JAMBOREES
It is nearing twenty years ago since I celebrated my last bump supper
in my old college at Cambridge, but the remembrance of it is so bright
and cheering in the monotony of daily life that time is much abridged,
and it seems but yesterday that the two pailfuls of smoking milk punch
worked such deadly havoc amongst four crews of well-trained men that
ultimately they were mostly laid out in a row, with consequent sore
heads and interviews with the dean next morning. A bump supper is an
orgy never to be forgotten.
A jamboree is a very analogous function. Where and what the word comes
from I do not know, but its meaning in the Far East is universally
understood to be a bachelor entertainment consisting of an enormous
dinner with plenty of wine, tales, songs and general hilarity,
occasionally verging on riotousness with breakage of household
furniture and other effects.
As I glance back over the past fifteen years such wild nights stand
out like beacons in pleasing relief from the many respectable
gatherings, be it in Church or Society, at which I have had the honour
of assisting, but which have left no impressions sufficiently vivid to
class them with treasured souvenirs or even provoke a smile.
Some years since there visited Hankow a personage of exalted rank,
who, being a near kinsman of one of the most powerful of Europe's
present rulers, was received with patriotic enthusiasm by the large
colony of his nationals domiciled there, and with every mark of
respect by all other members of the cosmopolitan community.
His arrival in one of the fine Chinese river-boats was signalised by
what might have been a fatal catastrophe but for the skilful
manoeuvring of his ship by the veteran American skipper.
Just as the vessel had threaded her way through numerous ocean
steamers and foreign gun-boats anchored in the stream, and was slowly
approaching the hulk alongside which she was to be made fast, an
enormous raft of timber, bearing a whole village of huts and a
considerable population of raft navigators, caught by the swirling
eddy caused by a freshet from the River Han, which 200 yards above
this point was pouring at right angles into the mighty Yangtse's
five-knot current, bore swiftly down on the steamer, threatening to
strike her amidships and either pin her to the hulk or crush her
against the stone-faced bund, when she must have been immediately
sunk. Unaware of the danger until it was almost upon him, the captain
had just time to reverse his engines, and by going full speed astern
with the helm hard over bring his ship round so as to receive the
threatened blow end on instead of abeam. The impact nearly drove the
vessel's stern into the hulk, but with her engines now going full
speed ahead, and churning up two white lanes of foam with her
paddle-wheels, she rammed her bows into the raft, and just managing to
deflect its course they floated down with the stream locked together,
until by a miracle they had passed clear of all the shipping, though
at times only by a few feet, and the steamer with her illustrious
passenger again bore up for her berth, after the narrowest of escapes
but without having sustained the slightest damage.
These enormous rafts, composed chiefly of bamboos and pines, generally
come from the forests of Hunan, and after crossing the Tongting lake
float down the Yangtse to places where wood is scarce and a good
market obtains. They vary in size, but sometimes are a hundred yards
in length by twenty in breadth, and draw probably from ten to twenty
feet. With their huts of bamboo and matting, with long sweeps both
ahead and astern for steering, and great coils of plaited bamboo ropes
for mooring purposes, they present an extremely picturesque
appearance.
Amongst other festivities arranged by his compatriots in honour of the
distinguished visitor, a banquet, preceded by a reception of prominent
residents, was given at the club. It being almost midsummer, the
weather was fearfully hot, the thermometer registering over ninety
after sundown, and as a notification had been issued with all
invitations that black evening dress would be _de rigueur_ we were
debarred from wearing our cool, white mess jackets, and all arrived at
the club almost melting inside thick broadcloths.
A very amusing little episode occurred at the reception.
Amongst the few ladies present were the wife and daughter of a Western
official. They had evidently been "raised" away from the beaten tracks
of Society and crowned heads had not been their daily companions. On
this party being presented, the official and his wife preserved a
diplomatic silence, but mademoiselle was not inclined to take things
for granted, and seeing neither golden crown nor purple robe she
evidently had misgivings. "Are you really the grand duke?" she
inquired with striking accent; "are you really a prince?" The prince
smilingly replied that such was the case, on which his fair
interrogator exclaimed, "Oh, my! I _am_ surprised," and then slowly
retired from the front but with many backward glances of unconcealed
disappointment.
