Page:The Clipper Ship Era.djvu/405

 Rh, and during the last week in May the picturesque Pagoda Anchorage presented a scene of unusual activity. The Ada, Black Prince, Chinaman, Fiery Cross, Flying Spur, Serica, Ariel, Taeping, and Taitsing were all hurrying to finish loading and get to sea. Cargo junks and lorchers were being warped alongside at all hours of the day and night; double gangs of good-natured, chattering coolies were on board each ship ready to handle and stow the matted chests of tea as they came alongside; comfortable sampans worked by merry barefooted Chinese women sailed or rowed in haste between the ships and the shore; slender six-oared gigs with crews of stalwart Chinamen in white duck uniforms darted about the harbor; while dignified master mariners, dressed in white linen or straw-colored pongee silk, with pipe-clayed shoes and broad pith hats, impatiently handled the yoke lines.

On shore the tyepans and their clerks hurried about in sedan chairs carried on the shoulders of perspiring coolies, with quick, firm step to the rhythm of their mild but energetic "woo ho—woo-ho—woo ho." The broad, cool veranda of the clubhouse was almost deserted; in the great hongs of Adamson, Bell; Gilman & Co.; Jardine, Matheson; Gibb, Livingston; and Sassoon, the gentry of Foochow toiled by candle-light over manifests and bills of lading and exchange, sustained far into the night by slowly swinging punkahs, iced tea, and the fragrant Manila cheroot.