FROM SHANGHAI TO HONG-KONG.--A STORY OF THE COOLIE TRADE.
The party reached Shanghai without accident, and on their arrival at
that port the boys had a welcome surprise in the shape of letters from
home. Their first letters from Japan had been received, and read and
reread by family and friends. To judge by the words of praise that they
elicited, the efforts of the youths at descriptive composition were
eminently successful. Frank's mother said that if they did as well all
through their journey as they had done in the beginning, they would be
qualified to write a book about Japan and China; and a similar opinion
of their powers was drawn from Fred's mother, who took great pride in
her son. Mary and Effie composed a joint letter to Frank, to tell how
much pleasure he had given them. They were somewhat anxious about the
purchases, but were entirely sure everything would be correct in the
end. Fred began to be a trifle jealous of Frank when he saw how much the
latter enjoyed the communication from the girl who came to the railway
station to see them off. He vowed to himself that before he started on
another journey he would make the acquaintance of another Effie, so that
he would have some one to exchange letters with.
The letters were read and reread, and their perusal and the preparation
of answers consumed all the time of the stay in Shanghai. The delay,
however, was only for a couple of days, as the weekly steamer for
Hong-kong departed at the end of that time, and our friends were among
her passengers. Another of the ship's company was our old friend "the
Mystery," who told Doctor Bronson that he had been travelling in the
interior of Japan, and had only recently arrived from there. He was
going to Canton, and possibly farther, but could not speak with
certainty until he had arranged some business at Hong-kong.
The steamer on which our friends were travelling was under the French
flag, and belonged to the line popularly known as "the French Mail." The
service between Europe and China is performed alternately by two
companies, one of them English and the other French; and by means of
these two companies there is a weekly ship each way. The French steamers
are preferred by a great many travellers, as they are generally larger
than the English ones, and are admirably arranged for comfort. They make
the voyage from Shanghai to Marseilles in about forty days, calling at
the principal ports on the way, and going through the Suez Canal. The
English steamers follow very nearly the same route as the French ones,
as long as they are in Eastern waters; but when they reach the
Mediterranean Sea, they have two lines, one going to Venice and the
other to Southampton. The official names of the two companies are "The
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company" (English), and "La
Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes" (French).
There were not many passengers, perhaps a dozen in all, and they were
mostly merchants and other residents of Shanghai on their way to Europe
or to some of the southerly ports of Asia. Two of the passengers were
accompanied by their Chinese servants, and the boys were greatly amused
to hear the efforts of the latter to speak English. They had already
heard the same kind of thing during their movements in China, but had
not paid much attention to it in consequence of their occupation with
other matters. Now, however, they had some leisure for investigation,
and Fred suggested that they had better take a glance at the Chinese
language.
A few glances were all they wanted, as Frank was not long in
ascertaining that it would require years of study to acquaint himself
with enough of the language to be able to converse in it. Fred learned,
about the same time, that there was a written language and a spoken one,
and the two were so unlike that a man can read and write Chinese without
being able to speak it, and can speak without being able to read and
write. They found that very few foreigners who came to China to stay for
years ever troubled themselves to learn the language, but were contented
with "pidgin English." Then the question very naturally arose, "What is
pidgin English?"
[Illustration: SPECIMEN OF CHINESE WRITING.]
In a small book entitled "John, or Our Chinese Relations," Frank found
something relating to pidgin English, which he copied into his note-book
for future reference. When he had done with the volume, it was borrowed
by Fred for the same purpose, and the boys gave a vote of thanks to the
author for saving them the trouble to hunt up the information by asking
questions of their friends. What they selected was as follows:
"In attempting to pronounce the word 'business,' the Chinese were
formerly unable to get nearer to the real sound than 'pidgin' or
'pigeon;' hence the adoption of that word, which means nothing more
nor less than 'business.' Pidgin English is therefore business
English, and is the language of commerce at the open ports of
China, or wherever else the native and foreigner come in contact. A
pidgin French has made its appearance in Saigon and at other
places, and is steadily increasing as French commerce has
increased. On the frontier line between Russia and China there is
an important trading-point--Kiachta--where the commerce of the two
empires was exclusively conducted for a century and a half. A
pidgin Russian exists there, and is the medium of commercial
transactions between the Russian and Chinese merchants.
"Long ago the Portuguese at Macao had a corresponding jargon for
their intercourse with the Chinese: and it may be safely stated
that wherever the Chinese have established permanent relations with
any country, a language of trade has immediately sprung into
existence, and is developed as time rolls on and its necessities
multiply.