A large number of residents had received the honour of an invitation,
probably a hundred sitting down, and, as is customary in China, each
guest brought his own servant, so that from a hundred and fifty to two
hundred people were assembled in one large room, which together with
the hot dishes and a great many lamps caused the temperature to go up
several degrees, adding greatly to the discomfort we already
experienced owing to our thick clothes.
To still further increase the torture, a crowd of Chinese which had
collected in the streets below commenced to throw stones through the
open windows. One passed between my right-hand neighbour and myself,
shivering my wine-glasses to atoms. The windows and shutters were
hastily closed, and very shortly the temperature must have still
further increased by several degrees. Champagne flowed in streams, a
short speech of welcome was made by the local sport, to which the
guest of honour replied, "White Wings" was sung by the doctor, and the
parboiled throng descended to the lower precincts of the building to
watch a display of fireworks. The heat was awful. Not a breath of air,
and the sulphurous smoke from the fireworks hung low on the ground in
white masses, and seemed to seek shelter in the club, for in a very
short time the place was flooded with the choking fumes which caused
one to feel a tightness across the chest and a stinging in the eyes,
and which made it impossible to see across the room.
The prince withdrew at a somewhat early hour, and after a time the
guests commenced to disperse.
The heat, the champagne and the sulphur smoke had proved too much for
me. I attempted to walk straight, but the power to do so was gone.
First one foot would strike a hill, then the other would go down into
a deep hole, and so on, while lamp-posts and buildings seemed to whirl
past and round at a fearful pace.
When nearing my quarters I heard a faint "hillo" from a by-street, and
a continental mess-mate stumbled almost into my arms. He fully
intended to do so and I had no wish to avoid him but somehow we missed
each other and both fell prostrate on the pavement. Far from feeling
any ill-humour at this catastrophe, we both thought it a capital joke,
and I can distinctly remember our sitting side by side in the gutter
and swearing eternal friendship. After this things are vague, and the
next I remember is going upstairs on all fours and then opening my
bedroom door. A most remarkable sight presented itself. I have seen
mirage in the Arabian desert, but I have never seen anything like
that. There was my bed, shrunk to the size of about one inch in
length, at the top corner of the room near the ceiling, dancing up and
down at the end of a bright and circling tunnel. How to get there I
did not know. I can just remember sinking on hands and knees in order
to attempt the climb, when the floor struck me so violently in the
face that I lost consciousness, awaking late next morning to find
myself reclining on the bed, but still in my dress clothes. My friend,
it was said, attempted to go to bed in his bath, where he was
discovered in full evening dress, scooping the water over himself and
complaining that he could not keep the sheets up. But this is by the
way.
At Kiukiang, where I happened to be a few years later, the community
was small, consisting of a few married couples and perhaps half a
dozen bachelors.
Time hung like lead, and small wonder that now and again we young men
would foregather round the festive board, when high spirits long pent
up would burst forth with a _vim_ that is but rarely attained in
places offering perennial sources of amusement.
On the occasion in question the dinner was at our mess, which, besides
myself, consisted of an Italian and a tall American of stern and
unbending nature. Our guests were two Russians and two Scotchmen, all
we could muster, but excellent in quality. After a jovial repast we
sallied forth on to the bund, and being a bright moonlight night,
romance entered into our souls, and we started to serenade the various
ladies of the port. First to the Consulate, where we drew up in line
on the lawn, the time being 2 a.m., and rendered "God Save the Queen"
with great execution and considerable pathos, notwithstanding
pronounced differences in American, Italian, Scotch, Russian and
English accentuation. Subsequently visits were made to all the other
houses, with the exception of one, where we rather feared to intrude,
as the good lady, while very affable as a rule, would stand no
nonsense, and when she did not wish to be pleasant could treat one to
a touch of sarcasm which would last for some time. However, we finally
summoned up courage and approached the house as noiselessly and
guiltily as a gang of thieves. The front gate was locked and eight
feet high, but after some delay we scaled it, ranged ourselves on the
lower verandah and were halfway through "My Bonnie Lives over the
Ocean," when a crash overhead announced that we were in for a storm. I
have never in my life seen seven men break and fly in such utter
terror. Once off the verandah into the moonlight we were in full view
of the outraged dame, who stood in a commanding attitude on the upper
verandah in her dressing-gown, almost speechless with emotion, but
gesticulating frantically. We rushed at the gate, and in our eagerness
to be on the other side fought and wrestled with each other for first
place. The upper bars broke away in our hands, bricks came off the top
of the adjoining walls, and it was fully five minutes before we were
in the road, breathless, with torn clothes, and I, personally, with a
sprained wrist.
