The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1897-12-17
in A MODEL CITY
Direct Evidence of English
Rule in Hong Kong.
City is Built on Slope of High Hill.
Some Expenses of the
Government.
Especial Correspondence


five busy days in this busting crowd
ed place. Imagine a peak six times
as high as Punchbowl, and a strip of
land at its base one-sixtieth of the !
distance from the wharf to the foot
of Punchbowl; and you will have some
idea of the situation of Hong Kong.
How it ever entered into anyone's mind
to build on such site great CONNER
cial mart, I cannot conceive. But
money and labor will accomplish won
ders. For homes, the hill sides have
been cut and levelled; roads cut on the
face of the cliff; a wire-rope tramway
runs up the PERCEPTIONS front, while
for warehouses and stores and offices,
the granite of the hill sides has been
hewn into blocks and built up into
a sea wall, and earth brought down
to fill out a level area to erect solid
granite structures, four and five stories
high. The streets are not wide, and the
lowest floor of the numerous balconies,
or verandahs, forms an arcade which
is in fact the sidewalk for pedestrians.
This style of architecture, straight up
and down, seems pile of oblong cells,
much as the cliff dwellers of Arizona
and New Mexico seem to have built.
When Stephens Travels in Arabia
Petra" was first published, l was
fascinated by his description of Petra,
with its homes and temples and shops;
but Hong Kong is romance in stone
of modern commercial enterprise.
On either end of it are the Chinese
quarters with the characteristics pecu-
liar to such places. But let no one
who has seen simply Chinese quarters
imagine he has seen a Chinese city.
One must go to Canton to get any idea
of what a Chinese city is. Hong Kong
is under English rule. 1t is a depot
for sailors and soldiers, and like every
garrison city with it's gay-coated Off
GERS, the ladies of the place must not
be behind in display of color and
form. But England has also a state
religion, and wherever an Englishman
goes he is not ashamed of his religion.
Here is a fine cathedral for an English
Bishop lin partibus infidelium," Pres
byterian church with an earnest
preacher of very decided convictions,
and an NJ E. Chapel. Why do not
our American merchants in foreign
lands exert some positive religious in
fiuence as do our English brethren
There are many romantic walks and
rides around Hong Kong. Some places
are inaccessible to the jinrikisha, and
people must go in chairs, borne by
two, three, or four coolies. They are
very comfortable, unless one has be-
fore him, as we did in Canton the
half starved form of brother man
with neck CALLED and calloused from
the heavy burden bearing of the daily
toll There is difference in the jim
rikishas in different localities. Those
for common hire here are not so much
ornamented as elsewhere; but they are
very roomy, and the Chinaman runs
close TO the body OF the vehicle. which
has iron prongs behind so that it
cannot tip backward. The regulation
fares are too low, and every ride ends
with an ALLEGATION with the coolies
demanding more than the pittance al
lowed by statute.
The first afternoon, the day of our
arrival, we went to the peak by the
tramway. It was weird sensation to
be held suspended in mid7height, look
ing down on the houses dotting the
hill side, and seeming to tip inward
But the view over the city and bay
as one ascends, is perfectly enhancing,
and the ride altogether too short to
satisfy the gaze of the enraptured
spectator. One of the unexpected in
cidents, that add to the pleasures OF
travel. befell us on this trip. Every
body that left our tram car took chairs
and started off in the same direction
We followed on, our coolies asking no
questions, and we giving no directions.
At last only one party was before us
and from the direction they took ii
was evident that we were not going
to the peak. They stopped and we
stopped. When they entered the build
ing. too large for an ordinary resi-
dence, we entered too, and found our
selves in the Peak Sanitarium, pri-
vate hospital But the lady in charge
received us most graciously, insisted
on serving us with a cup of tea with
the most dainty accompaniment, and
then kindly directed the coolies to take
us where we wanted to go.
The top of the peak has been levelled
and is laid out as a flower garden
while in the sheltered side is quite
an aviary. Many of the strange and
beautiful birds from the islands OF
Borneo and New Guinea were kept in
this aviary with its wire netting so
that they had abundant room to fly
about All this is done by private sub
scription, for Hong Kong's merchant
princes are public spirited men; and
supplement the large public expendi-
lures by generous gifts for public pur-
poses. 1t takes s2,343,7 30 to meet the
annual expenses of governmental ad-
ministration for this city of $4,000
people, 1t seems incredible that so
large a population can find house
room in such narrow limits; but the
houses are very high, and we know
the ability of the Chinese to pack
themselves away like herrings.
There is a circular pavilion, in
classic style of architecture, at the