' ^' ''■**-i#...^-.-^'
|
^M |
|
|
■;!>■• -}U |
|
|
s «fr' |
t;f > ' |
n
Inil
"^'"fw
%^WM't&
t^i^^'
^•K^i. -?*.-'''-^# >«.!f
s:^^*
■*%r'
.-r;«C{^
••^
'»»-;?-
ottiis
,-^-.*''
L^
is^i:
^v>:
iss.'M^ J
:.^;- X
.^^i-at
• • •#
►-«»',V!^
jWtjJiJjBjif?;
^^•»
^^"^^^^
||W^5^i=-
't^'^'
'^.--^
!r:ir-
■^W^— -^A.^
^-^iw^^
-^ " -^,- -'- '-iSSssS
iirriilMl
• :••
^„i5*i^.
,;r5.
^^,r ic'
CEIERX ARCMTECTIE^K, SOCIA
.Lil'
■N
IL o S^ .
^^m^-^M,
f.y/^'^/^' '
0 11 I N A,
IX A SERIES OF VIEWS, DISPLAYING
THE SCENERY, APvCJIITECTURE, AND SOCLVL HABITS,
THAT ANCIENT EMPIRE.
DRAWN, FROM ORIGINAL AND AUTHENTIC SKETCHES, BY
THOMAS ALLOM, ESQ.
WITH HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTICES BY
THE REV. G. K WRIGHT, M.A.
VOL. III.
FISHER, SON, & CO. NEWGATE STREET, LONDON ; RUE ST. HONORE, PARIS.
Annex
LIST OF PLATES.
VOL 111.
PACE
A Chinese Cemetery .,,...-... vios-.tte H>
The Woo-taiig Mountains ^
Hall of Audience, Palace of Yuen-niin-yucn '^
Landing-place and Entrance to the Temple of Hun;ui 1^
The Proof-sword Rock, Hoo-kew-shan '-
Estuary of the Ta-hea, or Ning-po River . . . - ''^
The Tai-wang-kow, or Yellow Pagoda Fort, Canton River J 7
Ladies of a Mandarin's Family at Cards 1^
Termination of the Greiit Wall of Cliina . . . 2
The Shih-mun, or Rock Gates
Dyeing and Winding Silk "'
Sowing Rice, at Soo-chow-foo -'
Transplanting Rice . . - •
Playing at Shuttlecock with the Feet
Entrance to the Iloang-ho, or Yellow River
Sacrifice of the Cliing-tswe-tsee, or Harvest-moon "^ ^
The Western Gate of Peking
The Grotto of Canioens, Macao
The Cataract of Shih-tan "^'^
Gardens of tlie Imperial Palace, Peking '^
Cap-vender's Shop, Canton • •
Close of the Attack on Chapoo
2014976
CONTEXTS.
PAGE
An Itinerant Barber . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Scene in the Suburbs of Ting-hae .......... 53
Opium-smoliers ......... ..... 54
Amoy, from the Outer Harbour .......... 56
A Marriage Procession ........ ... 58
Landing-place at the Yuk-shan ....... ... 60
Silk Farms at Hoo-chow 61
A Devotee consulting the Sticks of Fate ......... 64
Great Temple at Honan . . . ....... 6(i
The Emperor Taou-kwang reviewing his Guards ........ 67
I
1
tut
\
i
^1
I ■
i
"J.-
,^^#*..'^'
/■^."'X-
"?a8i«aUU_
% >i»
•^ -
^
my
£
"fe^'^^
*fii!
CHINA.
THE WOO -TANG MOUNTAINS.
PROVINCE OF KIANG-SI.
The wild streams leap with headlong sweep, In their eurbless course o'er the mountain steep : All fresh and strong they foam along, Waking the rocks with their cataract song."
The Recluse of the Rock.
I»f the schistose district of the Meilung mountains, that engross the southern part of Kiang-si, the forms of the cliffs and the crags are more varied than art could ever have made them, and than nature generally does. The goddess, however, in a sportive mood, seems to have moulded the amazingly diversified surface of the Woo-tang rocks, in which the Kan-kiang-ho has its source; for, the toppling position of the great mass that overhangs the village of Woo-tang and the vale of Nan-kang-foo, is obedient rather to the strength of adhesion than the laws of gravity. An Alpine grandeur pervades the whole mountain chain to the north of the Meilung group ; and the Chinese are so entirely devoted to pleasure, so much engrossed by superstition, such victims to actual romance, that they associate every picturesque spot amidst these cloud-capp'd pinnacles with a legend of pleasure or pain— a duty enjoined by custom— a pilgrimage dictated by caprice or idleness.
Many of the princes of Woo have acquired celebrity by their chivalrous bearing, by their disinterested patriotism, their great wisdom, or their solid learning. One, however, is remembered with more feeling : his story has found more sympathy than the sorrows or the sufferings of his kindred, from its interesting and romantic character. Too-fan was a prince of undaunted courage, great personal graces, and cultivated mind. Whe- ther he was disgusted with tlie insipidity of a courtier's life, or was inspired naturally with a love of wandering, is uncertain; but one day, after he had reached the age of
III. B
6 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
twenty, he left his royal home to enjoy the pleasures of the chase, and did not return at the accustomed time. Couriers were despatched in all directions, and public procla- mations issued, offering immense rewards to any one who could reveal the mystery of his sudden disappearance — but in vain. At length the emperor abandoned all hope of recover- ing his favourite son, went through the prescribed forms of wailing for an heir deceased, and appointed a successor to the lost but loved Too-fan. Time rolled its ceaseless course, and Hoo-fan, lately elected successor to the throne, accompanied by a retinue of courtiers, proceeded to hunt in the valleys and amidst the rocks of Woo-tang ; but the sportsmen being separated by the chances of the chase, the royal heir missed his compa- nions, and rode in search of them down a sequestered glen, until he was exhausted by fatigue, and apprehensive of being overtaken by the darkness of night. In this distressing situation, a young female, modestly attired, approached him, inquired the occasion of his so little expected visit to that unfrequented spot, and invited him to alight, and take shelter in her lowly dwelling. Astonished at her exquisite beauty, at the kind yet unembarrassed manner in which she offered to extend the rites of hospitality to a stranger, Hoo-fan for awhile was not able to reply : attributing his silence to fatigue, she at once called for assistance, which was answered by the appearance of a young man at the cottage door, who immediately advanced, and conducted the wanderer in.
Here the prince passed a night not of rest but distraction, although every effort that hospitality and benevolence could dictate was employed to reconcile him, and safe guidance to the precincts of his well-known hunting-ground, promised him on the morrow. But the surpassing beauty of his benefactress had made an impression on his heart, that reason could never efface; and his elevated rank induced him to believe, that it was not in mortal power to prevent him from one day calling her his own. This, however, was a fatal folly, and he lived just long enough to regret the error of such ungo- vernable passion. Perceiving that the beautiful mountaineer was the wife of the cottager, he proposed at once to purchase her, and increased his price to such an extravagant amount, that his host at length concluded that folly, or madness, could alone have prompted him to this singular request ; leading him, accordingly, to the limit of his lonely vale, he bade him be happy, and farewell.
These last words found no echo in the heart of Hoo-fan, who was henceforth to become the prey of a lawless and a hopeless passion ; and, proceeding rather as his animal carried than himself conducted, at length returned to his companions, who were overjoyed at again beholding their royal leader.
Changed in his very nature by the flame that withered up all his moral feelings, Hoo-fan now began to plot the destruction of the peasant of Woo-tang, that he might remove what he deemed the only impediment to the possession of his fair companion ; and for this purpose, approaching his imperial father, he laid before him a grievance which he said ought to be immediately redressed. He told him how a bold rebel, of whose exact name he was uncertain, but whose secret home he knew, in defiance of imperial pleasure, continually hunted in the royal domains ; and prayed permission to suppress the offence by punishing the offender. His request being granted, Hoo-fan set out,
THE WOO-TANG MOUNTAIN'S.
with a chosen few of his profligate associates, and reacliing the once happy valley of Woo-tang, acquainted the cottager, who had treated him so hospitably when liis life was in his power, that information of his predatory habits having reached the imperial throne, he had been deputed to inquire into the circumstances. Ingratitude, and a still dec])er contempt for his fellow-men, for a moment overpowered the innocent victin^, who had not passed imnoticed the attention with which Hoo-fan had regarded his faithful wife; but, recovering himself quickly, he formed his resolution. "Great prince," said he, " allow me to give instructions to my dearly-loved wife, for the arrange- ments of our cottage during my absence, after which I shall obediently attend you." The prince withdrew, leaving the afflicted wife to hear the last fond words which the partner of her solitude was ever, as Hoo-fan purposed, to whisper in her ear; but a watchful Providence had decreed far otherwise. " When I depart," said the husband calmly, " with prince Hoo-fan, and his satellites, do you, my dear wife, ascend yon hill, and hasten to the imperial palace by the shortest way ; tell the chief officer of the court to bear this girdle, with the bright diamond that adorns it, to the emperor, wherever he may be ; adding, that the owner is now on the way to an ignominious death, by the imperial order, and that the imperial presence alone can save hmi. Speed, and may Fo, the god of the faithful and the fond, befriend you."
Hoo-fan having told the emperor that such an offender did exist, must necessarily have inflicted punishment upon him for the pretended crime, in somewhat of a public manner, unless one of his infamous coadjutors should have boldness enough to supersede this necessity by assassination. This, however, would have been an attemi)t of the most perilous kind, the captive being a man of gigantic stature, extraordinary muscu- larity, and possessing the fleetness and activity of those very animals of the chase, which he was accused of pursuing and overtaking on foot. He was conducted, there- fore, to the nearest tribunal, the summit of a lofty rock, which was itself enclosed between two huge perpendicular masses; and on this plateau, in the eye of just heaven, the iniquitous trial and punishment were to take place.
