CANTON'S CALAMITY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 453, 11 March 1909, Page 5

CANTON'S CALAMITY.

FLOWER BOATS AFIRE. A THOUSAND BURNED OR DROWNED. (l)Y TELEGRAM—PEES' • '^SSOCIATIOK— COPYRIGHT.) Sydney, March 10. ■ A mail via' Port Darwin brings details of tho recent terriblo conflagration among the flower' boats (pleasure craft) on the Pearl River, near Canton.

Nearly all tho boats were consumed, causing' the loss "of a thousand lives. The majority were drowned. The fire occurred on a Saturday night, when many parties were being given by Mandarins...' •Tho wildest panic,,-prevailed..-Hundreds of people secined' tol be'nju'mping • into the water to save themselves from j;hp fire.'and many, we'ro:''saved^' , but : ''over tt, 2oo'-- charred corpses were discovered up, to tho Sunday afternoon. It is-apparent that, the boats were heavily lac\en with ■ humanity. It .is said that. many Mandarins were among the burned, and that, the victims also included ten bankers and a number of prominent business.men. • The fire,' it is supposed, originated through the falling of a'kerosene lamp. DESCRIPTION OF THE FLOWER FLEET. I • This is the second time within the last ten years that the famous "flower boats" at Canton.have been burnt writes the Melbourne Age. Just below where the great pnddlo wheel, steamers which form the Hong-Kong-Carfton ferry service of 80 miles tie up, at Canton, may be seen a mass of large sampans (Chinese boats) lashed together, side to side and tore.and aft, and connected bv eanewnvs over 250 feet wide .by 1200 feet ion». The inner sidp of tho mass is moored to the great piles, which protect the wooden sheeting forming the embankment. ' The boats are decorated with flowers in pots and wooden boxes tore and aft, while the centre is roofed in anoVdividoil into apartments. The wiser globe trotter will restrain his curiosity to visit the flower boats, for a good many have gone tnitner and have never returned. The "flower boats constitute the home of the fashionable demi-monde of Canton. Typhoons frequently ravage this floating city, and-are always attended with loss of life.