A heavy fall of rain, and the approach of night, soon obliged me to
seek the interior of the vessel, where I passed my time in observing
my Chinese fellow-travellers.
The company were, it is true, not very select, but behaved with
great propriety, so that there was nothing which could prevent my
remaining among them. Some were playing at dominoes, while others
were extracting most horrible sounds from a sort of mandolin with
three strings; all, however, were smoking, chatting, and drinking
tea, without sugar, from little saucers. I, too, had this celestial
drink offered to me on all sides. Every Chinese, rich or poor,
drinks neither pure water nor spirituous liquors, but invariably
indulges in weak tea with no sugar.
At a late hour in the evening I retired to my cabin, the roof of
which, not being completely waterproof, let in certain very
unwelcome proofs that it was raining outside. The captain no sooner
remarked this than he assigned me another place, where I found
myself in the company of two Chinese women, busily engaged in
smoking out of pipes with bowls no bigger than thimbles, and in
consequence they could not take more than four or five puffs without
being obliged to fill their pipes afresh.
They soon remarked that I had no stool for my head. They offered me
one of theirs, and would not be satisfied until I accepted it. It
is a Chinese custom to use, instead of pillows, little stools of
bamboo or strong pasteboard. They are not stuffed, but are rounded
at the top, and are about eight inches high, and from one to three
feet long. They are far more comfortable than would at first be
imagined.
13th July. On hurrying upon deck early in the morning to view the
mouth of the Si-Kiang, or Tigris, I found that we had already passed
it, and were a long way up the river. I saw it, however,
subsequently, on my return from Canton to Hong-Kong. The Si-Kiang,
which is one of the principal rivers of China, and which, at a short
distance before entering the sea, is eight nautical miles broad, is
so contracted by hills and rocks at its mouth, that it loses one
half of its breadth. The surrounding country is fine, and a few
fortifications on the summits of some of the hills, give it rather a
romantic appearance.
Near Hoo-man, or Whampoa, the stream divides into several branches;
that which flows to Canton being called the Pearl stream. Although
Whampoa of itself is an insignificant place, it is worthy of note,
as being the spot where, from the shallowness of the water, all
deeply laden ships are obliged to anchor.
Immense plantations of rice, skirted by bananas and other fruit-
trees, extend along the banks of the Pearl stream.
