8i6 



GA RDENERS MA GA ZINE. 



December 17, i8q8. 



sufficient sum to provide him with his day's food and lodgings ; after that 

 he takes a rest. Consequently the crowds who throng the streets in the 

 morning are replaced by others in the afternoon. It takes a very little to 

 support a man and his family; in fact, the coolies employed in the gardens, 

 and coolies in general, only get six dollars per month, which put into 

 English money means eleven shillings and sixpence at the present rate 

 of exchange. Of course, a Chinaman subsists on very little from our 

 point of view. If he has a little rice with a bit of fish or vegetable added 

 to it he is contented. A man in a better position than the average 

 coolie, say getting ten or twelve dollars a month, is in a position to keep 

 two wives. A man in the gardens, receiving eleven dollars a month, is in 

 the happy position of having two better halves. How would a European 

 manage to do such a thing on twenty shillings per month, supposing it 

 were permissible ? If a man is in a sufficiently prosperous condition to 

 be able to pay for a wife he has to do so, and I will 



going, gone," than the floor gave way, and auctioneer, buyers and rood* 

 were precipitated to the basement below, some of the people receiving 

 serious injuries. The fact of the matter was the beams of the floor had 

 been destroyed by white ants, and the unusual weight of so many persons 

 had caused them to give way. Centipedes are sometimes met with in 

 old houses, and their bites are very dangerous. " ' " 



that people are bitten by them. 



mm mm m « 



It is seldom, however, 

 borne of them are fine, big fellows, six 



inches in length and an inch in breadth, of a rich chestnut colour which 

 sometimes changes to green. Of reptiles snakes may be mentioned 

 There are many kinds found on the island, both poisonous and non 

 poisonous, but it is very rare indeed to hear of a snake bite. The cobra 

 is included in the list of poisonous ones, and the rock snake, a reptile 

 about eight feet long, in the non-poisonous list. 



So far I have not mentioned our seasons, although I stated that it 



amusing case which came under my notice. A man— he was earning 

 eight dollars per month— bought a wife for eighty dollars, and after he 

 had been married three months his wife died. He was relating his mis- 

 fortune to me, and I naturally sympathised with him, thinking that he 

 had lost a good partner, and one to whom he was greatly attached. As 

 he unfolded his story I found out, however, that it was not the loss of his 

 wife he was lamenting, but the loss of the eighty dollars, and he coolly 

 informed me that it had been a very bad speculation, and that he hoped 

 his next venture in the same line would turn out more successfully A 

 Chinaman in a good position in Hong Kong who had four wives once told 

 me that he should think Europeans had a comfortable time with only 

 one, whereas he had a very lively time of it occasionally when the whole 

 lot turned on him. 



tell you of an looked like our summer at the time of my arrival in the colony. 



To 



a newcomer it is 



very amusing to watch the change which 

 comes over some of the men during the winter season 

 often become enormously stout. 



very thin men 



. , , The reason of this is they move about 



so slowly that they are unable to keep themselves warm, and have to put 

 on coat a ter coat to make themselves comfortable. Instead of seeing a 

 man with a coat of many colours, you will see him with many coats of 

 many colours and when he has a dozen on, which is not at all uncom- 

 mon, his sudden obesity is easily explained. They have a great dislike 

 to be hurried over anything and if you want a thing done quickly you 

 had better do it yourself. Suppose that you have ordered something 

 from a tradesman, and he has failed to finish it by the time promised, if 

 you speak to him about it he will tell you that there is another day to- 

 morrow, and you wdl find that there are a good many to morrows before 

 the thing is completed. As the summer comes on the stout gentlemen 

 gradually assume then- natural proportions again, and in the height of 

 summer all that they burden themselves with is a pair of pants, made as 

 short as possible. Of course, I am speaking of the working class, as the 

 labourer is always in the majority. 



The coolie class, generally speaking, is illiterate, but one day, in my 

 peregrinations, I thought that I had come across an exceptionally intelli- 

 gent individual m the shape of a naturalist. I was passing by this 



bn^rl ar nfr S a ° n H S u ^ 1 ^ th&t he WaS e q ui PP ed with a 



U,£r£ y ? V and , was J n . the act of catching some of those beautiful 

 SSSI" - PP r 11 * 1 ,nc l u,red 0f him his reason for catching those 



S nf e t^ t,n i?\ 0f , C0U I rSe ' l ° hear that he was maki "g a scientific 

 SiJffS 1 ^ alas! my hopes were doomed to disappointment. 



