Chapter 16
A week previous an American ship had come to anchor in the port at Takou. Chartered by the Sixth China and California Company, it had been charged to the account of the agency Fouk-Ting-Tong, which is located in the Cemetery of Laurel Hill, San Francisco.
It is there that the Celestials who die in America, and are faithful to their religion,—which bids them rest in native earth,—await the day of their return.
This boat, whose destination was Canton, had, on the written authority of the agency, taken on board a cargo of two hundred and fifty coffins, seventy-five of which were to be landed at Takou, to be returned to the northern provinces.
This part of the cargo had been transferred from the American to the Chinese ship; and that very morning, the 27th of June, the latter wa
