Jim Cummings had an ancestor who was in Amoy perhaps 80 or 100 years ago--a missionary, I think. If anyone has any info or photos of a Ms. Cummings in Amoy, I'd appreciate your sharing it. She left behind the photo to the right (click it for a larger image); otherwise, we can't find out anything about her.
Below the photo is an article by a Miss Gordon-Cumming.
Excerpt from "The Explosion at Amoy," in St. James’ Gazette, by Miss Gordon-Cumming. 1888, pp. 314-316 Littell’s Living Age, Feb. 4, 1888
"The excellence of the fish supply must strike the most casual observer. Both river and sea fish, salt and fresh, are conspicuous by their abundance, as is also the supply of bamboo oysters, so called because they are artificially bred on this coast, where bamboo oyster-fields are prepared more carefully than any hop-field or vineyard. Holes are bored in old oyster shells, which are then stuck into pieces of split bamboo about two feet in length. These are planted close together on sand flats between high and low water-mark, where strong tidal currents are said to bring the oyster spat. Certainly, the said spat is soon found adhering to the old shells, which in due time are covered with tiny oysters. The bamboos are then transplanted and set several inches apart; and within six months from the date when they were first planted they yield a crop of well-grown oysters ready for the market. Nor are even the shells wasted; for though Chinamen have learned to appreciate the luxury of transparent glass, a large number of oyster-shells are still scraped down till they are so thin as to be translucent, when, neatly fitted together (like the diamond panes in the casements of our ancestors), they form the ornamental windows in the inner courts of rich men’s houses."
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