The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1885-02-04
DEAD CHINAMEN.
How the Bodies of Those Dying In
America Are Taken to China,


We have on board, living and dead,
some twelve hundred Chinamen. The
living ones are going home to spend
in China the modest fortune they have
made in California The dead are go
ing home to be buried n 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 he liked. tell how many cof-
fins have been regularly entered as
freight by the six companies of San
Francisco. These companies were in
stituted with the object of directing
and profiting by the immigration Of
the Chinese to California. Apart from
other payments Chinaman subscribes
81 to the six companies on arriving at
San Francisco, and from 81 to Sc on
returning In consideration of these
payments the companies undertake in
the event of sickness to provide medi-
cal aid, and in case of death to embalm
the body and ship it to Hong Kong.
The companies are, in fact q kind of
sick and burial society On q hill at
San Francisco, overlooking the bay
and the Golden Gate, Is small un-
kempt inclosure known as the Chinese
cemetery. But it is merely 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 con-
tguity to his ancestors, and the six
companies dare no more, in the least
considerable case, refuse to meet this
engagement than the Bank of England
dare refuse to cash one of its E5 notes.
1t is whispered among the outer bar
barians 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 i'm
migrants--,they make haste to ship him
of. If he dies in San Francisco it will
cost the companies, from first to last,
20 shillings. Ii he is got on board and
passes out through the Golden Gate in
to another world, the cost of embalm-
ing the body falls on other shoulders
If the man has money the amount is
deducted from his possessions. II he
has not, the poorest Chinaman on
board viii subscribe to the fund neces-
sary to secure his EN- balmment In
either case the cost is only $50, of
which the purser takes $3.50, the
doctor who does the work receives an
equal sum, and the odd IS are distri-
buted among the members of the crew
who handle the coffin. A dead China
man is with grotesque realism called a
''stitf, and the number of ''stiffs' on
a voyage is the measure of the finan-
cial prosperity of purser, doctor, and
petty officers On good voyage /
have been told, there have been as
many as sixteen ''sliffs. representing
$3.50.
These steamers always take out -
stock of coffins. They are stored in
the boats on deck, and should anything
happen to the vessel and we had to
take to the boats we must first hand
out the collins, some full, Others emp
Lv. A Chinese coffi1 has an nnaccus-
toned look. which relieves the boat
oads from much of their ghastliness.
They look like trunks of trees followed,
squared, and with the ends stopped up.
rney are not shaped the stiff for
nality of the Western coffin, and are, to
NY mind, infinitely preferable. Gen
orally the deaths are viewed with stolid
Indifference by the Chinese. There is
,ne more bunk empty, one mouth the
ess to feed. and the purser and the
loctor have another handful of dollars.
But when there is family and one is
AIKEN the commotion is considerable.
There was an old, dried-up Chinese
ady from Demarara, said to be 80 |
,ears of age. She was fastening
lome to dwell forever with kith and |
lin, but could not hold out, and died |
IN the tenth day. One night she pre-
licted her death on the following day,
lad herself dressed in grave-clothes, |
md lay quietly awaiting the tryst she
lad made, and which death for his
part faithfully kept. When the coffin
was carried out to be placed with the
rest in the boat, her sons and daugh- |
ters and grandchildren followed it with |
great weeping and wailing, in which
their sympathetic countrymen, playing
dominoes on the deck, heartily joined.
When the sailcloth was drawn over
The newest coffin, sons. daughters. and
grandchildren went back to pipes and |
tea, the players returned to their domi- /
noes, and the yellow, wrinkled old /
ady in the white graVe-clOthes seemed /
10 pass from memory. The reason /
why uncertainty exists as to the pre-
Else number of dead bodies on board |
arises from the friendly habits of the
Chinese. They will cheerfully pack
up the bones of compatriot in a red
oocket-handkerchief, or place them an
,he last layer in a trunk containing
heir best clothes, and SO give them
rec passage home. Cor. London Daily i
NetOS