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JOURNEYINGS IN THE NEW TERRITORY.
A PINGSHA MUD-BED. It is remarkable to how many people in Hongkong the
name of the New Territory conveys to this day only an idea of barren bill and scowling ravine. The impression is born of the general prospect of the Kowl on hills that confronts the eye as one gazes across the Harbour. But could the vision penetrate these forbidding yellow-scarred heights, it would find to its delectation valley after valley of greanest hus, vieing with Ireland in verdancy and dotted with populous villages along the plain. Yet all this beauty is known to very few from our
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
and two of us at length decided to start for the nearest police station, Piogshau. We were armed with these two remaining bottles. We calculated that the distance was six or seven miles. aud set off along the trackless coast at a rattling pace. however, troubles begin to come thick upon us. As darkness deepened, We struck through a ragged gap in the hills and held our way down a wild ravine on the far her side, whence we could see the twin lights of Fingshan Station glimmering on a hill some miles away.
Between us and the welcome light there was an absolutely flat country which, given a good road, we could have traversed in-
side an hour.
We stumbled along in the dark for a couple of miles or 80, more often in the paddy than out
[October 19, 1903: ROBBERIES IN HONGKONG.
Following the identification by Mrs. Sheffield of one of the men su posed to have been con. cerned in the highway robbery on Kennedy Road, the amsh of Miss Bateman, who with her mistres was bound and gagged by a gang of robbers on the 16th ult., recognised a member walking along the stree, she observed a man As the amah was of the party on the 9th inst.
whose face seemed familiar. On coming nearer she was greatly startled to find that he was one of those who had maltreated her, and hurrying back to Miss Bateman's house, Action was she told her mistress the news. promptly takep, and the police were soon at the Colony. It is only for the occasional snipe-of it, until at length we came to a creak, which house. In company with the umab, the detec-
again c fronted us. we waded. Twenty yards farther on the creektives set out to look for the suspect, who was seeu We waded again. In in the same locality as before. There was no fifty more yards or so the crek again. That difficulty over the arrest, and the man was given creek! We must have crossed it nearly a score of times; and of:course to make matters worse
shooter or the pigeon hunter that these smiling plains adorn themshives, and the eye of the sportsman is generally keener for the flight of a bird than for beauty in the lands cape. In that cake it may be matter for no regret that sport in the New Ter- the bigger man of the two invariably rods picked out the man from about a dozen.
ritory this season so far has not been quite up to the mark of former years; for the comparative absence of game perforce has compelled the sportsman to dwell more freely upon the loveliness of the countryside, and he cannot have failed to come away from it with mind-pictures of rippling green fields and young pine bills that will linger in his memory ever afterwards as a pleasant thing. It is rather an anomaly that it is almost solely to the man who goes forth with his pockets full of cartridges and thoughts of slaying in his heart that all this beautiful region is not an unknown land, an unopened book. It is so. The hungered sportsman seeks secluded haunts, while the peaceful citizen revels in the excitements of fan-tan at Macao.
But if the waving rice-fields of the New Territory delight the beholder as the sunshine dances across the green and yellow grain, there are certain times when they possess nothing except terrors, and that is when night overtakes the wayfarer among their labyrinthine roads. Should be get off the beaten paths that lead from one village to another he may as well give himself up to chance whether or no he shall ever extricate himself from the maze. Th paths through a paddy plain are not remarkable for width; they run from a few inches to perhaps two feet broad, sometimes paved, more often not. At each side there is a ditob, and a slip of the foot lands the pedestrian into half-a-foot of mud and water. Even in daytime it behores the walker to walk warily for these paths are inter- sected here and there with cross-channels through which the irrigating streams run from one level to another, rendering the neighbouring portions of the paths soft and treacherous. Judge then what roads these are to traverso at night! There are numerous instanc-s on record of benighted travellers becoming hopelessly in- volved in these solitudes. On one occasion two well-known Scotsmen (who knew the district well, too,) found themselves in such a predica ment, but with the irrepressibleness of their race they are said to have sat down among the wet paddy and sung" Sco s Wh: Ha'e and "The Old Hundred alternately until daylight came to their relief. Then they found that they were only a few hundred yards from their own place.
A party that left Hongkong recently од shooting trip to Deep Bay had a taste of the discomforts which 0 in befall the unwary in the-e parts. Deep By is a misnomer, probably -o-called for the same reason that the suburban dweller proudly dubs bis semi-detached cottage "The Oaks" or **The Elms when there is hardly a shrub within sight. It is about six miles broad at its widest and is impassible for launches at low water. That was the state of things here. The shooters landed at the h-ad of the bay and shot down the east side, in'ending to pick up their launch some miles down, in the evening. But owing to a miscalculation of the tide, the launch remained fast on the mud and not the slightest prospect had we of getting off until the small hours of next morning. Here was a pretty kettle of fish! The "chow basket had already been sadly depleted and there were two bottles of beer left. It was just getting dark. But it was highly important that one of our number should if possible get in communication with Hongkong that night,
over the stream on his smaller companiou's back. It's a way big men have. At last we both had to cast our shoes and stockings, for we found that the track ended up in a glorious seemingly leading nowhere but into blackest mud-bank full of sharp oyster shells and night. It took us about an hour to get out of that quagmire, and what a state our feet and legs were in! We washed them in a lukewarm pond that smelt of fish, drank the beer, and laboriously climbed the hill to the Police Station, a veritable haven of refuge.
