^4 WITH BOAT AND GDIS IN THE YANGTZE VALLEY. 



very moderate price for similar craft, while Tls. 3,000 to Tls. 5,000 is the cost of an up-to-date 

 houseboat. These facts and figures are merely adduced as witnesses of the march of events. 



Every man has his own idea of what a houseboat should be, but those who wish for 

 guidance cannot do better than pay attention to the expert opinions given on the matter in 

 the immediately following pages. Personally, and I give my own idea simply for what it 

 may be worth, I am of opinion that the present day houseboat is altogether too large, 

 too cumbersome, too costly, and that it might be fitted internally to more advantage. 

 Comparatively recently however, a foreign built teak wood houseboat has been turned out 

 only 43 feet long, 9 feet 3 in. extreme breadth, l feet 3 in. draught fully laden at a cost 

 Tls. 1,575' But this is quite an exception to the rule and shows that extreme prices need 

 not necessarily be paid for a boat that will meet all requirements and answer every ordinary 

 purpose. A mast is of very little use when out of the broad waterways unless the creek 

 be fairly straight, the wind fair and bridges few and far between. It is usually too heavy 

 for the boat and a positive nuisance when constant raising and lowering are necessary, and 

 might with advantage be dispensed with and supplanted by the "handy rectangular sail of 

 drill, with a few light bamboos across it at intervals, hoisted upon the shears" as 

 recommended by the late Captain Croal. 



As is well known, in the long and but too often frequent intervals that the boat is lying 

 idle at her moorings the cabin of the houseboat is made use of as a gambling saloon by the 

 lowdah and his friends, and your best bunk appropriated by the happy opium smoker. These 

 things are not as they should be and might easily be obviated. I would have no bunks in 

 the cabin at all, but a couple of small iron bedsteads which could be put in or out of the boat 

 as required. In the place of drawers or lockers I cannot imagine anything handier than the 

 ordinary Japanese rattan basket. Three of these stowed away under the bedstead would 

 answer every purpose, and in fact would prove more easily get-at-able than the ordinary bunk 

 drawers, which generally jam when you want to open them and as frequently stick when you 

 want to close them. So that when the boat is out of work the cabin could be quite emptied 

 and locked up, while ventilation could always be secured by opening the windows from 

 outside or the skylights from above. If the crockery is left in the boat it might be placed 

 in the pantry, and the whole interior of the boat barred against all comers. Anyhow these 

 suggestions all make for cleanliness and for freedom from the rat annoyance. But of course 

 there will always be found those wedded to *' olo custom," unshaken believers in the status quo. 



Of late years the number of houseboats has very materially increased and may now be 

 put down, as far as Shanghai is concerned, at 150. The yachts, most of which can be 

 utilized for shooting purposes, total up to 36, while besides there is a growing number of 

 motor boats. So that it may be said that a couple of hundred craft contribute to Shanghai's 

 pleasure upon the water. 



The difficulty of getting anything like a complete list of houseboats for record in this 

 book, although I had the great advantage of the willing and effective assistance of Inspector 

 Mellows of the River Police, to whom I am greatly indebted, was as great as was the ease 

 with which the list of sailing craft was obtained. And I would suggest that an association 

 of houseboat owners be formed something on the lines of the Shanghai Yacht Club, one 

 advantage of which would be the registration of all houseboats with the names of their 



