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-14-

unforgettable.

It was 9.30 when we docked, and the Naldera, a P.& O. steamer, tied up beside us at the same time.  Her band began to play on deck, so our band came out too, and the combination was interesting.  We had been warned that we should have a strict medical inspection, as we had unwittingly been through a smallpox epidemic in Shanghai, but it was only a matter of form after all.  When we finally got ashore it was pretty late, and we had a short walk in Kowloon (the city on the mainland, where the docks are) and then went to bed on the Corfu.

[[underlined]] February 19 [[/underlined]] -HongKong

Mrs. Fisher, whom we had known on the Empress, met us at the Peninsula Hotel at nine o'clock, and made an appointment for Bill with her husband's tailor, Wing Fong.  We took the ferry over to HongKong (ten minutes, 10 cents) and walked up to see Wing Fong.  That formality attended to, and the suits ordered, Bill and I strolled about the streets till lunch time, seeing, as he said, more than we could understand.  The waterfront is lined with huge substantial office buildings and hotels.  A few blocks [[strikethrough]] in any direction [/strikethrough]] away is the native city, with winding streets, many of them steep as they go up the mountain side in steps, and shops, shops, shops, with red and gold and black-and-white banners proclaiming the wares of the merchants.  We went through the municipal market, and in the meat department saw teal, quail, wild ducks, pheasants, chicken entrails, and [[underlined]] owls [[/underlined]] (alive).

Everything from dried snakes to antique jade was displayed for sale.  We saw several old women with tiny, bound feet, in embroidered slippers.  Women with blind children in their arms followed us, and held out the baby's hand to us to beg.

We lunched at the Hong Kong Hotel, and were much amused by the small, cocksure bell hops.  They were little Chinese boys of perhaps seven to ten years, with red caps, red jackets and black trousers. Their method of paging guests is superior to ours: the youngster carried a blackboard with the name of the person he is looking for, and rings a small bell like a bicycle bell.  It is much better than the raucous "Calling Mr. Isaacstein" that one hears continually at the New Yorker, for example.

The hotel is patronised mostly by Europeans, though I saw an occasional Chinese lady in the lovely native costume - high collar, long skirt split to the knee on both sides.  It gives a charmingly slender effect to the wearer.  On the streets, both men and women wear trousers and pyjama-like coats.  In the hotel I saw one lady with a long [[strikethrough]] skirt [[/strikethrough]] of transparent velvet, slit to the knee, and very fetching.   costume   Like the Japanese, they never wear hats, but the men wear little round black silk caps.

After lunch we went for a drive around the Island.  Although it was cool enough for me to be comfortable in a fur jacket, the vegetation is distinctly tropical.  hibiscus in bloom, and all the flowers that we have in late summer - dahlia and gladiolus, marigold and petunia.  All the trees were green, and there were many kinds of palm trees.  We drove to Repulse Bay, and had a drink at the beautiful hotel which overlooks the sea.  Then took the winding