Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1908-12-17

is of course hardly necessary to point
out that, as against this low rate of
pay, the standard of living is CORE
spondingly different.
The houses" which make up these
vast floating slums are of all sizes.
Some are but Is feet long. From these
cramped dimensions, however they
range up to length of so and 60 feet.
A boat large enough to accommodate
a family of moderate size can be OBJ
tanned for 500, and since the anchor
age is free it is obvious that the
Tankia effects many savings impos-
sible to the shoredweller. For hun
dred dollars boat that is (compara-
tively) luxurious in its appointments
can be obtained; and not infrequently
European travellers who wish to make
a prolonged sojourn in the vicinity of
Canton, and do not care to pay the
high prices charged in the one hotel,
hire comfortable house-boat, at
cost of about one dollar per day. In
that case the native owners occupy
a small space in the bow, where all
cooking is done for the traveller with
out extra cost, with the additional ad-
vantage of free transportation to any
point on the river.
Most of the boats however, are
small. A thatch of palm leaves, or
cover of mating, over a part of each
boat serves to protect the occupants
from sun and rain, and serves as an
eating and sleeping place. The in
terror presents a curious picture of
domestic economy, beside which the
arrangements of an Irish cabin or a
crofter's cottage in Lewis are palatial
On many of them pigs and chickens
are reared, and frequently, when the
smallness of the boat does not afford
deck-space for such stock, = box or
cage is suspended from the stern to
serve as pigpen or chicken coop.
Nor do sites and henneries, in addition
to the apartments of the family, ex-
| haust the accommodation of the tiny
craft, for on many flower gardening is
| carried on, considerable space being
| set apart in the bows for the flower
| pots.
How life can be endured in such
| quarters, cribbed, cabined and con-
fined, well-nigh passes comprehension.
1t has been estimated that about Can
ton there are not less than $4,000 in
habited craft, and that OF this vast
number some 10000 are permanently
located-250.0 900 to 100000 human
lives, that is to say, daily rising and
falling with the tide. Births, deaths
and funerals all take place within the
narrow limits of the boats, and many
are the inhabitants of the floating
slums who never set foot on land
throughout the whole of their strange
existence.
Not all the boats in the dense mass
that blocks the riverside are squalid,
however. There are some as gaudy
and resplendent as the majority are
wretched and poor, and these are fa-
miliar to every one who has visited
Canton. Have you been to the flower
boats?" is question continually heard
in the hotel, and he is sure to be a
recent arrival who answers in the neg
ative.
The "fower-boats' are, in brief, the
pleasure resorts of Canton. Whole
streets of them are moored in rows
| that extend from mid-stream to the
shore, and every night they are
! thronged with seekers after pleasure
and recreation-of a sort. For it can
not be pretended that the amusements
to be found thereon are of very high
moral order. Concerts, or rather sing
songs, are held on some, but most
cater to that gambling instinct which
is the national vice of China