Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-11-17
CHINA.
sights ON the PeIho River.

| We clip the following from Picking
! (China) letter, written by the Hon. James
! Brooks to his paper, the New York Express:
| The boat sights we saw on the Peiho
were many, the land sights few, and they
nearly all in or under water. Many, many
junks were floating down the rapid current
of the river; some Of them stylish, three
stories high, with flags and handsome ex-
teriors, but the great body of them trans
ports. The foreigners coasting trade ending
at Tientsin, the native is exclusive from
thence upward and inward, all about
Among the boat sights, on Chinese
river, is the everlasting cock, who is eyer
kept there to do cock-a-doodle-do in the
early morning, and thus to note the time
and to wake up the crew. AT the cock crow
all start from their lairs and 90 to work.
The cocks are probably wel-taught cocks
taught only to crow when the day is break
ing. With the cocks are hens, and with
the hens, dogs, cats, etc, whole menagerie
Life on a junk is like life on land, with
the doors more open, though. We see the
Chinese women making their toilettes, and
the meu combing their own hair, and then
binding on their long boughen queues. The
longer queue is in China the greater "the
swell;" hence, false hair is more for sale to
nen than to women. 81 can't employ you
with that queue" said a Russian friend
Of mine the other day to a Chinese boy,
with short tail 81 have no money to buy
MORE" said the boy. "Take that, then, for
tit-out, and turn up grand" The boy
took the money, and turned up with tail
that stretched to the ground. We see all
these toilette operations going on-combing,
washing, braiding; and we hear upbraiding,
tOO-scolding, l mean. Never were greater
scOlds than these Chinese boatmen seem
to be. Their monosyllable words have a
terrible ring when they are mad-short,
sharp, cutting. There was a row on nv
boat. \ big fellow beat his brother, a lesser
fellow. The little fellow smothered his
rage till we reached bluff, and then ran
away; but the father, in another boat near
by ran after him, and though the father
could never have Overtaken the little fellow
running, yet such is the force of parental
authority here over children, that only his
command from long distance brought
back the runaway. The row that then en-
sued between the brothers, the father all
the while interfering, became so boisterous
that l thought it wise to show my dagger
to keep the peace. l did not unsheathe it,
only stamped and yelled, and that re-
stored order in the boat fleet.
All the junks we passed or saw were
more or less filed with babies-naked ba-
bies, mixed up with the cocks and hens,
and dogs and kittens. Fathers were as
often fondling them as the mothers. This
love of babies it is that makes up the Chi
nese countless numbers, over-pOpulating the
land, and forcing the poor often TO starvs,
or to live on kitten outlets and puppy steaks.
What we saw people eating most of our
boat journey, was watermelOns, pretty
good ones, a species of cantelopes that they
nibble as monkeys would, then peaches that
nobody else could eat they are so bad, with
onions-oniOns innumerable. Indeed, the
whole population hereabout seem saturated
with onions and opium.