by the United States Bureau of Naval Personnel

“ Canton is a city of walls and temples; narrow streets and lanes of water; flower boats and other river craft; jostling humanity and high-pitched voices; sedan chairs and perspiring coolies; native merchants and prodigal sons; foreign merchants and diplomats — an old, old city, whose lower classes think cockroaches in honey and snakes in broth a rare combination well suited to the most fastidious tastes.
Those travelers who bide a while in Hongkong before embarking on the water journey to Canton will be rewarded with a colorful glimpse of Chinese life ”

“ Hardly is the trip through the heart of Canton begun when it is halted by the interruption of traffic on the street over which the coolies are proceeding, and by the now familiar clatter of gongs and the wail of oriental voices—some weak, some strong, some tearful, and some joyful. ”

“ A breeze has sprung up by this time, and the surface of the river is broken into numberless ripples which dance a sort of listless, rhythmic, measured dance, and cause the smaller boats to move up and down as the bobber on a fishing line rocks in the watery bed upon which it is resting—always on the alert and ready to flash the signal which tells of a tentative nibble at the hook below. ”

“ Every boat paddler appears to be trying his best to throw his or her voice across the river, and the range varies astonishingly—from the bass of the deep-chested mountaineer on the rail of a near-by junk, to the screechy, nerve-rending falsetto of the angry Chinese woman in the fuel-laden sampan, as she beats her son. ”

“ They screech and yell in such a ferocious manner that the more timid among the passengers turn pale and wonder whether they have survived the voyage from Hongkong only to meet a greater danger in Canton.
The crowd of yelling, half-naked Chinese is reinforced by others attracted by the din which silences even the brassy clatter of native musical instruments on the funeral boats drifting along in midstream. ”

“ There is no more morbid, unnatural place in the world than the "City of Death" in Canton, unless it be the catacombs under Paris, where the bodies of six millions of people are buried; or the ghoulish room in the European church, so graphically described by Mark Twain, where the walls are decorated with skulls and delicate frescoes made from human finger bones and where niches in the walls are occupied by mummified bodies of men long dead. ”

“ The monotonous singsong of Chinese voices is silenced for the moment by a sudden outburst from the native sailors on a funeral boat anchored near the shore. The crew evidently believes the only way to mourn the dead is by constant, persistent, never-ending lamentations. Very shortly the uproar is augmented by the dashing together of great cymbals. The inquisitive passengers on the steamer are informed that the crew is frightening away evil spirits, who thrive on quiet, and who, if left in peace, might bring harm to the bodies of the dead on board the funeral boats. ”

“ Prosperity came to American ports as well as to Canton during the days of the fast clipper ships, and Chinese, as well as Americans, mourned when the advent of the steamer spelled the end of the clipper. For many years trade between Canton and American ports continued to decline as a logical result of the decline of the American merchant marine; but now that the flag is again seeking out new trade routes, as in days of old, trade between Canton and other Chinese ports and the United States is beginning to assume something of its former proportions. ”

“ The Chinese in Canton as a rule seldom take the question of worship in the temples as seriously as they might, and many of the buildings have fallen into disrepair, the courtyards and ponds being filled with rubbish and the interiors of the temples being furnished with shabby, soiled fixtures—all in striking contrast with the dignity and neatness of American churches. ”

“ Across Canton River
steamer soon finds itself in the brown waters of the Chukiang river — or the Pearl, or the Canton River, as it is sometimes called by foreigners. It is on the Chukiang River that the crews of passenger boats take all possible precautions against attack by Chinese pirates, who resemble criminals the world over, in that they are more prone to operate at night than in daytime. But the sun never renders the Chinese cousins of "Cap'n Flint" so timid as to keep them from attacking a steamship in broad daylight if the opportunity presents itself. ”

“ Many of the walls surrounding the cities of China are passing, just as those formerly around the city of Canton, and with the lapse of years it is expected the greater number of the ancient and medieval structures will be torn down, to live only in the memories of those Chinese who mourn the passing of the old order of things. ”

