I, Geo MaKinnon, Master of the Steamship Colon do solemnly, sincerely, and truly swear that the following List or Manifest, subscribed by me, and now delivered by me to the Collector of the Customs of the Collection District of San Francisco, is a full and perfect list of all Chinese passengers taken on board the said vessel at Panama & Way Ports from which port said vessel has now arrived, or that have been taken on board the said vessel at any foreign port or place, and of all such passengers now on board said vessel, and that on said List is truly designated the names and other particulars, as shown by their respective certificates.So help me God. (signature) Geo MaKinnon
Sworn to this 19 day of Nov 1897, before me, (signature)Charley Jullem , Deputy Collector of Customs

Columns represent: Number, No of Certificate*, Name, Age, I. T. Transit List*, Occupation, Last Place of Residence, Height, Complexion, Color of Eyes, Physical Marks or Peculiarities and Facts of Identification*.

 1  Lin Hong   38  Merchant  8084  Panama     5'8"  Scar right temple
 2  Can Sing   20  Merchant  8083  Panama     5'7"  Mole right chin
 3  Lin Pooy   ?   Merchant  8081  Guatemala  5'?"  Scar near right eye
 4  Yee Sing   30  Merchant        Guatemala  5'6"  Mole between eyes
 5  Juan Wing  23  Merchant  8085  Mexico     5'6"  Scar right eye
 6  Juan Ly    25  Merchant  8082  Mexico     5'5"  Scar left eye
 7  Lin Chy    43  Merchant        Mexico     5'4"  Scar under chin
 8  ?   Sang   40  Merchant        Mexico     5'4"  Scar ? Cheek
 9* ?  Yuen    37  Merchant  8079  Mexico     5'8"  mole right chin
10  Lew Hing   59  Merchant  8080  Mexico     5'5"  scar ? cheek

         All in Transit for Hong Kong
    

Transcriber's Notes:    

*  An asterisk indicates an error on the part of the original recorder, not the transcriber,
   or is used to call your attention to additional information in the transcriber's notes.

The pages on this film are not numbered so finding a particular ship can be difficult.  
However, there is a system of numbering the manifests that is a part of the National
Archives file system on Chinese persons.  These numbers are included in the identification 
of the film and reel numbers below.

The departure port is listed as simply "Panama."  Research indicates this refers to Panama City.

For passengers bound for San Francisco, passengers' names and ages are followed by a stamp 
 that varies depending on the disposition of the passenger and which is stamped over whatever 
 information has been entered in the columns. 
Passengers allowed to land have the following stamp:
 Landed Collectors order (blank with a month and day date written in) 1896 by Insp's (blank 
 for a name). 
 
Passengers not allowed to land have one of two different stamps:
 Landing Refused Habeas Corpus U.S.D.C. Case followed by a number.  These passengers were 
  probably allowed to land, but not to freely enter the country.
 Landing Refused Departed Per Steamer ______ (name of ship) _________ (date).

For passengers bound for a further destination there are two possible dispositions:
  Landed "I.T." Transit List followed by a number  These passengers expected to continue
   travel by some other means to their destinations.
  Departed Per Steamer ______ (name of ship) _________ (date)

This manifest is all hand written, including the "boilerplate" or previously printed part.
 Thus the columns are not named. The I.T. Transit List Column is not standard for these lists.
 It is probable from the numbers that it is the numbers of the transit permits the passengers
 hold.

Complexion and Color of Eyes each have the same difficult to decipher word for all passengers
 "Letr?"

There are notes at the bottom of the page:
 Numbers 1-2-3-5-9-10 Landed "I.T." Transit List
 Numbers 4-7-8 Departed for Hong Kong per str "Rio" November 27, 1897
 Number 6 Landed Collector's order Dec ? Native US
 Number 1, 2, 3, 5 Departed for Hong Kong per the Rio de Janeiro Nov 27/97
 Number 9 Departed for Panama per str Para Dec 10, 1897
 Number 4-7 Landed Collector's order March 10th Sec 6 Certificate (the date is very clear)

According to the National Archives branch in San Bruno, California it is possible that they have
 some information on any Chinese passenger who arrived in San Francisco after 1886.


9 The first name of this passenger looks washed away but w followed by a superscripted co is
  visible.

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