Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/393

Rh and boats of all descriptions, so that, in the event of trouble, the Chinese need only step across this mass of craft and on to the island. Here, too, are the " flower-boats," where gay, painted Chinese ladies dispense tea, give concerts, and otherwise provide all the pleasures dear to Chinese or Europeans.

Preceded by Ah Cum John in a closed chair, we set out in open ones, each borne by two coolies, into the Chinese city. The streets are about six feet wide, having a ditch in the centre, the shops lining them are open to the street in front; banners of all sorts and colours hang from above, completely shutting out what little air could in any case penetrate into these dirty, unsavoury little streets which "smell to heaven"!

Indeed, the smell of China—which Captain Niedermayer of the Stettin used to say you could hear miles out at sea—is an all-pervading thing, which never leaves you, and which you seem to carry away with you and even taste at all times.

Borne along thus in chairs through these streets our brains became dizzy with the heat, smell, and the phantasmagoria of the endless yellow faces passing on either side without a break.

I had no idea what we were to do or see, and was resigned to following our leader. We went to see the rice-paper painting shop—the paper being really made from the pith of a tree—then to see the kingfisher feather workers. The feathers of the blue major are cemented into gold and silver filigree jewellery, giving the appearance of delicate enamel. The designs are small and intricate and the general effect very beautiful. It is most delicate and trying work, done by boys, and the result to them is often blindness. It is said it is to be abolished; if so, the articles which exist will become of very great