Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-06-17
An American Travellers Experience in
Chinese JinrikSha.

here, writes a correspondent of the San
Francisco Chronicle, in Shanghai; the
fashionable barouche dog-carts drawn by
smart Tartar ponies; there is the sulky-
looking sedan-chair, and there are hun
dreds of Chinese, both men and women,
being hauled about in the primitive Shang-
hal wheelbarrow. This irregular mode of
conveyance, which is peculiar to the dis
trlct, IS perhaps the most original in eS-
1stence. The machine is built after the
fashion & = wheelbaTow, with seat on
each side and with a small upright frame
work TO lean the back against. 1t has only
one wheel, which is placed in front, and
1t IS wheeled along in the ordinary way by
a man from behind. When two persons
ride on one Of these cOnveyances they sit
dos q dos, with their legs dangling over
the sides; but if only one gets up the
wheeler has to cant himself en- one side as
he goes along to counterbalance the
weight These strengthening carriages
90 along with a heavy, rumbling sound,
and their jolting motion is we'll calculated
TO cast out any loose teeth a man may have
in his head.
The "jinriksha," lately introduced from
Japan, is also 4 favorite mode of con-
veyance in Shanghai. 1t is small car
riage, built after the style of cabriolet,
with hood to it which can be raised or
lowered at will, and is Just large enough
for two persons 10 sit in. 1t has light
pair of wheels and light pair of shafts,
but it is not drawn by horse nor by a
donkey, but by man who bitches him
self to the shafts by means of his hands.
The streets are full of these strange-look-
ing vehicles, and they stand about dozen
deep at the corner Of every road and at the
door of every hotel. They are, no doubt,
very convenient to those who object to
walking, and who do not object to be per-
ambulated about in this manner. Nor
can | say much for the look or bearing OF
the biped steeds who gain q precarious
subsistence by drawing their fellow-creat-
ures about at the rate of ten cents an hour.
The jinriksha man is generally of the low
est cOOlie class, and is dressed in all kinds
Of garments, from top-coat made Of bull
rushcs to the cast-off garb of the cOurtly
mandarin. His legs, however, are gen
orally bare to the knees, and as he dasheS
through the mud, with perhaps two pom
derOus Britons behind him, he looks like
a man reduced to the level Of a brute and
the picture of abiect misery. | was deter
mined to have ride in one of these fash
ionable carriages, so got into one oppo-
site the Shanghai Club. IWantedt0 go TO
the American settlement, which lay east
ward from my point ofdeparturc, but, be
fore even [ was seated, my steed-no
doubt anxious to show his "staying'' pow
ers-slewed around with terrific twist
and headed toward the west. | shouted
out for him to turn, but he only went Che
faster, and, boiling around the first turn
ing headed at the rate Of five knots toward
the north. I shouted to him again, but
he only looked around for an instant and
grinned horribly. | caught his eye once
more, looked daggers at him, and shook
my fist in his face, when he seemed to re-
cover his senses and shunted abruptly on to
whole fixing and myself into a heap.
I got out, patted him affectionately on
the back, took him by the ear and headed
him in the direction in which | wanted
him to go. I got in again, but he was
off before I could right myself. My feet
went from under me and [ came down
with laundering crash upon the seat.
He looked round, smiled pleasantly, and
darted off at a full gallop along the bund.
He passed everything on the road, but
when he came to the foot of steep bridge
in the vicinity of the British Consulate he
slackened his speed and blew like por-
poise. He drew me slowly up to the apex
Of the roadway, but as soon as he had
reached the center he just snuffed the air
for an instant, put his head down, drew
his shoulders up, thrust out his off-side leg
and darted away at break-neck pace
down the steep incline. Just at this mo-
ment q well-appointed carriage, drawn by
fashy pair of bays, was coming over the
bridge in an opposite direction. Now,
whether the two bays were frightened at
my horse, or whether my horse was
frightened at the two bays, is one of those
things I shall never know; but certain it
is that just as we neared each other the
bays SHE'D, gave a terrible bound in the
air and swerved to the right; my spirited
biped SHE'D also, gave a terrific bound in
the air, and swerved to the left; then he
brought his foot down upon sharp stone,
bounded clear out of the shafts, and was
propelled stern foremost about ten yards
by the force of his own internal momentum.
Up went the jinriksha in front, and down
it went behind, and up / went into the air
as if shot from ottapult turned COM
plete somersault, but only came down on
the back of my head, which, being thick,
was not stove in; my carriage went OFT at
tangent and brought up with immense
velocity in a neighboring creek. | never
saw my biped steed again-I never even
INQUIRED after his health. I have never
ridden in jinriksha since. look upon
them as internal machines invented to
break honest mems necks.
Sophia Smith, of Hatfield, died in
Massachusetts few years ago and left
some hundreds of thousands of dollars to