The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-21

the eyes of which are as large around
as dinner plate. The Chinese paint eyes
on all their boats, and a sailor would as
soon think of trying to travel through a
city blindfolded as of sailing on boat
which had not pair of eyes painted on
the front of it. ] found a whole family liv-
ing on these boats, and l saw some not
more than twenty feet in length, which
contained three generations of Chinese. |
remember one woman who rowed me to
shore at Hongkong. She was working
away, with a baby of about two years old
on her back. / heard a squall in the rear
of the boat, and, looking back, l saw raw,
red baby frantically waving its rosy arms
and crying out its protests through its
toothless gums. This woman had no other
home than her boat, and on such boats
children are born, grow up and die. Mar
rlages take place upon them, and all of
the features of household life are to be
seen in connection with them.
Each of the high officials who live along
the Chinese rivers has his own boat. This
is decorated with flags, and the bigger the
man the more flags and bunting. Ii Hung
Chang has a steam launch. When his wife
died not long ago a gorgeous funeral barge
was made for her. This was decorated
with white, which is the Chinese color for
mourning, and it looked gorgeous TO Amer
lean eyes. The Chinese have boats which
shaped Just like slipper. These are used
as dispatch boats. They are not much
bigger than the ordinary canoe and they
can be made to go very fast. AT Canton |
was shown boats which had paddle-wheels
at the sides and which were worked by
man power. The men turned the wheels
inside the boat, which connected with the
paddle-wheels outside and a half dozen
men were doing the work of an ordinary
gas-engine. | could fill this column with
descriptions of the different kinds of boats
used by the Chinese. Each section has its
own peculiar make of boats and Chinese
sailor can tell to what part of the country
ship belongs as soon as he sees it.
There is vast boat traffic in the far in
terror. of China. ] saw boats at Hankow
which had come down almost from the
borders of Thibet. They were made so
that they could Jump the rapids and work
their way through the great gorges of
lchang. These gorges are go miles above
Hankow and nearly 1000 miles from the
sea- The great Yangtse River here flows
through immense canyons, the rocks of
which rise for hundreds of feet straight up
above the water, The gorges are in places
less than 1000 feet wide, and the great river
rushes through them at the rate of nine
miles an hour. 1t rises and falls ten
and twelve feet in a single night and it
boils and seethes as it goes through. Here
is an eddy, there Whirlpool and there
against the rocks it dashes in spray
almost like that of the sea. The rocks are
are filed with ali kinds of ferns they are
of granite, and along the edges blue
gowned, pig-tailed workmen are quarrying
great blocks of granite, which are shipped
down the Yangtse-Kiang. There are miles
OF these gorges, and the scenery about
them is the most beautiful in China. The
boats are tracked through the gorges, and
there IS quite population along them
whose main support is from such work.
The queerest boats saw during my trip
on the Pearl River were those devoted to
the raising of geese and ducks. The Chi
nese are the best fowl-raisers of the world
They raise ducks by artificial incubation
and they know Just how to feed and care
for them. For i've days after they leave
the shell they are not allowed to hear any
noise and their food consists of rice-water.
After this they are given boiled rice. For
the first two weeks they are kept in a
coop and then they are put on the boats
and made to shift for themselves. The
boats are very clumsy and they are some
what like RATS One boat will sometimes
hold more than 1000 ducks, which are in
charge of one or two keepers. The duck
farmer rows or SOULS the boat to the low
land along the banks OF the rivers or
creeks and he drives the ducks off from
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