The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-03-25

cry. Ills courage ana ueFOliOh were tdlEcu
of everywhere. and the government sent
him TO Japan to recuperate, which was the
least that IL could have done.
1t Is now believed that tho plague will
not return this season, although IL has not
been so easily stamped out in India. 1t is
undoubtedly travelling northward, and
quarantine regulations are enforced against
Port Arthur n Kobe and Youm Kots.
They are now getting ready for il in Pc
king-that is. the foreign doctors are study
ing and preparing themselves to deal with
IL, as they feel certain that they will be
called upon to do so. To make any sort Of
practicable sanitary reform with the aid
ana sanction of the imperial government
would be expecting the performance OF the
impossible. DR.. George Lowry, the son of
DR.. Lowry, president of the Methodist Uni
versity. went to Tongku several months
ago. offering his services to the quarantine
station there in order to study any cases
that might be discovered on the ships de-
tanned at that port. The physicians and
the public authorities have one great adj
vantage in dealing with the Chinese; that
Is. there are no caste superstitions TO COM
bat and they nave surprising faith in West
ern physicians and in Western methods Of
treating disease. This Is shown by their
liberal patronage of mission hospitals
the families of generals and of important
public officials being received as paying
| patients, while the public clinic, which is
freesto those who are too poor to pay, is
thronged by hundreds. fifty patients a day
being the average. In Shanghai the total
number in a month at the Woman's
Hospital in the native city runs up into
the thousands. They ave their own super
stitions-chie1y relative to luck, good or
bad, to the mysterious flung shuttle
malevolent or benevolent influence Of wind
and water, and a fear of ghosts and devils.
They also have an aversion to bath
ing, this neglect making them peculiarly
susceptible to disease. One rich Chinese
merchant in Hong-Kong said that he con-
sidered washing the body very unhealthy,
and h he, himself, had not had a bath
for ten years"
A child, as another example of their
aversion to caring for the body, was
brought to a friend of mine by a Christian
Chinese woman, that she might influence
the mother to take better care of 1t; the
| little creatures hair had not been combed
for months, and it was a living mass of
vermin which had not only bred in the
hair itself, but had eaten into the scalp.
The first step in treating the child was to
cut off the dreadful hair. after which the
doctor took the little creature regularly
in hand with s~alutary results.
SIGHTS OF HONG-KONG.
The promontory which rises, almost per-
pendicular, behind Hong-Kong is called the
Peak. Half the time ii is wreathed in
| clouds which come floating down across
the city in a fine mist that drenches one
like an April shower. There is a cable tram
up this dizzy incline, which whirls you to
the summit in a few minutes. To look down
upon the city and the shipping in the har-
Dor is a test of nerve and courage; the
houses appear at this great height like
trees of a toy village, and the steamers d.
minished to mere playthings in the great
distance.
A disused hotel, whose owner went into
bankruptcy, has been bought by the Brit
ish government and turned into a hos
pital and quarters for convalescent SOL
diers, who are greatly benefited by the
keen salt winds that sweep over the Peak
continually. There is also a new hotel
which is always full and which has had
for some months among it's guests our own
Lieutenant Hobson, who is greatly lionized
in Hong-Kong. where he is much admired
for his modesty and his manliness. IT is
said of him, in the foreign community"
as society is distinguished i'm the East.
hat much praising has not spoiled him,
and that his head has not been i'm the
least turned by his many brilliant honors.
He spent New Years day in Canton with
friends, being one of the distinguished
guests at the club ball where the English,
Americans and Germans danced the old
year out. To return to the attractions of
the Peak, one of some Importance is the
picturesque residence of a wealthy Jew
who came to Hong-Kong years ago with a
peddler's pack on his back. He went into
the opium trade and is now many times a
millionaire. The house is of brick-a rather
low structure spreading out over much
ground, with the deep shady balconies of
all houses throughout the East. There are
lawns set with such shrubs and plants as
can thrive in the buffeting b~reeze-rhodo-
dendrons, canellias and japonicas, and
there is a large garden with deer and
aviary and other attractions which is free
ly opened to the public. From the house
the view is unsurpassed-the entire sweep
of water which encircles the rocky island
upon which Hong-Kong is built, other lit
tie gray islands, with a view of the main
land, a generous strip of which the Eng
lish have recently annexed, and which now
makes them safe from being hemmed i'm by
an enemy who might approach from that
side opposite their own harbor. They can
now surround Hong-kong with men-of-
war. which anchor literally in what have
become British waters. The owner of this
mansion dispenses the most princely hos
pitality, and the garden parties and tifins
of summer are followed by costly dinners
and balls during the winter.
He owns whole streets in Hong-Kong.
and. it is said, went to London several
years ago. hired a dukes town house. fam
lily plate. portraits. servants. horses and
carriages and all. and half of London came
to eat his pate de foie gras and drink his
champagne-possibly foregoing the pleas
ure of being introduced to the host, after
the manner of very smart society folk.
This successful opium dealer had but two
children-two sons, the eldest of whom
within the year died after a short illness.
This bereavement so preyed upon the