New-York tribune., 1900-10-28
PIRACY IN CHINA.
LITTLE ARMED VIOLENCE. AND Loss OF
LIFE UNkNOWN.
From The London Telegraph.

LIFE UNKNOWN.
From The London Telegraph.
The stupidity of the mandarins the cowardice
or the boatmen and the apathy Of the people in
general have combined to make the pirates the
masters of the situation. The pirate does not
belong to a caste profession; ne is simply a
peasant or a boatman who turns to piracy for
a livelihood in slack times slack not only by
shrInkaSa of trade, but by official acquiescence
Ottentimes particular villages take to it in the
of season or for the purpose of revenging them
selves on neighboring communities with which
they have been carrying on a blood feud Ger
talhIy IN some cases pirates and soldiers are
interchangeable at different times. Hardly
week passes in which some RATS or junks or
both not held up" and robbed in two or
three parts Of the river, and this takes place in
spite OF frequent protest on the part of mer-
chants and Consus.
The most curious part of the praticaI trade is
that it is attended with little Of the armed vio-
lence and skull and crOssbOnes business of the
old school Ten or twelve men will approach
Heet OF JuHkS or a group OF island RATS and
board them armed with Belgian revolvers of
uncertain shooting power. Both junk and raft
carry cannon of an antique mould, six or eight to
each, with shot piled up in pyramids round the
guns, and provided, in addition. with racks of
rifles and gingals in plenty At a landing stage
not far below Wu-Chau there was drawn up
huge fleet of salt junks heavily laden with one
of the most valuable of native cargoes. Per
haps there may have been fifteen such ships
and they contained crews numbering not less
than four hundred men, Only three days pre-
viously this flotilla had been held up by dozen
pirates and forced to pay enormous ransom,
yet these sailors, with all their armament had
not stirred hand foot in their own defence
Attendant loss Of life is almost unknown. A
week before our visit there had been a great
pirate hunt on the southern banks of the upper
river, and the peasants turned out IN their thou-
sands with their ancestral gingals and lined
the reedy shores for miles in search of the ma
rauders A stranger would have imagined that
a strong sense of justice had lmpelIed the peo-
Pile of the countryside to rise up against the
/ naughty men, but il was explained that more
probably it was merely phase in a local dis
pute. The pirates belonged to one village, their
asSailantS to several others, and the spoil had
not been fairly apportioned among the different
I interests involved. hence this sudden seeking
after righteousness among the aIluvtal com
munity.
II is not ALWAYS so. The prefect may de-
vituperatiOn but il is seldom he can obtain
sufficient soldiers to root * out of his district
Properly speaking. he ought to have a regiment
/ at hand TO carry out ms threats, but 1t IS con-
than a paper existence. The only time IN the
year that they appear is for the purpose OF
/ provincial inspection and then they are hired
for the day and given uniform jackets to put
over their coOIie garments.
/ When piracy becomes rebellion and rebellion
civil war the local officials. in dire terror for
their own skins, seek to raise an army by send
/ ing runners to beat gOngs and blow trumpets on
/ the eighbOring hills Any casual coOHe who
uutS in an aDpearanCe is forthwith enlisted and
/ marched off 10 battle, cheerfully engaging to
stand up as q target for the consideration paid
to his family for a superior funeral and a grave
/ on the hillside of which the feng-shuI or geo
mantle properties above reproach- only
! six months ago the crowd at WU-Chau, enraSed
/ at some foreign purchase of land. threw them
/ selves upon the magistrate in his own yamen
/ pulled his pigtail and otherwise maltreated him.
without interference, in the presence Of his own
soldiers, but did not dare to attack single one
/ of the small band of foreigners in the city.