SHANG-HAI AND THE YANG-TSZE-CHIANG
The passengers of the Guardian-Mother were on deck at an early hour the
next morning, and the smoke was rising from the funnel as though it was
the intention of the commander that she should sail soon; and some of
them began to wonder if they were to see anything more of China than
could be seen from the deck of the ship.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, have you seen all you wish of China?" said
Captain Ringgold, as he seated himself at the head of the table at
breakfast.
"We can put it to vote," suggested Mrs. Belgrave.
"I don't think it is necessary," replied the commander, laughing. "We
shall sail this forenoon for Shang-hai, for I suppose that some of you
who keep hens wish to see the home of the famous rooster that bears that
name."
"I thought yesterday afternoon that I had seen enough of China to last
me the rest of my lifetime; but I feel a little different this morning
since I got rested," said Mrs. Woolridge.
"It is said that travellers enjoy their visits to foreign countries more
after they get home, and think over what they have seen, than they do
while going from place to place," added Mrs. Belgrave. "I think of a
hundred things I saw in Canton, and did not understand, that I shall
recall when I read about China, as I intend to do when I get home."
"That is just my idea!" exclaimed Mrs. Woolridge. "It will take me three
years, at least, after I get home to read up what I have seen on this
voyage."
Much more in the same general direction was said by others. When they
went on deck they found the pilot who had brought the ship into port
walking back and forth. He had brought off the _China Mail_, and three
other newspapers in English, and a pile of others in Chinese to be kept
as curiosities by the party. The captain had obtained his clearance and
other papers the day before, as soon as he arrived from Canton, with the
assistance of the colonel, who had come off with the pilot to make his
adieux. In less than half an hour the ship was under way again, with the
Blanche following her.
"How far is it to Shang-hai?" asked Mrs. Belgrave, as she met the
captain in front of the pilot-house.
"It is eight hundred and seventy miles, and the voyage will require two
days and fourteen hours," he replied. "I shall keep well to the
eastward, and if you are up by six to-morrow morning you will see the
island of Formosa. Then we shall be about on the Tropic of Cancer, when
we shall pass out of the Torrid Zone--out of the tropics."
This information was circulated by the lady among all the passengers.
Before noon the ship was out of sight of land, and the voyage was just
about the same as it had been in smooth seas and pleasant weather. All
the party were seated on the promenade at six o'clock the next morning.
"But there is land on both sides of us, Captain Ringgold," said Mrs.
Belgrave. "Which is Formosa?"
"That on your right. We are going through the Formosa Channel; and the
islands on the port side are the Pescadores, about twenty miles from
Formosa."
After breakfast, when the ship had passed the smaller islands, and the
passengers were seated on the promenade, the commander opened upon them
with a talk about Formosa: "The name of the island in Chinese is Taiwan;
and it is off the province of Fu-chien, and from ninety to two hundred
and twenty miles from it. It has an area of 14,978 square miles, or
about the size of the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and
Connecticut put together. It has a chain of mountains through it, the
highest peak of which"--and the speaker looked at his memoranda--"is
12,847 feet high.
"The number of inhabitants is estimated at about 2,000,000, mostly
immigrants from China, with the original natives. The island is
exceedingly rich in its vegetation, and the plants are about the same as
those of the main land. Rice paper is made of the pith of a tree found
only in Formosa. In the south sugar and turmeric are the staples. The
latter is a plant whose root is bright yellow, used in dyeing silk.
Formosa tea has become well known at home as of excellent quality. Other
productions are about the same as in southern China.
"There are plenty of birds there, but no wild animals of any consequence
that are game for the Nimrods. A great deal more might be said about the
island, but you have more now than you are likely to remember. You can
see many junks now, and the trade with China is mostly carried on in
them; and some of them are pirates in these seas, even to the south of
Hainan, for a trading-junk turns into a pirate when her captain can make
some money by it."
After lunch the Blanche's people came on board, and all hands had the
usual frolic during the afternoon and evening. The next morning the
captain told his passengers that they had passed out of the China Sea
the day before, and that they were on the Tung-hai, or Eastern Sea,
outside of which was the broad Pacific Ocean. On the third morning from
Hong-Kong, when the company came on deck, they found the Guardian-Mother
at anchor, but just getting under way with an English pilot on board,
who had been taken late the evening before.
"Where are we now, Captain Ringgold?" asked Mr. Woolridge, when the
party had seated themselves on the promenade to see what was to be
seen.
"We are at the mouth of the great river Yang-tsze-Chiang; but we shall
soon pass into a branch of it called the Woo-Sung, and find Shang-hai,
for it is correctly written with a hyphen between the syllables,"
replied the commander. "But the tide is right; and we can go over the
bar without any delay, the pilot says. It is about twelve miles up the
river to the town; and, as you can see, the country is low and flat. The
city has 250,000 inhabitants, and is the principal central port of China
for foreign trade."
The channel of the river was crowded with junks, and there are sometimes
as many as three thousand of them between the town and the sea; but they
were careful to keep out of the track of steamers, even though they had
the right of way. The two steamers picked their way through the native
boats, and they were at anchor off the city in season for the late
breakfast ordered.
"Shang-hai stands on low ground; and cholera, dysentery, and fevers
prevail here in summer," said the commander when they were all seated at
the table. "The English, French, and American quarters are in the suburb
north of the native city, and they have broad and clean streets; but in
the city proper, they are narrow and filthy, not unlike those of Canton.
