148 BARBER’S BOAT. [Cuap. IX. 
as the dark and sombre pine and cypress are 
considered in all countries fit companions to the 
cemetery and churchyard. 
On the sides of the river, both below and above 
the city, large quantities of the water lily, or lotus, 
are grown, which are enclosed by embankments 
in the same manner as the rice fields. This plant 
is cultivated both as an ornament, and for the root, 
which is brought in large quantities to the markets, 
and of which the Chinese are remarkably fond. 
In the summer and autumn months, when in flower, 
the lotus fields have a gay and striking appear- 
ance, but at other seasons the decayed leaves 
and flowers, and the stagnant and dirty water, are 
not at all ornamental to the houses which they 
surround. 
One of the most striking sights on the Canton 
river is the immense number of boats which are 
moored all along the shore, near the foreign factory. 
There are hundreds of thousands of all kinds and 
sizes, from the splendid flower-boat, as it is called, 
down to the small barber’s boat, forming a large 
floating city, peopled by an immense number of 
human beings. In sailing up the river you may 
observe a very small boat, perhaps the smallest you 
ever saw, exposed on the water, being nothing more 
than a few planks fastened together. This is the 
barber’s boat, who is going about, or rather swim- 
ming about, following his daily avocation of shav- 
ing the heads and tickling the ears and eyes of 
the Chinamen. By the by, this same barber has 