The party passed out of the retired valley, crossed the stream of the Kang-kiang-ho, by two rustic bridges, that span the deep ravine through which it tumbles, and reaching the plateau on the summit, went through the contemplated mockery of a trial, by which the prisoner was condemned to be thrown from the beetling cliff into the abyss below. The pause that followed this dreadful announcement was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a cavalcade, numerous, coming on at full speed, and with all the character of a hostile troop. One horseman, better mounted than the rest, rode madly into the ring formed for the tribunal, exclaiming, " Suspend the sentence, stop the execution, as you value your lives — the emperor ! the emperor !" A few moments more, and the emperor stood amidst the traitorous band who had abused his confidence. " Hoo-fan," said he, " you have forfeited my affections, disgraced the name of a prince of Woo, and are no longer worthy of my protection. Go, take the place of the captive, whom your vicious passions would have put to a painful and most horrid death ; and, to aggravate your disappointment, I adopt him to be the heir to my throne and kingdom." Having
8 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
concluded this solemn decree, he threw aside the restraints of majesty, and rushing towards the prisoner, fell upon his manly bosom, exclaiming, "My son, my lost son, Too-fan !"
On the spot where this aifecting incident is said to have taken place, a temple of Fo has been erected, in which an altar, or tang, is dedicated to the memory of Too-fan, and from which Woo-tang takes its abiding name.
HALL OF AUDIENCE, PALACE OF YUEN-MIN-YUEN.
PEKING.
Fling ye the silken curtain wide, With gold restrained, with purple dyed, And let the colours wander o'er The polished walls, the marble floor. White are the walls, but o'er them wind Rich patterns curiously designed.
The Kuan of Kathav.
Imperial luxury appears, in China, to be insatiable. There is not a minor political division of this vast empire, unadorned by some palace, or villa, or hall of majesty ; and the display of fancy exhibited in their arrangements is only inferior to the gorgeousness with which the designs are executed. Yuen-min-Yuen is perhaps the most extensive and sumptuous of all these abodes of magnificence and power; and it is also better known to Europeans, from the reception, within its marble halls, of foreign embassies, than the travelling-palace of Hoo-kew-shan, and other picturesque localities.
A noble park, improperly called the Gardens of Yuen-min-Yuen, is situated about three leagues north-west of Peking, and occupies an area of eleven square miles. Here are no less than thirti/ distinct imperial residences, each surrounded with all the necessary buildings for lodging the numerous state officers, servants, and artificers, that are required, not only on occasions of court and public days, but for the regular conduct of the household. Each of these assemblages includes so great a number of separate structures, that at a little distance the appearance is precisely that of a com- fortable village, and of tolerable extent. The mode of building possessing few traits of permanence, on a closer examination a character of meanness, and a poverty of invention, are at once discovered ; and even here, in the most luxurious and spacious of all the imperial homes, it is to the amazing number of fanciful huts, and decorated sheds, rather than to their stateliness or durable pretensions, that any magnificence is ascribed.
^1
J -«
I
«
n.
'4
1?'
• 1
^
1^ i
#■ Py^^^
T3^&«aUU^
-^
V
K
iiAi.i. (ir ArniKNCE, rAi.Arr. or Yri;N-MiN-vri;N. w
Amongst these thirty groups of iKiiutcd palaces, the Hall of Audience is the most conspicuous for its magnitude, ornamont, and proportions. Elevated on a j)latform of granite, about four feet above the surrounding level, an oblong structure stands, one hundred and twenty feet in length, forty-five in breadth, and in height twenty. A row of large wooden columns surrounds the cella, and supports a heavy projecting roof; while an inner tier, of less substantial pillars, marks the area of the chambers: the intervals of the latter, being filled with brick-work to the height of lour feet, form the enclosing screen or walls of the chief apartment. Above these the space is occupied with lattice work, covered with oiled paper, and capable of being thrown open, when the temperature of the hall demands it. On the ceiling are described squares, circles, jiolygons, and other mathematical figures, in various combinations, and charged with endless shades of gaudy colours. The floor is a more chaste piece of workmanship, consisting of slabs of a beautiful grey marble, disposed chequer-wise, and with the most accurate and perfect precision in the jointing. In a recess at the centre of one end stands the imperial throne, composed entirely of cedar richly and delicately carved, the canopy being supported by wooden pillars painted with red, green, and blue colours. Two large brass kettle-drums, occasionally planted before the door, and there beaten on the approach of the emperor, form part of the furniture of the hall, the rest consisting of Chinese paintings, an English chiming-clock, made by Clarke of Leadenhall-street, and a pair of circular fans formed of the wings of the argus-pheasant, and mounted on polished ebony poles. These stand on each side of the throne, above which are inscribed, in the Chinese letter and language, "True, great, refulgent, splendid," and beneath these pompous words, the much more pithy one — " Happiness."
The columns in all cases— within the hall, beneath the imperial canopy, and those that sustain the overhanging roof— are without capitals ; and the only substitute for an architrave is the bressumer, or horizontal beam on which the projecting rafters of the roof recline. Below this architrave and between the columns, wooden screens are interposed, painted with the most glaring hues of the brightest colours, profusely intermixed with gilding. Over the whole of this fancy-work a net of gilded wire is stretched, to protect it against the invasion of swallows, and other enemies to the eaves and the cornices of buildings.
The grounds around the many palaces are either broken by nature, or formed by art into hill and dale, diversified with wood' and water — the latter enclosed by banks so ingeniously thrown up, that they represent the fortuitous workmanship of the free hand of creative power. Bold rocky promontories are seen projecting into a lake, and valleys also retiring from them, some, deep-wooded bosoms— others, scenes of richest cultivation. Wherever pleasure-temples, or grottoes, or pavilions for rest, are erected, the views from each are evidently studied productions of some one eminent in the delightful art of land- scape gardening. In the arrangement of trees, not only the magnitude to which the species ultimately attains, but even the tints of the foliage, are maturely considered in the composition of the picture.
III.
10 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
LANDlNG-PLvVCE AND ENTRANCE TO THE TEMPLE OF HONAN.
CANTON'.
" 'Tis mad idolatry, That makes the service greater than the god."
Sh.\kspeare.
On the south banks of the Cho-keang, or Pearl river, and on the opposite side from the city of Canton, is a rural district, much frequented by visiters and residents for recreation and change of air, but by a still greater number of pilgrims, who come hither to bow the knee at the shrine of Buddha. Emerging from the narrow filthy streets, and escaping from their noxious atmosphere, the bridge of Honan, with its quaint architecture, conducts to the little isle itself, a paradise in comparison with the busy city to which it is united. Here the scenery is peculiarly pleasing, and the luxuriant trees that adorn the banks, that dip into the stream, that spread their grateful shelter over the fields, animate the picture by the amazing variety in their shades and their colours.
Here also is the most famous of all Buddhist temples in China, the very cathedral of that contemptible idolatry. Standing on the margin of the water, it is most frequently approached by boats; and the multitude that is in perpetual motion at the landing- place, is calculated to give a very low estimate of Chinese character. It consists of the aged, infirm, and infantine, coming to ask pardon of a block of wood, for sins and omissions in this world, and to beg liberation from the torments of swords, and axes, and bowstrings in the world to come. Another and more unimportant portion of the crowd is intent on over-charging, on pilfering, and abusing the confidence of these dotards, whom they have, almost pardonably, concluded to be deserving of no better lot. The reasoning, however, is obviously vicious, which would pretend to prove that folly in one party, justifies dishonesty in another : but, what is in China the standard of virtue or vice — the test of truth or falsehood — the boundary of good or evil?
A small comfortable-looking assemblage of doors, and screens, and gables, and projecting eaves, and concave roofs, and grotesque animals, gives to the landing-place the character of a country ale-house. Here, however, is the place of entrance to a vista of majestic banyan trees, that appear to have resisted the assaults of the elements for centuries of time, and by their venerable aspect, supply, in some degree, the want of antiquity in the flimsy, temporary sheds, that lie hid beneath them. Giants of wood guard the next doorway, with becoming vigilance, and terrific aspect ; and whoever passes these formidable warders, will find another enclosure within, intersected by flagged walks, that lead amidst the tree*, to colonnades, filled with gods and monsters
•■■i ii-
9 !
]
«'l
i:r%^-J^i^^\_^^^:%SL.^-
■f
N;
^^
L.WDING-PLACE AXD KXTUANCE TO TIIK TF.MPLE Ol' IIONAN. 11
of every sect and profession. Beyond the second square are situated three grand liall^, appropriated to idols of greater costhness, and still more hideous aspect. Within tiie central are the three famous images, illu:?trative of the triune manifestations of Buddha — the past, present, and future. Kwo-keu-fuli, whose reign is past, is on the right : We-lac- fuli, whose reign is yet to come, on the left ; the centre being occupied by Heen-tsa-fuh, wliose jjower is now supposed to regulate human destinies. The monsters, although in a sitting posture, are each eleven feet in height. Before these " three precious Buddha " stand tables, or altars, on which are placed joss-sticks, censers, perfumes, flowers, ornaments, and sometimes rare fruits; and, on either side are arranged eighteen images of the primitive disciples of Buddha, supposed to be resuscitated emperors of the Mantchou-Tartar race. The side walls are decorated with silken cur- tains, embroidered, in letters of gold and silver thread, with mottos and precepts from the works of Confucius. A number of pillars, gilt and painted, sustain the roof, from the cross-beams of which several hundred lanterns depend, whose muilied rays diifuse a mysterious light around, not badly calculated to aid the solemn character which the labours of the priests are incessant in endeavouring to impart.