It is enclosed by a wall five miles in extent. What else there is here
you can see for yourselves."
The captain decided, after the pacha came on board in his barge with
the rest of his party, to lunch and dine at the Astor House, perhaps
because the name sounded like home; but he found that the hotel "was a
horse of another color." They went on shore in some of the native boats
that crowded around the ship; and their first care was to secure six
guides, all that offered their services on the quay. The next was to
procure a supply of the money current in the city, which was
accomplished with the aid of the principal guide, all of whom were
English, who could speak Chinese and pidgin.
The company were then divided into six parties, who had suggested this
plan when they found that this number of guides could be obtained. The
"Big Four" went together, and the rest of the company were in parties of
three. The conveyances were found to be small, low broughams, pony gigs,
palanquins, jinrickishas, and wheelbarrows, the last such as the party
had seen in Cholan. The boys decided to walk first, and try the vehicles
later. They went into a shop where Louis saw something in a window he
wanted, and the guide asked the price for him. The dealer refused to
show the article, or to name a price, unless Louis would agree to buy if
he did so.
They were not like the Hong-Kong salesmen; for there were several of
them, and they were impolite enough to make fun of the tourists. Scott
doubled his fists, and was inclined to pitch into the one who refused to
show any goods till they were practically sold; but Louis begged him to
desist. They next went into a tea saloon in the middle of a dirty pond
of water, which would have just suited the taste of a Dutchman at home.
The tea was given to them in the cups, and they poured in hot water. The
keeper swindled them in asking about five times the price, and the guide
remonstrated; but the fellow was saucy, and the charge was paid to avoid
trouble. The guide said the other fellow would have cheated them in the
same ratio, if Louis had agreed, as he required, to buy. Then they
looked into an opium joint, where the smokers were reclining on broad
benches. The pipe was a tube with the bowl on the top. The drug is
boiled till it is of the consistency of honey. Something like a
knitting-needle is then taken by the smoker, the end of which is dipped
in the jar; the needle is then turned till the opium becomes a ball as
big as a pea. It is then held in a flame till it is partially lighted,
when it is dropped into the bowl of a pipe. The amount used is counted
in pipes, some being satiated with two or three of them, while the hard
cases require twenty. In either case he goes to sleep, and has pleasant
dreams. The habit is very deleterious to those who practise it, and
death results from excessive use of the drug.
"There is a sedan with a Chinese magnate in it, with four bearers," said
the guide; "but it is not so common here as in Hong-Kong and Canton."
The barrow excited the attention of the boys more than the other
vehicles. At the door of the shop they saw a native reading a paper,
wearing a pair of spectacles whose eyes were almost as big as saucers.
After walking through the streets of Hong-Kong and Canton, the boys saw
very little that was new to them.
"Is there a cemetery in the town?" asked Louis, after they had become
somewhat tired, not to say disgusted, with the dirty streets, and the
crowd in them.
"Nothing that you Americans would call by that name," replied the guide.
"There are some small burial-grounds; but the Chinese generally bury
their dead in private grounds, outside of the cities. They have a
reverence for their dead which is not equalled by any people on the face
of the earth. The graves of the rich and noted are very carefully
selected, and are decorated with great care and taste. Some of the
finest gardens in the country are those enclosed in a private
burial-place.
"A rich Chinaman thinks more of his coffin than he does of his house. He
often buys it years before he has occasion to use it, and keeps it,
taking better care of it than he does of his female children. Wherever a
Chinaman dies, he must be sent home to be buried; and many of them come
here from America, taken up from the earth even a year or more after
death."
At this point the party came to an open place where there were all the
different vehicles used in the city waiting to be employed; and as it
was nearly time for the lunch, they decided to ride to the hotel. Louis
took a rickshaw, as it is called here; Scott and Morris preferred a
wheelbarrow, and Felix took another, balanced by the guide. They were
novel conveyances to the boys, and they enjoyed the ride very much. The
rest of the parties returned to the hotel about the same time. There
were Chinese dishes on the table; and those who had tried some of them
before ordered them, especially the bird's-nest soups. The hams were
very nice, and the captain hoped that Mr. Sage had procured some of them
for the ship.
The afternoon was spent as the forenoon had been, but the party found
little to interest them. The next day the tourists made an excursion up
the Yang-tsze-Chiang, and enjoyed it very much. They saw a little of the
farming operations, as a man ploughing with a buffalo, which looked more
like a deer than a bovine; others carrying bundles of grain, one at each
end of a pole on their shoulders; another threshing by beating a bunch
of the stalks on a frame like a ladder or clothes-horse; but what
pleased them most were the fishermen. One had a net several feet square,
suspended at the end of a pole. It was sunk in the water, and then
hauled up. Any fish that happened to be over it then was brought up with
it; but Scott declared that this device was an old story, and they were
used in the United States, though an iron hoop was the frame of the net.
They were more interested in the fishing with cormorants. A man with a
dip-net in his hand stood on a bamboo raft, on which was a basket like
those the snake-charmers use in India, to receive his fish. The birds
were about the size of geese. They dived into the water, and brought up
a fish every time. They have a ring or cord on their necks so that they
cannot swallow their prizes, and they drop them into the dip-net.
They went up as far as Taiping, where they took a returning steamer, and
that night slept on board the ships. On the following morning the
steamers went down the river; and then the question where they were to
go next came up, and the commander soon settled it by announcing that
the ship was bound to Tien-tsin, on the way to Pekin.