A VISIT TO THE HANGCHOW BORE 103 



succeeded in managing them so well. Curious foot-boats here take the 

 place of the slipper boat so common in the Canton Delta as a rapid 

 passenger craft. The} r are long narrow affairs and owe their name 

 to the peculiar fashion in which they are propelled. A single boatman 

 sits in the stern and yuloivs, or wiggle-waggles a large tail oar, and at 

 the same time operates a long oar slung over the starboard side, by 

 means of both feet placed on the inner end — one on the round handle 

 of the oar, and the other on the flat side of a good-sized wooden block 

 attached to the oar-end at right-angles. These boats carry passengers, 

 mails and parcels between the intermediate places not served by the 

 launch-trains or on the side canals. 



On both sides of the canal, especially near Kashing, fine granite 

 memorial arches and several pagodas stand conspicuous, having escaped 

 or baffled the destroying hand of the Taipings, though most other 

 things in this region suffered woefully. At one turning point we 

 noticed three graceful pagodas standing side by side. 



But the most frequent and most notable feature encountered during 

 a trip on these canals is the really wonderful series of bridges under 

 which the traveler passes. Wooden bridges, granite bridges, crude 

 bridges, artistic and picturesque bridges, dilapidated bridges and 

 bridges in good repair. Bridges with sloping approaches and high 

 curving arches, bridges with one arch or with several, all devoid of 

 prominent keystones. Bridges crowned with shops or pavilions. 

 Bridges whose sides are covered with verdant vines and with small 

 trees clumped at either end. Bridges from the tops of which ex- 

 pectant fishermen let down the great umbrella net and blame the 

 passing boat for the non-appearance of a decent "catch." Bridges 

 which sometimes by their massive piers and narrow arches so reduce 

 the waterway and increase the stream's flow that the spice of danger 

 is added for the voyager whose craft may be a little over normal size. 

 Later, while returning from a side trip to Mokanshan on a dark and 

 rainy night, the cabin loft for servants at the rear of the house-boat we 

 were using was almost completely demolished by crashing into the 

 corner of one of the side arches of the bridge at Dongsi. 



On some of the straight stretches of the canal as many as three 

 bridges were sometimes seen from a single position, for every village 

 must have its bridge, and settlements are so frequent that a canal is 

 a veritable " stringtown on the pike." When the canals pass through 

 towns and villages, the natives seem to exercise their best ingenuity in 

 obstructing the already narrow space to the utmost passable limits, by 

 building overhanging porticos and pavilions or by mooring their craft on 

 either side without regard to the resulting constriction. In many cases 

 these bridge arches have more than a half-circle of opening and are 

 fine examples of the stonemason's art and skill. With regular and 



