Hong Kong Hotel, Tuesday afternoon, May 17/98.
I got all I had prepared off by the outgoing mail last Saturday: 2 letters, 3 packages. On Saturday I spent the forenoon in the gardens & a very happy time I had amongst the flowers & foliage. Oh, how I did wish you had been with me, just your enjoyment. Every description of flower & all in such perfection, & flowering trees & shrubs. The rhododendron has just finished, but I saw only here & there a bush with a few on & they must have been a sight when all in full bloom, then ferns, ordinary & extraordinary. To see the tree ferns just beginning to shoot their f[r]onds, would interest you. Then around the fountain are lovely pots of flowers, many well known. The heliotrope is a lovely flower & varied colours. Its perfume was perfectly fascinating & in the water were lillies [sic] & many other kinds, & much lovely lotus flower. Then the beautiful terraces & beds of flowers, & graceful dwarf palms &c., & looked so enticing I could not but wish you were present. These gardens are on the hill side, but Hong Kong is on the hill side, no levels, excepting the harbour front, & the government has & are still reclaiming acres of land [3:97] & this is a stupendous work here, but of such value, incalculable. I got a few snaps in the gardens: the fountain twice & the statue of Sir Arthur Kennedy, & the terrace I liked best &c. &c. I have such a liking for these gardens that I have been in them every forenoon, & on Sunday morning an hour before church time. Church not 5 minutes off, then just after 12, I walked out of the gardens & along a fine street called Caine Road, where are very beautiful residences, & I wandered away to the Chinese settlement, but it was then very hot & smells not agreeable. I took rickshaw & moved about hotelwards. I rested after lunch then after a cup of tea, set off to visit the cemeteries (4) at Happy Valley, & the European cemetery is a perfect paradise[1]. I never imagined anything so pretty, really beyond description. Such foliage & flowers, & so perfectly kept & the pretty designs of memorial stones far & away beats any I had ever before seen. A pretty fountain plays too, & being on hill sides, all graves are on terraces & have such a grand effect. I noted they always have 12 to 20 graves ready excavated. I enquired & they said it must be so as death during the day is interred same day. I can well believe that to be necessary. Here am I writing this with only my pyjama pants on, nothing else. [3:98] I had to strip this afternoon & get all dried over the verandah rails just out of my bedroom door, get into a bath, then lay on bed to cool. I started to write after feeling [it?] with pyjamas on, but had soon to throw off the jacket. The sweat is just oozing out of the back of my hands as I press the pencil. Oh, it is hot! However, it is drier today. The air has been so moist that all my boots & leather bags & portmanteau are turning milldewed [sic]. That is common here, especially about this time of year. Everything smells of milldew [sic] & fustiness, & there’s no help for it, however, I took the advantage of the fine sunshine this afternoon & had got my boots all dried & some clothes too. All I put off today were very wet. Well, I next visited the Mahomedan cemetery, and the Catholic, but neither worth a visit. The Parsee looks beautiful. I had it to visit yet. They all adjoin but divided by walls, & they over look Happy Valley, which is race course, cricket, football, golf, gymnasium &c. &c., a lovely place & well cared for. Hong Kong & Kandy are the only places so far I have yearned for you to be with me, & they are charming. I think Hong Kong a most beautiful place but terribly blasted & pestilential. It seems to be native to the soil, otherwise it is well supervised by our government authorities here.
[3:99]
(I have to have the sponge & towel near me to wipe my hands every now and again). On Sunday I went out about 9:30 & got a chair (2 coolies, few people walk here) & went into the gardens & enjoyed an hour before church. I met Mr. Plage near the gate at church & sat with him, a good congregation & a nice service, identical with ours, & church praise. We sang hymns 15, Ps. 122, anthem 15, hymn 414 & 407. Text John 14 & 2, & a most happy sermon. When we came out, Mr. Plage & I walked down to the level. He said Mr. Roberts wasn’t expected back till Tuesday, however, he saw her in when we got near the water, & he would have me go on board, & we stayed there till 5:30. I wanted to go to church at night to see & hear the soldiers & sailors, “tars”, so we all came ashore – no quays – all lay off buoys, & sampans, boats, take you to & from, hundreds of them & such touting long before you get near the edge (after they get all reclaimed that’s possible they intend running stone piers out. There are 3 or 4 now already in use).
