The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-08-22
FROM CANTON.
Ensign ThOs. ID. Parker Writes Enter.
iainingIy From China.
L. ). s. Princeton, Canton, China.


junks-very queer craft with high broad stern
and low narrow bows, that seemed to be fear
fully down by the head" or To he going
back wards. a junk has a queer LOOKING sail
Stifieneu out with bamboo Iatleens. Many
small steamers ply up and down the river
Some of them are Gagged in with gratngs or
lattice work to keep out the river pirates, the
passengers look through like monkeys at a
circus. One of the prominent landmarks as
we steamed up the river was a tall Chinese
Pagoda. AT one point there was Il number oi
forts and big guns commanding the river. As
It had been widely runored In Hong Kong
that the Chinese were going 10 fire on the
uext gun boat that passed up the river we
steam ed up towards the fort with some curl.
Until we got right up under the guns moth.
ing happened, then six guns were fired from
q battery on our right which caused the con.
bridge and report "a heavy gun-tire on our
starboard BEAM" AS the Chinese flag was
dipping TO us about the same time, We took
the guns TO be salute TO us, or Buddha OF
About three O'Clock in the afternoon we
anchored of Shaweem Island, the foreign con.
cession, separated from Canton proper by q
narrow canal. Right opposite us was hand
beautiful trees and backed by a line OF hand
some brown stone fronts. or at least very nice
looking brick fronts. These houses shelter
the consuls and business men.
y floating missionary chapel and q neat
little church ashore Indicated religious
spirit in and around Shaween. There is also
a very nice club to which we bear cards, a
tennis club aud boat clue. The only serious
detect from social point OF view. is the abb
sence In Sbaween OF any except rather elderly
aud very angular females = the kind that
seem to frequent some of the English
colonies. i suspect there are young and
pretty creatures In reserve. There ls hotel
in Shaween where they have very good Chow
a mi n1ppty 0f icp aVprvthinO Qlgp n HhI n
On our port beam there is dense mass OF
shipping, the boats are wedged together Hike
the men Id New York crowd. Abont 200, ,O0C
people are said to live on the water, form ina
Cantonese. We had hardly settled in our
oerths before we we're surrounded by "Sam
pans" combined living and ferry boata, pro.
PEELED not by men, but by the best looking
looking Chinese girls have ever seen.,. We
have hired two of these boats with crews OF
ABOUT four women each for 40c Q day--tiiat Is
40 cents Mexican or 20 CENTS ineoU money.
They no doubt think they are cheating us de.
! ghtfully.~ The one travel In cehtalnssa "a
lady named All Cueu or Saint Mary, whoso
face really strikes me as pretty She hasse
dark and expressive face, q well shaped
mouth, a nose you frequently see In the
states, and altogether; a bright expression.
She Is animated and rather coquetlish. Even
her costume, sort OF jumper above and
large trousers below, does not MARI the effect
particularly. She Ia always friendly and
good humored though she threatens 10 "make
China man fight you." Being a woman OF
low degree, she has comfortable loot and
not the little defOrme ed, goat shaped affair
occasionly noticed In Canton. At night there
is plenty Of noisesin the river fleet, occasionly
there are loud explosions OF fire crackers that
have something to do with their superstition.
Certain evil disposed persons pass up and
down the canal uttering loud howls. and 1t is
nothing out OF the way 10 suddenly seize
cy m balls in the dead Of night and bang them
n ha n n N lob hnr q
were feasls In several boats just astern OF US.
During my mid-watch Q2 to ~ the orchestra
was in full blast There was an awful din OF
reed Instruments, drums and cymbals. At
intervals OF about half an hour, a bonfire
would blaze up and several hundred fire.
crackers would lull the sleepers In adjoining
boats. Qncluding ours). Once In a while a
Chinese voice would render q selection re-
markable for gutteral sounds and intervals OF
about eighth Or sixteenth notes.
The regulation River Merry.making takes
place little further down the river where
the Flower boats" anchor side by side. 1 Wis.
dropped completely out OF the world that we
call civilized. 1t was certainly an odd sight.
The flower boats seemingly one big floating
roof.garden, wierdly lighted with all kinds OF
Chinese lanterns and colored globes. They
were all peopled by "siDg song girls" the
most elfish, foreign, painted little creatures 1
ever saw. They sat demurely about the Ia
hles, or passed tea, or filled opium pipes,
play ed Chinese instruments or sang their pc
cuiar "sing song" tunes. They looked as odd
beside an ordinary Chinese woman as the
latter would alongside Gibson Gtrl. When
we stepped from the Sampan aboard the
flower boat. we persuaded one OF the Sampan
girls 10 show US the way. 1t was very funny
hand and passed shrinking through the
boats feeling less at home and more bewil-
dered than we did.
In some OF the boats, Chinese men OF the
tl,{ nln l,i tion nj
dreaming their opium dreams and drowsiy
looking up at us. In another Chinese the.
atrical performance was having great run.
We took tea in a third and watched Chinese
game in fourth. Though the Chinese here
don't like foreigners, especially at this time,
we were not molested and attracted no
troublesome attention, except when large
and somewhat scandalized group gathered 10
see our attempt at tea drinking. There has
been considerable uneasiness among foreign
ers here since troubles began In the North,
80 that II is not considered quite safe to visit
Canton proper,
Officers of the Don Juan de Austria, the
other American gun-boAt here. are not al
lowed TO visit the old city, as two Of them
who went recently to see al execution were
considerably jostied by an unfriendly crowd.
Canton is an immense city, with density
Of about six times that OF New York. The
fairly high. but the are so narrow that
you can almost reaen~1 10 side to side; many
Of them are covered overKtth lattice-work or
the like, and all are dark. We rode In sedan
chairs supported by long poles, carried nv
three coolies. The men get right Of way by
keeping up continuous and deafening yell
ing-every body yells In China on the slightest
occasion. l accidentally stepped on an Old
woman's foot at one Of the stores. She walt
ed two mil utes and then set up a howl AZ II
her husband was dead.
When you meet another chair or coolies
carrying flour, grain or roast pig, the med
ley and the scramble are something awful
At q corner the coolies shrek, and all foo
passengers dodge, for there Is barely room fol
The long poles to sweep round, and things are
sQually for small boy or girl who happens
10 be In the way just then; when coolie hal
shrieked his whole duty is performed, and h'
IL not responsible for the consequences. Th,
patient In the sedan chair Is not only deaf
eued by the noise, but is also drugged by th
fumes OF burning joss sticks Uncense) and o
to obacco and opium hanging heavily over tn
streets.
| I spent part of my time looking at crepes
silVerware, jewelry. and the like, and part o
the time Sightseeing. l wanted especially L
| get some crepe shawls, which are very prett.
and very cheap. There are great bargain
| here, Of course.
visited several of the regulation sights
A large Buddhists temple; the old waite
clock, made of a series OF buckets from whic
the water drops slowly until the last
reached, when stick, rising with the waite
level. registers the hours the Mandarin
Court, and the like.
DEMOCRATIC TO THE CORE