BOAT DWELLERS IN KOWLOON BAY, 1838

[aukepalmhof]

Hong Kong issue in 1987 four stamps with old views of the 19th century of Hong Kong. The $1.30 shows us the only stamp of this set with some watercraft on it.

This view is of Kowloon Bay, probably near Kowloon City, with the Kowloon Hills in the background. It is reproduced from a coloured lithograph forming part of "Sketches of China and the Chinese" by Auguste Borget, a French artist who visited Hong Kong in August 1838, some three years before the Colony's foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Borget

On the stamp are depicted onshore two “Sampan Tanka” of which the Aak to Zumbra a dictionary of the World’s Watercraft gives:
General-purpose harbour boat worked by Tanka boat people, especially to transport passengers from off-lying vessels. Vary somewhat with the locale, but generally a shallow oval craft with a spoon-shaped bottom. Decked at least at the bow and stern; 1-2 arched mat and bamboo houses; family lives aboard; separate area for passengers.
Rowed or sculled, principally by the women of the family; a single oar, attached by a grommet to a tholepin, used at the bow; a long sculling oar, on a pivot at the stern. Some employ a rudder with the tiller worked by the sculler’s foot.
Reported lengths 2.4 – 10m.
The larger ship in the background looks like a junk or a large sampan.
Hong Kong 1987 $1.30 sg 535, scott?