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ward wheel-barrows, and the cost of carriage adds so much to the price at which goods must be sold to remunerate the trader, that the demand for them soon ceases.
The inhabitants along the coast support themselves principally by fishing. Hundreds of old men, women, and children, may be seen on the extensive flats left by the receding tide, collecting the small fishes, crabs, and other animals which have been stranded; with these they season their rice. The able-bodied men are with their boats at sea. Many of these proceed to distant islands, and remain at sea for several months. Towards the end of the year they set sail for their native villages, and then all the bays and mouths of rivers teem with crowds of fishing-boats, which have returned that their crews may celebrate the New Year with their families.
Pik-tow, Sha-tsing, Fuk-wing, Sai-heong, and Nam-tow, are the principal fishing stations. At Sha-tsing and Fuk-wing there are extensive oyster beds. Pik-tow, Kong-ping, and Fuk-wing †, are said to be the head-quarters of pirates. Sham-tsün is the chief place of export from the villages occupied by the Hak-kas, who are often met with in long trains, of from 400 to 600, conveying produce to that place. The northern part of the district is inhabited by populous and powerful clans, not unlike in their constitution to the old clans of Scotland; these live in intimate connection with one another for mutual protection.
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The villages in the plain of San-keaou, are almost exclusively inhabited by four clans, Man, Mak, Tsang, and Chang. The villages inhabited by other clans are of no importance, and gradually either become absorbed in the more powerful clans, or are ruined by their hostility, and forced to remove to some other part of the country. For instance, the villagers of Hung-tiu changed their name, and adopted that of the powerful clan which inhabited San-keaou. This was done in order to extricate themselves from the endless feuds, which the aggressive conduct of their neighbours involved them in.
The people are of a quarrelsome nature, and fond of rapine. They will engage in any enterprise which promises them money, or which will give them an opportunity of robbing.
The mandarin at Fuk-wing once asked me why we attempted to carry out our missionary work, among a people so depraved