The general interest of the Island of Hainan may excuse its appearing under the above generic The Island of Hainan is a sort of step-daughter of China, lying just within the tropics and on the steamer route from Hongkong to Pakhoi and Haiphong. Ships an-char about five miles out from Hoihow, whose harbour is " most uninviting one.
The Hainanese used to say, "Hainan lies beyond the sea; what do we know of the rest of the world?" But for fear that young people should grow proud in their insular ignorance, old men who had been to Canton to the examinations used to say, "The world is as big as horse; Hainan is as big as the sole of one of the horse's feet." Hainan is only the size of a grain of rice," exclaimed one old man when looking for the first time ata map of the world.
In recent years, frequent steamers, cable connexion' with Hongkong, wireless communication with the mainland cross the strait, and perhaps still more, the hundreds of coolies who leave Hainan annually and return with or without having made their fortunes, have introduced a knowledge of lands that lie across the waters. It is not an uncommon experience down country to meet men who speak good English fluently, they having been' to England, America, or to Australia, The great majority of Hainanese go to Singapore and to the East Indies, where they are house boys, or work in the tin mines, or on the plantations in the] jungle.
The northern half of Hainan is comparatively level with only an occasional hill; the southern half is mountainous, the Five Finger Mountains being the most famous; of which the people think that spirits guard the top so that it is impossible to climb them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.