Page:Inside Canton.djvu/26

Rh "Keep yourself quiet," said Callery, by way of consolation; "observe the populace which surround you—it is worth the trouble; I promise to get you out of these floating steppes before long."

I followed his advice. All the amphibious inhabitants were like so many workmen and citizens in their houses: they clean their dwelling-places, put all in order at home, or they indolently smoke their short pipes. The Chinese boats, without exception, have a clean and pleasant appearance: they are the poetic huts of the ocean, sheltering under their moving roof people as economical and laborious as those of Flanders. These houses are dressed every morning with unparalleled art and care; they are washed, and to embellish them cosmetics are used, which bring into relief the slightest veins of the most common wood. The liquids made use of are varnishes which flow naturally from different kinds of plants, or else from siccatine oils, which are prepared in China with peroxyde of manganese.

In the next house to ours, one family particularly attracted my attention; it consisted of four persons, the mother about thirty-five years of age, a young girl fourteen, and two little boys between five and six years old. All of them were seated on the prow,—shaped like a poop,—which is used as a seat in these vessels, and were finishing their morning meal. The mother's countenance was mild and phlegmatic: her