ABSTRACT
The boat was crowded with travellers whose dress, position and aims varied greatly. On the poop, sitting side-by-side, a father and his son were marked out for notice by the strange contrast which divided their two generations. Hwang-She-Kou—that was the young man’s name—about twenty-six years old, wore a European hat, with pointed beard well brushed, and a dress of fashionable cut. His forehead showed self-will, his eyes were hard. The father’s dress, on the contrary, was wide and ill-fitting; his grey beard and hair were long and shaggy. Hwang had an indolent, yet austere, appearance; his eyes were dreamy, rather haughty, and seemed to understand everything and to despise whatever they did not understand. Deeply attached to his own district where he was respected as a learned man and a rich farmer, he was probably making his first voyage in a steamer; he was bringing back from the capital his only son, who had just completed his University course there. He 28was talking in a grave tone and in brief, concise sentences; coughing from time to time in a way that compelled attention.
