China from a medical point of view in 1860 and 1861 : to which is added a chapter on Nagasaki as a sanitarium / by Charles Alexander Gordon.

  • Gordon, C. A. (Charles Alexander), Sir, 1821-1899.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: China from a medical point of view in 1860 and 1861 : to which is added a chapter on Nagasaki as a sanitarium / by Charles Alexander Gordon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    CHAPTER II. HONG KONG. The island as seen from the anchorage—Completeness of the expedition to the north—First impressions—The Chinese population—A patriarchal dinner party—Floating houses—Their female occupants—Early rising not practised, and why ?—Troops at Hong Kong—Available accommodation—The Sani- tarium at the Peak—Eapid rise of Hong Kong—A cause of sickness— Despatching invalids—Necessity for steam transport—French arrangements —A suggestion—Weather in August—Indications of storm—Rain and water supply—General climate—Medical history of Hong Kong and Southern China. Hong Kong is one of an extensive group of islands in the estuary of the Canton or Pearl River, to which the name of Ladrone or Pirates’ Island was given by the Portuguese, from the circumstance that numerous hordes of freebooters formerly and even still lie coneealed among them, ready to attack the weak and unprepared. As, on the 21st June, 1860, we approached the high, rocky, and inhospitable member of the group, which constituted England’s only possession in China, a road, apparently cut from the face of the solid roek, was the first indication we ob- served of the island being inhabited by British, for where will they not make roads, if it is in the power of man, by excavating rocks, by filling ravines, or by bridging gorges and valleys to do so ? Turning round by Glreen Island, first one or two.houses built in the European style appeared, then their number, size, and architectural pretensions increased. The roadstead, dotted with numbers of vessels of all sizes, and surrounded, as it were, upon aU sides by mountain ridges as if it were a highland lake opened fully to our view. And now we are abreast of the principal part of Hong Kong; the engines slackened, the anchor