A VISIT TO CHINA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2534, 6 October 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

A VISIT TO CHINA.

0 VKR-CIiOWDINI! AX I) KILT It. THE RIVER POPULATION OF CANTOX. MKRCTLKiSS TRKATMKXT OF CRIMINALS. Honu Ko.nu looks very picturesque, Vmiilr, nn thi: inner side of th'." 1 island along tho harbour, with its suiToiiiidiiigs of bold hills that ririo to K'Ooft., ;illrl shelter if, from tho sen. There is not much level ground ; tho main streets are along the water's edire, mid the town and twine private houses run tip the slopes of th.? hills, giving a commanding view of the harbour and mainland of China opposite. The 15-it.ish part is clean and airy, with wide streets and sonic fine public buildings and business houses, principal amongst them being the City Hall, which contains :i theatre, largo ballroom, museum, a fine library at concert hull, and tho barracks. There are three goo I hotels. There is a fine supply of water from the reservoir in tha mountains above the city. The harbour is a splendid one, with plenty of dock arid ship accommodation for the largest ships. It being a free port, with its other advan tages, makes it n great centre of trade. The port. is full of life with ships from all parts of the world, from ponderous men-of-war, the stately mail steamers, and sailing ships, ta clumsy j links, dashing steam launches, and lively sampans running in all directions with screaming and shouting Chinese. There is a floating population of about 30,000 people living permanently in boats in and about the harbour, and at. night with tens of thousands of lights dancing and darting hither and thither it is a brilliant and bewildering sight. The population of the town is about 1(50.000, of which about 7000 are Ilritish and foreigners, the remainder being Chinese. It would bo awkward for the Britishers if the Chineso turned on them and ordered them to clear out. The Chinese portion of the town is very crowded, with narrow streets, arid it isimpo-sible to keep a place clean or healthy where the people are so thickly settled. Tho only means of locomotion is by jinrikisha chairs or

walking. From Hong Kong to Canton, 80 miles, is a very pleasant run of seven hours by steamer, the journey for the first four hours being through hays and islands to the mouth of the Pearl River, which is guarded by picturesque hills, fortifications and torpedo boats. The country from here up to Canton is dotted with piddv fields, mostly covered with water and with people working in them up to their waists in water. The villages are situated on raised spots above Hood marl;. Higher up the river the tloods were not so high, and the young rice looked beautifully green and fresh, There are .several fine pagodas along the river bank, with trees growing out of cacli tier, probably caused by the birds carrying seeds up, which take root and grow there. On Hearing Canton the whole attention is absorbed by the extraordinary sight of the boat town. The river is about twice, the width of the Brisbane opposite the Hamilton, and it is a solid mass of boats, junks and houses built on boats for miles, with the exception of ail avenue of clear water iu the centre of a highway, and narrow tracks running towards and para lied with the shore, which make the streets and lanes of this curious town. 1 had a tour through this town at night, and saw some strange phases of life. There are theatres, singing and dancing saloons, tea houses, gambling dens, opium divans, and other places of amusement. There are railedin pathways ma 1c aloug the. fronts of the houses in this boat town about ,'1 feet wide, along which people walk, and at the ends of intersections there are planks across to the opposite side, just like streets with water for the roadway and planks for crossings. It is rather risky to go into some of these places. A cool clcar head is necessary for such an excursion, and I am sure it would be very dangerous for a man under tkc influence of drink to attempt it. Shouting, talking, singing, quarrelling, and letting off crackers marie a babel the like of which I should think does not exist in any other place in the world. The population of Canton is estimated at between 1,500,000 and 2,000,000, about 100,000, being in the boat towns. Shamen, the European part of the town, is an island separated from the city by a canal 100 ft. wide and the i river. It is liko a domain, with beautiful ! houses, trees, gardens and wide, drives and walks, with or.en grass plots. The | contrast after crossing the canal is striking—passing almost at a step from the beautiful gardens with the air laden with the fragrance of flowers and shrubs to the crooked, narrow, dark and dirty streets of Canton, the atmosphere reeking with that combination of sickening stenches that is peculiar to Chinese. But. I was determined to see it thoroughly, and accompanied by two friends nud a guide we started in chairs, I having four coolies. We plunged into a maze of dark • streets from 3ft. to -Iff. wide, in some places closed iu at the top, and in all cases choked overhead with signs and boards hanging from poles. We got down and went into the principal shops as wo went along and had a good look at all sorts of goods. It seoins a pity to see such beautiful rich goods stowed away in the holes they are in. After doing the block amongst the silk nnd curio shops, ■ shoe streets—whole streets are taken up with particular classes of i>oods—fan anil ivory shops, fish shops, where all the fish are kept alive iu tubs of water, and meat , shops, where pork appears to be the prin- ' cipal article in this line, with dogs, eats, rats and mice hung up dressed out in the most tempting style to attract customers. , We next visited the principal Buddhist ' temple. It is u rambling building covering | several acres of ground, with a lot of l idols hideously ugly, and a number of , priests squatting oa the floor chanting a | service. They accompany themselves by striking drums awl bells with sticks, pro-

