Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1903-10-22
EMPORIUM TO MANILA
Mr.. Fred Julian Writes Series of In
teresting Letters to the Press.
LETTER NO. 4.
HONG KONG, Aug. 10, 1908.


saying here is you do not see the East
until you see Canton. Our steamer
for Manila being detained in Hong
Kong, on account of the typhoons,
not sailing until to-day. On Friday l
took trip to Canton, up the Pearl
River from Hong Kong, ninety miles.
l cannot describe this city with pen.
1 doubt if a Carpenter or Kipling
could do so, but | will do my best.
After leaving Hong Kong we enter a
bay full of islands, all sizes and descrip-
tions, large and small, raising out of
the bay, some to height of $500 feet.
1t is one of the most lovely and roman
tic pieces of scenery it has ever been al
loted to me to see. After fifty miles
of this ever changing scenery we enter
the Canton River, the scene at once
changes. Where we had mountains
we now have level, fiat country, with
| rice fields everywhere; fences of bam-
boo and bananas; here and there a
high spot on which farm house is
erected on Chinese pagoda. We be-
gin to see innumerable small crafts,
Chinese junks and house boats. Junks
propelled by paddle wheel in the
stern, worked by men, (coolies) gener-
ally nine of them, three abreast operat-
ing the paddle wheel in the same man
ner exactly that the farmers do when
churning butter. Often junks propell-
ed by sail and others by oars bore
men and women at the oars. AS we
near the city we wonder how the
steamer will ever get through and to
her docks. Boats everywhere, large
and small-no end to them. The
house boat may be II or Is feet long, or
it may be 80 feet; it is an ordinary
Chinese boat, much on the order of cur
is niger out of the water and wider
over the middle and stern of this boat
is kind of round top tent, similar to
our Western covered wagons, but
Chinaman and his family live all the
time. If there happens to be baby
on board, the woman straps it on her
back, the child's legs hanging down
each side of the mothers back; if the
child is asleep its head swaying
side ways. You see hundreds of such
sights every day, the woman using the
oars or doing other work right along.
The larger children land there seems
to be no end to them) climbing all
about the boat; most of them can swim
and those that cannot, have piece Of
wood tied to their backs in the shape
of a bottle, if they fall overheard the
wood will float them until rescued.
The parents seem to be perfectly in
different, yet you see at once they are
proud of their children in these boats.
The ChiIaman and family live and
often for pence cost, give shelter to
other coolies at night. 1t takes ten
cents to make a cent of our money.
These people make their living car
rying freight from one place to an
other about the river or carrying
Chinese passengers; if none of these,
then they fish. 1t is estimated, my
guide told me, that there are 240, 900
living in these boats around Canton.
Immediately our boat tied up at the
wharf, these house boats came around
us in swarms and at once Chinese
guides, quite intelligent, clean and
well dressed, and speaking fair English
came on board. | engaged one who
had been reccommened before by
a Mr.. Nilain of New Orleans. agree
to pay him two Mexican dollars (about
80 cents in our money per day.. He in
forms me it will be necessary to hire
chair and coolies for him and myself.
So we or he hired a sedan chair and
three coolies for himself and four cool
les and chair for me. Price per coolie
about % cents each for the day. The
chair is an ordinary cane or wicker
chair placed in wicker box about four
feet long and just wide enough for the
chair. On top of the box top is plac-
| ed to keep away the rays of the sun or
shelter in rain; on each side of this box
is fastened long pole. We get into
these chairs, the coolies lift us up and
rest the poles on their shoulders and
proceed to enter the city-the guide
first and l follow. 1t is we'll to state
that the chair has the right of way in
all these cities and we'll it should or we
would never get through. Before
entering the city my guide informs me
it is walled city about six miles
square and the estimated population is
2,225,000. There are no horses or
wagons in the city,no sewerage except
one or two small canals, green and