The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-31
oANToN's RIVER POPULATION.
A Quarter of a Million Chinese Live
In Boats at Canton.
From the Christian Register.

+ rom the CHRISTIAN Register
Such sight as is presented by the Can
ton river population is thing never to be
forgotten Here, in their sampans and
larger boats, are born, live and die a
quarter of a million of people They have
no dwelling places ashore. A diminutive
section of the stern of the boat, covered
with mating and not often over seven
feet by four, is parlor, kitchen, bedroom,
birth chamber, death chamber, of the
whole family. With her badly tied on her
back, the mother sweeps the heavy scull,
while the older children take as natur-
ally to the oar as ducks to the water
Indeed, the women, as a general rule,
command the boat, steer it and make
the bargains. AS the phrase runs,
"She bosses the boat, and her hus-
band bosses herr But boss the boat
she does, and a delicate sight il is TO
watch the skill with which it is done. The
moment there is a ripple of indication of
a fare of any kind, fifty sampans dash for
the spot like a flight of Florida turkey
buzzards suddenly COgnizaut of a dead
dog. The melee that eusues is simply in
describable. The babies heads, on the
backs of their mothers, roll round like a
! planetary system Of bowling alley balls,
I but always continue to stay on. The sam
/ pans clash and thrust and lever off one
another. The smaller children sit or are
/ jouneed,- in patient, impassive, oriental
/ mperturbability while the father and
| the older ones poke with bamboo poles or
skillfully kick at critical stages of the
! maternal tactics. Each family is a CO.
4 opera tive unit, for success means rice or
J no rice.
Thus for miles tho immense river was
one vast, successive human ant heap,
wriggling with bamboo poles for antep.
nae and oars for legs At the break of day
4 we had witnessed the religious devotions
! of the countless swarm, which consisted
in discharging firecrackers from each sep
/ arate boat 10 scare away the devils
4 Never before had / seen on so impressive
I a scale the practical application Of the
/ maxim, zone must fight the devil with
! fire; :" and the spectacle inevitably led me
: TO certain curious speculatiOns on the re
4 lations between religion and business. TC
supply ali the missals and breviaries foI
! the morning devotlOnS of such millions
/ the manufacture of firecrackers in China
/ must be on an absolutely colossal scale
Imagination refuses to grasp the numbers
of the powder and paper mills thus liter.
I ally rooted ana grounded in the faith. ~
I Now, should foreign missionaries
! convert the millions of customers to a
creed that prescribes a less noisy and
| more inward form of morning devotions.
I what total financial ruin would stare nc
end Of manufacturers and workmen in
I the face! Forthwith they would band
! together to a man to destroy in blood the
"eXecrable superstition" A new and
vivid light thus broke on the description
in the book Of Acts of St. Paul's expert.
ence in Ephesus with the makers Of i'm.
tages of Diana, till just as the streets OF
that city rang with the cry, Great is
Diana Of the Ephesians 20 so l seemed Ia
| hear all over China mob of hoarse and
[ ferocious voices shouting Great is the
/ tirecracker as a devil fighter" Thus To
thoughtful mind may foreign travel be
made to aid the cause of scriptural exc
gesis. To see familiar and Unread bare
principle tricked out in brand new suit
of clothes is wonderful stimulant TO the
| traditional mind.