Again, I found that the Chinese look backward, and not forward, and ennoble their ancestors, instead of their offspring, and pay little attention to the coming generation. They say that they know what their ancestors--the dead--were, but can not foretell what the living may become. They scull their boats in the rivers from the bow, instead of from the stern. Their boatmen are usually women. While we fear the water, and seek to make our dwelling places upon the rock or upon very dry land, the Chinaman will get as near as possible to the water. In the Canton, or Pearl, river there were, when I was there, some 100,000 persons living on the river, in boats, or on floats, or rafts. A Westerner would suppose children were in danger of falling into the water. They do fall in, but their mothers have devised a method of rescuing them without mischance. Cords are fastened to their bodies, and when a child falls overboard, the cord, which is made fast to the boat, prevents it from sinking too far before the mother or father catches hold and pulls it back into the boat. They call all servants, male and female, "boy," which reminds me that in the Europeanized parts of some of the Japanese cities they do the same, and when they want to specify definitely that the "boy" is a girl, they say "onna no boy," which means "girl-boy," or girl servant. This is, of course, pidgin-English, the business English of the Chinese littoral. I had an amusing experience with this pidgin-English. I had invited some friends to dine with me, a merchant and his two sons and three daughters, and when I asked the servant who had come, he said that the merchant had arrived and "two bull chilo, and three cow chilo." Pidgin-English amused me very much, as it amuses every one who visits China. Augustine Heard, the merchant, who was a master of this lingo, used to interest me by reciting phrases from it, and once gave me the following poem, which is a translation of Longfellow's Excelsior. The translation was made by Mr. Heard. It has been published throughout the world as an "anonymous" production: THE CHINESE EXCELSIOR That nightee teem he come chop-chop One young man walkee, no can stop; Maskee snow, maskee ice; He cally flag with chop so nice-- Top-side Galah! He muchee solly; one piecee eye Lookee sharp--so fashion--my; He talkee large, he talkee stlong, Too muchee cullo; alle same gong. Top-side Galah! Insidee house he can see light, And evly loom got fire all light, He lookee plenty ice more high, Insidee mout'h he plenty cly-- Top-side Galah! Ole man talkee, "No can walk, "Bimeby lain come, velly dark; "Have got water, velly wide!" Maskee, my must go top-side-- Top-side Galah!