Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-12-13

the coolie trade. The, coolis was q
Chinaman who agreed to leave his
country for term Of years at stated
si@ages, but afteria while vessels were
. fitted sout and dispatched to various
islands in. the Pacific and other seas,
land thousands of natives were nb-
(: Quoted aud Sold intot perpetual ssiaf-
cry. These abducted people also
!. came to,be called coolies. Soon alter
!, the trade opened the Chinese govern
ment, which received so much for
;eyery coolie shipped.away, began send
Il ing ofits defenders, aud malefactors
along with hon est, laborers. i, Instead
tsof giving a thief the bastinado; .heS was
: sent to the coolie barracks; instead of
Topping of theshead Ola pirate he was
deported.l Among every 500 coolies
were at least 100 malefactors, and re-
volts az sea were of frequent, occur
renee. ssIni t6eS year 1865 seyenteen
vessels Il the coolie trade were either
burned at sea or captuiedrb by the ma
Z ;;tiYes aboard, and in case Of capture
J, not man was spared. 81 .i,:. - ;.
Our ship, the Princess, of New
!. York, was lying at Macao, south of
= Hong Kong, in the ia fof 1853, when
four. differ mt craft, were loading with
coolies at the same time. Macao was
one of the great shipping points. and
Saverytk:ng was carried ON under ths
supervision of government officials. I
:, saw "a BraziGan,sbrig take on $50
4 coolies, and aworseFlot of men could
NOT possibly have been, scrapel TO-
gether in any country. They were to
be housed between decks, and the brig
carriedtwo cannon and ten soldiers to
) keep them in stb;ection. They must
be.looked after SIS sharply as ,eonvicts
ION their way to Australia in the old
= days Of the penal settlements. This
! brig, which was CALI the Don, got
4 away asweek ahead Of us, and, through
some bTund dsr, with only d few of her,
twatars casks filed. :sSshe had head
winds for FIVE dayu, sna we finally
oSsrfoek her before she lad mad 300.
: "a les on ted
sRs lis g iils osS5 afs
ternoor, anfl ysste carried down 10!
within mile eef her before we lost
steeragewos. We could make out her.
natpes the glg=s but evsnswifhout
that the; odor whisA came across the
iwatef to ournostri1s would have proved
her d coolie ship. AS our captain OBJ
served, after shutting up his glass and
smiling the air; 90, 4Ys1
That SMELL would settle it if I
was deafs dumb and blind. and had no
nose; She's .aecoolieR,i '-s- se'I=tzti
It was about six o. o'clock, when we
lost the breeze, and the crew knocked
7goff; for supper and spent the following
three hours .yarning and smoking.
The brig was all right, so far as we
could observe, and we <had no partic-
Z ular interest in watching her. About
-cnine o'clock, . however. we were all
startled into sudden activity by, a
most. horrible din from the coolie. It
seemed as if two Ior. three hundred
voices were yelling in chorus, and the
sound did not cease until broken in
upon by the reports OF, firearms.
'.z..i't:I'll tell you exactly what's taking
place on board that fellow" said the
mate, who had been listening iutently.
'sHe's short OF water, and the wretches
have been put upon half org qdarter
allowance. they are suffering and
Desperate, and thef crew have had to-
J shoot down. isome iof the ! leaders.
I,rersee 200 oiiKeiy" heafhens go dead
for the want Of water, but they didn't t
die without making.a tremendous eff
fort to take the ship. Well hear from
hatIohap againfinside of an hour, and
) I'll miss my plumi duff if he isn't
alongside of us before long bartering
for fresh watehD 80 E,tS ~
The mate wasSa prophet. fnSabout
half an hour there. was sn nother chorus
81 yelfs, shrieks and, curses, and we
plainly heard the. rattle-Lof-chains-
Three or four muskets were fred and
J alliwas quiet sagainl But it wasn't
Z yet 10 o'clock when. the brig launched
boat, five men got into her, and in
very few minutes; he was alongside,
and man who announced himself as
The mate of.stheE coolie was ON deck.
Everybody knew his errand. We
had plenty of fresh water, but would
!. our captain spare him single pint?
Most sailors hatedeoolies as no other
class did, and cur captain had gone
about that evening with round oaths
falling off his lips to think that he had
one under his nose aud was helpless.
If he refused to spare the water the
poor cwretches would Idle; if he let it
go they would be spared for life Of
slavery. The man who boarded us
was a Spaniard,, and he had surly
conntenance and disagreeable voice.
Hetdidh't beat about the bush at all,
but walked up to our captain, who was
standing stiffiy on the quarterback,
touched his hat and said:
I'm mate -of-the.-bfig~ yonder and
am sent to. sea if you can spare US q
few casks Of water. Through a. blum
derive left Macao short and we can't
putin anywhere until we get breeze"
'fsYou. ought to be ashamed of the
business you are in r. exclaimed the
captain, as he paced back and forth.
.Eyery man to his own idea,"
calmly replied the mate. ''The main
thing now is to get water for the
heathoas: IF we don't get if, not one
OF them will be alive by tomorrow
night
Our captain hung out for "a while.
While he hated to save the coolies to
the profit of the traders, he was too
mercifnl to be the indirect cause of
their death, and he finally consented
to sparesfye casks Of water. Arrange
ments for, the t transfer were being
III Z. ri, an fbf ft,,iana hubl,,,J, af or,