Griggs courier., 1895-09-06
NOISY WATER WAYS.
WAses Mach 81 the Din q China Z
Created.

WAses Mach e3 the Din = China =
The farther We travelled In China the
more we were amassd and deli khtsd by
the boats and the water life on the in
land canal and ways. Every day I
noted new sxtravagances and eccen-
tricities Of form and color in the float.
ing vehicles around me, and every day
Mr.. Weldon caught up his colors and
his brushes and copied some extraor.
dinary boat or sail that We met
have several times referred to this sub.
ject in these papers, but the boats of
China have not been described here or
elsewhere. The hack artist of tho
world at large treats their sails-the
most picturesque bits of China-as If
they were Venetian blinds, made of
big bamboo slats backed by canvaA
That is not at all how they look. Tho
bamboo Stats are in them. but they are
very small. and are only seen when near
ut hand. Otherwise do not think it
would be easy to say anything of them
that II not true-they are 30 dissimilar
and varied and peculiar. One
towers like . great white steeple
or a cloud above houses,
trees and everything. The next
may be made of woman's apron or q
little mat. One is composed of . sim
gle blue skirt, and the next is crazy.
quilt Of hundred gorgeous flags In
. days journey we saw white ones,
red ones, black ones, and others that
were splotched, patched, tattered, or
rent. We saw sails made Of mating,
made of old coats, made of trousers,
and of bannera We saw sails with
prayers painted upon them, others
with notices, others with pictures,
and what may be called heraldic de-
viceA Most Of them were parallelo-
grams Of cotton, but some were like
schooner sails at home, and some were
lateen-shaped. There is no rule a. to
tho number of sails boat may carry,
and ono often sees Eve spread ON the
larger junks, upon three regular masts
and two smaller oness fastened to the
vessels sides, one forward and one aft.
A great part Of the din that beats
upon the air Of. China comes Of the
raising and lowering Of these masts
and sails, for on all except the sea-go-
ing craft the masts are hinged, and are
forever being pulled up or let down.
To do this work the Chinese crews are
punched together ON each deck, where
they shout with each output Of
strength. "Hee.tah, hee-tah, hoo-ah,
hoo-ah, hee-tah," they chant, or grunt,
whenever two or twenty or two hum
dred Cinnamon work together at any
thing. A common sight in the cities
is to see fifty Of them pounding the
earth for the foundation Of o new
building. Every man, upon high
'scaffold, tugs at rope, and all the
ropes meet at ono big rock, that is lift
ed and dropped necessarily upon the
ground to harden it say 'every
man." but there are always boys, and
even baby boys, at some Of the ropes.
All shout together, beginning at day.
break. when all work begins, after
which sleep can. only be courted with
chloroform. Whenever two men work
1t anything, they chant, whether it il
at tho work of carrying a coffin in q
funeral or q bedstead out Of q house.
l have known one man to sing in that
way while carrying my empty hat-box,
and have often run upon coolie chill.
dren practising the chant as they
shouldered burdenless sticks at play in
the street-Julisn Ralph, in Harper's
Mopo z;no