The several cellae, or places of worship, within the sanctuary, are all of nearly equal capacity, and adorned with an equal variety of objects of vertu; and, besides these devotional apartments, a very extensive monastery belongs to the temple, where some hundred priests are comfortably lodged. Considerable distinctions appear to exist between the grades or classes of this monastic order, for, some of them are clothed in costly habits, and exhibit unequivocal symptoms of having " fared sumptuously every day ;" while others are squalid, emaciated, and poverty-stricken. There cannot be a more obvious inconsistency in the government of any public body, than is presented by the wretchedness that marks the appearance of a large number of this Buddhist fraternity, and the luxury in which the sacred hogs indulge in the consecrated styes beneath the very roof of the temple. These favoured animals are fed and tended with the utmost care, and, when they have literally eaten themselves to death, are laid, with much solemnity, in a mausoleum appropriated to their remains.
In Buddhist worship, the priests, who have a direct interest in its maintenance, perform all the functions of their calling with the most becoming solemnity, and the ceremony itself is exceedingly imposing; but the people do not apjiear to feel the influence of example, and look on with indifference, while the most venerable amongst the priesthood knocks his aged brow rejjeatedly against a sacred flagstone in front of the altar. Indeed there cannot possibly be any wide-spread faith in the creed of Buddhism, even in the empire of Cathay; for, in addition to their total indifference to its ceremonies, Buddhists occasionally appropriate the very temples of worship to profane purposes. On Lord Amherst"s return from the court ot Peking, he visited Canton, and the authorities of that great city, although his lordship had been unsuccessful in his mission, did not hesitate to provide accommodations for the embassy in the great temple of Ilonan. The triune were removed from their pedestals, and transported to a lodging on the other side of the river; while the chief cell.
13 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
or choir, or aisle of the temple, was converted into a banqueting hall for the foreigners. This fact did not escape the vigilance of the savans in that distinguished cortege, who have judiciously remarked, " that the conversion of a people so slenderly attached to the predominant religion, would not be attended with difficulty, if truth were on the tongues of those who undertook it."
THE PROOF-SWORD ROCK, IIOO-KEV-SllAN.
And. as the brand he poised and sway'd, '* I never knew but one," he said, " Whose stalwart arm might brook to wield A sword like this in battle-field."
In the mythological or romantic ages of every country, personal strength commanded a respect which is now confined to the few remaining nations that have evaded civihzation. The victory is no longer to the strong ; intellect, civilization, science have obtained a signal triumph over mere brute or animal force ; and the prowess of Ajax, or of Cceur de Leon, the unfading theme of the troubador, will soon be neglected by the writer of history. However, conspicuous excellence in some one respect, whether it arise from a pure unmixed boon of nature, or from the meritorious labours of the individual, cannot fail in attracting the attention of a chronicler worthy of the subject.
Physical ability seems to have been employed as a test of royal origin, of fitness to rule, of military elevation, from the earliest period ; but, the criterion in individual cases was diflFerent. When Ulysses returned to his sea-girt isle, his halls were filled with suitors for the hand of his faithful queen. Remonstrance would naturally have been vain ; his altered appearance, and the protracted period of his wanderings, forming so strong a presumption against personal identity ; but when, seizing the bow, which none else could bend, and vv^ith —
— one hand aloft display'd
The bending horns, and one the string essay'd,
he shot the arrow through the mystic rings, his claims to royal ancestry were no longer disputed, even by those who offered violence to his resumption of the throne.
The respect in which muscular strength was held by our Norman lords, may be estimated from their long adherence to the practice of single combat, an ordeal still known as " the wager of battle." A remarkable instance of this kind occurred in the reign of our King John. Some doubt existing as to the English title to a town in Normandy, Philip of France proposed that it should be decided by wager of battle, and
I
niD
[ £.'21 ^
'^■*a'»^:'^:
*- »:>
^■Vf^^^.^-%^^^^-
?^W&)S3U4»4
\^
^
THE PROOr-SWORD KOCK, IIOO-KEW-SII A \. 13
his cliallenge was readily accepted. In all England there was none so famous for courage, and swordmansliip, and gigantic strength, as John de Courcey ; hut through the artifices of his rival, de Lacey, he had heen falsely accused and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Called from his dungeon hy a mean and merciless monarch, he answered, " My country, but not my king, shall have my services."
The field and the lists were now appointed, galleries were erected, and the princes and nobility of both kingdoms seated as spectators, when the French champion sallied forth, took one turn, and then rested himself in his tent. De Courcey next appeared, and went through a similar ceremony. And now the trumpets sounded the grand charge, and the champions issuing from their rests, advanced gallantly to the combat ; but, according to the custom of the joust, they first reined in and viewed each other searchingly. The stern aspect of De Courcey, his giant form, his steady seat, his perfect command of horse and weapon, struck terror to the Frenchman's heart, who calmly essayed as if to take another turn, and display his prowess; but, when the next trumpet sounded, and De Courcey drew his trusty sword, the French champion broke the barrier, and fled the field. The trumpets proclaimed the victory of the English king ; but Philip pro- tested against such claim, unless De Courcey gave some indisputable evidence of his surpassing strength. Accordingly, a stake being set up, and a shirt of mail and helmet of steel placed thereon, the champion was directed to prove his sword upon this new adver- sary. Casting a stern glance at both monarchs as they stood beside each other, he raised his sinewy arm, and, with a single blow, cleft the helm, shirt, and stake, so far down that none but himself was able to pull out the weapon. King .John, astonished at this extraordinary proof of De Courcey's chivalrous qualifications, restored him to his title and rank and possessions ; adding, that he was prepared also to grant him whatever favour he might prefer. " Your generosity," replied the victor, " has placed me beyond any desire of further riches : I shall only ask, therefore, that it may be permitted to myself and my successors to remain covered in the presence of royalty." His request was granted, and, to this day, his descendants, the Earls of Kinsale, enjoy exclusively the privilege of wearing their hats in the presence of the sovereigns of Great Britain.
Another Irish giant and chieftain, but of more genuine Hibernian origin than De Courcey, exhibited his military qualifications by a proof still more unequivocal — this was Fingal, or Fin-mac-cumhal, general of the Irish militia. When this puissant soldier was setting out upon an expedition against the enemies of his country, a mysterious-looking person joined the cavalcade, and entered into familiar converse with the chief. They very naturally discoursed of the profession of arms, and the man of mystery, in the vehemence of argument, exclaimed, " Unless your sword can cleave that mountain, it shall not subdue the multitude of your enemies." Fingal immediately smote the rugged cliff, and cleft it to the very base.*
A tradition, preserved in the San-tsae-to-hwey, gives the following version of the Proof-rock legend of Hoo-kew-shan.f "Heuen-tlh, prince of Shuh, one of the three
• Vide Wright's Guide to Wicklow — Glendiilougli.
t How-kevv-sbaii, a travelling palace of the emperor, is in the province of Keang-nan. Vide vol. i. p. 14, et seq. III. D
14 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
rival kingdoms, was invited by Sun-kwan, the designing monarch of Eastern-woo, to visit his territories, and espouse his sister; but the real object of this flattering invitation was to obtain possession of the prince's person. Heuen-tih, an honourable and unsus- pecting man, adopting the advice of Kung-ming, called also in history, Choo-ho-leang, a sort of Chinese Machiavelli, cheerfully passed the frontiers, and proceeded to the palace of the treacherous Sun-kwan ; where his manly appearance was highly pleasing to the queen-dowager, although at first indignant that she had not been consulted in the choice of a husband for her royal daughter. A grand banquet was prepared in honour of the princely guest; but the wicked host caused the pavilion in which it was spread to be closely surrounded by a body of armed men, intending to seize the prince, and throw him into a dungeon. This iniquitous attempt, however, was completely frustrated by the personal bravery of a single man, the gallant aide-de-camp of Heuen-tih, who, perceiving that treachery was intended, suddenly entered the royal saloon with his sword drawn, and, placing himself before his master, declared that they should not be made prisoners alive. This resolute conduct arrested the project, and the queen-dowager being made acquainted with the circumstance, did not hesitate to upbraid her son with having dishonoured his royal race, violated the rights of hospitality, and blighted the fair prospects of a sister's happiness.
He who had been guilty of such baseness felt little reluctance in employing false- hood in his defence ; and, having given a specious explanation, protested that himself and his minister, Cha-yn, were ready to complete their promise in the most entire manner, by conferring the hand of the princess Sun-foo-jin upon their valued guest This, however, was but the first movement of a second plot for the prince's destruction, for they now calculated upon his becoming so much intoxicated by the pleasures of a luxurious court, that opportunity would not long be wanted for effecting their base objects.
It was immediately after his escape from the dagger of the assassin, that Heuen-tih, having laid aside his robes of ceremonj', was walking in front of the palace, when he observed a large rock lying beside the broad pathway. His extraordinary fortunes occupied his thoughts at the moment, and, drawing his sword, and looking up to heaven, he said, ' If I, Lew-pei, am destined to revisit my capital, King-choo, and acquire entire possession of the empire, may I cleave this rock in two with a single blow !' While he yet spoke, he smote the rock, from which a perfect blaze of light flashed forth, and cut it in two. Sun-kwan, who stood behind him unperceived, and closely watched his movements, now advanced, and inquired what cause of anger he could possibly entertain towards the stone. ' My years,' replied he, ' are now three or four lustre, yet I am unable to defend my country from the invader : this reflection has filled my heart with pain and sorrow. The honourable alliance which I have just formed with your illustrious family has again, however, awakened my ambition, and I resolved on asking heaven to give me, as a sign or prognostic that I should one day defeat my enemy Tsaou, power to split this rock at a single blow of my trusty sword ; and heaven has granted my request.'
