THE BOAT POPULATION.
MR. GRAHAM had thought of visiting Chaou-chou, a very fertile city on
the river Han, but was advised not to do so, as foreigners are disliked
by its inhabitants; and he was therefore told that they might have cause
to regret going thither. It used not to be an uncommon thing for these
people to greet an Englishman with a shower of stones. People have tried
to establish an English consulate there, but have not succeeded,
although the city is open to foreign commerce; and Jui Lin, the late
viceroy of Canton, succeeded in making people in the neighbourhood much
more orderly.
A very large bridge crosses the Han River at this place, a picture of
which the teacher had, and showed to the children. It is made of stone,
and composed of many arches, or rather square gateways, under which
ships pass to and fro. On the bridge, on each side of the causeway, are
houses and shops.
[Illustration: THE BRIDGE OF CHAOU CHOU.]
"I should not care much to live in them," said Leonard.
Nor would the teacher, he replied; for they did not look, and were not
supposed to be, at all safe.
[Illustration: ARCH OF THE BRIDGE OF CHAOU-CHOU.]
Two pieces of wood are suspended between the arches, which the
inhabitants take up in the day-time and let down at night, to prevent,
as they say, evil spirits passing under their homes and playing them
tricks.
It was a very happy fortnight that was spent at Swatow, and Sybil was
sorry to leave this port to go on to Hong-Kong. Somehow, although they
were not going to settle down now, and had still Macao and Canton to
visit, it seemed like bringing the end nearer--going much nearer to it,
when they went to Hong-Kong even for a few days, for there her parents
were to be left behind when she and Leonard returned to England. This
English colony, the little island of Hong-Kong, about eight miles in
length, is separated from the mainland by a very narrow strait, in the
midst of a number of small islands.
[Illustration: CHINESE BOAT-CHILDREN.]
The Bishop of Hong-Kong had kindly invited Mr. Graham and his family to
stay at his residence, St. Paul's College, during the few days that they
now remained at Hong-Kong, before continuing their tour and returning to
settle down, and the kind invitation had been gladly and gratefully
accepted.
[Illustration: CHAIR-MEN OF HONG-KONG.]
The missionary's party landed in a boat, or rather, in a floating house,
for the people to whom it belonged lived here, and it was their only
home.
The children had heard that there were so many inhabitants in China
that for very many of them there was no house accommodation, and that
these lived in boats, and were called the boat population; and Leonard
was delighted to be travelling in one of these house-boats himself, and
seeing the homes of the boat people. Their very little children were
tied to doors, and other parts of the boat, by long ropes. Those who
were three or four years old had floats round their backs, so that if
they fell overboard they would not sink, and their parents could jump in
after them. Most care seemed to be taken of the boys. Instead of being
dedicated to "Mother," boat-children, soon after they are born, are
dedicated to Kow-wong, or Nine Kings, and for three days and nights
before they marry, which ceremony takes place in the middle of the
night, Taouist priests chant prayers to the Kow-wong.
The boats in which live the Taouist priests, for the boat population,
are called Nam-Mo-Teng. These are anchored in certain parts, that the
priests may be sent for when needed. Their boats look partly like
temples, and have altars and idols, also incense burning within them.
The names of the priests who live there, and the rites they perform, are
written up in the boats. The boat people can have everything they
require without going on shore at all. There are even river barbers and
policemen, which latter are very necessary, considering that there are
so many pirates.
[Illustration: A PORTRAIT-PAINTER OF HONG-KONG.]
It seemed strange to Sybil and Leonard to think that boat-children never
went on shore, might never do so, and would even marry on board their
boat homes; but it did not seem at all strange to the little children
themselves, who played about on board quite as happily as did children
on shore. They looked strong, and seemed to be fond of one another. One
woman going along was very angry with one of her children, and for a
punishment threw him into the water, but he had a float on his back,
and was quickly brought back again. These women often carry their
children on their backs, but this is a most usual way of carrying
children in China, both amongst the land and water people.
Sybil had already often had her wish fulfilled, of travelling in
sedan-chairs, and as that is the regular mode of travelling in
Hong-Kong, directly they arrived here coolies were to be seen, standing
and sitting, on the pier beside their chairs, waiting for a fare. Very
eager they seemed to be to secure either people or their baggage. And
Sybil liked being borne along in these chairs even better than she had
expected.
The sedans were made of bamboo, covered with oil-cloth, and carried on
long poles. A great many sedan-chair-bearers have no fixed homes, living
day and night in the open air, and buying their food at stalls on the
road. They take care to keep their chairs in very good condition, ready
to hire out whenever they are needed. Leonard was charmed with his
bearers. They spoke such funny pigeon English to him, and made him
wonder why they would put "ee" to the end of so many of their words.
