yrate we decided to start for Calcutta from Hongkong,
stopping on the way at Shanghai.

CHAPTER XIX

We wuz a goin' to stop for a day or two at Shanghai and I wuz real
glad on't, for I felt that I must see the Empress, Si Ann, without any
more delay, and I hearn she wuz there visitin' some of her folks.

Yes, I felt the widder Hien Fong ort to hear what I had to say to her
with no further delay, I felt it wuz a duty that I owed toward the
nation and Josiah.

The voyage from Yokohama to Shanghai is very interesting, a part of it
is through the inland sea, mountains and valleys on both sides, many
islands and large and small towns all along the shores. Our hull party
kep' well and all enjoyed all the strange picturesque scenery, most as
new to us as if we wuz on another planet. Yes, I d'no as Jupiter would
look any stranger to us than the country did, or Mars or Saturn.

We wuz over a day crossin' the Yaller Sea, well named, for its water
is as yaller as the sands on its shores. I'd hate to wash white
clothes in it. And as we drew near Shanghai it wuz all alive with
Chinese junks full of men, wimmen and children. The children here on
these boats seem to be tied up with ropes, givin' 'em room to crawl
round, same as I have tied up Jonesville hens that wanted to set.

Shanghai means, "approaching the sea," and I spoze it might just as
well mean approaching from the sea, as we did. Old Shanghai is
surrounded by a wall and moat and is entered by six gates, the roads
are only ten feet wide and dirty and bad smellin', and most of its
houses are small, though there are a few very fine buildings,
according to their style, lots of little piazzas jutting out
everywhere with the ends turned up, that seems to be their taste; why
a ruff or a piazza straight acrost would have been a boon to my
Jonesville trained eyes. The houses on the principal streets are used
for shops; no winders on the first floor; they are all open in front
during the day and closed by heavy latticework at night.

The favorite carriage here is a wheelbarrow, the wheel in the centre
and a seat on each side. Josiah and I got into one, he carryin' Tommy
in his lap, but he sez with a groan:

"I never spozed that I should git down to this, Samantha, to ride in a
wheelbarrow. What would Ury say! I am glad he can't see it, or Deacon
Henzy or any of the other Jonesville brothers and sistern."

The furrin suburbs are laid out like a European city, with b