the name of the anchorage for that of the whole Island, marked the Island of Hongkong on their charts accordingly, and in subsequent years, on the occasion of the Treaties of Chuenpi (A.D. 1841) and Nanking (A.D. 1843), the term 'Hong Kong' was adopted as a designation of the whole Island and thus passed into general use, both among foreigners and natives, and finally the term 'Hongkong' was used as a designation of the whole Colony (including Kowloon).
Along the northern shore of Island there used to be, previous to the British occupation, a narrow bridlepath leading, high above the beach, across rocks and boulders, all the way from Westpoint to a hamlet near Eastpoint called Kwantailou, described in the first census (May 15, 1841) as a fishing village with 50 inhabitants. This path was used by the crews of trading junks, in cases of wind and tide being unfavourable, to track the junks along by a towing line attached to the peak of the foremast. Now this hard-trodden path standing, to an observer from the opposite shore, clear out from the grass-grown hillside, like a fringe or border along the skirts of the hill, was by the natives called Kwantailou (lit. petticoat string road), and the hamlet at which this path ended was naturally called by this same name. But among the Hakkas, the Island of Hongkong, or rather this northern portion of it, is to the present day called by the same name Kiuntailou.
The name of the Kowloon peninsula, which covers an area of four square miles, is derived from a series of nine peaks or ridges (Kau-lung, lit. nine dragons) which form the northern background of the panorama spread out before an observer standing on the northern slope of the Island of Hongkong. After these nine dragons, both the city of Kowloon (which is in Chinese territory) and the Peninsula of Kowloon (ceded to Great Britain in 1861) are named.
Previous to the British occupation of Hongkong, the population of it probably never exceeded, at any one time, a total of 2,000 people, including Puntis, Hakkas and Hoklos, whether ashore or afloat.