We now felt we were in for a bad time next day, and so, to revive our
drooping spirits, repaired to the house of one of the Russians. Here
vodka, caviare, salmon-back, sardines, Bologna sausage and other
little dainties common to the _zacousca_ furnished us with a most
_recherche_ supper. We ate everything and drank a good deal. By this
time we were again in the wildest spirits and fit for anything. Our
tall American friend was still somewhat unbent, and being of an
inquiring turn of mind was examining the trap-door through which the
dinner is handed by the cook from the pantry into the dining-room. No
sooner was his head well through than he was pounced on by the two
Caledonians, who, seizing him by the legs below the knee, shot his six
feet odd through the trap-door as if they had been tossing the caber.
A terrific crash of crockery told its own tale; the Russian's best
dinner service was no more. Rising from the fragments the victim
declared it to be his opinion that all, with the exception of
himself, were inebriated and unfit for the society of respectable
citizens, after which delivery he withdrew to his own quarters.
Next we heard female shrieks and screams, accompanied by a heavy
tramping of feet down the stairs, and two of our joyous band appeared,
bearing in triumph by her head and her heels, the struggling form of
our host's Chinese housekeeper, clad in nothing but her night
garments. She was laid tenderly on the dining-room table and comforted
with some _Veuve Clicquot_ champagne, for the poor creature had been
somewhat upset by being pounced on when asleep in bed and hauled off
with so little ceremony and preparation into the publicity of a
well-lighted room full of masculine visitors.
Shortly after daylight the company separated with many expressions of
mutual esteem. On my way to bed I thought our American chum should be
interviewed and an explanation made that no offence was intended by
the recent treatment of him. He was in bed and sleeping heavily, so I
was obliged to wake him in order to fulfil my mission of peace. To say
that he received these overtures in a friendly spirit would be
incorrect. He seemed to be preparing for immediate hostilities, and
so, not to be taken at a disadvantage, I closed with him as he leaped
out of bed. The _melee_ lasted probably five minutes, during which
brief period his furniture was hurled in chaotic profusion all round
the room, my black mess jacket was divided up the back from the tail
to the collar, his pyjamas carried away, and the skin was detached
from his bare feet by my boots. So ended a glorious evening. Next day
we all lay low, but learnt that a certain person had interviewed the
Consul with a view to legal proceedings for alleged housebreaking. Our
enemy, however, was check-mated, and ourselves saved, by the veracious
testimony of a dear old Scotch lady, who lived in the adjoining house,
and who declared that our serenade was "verra nice though a wee bit
muxed," and that she herself had enjoyed it immensely.
One often hears of the flower-boats of Canton, and immediately
associates them with gaily-painted gondolas, tenanted by captivating
sirens and decorated with perfumed flowers and plants, growing with a
luxurious profusion common only to the Flowery Land. "Flower-girl" is
the universal Chinese term for those young women who dance and sing in
public, and who for regular fees attend at Chinese dinner-parties,
composed exclusively of men, to flirt with the guests while filling
their pipes and pouring out their wine. Poor parents having larger
families than they can support frequently sell one or two of their
best-looking daughters to professional trainers, who, after teaching
them to dance and sing, send them to the flower-boats in hopes that
they may there captivate wealthy _habitues_, when handsome prices
would be realised.
These girls are frequently not of bad character, but being on the
marriage market employ their wiles to secure husbands, in which they
sometimes succeed, passing into the hands of rich Chinese for three,
four or five hundred dollars, according to their merits, as wives of
an inferior rank, say number four or six.
At various places in the south, but especially at Canton and Wuchow, a
number of large, ugly junks with spacious cabins are moored alongside
each other in a certain locality. They possess no very striking
features, and those I have seen at Wuchow were absolutely devoid of
flowers or plants of any kind, the name "flower-boat" signifying
nothing more than the haunt of the flower-girl.
In the cabins of these craft it is the fashionable thing amongst
well-to-do Chinamen to hold their jamborees. They hire a particular
junk for a certain date, and at the appointed hour the party assembles
there, being received by two or three unprepossessing servants.
