Honfleur, Latinized as Honflorium, dates from the 11th century, and is thus four or five hundred years older than its greater rival Havre. During the English wars it was frequently taken and retaken, the longest English occupation being from 1430 to 1440. In 1562 the Protestant forces got possession of it only after a regular siege of the faubourg St Léonard; and though Henry IV. effected its capture in 1590 he had again to invest it in 1594 after all the rest of Normandy had submitted to his arms. In the earlier years of the 17th century Honfleur colonists founded Quebec, and Honfleur traders under Binot Paulmier established factories in Java and Sumatra. The German troops occupied the town in February 1871. Among the local celebrities are the admirals Doublet, Boitard, and Hamelin.
HONG-KONG, properly Hiang-Kiang (the place of “sweet streams”), an important British island-possession, situated off the south-east coast of China, opposite the province of Kwang-tung, on the east side of the estuary of the Chu-Kiang or Canton river, 38 miles east of Macao and 75 south-east of Canton, between 22° 9′ and 22° 1′ N. lat. and 114° 5′ and 114° 18′ E. long. It is one of a small cluster named by the Portuguese “Ladrones” or Thieves, on account of the notorious habits of their old inhabitants. Extremely irregular in outline, it has an area of 29 square miles, measuring 10 miles in extreme length from north-east to south-west, and varying in breadth from 2 to 5 miles. From the mainland it is separated by a narrow channel, which at Hong-Kong roads, between Victoria, the island capital, and Kau-lung Point, is about one mile broad, and which narrows at Ly-ce-moon Pass to little over a quarter of a mile. The southern coast in particular is deeply indented; and there two bold peninsulas, extending for several miles into the sea, form two capacious natural harbours, namely, Deep Water Bay, with the village of Stanley to the east, and Tytam Bay, which has a safe, well-protected entrance showing a depth of 10 to 16 fathoms. An in-shore island on the west coast, called Aberdeen or Taplichan, affords protection to the Shekpywan or Aberdeen harbour, an inlet provided with a granite graving dock, the caisson gate of which is 60 feet wide, and the Hope dock, opened in 1867, with a length of 425 feet and a depth of 24 feet. Opposite the same part of the coast, but nearly 2 miles distant, rises the largest of the surrounding islands, the Lamma, whose conspicuous peak, Mount Stenhouse, attains a height of 1140 feet, and is a landmark for local navigation. On the northern shore of Hong Kong there is a patent slip at East or Matheson Point, which is serviceable during the north-east monsoon, when sailing vessels frequently approach Victoria through the Ly-ce-moon Pass. The ordinary course for such vessels is from the westward, on which side they are sheltered by Green Island and Kellett Bank. There is good anchorage throughout the entire channel separating the island from the mainland, except in the Ly-ce-moon Pass, where the water is deep; the best anchorage is in Hong-Kong roads, in front of Victoria, where, over good holding ground, the depth is 5 to 9 fathoms. The inner anchorage of Victoria Bay, about half a mile off shore and out of the strength of the tide, is 6 to 7 fathoms. Victoria, the seat alike of government and of trade, is the chief centre of population, but in recent years a tract of 4 square miles on the mainland has been covered with public buildings and villa residences. Practically an outlying suburb of Victoria, Kau-lung (Nine Dragons), or as it is commonly called Kowloon, is free from the extreme heat of the capital, being exposed to the south-west monsoon. Numerous villas have also been erected along the beautiful western coast of the island, while Stanley, in the south, has lately been attracting attention by its excellent qualifications as a watering-place.