\
^fl
9
f
rk
i
>♦■■
■ " -•-—.-■ 'WiiMW^ i-r^,' ■••^' fc-t*tl
*^, -j* ■•*'.
^^ M.^.¥
■"mm -*^nS
'if !•■
fru^
ESTUARY OF THE TA-IIEA, OR KING-rO ItlVEU. 15
The false-hearted Sun-kwan, beUeving the story to be a mere invention, resolved to test its authenticity: declaring, that he too had asked heaven for a similar sign, as to whether he should partake of the gloryof subduing the grand usurper, and of retaking King-choo ; and that he also would prove his sword upon the rock of fate. He spoke, and, letting fall his shining blade, the rock was completely rent from top to bottom. Ten characters, graven in the stone, commemorate the extraordinary event, and an elaborate native poem celebrates the praises of the princes, whose fate was so myste- riously connected with the Proof-sword rock.
ESTUARY OF THE TA-HEA, OR NING-PO RIYER.
Bare the rugged heights ascending
Bring to mind the past, When the weary voyage ending
Was the anchor cast-
L. E. L.
The scenery at the entrance of this noble tidal river is truly magnificent, from the loftiness and forms of the hills, and from the broad expanse of its waters, which are almost constantly in a state of agitation. These naturally picturesque features are still further improved by the construction of irregular works of defence upon the most conspicuous eminences. At a little distance, the embattled tower, bristling with artillery, resembles the strong hold of some powerful chieftain, who is always in an attitude of defence against assaults, of which his own aggressions have been the occasion. The currents that are caused by the obstruction of the Chusan Islands, by the efflux of the Ta-hea's waters, and the influx of a tide setting always strongly, produce and maintain a surface of con- siderable agitation, and whose navigation by boats is uniformly attended with danger. But these interruptions tend in no moderate degree to heighten the picturesque cha- racter and solemn effect of the splendid panorama which the whole estuary presents.
It is now upwards of a century, since the British merchant first became acquainted with the advantageous commercial position of Nin-po-foo, and felt the regret to which disappointed industry becomes necessarily a prey, arising from the inactivity of his _ own government, and stupidity of the Chinese. In the year 1701, we had a factory at Ting-hae, and were allowed to look along the highway of commerce that led to Ning-po; but entrance into, or dii'ect trade with that noble cit)', was forbidden, under pain of the bowstring, or the axe, or the squeezing apparatus. Many opportunities, however, were then afforded of forming acquaintances, and even friendships, with the most eminent of the Xing-po mandarins; for many, and those the wealthiest, sated with business, sought rest and retirement from the cares of the world, on the beautiful
16 CHINA ILLXJSTKATED.
little island of Kin-tan, which rises somewhat precipitously in the embouchure of the Ta-hea ; and immediately in front of which a British man-of-war is represented, in the accompanying view, towed by a steam frigate through the rapids. There British subjects were permitted to land, and the indulgence led to that intercourse, which was ever afterwards remembered with pleasurable feelings.
One of the headlands that look down upon the entrance of the Ta-hea, is covered with tea-shrubs to its summit, and the mulberry tree constitutes the chief ornament of the scene on every side. These indigenous products have conferred the greater portion of their wealth upon the inhabitants of this district, which is the very centre of their profitable cultivation. Here, therefore, foreigners were first induced to seek for the privilege of trading with the natives — silk and tea, China's boasted products, being obtainable in a better condition, and at half the cost they bring at Canton. But folly, bigotry, and cowardice repudiated the enterprise of Europeans, and an imperial edict not only denied admission to Ning-po, but expelled our trade from Chusan Islands, and limited it strictly to Canton. Against this iUiberality an appeal was made in 1736, by a party who chartered the " Normanton," and attempted to conciliate the authorities of Ning-po ; but their resolution and perseverance only exasperated the mandarins, who now destroyed the factories of Chusan, and prohibited their countrymen from supplying foreign ships with provisions.
Even this rejection and discouragement failed to extinguish British commercial enterprise, for, Mr. Flint ventured to renew negociations at Ning-po, although warned of the perilous consequences of such an attempt by the Cantonese authorities. His efforts proving abortive, he proceeded to Peking, where he was deceived by the hypocri- tical mandarins, with assurances of the most friendly character ; and, on his return to Canton, contrary to every obligation of truth, honour, or national dignity, he was seized, transferred to Macao, where he was thrown into prison, and, after two years' incarcera- tion, sent back to England.
Lord Macartney visited this Chinese archipelago, and met with a continuance of that courtesy, which his prudence and address elsewhere obtained for him amongst these very prejudiced people ; but, their apprehension of his discovering how accessible Nan- kino- was to a British fleet, induced them to misrepresent the true character of the Ta-hea estuary. That embassy, therefore, added nothing to our knowledge of this valuable inlet, decidedly the most advantageously situated for commerce with foreigners, amongst all the populous places of the empire.
An expedition undertaken in the ship Amherst, augmented our hydrographic information of the Chinese coast, and searched the recesses of the Ning-po harbour ;* but the achievements of the late war, in which China succumbed so humbly to British power, have opened the harbour and the river, and the trade of this beautifully-seated city, not to Britain only, but to the civilized world.
• Vide " City of Ning-po, from the river," vol. ii.. p. 67, et seq.
^ ^
^
^
^~
1
v.
■^
|
^ |
^ |
|
.¥ |
|
|
^ |
|
|
k |
|
|
1 |
\ 1 |
|
J^ |
1 |
|
^ |
1^ |
|
^^ |
^ ^ |
^
^
»,^.
J^ im- ■ :-t
■k''$.
^w^m/
^:d*^7!C3^
^-^K«a.A>4.
^u^MMi^^MMiiJ-Mli
THE TAI-WANCi-KOW. 17
THE TAI-WANG-KOW, OR YELLOW PAGODA PORT.
CANTON RIVER.
Haste, bring them forth ! and r;\7.e
From turret to fouii(Uitioiistone, the keep Whence rose no song of praise
From weary captives wont to doubt and weep.
The CiiiiisTiAN Caitive.
In many places tlie banks of the Canton or Pearl river are eminently picturcs^tjup, and the separation of its waters into numerous channels, while it perplexes the foreign navigator, is a source of endless gratification and real advantage to those acquainted with the different branches, and who dwell along their refreshing borders. Mile after mile of the river littorale below Canton is clotlied with tlie densest and most brilliant foliage, save where population equally compact has hewn out a site for a settlement. There villages peep forth from the thick dark shelter of an ancient grove, which at one time is in immediate contact witli the grotesque dwellings, at another removed only by the area of an orchard, a garden, or a pleasure-ground. Tiie noblest forest-trees that grow in China are intermixed with fruit-trees of rarity and richness ; amongst these are the peach, almond, plum, and many whose blossoms impart to the landscape a colouring that even Chinese dexterity often fails to imitate effectually. Orange, citron, and other varieties of Oriental fruits, luxuriate along the gently waving banks of these sunny waters, with a bloom and a beauty that art and cultivation in vain endeavour to attain.
An islet that seems to float in the chainiel, called by Europeans the Macao Passage, serves as the foundation for the fortified pagoda of the Tai-wang-kow. A tower of four stories is enclosed by a strongly built curtain of granite stone, pierced with loop- holes, and finished with battlements. The primitive object of the Pagoda is not easily explicable on rational principles; but, in connection with the Chinese system of military discipline, and their art of war, admits of explanation. From the elevation of its turreted stories, watchmen can discover the approaching enemy, and give the word of command to the gunners within the ramparts. This plan, however, is subject to one inconvenience, namely, discovery of the fort itself by the foe, and, therefore, exposure of the Pagoda itself to the fire of an enemy's ship, which might throw down the whole building upon the gunners at its foot. In this case, the gingalls, matchlocks, and men of all arms, would in all probability be buried in the ruins. The area of the island, about an English acre, is dedicated to military works, with the exception of the space occupied by some lofty trees of the banyan species, whose shelter proves particularly grateful to the soldier sinking under the weight of his armour, and wiio would otherwise often be exhausted by the scorching rays of a tropical sun. The practice of embowering a fortress
HI. i.
18 CHINA ILLUSTRxVTED.
is not confined to Tai-wang-kow, it prevails universally in Chinese defensive posts, engi- neers being of opinion, that the shade of a banyan tree will protect the soldier not only from the burning rays of the sun, but also from the red artillery of an enemy. And it was this principle of self-sufficiency or self-deception, so prevalent in this vast empire, that induced the erection of a pagoda in the middle of a battery, which, to be useful, should be concealed, — the author of the design imagining that its haughty height would warn the enemy against too near an approach.
