Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1875-05-14
AND CUSTOMS m &c CHINA.
chinese domestic Lie.

III course you VIII stay IN Ona-
meen?" said friend of mine one
day in Hong Kong, as we discussed
my journey to Canton, distant about
aday's voyage by the Pearl River.
She further explained to my interro-
CATION that Shameen was few acres
of island rock ceded to the British
by China after the taking of Can
ton; and although the rest of the
city is open to foreigners, it is yet
considered the correct thing to live
on Shameen, which is as far remov-
ed from any converse with Canton
as st. James from st. Guilse's. The
"of course" in the sentence quite de-
eided me not to stop on Shameen.
/ wanted to study the Cantonese,
and not the 2Shameenese. Thus it
fell out one evening at sun-down,
under rudy after-glow, which
transformed the scene to the resem-
blance of the last tableau in some
delusive pantomine, l was ushered
into, smy Chinese abode at Canton,
over an arched bridge, which l at
tanned from some outbuildings or
structures-I scarcely know what
name to give them. The bridge
spanned-or rather failed at the last
extremity to span-a creek, of one
of the fifty branches of the Pearl
River in which Canton is situated.
Arrived at my side of the bridge, l
had to make a good spring to land
on balcony of my house, one of
the many with which all Chinese
habitations are adorned.
The only entrance Except for
birds or fish1 were some very shiny
steps upon the other side of the
dwelling, submerged at high tide by
the Pearl River. Here the fish
swarm in, and were frequently
stranded. They were "mud fish,"
of peculiar flavor; but delicious eat
ing. The birds entered through the
apertures for doors and window
frames, for with actual doors to open
and windows to shut the Cantonese
dispense themselves. They place
a large screen before the doorway,
which gives privacy sufficient for
their need. The window sashes are
closed either by "a sort of jalousie OF
thin mating. They do not sur
round their domesticities with the
same mystery and secret precautions
with which we enYelop those pro-
ceedings in Europe. Human nature,
they argue, has to sleep, and here is /
the mat upon which it stretches it
self. Why conceal it? 1t also
wants to eat, and it satisfies its ap-
petite, no matter how many eyes are
gazing. Tell a Chinese cook you
are hungry, and he will Immediate
ly fetch his fire, his cooking utensils,
his provisions, and cook under your
very nose. He has no idea of con-
cealing his operations>in some far
away back region. yclept kitchen.
He squats down anywhere, makes a
fire on OF in anything; basin, dish,
pan, or. pOt-there is no limit to his
invention. He will cook in the
middle of the street or in the centre
of his guests in a restaurant. Upon
one occasion, when on board a junk,
/ IobserYed a man cooking his own
and his neighbor's food for days to-
gether in tub, and an earthen sau
Ger containing the charcoal. Won
derful creatures they are, these de-
spised Chinese, with a deftness of
finger and ingenuity and patience
unsurpassed by any nation under
the sunl To return to the bridge
of the willow pattern architecture,
by which as | have said, / entered
my dwelling. The first thing which
took me by surprise and complete
ly overwhelmed my senses was the
variety of odors, smells, stenches,
scents which assailed me in the vari-
GUS chambers-no, that is misno-
mer; do not believe there is sue h
a thing as a chamber in China. But
different localities, such as north,
SOuIus OdSJ; duu WSoI VI NY uOIulCll
were ali characterized by different
smells. For instence, crossing the
bridge and the veranda contiguous,
l was fain to shudder under an efflu-
WON, which penetrated my whole
being with the unmistakable essence
of putrid fish.
Escaping from this with the ut
most celebrity, and resolving to give
it wide latitude for the future, l
hurried southwark. Here was a
compartment which, besides six win
dow apatures, three door ditto, had
two large square holes in the ceiling,
which ascertained were for admit
ting ladder to ascend into the at
tic. was once more penetrate d
with a delicious sense of breathing
existence in an atmosphere redolent
with perfume of spices waited, it
might be, from Araby the Blest.
So it seemed to me, after the nau-