"The decline in Portuguese trade with China was accompanied with a
corresponding decline in the language, but it left its impress upon
the more recent pidgin English, which contains many Portuguese
words. Pidgin English is a language by itself, with very little
inflection either in noun, pronoun, or verb, and with a few words
doing duty for many. The Chinese learn it readily, as they have no
grammatical giants to wrestle with in mastering it, and the
foreigners are quite ready to meet them on the road and adapt their
phraseology to its requirements. The Chinese has only to commit to
memory a few hundred words and know their meaning; the foreigner
(if he be English-speaking) has less than a hundred foreign words
to learn, together with the peculiar construction of phrases. The
Chinese have printed vocabularies in which the foreign word and its
meaning are set forth in Chinese characters, and thus they have no
occasion to trouble themselves with the alphabet of the stranger.
These books are specially intended for the use of _compradores_ and
servants in foreign employ, and are so small that they can be
readily carried in the pocket.
"In pidgin English the pronouns _he_, _she_, _it_, and _they_ are
generally expressed by the single pronoun _he_. All the forms of
the first person are included in _my_, and those of the second
person in _you_. When we come to the verbs, we find that action,
intention, existence, and kindred conditions are covered by _hab_,
_belongey_, and _can do_. Various forms of possession are expressed
by _catchee_ (catch), while _can do_ is particularly applied to
ability or power, and is also used to imply affirmation or
negation. Thus: 'Can do walkee?' means 'Are you able to walk?' If
so, the response would be 'Can do,' while 'No can do' would imply
inability to indulge in pedestrianism. _Belongey_ comes from
'belong,' and is often shortened to a single syllable, _b'long_. It
is very much employed, owing to the many shades of meaning of which
it is capable. Thus: 'I live in Hong-kong' would be rendered 'My
belongey Hong-kong side,' and 'You are very large' would be
properly translated 'You belongey too muchee big piecee.'
"The Chinese find great difficulty in pronouncing _r_, which they
almost invariably convert into _l_. They have a tendency to add a
vowel sound (_o_ or _e_) to words ending with a consonant. Bearing
these points in mind, we readily see how 'drink' becomes _dlinko_,
and 'brown' _blownee_. Final _d_ and _t_ are awkward for them to
handle, and _th_ is to their lips an abomination of first-class
dimensions. 'Child' becomes _chilo_, and 'cold' is transformed to
_colo_, in pidgin English. 'That,' and other words beginning with
_th_, generally lose the sound of _h_, though sometimes they retain
_h_ and drop the _t_ before it. 'Side' is used for position, and
the vocabulary contains _inside_, _outside_, _bottom-side_ (below),
and _top-side_ (above). _Chop-chop_ means 'fast,' 'quick,'
'immediately;' _man-man_ means 'slowly,' 'slower,' 'gently,' in the
south of China; while at Han-kow, on the Yang-tse, it means exactly
the reverse. At Canton or Swatow, if you say _man-man_ to your
boatmen, they will cease rowing or will proceed very lightly; say
the same thing to your boatmen at Han-kow or Ichang, and they will
pull away with redoubled energy."
"As we have learned the principles of this new language," Frank
remarked, "we ought to be able to understand some proverbs in it. For
instance, here are four that contain whole heaps of good advice, besides
showing us how to read pidgin English:
"'Who man swim best, t'hat man most gettee dlown;
Who lidee best he most catch tumble down.'
"'One piecee blind man healee best, maskee;
One piecee deaf man makee best look-see.'
"'One man who never leedee,
Like one dly inkstand be;
You turn he top-side downey,
No ink lun outside he.'
"'Suppose one man much had--how bad he be,
One not'her bad man may be flaid of he.'"
"Those will do," Fred answered, "and here is Longfellow's famous poem
'Excelsior,' which every schoolboy knows, or ought to know. It was done
into pidgin English by somebody who lived in the country and evidently
knew what he was about:
"'TOP-SIDE GALAH!
[Illustration]
"'T'hat nightee teem he come chop-chop
One young man walkee, no can stop;
Maskee snow, maskee ice;
He cally flag wit'h chop so nice--
Top-side Galah!
"'He muchee solly; one piecee eye
Lookee sharp--so fashion--my:
He talkee large, he talkee stlong,
Too muchee culio; allee same gong--
Top-side Galah!
