China : a history of the laws, manners and customs of the people . very high, and shehas three or sometimes two masts. All these vessels carry largequantities of various kinds of merchandise and cattle betweenCanton and Hong-kong. The crew consists of a mastermariner, eighteen seamen, three or four helmsmen, a purser, anda cook. The fare for a single passenger, including food, is sixtycents; but passengers by these boats are not so numerous asthey used to be. Chinese travellers have discovered the advisa-bility of availing themselves of the speed, comfort, and securityof the foreign steamboats
China : a history of the laws, manners and customs of the people . very high, and shehas three or sometimes two masts. All these vessels carry largequantities of various kinds of merchandise and cattle betweenCanton and Hong-kong. The crew consists of a mastermariner, eighteen seamen, three or four helmsmen, a purser, anda cook. The fare for a single passenger, including food, is sixtycents; but passengers by these boats are not so numerous asthey used to be. Chinese travellers have discovered the advisa-bility of availing themselves of the speed, comfort, and securityof the foreign steamboats now plying between these ports. The Cho-Ka-Shun, orboatsin which the mandarins travel, arenot unlike large lioating caravans. On each side of such aboat there are three doors painted red. The mast is in the formof a pair of shears, and the sail is therefore only of servicewhen the winds are fair. In contrary weather the sailors, whoare eighteen or twenty in number, are obliged to take to theirboats. In shallow water thev shove the vessel fi~>r\vard with long. XXIX.] REIJGIOUS CEKKMONIES OF SAILORS. 271 bamboo poles, calling at the same time in a singing tone to thespirits of their departed ancestors to grant them favourable windsand tides. A narrow platform of wood runs from stem to sternfor the use of the sailors when using their poles. Most of thevessels in the coast and river trade are provided with similarplatforms. Where the torrents are so rapid as to render polingimpracticable, a long rope is made fast to the top of the mast,and the sailors go ashore and tow. Nearly all the rivers,creeks, and canals are provided with towing-paths. They mustbe expert swimmers, as the towing-path is not unfrequentlyinterrupted by a tributary river. Cho-Ka-Shun are betteradapted for river travelling than other boats, as their saloonsare spacious and comfortable ; but they are most inefficient inpoint of speed. In the large ocean-going junks the sailors pay their devotionsto the goddess
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublisherlondonmacmillan
