CHAPTER X.
Pre-British History of the Island of Hongkong.
eological upheavals had felicitously formed Hongkong of the toughest material and placed it just where the Continent of Asia—large enough for the destinies of China, Russia and Britain—juts out into the Pacific, as if beckoning to the rest of the world to come on. Small as a dot in the ocean, Hongkong was yet formed large enough for its own destiny: to act as the thin end of the wedge which shall yet open up China to the the civilization of the West; to form Britain's Key to the East, as the combined Malta and Gibraltar of the Pacific; to be China's guarantee of British support along the strategic line formed by India, the Straits Settlements and the China Sea.
Previous to its cession to the British Crown, the Island of Hongkong was too little known to be accorded special notice either in the Annals or in the Topographies of the Chinese Empire, to which it belonged.
Hongkong, and the opposite portion of the mainland of China, known as the Peninsula of Kowloon, together with the few tiny islets situated close inshore (Kellett Island, Stonecutter's Island, Green Island, Tree Island, Aberdeen Island, Middle Island, and Round Island), all of which are at the present day comprised within the boundaries of the Colony, formed, since time immemorial, a portion of the Kwangtung (Canton) Province. The Island of Hongkong (covering an area of about 29 square miles) is situated, 76 miles S.E. of Canton, near the mouth of the Pearl River, the eastern banks of which are lined by the Tungkoon District (24 miles S.E. of Canton city) and the Sanon District (52 miles S.E. of Canton city), of which the Kowloon Peninsula and Kowloon City
