150 ORDER OF THE FLOATING CITY. ([(Cuar. IX. 
hang from the roof of these splendid showy | 
cabins; looking-glasses, pictures, and poetry adorn 
their sides ; and all the peculiarities of this singu- 
lar people are exposed to our view in these their 
floating palaces. 
Then there are the Chop boats, which are used 
by the merchants for conveying goods to the ves- 
sels at Whampoa; the passage-boats to Hong-kong, 
Macao, and various parts of the country ; the Man- 
darin-boats, with their numerous oars, which have 
a strange appearance as they pass up and down the 
river (I have seen a single boat of this kind with 
forty oars on each side); and, lastly, the large un- 
wieldly sea-going junks. There are various modi- 
fications of all these kinds of boats, each adapted 
for the particular purpose for which it is de- 
signed. At festival times, the river has a singularly 
gay and striking appearance, particularly at night, 
when the lanterns are lighted, and numberless 
boats gaily decorated with them move up and down 
in front of the factory. The effect produced upon 
a stranger at these times by the wild and occasion- 
ally plaintive strains of Chinese music, the noisy 
gong, the close and sultry air, the strange people, 
—full of peculiarities and conceit,—is such as he 
can never forget, and leaves upon his mind a mixed 
impression of pleasure, pity, admiration, and con- 
tempt. Throughout the whole of this immense 
floating city, the greatest regularity prevails; the 
large boats are arranged in rows, forming streets, 
through which the smaller craft pass and repass, 