however. The Indian patrol were going out It was not long we could afford to stay, at ten o'clock in our direction and we eagerly embraced the chance of getting their skilled guidance away from that oreek. At one part of the return journey even their local knowledge
failed them and we had to take the back-track for more than a mile before we could reach the proper road again and so through the gap down
to the shore, where we could see our lauuch's riding-light far out in the bay.
And when we got on board we found two bottles of "Yebisu" that had been overlooked!
NOTES FROM THE BOTANIC
GARDENS.
Gloxinia maculata, & native of South America, is not mach grown in Hongkong, although it makes a good pot-p'aut for the summer and autumu months. There are several good specimens in the old garden which are just coming into flower. These may be found in the Grevillea walk just above the fountain and on the steps at the north-east entrance. It has the advantage of being an attractive plant either in or out of flower, as the foliage is of a purplish tinge and rather effective. The flowers are blue i colour, bell-shaped. and are borne at the ends of the annual growths. It was introduced into England so long ago as 173).
In the No. 3 house a plant of Costus igneus has been flowering, more or less, for some time. The flowers, which are bright orange, are most striking and measure nearly 3 inches across; the lip being undulated and expanded horizontally. The growths of the plant are 12 or 15 inches high and the leaves from 4 to 6 inches in length. It belongs to the giuger family and was sent to England from Brazil in 1881. A god figure of the plant in flower may be seen in the Botanical Magazine for the following year.
The tea plant, Camellia Theifera, is now in flower growing opposite the foot of the Albany entrance steps.
The rainfall for the month to date has been
.63 of an inch.
Wu Ting-fang. now Senior Vice-President of the Ministry of Commerce, but once of Hong kong, was received in audience at Peking on the 7th inst. by the Emperor and Empress Dowager.
The Chinese Government is reported on the track of a certain Li, said to be a member of Kang Yu wei's party, who is hiding in Shan- tung. His photograph has been despatched to Chowfu, accompanied by instructions to arrest
him.
quarters in the Police Station. On the 10th inst. Miss Bateman and the amah separately
in a poor state of health, being confined to Besides assaulting Miss Bateman, who was her conch at the time, he robbers stole a quantity of jewelry from the lady. Two of the snatched from 1. Jagers. amab's teeth were broken, and two gold rings
Some time previous to the above, a house boy is the employ of Miss Bateman stole $80
in money,
and though she was able to furnish
particulars for hitification, the rascal has there is a connection between the two cases, as not yet been arrested. It is presumed that
ledge of the house to go to the places where the robbers must have had an intimate know- the jewelry was kept without having to waste time in searching.
'The
Shrieks for help were heard coming from a Chinese tenement house a short distance from the Day View Hotel, on the 1th inst. A policeman on patrol duty was in the vicinity and rushed up the stairs of the house just in time to intercept a couple of coolies. constable took the liberty of stopping these men, and tha proceeded to enquire into the cause of the screams. A tale was told by the woman occupying the room that a gang of eight forced the door, seized and gagged her, and Notwith- ransacked the plac, for valuables. sanding the dirty cloth in her mouth, the woman was able to cry for assistance; this caused the robbers to decamp, the policeman ar- riving at the moment the last two were leaving. Help was obtained from the Police Station, and on search being made four other arrests were effected. On the 12th inst. at the Magistracy three of the men were sentenced
to six months' hard labour each.
Another robbery of a daring character which occurred last Tuesday evening at Kennedy's Stables, Causeway Bay, a stop- watch
worth $160 and a $5 note, the property of Mr. W. Gegg, who manages the Kennedy property. Noises were heard by Mrs. Gegg and her amab, about 9 p.m., proceeding on which the bedroom from th voraudah opens, but as dogs have the run of the house, the sounds were put down as having been caused by them. Mr. Gegg returned home an hour later and went to bed, placing a coat which contained the watch and money on a sofa by the side of a window. Next morning the oat could not be found, until, the verandah being searched, it was discovered there minus the valuables. Mr. Gegg presumes entrance to the verandah was obtained by means of the raia-pipe, on which footprints were found.
Speaking on the lecture to Japanese journa- lists. which we reported recently, the Japan Mail says:-We may mention here that corre. spondents of European and American journals seem to have been equally misle ding the pub ic they address News rom abroad indicates that many sensational telegrams have been sent by these correspondents of late. An impression has thus been created that Japan is preparing for war and that the temper of the nation is essentially bellicoss. Nothing could be further from the truth. These corresponden sillustrate the old saying that a treaty port, whatever its situation, is always hundreds of miles away from the capital of the country and from sources of correct intelligənce about the nation's doing or moods.
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