Charlevoix county herald., 1913-01-11


Europeans and Americans; but the
most remarkable sight in Hongkong,
or Victoria. as the city is called, is
the superb view from the peak, OBJ
| tanned by going up part way on very
steep incline railway, thence by sedan
chair. I he top reached, 1000 feet
below, upon hundreds Of billy islands
scattered over blue sea every where
We looked. The panorama was
symphony OF blues.
II was evening when we left Hong
kong on the Pow An ell 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 a 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 strainng timbers and creak-
/ ing tillers adding subtitle sense OF
action. while the arch of each mat
forms cave of light. against which
/ the whole family is silhouetted as
! they cluster about the low. round ia
bic TO bolt their rice. The light Of the
! lantern falls on 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, a
weird black figure in the dark.
Guard Against Pirates.
From the hurricane deck we
watched the city lights and the moon
until the one dwipdled to mere line
and the bleak headlands shut out the
gloomy stream. Screened off from us
/ by heavy iron bars we're 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 huddled up
beside them The coolies occupied the
! lower deck. thick as blackberriTs in
/ August but they were more sugge stive
of rats with their long. black queues
and scuttling roiseless motions.
when ! reached the deck nevr morn
ing We had passed Lintin island. IA
{ nous in 1880 as a freeboOter's haven.
/ and we're steaming past an old Chi
nese fort in the Tigers Mouth. No
sentries saluted; the guns were Gov
/ cred up. but the glorious yellow flag
with the dragon fioated above. Ii was
here the Chinese had their Opium
! Party in 1871. when the English gov.
eminent 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 Strengthening pagodas fantas
/ tic, hollow towers of brick, about 300
feet high. adorned with numerous cir
/ cular terraces ornamented with tree 5
and bushes). In that silvery. 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 Gle:
| but IL was sickening enough when we
churned up one as we were making
our landing at Canton.
| have heard friends tell OF their
/ landing at Joppa and at Pernambuco.
and I have landed at Matras when il
was necessary to beat the natives over
/ the head with strong clubs in order to
get into the mesullah boats TO be
rowed 10 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 shore