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insisted on its publication. To avoid a re currence of this trouble the editor decided to stop publication,
THE PUBLIC GAOL.
The public gaol has been removed to the new quarters at the Rua Cectral. I hope I may not have occasion to report an escape of prisoners.
CORRESPONDENCE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY PRE88."
TANTENE CÆLESTIBUS IRÆ?
Sir:-Each of us, says the Chinese proverb, has his ladder for scaling the skies, but all are not equally sucessful in olimbing; or gaining admission to Elysium when they have reached the confines; nor, indeed, is the ascent to be essayed without much perturbation and acerbita- tion of spirit. Wide as are the plains of Heaven and capable as they are of supporting all who enter, some of our climbers would in imagination limit their capacity to themselves and a select circle of admiring friends; and should such in his aerial flight gain, or imagine he has gained, some slight advantage over his fellow voyagers, he will not fail to administer unfriendly kicks to all within the stretch of his limbs. In this world infallibili y-that vain dream of mortals-is not by any means confined to Rome, nor even to Lhassa, but permeates the whole army of the seekers, whether they be seekers for pearls in the east, for roots in the west, or for mere bread and butter amongst the ordinary race of mortals.
THE HONGKON 1 WEEKLY PRESS AND
19
[November 27, 1905.
[Our attention has already been drawn to this matter, which appears to require instant and earnest attention,
The multiplication of these instances of dilatory notice argues against any plea of oversight." We understand the Postal Authorities are in no way to blame, being, indeed, inconvenienced with the public.
+4
"Reasonable notice has to be given of the departure of mail steamers; and it would be interesting to have a judicial definition; the public or commercial opinion is that, as the Korea's departure must have been known the previous day, its publication the same morning was not reasonable notice.
Perhaps the Chamber of Commerce might consider the matter.
AN INSANITARY VILLAGE,
the origin of the two names is identical with the similar tribes, who some eighteen centuries B.C., took their road across the Hindu Kush and finally settled in the North-west of India. The Li Min of Shuking similarly crossed the hill country at the head of the Oxus, and thence made their way through what is now the desert of the Takla Makan to North-western China. Had Mr. Parker only studied Mencius in the original, he would have learnt not only the fact of the migration, but the causs which brought it about. Mencius says (I. ii. 15): "When King Tai lived in Pin, the Tiks were continually eucroaching-the more he gave the moe they wanted." At last he called together bis chiefs. "What these Tiks want is our land; why grieve over the loss of our principality? I'll be your leader, let us leave Pin and cross We may add that the above communication the Liang Shan (the Ts'nng mountains of later is not the only one we have received. Echoes of Chinese story), and raise a new home at K'i a very general complaint continued to arrive Shan." No one with a knowledge of ancient yesterday; some of our correspondents supposing Central Asian myth and ethnography can fail that the responsibility for the omission lay with to connect the Chinese Tik, or rather Dik, for the publishers of the mail list. It is an extra- the word is in the lower tone, with the Dahakaordinary thing to us that the shipping company of the Zoroastrian story.
concerned should fail to recognise that its But Mr. Parker somewhat innocently betrays self-interest marches with its duty to the public. his inspiration in bis want of ordinary kuow--ED.] ledge of English. Who were the "Geougen Tartars? With a most astounding extravagance of written symbols, Deguignes, it is true, did thus denominate the tribes called in the Wei Shu the Jujwan (according to modern northern pronunciation); Mr. Parker's philologi- cal knowledge might, it was to be expected, have taught him that the initial of North China is of recent origin. The older southern dialecta use y, so that Yuwan is the intended sound; and from Yuwan to Uwar, or Uvar, is not a very Notably the narrower has been our purviewr, dangerous step for even Mr. Parker to essay. and the tinier the eyelet hole through which They were, as Gibbon guessed from instinct, his we have been permitted to peep into the secrets Avars who overran southern Russia, and carried of Elysium, the more cocksure we are in our
fear to Byzantium. But his authority of presumed innate infallibility, and the more
Deguignes is responsible for his worse blunder prone to administer the one kick, hoping it to of confounding Han (or rather Hunn), with be as effective as that by which Zens drove the Hiang Nu, a philological impossibility, by the intruing Hephaestus out of Olympus. Such way, as Mr. Parker, even, would have seen had were, indeed, my reflections when the other day he only learnt the A.. B. C. of the science a friend placed in my band the October number apart from philology; if Mr. Parker had read of the Asiatic Quarterly Review. That Review his Ammianus Marcellinas, he would have learnt is primarily devoted to India, but makes that the Huns (Hanni) who followed Attila Incursions now and then into more Oriental were swarthy short men with hairless faces and regions. In the number referred to Mr. E. Hittle eyes, like holes in a blanket-typical Parker in his essays to mount his ladder has been falling foul of a work recently published by Mr. Jernigan on China in Law and Com merce. I hold no brief from Mr. Jernigan to pose as his champion, but as Mr. Parker has gone out of his way to initiate an attack on me personally, I may, leaving private pique on one side, be permitted, in the interest of Chinese studies, to make a few remarks in reply.