Upon the first appearance of a rupture with China, this picturesque defence was occupied by a detachment of the royal marines, who kept entire possession of it until the resumption of hostilities on the •2.3d of June, 1841. Although within reach of assist- ance from Canton, from which it is only two miles distant, no resistance was offered to our occupation ; yet our officers assert, that had they been attacked in turn, they could have repulsed the best efforts of the enemy to dislodge them. As a toll-house or watch- tower, the Tai-wang is valuable, and in other hands, by its means, the approach of an enemy to Canton might be successfully impeded. When our troops surprised it, a com- munication was formed with both banks of the river by rafts that completely obstructed the passages. Each flotilla, or rather section of the pontoon, consisted of ten layers of timber, ten feet square, strongly bound together with iron bolts, and anchored securely at each corner. There was little ingenuity in the design, and when our troops entered the fort, and occupied it, the control of the clumsy impediment passed into their hands, to the prejudice of its authors.
But the destination of the Tai-wang will henceforth be changed : the clang of arms will no more be heard within its towers, nor the flash of artillery be witnessed from its ramparts ; taught the blessings of peace by the horrors of war, these civilized idolaters now leave the highway of commerce, which the Almighty formed for the happiness of his creatures, open to the merchants and mariners of all nations.
LADIES OF A MANDARIN'S FAMILY AT CARDS.
Cards were superfluous here, with all the tricks That idleness has ever yet eomrived. To fill the void of an unfurnished hrain. To palliate dulness, and give time a shove.
COWPEK.
The position which females occupy in society may be very fairly taken as a test of civilization, in each respective nation : wherever the moral and intellectual powers of the gentler sex are held in estimation, that country will be found to enjoy such laws as promote the happiness of the people ; wherever personal charms constitute the only
1i
« ,/:;»-.^V^^'^^ I
:TsiRm> t,i.
^s^-
r^
'^J-
1'
.:^44'.ll;;"'iJ-^#..^
iSife!
-^
^^
x^
19
ground of love or admiration, as in man)' Asiatic governments, there tyranny and slavery prevail extensively. Neitiicr do tlie lavish gifts of nature secure a liappv home to their possessor, or subdue tlio fierce spirit of her absolute lord; on the contrary, surpassing beauty, in unchristian climes, rivets the chains of slavery more firmly, elevates the harem- walls to a more hopeless height, excludes the society of friends or companions, and shuts in the luckless victim from the world for ever. And while submission to the caprice of a tyrant is tiie captive's wisest policy, her sole remaining lot, even this great sacrifice does not mitigate tlie ferocity of his nature, or the rudeness of his habits, for often are these helpless habitants of the Oriental harem immolated, to allay a groundless jealousy, or make room for a more favoured rival : and oftener still are the most dreadful assassi- nations perpetrated by tyrants, whose uncontrollable passions are inflamed by the bare suspicion of infidelity. Hence it follows, that where the softer sex are retained in a state of bondage, and denied participation in social duties and social intercourse, there the habits of the people are necessarily rude — there civilization is inevitably checked in its humanizing progress.
It has been remarked, that in England, science, arts, and civilization have advanced more rapidly since the reign of Elizabeth, than in the period between her government and the Conquest — a result attributed to the altered estimation of female character that has ever since prevailed. Previous to that glorious epoch in our country's annals, a custom existed in Wales of selling wives, or rather brides, to husbands ; in Scotland, women were prohibited by its uncouth laws from appearing as evidences in a court of justice; and, in our eighth Henry's reign, women and apprentices were prevented from reading the New Testament in English. Since these rude restrictions have been removed, and female intellect emancipated, see to what a rank amongst the nations of the earth Great Britain has attained ! It was while a woman filled the throne that the invincible armada was scattered and destroyed — while a woman reigned, that English literature acquired that character conveyed in the epithet of Augustan — and, it was during a woman's reign, that China, the oldest of nations, was vanquished by the arms of Britain. It should not be forgotten, that a civilized, a christian, and a chaste commu- nity, is more likely to be governed ably and honestly under the softer than the sterner sex, for, in one case, the most distinguished statesmen, in the other, the most intriguing females of the aristocracy, influence the patronage of the court.
A species of middle state, between rudeness and civilization, is the portion of a Chinese lady of quality. Inhumanly deprived of tlie use of her linibs, whenever she desires to go abroad she is subject to a species of concealment in a close sedan, similar to the arrhuba of Mohammedan odaliques ; and so strictly is this incognito observed, that less wealthy persons keep covered wheelbarrows for their captive wives — not to jirevent the winds of heaven from visiting them too roughly, but to deprive them of the liomage of earthly eyes. Notwithstanding all this jealous care, it is remarkable that females in the humbler ranks are treated with little respect: one class are the flowers of the garden, the other of the forest ; one are fed, and lodged, and cherished, with all the care and cost and jealousy that belong to the conservatory — the other left to waste tlieir sweetness
20 CHI>fA ILLUSTRATED.
on the desert air, or else spurned soon after by the rude hand that plucked them. Often do we see the poor man's wife labouring in the fields of rice, the farm of cotton, the nurseries of silk, her infant being safely tied upon her back, while her husband is engaged in the excitements of smoking or of gambling.
There is but one supreme mistress of a mandarin's palace, and to her authority all others of her sex, within the limits of the pavilion, must acknowledge entire submission. To the disgrace of this ancient empire, however, polygamy does exist here, although in a form more mitigated than in the Turkish dominions. Amongst the graceful cabinets counted along with the ladies' apartments, there is usually one arranged as a chapel of worship, or a hall of ancestors. In general, a figure of Tien-sing, the Queen of Heaven, is placed in a niche at the end, various decorations being introduced all around ; and a splendid curtain of embroidered silk falling in front, secures retirement and perfect seclusion for the votaries who may be disposed to enter and to worship. Having no sabbath, either for the purposes of religion or of rest, the Chinese feel a secret conso- lation in these domestic chapels, where they pour forth the real sentiments of their souls, before that God whose existence their innate ideas prove, but of whose nature and pro- perties they still are ignorant. With the inconsistency that seems to characterize all Chinese customs, and distinguish them from those of other nations, it is in front of this very capella, and in the very presence of their little golden protectress, that the ladies of every family uniformly seat themselves, to indulge in the amusement of card-playing. Denied so many other species of social enjoyment, none but the most rigid and fas- tidious could object to tbeir indulgence in this ancient game — but who can be uncon- scious of the glaring contradiction which the choice of a playing-room discloses ?
The variety of games known in China is endless ; and many of them require consider- able dexterity. In shape, the cards are longer and narrower than those in use amongst Europeans, and a pack includes a much larger number. When cards have lost their power of pleasing, the time is beguiled by the introduction of tobacco. Females, from the tender age of eight years, are initiated in this disgusting habit; and a little silken reticule is gene- rally attached to every lady"s dress, to hold a pipe and a supply of tobacco. But these, and even less graceful employments, are pardonable, when the monotonous nature of their life of seclusion is remembered. Although less suspected, less enslaved, less degraded than Turkish females, yet the formality to which Chinese ladies are doomed is eminently tedious. Children, chief solace of a mother's retired and useful life, are in China placed under laws that outrage the best feelings of human nature. Female infants may be destroyed at the pleasure of the father — over children of the other sex, the law gives the parent absolute power ; hence, at the age of ten years, the boy is removed finally from the mother's surveillance, nor is he permitted after to visit the pavilion in which he was born — the scene in which his helplessness first found that care which a mother only knows how to bestow. Cut off, by a hateful code of regulations, from the opportunity of fulfilling her legitimate trust, the Chinese wife and mother is necessitated to have recourse to those means of filling up the great void in life which these privations have created. Painting, embroidery, the care of an aviary, the recreations of the garden and
V
•>l
v1
V
^
n
■^
ija*
■fvft^%^fiJ'%^,.;si^.. a_^-^*^%>?...«*..^'.,.«?', i^:,^/\^#:, ;«:; ;>,
>* i'«^.;«»'.' I*
:»9»«aU>4.
l-*iSjrJ»
:^A
^
'^
'^
,y
y
II
^^^#^ v-?..-^i#^ Jtri j^-^ j^^^.j|#;i<
TEIIMINATION Or THE CHEAT WAEE Ol' CHINA. 21
the pleasure grounds, occasional appeals to the little image that presides over the domestic altar, fond attentions to her children while they are permitted to remain with her, the game of chess when the number of fair captives is limited to two, but, when increased beyond that amount, the more i)opular amusement of cards, are called to ttie relief of those pangs which disappointments produce — those sorrows by wliich separation from the world is so often accompanied.
TERMINATION OF THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA,
AND THE GULF OF PE-CHE-LI, DURING A TYPHOON.
Do but stand upon the foaming shore,
The chiding billows seem to pelt the clouds;
The wind-shak'd surge, with high, and monstrous main.
Seems to cast water on the burning bear.
And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole :
I never did such molestation view
On the enchafed tiood.
SllAKSPEARE.
In a previous description of the Great Wall of China,* the particular view here given is alluded to and described. There the only genuine drawings of this extra- ordinary work of art, that have ever been brought to Europe, are distinctly spoken of, and, from that description, the peculiarities of the present, tiie most interesting because the least known and most authentic, may be gathered. Our readers are aware, fi'om a comparison of the ponderous volumes themselves, which detail the circumstances of the embassy, with the published notes of Lord Jocelyn, that Lord Macartney was misled as to the exact terminus of the Wen-li-tchang-tching; and, the accompanying illustra- tion, taken by a draughtsman attached to one of the exploring expeditions, that visited the embouchure of the Pei-ho, previous to the conquest of China, not only places the fact beyond doubt, but gives the real position of the sea-extremity of the wall. From the deck of the war-steamer that navigated this savage sea, the Traitor's Gate was distinctly seen, midway between the mountains and the shore ; and this gratifying discovery is auxiliary to the settlement of a disputed point in Tartar history.
