登陆注册
5290900000034

第34章 LETTER VI(3)

Finding my own footsteps in the deep dust, I got back to a pathway with a monstrous bamboo hedge on one side, and a rice-field on the other, in which was a slimy looking pond with a margin of pink water-lilies, in which a number of pink buffaloes of large size were wallowing with much noise and rough play, plastering their sensitive hides with mud as a protection against mosquitoes.

With some difficulty, by some very queer paths and with much zigzagging, I at last reached Cholen,* a native town, said to be three or eight miles from Saigon, and was so exhausted by the fatigue of the long walk in such a ferocious temperature that I sat by the roadside on a stump under a huge tropical tree, considering the ways of ants and Anamites. Children with brown chubby faces which had never been washed since birth, and, according to all accounts, will never be washed till death, stood in a row, staring the stare of apathy, with a quiet confidence. They had no clothes on, and I admired their well-made forms and freedom from skin disease. The Mongolian face is pleasant in childhood. A horde of pariah dogs in the mad excitement of a free fight, passed, covering me with dust. (By the way, I am told that hydrophobia is unknown in Cochin China.) Then some French artillerymen, who politely raised their caps; then a quantity of market girls, dressed like the same class in China, but instead of being bare-headed, they wore basket hats, made of dried leaves, fully twenty-four inches in diameter, by six in depth. These girls walked well, and looked happy. Then a train of Anamese carts passed, empty, the solid wooden wheels creaking frightfully round the ungreased axles, each cart being drawn by two buffaloes, each pair being attached to the cart in front by a rope through the nostrils, so that one driver sufficed for eleven carts. The native men could not be said to be clothed, but, as I remarked before, the mercury was above 90 degrees. They were, however, protected both against sun and rain by hats over three feet in diameter, very conical, peaked at the top, coming down umbrella fashion over the shoulders, and well tilted back.

[*Cholen, i.e., the big market, has a population which is variously estimated at from 30,000 to 80,000. I am inclined to think that the lowest estimate is nearest the mark.--I. L. B.]

After laboriously reaching Cholen, I found far the greater part of the town to be Chinese, rather than Anamese, with Chinese streets, temples, gaming houses, club houses, and that general air of business and industry which seems characteristic of the Chinese everywhere; but still groping my way about, I came upon what I most wished to see--the real Anamese town. There is a river, the Me-kong, or one of its branches, and the town--the real native Cholen--consists of a very large collection of river-dwellings, little, if at all, superior to those which we passed in coming up. I spent an hour among them, and I never saw any house whose area could be more than twelve feet square, while many were certainly not more than seven feet by six. Such primitive, ramshackle, shaky-looking dwellings I never before have seen. As compared with them, an Aino hut, even of the poorest kind, is a model of solidity and architectural beauty. They looked as if a single gust would topple them and their human contents into the water.

Yet, if it were better carried out, it is not a bad idea to avoid paying any Anamese form of rent, to secure perfect drainage, a never-failing water supply, good fishing, immunity from reptiles, and the easiest of all highways at the very door.

These small rooms with thatched roofs and gridiron floors, raised on posts six or eight feet above the stream, are reached from the shore by a path a foot wide, consisting of planks tied on to posts. The river-dwellings, I must add, are tied together with palm fibre rope.

One of average size can be put together for eleven shillings. In front of each house a log canoe is moored, into which it is easy to drop from above when the owner desires any change of attitude or scene.

I ventured into two of these strange abodes, but it was dizzy work to walk the plank, and as difficult to walk the gridiron floor in shoes.

Both were wretched habitations, but doubtless they suit their inmates, who need nothing more than a shelter from the sun and rain. The men wore only loin cloths. The women were clothed to the throat in loose cotton garments; the children wore nothing. In both the men were fishing for their supper over the edge of their platforms. In one a woman was cooking rice; and in both there was a good store of rice, bananas, and sweet potatoes. There was no furniture in either, except matted platforms for sleeping upon, a few coarse pipkins, a red earthen-ware pitcher or two, and some calabashes. On the wall of one was a crucifix, and on a rafter in the other a wooden carving of a jolly-looking man, mallet in hand, seated on rice bags, intended for Daikoku, the Japanese God of Wealth. The people were quite unwashed, but the draught of the river carried off the bad smells which ought to have been there, and, fortunately, a gridiron floor is unfavorable to accumulations of dirt and refuse. These natives look apathetic, and are, according to our notions, lazy; but I am weary of seeing the fevered pursuit of wealth, and am inclined to be lenient to these narcotized existences, provided, as is the case, that they keep clear of debt, theft, and charity.

Below this amphibious town there is a larger and apparently permanent floating village, consisting of hundreds of boats moored to the shore and to each other, poor and forlorn as compared with the Canton house boats, but yet more crowded, a single thatched roof sheltering one or more families, without any attempt at furniture or arrangement. The children swarmed, and looked healthy, and remarkably free from eye and skin diseases. There were Romish pictures in some of these boats, and two or three of them exhibited the cross in a not inconspicuous place.