“ The crews on the fishing boats seem to fear the wrath of these Chinese Amazons as much as the people of medieval times feared the wrath of bedraggled, hook-nosed witches, who were supposed to spend most of their time concocting strange brews in three-legged kettles and riding in the clouds astride brooms all hung with cobwebs. ”

“ Scores of thousands of coolies are engaged in the task of handling the great volume of trade which comes through Canton. They toil the long day through for the gain of a few cents; and apparently never dream of making further wage demands on their foreign and high-caste employers.
Or if the coolies dream such dreams of sudden wealth, they keep them to themselves, for they have labored under the same conditions all their lives, and their fathers and grandfathers did the same before them. So they believe — do the coolies — that they are fortunate in earning enough to keep the wolf from the door ”

“ HILE the Chinese fleet, in the minds of many people not acquainted with the astonishing progress made in China during the past few years, is as nonexistent as the navy of Switzerland, the traveler in China finds that the Government maintains a small, but quite efficient, force of ships, manned by highly intelligent and fairly well-trained native sailors. ”

“ ANTON, for several centuries, was surrounded by a wide, brick wall, nearly six miles in circumference, surmounted by towers, and pierced at intervals by gateways, through which the inland traffic of the ages ebbed and flowed—never ceasing through the birth and death of generation after generation of oblique-eyed celestials. ”

“ Occasionally a coolie acquires wealth, either by a stroke of luck in his own locality or by emigrating to another country, where he succeeds in making enough to live in comfort for the remainder of his life. If such is the case, he usually returns to Canton, is soon drawn into the whirlpool of native life, and lives an envied life of leisure as an independent Cantonese. ”

“ The people of Canton are persuaded to place their dead in the "City of Death" because they believe in doing so they will please the spirits which might otherwise bring harm to the loved one who has joined the "silent multitude." And this brings us naturally to the religions of the country.
China is a land of five religions—Confucianism. Taoism. Buddhism. Mohammedanism, and also Christianity, which gained a foothold in the country over a thousand years ago and has recently made rapid progress because of the devoted, untiring labors of the missionaries of all Christian churches in China. ”

“ Visitors occasionally venture into Canton afoot, but seldom repeat the experience, inasmuch as many of the natives on the streets are stripped to the waist, and since the pedestrian is invariably jostled about in the narrow streets he finds his clothing the worse for wear after it has been in contact with the bodies of the half-naked Chinese. ”

“ Natives are forbidden to go on the island unless permission is granted by the British or French, and the few natives who pass back and forth are searched for weapons by the guards at the bridges. Europeans, however, are seldom stopped by the sentries.
Probably the best view of Canton is obtainable from the island of Shameen, and many travelers prefer to see the city from across the river, rather than mingle with the natives in the hot, dusty streets or along the narrow passages of water which thread both the residential and business quarters of Canton. ”

“ And, since the dripping nets come out of the water empty more often than not, the reader can imagine the crescendo of feminine screams which assails the ears just as easily as if he himself were there to see and to hear the fisher women call down the wrath of Heaven on both the fish and any humans who may happen to be within screaming distance. ”

“ N American who has lived in his own country and has become accustomed to seeing the Chinaman as a quiet, unassuming, stoical, and perhaps a bit complacent, sort of a person, is apt to be abruptly disillusioned—in one respect at any rate—when he lands from the Hongkong steamer at the Canton wharf. A majority of the Chinese in Canton are just what the Chinese one ordinarily sees in the United States are not. As Canton is different, so the Chinese in Canton are different. ”

“ But so long as the keepers of the "City of Death" are allowed to receive the tainted "rent money" just so long will the bodies of the dead—with wealthy relatives—continue to repose undisturbed in their stalls along the narrow aisles—flanked by altars, banners, porcelain jars, and flowers—of the "City of Death." ”