When Leonard once wished to speak to his father, who was on in front,
and succeeded in making his bearers understand this, one of them said
"My no can catchee." They admired the boy very much, and wanted to
persuade him to let them carry him one day to a "handsome
face-taking-man," but he could not understand at all, at first, that
they wanted him to let them carry him somewhere to have his portrait
taken. "My likee," one said, pointing to Leonard's face, "welly much."
The Chinese do not paint pictures very well, and sometimes, instead of a
brush, will use their fingers and nails.
[Illustration: VIEW OF HONG-KONG.]
The chair-men called Leonard "Captain" several times, which seemed to be
a common way of addressing strange "gentlemen."
They then asked him how Mr. Turner was, but he shook his head to show
that he knew nobody of this name. They either did not understand or
believe him.
"He hab got London-side," they explained.
Thinking that if he tacked a double "e" on to all his words he would be
speaking the language they talked so much, he said "No-ee know-ee," and
shook his head again. I think it was the expression on his face, and the
shake of his head, which made them understand at last what he wished to
say to them.
It seems that the natives of Hong-Kong, as well as other parts of China,
think that every Englishman must know every other Englishman; having,
indeed, such very small ideas of our important country, that they really
think our wealth consists in our possessing Hong-Kong.
[Illustration: THE CLOCK TOWER, HONG-KONG.]
The first view that the Grahams had of this little island was a chain of
mountains rising in the background to lofty peaks, and diminishing as
they approached the sea into small hills and steep rocks. Not so very
long ago, Sybil was told, Hong-Kong used to be a deserted island, though
it now contained flower-gardens, orchards, woods, large trees, beautiful
grass slopes, and very many buildings. The English town of Victoria was
built along the sea-coast. As Hong-Kong belongs to Great Britain, the
Government here was, of course, English; there were Christian temples,
as well as Buddhist, and many European edifices were conspicuous in the
Chinese streets. Then there were also large European club-houses, and,
best of all, the Cathedral. The sea-shore stretched round towards a
very beautiful port, which opened out to the west by a pass called
Lyce-moun, and to the east by the Lama Pass.
"I do think, do you know, Leonard," Sybil said, as she wished her
brother "Good-night" the evening after they had arrived at Hong-Kong,
"that China is rather a 'Flowery Land' after all. I do not think I shall
ever forget Formosa, at all events."
"We have seen pretty sights since we came to China," Leonard said,
agreeing with his sister.
The next day Sybil and he were taken into the Queen's Road, which
crossed the town from west to east, to the right of which was a regular
labyrinth of streets, some leading into very fine roads. In one part of
Hong-Kong nothing but shops and houses of business were to be seen. One
of its principal ornaments was the tall clock-tower, which made even
high trees beside it look quite small.
The most ancient houses of the colony are in a street that leads to the
clock-tower, and close by it is also the hotel of Hong-Kong. Into this
Sybil and Leonard were taken to have some tiffin, or lunch, whilst their
sedans and bearers waited for them not far off, under some trees.
Leonard took a good view afterwards of a man in a turban whom they
passed, because, as he was so important a person as a policeman, he
thought Sybil might like to describe him in one of her letters, and she
might perhaps forget what he was like.
Sybil had, as yet, only written one of her promised letters, but this
had been full of news, and had told of rides in sedan-chairs, little Chu
and Woo-urh, and all sorts of things; and before they moved on to
Macao, she had determined to write another letter, and tell of Leonard
saving himself from the serpent, and what they saw in Hong-Kong. This
seemed to be a very busy place. Steamers were always either coming or
going; and here, too, telegrams were constantly arriving. Besides
English merchants, Chinese, American, French, German, Hindoo merchants,
and others also traded with the little island, and shared what wealth
she had. Hong-Kong is very English-looking, compared with other places
in China, and the people are not only governed by English laws, but
their crimes are tried by English judges. But even at Canton, Shanghai,
and other ports where the English have settlements, they now claim, and
have a voice in trials for crime. It is only because Hong-Kong belongs
to the English that telegraph-wires are to be found there, as the
Chinese will not have them anywhere else, because they think that they
would offend the ghosts, or spirits, of the places through which they
would pass. For the same reason also the Chinese have hardly any
railroads. Even children could easily recognise here the introduction of
English ways and manners.
Lily Keith was very fond of shopping, therefore in her next letter Sybil
not only gave an account of Leonard's bravery, of which she was really
more proud than Leonard himself, but also described a visit that she had
paid to some shops.
