma Island have been most fruitful and have provided the material that was excavated and studied by Father D. J. Finn, which is partly on display today. The report of finds at Tai Wan came in a most interesting way. Mr. Tom Man Long (who happily is present with us tonight) was building the service reservoir in the Botanical Gardens opposite Government House when he noticed that the sand being used for the concrete had fragments of pottery and several axe-heads. Mr. Tom, as a keen collector of Chinese art and pottery, recognized the antiquity of the pottery and reported his discovery to the Waterworks Department who in turn notified Professor Shellshear. He visited Tai Wan and immediately recognized the richness of the site. At a later date Father Finn was asked by Professor Shellshear, who was going on leave, to interest himself in the finds. Father Finn wrote, "I was very glad of the invitation and luck seemed to confirm the vocation. A few days after that, while I was still regarding any active participation as remote, I almost crushed a piece of obviously old pottery under foot as I walked past a sand-heap on a jetty at Aberdeen. The next step was to find where the sand came from. Having found out that and having got there, I found myself at the site from which I knew Professor Shellshear and his friends had already reaped a rich harvest.”

It was a fortunate day for archaeology when Father Finn began his work on Lamma. He brought an expert knowledge to the study and rapidly revealed tremendous archaeological treasures by thorough, careful digging. The results of this work were meticulously reported in The Hong Kong Naturalist from 1933 to 1936 and still later combined in one complete volume under the editorship of my friend, Father F. Ryan, S.J.

Many of the best finds from the Lamma sites are in the British Museum. They were sent there by Professor Shellshear and were examined by Mr. Soame Jenyns, the curator for the Far East section. Mr. Jenyns had been in Hong Kong as a young administrator and had studied Chinese art. Outstanding among the specimens is a bronze sword about eleven inches long and distinguished by a zoomorph design in three panels along the blade. This sword has been dated as Warring Kingdoms Period, (421-221 B.C.). A bronze-socketed celt with a distinctive design
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d
NOTES AND QUERIES

159

Nothing is known of the buildings themselves in 1842 but in the following year there was further activity on the site, partly to provide a roof for the Chinese Imperial Commissioner, Keying during his visit in the summer of that year. In April 1843, Woosnam (Pottinger's secretary) requested Gordon to draw up plans for a new Government House which would serve as temporary accommodation until Hong Kong's future was settled (ratifications of the Treaty of Nanking had not at that time been exchanged and it was thought locally that Hong Kong would be given up if they were not; in fact, the Colonial Office was disposed to treat the Colony as belonging to the Crown by right of conquest). The accommodation was to consist of two bungalows, one of three rooms and the other of four bedrooms. Gordon's return of his departmental expenditure reveals that he cut a site "for the residence of the head of the Government," built a carriage road to "Government House," and built a bungalow without offices.

8

These buildings must be those which appear on both the maps referred to, along with earlier structures. But, though this conclusion seems beyond doubt, Sayer attempts to identify these buildings with another structure altogether: the Albany. He quotes a description of Government Hill given in the Chinese Repository which says that Government House was "further westward and higher up the hill" than Johnston's House. Sayer "unhesitatingly" identifies the reference with the Albany, a building which used to stand within the area of the Botanical Gardens at the foot of Old Peak Road. It was erected in 1843-1844 as a residence for Government servants at a reasonable rental at a time when rents on the open market were extremely high. There is no record of the Albany ever having been used for anything other than residential purposes. In view of the undoubted presence of other buildings in a place consistent with the description, it is difficult to see why Sayer confused them with the Albany.

But what of the established fact of Governor Davis's residence in Johnston's house? There is positive evidence that Johnston's house was so used: there is on record a letter from Pottinger to Johnston concerning its hire during the latter's absence on leave,10 and Martin, sometime Colonial Treasurer in Hong Kong and the Colony's most virulent critic, made a specific point of the expenditure on renting the house for the Governor. Some years later, the Friend of China commented acidly that "the Governor, if he has
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063
66

D.A. GRIFFITHS AND S.P. LAU

in future planting programmes:

Native Country Remarks

Botanical Name

Tristanea conferta Australia

Celtis sinensis Hong Kong

From 100 to 150 ft. high... etc. grows very rapidly and well in H.K.

A fine tree which grows well and can be propagated readily from seed which is produced in abundance.

Many trees were planted on the roadsides 2 years ago which have grown very rapidly. Two rows bordering the side of the Peak Road would also have done well if they had been attended to in pruning during this and last year.

