The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-07-05
CHINESE SEA GRUB.
What 1t Costs to Feed a Celestial In ar
Ocean Steamer.


The Oceanic Steamship companv's
office was crowded yesterday forenoon
says the San Francisco Examiner, by
Cinnamon anxious to avail themselves
Of the reduced rate Of passage by the
Canadian Pacific steamship Abyssinia.
Two hundred and forty took passage
by her, and sailed at Il o'clock.
See the AbySsinia lot of Chinese?''
asked the dispencer Of hospitality at a
nighhoring lunch-bar Seem a queer
lot. Give a great deal of trouble, most
likely. That kind always do There
are eripples and broken-down men OF
all kinds among them"
Have you had experience in that
trade?"
Yes, for years. | have been en-
ploycd in the Chinese trade quite long
time, but have quit the sea These
fellows viii have an armory with them
They are quarrelsome and dangerous,
and there are always sea-lawyers
aboard to stir mp trouble They tell
the ignorant coolies their rights, and if
we were not prepared to fight at the
drop OF a hat if would be all up with
us and the ship. We generally manage
to keep them under"
"What does it cost to feed Chinese
paSsengcrs?'
Il brought over fifteen hundred
of them one trip at an average
cost of 4 3-S cents day per man.
Yes, it was a little pinched, but they
had enough. Up to three hundred .
fair average of the cost is 10 cents pei
,l,tl Il
lowers. | think the Pacific Mail
figures on y cents, butthat depends on
circumstances.
''What kind of food DO they get?"
"Chiely rice. We take twenty-six
different kinds of elbows We take
white beans, brown beans, black beans.
red beans, green beans-cvery kind of
beans; orange peel. sauces, dried
fish, dried abalone, although they get
little of that. But the principle diet
Is rice. Five pounds of fresh beef viii
go as far with a hundred Cinnamon as
with five white men. They take big
mess of rice and a small piece of fresh
meat. which they lift, bite off Il small
morsel, and return to the dish. Then
they pitch into the rice with their chop
sticks and sample the sauces. They
are fond OF salt pork and salt meat
Fresh meat goes further. They should
never get salted meat or pork
Have you ever had trouble with
Chinese passengerS?"
Often. | remember once in the
Peking we had one thousand of them
and they kicked about their food. |
went down to find out what the trouble
was, and then brought down the chief
officer. The rice was not cooked tc
their liking.
8 i will give YOU ten minutes to be-
gin eating said the chief officer;
after that the rice will be thrown over
board
I'VE could not move. We were sur
rounded. Times up said | calling
my boys to clear away Over she
goes The Cinnamon looked sulkev
for a minute or so, then sat down and
ate the rice, and that was the last of it.
we never have any trouble coming
this way till after we leave Yokohama,
Up to the time he reaches Yokohama
he is all swollen out with rice, cutting
Il very ridiculous figure with his
spindle legs and oVerhanging stomach.
After leaving Japan he is in good con
dition, and listens to the incendiary
talk Of the Chinese highbinder If we
backed down or weakened in any way
it would be all up with us. Cinnamon
are hard crowd to handle on ship
board"
You have only to give the Cinnamon
plenty to eat and you have no trouble"
said an attentive listener II was in
Hong Kong when the Abyssinia came
in three trips ago, and she had trouble
about the food. She then sailed from
Victoria. The other vessels seldom
have any bother of the kind"
You think that 10 cents per day
covers the cost of food supplied on
shipboard to each Chinese passenger?"
Yes, do. 1t costs less, with care,
whom the numbers are large, than
when there few on board