“Well, s’pose must catch three quarters; no good, no proper;” and then, turning to another of the men, said, “S’pose you like catch one three quarters, very good, proper.” This is a peculiar characteristic of the Chinese merchants. They charge about twice as much as they expect to get for an article; and the only way to trade with them is to make them an offer, and not vary one cent from it; they will not let a person go without purchasing. The mate now came along, and started them all for the shore. They were very loth to go, but after a while we rid the ship of them. As a general thing, they are expert thieves, and will carry off any thing they can lay hold of if not very closely watched. The captain hired a boat (which is the usual custom), called a “sanpan,” to attend on the ship. These boats are _manned_ by a whole family, as a general thing, it constituting house and home with them. They are generally about thirty feet in length and six in width, with two mat sails. They have a sort of cabin for the accommodation of passengers, which is amidships, or in the centre of the boat. This cabin also serves as parlor, kitchen, sleeping-room, and dressing-room for its occupants. The Chinaman who owned the “sanpan” hired by our captain had a family consisting of himself, wife, wife’s sister, and brother. He had also three fine-looking, bright children, who appeared perfectly contented on board their floating-home. It is a singular fact that the lowest class of Chinese are not allowed to live on land, but spend most of their lives upon the water. When they possess a certain sum of money they are allowed a residence upon the land, and not until then; but this sum is so large that very few of them ever accumulate it. They are born, live, and die upon the water, never going on shore except to purchase the necessaries of life. One may see floating markets, shoe-shops, tailor-shops, and, in fact, all kinds of mechanical business. We noticed some boats, not exceeding ten feet in length, containing a family of five or six, with all their “household gods,” etc., on board.