Amongst students of the modern language of China and its numerous dialects Mr. Parker has gained an honourable pre-eminence, and his words are weighty, and not without due reason presented to be set aside and neglected: he is besides engaged in the important task of seeking to spread in England a knowledge of China and of things Chinese; but this very position should have taught him discretion. Neither from study nor personal predilection is Mr. Parker sufficiently skilled to enable him to enter on discussions affecting the philosophy of language or history; his philology has never isen above empiricism; his ethnography, in spite of much travelling, may be described as pre- richardian. Still I do not hesitate to confess that I have derived much useful information from him, which I have done my best from time to time to acknowledge. When, however, like the cobbler going beyond his last, he has essayed to soar into the un- explored realms of ethnography and compar- ative philology, his native awkwardness becomes almost painfully evident. He has, for instance, attributed to me some theory of what he calls the "Sanoritic origin of Confucius' Odes." The eccentricity, as he describes it, of the supposed theory is fortunately all his own, and has arisen from his own misconceptions of both history and comparative philology. In the first place, as a mere matter of history Confucius never made "Odes," nor even pretended to have done so; and in the second, what he misunderstands as “Sanscritic origin," was a misconception of the entire meaning of what I had stated as to the intimate blood-relationship of the people, who as Li Min (Ploughmen) or Aryan men, for
But
Arimaspians, I have called them-whilst the Hiang Na, from all indications we can gather from Chinese sources, were one of the tail well featured and fair-complexioned peoples who, as late as the Wei Shu, inhabited all the lands west of Barkul. In disposition they were, according to all history, brave and open, which the other certainly never were.
But perhaps Mr. Parker's library does not
even
contain 8 copy of Klaproth's Tableaux Historiques where this erroneous idea of Deguignes was pulverised nearly a century 8 go. O'est un abus que l'historien ne peut tolerer d'aucune maniere, says he, and though old Klaproth may have been eccentric, and
cared as his enemies
to affirm, 8 fabricator; he had yet in his little finger more learning than existed in the entire body of Deguignes, even with Parker thrown in. At all events it is probably one of the highest honours to which an earnest student can attain to fined himself jeered at with Klaproth; and pelted with opprobrions epitaels by the "Sinologists"
T. W. K.
A SERIOUS BUSINESS
INCONVENIENCE.
K
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY PRESS.
Hongkong, 21st November. SIB,-As a subscriber to your valued paper, I ask: Can you give us any explanation why the American Mail Steamers Manchuria of 7th inst, and Korea of to-day's date were not advertised as carrying mails till a few hours before their departure? Much as the mercantile community of Hongkong appreciate your Mail Extra, there invariably appears to be a lack of information of the movements of the Pacific Mail S.S. Co.'s steamers. Such an important mail as the American mail cannot be got together in a few hours' notice.
Thanking you in anticipation.
MERCANTILE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "DAILY PRESS,”
Hongkong, 23rd November. SIR, A few days ago as I was strolling through the Yaumati district, admiring the rapid growth of the place and the improvements which have been effected during the past five years, I noticed a large number of newly built Chinese houses, north of the Police Station, vacant. On inquiring from the owner why these could not be let, he replied that there appeared to be no demand for houses in the locility. On questioning him further I learned that the trouble was the insanitary condition of what is known as the Un Chau Tsai village. The matsheds which constitute this, he said, were erected on Crown land, the majority of them without permission. The village was in a filthy condition, and a menace to the health of the neighbourhood.
On visiting the village I found it as described. At, the foot of the hill I saw a man who said he was a coal coolie. He was erecting a small matshed with filthy material, and on my asking him whether he had obtained permission to do this he replied in the negative. I trust that this will attract the notice of the Sanitary Authorities, and that on my return to Yaumati this menace to the public health will have been removed.-Yours, etc.
PROGRESSIVE.
PROPOSED AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHIC CLUB.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE. “DAILY PRESS,' Hongkong, 23rd November. DEAR STE,—The present Long Hing Photo graphic exhibition seems to me a very good ideal and 1 only regret that we probably shall not have a similar exhibition in Hongkong. Such an exhibition no doubt does a lot of good to amateurs, especially for those starting photo- Just have a glance graphy here in the tropics. at Mr. Harold W. Merill's fine collection, does it not teach us a lot in motive, light, get up and even naming of pictures? Hongkong, the New Territory, Canton and the West river with all their magnificent sceneries offer ample opportunity to amateurs. Yearly or half yearly exhibitions showing the members' work, donbt- less will bring local amateur photographing to a higher standard. I think it would be a great thing to start an amateur photographic club as it exists in various other coast ports, which as regards scenery cannot rival with our beautiful island.Yours truly.
AN AMATEUR.
The Osaka dahi reproduces a facsimile of an autograph message from Mr. Bryan, worded as follows:"Seam has made us neighbours ; let justice make us friends. Yours truly, W. J. Bryan. Nov. 8, 1905." It is a well-expressed and cordial message.
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