Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-01-03

the United States. They are kept at the
expense of the temple in recognition of the
command of Buddha that every man shall
do all in his power to prevent the destruc-
ton of single living creature,
By the way, Buddhism in China is not
at all the poetical thing which some may
ignorantly fancy it. II Edwin Arnold could
have come here after having written his
Light of Asia l think he would have be-
come sick to his stomach and if he could
have inspected the workings of Chinese
Buddhism prior to the publication of that
pleasant little idyl, L doubt if the world
would ever have perused the poem.
THE FLOWER BOATS
The flower boats on the rivers in China
are quite an institution. They are not so
named because they carry flowers. but be-
cause the Chinese regard the word flower as
an indefinite term for that which is nice.
So the denomination of this empire as the
Flowery Kingdom does not signify that the
fora of China is specially extensive or
choice. But in the case of the flower boats
the term is additionally aprCpos from the
fact that the front over the main entrance
is SLOWLY carved, and flowers usually figure
in this scroll-work As a rule the flower
boats are merely floating brothels. They
are ranged in the form of streets on the
water, long lines of them facing each other.
Some of them are fixed up i'll regal style
within, while others are very plain and
shabby. We paused close in front of the
HANDsoMEsr MARRIAGE-BoAT
In Canton. To the river population here
this boat would correspond to the church
in which we are wont sometimes to hold
our marriage services. The people never
go ashore, but some Of them have accumu-
lated considerable wealth, ana go in for a
tony wedding. a very swell ceremony
was now in progress as we approached this
gaudily=decorated boat. The clash of
gongs, cymbals and unmusical drums was
simply deafening. All this noise, which
characterizes Chinese weddings, funerals,
and festivals of every sort, is based upon
the theory that when the good ana evil
spirits are contending for the possession of
a soul, the evil spirit may be driven away
by tumult of sounds. We inquired, and
found that in this case the hideous noise
had been going on almost necessarily for
six days, in order to insure a prosperous
career for the newly-wedded pair. We also
learned that the cost of the boat exercises,
complete, for the week, was $240-a prince
ly sum to the average Chinaman. The
boat itself was most gorgeous affair gilded
from stem to stern and decorated on top
with hanging baskets of artificial flowers.
MOSQUITOES, FLEAs AND JossEs.
In closing this letter l feel called upon
to pay some little tribute to the Canton
mosquito. 1t is rather small, but, oh, so
energetic and PERSISTENT We all sleep
under MEETINGS at night, but some times
even these prove no protection. l shall
engrave his name upon the same tablet of
my memory where the japanese flea is
cOmmemorated.
There goes a great fire cracker demon
stration. 1t is amazing how much time
and trouble ii costs these Chinese TO regu-
late Joss In the morning l am wakened
by the popping of thousand crackers,
and all day long at intervals l hear the ma
tiyes appeasing the wrath Of their excited
deity in this same way. 5.