. New China and old : personal recollections and observations of thirty years. , but slow and tiresome in operation. There areno locks to be found on Chinese rivers; and boatspassing from canal to river-level must cross the highembankments. At certain important points custom-houses are appointed ; and near these windlasses areerected, roofed in, and fitted with strong cables made ofbamboo split and twisted together. The labour is oftensupplemented by extra cables worked by buffaloes andmen. The boats come up and touch the foot of theincline in turn, and as a boat of heavy draft will takehalf a
. New China and old : personal recollections and observations of thirty years. , but slow and tiresome in operation. There areno locks to be found on Chinese rivers; and boatspassing from canal to river-level must cross the highembankments. At certain important points custom-houses are appointed ; and near these windlasses areerected, roofed in, and fitted with strong cables made ofbamboo split and twisted together. The labour is oftensupplemented by extra cables worked by buffaloes andmen. The boats come up and touch the foot of theincline in turn, and as a boat of heavy draft will takehalf an hour and more to cross the portage, the sight ofa fleet of, say, forty sail, waiting their turn in front of you,is a sight of despair to a traveller in a hurry. Butthen the Chinese never are in a hurry. When at length my boat, either in due order, or pre-suming a little on foreign exigency and pressing pastothers, has reached the shore, the noose of the hawser 1 Cf. Boy Life in the Flowery Land—F. H. Balfour in theBoys Own Paper. \ ^. •L fr -1 >7t-^o , - ^ < ?4?. Boat-Travci/ing in Mid China. t^J IS caught on their boat-hooks by the boatmen, anddragged all dripping with mud and water to be slippedover the stern, or on to the ends of a special spar fixedfor the purpose across the boat near the prow. Then,in response to the boatmens signal, the capstan is spunround with a shout, and we start. Smoothly andswiftly the boat travels for a few yards till the steepof the incline is reached. Then there is a pause anda check; the ropes slacken ; the boat settles down intothe mud ; and it requires a dozen men with their backsunder the gunwale swaying and shaking the unfortunatecraft, before there is way on once more. The men worknow with a will to avoid a second stoppage, and wereach the summit of the embankment. Here there isa pause, while the boatmen wrangle with the pa menabout the fee, as they often try to extort more fromforeigners than from natives. Possibly the customso
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Keywords: ., bookauthormouleart, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1902
