China : a history of the laws, manners and customs of the people . government to prevent vessels setting out on piratical ex-cursions—a sort of excursion for which Chinese sailors have agreat predilection. Trading vessels of the first and secondclasses, though they are, strictly speaking, river craft, notunfrequently proceed on voyages to Cochin-China, Siam,Singapore, and Malacca. The Koo-Tay, or fruit boats, are numerous on the Cantonriver. They ply principally between Canton and Macao, and aresupposed to carry fruit only, on which supposition only a smalltax is imposed upon them by the gover
China : a history of the laws, manners and customs of the people . government to prevent vessels setting out on piratical ex-cursions—a sort of excursion for which Chinese sailors have agreat predilection. Trading vessels of the first and secondclasses, though they are, strictly speaking, river craft, notunfrequently proceed on voyages to Cochin-China, Siam,Singapore, and Malacca. The Koo-Tay, or fruit boats, are numerous on the Cantonriver. They ply principally between Canton and Macao, and aresupposed to carry fruit only, on which supposition only a smalltax is imposed upon them by the government. Merchandise,however, of all sorts is carried in them. They are about ninetyfeet in length, and from twenty to twenty-five feet in have two masts, the mainmast being in front of a flat-roofed house, which extends over one half of the deck. Theforemast is in the bows. The crew of a vessel of this descriptionconsists of twenty men. Another and a very numerous class of river-boats, is calledthe Si-qua, from a real or supposed resemblance which the. XXIX j RIVER CRAFT. •2^>o hulls of these vessels are supposed to bear to a deck of such a vessel is semicircular in shape, and on eachside there are three or four large ports through which the cargois received and discharged. Each vessel has one mast with alarge mat sail. In case of calms, it is provided with two largesculls (which are, in short, neither more nor less than twinscrews), each so long and so heavy as to require the activeexertions of six or seven sailors to keep them in motion. By adiligent use of these sculls the vessel is enabled to make head-way even when the winds and currents are most adverse. The Ma-Yong-Shun are much larger vessels than the Si-Qua-Pin. Each has a mast in the form of shears, which the sailorscan raise or lower. A vessel provided with such a mast cannot,of course, tack, and as she is not provided with sculls, the sailorsare obliged in case of adverse winds and ti
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublisherlondonmacmillan
