The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1877-04-05

others, and, by dint of continual shout
ing, navigated through the surging sea
of humanity on toward the chapel.
masses of people and mixed smells, but
no longer wondered that travellers did
not attempt to describe them. 1t is
simply impossible to give any accurate
picture of them. To say that two per-
sons standing in the street may each
place one hand on the houses on either
side and then clasp their other hands in
the middle of the street, to say that they
would be jostled out of position by the
throng before they would be thus able
to measure the width of the street, and
that the loathsome Odors would dis
incline them to make the attempt were
they otherwise able, would be to make
statements utterly true, and yet which
would still fail to tell all the truth.
While was thus being borne along
amid this moving mass of human be-
ings until | became painfully conscious
of my littleness in universe so dense
ly populated, had still further oppor-
tunity of meditation by my coolies sud-
| denly stopping and depositing my chair
on the ground in one thoroughfare
somewhat less crowded than the one we
| had mostly traversed. They had borne
NE on their shoulders for over mile,
and, with some distance yet before
them, they chose to stop for rest. Had
| been a Chinaman thus deposited all
alone in side street of San Francisco
might have expected to have been as
sailed with stones, but the heather
Chinese contented themselves with call
ing out occasionally "Yank kwie tsz,"
or s'foreign devil.'' These were mostly
:young Chinese" l had almost said
"young Americans. My sense of help
lessness under these circumstances, be-
fore had learned word of the Ian
gus ge or point of the compass, can
neither be described or imagined. Wait
ing reasonable time for my coolies to
rest and to refresh themselves by look
ing in at the shop windows near by, I
concluded to 90 on. Calling, "Hallo!"
and motioning for them to move on,
they lifted the chair to their shoulders
and trotted on, finally stopping in front
of a chapel where Chinese was preach
ing.
The markets of Shanghai are well
supplied with choice game, such as
pheasant, quails, venison, wild ducks,
to say nothing of the finest fish, all of
which abound in China and are ex-
tremely cheap. The largest and best
ever saw were from Chinese waters.
The oranges are not so good as the
Japanese. All kinds of vegetables
abound from both European and Chi
nese gardens. Those from the latter
are less desirable on account of the pc
culiar way of fertilizing the soil and
forcing the plants. Here, as in Japan,
immense quantities of dried grass, cot
ton-stalks, etc., are used for fuel, but
coal and wood are, of course, mostly
used by foreigners. China can not
!, compare, in point of neatness, with
Japan, where every boat and house are
scrubbed daily. The farmers appear q
little less cramped than the Japanese,
= but the cities are far more crowded
The Japs are more impulsive and quick
, er to learn, while the Chinese are more
sluggish and immobile, but once at
, tempting any thing they can not easily
: be turned aside. The Japanese low
> what is new; the Chinese what is old
. The former have all the vivacity which
:, belongs to an insular people. 1t will
take much more time to understand tn
: latter.
! Here, as in Japan, only more so, the
o cheapest thing to be had is human la
Dor. A huge roller for making smootl
= the drives and streets is drawn by NJ
less than twenty men, who lazily pul
the ropes attached to it. This process
, 1 have several times witnessed.
!. coolie employed in such work as thi
u : can live on one dollar and half
: month, and be hired for about the sam
Z price. l have seen no pack horses thu
u far, but all burdens are borne either o
!, poles, often split bamboo, or across tn
shoulders of coolies, or on wheelbal
y y rows run by human muscle. Th
u horses here, as in Japan, are yer
y: y small, nothing more than ponies
Is Is fact. Two coolies are about as stron
~ as a horse, and are very much cheaper
- , The great famine in Northern China
Y driving hundreds of the sufferers int
10 10 Shanghai, and they live on thirty CO.
10 day, or little less than three cent
:, = while the children are granted twent
~ cost each. The native Christians
10 10 our Church here have contributed 81
IL : for their relief. This is considerab
q u sum in China, being about $4,000 cos
q JApy EINcEPS . eOos heatan We