Sharp County record., 1880-04-29
The Boatmen Of Shanghai.

THE floating population of China is
immense; and one is struckwith this at
every port. To build and repair their
vessels is a branch of industry | have
never seen described, but it must be
enormous Millions, probably, of families
live in them and never 90 on shore.
There is no craft so small, not even the
sampan'' that attends a foreign ship,
but has room for its idols or gods, be-
fore which the owner burns his "ioss
paper" l will digress here little to
tell of the boatmen of Shanghai. They
are mostly from the distant seaports of
Ningpo and Swatow, being of a harder
race and better sailors than the men of
this province. By some mysterious
telegraphy they know when a ship is
coming, and several lie waiting for a
job at the "red buoy" outside Woo
sung. Zach one has the name of the
ship h,. served last painted in con-
spicuous place aft. The one engaged
had Halloween and his name,
"Sam," underneath. Sam is cogno-
men all Chinese boatmen glory in.
His sampan, which is exactly like all
the rest, is about sixteen feet long, and
about the shape of half peach stone.
A couple of guards run around it, as to
one of our little stern-wheel steamers,
projecting aft over the stern and bend.
inc up at the extremities like the horn
of a crescent. What this is for cannot
make out. The forward half is decked
over, and under this deck Sam keeps
lots of things. The midship section
abaft this is not decked, but has plat
form, and is rooted over, the roof of
bamboo and mating arched from side
to side. Under this roof is the seat of
honor. On the floor is rug, and over
head are frescoes taken from Harper'S s
Weebly, the Illustrated London Ne1OS or
Illustrated ZeituRg, or an illuminated
calendar, many of the pictures upside
down; all begged from the different
ships Sam has attended. Over this roof
is its exact counterpart made to slide,
and when we are seated Sam will gently
slide the whole thing over if it rains,
SHOWS or the wind is raw and cold, and
give us a wrap to cover our limbs with,
Under this at night Sam arranges him.
self for sleep somehow or other, and,
when religious, worshipS his lares and
penates. Abaft the seat and roof,
raised little, is the standing place for
Sam, or poop deck, where he propels
the boat. He unships this deck when
hungry, and there are, underneath his
replace, kettle and other domestic
utensils, and there he cooks his rice and
fish.
/ must not forget to tell how they
propel their boats. 1t is by sculling.
They have gigantic oar which they
poise on a pin on the stern (nobOdy but
a Chinaman can do it), and by means
of cord attached to the oar and the
boat, they scull, or "eulo," as they call
it, at very rapid rate. Vessels of a
larger size are sculled this way, by
means of BEANS projecting from the
sides, to the cad of which an oar is at
tached. The'tides at Shanghai run very
swift, and the winter winds are furious
and piercing; but these fellows scull
right along against wind and tide. When
all moored together at some wharf for
the night, they form large community,
and discuss the events of the day or
gamble half the night. There is moth
ing done within many miles of Shanghai
but they know it before any one else
Cor Boston Journal.