Omaha daily bee., 1888-10-14

cows were one of the excitements of the voy-
age.
The steerage was altogether made up of
Asiatics. In it were $50 Chinese men,
eighteen Chinese women and ~twenty-six
Chinese children. They were going from
America back home to China, and the men
were of all classes, from the Chinese mer-
chant to the coolic. ! stood for hours look
ing down upon them from the upper deck.
They were rather dirty than clean. but their
slant eyes, their long cues and their half
Chinese, alf-American dress made a queer
conglomeration of the picturesque and the
ridiculous. Not a few OF them had on soft
American hats and some wore American
clothes, but the majority were Chinese
throughout. The women were of all ages
and the roses shone out the orange skins of
some of the younger among them. They
were kept by themselves, and it is against
orders for Il man to enter their apartments.
Accompanied by the Chinese steward l man
aged, however, to get IA look at them. l
found the whole twenty-siX in two small
cabins, each no larger than
AnALLB BED ROOM.
The walls Of these cabins were lined with
berths one above another like the shelves of
n sleeping car, and between these were tiers
of other berths made by fastening poles to-
gcther and stretching canvas over them.
The bed that each woman had was about q
yard wide and these Chinese maidens We're
lying on these in every conceivable attitude
as | entered. Some of their dresses were
slightly decollette. They grlnned as we went
through and labbcred at us in Chinese. |
afterwards visited the mems quarters and
found them housed In much the same way.
They spent most of their time in bed during
the voyage and many of them had not had
their clothes off during the trip. The Chi
nese are
INyETERATE GAMBLERS
and parties of half a dozen might be seen
gambling together, squatted on their
launches about straw mats on which they
played with dominoes. Their game seemed
TO be a kind of poker aud they used lozcnge
like buttons as chips. At some times the
loser would grow so excited that lie would
pick up the whole game and throw it over.
board, and instances often occcr where Chi
namcn thus gamble away while going home
all they have made in America.
We had two opium joints on board, for the
Cinnamon can not get along without his
opluNl' lNeSe were Hlduc DS CuTtalnlnB on
part of the ships deck with canvas, and in
them at almost any hour of the day could be
seen dozens of Cinnamon lighting their opium
pipes and blowing the smoke out tn rough
their ~nostrils. The Chinese sailors
SELL OPIUM
TO these men, and the greatest amount of
smuggling done on the Pacific coast is in
opium; the duty is $40 a pound. Opium is
heavy, and one can take, it is said, enough
TO make a nice profit, along with him in a
valise.
We had two Joss houses IN the ship before
which the fires of incense continually
burned, and the Chinese now and then
threw a kind of brown paper known as
Joss paper into the sea to propIatiate the
Gods of the storm. They are very super
s%titious, and l attempted TO photograph
some of them, but the women turned their
heads and ran away, and the men scowled
and moved off whenever they saw my
camera.
! A QUICK VOYAGE.
Fifteen days is a short time in which to GO
over five thousand mics Of water, but the
Oriental and Occidental is the best line OF
Pacihc steamers afloat, and our captain has