"'Insidee house he can see light,
And evly loom got fire all light;
He lookee plenty ice more high,
Insidee mout'h he plenty cly--
Top-side Galah!
"'Olo man talkee, "No can walk,
Bimeby lain come, velly dark;
Have got water, velly wide!"
Maskee, my must go top-side--
Top-side Galah!
[Illustration]
"'"Man-man," one girlee talkee he:
"What for you go top-side look-see?"
And one teem more he plenty cly,
But alla teem walk plenty high--
Top-side Galah!
[Illustration]
'"Take care t'hat spilum tlee, young man,
Take care t'hat ice, must go man-man."
One coolie chin-chin he good night;
He talkee, "My can go all light"--
Top-side Galah!
[Illustration]
"'T'hat young man die: one large dog see
Too muchee bobbly findee he.
He hand b'long coldee, all same like ice,
He holdee flag, wit'h chop so nice--
Top-side Galah!'"
"But does every Chinese who goes to a foreign country understand how to
talk pidgin English?" Frank asked of Doctor Bronson.
"Not by any means," was the reply; "thousands of them are not able to
speak a word when they go abroad, but they gradually pick up the
language of the country to which they go. Not all of them go to America
or other English-speaking lands; many have gone to Cuba, Peru, and
Brazil, where there was no need of a knowledge of English. Spanish and
Portuguese are the only tongues in use there, and many an emigrant never
took the trouble to learn a word of them."
Their old acquaintance "the Mystery" had joined the party while the
conversation just recorded was going on. When the Doctor made allusion
to the emigration to Cuba and Peru, "the Mystery" opened his eyes a
little wider than was his custom, and said he was well aware that many
had gone to those countries who knew nothing but Chinese, and never
learned a word of any other language. As the boys showed a desire to
hear more on the subject, he proposed to tell them something about the
coolie-trade; and it was arranged that they should assemble in the
smoking-saloon after dinner, where they could talk at their leisure.
After dinner they met as agreed, and "the Mystery" seated himself
comfortably for the story he was about to tell.
"The coolie-trade," said he, "does not exist any more. It was very much
like the slave-trade, of which you have read; in fact, it was nothing
more than the slave-trade with the form changed a little. In the African
slave-trade the slaves were bought as one might buy sheep and cattle. In
the coolie-traffic the men were hired for a term of years at certain
stipulated wages, and were to be returned to their homes at the end of
that term, provided all their debts had been discharged. The plan was
all right on its face, but it was not carried out. When the period for
which he was engaged was up, the coolie was always made to be in debt to
his employer; and, no matter how hard he might work, he was not allowed
to free himself. He was a slave to his master just as much as was the
negro from Africa, and not one coolie in a thousand ever saw his native
land again.
[Illustration: BARRACOONS AT MACAO.]
"Not only were the men hired on contracts that they could never cancel,
but they were stolen, just as slaves are stolen in Africa. Boats were
sent up the rivers in the southern part of China to bring back loads of
coolies. They would land an armed party at a village, seize all the men
in the place, and bring them to the port, where they would be
transferred to the dealers, who would send them to the places where
their labor was needed. Macao was the great port for the coolie trade,
and the Portuguese had large sheds there, which they called
_barracoons_, for holding the coolies in prison till they were ready to
ship them away. These barracoons were sometimes so crowded that
thousands of coolies died there in the course of a single year. The
natives called them '_chu-tze-kuan_,' or 'pig-pens,' and they were so
filthy that they richly deserved the name.
"The name 'coolie' belongs properly to a tribe of natives on the northern
coast of Africa, but it is applied to a laborer of any part of the East,
and this is its meaning in Japan and China.
[Illustration: COOLIES EMBARKING AT MACAO.]
"The laborers who were to be taken to Cuba or Peru were received on
board the ships, and counted as they came over the side, like so many
boxes or bales of merchandise; in fact, they were nothing but
merchandise, and the receipts were made out for a certain number of
coolies without the least record of their names and residences. I was
once in a ship that took a cargo of these people to Peru, and I don't
believe that anybody on board felt otherwise than if he had been in the
slave-trade. And we had a narrow escape from having our throats cut by
our cargo and our bodies thrown into the sea."
"Please tell us about that," said Fred. Frank echoed the request, and
their informer nodded his consent.