I went to church – chair up – & they went away down to East Point, their quarters. I did enjoy the night service. It was nearly full, all doors windows (door shape) all open, every thing open, & surrounded with foliage. One side of the church is against the hill & the look out is charming.
[3:100]
The soldiers & sailors did join heartily. Seats are free at night. We sung hymn 344, 118, 287, 343, 499, no psalm, & the text, “Looking unto Jesus” Heb 12 & 2, & very grand. I stopped to the soldiers’ and sailors’ prayer meeting. Minister’s wife (Williams) then took harmonium & asked out, “what hymn?” (Moody & Sankey) & they called out, so at it they went. Then the minister asked them to begin & no delay, first soldier, then a tar, & so on, singing again at short intervals (more sponging of hands) & finished at 7:30. Minister came to me just after he finished sermon & said he had seen me there before. Was I a visitor? I had a nice chat, & he told me all about the soldiers &c. I told him how mysteriously I had fell in with Frank’s friend too. Monday, yesterday, after enquiring about Olympia & Loksang, neither was expected till either late or early Tuesday, I went to gardens – chair – took Kodak & photo’d what I’ve already mentioned. After noon rested. Mr. Roberts came for me by appointment & went down to East Point, joined Mr. Plage, & cycled for 1 ½ hour. Then they came with me & dined at hotel, & we spent a pleasant 2 hours. Mr. Roberts is away today, Tuesday. Sailed at 1 p.m. for Swatou & Amoy. I sent a letter with him to Mr. Thompson & Mr. Beattie. They both had been indisposed since I left them.
Finis No. 3 book.
[4:1]
No. 4 book. Continuation of letter Tuesday afternoon (now evening), Hong Kong Hotel, May 17/98.
This morning I found both the Olympia & Loksang had arrived. Jardine Matheson‘s office is just opposite the hotel. I popped in & there I met Capt. Leask. I arranged to go on board & lunch with him. I saw he had his business to do & it suited me too as I wished to go off to Frank‘s. Got a sampan & soon reached Olympia, & found Frank at once – very, very busy & sweating like a horse. Just got in at 6 a.m. & were pulling the engine asunder to allow the surveyors to inspect her. They are only to be here 4 days, so they had to begin at once, & the engines quite hot of course. The firemen do the work but it is hot even looking on. Frank was delighted to see me but he would not let me shake his hand, he was so greasy. However, we retired to his berth for a while, & then he had to pop down the engine room 2 or 3 times to see that the men were doing what was necessary. It was now 11 o’clock, so we arranged that he come to hotel as soon as he can get done tonight & dine with me, so I expect him. Next I made my way ashore & rested out of the sun. Then I took my Kodak & off in a sampan to Loksang, laying not very far from Frank, & the “Empress of Japan”. One of the White steamers, “Can. Pac. Coy.”, is close to the Olympia. I took the Loksang, on nearing [4:2] got on board & found Capt. Leask. We had lunch & he did not know how much to make of me. He is very kind & quite a little gentleman, very unlike his profession, quite a neat, beautifully dressed man, & so fresh & clean in appearance. I photo’d him twice on deck. He is not sure whether he may not have to go away to Canton tonight. I hope not. We came on shore together & he is to come at 7 to hotel, if not away, & have dinner with me. I do hope Frank manages to come also. I have felt much pleasure today in making both friends. Really, all things do work together for good, & a captain friend of Capt. Leask‘s came on board while we were there. He is under same company, but runs Calcutta & Hong Kong, so I mentioned Andorinha. He says, “I just laid astern after this last time & was going there now”, so I gave him my card, told him about Albi, & wrote my compliments to Capt. Morgan. He said he thought she would be away as they were nearly half loaded while he was there. I hope he is right, however, if she is still there, he is going to take Albi on board give him a treat out. This he suggested himself as, says he, “I know what sailor boy apprentices like”, so again, you see, I got a pleasant opportunity. Now it is darkening & just 6:30, so I leave off. No twilight here. We had it light till nearly 7:30 in Japan.
[1] It is ironic that William should have loved the cemetery so much, since Frank ended up there not long afterwards: Frank Musgrave died in Hong Kong in 1900 and was buried at Happy Valley.