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Rh resulted in a considerable extension of the city in size and beauty, Hongkong having now no equal in China with regard to health and comfort. Most of the vacant building lots within easy distance of the city were now built over and, though the city did not extend further to the eastward, the western suburbs were considerably expanded and numerous European residences were erected on the hill side near West Point. In 1860 and 1861 the Chinese settlement at Shaukiwan grew largely in importance as a depot for the exportation of salt fish. Owing to the delay in the settlement of the Kowloon land dispute, and in consequence of the doubts entertained as to the sanitary aspects of Peak residence, general attention was directed to Pokfulam where an ornamental villa settlement had been started by this time (1862) around Douglas Castle, in the vain hope of securing there a public health resort. Sir H. Robinson, however, had more faith in the Peak. He had a path cut (December, 1859) which led to the top of Victoria Peak and. after recovering from the Military Authorities the site of their abandoned Sanatorium, arrangements were made, in March 1860, for the erection on that site of a bungalow for the use of the Governor. The laying out of the Public Gardens, on the rising ground directly south of Government House, was undertaken by the Surveyor General's Department at the sole expense of the Government. Mr. Th. Donaldson was appointed (October 7, 1861) Curator, seeds and plants were procured from Australia and England and, on the completion of the work, the Gardens were thrown open to the public under certain regulations (August 6, 1864). In October, 1864, the military band commenced giving promenade concerts in the Public Gardens at stated intervals. It was noticed, in 1864, that a general increase had taken place in the vegetative surroundings of the town, and that the increased attention, given to the cultivation of trees along the public roads and around European dwellings on the hill side, had already done very much to displace the pristine barrenness of the site on which the city was built by patches of beautiful shrubbery.