St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-02-21
Dead Chinanen.

A "traveling correspondent" Henry
Lucy, writing from Yedo bay, says ::
''We have on board, living and dead,
some 1900 Cinnamon. The living
ones are going home TO spend in China
the modest fortune they have made in
California. The dead are going home
to be buried in the company of their
ancestors. No one can say how many
dead we have on board, though the
original number is being added to from
day to day. Even the purser does not
know, though he might, if lie liked, tell
how many cotiins have been regularly
entered as freight by the Six Compa-
nies of San Francisco.
"These corporations were instituted
with the object of directing and profit
ing by the immigration of the Chinese
to California. Apart from other pay
ments, Cinnamon subscribes 81 to
the Six Companies on arriving at San
Francisco, and from 81 to So on re-
turning. In consideration of these
payments the companies undertake in
the event of sickness to provide med
ical aid, and in case of death to en-
balm the body and ship it to Hong
Kong. The companies are, in fact. IL
kind of sick and burial society. On a
hill at San Francisco, overlooking the
BAY and Golden Gate, is a small un-
kempt inclosure known as the Chinese
cemetery. But it is merely a tempo
rary resting place for the bones of the
tired dead man. 1t is in his bond that
sooner or later he shall be laid at rest
in his native village, in convenient
contiguity to his ancestors, and the Six
! Companies dare no more, in the least
considerable case, refuse to meet tins
engagement than the bank of England
dare refuse to cash one of their f5
notes.
at is whispered among the outer
| barbarians that the Six Companies are
not asleep to opportunities of reducing
their liabilities. If they have on their
books man sinking from consumption
"a dire disease among the Chinese
| immigrants-they make haste to ship
! him off. If he dies in San Francisco it
will cost the companies from first to
last f20. If he is once got on board
aud passes ont through the Golden
Gate into another world, the cost of
embalming his body falls on other
shoulders. If the man has money the
amount is deducted from his posses
sions. If he has not, the poorest
J Chiuamen on board will subscribe to
| the fund necessary to secure his en-
balmment. In either case the cost i,
only $50, of which the purser takes
| $3.50, the doctor who does the work
receives an equal sum, and the odd s.
is distributed among the members OF
the crew who handle the coffin.
ga dead Chinaman is with grOtesqut
realism called "a stiff and the number
of 'stitfs' on voyage is the measure OF
the financial prosperity of purser, doe,
tor, and petty officers. On a gOOC
voyage, have been told, there have
been as many as 10 'stiffs, representing
$3.50. These steamers always take Out
stock of coffins. They are stored il
the boats on deck, and should anything
happen to the vessel and we had t.
take to the boats we must first hanC
out the cOffins, some full, others empty
A Chinese coffin has an unaccustomeC
look which relieves the boat-load
from much of their ghastliDess. They
look like trunks of trees, followed
squared, and with the ends stopped
} up. They are not shaped with th'
stiff fnrmality of the western coffin
and are to my mind infinitely prefer
able. Generally, the deaths are viewed
with stOlid indifference by the Chinese
r There is one more bunk empty, ont
mouth the less to feed, and the purse
, and the doctor have another handful
of dollars. But when there is a famil.
and ones taken, the commotion is con
| siderable.
: There was an old, dried-up Chimes
| lady from Demerara, said to be eight
: years of age. She was Fastening hom
t 10 dwell forever with kith and kin, bu
e could not hold ont, and died on til
| tenth day. One night she predicte
her death on the following day, ha