The rude fierce aspect of the mountains, with their broken breasts and shattered pinnacles, is in accurate keeping with the stern character of the stormy sea that seems eternally struggling to approach their feet. Navigation here, by well-found barks, would not be attended with more than the common dangers of the sea; but with such clumsy, ill-constructed vessels as the trading junk, the lottery of a sailor's life is filled
• Vol. i., pp. "29, et scij. III. F
22 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
with blanks. Exposed by their great height above the water, their sides invite the hurricane to invade them ; and, aided by the incompetence of the mariners, the elements obtain an easy victory. When a vessel leaves a port in the Gulf of Pe-che-li, it is usually concluded that her loss or her return is about equally probable ; so that if fortune favour her, a general rejoicing takes place amongst the owners of the cargo and the relatives of the crew, for an event so prosperous. It has been concluded, upon the most authentic information, that ten thousand mariners from the port of the Pei-ho perish annually in this boisterous gulf.
Nor is this misfortune viewed with indifference by the natives ; they use increased energies in giving strength to their sails of bamboo cloth ; they erect still stronger bamboo masts ; they arch over their decks and their holds with more impenetrable bamboo matting ; and they pay the utmost reverence to the sanctity of the magnetic needle. Believing that a divine influence dwells within the compass, they erect a small altar behind it, on the deck, and there a spiral taper, composed of wax, tallow, and sandal-wood, is kept continually burning. The holy flame is doubly useful ; it ministers to the pious intentions of the crew, and, by the successive disappearance of its twelve equal divisions, marks just so many hours of fleeting time. But it is in vain that the childish industry of this ancient people, and still more vain that their idle superstitions, are employed to contend with or conquer the merciless whirlwinds that agitate the waters of this northern gulf. " Were it possible to blow ten thousand trumpets, and beat as many drums, on the forecastle of an Indiaman, in the height of a ta-fung, neither the sound of the one nor the other would be heard by a person on the quarter-deck of the same vessel "
Of all the winds that seem to conspire against human labour, and would almost despoil nature herself of her fairest products, the typhoon is the most terrific in northern latitudes. The Egyptians recognized a wind which they called typlion ; the Greeks called a particular species of hurricane, rw^w)-, either from the giant of their mythology, or from a participle of a verb which signifies " to swell with pride, or power, or greatness ;" and the Chinese term, ttt-fung, is not unanalogous, for it means great luhid. The prognostics of a typhoon are, the swelling of the waters, and their rolling, with a majestic volume, in upon the shore. For several hours previous to its incidence, the mercury falls slowly in the barometer, and continues to descend during its prevalence, but, when the rage of the elements begins to abate, it ascends steadily, and more rapidly than it fell. Instinct being often more provident than reason, the sea-birds are observed to become unquiet, rising to the skies, and then wheeling and circling and screaming with more than wonted wildness ; perhaps they perceive the influence of the dusky cloud that generally appears in the horizon, as if driven forward by the advancing tempest. The magnitude of the mischief done to shipping may be estimated by a comparison with the destruction committed on land, and a recollection of the velocity at which the angry elements travel under such circumstances. In northern latitudes, or temperate climes, the storm moves at the rate of sixty feet in a second of time ; in the torrid zones it proceeds often with five times that velocity. Corn, rice, vines, canes,
I
^ -
^
^
^
It
[
■<i\
i
^•r%
If^-w^
,■.•-■<. ^. .55
» ■■* .
"^-sBi«au^<-j .
■ i^i #■■ J'^-^^;>-v <^"' A-, si i? I-
Tin; suiii-MiN. 23
are scattered as chaff; houses are unroofed, forests torn up, whole towns inundated, ships carried in upon the quays and streets, and there deserted hy the waters. Having raged for about tliirty hours, the typhoon subsides, accompanied in its dying moments by repeated peals of the loudest thunder, and innumerable flashes of vivid lightning.
These dreadfid visitations occur more frequently during the changes, than at the fidl of the moon ; and prevail seldom lower than 10° of north latitude. They are felt as far east as 130° of longitude, and are most violent during the south-west monsoon, espe- cially in the month of July. Though dreadful at all times, and blowing from all points of the compass, the terrors of the typhoon are heightened, and its destructive powers con- siderably augmented, when it happens to blow in the same direction with the monsoon.
THE SHIH-MUN, OR ROCK GATES.
I'KOVINCE OF KIANG-NAN.
For ever glideth on that lovely river :
Laden v/ith early wreaths the creepers twine, While like the arrows from a royal quiver,
Golden the glaring sunbeams o'er them shine.
L. E. L.
It is remarkable that jieople in a primitive state (and notwithstanding their superiority in handicraft, the Chinese do not rise much higher in the scale of nations) possess the truest and most admirable ideas of the picturesque. Presumption seems to be the charac- teristic of modern taste; agreeable and comfortable associations, of that which prevailed in the olden time. Our abbeys and convents are placed beside the running stream, or on the banks of a navigable river, sheltered from the rude blasts of winter by sur- rounding forests or impending hills. In all ancient countries, and where the highest degrees of civilization are unknown, domestic architecture is not only suited to the natural features of the landscape, but embosomed recesses, deep and densely-wooded dingles, valleys fertile and well watered, the romantic banks of some rapid but available river, a spot where business and beauty are combined, was uniformly selected as the abode, either of the individual or the community. This grateful and fascinating taste has withered into conteni]>t before the growth of civilization, wlu)se great glory is to level mountains, drain lakes, reclaim the barren wastes, and triumph over nature by erecting on those very sites which she had made the most repulsive, the very noblest works of art.
An instinctive love of the picturescpie, a prerogative of the moiuitainecr in all ])arts of the world, is peculiarly the Chinaman's inheritance; and, in the province of Kiang-nan, enriched and adorned by a majestic river, they have indulged their taste for landscape
2i CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
scenery in a manner and degree calculated to raise our estimation of their intellectual qualities. For some miles above and below the Shih-Mun, the river is enclosed between banks abrupt, rocky, but interspersed with patches and plateaus of productive land. The country behind is of a totally contrary character ; there a wide-spread morass exists, difficult of drainage from the rocky ridges that form the river's bed, through which a passage for the surplus waters of the fens can scarce be found. Abandoning this moor to the wild tenants of the earth and skies, the population have flocked to the water's edge, and possessed themselves of the projecting ledges at the mountain's foot, the retiring bays at their sheltered base, or the vicinity of some dark pool, whose scaly treasures repay the fisherman for his constant toil. As the junks descend the river the velocitj- of the current increases, until its maximum is attained between the herculean pillars of the Rock-gates. There the navigation requires much caution, and often the most vigilant, confounded by the suddenness with which the two high pinnacles seem to close over him, and embrace the azure vault of heaven, mistake their distance, and are carried against the rocks. In the surrounding district, limestone prevails very generally, but on the river's side it appears to recline on a species of breccia : it would not be untrue to characterize the stone in the immediate vicinity of the Shih-Mun as marble, although the natives do not place any value on it for decorative purposes, neither do they burn it into lime.
On either side, and just below the rude rocky pillars that contract the passage, small coves, of great depth and perfect shelter, afford safe wharfage for merchant-vessels ; and there the trading junk is generally seen moored to the natural quay, the steadfast cliif ; the contracted channel giving a violent and powerful efficacy to the volume of waters, which have consequently worked an immense depth here for their transit. In tliis deep basin, multitudes of fish collect, and render their capture, by trained fishing- birds, an achievement botli easy and profitable. The privilege of fishing between the Ilock-gates is rented at a very high price from the local government.
These lofty peaks, that pierce the clouds, derive the epithet " Shih-Mun" from the termination of a magnificent scene, so inclined to the direct view of the Rock-gates as to be incapable of introduction in the illustration. Its beauties, its solemnities, its horrors, have been described in bold and highly coloured language by native poets and tourists; nor has national prejudice, in this instance, outstepped the limits of veracity. Entering a deep, dark, close ravine, the opposite sides of which attain at least a thousand feet in height, with an intervening space of comparative insignificance, the traveller proceeds along his gloomy way, unable to distinguish, save by the occasional sparkling and floating foam, the torrent that tumbles and roars in the abyss below him. Having reached the length of a li, or more, he enters " the valley of mist," where he becomes enveloped in a thick vapour, filling the entire gulf which the torrent has hollowed out from the mountain's bosom by the labour of four thousand years ; and, if he be not deterred by the humidity of the strange atmosphere, but persevere to the end, in a grand amphitheatre of rocks he will behold the origin of the dewy drapery that hangs over and around him— a splendid cataract, some hundred feet in height, falling over the
I
\
;i(
*]
w
.;^s
'f
/i
4 14
m
y
'^■4
^*S-"^^
|
d . ..m. |
|
|
t |
' |
|
i |
|
;!
• V t '-:. -%4: .M. ■ -■ V ^--kMM i4# Jiit. #,.
DYEING AND WINDINCi SII.K.
very edge of the clliT; the spot lie stmuls on, and tlie circular hollow all aroinui him, being dimly lighted by the rays that pierce through the green waters, at the spot where they turn over the ledge of the summit. With this beautiful hue of green, the poetical historians of the wonders of the Shih-Mun are familiarly acquainted. They boast of having witnessed its lustre in the valley of mist, and compare its verdure to the T-an, the plant from which the rich colour employed in dyeing is extracted. They sjieak of the blue mountains, the green cataract, and the hillock of Heen-Yucn, an ancient king of Kiang-Nan, and they celebrate the amusements and exploits of his rural life. But his majesty must have been formed of unearthly mould, or else " the greatest among.^t mountain streams" had not descended so far into the bowels of the earti., nor yet filled " the ravine of the black stork," with mists impenetrable and for many miles, in the age when that old Lear of Chinese history is said to have held his court only four li from the Shih-Mun.