同类推荐
  • 摩醯首罗天法要

    摩醯首罗天法要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 曹溪大师别传

    曹溪大师别传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 易林补遗

    易林补遗

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说兜沙经一卷

    佛说兜沙经一卷

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Julius Caesar

    Julius Caesar

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 中国本土精彩老童话大全集(超值金版)

    中国本土精彩老童话大全集(超值金版)

    中国有神话故事,中国自己的本土神话是丰富多彩的,其种类是多样的,其特色是鲜明的,其内涵是深远的。其故事是精湛的。许许多多的神话故事也是相当有知名度的,许许多多的神话人物也是相当有影响的。宫曙光和张馨编著的《中国本土精彩老神话》在前人的整理基础上,对中国神话重新进行了彻底的梳理,编者将支离破碎、点线分割、散落各地的中国神话彻底地回归到了一个有着基本脉络、基本情节的体系上,以期较完整地献给中国读者。尤其是广大的中国青少年提供一套详实可靠、真正体现中国特色的神话故事读本。一起来翻阅《中国本土精彩老神话》吧!
  • 都市超强仙尊

    都市超强仙尊

    三生花,花开三色,三生三世。仙人陨落,炎黄消逝,上古已成秘闻。一代仙尊重回少年时代,世间的一切仿佛被迷雾笼罩,是命运的棋子,还是逆天成仙。当沉寂的大地开始复苏,少年手执长剑,一剑劈开前方所有的道路。
  • 温州人赚大钱16条商规

    温州人赚大钱16条商规

    犹太人被尊称为“最伟大的商人”,而温州人则被公认为“东方的犹太人”,但当温州人抢滩欧洲大陆仅仅十几年后,却将真正的犹太人打得一败涂地、落花流水,其经商的天才由此震惊世界:世界上还有比犹太人更会经商的人群!所以,有种提法越来越得到世界的公认,就是应该将犹太人称为“欧洲的温州人”才更为准确。
  • 人生之鉴

    人生之鉴

    人来到这个世上,从父母的养育,老师的教育,组织的培育,到自己的社会实践,都是围绕着怎样做人、如何做事,说到底人生在世得让自己能活出个人样来。人生成败三分在于做事,七分在于做人。做人是以做事为前提的,做事是为了做人。做人的素质,是通过做事的质量来衡量的,人生的精彩源于做事的精彩。做大事、做好事、做成事,是做好人的标志。做一个好人不一定能做一名称职的官、百姓拥护的官,做一名好官,必须先学会做人。
  • 于丹趣品汉字:节气节日篇

    于丹趣品汉字:节气节日篇

    从2016年11月30日开始,我们的二十四节气被正式列入联合国教科文组织的人类非物质文化遗产名录。其实从小时候起,许多中国孩子都熟悉且背诵过《二十四节气歌》:“春雨惊春清谷天,夏满芒夏暑相连,秋处露秋寒霜降,冬雪雪冬小大寒。”这四句里,藏着一年四季二十四节气。这是古人长期对自然界的物象进行观察的经验总结,里面充满了生活的智慧。春种夏耕,秋收冬藏,节气与节日里藏着大自然的语言和代代沿袭的民族基因。于丹老师从文字学角度,讲中国历史悠久的节日与节气。从节气故事、历史由来到古诗谚语、天文气候,应有尽有,字里行间传递着传统文化与自然之美。
  • 遛脑

    遛脑

    本书是一部微博形态的获奖散文集,它文本简短、智慧、锋利,对当下生活进行了入木三分的介入,几乎撕开了生活的各个层面、现象,生动而令人吃惊。 独特的视角,极具概括性的语言,让阅读者快速进入深度阅读的状态,进行真正“用脑”的阅读和思考。这本书将有可能改变读者的阅读习惯、写作习惯,开启走心微阅读的时代。
  • 尚书:追寻永恒的天命

    尚书:追寻永恒的天命

    《尚书》可能是留存下来的最古老的官方文字资料,收录了夏商周三代乃至上古的一系列政府文书,包括如周公、周王这样的重要人物的讲话。在商周时期,文字具有神秘的魅力,是通天地、得永生的载体。而最早那些用文字记录下来的,很大程度上是当时人必须铭记于心的人和事,是“天命”。以《酒诰》为例,在杨照的解读下,我们感受到了焦虑打败了“大邑商”的周人的焦虑,他们反复确认上帝(天)传递给他们的信息,战战兢兢地、一次又一次地告诫子孙千万不要重蹈商朝的覆辙。
  • 太上混元老子史略

    太上混元老子史略

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 鸾凤鸣之凤凰泣血

    鸾凤鸣之凤凰泣血

    她,向往平淡和乐,但与生俱来的血统注定了今生命运多舛。千里漫漫黄沙路,如命运之轮的锁匙,为她开启了人生新的转折点……他,风华绝世,谋略无双,似能看透世间万事,却独堪不破一个“情”字。一次无可奈何的和亲,令他痛失挚爱,他指天立誓,有生之年,剑指漠北,马踏阴山。一场突如其来的邂逅,起笔他与她纠葛一世的孽缘。相爱、背叛,有情、无情,谁又能分清?他,孤傲不群,勇冠三军,似有万夫莫敌之勇,却独闯不过一个“情”关。街市偶遇,不打不相识,从此他痴心长付,一世不移。奈何落花有意,流水无情,自相遇伊始,他与她之间就已注定了无疾而终的运命。相聚、别离,缘深、缘浅,又有谁能说明?世事纷纭,劫波度尽,相守的甜蜜,别离的苦痛,终令她立定决心要与相爱之人生死相依,不离不弃。绝世的双雄,倾城的红颜,两男一女的纠葛,必然会激起火花无数,相爱相杀,相依相守,究竟何人才是她最终的归宿?
  • 武侠之江湖霸图

    武侠之江湖霸图

    立在如有万仞的山巅上,任由凛冽的山风吹拂过面庞,解下了挂在腰间的葫芦,狠狠的灌上了一口美酒,炽热酒液缓缓的划过喉管,缓解着身体当中有内而发的疲惫。肩上搭着的是一双柔荑,即使仅仅只是搭在肩膀上,都能够松弛紧绷的肌肉,我望向背后的长歌,事隔多年,这位从初始就接下羁绊的人儿,现如今还是一如既往陪伴在身边。