nton sampan is
equal to any abiding-place on shore. The cooking is done forwards over a
"fire-box," flowering plants frequently are placed in the boat's stern,
and within the cabin incense sticks may nearly always be seen burning
before the family idol. A mother ties very young children to the deck by
a long cord, while older children romp at large with a bamboo float
fastened about their bodies, which serves at once for clothing and
life-preserver. It is a common sight to see sampans propelled up and
down stream by women, each rower having an infant strapped to her back.
The good behavior of the babies of the sampan flotilla is always
appreciated by visiting mothers whose nurse-maids at home have
difficulty in keeping their young from crying their lungs out.

The "flower boats," moored a mile or two below the business part of
Canton's foreshore, are the antithesis of the sampans, for they cater to
a pleasure-loving class, to men and women possessing wobbly morals, who
love good dinners and suppers and a game of fan-tan without too much
publicity, with singing and dancing as adjuncts. In build these craft
are like the house-boats of the Thames, and the custom of tricking them
out with flowering plants suggests the scene at Henley during regatta
week. Practically all the vice that a traveler learns of during a visit
to Canton is confined to the flower boats, and their floral appellation
comes from the reputed attractiveness of the sirens dwelling upon them.
The boats are moored side by side in long rows, with planks leading from
one to another. Prices on the boats are always high, and the native
voluptuary pays extravagantly and the foreigner ruinously whenever he
devotes an evening to the floral fleet. By night the boats are gorgeous
with their mirrors and myriad lamps alight, and blackwood tables and
stools inlaid with mother-of-pearl; but by the light of day they look
tawdry to the point of shabbiness.

To a person interested in marine construction, especially one hailing
from a land where steam has supplanted sail-power, and where gasolene
and other inexpensive motors have made rowing almost obsolete, the Pearl
River "hot-foot" boats, so called by Europeans, are intensely
interesting. These craft connect Whampoa and other out-lying towns with
Canton, run in and out of rivers, and carry passengers, freight, and
sometimes the mails. They are of fairly good lines, but are propelled by
huge stern-wheels, and the motive