Morning journal and courier., 1884-02-09
AROUND THE WORLD,

buIent Yellow Sea-On the YanGtse
 kiang - Experiences a French
 steamer-In Hong Kong Harbor.
 HoNG KoNG, Dec. g.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 We steamed slowly up the bay toward Ma
 gasaki and anchored according to the uuiver-
 sal custom. Around us were trim-looking
 Japanese men-of-war, and occasionally war
 ships of other nations. Alongside of was
 the "Audacious, the largest English man-o
 war in China waters. She had on full steam,
 although having remained in the same place
 for about month. The European residents
 watched her every movement carefully, be
 lieving that the greatest significance attached
 thereto, in view of the crisis which has been
 reached in Franco Chinese relations
 l Taking sampan, we were sculled ashore
 by woman with horrid mouthful of ghast-
 ly black teeth, assisted by bright. looking | native lad of eleven years of age. During
 the short ride my companion fell into con- versation with this woman-for he could
 speak Japanese a ittle-and was promptly besought to take the little boy of her hands | II have seven children" said the woman,
 land it is more than I can do to care for
 them all properly. Wou't you please take
 him, sir ?'' ''What wages would he want ?''
 we inquired. Anything or nothing, sir It | would be quite enough if you took care of him. Take him with you wherever you go. | He will be expense to you in travelling
 and will help you in many ways" Of course ! we were obliged to decline the offer so earn estly made, but there was a good deal of I force in her way of putting things. A na- | tive servant will be carried free by most of ! the steamship companies, even through to Europe; and if sent back within stipulated ! time, will be returned without expense Everybody travels with 8 servant here in the ! Orient, and nobody walks when it is possible l to ride instead. 4 person walking along the | streets with valise in his hand would attract l 8 good deal of attention.
 1 We were landed at stone jetty of Desima, ] very small island separated from the town only by canal, where for centuries after the I expulsion of the Portuguese the Dutch had ! trading post. The island Is scarcely large 1 enough to comfortably house half dozen
 families, and it is difficult to understand how, ! even for the privilege of monopolizing the | foreign trade of Japan, anybody could be | found who would be willing to be penned up ! here and submit to all manner of insult year ! after year. Here they could see Japan in | deed they could cast stone over into Japan with the greatest ease. But into Japan they were not permitted to go.
 When we had seen Nagasaki sufficiently we proceeded to headquarters for information ! about boats, and inquired if there were any | ships in the harbor which would sail present. | ly for Shanghai. Being informed that there | were two, we took their names down and \ hiring sampan for two hours, with two men 1 to scull, for the sum of thirty-five sen, we l began to SCOUT the bay for the ships in quss- | of these ha l proved fine staunch English steamer, bound 1 for London via China ports. Going on board l we asked the captain what he would charge l to take us to Shanghai. 'Fifteen dollars, D
 was the response. As the regular first cabin 1 price on the mail steamer is $22, we prompt l ly engaged two passages and went ashore for
 our baggage. The next day at p. m. we l weighed anchor in the face of a spanking wind and most unpropitious sky. I had | heard great deal about the Yellow Sea as & | treacherous body of water before which even | the toughest stomach must bow According | ly my anticipations were not the pleasantest l as I contemplated the dark heavens But the | next day (yesterday) was free from serious l disturbance, and growing slightly jocular, I ventured to upbraid the captain, and de- nounce this voyage swindle, if after hav- | ing dreaded 1t for weeks it proved such a comparatively tame affair. But toward night the Yellow Sea began to fulfill it's part of the contract faithfully. Things had to be lashed in place and locomotion was conducted on shlpboard under the most unfavorable auspi- ces. All that night sleep was impossible since we had to hold ourselves into our berths and all day to-day, up to about two hours ago, when we began to enjoy the shelter of
 the Yangtse banks, life was burden rather
 than otherwise. 1 can proudly proclaim in
 my own case, however, that this was not on
 account of astronomical disturbance, but on
 account of the difficulty experienced in main-
 taInlng dignihed physical equipoise. It is
 matter of life long satisfaction to me that I
 have crossed the famous-or infanous-Yel- low Sea, without suceumbing to seasickness
 We are now steaming slowly up tho
 Yangtse hlang toward the mouth of the
 Woosung, upon which Shanghai is built. The stream is so wide that frequently it is impossible to see both banks at once. A compradore's boat has just come alongside and notified that owing to the shallow water over a bar at the mouth of the Woo sung we will have to wait twenty hours be- fore we can pass. This Is annoying, but 1t is characteristic. As the anchor is being dropped we mechanically resign ourselves to another night on board-although only an hours ride from Shanghai! There are three of us passengers. representing many na tionalities, and we have plauned 8 game of whist in the cabin for an evening diversion, one of the three to play with a dummy. Such delays in reaching Shanghai are very common. Indeed, two other steamers are now similarly anchored near by.
 When American traveller sails from Shanghai, west bound, he begius to feel as though ho were in truth the homeward l journey This is not because Asia and Eu- | rope impress him as insignificant in territo- | rial extent, but because the steamer which he | takes 2ili carry him right through to Eng 1 land If he docs not choose to abandon her on l the route. There are two great trunk lines' between Shanghai and Englaud, ,-the Messa- geries Meritimes and the Peninsular and Ori- | ental. Both of these carry mail, and the | latter line Is subsidized for doing the same Then there are quite number of through lines of less pretensions.
 sailed from Shanghai for Hong Kong per French steamer Sindh at daylight on the of the 18th of December. This sounds like very simple statement, but 1t involves a good deal. These large ocean steamers dare not risk the tides when they are sailing by time table, so they repair two days beforehand to the Yangtse river below the Woosung bar. Passengers are conveyed on board by means of steam launch at eleven o'clock the night before. Owing to the strength of the tide, 1t took our launch boat two hours to reach the Sindh, the dis tancs being twelve miles 50 that 1t was one o'clock before we were in our hunks. The next morning woke at seven o'clock and lay for an hour in my berth waiting for the steamer to start Occasionally I detected 8 slight swaying of the boat, but I attributed his to the process of loading freight. which lad been going on all night. At length I ooked out of the port hole and was amazed Q find that we were going at full speed, and -as soon discoVered-had made thirty niles down the river. Owing to the size of he steamer, her remarkably easy movement, md the stiffness of the water, 1t was very iifhcult to realizs that there was any motion. These French steamers revelation of comfort. I have experienced nothing else where that would bear comparison with hem. The Sindh had an immense deck and vas perfsct in all her appointments, with the urious exception that sho was lighted from tenn to stern at night by wax candles. In hese days of gas, the electric light, and at . he worst coal oil, this was q strange defi- ieney.
 t'When one looks at the shipping in these Oriental harbors and sees what English and Trench commercial enterprise has done, he s little ashamed of the meagre achieve nents of America If it is not necessary hing to possess powerful navy, it at least nght to be so that private capital shall feel e. to secure modicum of the trade ,, If these eastern waters
 One of the features of around the world our is the variation of diet to which the hu-