The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1897-12-10
ON A MUDDY RIVER
Shanghai's Water Front
Is Unsightly.
Silk One of The Cheapest Articles.
Horses Rarely Seen In
City.

EDITOR P. c. Ave had but two
hours to spend in this place, as there
was nothing to detain the vessel be-
yond that time. We anchored off the
bar about a. m, but did not come up
TO the anchorage till o'clock One of
the principal articles in our cargo was
a quantity of silver, great ingots, about
300 in all, and it was slow work handl-
ing these ponderous blocks of the white
metal that has dropped so far below its
former currency value. Even China
rates it so low, that the value of COM
modities is steadily rising as this
cheap money is dumped upon the
market
At s a. m. the tug boat came along
side, and after two hours steaming
landed us at the floating dock in front
Of the Bund. The passage of the river
was uninteresting. The Yang Use
Kiang is broad muddy river, giving
its distinctive name and color to the
Yellow Sea. Shanghai is on branch
of it at the head of navigation for
light draft ships. We passed the U.
S. S. Olympia at anchor and coaling.
us was the young officer whom we had
met at Yokohama, who delivered an
oral message to some one on board,
and dashed back again to the Olympia.
The rivers banks are low, and seem
TO be crumbling away on one side to
be built upon the other. There were
few signs of habitation to be seen from
the steamers deck. Occasionally, a
boat was to be seen on the stocks, as
if boat building was the principal in
dustry.
We met many Chinese junks, ruder
and dirtier than the Japanese, with
bamboo rods across the sails. Each
enc had a huge eye painted on the
bow. The sampans that we passed
were ornamented in Chinese fashion
with incompatible colors, red bows
green sterns, blue cabins Sampans
abound as at Nagasaki where each one
was fitted with a cabin, whose roof
slid back as on our vessels. Cargo
boats abound also. Soon we deserted
the smoke rising from huge chimneys
for silk and cotton factories, with
modern machinery, have been intro
duced, and Shanghai is becoming an
important manufacturing centre, as
well as the commercial emporium fol
a large extent of back country. Sill
is one of the principal articles of com.
merce, and one of the stores which
most of our fellow tourists visited is
remarkable for the cheapness of it:
goods, sold at one price plainly marked
and just what they are represented Il
be in material and quality
The long Bund is made attractive by
grass grown park extending its whole
length. 1t has been gradually formed
by deposition of soil on the river bank
II would long since have been utilized
for warehouses. but for the fact tina
there are three claimants that cal
come to no agreement among them
selves, the general government, tn
municipality and the lot owners bacl
OF this frontage The buildings ar
substantial and the streets full o
hustling crowds. We rode along tn
Bund and then back of it into tn
Chinese quarters. But I defer any de
tailed account of Chinese sights, til
we have seen more in Hong Kong
Canton. and Macao. The first impress
sion is of greasiness and smokiness a
in the Chinese quarter in San Fran
cisco.
The strangest sight is the whee
barrows. on which all draying is done
all bundles or open barrels being tie,
on the platform each side of the whee
They are also used for vehicles, con
veying one or two passengers, as tn
case may be- 1t was a comical sigh
TO see husband and wife, riding to
gether one on each side. Horses an
carriages also abound, but the speci
mems of driving that we saw made u
afraid to risk our safety in sue
wildly driven vehicles. We were con
tented with jinrikishas, drawn b
coolies in faded and patched and dirt
blue calico blouses. but who were care
full, and told us Me savoy Ingleese.
H.
Shanghai Oct. IS, 1897.