"'Yes,' sais you, 'she is a Quang-Tonger.'
"'A Quang-Tonger?' sais the gall, and before the old coon has
disgested that hard word, she asks, 'what in natur is that?'
"'Why, Miss, Quang-Tong is a province of China, and Canton is the
capital; all the vessels at Canton are called Quang-Tongers, but
strangers call them Chinese Junks. Now, Miss, you have seen two new
things to-day, a bottle-nosed porpoise and--'
"'Was that a bottle-nosed porpoise, Sir? why you don't say so! why,
how you talk, why do they call them bottle-noses?'
"'Because, Miss, they make what is called velvet corks out of their
snouts. They are reckoned the best corks in the world. And then, you
have seen a Chinese Junk?'
"'A Chinese Junk,' sais the astonished trinket man. 'Well I vow! a
Chinese Junk, do tell!' and one gall calls Jeremiah Dodge, and the
other her father and her sister, Mary Anne Matilda Jane, to come and
see the Chinese Junk, and all the passengers rush to the other side,
and say, 'whare, whare,' and the two discoverers say, 'there, there;'
and you walk across the deck and take one of the evacuated seats you
have been longin' for; and as you pass you give a wink to the officer
of the watch, who puts his tongue in his cheek as a token of
approbation, and you begin to read again, as you fancy, in peace.
"But there is no peace in a steamer, it is nothin' but a large
calaboose,1 chock full of prisoners.
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