Dinner, or whatever form the entertainment may take, is commenced, and
as general mirth rises with the good cheer, guests write on a slate
provided for the purpose the names of such flower-girls as they may
fancy. This slate is quickly carried to where the girls live, hard by,
and shortly they will appear, staying for a time to dance, sing and
dally with their admirers, after which they will pass on to other
boats to fulfil further engagements.
The singing is execrable, being a high, nasal falsetto, and the
dancing, or rather swaying on their tiny feet while waving overhead a
dirty cloth in their beautifully-shaped hands, is feeble in the
extreme. A band of musicians is usually engaged, after protracted
haggling, to enliven the proceedings. Two or three native fiddles of
most primitive make wail incessantly, cymbals clash recklessly, a kind
of flute resembling bagpipes in sound squirls, while a wooden drum
adds to the deafening din. The girls squeak and posture, the place
reeks with pungent tobacco smoke and the smell of garlic, the guests
munch dried melon seeds, spitting the husks on to the floor, and shout
to make each other hear above the general uproar.
To escape from this inferno was the chief pleasure of the evening, and
any romantic ideas I may have had with respect to "flower-boats" will
remain shattered for ever.
Macao has been a Portuguese colony for upwards of three centuries, it
having been ceded to its original settlers by the viceroy of Canton in
recognition of services rendered by those intrepid buccaneers in
freeing neighbouring waters from pirates and robbers. It is a most
quaint and interesting little place, wearing a look of mediaeval
times, and still possessing many traces of former prosperity, though
now chiefly remarkable for its legalised gambling facilities, for
which reason it is frequently called the Monte Carlo of the Far East,
there being also a certain natural resemblance.
At Hongkong gambling is strictly prohibited amongst the Chinese, while
at Canton gaming-houses are heavily taxed, so that natives come in
great numbers from both places to Macao in order to play _fantan_
without constant dread of police interference. All fantan shops, as
they are called, contain but one gambling-table each, which is on the
ground floor. This table is covered with a fine grass mat and
surrounded on three sides with benches for the players, while on the
fourth side sit the croupier and the banker or shroff. In the ceiling
a large hole has been cut immediately over, and corresponding in size
with, the table, and a railing placed round it in the room above, so
that players can mount to the first floor, and bending over the
railing look directly down on the gambling. In the centre of the table
lies a thin slab of lead about six inches square, the sides of which
represent the numbers one, two, three and four.
The croupier has immediately in front of him a pile of bright copper
cash, perhaps two pints. From these he takes a large double-handful,
which he places well on the table and covers with a small metal
bowl. Now is the time for making bets on the four numbers. Suppose we
put a dollar on number three. In the course of a few minutes all those
who desire to bet have done so, stakes from the first floor being put
into a basket by an attendant and lowered on to the table by means of
a string, and the little square of lead is surrounded with coins,
notes and counters arranged by the shroff. Now the croupier, with a
thin stick about a foot in length, commences to scrape away four coins
at a time from the double-handful of cash. One, two, three, four. One,
two, three, four, and so on. The little heap begins to diminish. The
eager gamblers, who are generally all Chinese, bend forward with
straining eyes to within a few inches of the croupier's stick, so that
any cheating would be well-nigh impossible. One, two, three, four.
Only a few more cash. The excitement is intense. One, two, three....
Three cash remain!
[Illustration: PLAYING FANTAN IN PRIVATE HOUSE.
_To face page 133._]
Number three wins. All those who bet on one, two and four lose their
stakes, while those who bet on three receive five times the amount of
their stakes after a deduction of twenty-five per cent. has been made.
We put a dollar on number three; well, after deducting twenty-five per
cent. from it as profit for the table, seventy-five cents are left,
and we receive five times that amount, which is equal to three
dollars and seventy-five cents.
These fantan shops, of which there may be twenty or thirty, are all
licensed and kept under strict supervision, being farmed out to rich
syndicates by the Portuguese authorities, the large sums thus realised
forming no inconsiderable part of the colony's revenue.
Play goes on day and night all the year round, Sundays included, and
is practically unlimited, for it is possible to bet from five cents to
five hundred dollars at a time. Large sums are continually won and
lost, it being a common thing to see gamblers, both men and women,
after staking their last cash hand over watches, jewellery and other
valuables to the shroff for valuation, and hazard all on a final throw
to retrieve their losses.
