Queer Methods of Travel 



707 



A Draj' Seen on the Streets of Shanghai. Photo by O. P. Austin 



than the one-half-cent rate on the wheel- 

 barrow. On the level, well-kept streets 

 of the foreign quarters of such cities as 

 Hongkong, Shanghai, and Pekin, the 

 wheelbarrow coolie will struggle along 

 with a load of 6 or even 8 people. 



Other strange methods of transporta- 

 tion in China are the junks, sampans, 

 house-boats, and river crafts, which 

 crowd the rivers, harbors, and canals of 

 that densely populated empire. Many of 

 them have peculiar marks, resembling an 

 eye, painted on either side of their bows, 

 which, I found on inquiry, were really 

 intended to represent eyes, and are pro- 

 vided in the firm belief that they actually 

 aid the vessel in finding its wav. 



The junks and sampans are the freight 

 carriers along the coast and in the har- 

 bors. 



House-boats are found everywhere, but 

 especially in the waters adjacent to the 

 great cities, and it is estimated that sev- 

 eral millions of the people of China have 

 no other home than these floating resi- 

 dences. They are supplied with the sim- 

 ple requirements for cooking and daily 



life of the home, the pig sty at the rear, 

 the tiny flower garden at the front or 

 upon the roof, and are often sculled 

 from place to place by the mother, with 

 her children playing about her and her 

 youngest strapped upon her back. I 

 have often seen these Chinese and Japan- 

 ese boat women sculling their boats alaout 

 the harbors, halting at the sides of ves- 

 sels and clamoring for employment, 

 meantime hushing the cries of the babies 

 on their backs by a peculiar shuffling, 

 swinging motion of the body as they 

 scull the boat or shout their offers of 

 service. 



In K^orea the bull, the donkey, and the 

 chair coolie vie with each other as bur- 

 den-bearers, though the donkey is more 

 reserved for long distance travel in the 

 mountainous regions. The chairs are 

 not unlike the palanquin of India or the 

 Sedan chair of China. In most cases 

 they are carried by straps or ropes at- 

 tached to the ends of poles and passing 

 over the shoulders of the coolies. 



Official chairs are usually carried by four 

 and sometimes eight porters, and are by 



