Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-07-06
THE GIBRALTAR OF THE EAST.
A Pen-Picture Of Hong Kong and its
Surroundings.

CIT or THE FAR EAST THAT BusrLEs WIFE
w.sTxnx LIYE-rHE pIsooMronrs or sunnxn
"A BIRD's-EYE VIEW OF THE HARBoR-THE TO
IIcENxN AND THE cKINAMxN.
From TEE srA.'s Travelling Commissioner
Hoxo Koxo, June s.
The first sight Of Hong Kong, the farthest
outpost Of the British empire and the fourth
port in the world, is disappointing. As you ap-
proach it from the north you enter a narrow
and unimposing pass; then you discover
couple Of sugar refneries covering the hills
with smoke; and when the city Of Victoria lies
before you It IL only st. Johns or vladivostock
on larger scale. II is piled up on the steep
sides Of the island without apparent purpose
or cohesion. Few fine buildings detach them
selves from the mass; there is no boulevard
along the waterfront, and the greater part of
the houses and offices in the immediate fore
ground, though many Of them are in reality
large and costly structures, look helter-skelter
from o little distance. In ones disappoint-
ment one remembers Mr.. Howell's caustic
Characterization Of the waterfront Of New
York-that after London and Liverpool 1t looks
as though the Americans were encamped there.
The face Of Hong Kong is not its fortune, and
anybody merely steaming by would never guess
the marvel it grows on closer acquaintance,
for few weeks investigation transfgures this
PERCEPTIONS island into one of the most as
tonishing spots on the earth's surface. BY an
inevitable alchemy. the philosophers stone Of
few correlated facts transforms ones disap-
pointment into stupefaction. Shangai was q
surprise, but Hong Kong Is revelation.
ABUsTLINa CITY.
When you land the inevitable 'ricksha carries
you through a couple Of streets, far from being
beautiful or well-managed but you forget this
in the rush of life about you. Messengers
jostle you, 'rickshas run over your toes, chair
poles dig you in the ribs The hotel clerk
smiles politely as he informs you that there
Later on your fellow-passengers envy you the
little rabbit-hole Of a bedroom you have Sc
cured at the top of the club. When you come
down again into the hall you find it crowded
with brokers of many nationalities, making
notes, laughing, whispering, drinking, but all
just as busy as they can be. And on the walls
and upon the tables are dozen printed sex
presses" timed with the minute at which they
were issued, and the mail and shipping noon
and afternoon ''extras" Of the daily papers, an
nouncing the arrivals and departures of steam
ers, the distribution Of cargoes, the sales by
auction and all the multitudinous movements
OF great commercial machine running at high
pressure. For, to apply to the far east the ex-
presslve nomenclature of the far west, Hong
Kong "just huns all the time Then the
chair friend has sent to take You to dinner
arrives, with its four coolies uniformed in
ue-and-white calico, and by another twist of
the kaleidoscope you find yourself, three min
uses after leaving the club, mounting an as
phalt roadway at an angle not far short of
forty-fve degrees, hemmed in above and on
either hand by great green palms and enor-
nous dropping ferns with fronds yards long.
among which big butterflies are playing round
long &c arlet flowers. For as soon as you begin
to ascend, the streets of Hong Kong might be
or Kau
ON THE LOWER LEVEL.
Hong Kong is built in three layers. The
ground-foor, SO to speak, or sea level, is the
commercial part Of the colony. The "Praya'
along the water edge is given up to shipping,
and is altogether unworthy of the place. 1t is
about to be changed, however, by magnificent
undertaking, OF which more by and by. The
next street, parallel to it, Queens road, is the
Broadway Of Hong Kong, and all the business
centers upon 1t. In the middle are the club,
postoffice, courts and hotels; then come all the
banks and offices and shops past these to the
east are the different barracks and as one grad
ually gets further from the center, the parade
ground, cricket ground, polo ground and race
pretty cemetery, the Happy valley" II the
other direction you pass all the Chinese shops
for foreigners and then get into Chinatown, a
quarter OF very narrow streets extremely dirty,
inconceivably crowded and probably about as
lied rule. This is all on the island of Hong
Kong, while across the harbor, in the British
territory Of Kowloon, q new city is springing up
splendid frontage ofwharves and warehouses
collection OF docks, one of which will take any
ship afoat except the new 10, 900 tons Teutonic
Of the White Star line; half dozen summer
houses, q little palace among them; the pleasure
gardens and kitchen gardens Of the commu-
nifty and private residences rising rapidly.
THE SECOND STORY.
The second story Of Hong Kong lies ten min
utes' climb up the steep side of the island
Here nearly everybody lives, and lives, too, in
luxury and ease that are not suspected at
home. Here is government house, q fine
official residence in beautiful grounds, lacking
and Lady Des V9ux to turn dining-room and
drawing-rooms upside down, to build supper
room in the garden. and even to convert his
| excellencys sanctum into q bar, whenever
Hong Kong society is invited to dance at gov
eminent house, which is very often the case in
| winter. II his excelency had not inaugurated
| 80 many schemes for enlargement and improve
| ment in the colony itself, involving for the mo-
ment all the superintendent and labor and
expense that can be spared, he would probably
have felt justified in calling upon Hong Kong
to build itself ballroom in which it would be
fittingly entertained. On this story Of Hong
Kong, too, Is headquarter house. where Gen.
Cameron and his family have just been sue
CeeOtu Dy 0eu EuWarOb. ana on THIS level
are the wonderful streets have already de-
| scribed, although one might as properly call
Windsor q house as to describe these palm
shaded walks and groves as streets.
THE PEAK.
Finally, there Is the third layer, the ton
story Of Hong Kong, known collectively as 1.-THE
Peak" The peak itself is one Of the highest
Of the hundred hills Of the island, rising pre-
cipitously behind the city to the signal station,
1928 feet above the sea, where q gun and
Flagstaff announce the arrival Of mails and
ocean steamers. But 1.-THE Peak" as q resi-
Dental district means all the hill-tops where
cool breezes from the sea blow in summer,
where one can sleep under blanket at night,
and where in q word one can spend summer
in Hong Kong with q reasonable probability of
being alive at the end Of 1t. Here everybody
who can afford 1t has q second house, and SO
many are these fortunate people that the stop
side" Of the island Is dotted all over with costly
houses and bungalows; there is one hotel and
another building, and q steam tramway runs
up and down every fifteen minutes The 1are
mp IL 30 cents-a shllling-and down half as
much. This Is startling enough, but better
notion OF the expense Of life here is convened
BY the fact that to havefa second house at ssThe
Peak for the summer, you must rent it for the
whole year, a. 1t Is uninhabitable in winter. At
rental Of e150 to &2O0 q month-abont =
sovereign day all the year round for four or
i've months residence. Besides this. there IL
a "a