dueing a good (loiil of noise, but no harmony. Tho water clock is a curiosity worth sating'. It is a very old piece of mechanism, and is worked by water flowing from tank to tank arranged one over tho other, an indicator in the lowest showing the time. We next got on tho old wall that runs round the city from one bend of the river to another, and got up to a fino five story pagoda on high ground, from the lop of -which there is a fine view of tho city and surrounding; country, including the leper's village, and the hills covered with graves. There are 110 regular cemeteries, and the hillsides appear to ho the favourite burying grounds, as they are covered with graves ] The IVrfeet Court, or Supremo Court, vi-ar.-.1, where we witnessed the hmnl-le si-.: lit. re.' mm hning tortured '■ This eumi. ia <m the northern side of the , city, not far from die Temple of Horror-;, j On entering tho gates of the ,C eat we passed through mu-.io buil'limrs and yards i and arrived at an inner coint yard about (iOft. long by ."Oft. wide, enclosed hy a . wall about 1 0ft. hiirli. the upper end for I about sft. being envied by a roof, und -rj neatii which the floor was raised al-oul : Ift. above the level of the court yirl i anil boarded. On this platform wen; two ; small tallies about. 10ft. apart. The ; pli-oners, f-e'-ei ia number, war ] eanied wedge I down in basket-* .siuiilai ; to tho.-e used by ('iiinainen to haul; vegetables in Aelra'.ii, and were do. | v.'u" rol.-.d-lookiog Mi-oacis wove taken ! by the arms', iliaejel up (they could not ' walk, as their legs were broken), and one ! I brown down fare to the ground 1 befoie e e.'.b judge. Attendants then i read a paper over each, which was the indictment, charging the prisoners with j lobbing a house of all its contents during tie. l ab-enec of the owners. On one of I,hem refusing to plead guilty, t!.e judge :' ivo an order and the prisoner n-; taken ny two men, and one held him by the

shoulders in a kneeling po-iticn and the other took liim by tho hair and held the head firmly against his thigh, the face upward), while a third, with a weapon made like the sole of a boot with broad heel tapering tovards the toe, of two pli'-- of thick solo leather, struck him five blows on each jmv. Ho wns atked again if ho would confess his guilt, and on refilling again he pot tho same dose. This was repeated three times, so that thirty blows wiih nil the striker's might, were given, each stroke being aeoompanied by tho flagell.itor emphatically uttering the word, " Yah !" When tho blood lmd forced it-elf through the pores of the akin and was oozin;." down his ueck, he was thrown down again before his judge, but, .-till refusing to plead guilt}', the judirc laughingly ordered him to be suspended by the thumbs, toes and hair. The wretched creature was then tied by the pigtail to the end of a wooden plank, which was stood on end, and cords with nooses were put round his great, toes and thumbs and drawn up at the back until the points of his knees only | touched the ground, where a coil of iron ehi.in was laid for them to rest on. Here ho was to remain for two hours iu the presence of his judge, the other prisoners and the spectators. Tho otV.er prisoner wa< treated in a somewhat similar manner. W r e left, them in this po-ition. Tho judges smoked (heir pipes and sipped tea as this hellish torr.uro went, on in their presence, while the wretchcs who were being tortured only uttered weak groans. Our guide coolly remarked that they would soon be unconscious, and then they would be out of pain. One of the court officials informed lis that the le»3 were broken at previous examinations with an iron hammer; they got thirty blows each of the hammer on the ankles. We had seen quite enough, and went out before another pair were put forward. I understand that by Chinese law an offender, no matter how clear and conclusive his guilt may he proved, unless he confesses his guilt, cannot be execute:!, but his judges can torture him to death.

Labourers in China get from 1.50 dol. to 2 dol. a month. They work from daylight to dark, and live comfortably, for tliern, on HO cash a day, 10 cash hting equal to 1 cent, and a dollar of 100 centa equal to 3s. They live in such 010.-e quarters eating, living and sleeping, crowded on the top of each other in swarming masses, liko ants in an ant hill ; that it i.s impossible for thorn to be anything bill, filthy in their ideas and habits'. The labourers or coolies are trained from childhood to be hewers of wood and drawers of water year's end to year's end, with no .Sunday rest. They have no machinery or horses, and the most labonrious and crushing labour is dono by human beings. The word " coolic is synonymous in eastern countries with "slave." People visiting Canton should sleep on board the steamer and get their meals there, and take some brandy with them going through the city, if not to drink to keep on a handkerchief to the nose when passing through the thickest of the slinks that are so plentiful in that city. The wonder is how cholera or small pox is not constantly raging in such places.—Thomas Finney, in Brisbane Courier,