CHAPTER VIII

OUR STRONGHOLD IN THE FAR EAST

HONG KONG AND THE KOWLOON HINTERLAND

Importance of Hong Kong as a naval and military base—An object‐lesson of Empire—Its marvellous rise—The constant menace of famine—Cause of Hong Kong’s prosperity—Its geographical position—An archipelago—Approaching Hong Kong by sea—First view of Victoria—A crowded harbour—The mainland—The Kowloon Peninsula—The city of Victoria—Queen’s Road—The Shops, hotels, banks—The City Hall—The palatial club—The Brigade Parade Ground—The base Commissariat Officer, Major Williams, I.S.C.—The Naval Dockyard—Sir Francis Powell, K.C.M.G.—Barracks and Arsenal—The Happy Valley—A _memento mori_—The polo ground—Lyeemoon Pass—The southern side of the Island—The Peak—The cable tramway—View from the Peak—The residential quarter—The floating population of Hong Kong—The sampans—Their dangers in the past—The rising suburb of Kowloon—The Hong Kong regiment—The docks—The Chinese city of Kowloon—Street scenes in Hong Kong—Social amusements of the colony—Society in Hong Kong and Kowloon—The Kowloon Peninsula—Danger to Hong Kong averted by its possession—Character of the peninsula—The frontier—The Chinese territory beyond it—The taking over of the Hinterland in 1898—A small campaign—The chances of a land invasion of Hong Kong—The garrison of Hong Kong—Advisability of mounted infantry _pages_ 169‐201