182 A COLLECTING TRIP _ 
evening about 9.30 the boat would stop, at some city 
along the river, and what are known as provision 
boats would come alongside our boat. Provision boats 
are sampans filled with Chinese food. A passenger 
(Chinese, of course) would order soup. The salesman, 
a horribly dirty man, would dip a small bowl into the 
dirty river and wash it and then proceed to fill his 
order: chopped onions, a few dried shrimps, almonds, 
peanuts, chopped carrots and turnips, ginger, raw 
pork and raw fish, and over the whole two kinds of 
sauces of a brown variety, a pinch of pepper, and then 
the whole remaining space in the bow! filled up with 
boiling water, which was kept hot in a jar over a fire 
in the boat. The salesman could not work and fill the 
orders fast enough; it was so popular. Ah Woo, our 
servant, told me it was ‘‘finee, Missie should try.’’ The 
odor from these provision boats, so-called, was hor- 
rible. 
Lunch bell has rung and so I shall stop. 
With lots of love to every one from 
Ros. 
S. S. Coptic, May 18, 1907. 
Dear Mother : 
This letter first and foremost is to wish you many 
happy returns of the day for both of us and to tell you 
what a splendid time we are having and how well we 
are. Hong Kong was a very interesting place and we 
met several charming English ladies there and had 
tea with them at their houses. The passengers on 
this boat are mostly Americans. An Admiral and 