"The ship had taken its cargo at Macao, and we went out to sea with a
fine breeze. We had over a thousand 'passengers' in the hold, and only a
small number were to be allowed on deck at one time, as several ships
had been captured by the coolies, and we did not intend to be taken if
we could help it. Two days after we started there was trouble among the
coolies, and several of them ran about the space below-deck and
threatened to set the ship on fire. They did build a fire of some of the
dry boards used for making their sleeping-berths; but we covered the
hatches with tarpaulins, and held the smoke down there, so that the
coolies were nearly smothered and compelled to put the fire out
themselves.
[Illustration: ENRAGED COOLIE.]
"The hatchways were covered with gratings to admit of a free circulation
of air, and they were so firmly fastened that the coolies could not
disturb them. Several men were on deck when the trouble began, and one
of them tried to get through the grating to join his companions. He
managed to squeeze his body through the opening, and then discovered too
late that he had a fall of nearly thirty feet before him, as the hatch
of the lower deck was open. He struggled a moment, then dropped to the
lower hold, and was killed by the fall.
[Illustration: A DEADLY FALL.]
"It became necessary to fire on the mutineers, and for this we raised
the tarpaulins over one of the hatches. The smoke poured out in a dense
mass and almost smothered us, and we could only see the forms of the men
very dimly, like a ship in a fog. We fired, and continued to fire till
several of them had been shot down, and all their efforts to get at us
were of no avail. There were about sixty men in the crew, and, as we had
over a thousand coolies on board, we had numbers against us fearfully.
But they had no fire-arms, while we had a good supply of rifles and
pistols, with plenty of ammunition. At the time of the outbreak there
were not far from a hundred coolies on deck; but we drove them forward,
and kept so large a guard over them that they could not have done
anything to help their friends below if they had been disposed to do so.
[Illustration: FIRING DOWN THE HATCHWAY.]
"We got out of water, and the only way to reach what we had on board was
by going down through the hold. Of course anybody who ventured there
would be killed instantly; but we had the consolation of knowing that
they could not get water any more than we could, as the place where it
was stowed was fastened too securely for the coolies to open it with any
tools they had on hand. We had a small condenser in the cook's galley,
and with this we procured enough water to save us from death by thirst;
but we refused to give a drop to the mutineers.
"They held out for two days, and during all that time hardly a man of us
slept more than a few minutes at a stretch. Many of the coolies were
suffering terribly with thirst and hunger, and they asked to have their
wants supplied while they were making negotiations for peace. The
captain refused anything but the most unconditional surrender, and the
only concession he would grant was to have the dead bodies passed up to
be thrown overboard. Of course the coolies were very glad of this, as
they were suffering from the fearful condition of the narrow space where
they were confined. When this work was completed, they asked for half
an hour's time to make a proposal for surrender, which was allowed them.
[Illustration: THE WRITING IN BLOOD.]
"Looking through the hatch, we could see them grouped together and
engaged in earnest conversation. Two were dead or dying, and from one of
them there was a stream of blood slowly oozing. A coolie who appeared to
be a ringleader among them dipped his pen in the blood and wrote on a
sheet of paper:
"'We want three hundred coolies to be allowed on deck at a time.
The ship must go back to the coast, and allow us to land at
Whampoa, below Canton. We promise to make no trouble if this be
done, but will burn the ship at once unless the captain agree to
it.'
"We knew that any promise they made would not amount to anything when
they were once in possession of the deck, and, besides, to go back to
China would be a complete surrender of the voyage. The captain did not
hesitate a moment in his answer to this demand.
"He opened one of the hatches just enough to allow one man to descend
at a time, and through this hole he compelled all the coolies who were
then on deck to pass. Then he told the interpreters to say that they
might burn the ship as soon as they liked, and the crew would leave in
the boats. The boats were made ready for lowering; and, as we were not
far from the coast, and the wind was fair, there was not much doubt of
our getting safe to Hong-kong. Not a coolie would escape, and we should
take good care that the fire would be so far advanced before we left
that it could not be put out.
"In an hour we received another message, written in blood, like the
first. It promised to deliver the ringleaders of the mutiny, to be kept
in irons till we arrived at our destination, and also promised that
there should be no more attempts to set fire to the ship. The captain
was to fix the number of men to be on deck at one time, and they were to
obey his orders without question. In fact, the surrender was complete.
"We had no trouble after that; but we only allowed fifty men on deck at
one time, and those under a strong guard. You can be sure we were in a
hurry to finish the voyage, which we did without accident. I had had all
I wanted of the coolie-trade, and never went on another voyage like
that."
[Illustration: THE INTERPRETERS.]