“...The capstan was then manned, and the anchor began to rise to the measured song of the sailors, and the sound of the tam-tam. An immense matting sail was unfurled, a packet of fireworks let off, and as the breeze caught the junk we began to glide rapidly over the blue waters of the lake Pou-yang.” [p.297]

“...By degrees, as we advanced, the bed of the river enlarged itself, and the Canton junks became more numerous. The sound of the oars and the shrill nasal song of the sailors filled the air with a wild and melancholy harmony, that we listened to with a mingled feeling of joy and sadness.” [pp.410-11]
[The Chinese Empire, vol.II, Huc, 1855]
Évariste Régis Huc (1813 – 1860)