The Elbert County tribune., 1912-12-20

dus, Jews. Japs. Malays. Portuguese,
Europeans and Americans. but the
most remarkable sight In Hongkong.
or Victoria. as the city is called. rs
the superb view from the peak, OBJ
tained by going up part way. on a very
steep incline railway. thence by sedan
chair. The top reached. 1000 feet
below. upon hundreds of hilly islands
scattered over a blue sea everywhere
we looked. The panorama was
symphony of blues.
1t was evening when We left Hong
kong on the Pow An" en- route for
the blue city OF Canton, ninety miles
up the Pearl river. Twenty thousand
Chinese are said to live In this har-
Dor entirely on boats. In sampans
where shrill-voiced women steer.
cook. scull, raise families. drive bar
gains. 1t is picturesque locality At
night when there are hundreds of
boats drawn up side by side. their
masts gently raking the air as they
sway up and down. their dark sails
clinging and tapping against the rig
ging, the straining timbers and creak
Ing tillers adding subtitle sense of
action. while the arch OF each mat
forms a cave of light. against which
the whole family is silhouetted as
they cluster about the low, round Ia
BILE to bolt their rice. The light of the
lantern falls on a circle OF yellow
faces. casting strange shadows on the
roof. the black background broken
only by an occasional ray falling on
some piece of china or brass Always
outside the circle Is the woman. q
weird black figure In the dark
Guard Against Pirates.
From the hurricane deck We
watched the city lights and the moon
until the one dwindled to a mere line
and the bleak headlands shut out the
other. leaving us only narrow.
gloomy stream. Screened on from us
by heavy iron bars were the natives.
and firearms were stacked in conspic-
uous places. as protection against pi-
rates. The better class of Cinnamon
sat around on chairs, or laid on mats
with their little bundles huddied up
beside them. The coolies occupied the
lower deck. thick as blackberries in
August. but they were more suggestive
of rats with their long. black queues
and scuttling. noiseless motions.
When reached the deck next morn
ing we had passed Lintin island, IA
nous In 1880 as a freebooter's haven,
and were stearning past an old Chi
nese fort In the Tigers Mouth No
sentries saluted: the guns were Gov
cred up; but the glorious yellow nag
with the dragon floated above. 1t was
here the Chinese had their Opium
Party" in 1S41. when the English gov
ernment tried to force them to admit
opium. and the heather Chinee"
dared to think he had right to drive
their ships out of Celestial waters.
The sun shone brightly on the
muddy river that morning. and on the
numerous bits OF picturesque craft
(some man-propelled-men walking
on tread wheels; on the widespread
ing fields and shapely lochee trees:
the strange-lookfng pagodas (fantas-
tic. hollow towers OF brick, about 400
feet high. adorned with numerous cir
cular terraces ornamented with trees
and bushes). In that sllvery, hazy
light no one ever thought of pirates.
nor that the little yellow rolls OF mat
ting by the waters edge contained un-
welcome little girls left there to die:
but 1t was sickening enough when we
churned up one as we were making
our landing at Canton.
I have heard friends tell OF their
landing at Joppa and at Pernambuco,
and I have landed at Matras when 1t
was necessary to beat the natives over
the head with strong clubs in order to
get into the mesullah boats to be
rowed to shore; but at Canton the
river was SO crowded with sampans
there seemed no place to land at all,
for at Canton 100000 people live in
their boats, and these are lined up
from three to ten deep along shora