🚀 go-pugleaf

are known to be not very
    particular as to the means they employ in obtaining them. Nothing
    is required of the recruit except a willingness to hand himself
    over with his scanty outfit to the tender mercies of the broker,
    who pays his passage and provides him with food and such things as
    he considers needful. While the vessels, however, with their decks
    crowded with emigrants, are leaving the Chinese ports, it is a
    common occurrence for the cry of "man overboard" to be raised, so
    common indeed that few Captains now take the trouble to stop their
    ships, leaving the fugitive coolie to his fate or to be picked up
    by one of the native craft which are usually close at hand. The
    readiness of the Chinese emigrant thus to risk his life for the
    purpose of regaining his freedom, is explained by the advocates of
    the depot and broker system as arising from a desire on his part
    to outwit the broker and perhaps obtain another bonus by offering
    himself a second time as a candidate for the honour of a free