1 
1832.] CANTON. 347 
security. There is nothing in the known world that can vie with 
the novel, spirit-stirring interest which this river presents. The 
very fact that millions are born, and live (perhaps to an old age), 
and die, without ever having touched foot on dry land, and that 
their ancestors before them, for many generations, were all amphibii 
like themselves, is enough, not only to excite our wonder, but to 
bewilder the mind with astonishment ! We speak of mother 
earth, from whose bosom we derive our sustenance — " dust we 
are, and to dust we shall return." They are children of the 
water, the only source from which they derive their miserable 
nourishment — and beneath the water they find their finah resting- 
place ! : 
At length, our little party landed at Canton — outside the walls 
of course — where they were politely and kindly received by our 
countrymen and resident merchants, Messrs; Heard and Lattimer ; 
and to these gentlemen they were indebted for a most agreeable 
and introductive visit. ■ Nothing was omitted on the part of their 
entertainers that could yield them pleasure or information. Their 
hospitable mansions were thrown open for the reception of their 
American visiters, who found themselves, by these easy, agree- 
able, and polite attentions, comfortably situated and entirely " at 
home." 
Their visit being necessarily limited to a very short time, they 
felt the necessity of seeing, at once, all that was deemed worthy 
of a stranger's notice. Where every thing was new, little more 
could be done than to give a cursory view to matters of least mo- 
ment, allowing themselves greater latitude as things of deeper 
moment were pointed out to them deserving greater attention. 
Under the guidance of Dr. Bradford, of Philadelphia, they set 
out, among their first excursions, to see the great Jos-house, situ- 
ated on the opposite bank of the river. The ferry-boats were 
manned altogether by women, who make their living by, and live 
in their boats ; and whose skill in conducting their little craft 
amid numerous junks, and a thousand other impediments, is 
truly astonishing, The current is strong, and the numerous ed- 
dies created by the proximity of so many boats, render it almost 
certain death to any one who is so unfortunate, as. to fall in the 
water ; hence dead bodies may almost daily be seen floating down 
the stream. 