"We went to some of the best of all the shops in
Hong-Kong to-day," she wrote, "and as we were
going into the door of one, the proprietor came to
meet us. Father said he was a merchant. He spoke
English, and was very grandly dressed in silk, and
wore worked shoes. His shopmen also wore very
handsome clothes, and served us standing behind
beautifully polished counters. In one part of the
shop were all kinds of silk materials, and some
stuff called grass-matting. We went down-stairs to
see furniture and beautiful porcelain. The
principal curiosities had come from Canton, so I
suppose when we get there we shall find still
better things; and in Canton people paint on that
pretty rice paper. Across the road were meat,
fish, vegetable, and puppy-dog shops. Yes, the
Chinese do eat dogs: in some shops in Hong-Kong we
have seen a number for sale; and they eat cats and
rats too. We could tell a shop in which clothes
were sold some little distance off, because an
imitation jacket, or something of that sort, was
hung up outside, as well as the long sign-boards,
which told what kind of shops they were. Leonard
says I am to tell you that a policeman was
outside. He always knows policemen now by turbans
that they wear, and they often hold a little cane
in their hands; and on the pathway a man sat,
wearing a hat just like one of those funny-looking
things, with a point, that we wore for fun
sometimes in the garden. There are no windows to
the shops.
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF KWAN-YIN.]
"Oh! but some of the Chinese do believe such
strange things. The other day our amah told
Leonard and me to chatter our teeth three times
and blow. We could not understand what she meant
us to do until she did it first. We had heard a
crow caw, so she thought if we did not do this
afterwards we should be very unlucky. The other
day a coolie fell down and broke a number of
things. He had not to replace any of them, but the
master had to buy all the things again because it
was fine weather. If it had been dirty and
slippery, the boy must have bought them. None of
us could understand the meaning of this till it
was explained to us. If it had been a slippery
day, the boy ought to have taken care, and it
would have been very careless of him to fall; but
if he did so in fine weather, some god must have
made him slip, they think, and therefore he could
not help it. The heathen Chinese have such a
number of gods and goddesses.
[Illustration: A SHADOW-SHOW.]
"The other day we passed the Temple of Kwan-Yin,
the goddess of mercy. The Hong-Kong people think
an immense deal of her, and her temple is in such
a pretty place, with many trees round it. She is a
Buddhist divinity. A number of beggars were
outside begging, and they nearly always get
something here. Very many Chinese beggars are
blind, and there are also lepers in China.
Barriers were put up to keep visitors, who were
not wanted, such as evil spirits, from going in.
People say that evil spirits only care to go
through a straight way, and never trouble to go
anywhere in a crooked direction. Over the doorway
were some characters, which father's teacher has
written out for me. They were, being read from
right to left, backwards: 'Teen How Kov Meaou,'
and signify, 'The Ancient Temple of the Queen of
Heaven.' Tien-How is the goddess of sailors, and
often called 'The Queen of Heaven.' To the right
was a doctor's shop, where prescriptions were sold
to the priests; and to the left an old priest was
selling little tapers which the worshippers were
to burn. We looked in for a few moments, and saw
people kneeling down and asking the goddess to
cure their sick friends. She was seated at the end
of the temple, behind an altar, on which were
bronze vases, candles, and lighted sticks of
incense. A gong was outside, and on the walls of
the temple were different representations of acts
of mercy that the goddess was supposed to have
performed. On the roof were dragons. The dragon is
the Chinese god of rain.
"Leonard says I am to tell you that some of the
Celestials thought once that he was going to beat
them because he carried a walking-stick. Chinamen,
excepting policemen and mandarins, are only
allowed to carry them when they grow old.
"We saw a very strange sort of show the other day,
called a shadow-show. A man, inside a kind of
Punch and Judy house, made, with the help of a
lantern, all sorts of figures, or rather, shadows,
appear on the top of the Punch and Judy. It looked
so strange, but Leonard said he thought the people
looking at it were stranger still, what with the
hats they wore and the funny way they did their
hair. He declared one woman had horns. I never saw
such pretty lanterns as the Chinese have. Father
says that on the fifteenth day of their first
month (which is not always the same, as their New
Year's Day, like our Easter, is a movable feast
regulated by the moon) there is a feast of
lanterns, when all people, both on land and on the
water, hang up most beautiful lamps, some being
made to look like animals, balls of fire, or even
like Kwan-Yin herself holding a child.
"Is it not strange New Year's Day next year will
be on the twenty-ninth of January, and in 1882 on
February eighteenth?
"I seem to have ever so much more to tell you, but
I am too tired now to write it. I am glad you
liked mother's pictures that I sent last time. I
could only write that one short letter in Formosa.
We are going on to Macao (it is pronounced Macow)
the day after to-morrow, then we stay at Canton,
and then come back here. It will be so dreadful
when that time comes, but I try not to think about
it. Dear mother does sometimes, I can see. We all
went to the Cathedral on Sunday.
"I hope I shall soon have a long letter from you.
"Believe me, dear Lily,
"Always your affectionate friend,
"SYBIL GRAHAM.
"_Hong-Kong, December, 1880._"
[Illustration]
[Illustration]