Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/162

154 visitations, and insisting, as far as possible, upon the provision of proper air-space, ventilation, and sanitation.

In this neighbourhood are situated several hotels where the mysteries of Chinese "chow" await the intrepid; two theatres in which Chinese conceptions of the drama find weird expression; the Tung Wah Hospital, a purely Chinese institution maintained by voluntary contributions; the Government Civil Hospital, a large and well-designed building affording extensive accommodation; and the Nethersole Hospital. This last is affiliated with the Alice Memorial Hospital at the corner of Hollywood Road and Aberdeen Street, a useful and philanthropic institution, which serves also as the headquarters of the Hongkong College of Medicine for Chinese. A little higher up Aberdeen Street, with its chief frontage in Staunton Street, is Queen's College, the chief educational institution of the Colony.

At the opposite end of the town are the Military Hospital, a fine range of buildings along Bowen Road at an elevation of 400 feet above sea-level; and the Royal Naval Hospital, occupying a small eminence at the eastern extremity of Queen's Road.

On the other side of the Gap is Happy Valley, the great rallying point of those who take an interest in out-door sports. A level stretch of green sward enclosed by lofty fir-clad hills, it bears a remarkable resemblance to Grasmere, in the English lake district. Around it runs a circular racecourse, seven furlongs in circumference, and, within this, ample provision has been made for cricket, football, and golf. On the occasion of the annual races, which are held under the auspices of the Hongkong Jockey Club in February, the whole Colony makes holiday for three days, and the course is crowded. The excitement and enthusiasm inseparable from an English meeting are, however, entirely absent here, the proceedings being conducted with a funereal decorum. This may be traceable to the close proximity of the trimly-kept cemeteries—Mahomedan, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Parsee, and Hindu—which cover the side of the hill at the rear of the grand-stand as though designed, like the death's-head at the Roman feast, to serve as a reminder of the transient nature of earthly pleasures.

Beyond Happy Valley lies the Chinese fishing village of Shaukiwan, in a sheltered bay near the Ly-ee-mùn Pass. This can be reached by the electric tramway which runs from Belcher's Bay on the west, through the city of Victoria to this point, in all, a distance of nine and a half miles. On the way several large factories are passed, chief among them being the important sugar refilling works on the left, and the large cotton-spinning works on the right, of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson &amp; Co., at Causeway Bay, and the huge sugar refinery and shipbuilding yard of Messrs. Butterfield &amp; Swire at Quarry Bay.

A winding path between the hills leads to Stanley by way of Tytam Tuk, a little village nestling among trees at the head of Tytam Bay, the most extensive inlet on the southern coast. Stanley was formerly a military station, but it was abandoned by the troops for reasons which are explained only too eloquently by the graves that fill the cemetery on the point. Five or six miles west of Stanley is Aberdeen, which possesses a well-sheltered little harbour much frequented by fishing craft, also two large docks, a paper mill, and the Colony's only brick, pipe, and tile manufactory. From Aberdeen there is a choice of two carriage roads to Victoria—one leading to Bonham Road through Pokfolum, formerly a favourite place of resort for European residents in hot weather; and the other, constituting a portion of the new Diamond Jubilee Road, passing through most charming scenery to the Tramway Terminus at West Point.

From Queen's Road a number of steep roads and paths ascend the lower slopes of the hills, which above the centre of the city are dotted with attractive residences, thickly at first, and then at wider intervals as the Peak is approached. These residences—of solid masonry embowered in green—are approached by well made zig-zig paths shaded with trees. Conspicuous by reason of its beauty and its isolation is Marble Hall, the home of Sir Paul Chater, which contains a collection of china. Ascending by way of Garden Road, which is the beginning of a delightful though rather exacting walk to the summit, one passes, on the right, the Anglican Cathedral of St. John, rising out of a wealth of tropical foliage. Though of no particular style, but with a tendency to Gothic, this edifice is not lacking in beauty. The square tower, surmounted