I often could not
avoid turning away with terror at seeing the little children playing
and rolling about upon the narrow boats, I expected every instant
that one or other of them would certainly fall overboard. Some
parents are cautious enough to fasten hollow gourds, or bladders
filled with air, on their children's backs, until they are six years
old, so as to prevent them sinking so quickly, if they should happen
to tumble into the water.
All these multifarious occupations--this ceaseless activity, this
never-ending bustle, form so peculiar a feature, that it is hardly
possible for a person who has not been an eye-witness to obtain a
correct idea of it.
It is only during the last few years that we European women have
been allowed to visit or remain in the factories at Canton. I left
the vessel without any apprehension; but first, I had to consider
how I should find my way to the house of a gentleman named Agassiz,
for whom I had brought letters of recommendation. I explained to
the captain, by signs, that I had no money with me, and that he must
act as my guide to the factory, where I would pay him.
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