H W I k at r mV i makee Catch that P iecee butterfly ? Why, bye- 



mv Zr.t .It 6 g0t „P lei L ty u Smallee P iecee worm ! he ma kee chow-chow 

 wnXhT.^ r: w h.ch, put into English, meant that his cabbages 



nreven^d ThJL? ™f Cater P ll,ars ™'ess he caught the butterflies, and 

 muZ ml,;* f ° m lay l" g eg ? S - Whilst on lhe sub j e * of insects I 

 will heT n iiX °. thos * whlch Europeans find objectionable, and I 



f , qUU °u Newcomers suffer from these blood-suckers 

 the,r hWH '-c after u th ey haye been in the tropics for a year or two 



Ih" are^ne^le^t aloT g - f °- r - * ^ a " d 



unadulterated article best. 



These pests like the genuine, pure, and 



r lte a r a 2 e ° article Dest - W ^sts and ankles are their favourite 



S ' th 7 Can pur ' ue their nefarious practices through 

 woollen garment quite easily. You are just dropping off to sle. 



a thick 

 leep when 

 ow at once what 



I thi r 3 f b ^ ZZ,ng SOUnd at y° ur ear > and yofkn. 

 to kiin-?« US rfrn°i 2 °u make fra ntic efforts to silence it by attempting 

 ion, W P - er by A r Cating the air mad 'y with your hands in all direc 

 settf; thi nZ T am ' Afte , r a restless half-hour < r so you get a light and 

 until tnl IT T °K Ce f ° r , a "' aS y° u think ' for there ' s no keeping 



the Si Y ° U then turn int ° bed a S ain > u "der 



a niXwnnL " at T S f omethin S attempted, something done, has earned 

 Lother h ? Ut y ° U a J e mista ken, for in a few minutes you hear 



to be ^n. .fc I ° nger than the first > and the same Pantomime has 

 under m™l;^° Ug ^ again ' , Man y P eo P le def v these insects by sleeping 

 buWarnnnH CUrtam ? U is certainl y vei T P Ieasant to h^r them 

 reach bm thf y °? ^ y ° U know that V ou are safely out of their 



C^52ir£. St ° f U 15 * 15 30 Rightfully hot underneath curtains. 

 Cockroaches are innumerable, and often 

 are particularly fond of the covers of 



toes? nests co y mr^ leSS v 1 * , has warned oi tne ravages 



foM^B^V^ 1 ^ good - S they also have a Vuliar 



Illcty Ue Preserved frnm tV»*>ii- rl*>nt-^otir*«c by 



do much damage. They 

 books, and woe to the new 

 warned of the ravages that 



also 



. , , . , ~* - ww* v „w. Well, 



we divide the seasons into two only, the hot and the cold, and do away 

 with spring and autumn. The hot season commences in April or May 

 and lasts until the first or second week in October, and as a matter of 

 course the cold season must be from October until April or May. The 

 seasons agree with the monsoons ; when the south-west monsoon sets in 

 our summer begins, and when the north-east monsoon comes in our winter 

 comes with it. The summer is also the rainy season, and during its six 

 months we have nearly the whole of our rainfall, on an average about a 

 hundred inches a year. During the winter very little rain falls, and this 

 season is certainly very much like an English summer, perhaos a little 

 colder at nights towards the end of January and the whole of February. 

 Our temperature during the summer ranges from 85 degrees to 94 

 degrees Fahr. in the shade during the day, and from 80 degrees to 85 

 degrees Fahr. at night. About three months ago people in London were 

 crying out with having to put up with a week or two of high tempera- 

 ture, but what would they do if they had six months of it ? I suppose 

 they would become accustomed to it and take it as a matter of course, the 

 same as we do. During the summer we have what are locally termed 

 typhoons, another word for circular storms. The amount of damage done 

 by them is very considerable when the colony receives the full force of 



~ Trees and houses are blown down, and junks and ships are 



The force of the wind is tremenious, and I have never 



such a gale. 



driven ashore. 



— — — — ■ - - — mmmm — - * mm m • » »* « w - # A A v-. w \^ X 



experienced anything like it in Englapd, although other people may have. 

