CHAPTER VIII.
THE BOAT POPULATION.
R. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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: 'Teën 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."