“ When the faltering hand of an aged father dropped the carving tools, leaving, say, an idol or a chair half completed, the youthful hand of his son would pick up the carving tools, and the son would carry on the work where his father left off—just as his father carried on the work after his grandfather and his grandfather carried on the work after his great grandfather, and so on down through the centuries. ”

“ In seeing Canton he will have seen much that is typical of China—for the foreigner has not gained the foothold here that he has in Hongkong, and the Cantonese, for the most part, dress and act and speak as their ancestors did centuries ago. Only most of them have discarded the queue since the establishment of the Republic, and the feet of the women are not bound so generally as in the days of the Empire. ”

“ The Government hoped, by bringing about an amalgamation of the naval units, to evolve a navy capable of dealing with domestic as well as foreign quarrels. It also planned to increase the efficiency of the navy by sending cadets abroad—especially to the United States and England—for the purpose of training them in the methods of modern naval warfare. ”

“ There are numbers of idols in the Temple of the Five Hundred Gods, many of them arranged in prim rows along the walls, most of them with hands complacently folded; some with oriental faces, others with countenances which would be countenanced by few nations; some with beards, others with smooth jowls; some grave and dignified, others smiling enigmatically with their stone lips ”

“ Pottery manufactured in Canton is exported to nearly every country in the world, and doubtless many of the Americans and Europeans visiting the city ate their porridge or bread and milk from dishes made in Canton before they were old enough to know there was such a city. ”

“ The arrival of a steamer is usually the signal for an onslaught by howling, cursing men and boys who appear to be either direct descendants or near relatives of the river pirates hiding along the banks of the Chukiang River on the road to Canton. They come by way of land and they come by way of water. ”

“ Taoism, and Buddhism, in order named, are far ahead of the others in China, however, mainly because their philosophies—at the present time—appeal most strongly to the Chinese nature, and also because they have a start of centuries over other religions in China. ”

“ The men passengers prepare to light to the last gasp for the women and children—their hearts being filled with the same ardor possessed by the berserkers of old who, it is said, had quite a reputation for bravery in their time. ”

“ A word of inquiry brings the answer that a funeral procession is passing through the streets, that all traffic is halted out of respect for the dead. The interruption of traffic appears, from an American viewpoint, to be the only mark of respect for the dead, inasmuch as the mourners conduct themselves in a manner that would he considered sacrilegious in an occidental country. ”

“ The ship passes more funeral boats, more junks and sampans, and now and then the passengers see small fishing boats rowed by native women, who dip nets into the muddy waters of the river and cry out angrily when the fish evade the trap thus set for them. ”

“ An interesting base of Buddhism is the standards its devotees must uphold "if they are to live happily in another life." The five great commandments of Buddhism prohibit "killing, stealing, adultery, lying, and drunkenness." ”

“ The local governments have found it impossible always to protect ships against the danger of assaults by river pirates; so the steamship companies, in self-defense, place armed guards on board the Canton boats. The guards are equipped with rifles, revolvers, and sometimes shotguns, which often serve to scare off, at long range, suspicious looking individuals. ”

“ Several of the bandsmen are pounding on metal drums whose "music" suggests the din in a boiler factory, and every now and then the advance guard reluctantly abandons its playing on the instruments to let forth blood-curdling screeches, which send shivers frolicking up the backs of the bystanders. ”

“ A broad beam of light from a search-light on a warship, whose outlines are vaguely discernible in the distance, attracts the attention—since all men resemble moths, in that they are more or less fascinated by light. ”

“ It appears that a funeral of a prominent merchant of Canton is taking place. As the procession comes into view the populace cranes its necks in morbid curiosity, not hesitating to make critical remarks about the appearance of the coffin, the price which must have been paid for it. ”

“ Each of the funeral boats seems to be trying to outdo the others in making the welkin ring. The din soon grows so deafening that the traveler half expects to see the dead arise and poke their heads above the lacquered sides of their coffins on the deck of the funeral boat. ”