 I remember once being carried off mv feet in one of these storms, and 

 sailing along quite merrily for a considerable distance towards a brick 

 wall. It was a new wall and ( did not want to damage it, but I was at a 

 loss to understand how I was going to prevent it, for I was travelling at a 

 good rate. Suddenly I alighted on my feet about ten feet from the wall, 

 and you may be sure I breathed freely again when I fully realised that 

 the wall remained undamaged. Whilst I have been in England I have 

 often been asked if it rained continuously during the rainy season when I 

 have been telling people that we had a rainy season of six months. In 

 case there are any others who are in doubt on the subject, I may as well 

 state that we have much fine weather through the summer. The fine 

 days, however, are very humid. 



Many folks ask how we live in Hong Kong, what we eat and what 

 we drink ; they seem to think that we live in a barbarous country, and 

 exist on nuts and roots. Well, we obtain very much the same kind of 

 eatables and drinkables as people in the old country. Fowls, beef, and 

 mutton are to be had at all times, and game when in season, as well as 

 turkeys and geese. Vegetables, such as cabbage, cauliflowers, spinach, 

 turnips, carrots, vegetable marrows, kidney beans, peas, and celery, are 

 ~u4.~,~~ui~ .1 . , and Chinese spinach (a species of 



obtainable during the winter months , ~ t v - - r 



Amaranthus), bringals, octros, sword beans (Onavalia), and sweet corn 

 through the summer. Lettuce, watercress, and mustard and cress can 



~ suc h as straw- 



be had all the year round. We win mc *>ugii*u — « 



berries (although we are beginning to be able to grow them), raspberries, 

 gooseberries, and currants. Apples are imported from Australia and 

 California, and pears come from North China. Tropical fruits that we 

 have include mangoes, pumelos (or grape fruits, as they call them in the 

 West Indies), persimmons, lichees, pineapples, bananas, and oranges. 

 There are two or three dairy farms in the island, so that we can obtain 

 new milk daily. Many things are imported from England in tins, such as 

 butter, jam, and pickles. Wines and spirits are also imported, and as 

 there is no duty on them they are much cheaper than they are in England. 

 Good Manila cigars may be had at three dollars (6s.) per hundred, and 

 as they are so cheap very few people smoke pipes. The Chinese are 

 great smokers, their favourite smoke being the cigarette, made from 

 Chinese tobacco, and generally very strong, and not at all palatable to 

 Europeans. There are two or three very large sugar refineries in the 

 place, so that we can sweeten our tea or toddy— if we take it— according 

 to taste. 



March and October are the two busiest months in the gardens for seed 



In the former month we sow our flower and vegetable seeds for 



earn 

 s very 



■ »ui vermes;, wmch is not an ant 



and many other things are often des 

 slightest suspicion that anything is am L 



on the floor without anything „nrf « coxes Iun 01 gooas ' sta naing 



shells when you go to open them unW I ' ^ nothing but mere can 8° <l uite easily for "five" miles' "without resting. The chairs are 

 I ' T he ants c <^mence unS J^Vy Pa ' d c ° nstant attentl « n generally used for hill work, and are carried by two or four cool.es. 



devouring hnv#>c , c u naerneath the boxes and work uowards. Fmm tfc«* ^ , ' r _ t which a number of people 



— 9 — ^ — ^ — — 



Books, clothes, furniture 

 royed before their owner has the 

 Boxes full of goods, standing 



sowing, 



our summer supplies, and in the latter month those which are to give us 

 our winter supplies. Nearly all goods, whether light or heavy, are carried 

 by the Chinese by means of bamboos across their shoulders. It i 

 seldom that they use a wheelbarrow or trolly. It is a quite common 

 thing to see a Chinaman with a bamboo across his shoulder with a small 

 basket of goods, weighing three or four pounds, on one end of it, and a 

 stone or brick on the other end to balance it. We travel by means of 

 jinrickshaws, or rickshaws, as we shorten the word down to, and chairs. 

 The rickshaws are small, two-wheeled carriages with shafts fixed to them, 

 pulled by coolies ; and it is surprising the distance a coolie will take you, 

 going at a good speed, without stopping. On a good level road they 



can fifO Quite easilv n«kmt r«tinor The 



a sale in a 



house , n Hon, Konf anH hl\ j auctIoneer ™**™*g within about ten minutes of the busy centre. 



- ^"ng, and he had no sooner said Going, Hong Kong Botanir n„~s„~c 



J 



