Thibodaux commercial journal. (Thibodaux, Lafourche Parish, La.) 191?-1959, 1910-05-11

Special to Commercial Journal.
! After visiting Yokohama, Kobe,
Toxic. Osake, Kioto all important
cities in Japan, and all points Of
interest in the Fiowery Kingdom,
we sailed for China. When in Ja-
pan we preferred using the rick
shaws. buggies. pulled around by
men, although every city has its
line of electric cars. At Toxic,
l visited the mission church under
the direction of Father
who visited Thibodaux several
times, but he happened to be 600
miles away and / had to satisfy
myself with simply leaving my card
and enjoyed a pleasant conversa-
ton with the head of the mission.
He showed us all about and we
were impressed with the excellent
work, both religiously and civilly
that the mission is doing for Japan.
When we left Japan at Nagaski the
people gave us a farewell reception.
which was something magnificent
and which we will long remem-
Der.
Our first stop in China was
Hong Kong, from whence We
went to Canton, the latter being
the largest place of the two, in
fact the larger in China il not OF
the world, having population of
over three million people. In
both cities there is floating pop
uiation living On the Pearl River,
the river practically encircling
the two cities, mum Der nearly a
million people. We made the
trip ON that river from one city
to the other, ninety miles, and
all along the route there are thou
sands of boats wherein these peo
pie live. Most of the inha bitants
living on the boats are born
thereon, i've on them all their
lives and seldom If ever go on
land, except to buy supplies or
to bury some of their mum ber.
1t isdifficult to imagine how they
live, as none of them ever seem
to be busy. Hong Kong is a fine
modern city but practically be.
longs to the English, while Can
ton, the portion inha bited by the
Chinese exclusively, is the dir
tiest place on earth, very dis
agreeab BILE odors continually per
meating the atmosphere. 1t is
difficult to believe that human
beings can exist and su bsist with
such surroundings and under
such conditions, We visited
other minor points in china,
from there we went to Manila,
PHILIPPINE islands then to Labuan
Borneo, then to Batavia Java, This
place is six degrees south OF the
equator or 800 miles. There was
lutte "a celebration on board, for
when ever a ship goes from north
of the equator to south a big to
do is made over it. It remind.
ed me of the baptizing ceremony
the colored folks had in the ba.
you years ago. "Neptune is
supposed to greet US and we
were all furnished certificate
with an additional and new name
added to ours, the certificate be-
ing to the effect that we were
passengers on board the Cleve-
land when she crossed the equa.
tor. There was much fun on
board and almost every body got
a ducking good and proper.
From Batavia Java we went TO
Singapore, where we visited all
the points of interest, among
others the Botanical Garden said
to be absolutely the finest in the
world.
Since we struck Manila until we
get in the Mediterranean Sea it is
and will be warm. This is the home
of perpetual summer and one of
the hardships of the trip for which
there is no remedy. From Ran
COON W. will proceed to Calcutta
India, from there back South to
Colombo Ceylon, then around
India to Bombay. From there in
a southwesterly direction through
the Arabian Sea until we get to
the Coast of Africa, then through
the Red Sea, the Suez Canal to
Port Said. We remain there four
days and we will visit Cairo, the
Pyramids cf Egypt. From Port
Said we 60 to Naples then straight
- C.hrolfor into tho Atlantic no~or