Richland beacon., 1888-03-10
CHlNA'S BOAT WOMEN.
Carter Harrison Sees tho Sight On
tho River CantOn.

One of the most peculiar things hicn
strikes the traveller at Canton is its vast
tloatIng population and It's boats, man
ned by wOmcn-another buli. 1t is said
there are not far from so 900 of the 600.
900 Cantonese who Eve nd lie N iit;lc
boats on the river. These are OF three
sizes. Thc largest or 'gular marine
boat is twenty-tiv to forty feet long
with beam OF zen t. fifteen feet. Some
of them have sort + second story.
They traffic, carrying freight or passcn
gers. Their owner never 60 pf ~
them. Al night these lie side by side
ten to twenty deep, viii. another row
meeting THEN bows and SO N fos hun
drcds Of yards. Some Of then art bead
tifully decorated w.thin, not outside
no Chinese boat eve is, or even painted
and are called flower boats. Opposite
them are the room boats Here the
revclry of Canton is carried on.
Susan, our bright sampal girl guided
us from one boat to another, now and
then str tching ont hor tiny hand to as
sist us III our movements A gentleman
wishes to entertain some friends. He
hires flower boat for the evening. He
hires scenery, the supper and wines
He then hir s one, two, three or more
singing anu dancing girls-n sort OF
o:lalisuuc each guest ,au bring girl
if he wishes. Here they meet and mako
IA night of it, eating and drinking ana
gambling, ihe girls singing, llayne AMI
! dancing for their amusement. The boats
are all open in front, like thc stores, and
! hundreds of idicrs pass t. anu fTo t. SEQ
tho revellers. This hey seem to relish
! We We're beckoncd f. cone il and par
! take, but With motion OF thanks de
clincd. This is kept up from in the
afternoon to !, = or > ut night Al
though there are hundreds of these
pleasure boats, and perhaps thousands
of the singing girls, yet che population
of the city is 50 great that this thing
goes on night after night throughout
the year, and from yea, 10 year. Tho
water makes the air cool, AMI these
flower boats take the place If beer gar
dens in Germany, cafes IN France, and
tea houses in Japan and i'll other cities
in China. The girls are q the lower
classes, belong to the master or mistress
of the house boats. and arc hired ut 81
an evening. They are allowed to drink
but not to eat. l was told that il this
wore permitted their coarse manners
would crop out in eating, but that they
quickly learn how to drink like ,adies.
The sampans are mich smaller boats,
about fifteen to twenty feet long, with
beam from five to eight feet. In this
little affair woman VIII live with two
or three childten. If she has 10 laugh
ter old enough, she manages to buy
girl grown or nearly grown. These two
manage the boat-of these there are
thousands. They do all tie light river
carrying, and it is very great. One will
rlsh upon a steamer, seize vour yallsc
or even trunk, and carry It down q gang
way with the strength of n man and with
more agility. They will give one a hand
to steady him, and, in fact protect and
assist strong man as he at home hns
been accustomed to assist women. Our
hotel was in Honan, a suburb across the
river from the main city of Canton
Susan, 1.-the, sharp, quick witted Susan,
owned two boats, and hal three pretty
daughters, all nearly rs old at herself,
and two little children. She or they
were always on hand = scull us from the
hotel to the city, n few hundred yards
across. And how they could scull In
and ont, undcg the bows of junks, through
crowds of big boats or little sampans,
rowing like men, climbing like monkeys.
Our Susans were al pretty little women,
beautifully formed, with tiny little hands,
if hard; and such feet and ankles! l
can't describe them. Just imagine them
You can't go amiss, so perfect were they
real models in nut brown. And Susan
was ubiquitous. 1t mattered not where
we would reach the river after walk,
Susan was sure to be there TO scu'l US
over, to take our 10 cents, and to crack 1.
joke in pigeon English-a joke not al
ways the most delicate, for none OF the
Susans were prudes. l wondered how
she, with only two boats, could be every
where ut once. On our last day n wO-
mans voice from another sampan rang
in my ears looked, and 10, it was
Susan; and set Susan was rowing us. |
} then discovered that all these little boat
women, that is the young oncs, had
beautiful forms and perfect feet and
ankles. The boys on taking boat never
saw above the ankle, and in that way
were joking with n brighteyed Susan.
and had not discovered we did not have
. our Susan, whose ankles were pretty but
, whose eyes sqninted badly.