DYEING AND WINDING SILK.
Hour after hour the growing line extends, Nor time nor cireumstanee eontrols its ends ; Soft cords of silk tlie whirling spoles reveal. If smiling fortune turn the giddy wheel.
Having destroyed the chrysalides, and wound off the produce in its primitive state,* from the cocoons destined for filature, the mere husbandry of silk gathering is concluded. And so short is the period, in France only six weeks, consumed in this species of cul- ture, that no harvest yields a return of greater celerity and certainty. In a country where trade is conducted, not by companies, or associations, or partnerships, but by individual exertion, the culture and produce of silk are peculiarly suitable, as affording a means of employing small capital with every prospect of early revenue. Females devote much of their time and their talents to this occupation ; they are either engaged in feeding and rearing the worms, winding off the cocoons, or in general tendenco of the magnaniere. Sometimes the patriarch of the family purchases cocoons, by which the risk of rearing is avo ded, and fills up his daughter's leisure time with the process of filature. There are, of course, some nurseries or factories, where silk is prepared expressly for exportation, but in general the manufacture is for home-consumption. The Chinese dislike foreigners, from practice and national institutes, therefore less attention is paid to objects of external commerce here than in other countries ; besides, all kinds of trade are held in very low estimation in China, as they were of old in Athens and in Rome.
* Vol. i., p. 56. Vol. ii. p. 8, et seq. III. G
26 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
Time, intercourse, letters, religion, are gradually working such a revolution in the social condition of this old empire, that the imperia'ists are beginning to understand the meaning of the term brother, and henceforth the productions which Providence has confined to the soil of China, will probably be exchanged, systematically and gene- rously, for those of other lands, by which the distribution of happiness over the face of the globe must necessarily become less partial than before.
Around a pool, of a foot or two in depth, sheds or open corridors are arranged, appropriated to different parts of the process of cleaning and preparing the floretta for market. Beneath one series are the females employed in the less laborious duty of reehng the raw silk that has been brought from the magnaniere, or purchased for filature from the feeders. From the reelers' verandas, the material is consigned to those of the washers, and dyers, and bleachers, successively.
Little celebrated for integrity, the total forgetfulness of that high quality by the Chinese is flagrantly conspicuous in their preparation of silk for the loom. Imperfec- tions in the texture of this delicate fabric are sometimes of early date, originating in the impurity of tlie water used in the cocoon kettle, or in neglect of the winders to the attenuation of the threads during filature. In addition to these causes of inferiority, another is induced by the dishonest dye. Having washed out the gum, formed the threads into hanks, expressed the moisture, and suspended the silk on bamboo bleaching- poles, the operative's work appears to be correctly performed. But raw silk is an insatiable absorbent, so that if the dyer be deficient in honesty, he can, by a very slight deviation from its path, retain moisture in the hanks, capable of increasing the weight of the article by ten per cent. In other countries, purchasers are permitted to test the raw material by enclosing a sample in a wire-cloth cage, and exposing it to a stove heated to 78° of Farenheit, by which the increase of weight, that is, the amount of the fraud, is detected ; but the Chinaman will not permit a barbarian to doubt his honour in any respect.
Europeans, or rather English, distinguish raw silks into three classes, which they denominate organzine, tram, and floss. The first, being very tightly twisted, is used in the finest and best descriptions of silk-cloths ; tram, which is much less twisted, serves for the weft, but is of an inferior quality to organzine ; floss, which is not twisted at all, consists of the short, broken, and rejected parts ; this is collected, car-ded, and spun like cotton. These three species, formed from the fleuret by twisting or throwing, are now called hand silk ; they must all be submitted to the process of boiling, in order to discharge the gum from them, otherwise they would be harsh to the touch, and unfit to receive the dye. The original native colour of the yarn varies but little in different countries. In Anglo-India we find silk yellow, freuch-white, and fawn colour; in China it is generally yellow, and in Sicily and Persia the same colour prevails ; while the only naturally white produce we yet know of, comes from Palestine. The silk-growers of Kazem-bazar whiten their yarns with a ley made from the ashes of " the arbor-fici- Adami : but the S])ecies being rare, the larger portion of their exports retains its native bright and beautiful yellow.
\
\^
^.
fi
l/i
I
4 ^ >-. i«''-*- '■
^^•%«S.^.*.e..^..,«'. ;&;^^.'C_^_ jfi
v#v*2;.#^- i4#]-Jiit #*;;^v .^'
SOWINO RICE, AT SOO-CUOW-TOO.
SOWING RICE, AT SO 0- C 11 0 W - F 0 0.
PROVINCE OF KIANG-SI.
Then, wake, that you may live.
Here, take the best prescription I can give ;
Your bloodless veins, your appetite shall fail.
Unless you raise them by a powerful meal, —
Come, take this rice. Horace.
It is to the productiveness of the oryza saliva, a simple grass, on which nature has conferred the pecuhar property of growing in marshy or inundated grounds, that the vast regions of the East owe the density of their population, and their early submission to social obligations. Immense districts in China and Hindoo would, un<jiiestionably, have still lain desolate and untenanted, were it not for the ability to alter and to cultivate the surface of the globe, which a knowledge of the rice-plant convey.*. To what simple causes, therefore, does deliberate analysis sometimes lead, in our efforts to trace the most remarkable effects to their proper sources; for, the destiny of nations, from the earliest periods^ seems to have been materially influenced by the discovery and cultivation of this " staff of life." Previous to its introduction into Egypt and Greece, it had been long known in more eastern lands, for Pliny, Dioscorides, and Theophrastus all speak of its importation from India: but, in their age, it was little cultivated on the shores of the Mediterranean. Within the last three centuries, however, its popularity has become universal, restricted only by the limits of climate, for it now occupies the same place in intertropical countries as wheat in the warmer parts of Europe, and oats and rye in those that are more northern. In the United States of North America, Carolina especially, the cultivation of rice forms a principal occupation of the rural population, and chief export of the maritime ; there, the date of its introduction, 1697, is tenaciously remembered, the benefits of its naturalization being of such importance to the national wealth and happiness.
From the facility with which it can be cultivated, yielding two crops annually, and the watery soil to which it is partial, the presumption is, that rice was specially provided by the all-wise Creator, as the chief food of most sultry kingdoms. Besides the Chinese and Hindoos, the Malays and neighbouring islanders have paid the utmost attention to this species of cultivation; and Japanese, Cingalese, and Batavians experience the benefits of a crop, which is not only semi-annual, but yields six times as much as an equal space of wheat lands. A fondness for this wholesome food pervades the German slates, where, in the southern latitudes, from long culture, it has acquired a remarkable
* It is called in Arabic, uruz ; Hinduostan, cfaawl : Latin, oi yza ; Italian, riso ; French, riz.
28 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
degree of hardiness, and adaptation to the particular temperature — a circumstance adduced as an argument in favour of cultivating exotics ; but seeds imported directly from India will not ripen at all in Germany, and even Italian or Spanish seeds are much less early and hardy than those ripened on the spot. One experiment was made in England to raise this Indian beverage, and a healthy crop of rice was successfully reaped on the banks of the smooth-flowing Thames.
In Oriental countries, rice is extolled as superior to all other species of food, and in China it is an article of the first necessity. So completely is its presence deemed requisite at all meals, that the term fan, boiled rice, enters into every compound that implies the ceremony of eating ; tche-fan, to eat rice, signifies a meal generally ; tsao- fan, morning rice, means breakfast; and by ouan-fini, evening rice, supper is implied. It is undoubtedly a light and wholesome diet, although it is supposed to include less of the nutritive principle than wheat.* From the small proportion of gluten which it contains, it is not capable of being made into proper bread, but is highly valued for puddings, and many culinary preparations. Its excellent qualities, rapidity of pro- duction, and consequent cheapness, confer upon it claims to attention as a general article of sustenance for the poorer classes of society ; and, it is ascertained, that a quarter of a pound of rice, slowly boiled, will yield upwards of a pound of solid and nutritive food. Besides its offices in the support of life, there are others which rice discharges, useful, profitable, and agreeable. Its flower being reduced into a pulp with hot water, is moulded into figures, and images, and plates, which the Chinese harden, and orna- ment with scroll-work, resembling mother-of-pearl toys. In our cotton factories, it is used in making weavers' dressings for warps ; and at Goa, on the Malabar coast, as well as in the island of Batavia, the ardent spirit called rack, or arrack, is obtained from a decoction of rice, fermented and distilled, and mixed with the juice of the cocoa- nut tree. Civilization is not, in this instance, solely chargeable with the guilt of fur- nishing intoxicating liquors to the Indians, for, before the Portuguese, or the Dutch, or the British, had any settlements in the far east, the demoralizing beverage of seaou-tchoo, a distillation from rice, was sold in every little public-house in China.
Inebriety was not the only deplorable consequence supposed to attend exclusive oryzous diet; in some provinces, the prevalence of ophthalmia was foolishly attributed to its copious use. That this charge is groundless seems highly probable, from the fact, that the millions who dwell in the great Hindoo continent, and live solely upon rice, are not subject to any such disease. Besides, in Egypt, where the ophthalmia was much more prevalent in ancient times, than it was ever said to have been in China, this grain was neither known nor cultivated until the reign of the Caliphs, when it was brought thither from the East. If this disease predominate in China, which is ques- tioned, it is probably owing to the crowded state of their low dwellings, always filled with smoke from the sandal-wood tapers that mark the hours of fleeting time, to the constant and general use of tobacco, to the miasma exhaling from the offal uniformly
• Carolina rice contains— of starch, 85,07 ; of gluten, 3 60 ; of gum, 0.71 ; of uncrystallizable sugar, 0,29 ; of colourless fat, 0.13 ; of vegetable fibre, 4.8 ; of salts with lime bases, 0.4 ; and of water, 5.0.
