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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1889)
WEST SHORE irrigating Ii t"li nnl watering can, lie sn-un h a niiir- ' everyone. I once Haw a group of white men endeavor vcloun quantity of vegetables from a very small patch tit lift from the ground two baskets left at the foot of of ground, a flight of stairs, and there was hut one in the whole Oiif of the most novel and uii-Caiiriiiiiuii sights to I lot who roiilil straighten up under the burden, and he Ik wen in America in tin t'liimw vegetable peddler j could not carry it. In a few moments a Chinaman trotting down the Htrcrt, with his peculiar, springy - caiui' cluttering down the stairs in his wooden-Hoy t i gait, Utweci) two hllge baskets of Vegetables, which re niinN-iided from cither end of a IimiiiUhi hiIc rent ing tiNin hin nlmuldi-r and bending under it h bnrdeiiH. With bin nt.uk thus transM.rted, lie got frmii house to house to supply bin cunt crn. The weight a China- man can curry in thin manner in h constant marvel to .' If. IV' f-''lJ "riv' v'ux: ting mm:- mm. hoes, and though he was smaller and thinner tlmn any of those who had failed to lift his load, he put his shoulder under the pole, straightened up with a grunt and after standing an instant to balance the banket, started oil' with a trot, which he maintained until he disappeared around a comer several blocks away. Several ot the more enterprising lirms these gardens sivin to lie partnership all'airs have adopted wagons for ped dling, but in doing ho their economical instincts have lieen given full swing. Any vehicle that will answer the purpose in procured, and to this are attached two horses as bony and aged iiH the famous steed of Don (juixote, one of them gener ally small ami the other large. Thus equipped, the peddler h up to the door in style and tells you that he has "pw- " you want in the wagon, to inspect which the hulv of the muse, or of the kitchen, as the ease may be, is invited to pay visit to tiie conveyance at the gate. The language employed in these commercial transactions is a sad corruption of English "as she is writ," and it requires considerable experience for one to le able to converse intelligently with one of these sons of the east. Some of them know no more of our great tongue than the price nnd names of the vegetables, and to all extra neous questions reply " no sablie " (don't understand). This is. also, the resort of every Chinaman who is asked a question he dites not want to answer or who does not care to be Itothered with questions. Even the most intelligent, who sM'iik English with comparative fluency, when a topic is introduced that they do not care to discuss, will say " no sablw " with a smile 'f such childlike inntx-ence as to eonvinceall but the most skeptical that their ignorance is profound. Prohubly the time will come when the gulches will all be filled up and used as building sites, but no doubt for many years yet the visitor in Portland will be able to vi'W this most novel sight of an Oriental garden in the heart of the city. L' JTv ,- 'i 'I?,IW