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The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

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PECULIARITIES OF THE COOLIE TKADE. 395<br />

" Tlie name ' coolie' belongs prop-<br />

erly to a tribe <strong>of</strong> natives on tlie north-<br />

ern coast <strong>of</strong> Africa, bnt it is applied to<br />

a laborer <strong>of</strong> anj- part i.jf <strong>the</strong> <strong>East</strong>, and this is its mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Japan and Ch<strong>in</strong>a.<br />

" <strong>The</strong> laborers who were to be taken to Cnba or Pern were received on<br />

board <strong>the</strong> ships, and connted as <strong>the</strong>y came over <strong>the</strong> side, like so manv<br />

boxes or bales <strong>of</strong> merchandise; <strong>in</strong> fact, <strong>the</strong>y were noth<strong>in</strong>g bnt merchan-<br />

dise, and <strong>the</strong> receipts were made out for a certa<strong>in</strong> number <strong>of</strong> coolies with-<br />

out tlie least record <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir names and residences. I was once <strong>in</strong> a ship<br />

that took a cargo <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se people to Pern, and I don't Ijelieve tliat anvbody<br />

on board felt o<strong>the</strong>rwise than if he had been <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> slaA'c-trade. And<br />

we had a narrow escape from hav<strong>in</strong>g our throats cut by our cargo and our<br />

bodies thrown <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> sea."

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