The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1897-09-17
LIFE IN HONG KONG.
A City Of Picturesq Structures
and Uproarious Smells.
How the Europeans Pass Their Time
When Not Engaged in Business-Dens
of Iniquity Where Jack Tar
Is Insnaredo

In Hong Kong the English equivalent
of which is Fragrant Streams" the
Chinaman shows a'developed taste for
tenementhptrses
Hundreds Of pig tails will crowd into
a house built for one ordinary Euro
pean family. All the accommodation
the coolie boarder asks is shelf COM
modious enough to smoke opium on
when he has any.
Each sleeping-room, says the Chicago
News, is converted into kind of gil
gantic apple cupboard, with tiers of
shelves all round from floor to ceiling,
divided up into lengths of six or seven
feet. The cellars are called into
requisition, and, in San Francisco at
any rate, the proprietors excavate cata-
combs under the street to extend their
sickening dormitory accommodation.
Outwardly, however, in Hong Kong the
abodes of the Chinese are often quite
picturesque, for they have their triple
arcades like any other Hong Kong
street, and over the balustrades of
these the 'tenementers' clothes are gen
orally hanging out, the bright butch
er's blue affected by the coolie class of
course predominating. These arched
and draped dwellings are piled up
furthermore in terrace upon terrace on
the steep slopes Of the island; for Hong
Kong is hung about mountain eight
cen hundred feet high above the sea.
If, however. the visitor wishes TO see
Hong Kong at It's very worst let him
dive under one OF the forbidding black
archways 81 the bottom of The Hill
of Great Peace" and see the type of grog
shop and music hall and female char
| actcr to which Tommy Atkins intro
duces Jack Tar when a new queens
| ship comes in amid a roar from the bat
| teries and the men-of-war of half
dozen nations. AS the Chinese wear
piles OF padded clothing, wash them
selves very little and use a species of
nettoyage for making their clothes APP
pear clean, the atmosphere of this
forcing bed for the plague may be i'm
agined.
| The European portion of the city is,
however, so healthy that not single
case Of the plague has occurred in it,
though the Chinese are dying off like
flies. The apex of European life in
Hong Kong is the Peak-in two senses.
It is the highest point in the island
eighteen hundred feet above sea level
and as soon as a man becomes
wealthy enough he buys bungalow
there for q summer residence in addi-
ton to his winter home nearer bust
ness. There is also popular and IA
nous hotel near the summit He
reaches the Peak swinging in sedan
chair on the necl1s Of four stout coolies
or by a climbing railway which rises so
perpendic11larly in places as to scare
the life out Of stranger
There are seven or eight thousand
Europeans to the one hundred and fifty
thousand Chinese in Hong Kong, and
they have means of beguiling their
| time which are the envy of the English
colonies in Japan. In the first place
there are the gambling bells at Ma
Gao and Kowloong, the strip of British
territory On the other side-of the har-
Dor. Then there are the excellent
pony races held in the beautiful Hap
py Valley just outside the cemeteries,
Christian and heather. In the season.
toe, there are private theatricals as
| good as any in the world, and balls
galore, aided materially by the pres
ence Of half a dozen regiments, and a
dozen and a half men-of-war, and the
| purses of rich brokers. for Hong Kong
is TIE city of brokers; and last, but not
least, there is a delightful club right
in the heart of the city
An Open South Pole.
1t is evident that some china tic con-
ditions have existed in the neighbor-
hood Of the Antartic pole for the last
few years which have caused masses of
ice to appear in frequented waters by
the side of which our usual northern
icebergs are as molehills to mountains.
These, says the United Service, have
been so reported by masters of vessels
making passages in the extreme south
that there can be no mistake about it,
even allowing for imagination and ex-
aggeration No doubt many a ship re-
ported missing" found her fate upon
or among these ice masses Such be-
ing the case, it stands to reason that
the present would be favorable time
for exploration towards the south pole,
and efforts have been made for some
time to have the English government
undertake such mission, and endeavor
to discover whether great antarctic
continent, with its lofty volcanic noun
tain ranges, does really exist, and, in
i cidentally, what new hunting-grounds
for seals and cetaceanS are to be found.
Everybody Says So.
Casc2rets Candy Catlartic, the most won
derful medical discovery of the age. pleas
ant and refreshing to the taste, act gently
and positively on kidneys, liver and bowels,
j cleansing the entire system, dispel colds,
cure headache, fever, habitual constipation
ana 10, u, ionsness. Please buy and try box
VI y. =. Y. to-day; 10, %, SO cents. Sold and
guaranteed to cure by all druggists.
THE WONDERS OF SCIENCE.
Lung Troubles and CONSUMPTION Can