52

We went to town & to see if
by chance our letters might have
come on by the Japan. The CPR
Mr Brown does not impress one
very much. I fancy they get a
lot of people recommended to
their care. But as we need
nothing we will not suffer.
Vietnam seems a smaller place
than I had imagined. Only 3000
Europeans & 2 hundred thousand
Chinese and they live in such small
quarters that it is impossible to count
them. The coolies look rougher than
those at Shanghai but the chair is
in general like here and 2 coolies or even
4 or 6 men may go. The charge is very
moderate 15 ? an hour for each
Man. The motion is a rocking one & and
at first it fatiques. The jenrickshaw
are not quite like those in Japan; theirs
seem safer – with a spoke at the back
that would prevent it falling over.
the men run faster & do not go up
hills. For here the hills are very steep