Despite the prevalence and destructive power of typhoons Mr. Ford was able to report in 1879:

"The general appearance of the Gardens has been decidedly in advance of previous years. The collection of Cacti continues to thrive well. On the sides of the walk next to the Fountain Terrace the trees of Grevilea robusta now form a very effective avenue. The trees were planted when they were one year old, in 1876 and they are now about thirty feet high. Near the Fernery in the Old Garden a collection of Orchids indigenous to Hong Kong has been made. Many of the more beautiful and interesting plants of this Colony have been introduced to the Gardens and I am now continuing this work.... The collection of coniferous trees in the New Garden has been partly rearranged... the Palms have quite filled the ground, and excepting very dwarf kinds, no
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063
73

assistant, Mr. S.T. Dunn, who was in turn succeeded by his assistant, Mr. W.T. Tutcher in 1910. Both Dunn and Tutcher carried out extensive botanical work and were co-authors of "The Flora of Kwangtung and Hong Kong". Tutcher wrote "Gardening for Hong Kong" which served as a useful manual for horticulturists unfamiliar with the peculiar seasonal conditions of Hong Kong. They also organized repair and maintenance work to the buildings of the Botanic Gardens and Tutcher introduced electric lighting into the Gardens in 1913 for evening functions.

Mr. H. Green succeeded Mr. Tutcher in 1919. He arranged the layout of some of the flower-beds and relaid the old paths and channels with cement granite. A granite memorial in the shape of a 'Pai Lau' was erected in 1928 at the top of the main entrance steps on the old Garden in memory of the Chinese in the service of the British Government who died during the Great War 1914-1918. Then in 1931 the lower portion of the Gardens was taken over by the Public Works Department for the construction of a service reservoir. Work was completed in 1933 and the area was recovered with black soil, turfed and reopened to the public.

Mr. Green retired in 1937 and the vacant post was taken up by Mr. F. Flippance after a series of quick changes of appointments. By this time the activities of the Department had expanded so much that forestry in fact accounted for 65 to 70% of its work, the rest being botanical, gardening, and agricultural. In fact, afforestation work on the hills was carried out by the Gardens Department as early as 1876 but it was not until 1880 that planting on any large scale was undertaken and the Department had since been renamed the Botanic and Afforestation Department. The Botanic Gardens remained in good condition until the Second World War broke out.

During the Second World War the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong resulted in extensive structural damage to the Botanic Gardens the site of which was badly cut up to provide earthworks for gun emplacements and defensive trenches. Much of the shrubbery was destroyed as were a number of the larger trees; additionally the surrounding railings and gates were removed to provide ease of access to military personnel and equipment. There are no

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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278
435

VISITING ST JOHN'S ISLAND

PETER STUCKEY AND CHRIS BAILEY

Introduction

St John's Island is about 160 kms WSW of Hong Kong. It is about the size of Lantau Island and is the largest of the Chuan Shan Islands which form part of Tai Shan County. The adoption of the name St John's Island appears to be through anglicisation of the Chinese name for the island, variously spelt as "Shang Chuan Island" on current Chinese maps, or as "Sancian". "Ilhas de San Joao" or "St Jean" Island on older western maps. Our interest in visiting the island was aroused by the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society's visit to Goa in January 2001. There, in the Basilica of Bom Jesus, in Old Goa, we had seen the preserved remains of St Francis Xavier. His corpse is displayed in an elaborate glass-sided, silver ornamented casket that rests high up on a Florentine marble mausoleum. St Francis, we learnt, had died on St John's Island on the night of 2/3 December 1552, aged 46.

In view of the local interest two visits were made by members of the HK Branch, one travelling “independently" and the other through an organised China Travel Services guided tour. Here follow their accounts of the visits.

Independent travel

Two Branch members, Rocky Dang and myself, Peter Stuckey, went to the Island on 20th and 21st October 2001. We took a Chu Kong Shipping (CKS) ferry from the China Hong Kong ferry terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui, to Xin Hui, leaving at 8:45 a.m. The ferry passes between Macau and Taipa and then follows up the river system past the Yamen Fort to Xin Hui for a fare of HKD 188. At Xin Hui we took a short taxi ride to visit the "Bird's Paradise." Here egrets fly over a huge banyan tree. The tree is reputed to be 500 years old. It extends to cover over a hectare with many trunks formed from the aerial roots descending from the branches of the single organism. Similar trees exist in the Botanical Gardens in Calcutta and in Phimai in NE Thailand.
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