CHAPTER XLII.
CANTON.

AS D what do you think of this,
boys?” asked Uncle Nat.

“Funny, Uncle Nat,” replied
Rick, with eyes wide open and
laughing.

They had taken a steamboat, and
were gliding up the Pearl river,
that leads to Canton. At last,
leaving the steamer, “for the sake
of variety,” as Uncle Nat said,
they chartered a sampan for the
rest of the journey. This boat was
a home for a family of five; a
man and his wife and three chil-
dren. Here, in their snug quarters,
roofed over with matting and bam-
boo, they lodged and lived. The

IMAGE OF CONFUCIUS. man, having a job on shore, was
absent, but the mother and two stout boys managed the craft.

“These folks live here all the time, Uncle Nat?” asked Ralph.

“Certainly, Ralph; and they tell me there are eighty thousand of the
Qanton people living in boats. In these floating homes they are born,
sive and die.”

 

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