296 COFFEE. 



both into the neat hotel boat or " sampan," and Ti'goronsly sculled 

 us across the river to the hotel, which is situated immediately 

 upon the river-bank, and from the windows of which we could 

 look upon the animated and novel scene. The smaller sampans * 

 or passfenger-boats were very generally sculled by women, while 

 the larger ones, which carry merchandise, seemed to be propelled 

 by men. 



There are thousands and tens of thousands of women employed 

 in conveying passengers from one part of the city to another, and 

 having no other home at night than the boat they propel during 

 the day. The floating population of Canton is certainly a most 

 novel and interesting feature, and it is said that there is nothing 

 like it in any part of the world. There are passenger-sampans 

 and freight-sampans, war-junks and merchant-junks, country 

 boats and city boats, and even stationary boats, which are perma- 

 nently anchored and used for music-halls, lodging-houses, etc. ; 

 but by far the greater part of this immense floating city is, during 

 daylight, constantly in motion, plying hither and thither in every 

 direction, and presenting a kaleidoscope of form and color long to 

 be remembered. Sitting in the reading-room of our hotel at 

 almost any time of the day, the sound comes up from this floating 

 population " as the noise of a multitude." Whether you take a 

 boat upon the river or a walk upon land, however, one is con- 

 stantly impressed with the wonderful industry and activity of 

 this people. Everybody seems to be working for a living. The 

 streets are very narrow, seldom more than ten, and often not more 

 than six feet wide ; on either side, in the better portions of the 

 city, there is a succession of brilliant shops, with gorgeous signs 

 painted upon boards, which are hung perpendicularly instead of be- 

 ing placed laterally as in other parts of the world. The attendants 

 are civil and diligent in the exhibition of their wares, but never 

 importunate. In very many of these shops is a niche for a "Joss " 

 or household god, to which offerings are made at intervals ; and at 

 the door of nearly every one of them is a little stone grotto or 

 niche, in which at evening a light is placed, together with " Joss- 

 sticks," which slowly burn and moulder away until they are 

 consumed. The observance of their religious customs seems to be 

 a prominent feature in the life of the Chinese, and, while there 