This standing temptation of the fantan shops is a fertile source of
crime, especially amongst domestic servants, for apart from the
Chinaman's inborn love of gambling, in the event of their being in
financial straits, as is frequently the case, a possible way out of
such difficulties is by stealthily taking certain objects from their
master's house, say a clock and a dozen silver spoons, pledging them
at one of the numerous pawn-shops and gambling with the proceeds. If
fortune be favourable the clock and spoons are immediately redeemed
and returned before being missed, while the servant has found an easy
way out of his difficulties. On the other hand, should luck be against
the player, he either bolts to another part of the country or brazens
out the theft by declaring that the house has been broken into by
burglars.
Trusted servants who have been many years in one employ frequently
yield to this alluring but hazardous appeal to chance.
One morning as I was leaving Macao for Hongkong by the daily steamer a
Chinese passenger suddenly leaped overboard. The ship was stopped and
a boat quickly lowered, while a Portuguese police launch also dashed
to the rescue, but although we could see the suicide's head above
water for some time he sank before help arrived. Having ruined himself
at fantan he dared not return to Hongkong.
And such is the fate of many.
A Chinese banquet is a weird festivity, and once gone through will
never be forgotten.
On the occasion which I will attempt to describe invitations were
issued for 10 a.m., but in accordance with celestial custom the guests
did not arrive till about 11.30, when, after waiting half an hour,
during which the company chatted, drank tea and smoked, we were
ushered into a large hall with brick floor and paper windows, where
the repast was spread on three round tables, at each of which were
three Europeans and five or six Chinese, our hosts, clad in their
beautiful silk official robes, while we wore black morning coats.
The tables were of plain wood and without table-cloths, while the
luxuriously-cushioned divans of Far East imaginings were hard wooden
stools.
Numbers of little dishes containing dried fruits, sweets, pickles,
slices of ham, preserved eggs (more than a year old, black and highly
offensive), vegetables, etc., loaded the festive boards.
Each feaster was provided with a pair of chopsticks and two small
sheets of brown paper with which to wipe them after each course.
Warm yellow wine of a peculiar musty flavour and sadly lacking in
potency, was poured by attendants from pewter kettles into small
wine-cups, to be tossed off in bumpers all round with great frequency,
each guest immediately presenting his empty cup to the gaze of his
neighbours to show that there had been no heel-taps. It looked as
though we were simultaneously levelling revolvers at each other's
heads.
At a given signal the fray began. All the Chinese rose up, took their
chopsticks, and plunging them into various dishes began helping us,
the guests of honour. On my one small plate were quickly deposited
some sweets, sour pickles, dried fruit, slices of ham, and one of the
notorious eggs.
Now we in turn were expected to rise up and return the compliment by
helping our helpers. I clutched my sticks, drove them into a piece of
fish and dropped it into my neighbour's wine. Tableau! Never mind, I
tried pickles and preserves in detail with about an average success.
No good came of my efforts, but neither did any harm, for our
entertainers smiled and bowed and rose from their seats in gracious
acknowledgment of our strenuous but futile attempts to do the correct
thing.
All this was but a preliminary canter taking the place of our dessert,
albeit coming before the meal instead of at the end.
Hot courses were now placed on the table, our Chinese friends helping
us from them with their chopsticks, which they manipulated with
marvellous dexterity.
1. Puddings of several kinds Too sweet.
2. Fresh-water Fish (boiled) Insipid.
3. Chickens (boiled) Fair.
4. Sea Slugs Passed.
5. Shrimps Nasty.
6. White Mushrooms Good.
7. Eels First-rate.
8. Sea-weed Tough as leather.
9. White Bait Good.
10. Interiors of Fish Good heavens!!!
11. Lotus Nuts and Milk Very good.
12. Chicken (boiled in different manner) Passed.
13. Rissoles of Frogs Je ne sais pas.
14. Pork and Rice Flour A curious mixture.
15. Sugared Rice Too sweet.
16. Duck (boiled) Excellent, the best dish.
17. Shark's Fins Very good.
18. Porridge No thanks.
19. Soup Passed.
20. Opium, cigars, etc. On this occasion opium
was not smoked.
This long _menu_ was gone through accompanied with an abundance of
talk, compliments, jokes and the emission of various sounds peculiar
to the Chinese while feeding.
Immediately on rising from table we donned our hats, saluted _a la
Chinoise_ by shaking our clasped hands in each other's faces, "Nin
ching. Poo sung, poo sung," and took our departure, bowing repeatedly
and walking backwards.