SOWING RICE, AT SOO-CIIOW-FOO. 29
collected near each entrance, and, lastly, from tlie very frequent practice of bathing the face with warm water.
The beiieiits and the blessings of sucli a staff of life as this readily-raised crop, suffer no slight detraction, from its precarious character ; for, any failure, however slight, is attended with the most deplorable consequences. Where population is so amazingly crowded, subdivision of land practised to so inconsiderate an extent, and riches rarely ever laid by for the day of inability or misfortune, a check to the annual produce must necessarily prove fatal to numbers of the poorest classes. Too frequently, tlierefore, famine visits and wastes tlie land, for the rice-crop is subject to many casualties. A drought, in its early stages, withers the young shoots in the ground ; and, an inunda- tion, in a more advanced state, proves equally destructive ; add to which, that birds and locusts continue to wage everlasting war upon fields of rice, in preference to any other of the cultivated labours of man, and these enemies are particularly numerous in China. Wheat and millet being raised in the northern provinces, the chances of being visited by famine are consequently reduced in proportion to the increased variety of grains, and Europeans have urged upon the attention of tlie Chinese agriculturist, with all the candour and humanity that belong to this quarter of the globe, the advantage of introducing the potato, as an auxiliary to rice and wheat, in averting those periodic visitations of scarcity. To obviate the fatal effects of such calamitous failures in the rice- crop, the emperor causes a large supply to be constantly laid up in the public granaries, for distribution at moderate prices when the day of dearth arrives. This system is of ancient usage, and belongs naturally to all patriarchal, imperial, or feudal governments, in which the lord is bound to look parentally to the wants of his retainers ; but the Chinese family has grown too large for its beneficial operation, and the minor mandarins, by their extortions and inhumanity, are known to intercept the rays of imperial favour, and suffer the poorest classes to wither away in the chilling shade of famine and destitution.
Although there are very many qualities of rice, there appears to be but one species. Climate and cultivation produce such obvious changes in its value, that different quali- ties resemble different kinds. Mountain-grain, cultivated in Cochin-China, and amongst the Himalayan chain, is by some called dry-rice, but even this quality is not raised without the aid of heavy periodic rains, so that every quality is properly an aquatic crop. The vast length of time it has been known in China, and the absolute necessity for its cultivation, have enabled these simple but laborious agriculturists to understand its constitution, and taught them the best mode of improving it. Chinese irrigation is pro- verbially ingenious, and Chinese husbandry peculiarly interesting.
The singular construction of the rice-plough, the natural history and docility of the water-ox, and the mechanism of the water-wheel, or the float-boards that traverse in a trough, and sweep the influx with them, have been alluded to in ibrmer descriptions of Chinese food and husbandry, and are again noticed in those that follow.*
* Vide vol. i. p. i6, and " TransplaiUmg Jike." p. 30, seq.
III.
30 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
TRANSPLANTING RICE.
So when a peasant to his garden brings Soft rills of water from the bubbling springs. Swift as the rolling pebbles down the hills, Louder and louder purl the falling rills ; Before him scattering they prevent his pains, And shine in mazy wanderings o'er the plains.
Homer.
RiCE-grounds consist of neatly enclosed spaces, the clay banks surrounding them seldom exceeding two feet in height. The primary operation of tillage-ploughing is performed with a very primitive implement, that consists of a beam, handle, and coulter, but no mould-board, as laying over " the sidelong glebe " is beyond the rural knowledge of a Chinaman. The buffalo, or water-ox, is then called in, to draw the three-barred harrow with wooden teeth over the surface, after which the earth is deemed sufBciently pulverized to receive the seed. Having been steeped in a liquid preparation to accelerate germina- tion, and avert the attacks of insects, the seed is sown, very thickly, and, almost immediately after, a thin sheet of water is induced over the enclosure. After the interval of a few days only, the shoots overtop the water, and this precocity is the signal for transplanting, which consists in plucking up the plants by the roots, cutting off the tops of the blades, and setting each root separately. The last process is aided either by turning furrows with the plough, or opening holes with the dibble. With such rapidity is transplanting performed by the experienced, that with ordinary exertion five- and-twenty plants may be carefully set in a minute. The harrow having pulverized in the first instance, and subsequently diffused the seeds more equally, the hoe is fre- quently employed to clear between the plants.
Each rice-field being partitioned into many minor enclosures, it is not attended with inconvenience to conduct a rivulet into any particular plantation, through an opening in the clay ridge that surrounds it. Sometimes a natural brook contributes a sufficient supply, but more frequently the labour of the peasant provides it. Chain-pumps, with their lines of buckets, are in common use ; a series of flat boards, exactly fitted to the channel through which it is to be forced, confines the water between each pair, forming extemporary buckets. These are worked by a foot-mill of proportionate dimensions ;* but labour still more intense is dedicated to this necessary operation, irrigating rice- grounds. In one of the most operose plans, two men stand opposite to each other on projecting banks of a stream, holding ropes securely attached to a bucket, which is filled by relaxing, and raised by tightening the cords, then by a skilful jerk they empty the contents into a reservoir, or throw it in the direction of the conduit cut for the irriga- • Vide illustration, " .Sowing Rice at Soo-chow-foo," p. 27, preceding.
nix
ttltfr
•I
I I'll
I |l It
tu*
I
I
M-"- H
14. *"•
F...-v„.*.^ .^.. «' 2* i.v. ^ •
BFrtr
1
i^
TRANSPLANTING lUCE. 31
tion of some one field. Another contrivance for the same purpose consists of a long pole, unequally divided in its length, and made to turn on a pivot across an upright post. A hucket attached to the shorter arm of this lever is easily lowered into the water, and, when filled, by the application of a small power at the extremity of the longer arm, it is soon raised, and discharged into the j-eservoir. How exactly is the Chinese process of irrigation described in the book of Numbers — " lie shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed will be in many waters." The bamboo water-wheel, with hollow fellies, or with buckets, and employed when the quantity of water required, and the height to which it is to be raised, are both considerable, is of ancient existence amongst the Chinese; from them the Egyptians, Syrians, and Persians adopted this useful invention, and European machinists have ignorantly ascribed the honour of the discovery to the very nation that became last acquainted with its value, obstinately designating it the Persian wheel.
Irrigation having performed its anticipated work, the rice begins to grow with rapidity ; the culm ranges from one to six feet ; it is annual, erect, simple, round, and jointed : the leaves are large, firm, and pointed, arising from very long, cylindrical, and finely striated sheaths ; the flowers* are disposed in a large and beautiful pannicle, resembling that of the oat. The seeds are white and oblong, diifering in size and form in the numerous varieties. As the crop approaches to maturity, the sluices are closed, the waters withheld, and soon the yellow tinge of the ripening grain invites the reaper's toil. With a sickle similar to our common serrated reaping-hook, the crop is soon prostrated, on a surface, now rendered perfectly dry by evaporation and absorption ; after which the bundles are removed, in frames suspended at the extremities of a bamboo pole, the national mode of portage, to the threshing apparatus, of whatever kind it may be. The edge of a plank, the margin of a large tub, with a screen drawn up behind them, are the most popular threshing machines employed in the empire; but flails, after which our own are formed, are used on the larger farms, or where there is a considerable quantity to be disengaged from its husks. It is remarkable how much the scholar excels the master in the management of this primitive implement of hus- bandry : in Ciiina, the labourer winds the swingel round, as we do a whip ; in the British Isles, it is made to revolve rapidly round the head, by which means it acquires an accelerated velocity, and therefore an increased momentum.
Rice, in its natural state, either growing or unthreshed, is called paddy in all Eastern countries, and the process of cleaning it, or disengaging it perfectly from its husks, appears to have occasioned considerable difficulty to the Chinese, and not to have been quite free from obstructions amongst the more civilized cultivators of this important grain. Amongst both Egyptians and Chinese the machine usually employed for the purpose is a species of stamping or crushing mill, worked in the former country by oxen, in the latter by water-power. It consists of an horizontal axis, with projecting cogs, of wood or iron, fixed at certain intervals. At right angles to the axis are fixed so many horizontal levers as there are circular rows of cogs, acting on pivots fastened in
* The calyx is a bivalvular uniflorous glume ; the corolla bivalvular, nearly equal, and adhering to the seed.
32 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
a low wall, parallel to the axis, and at the distance of about two feet from it. At the further extremity of each lever, and perpendicular to it, is fixed a hollow pestle, directly over a large stone or iron mortar, sunk in the ground ; the other extremity, extending beyond the wall, being depressed by the cogs of the axis in its revolution, elevates the pestle, which falls again by its own gravity into the mortar. This process is only applied when the quantity to bj cleaned is considerable ; on small farms, and amongst the poor, a machine, consisting of a single lever, and pestle and mortar, worked by a foot-board, serves the purpose sufficiently well. In the year 1826, a patent was secured by Mr. Melvil Wilson, for a rice-cleaning machine ; his plan will be at once understood by merely placing the axis of the Chinese mill in a position inclined to the horizon, and giving all other parts in detail the advantage of European excellence in mechanical contrivances.
In May or June the first crop is generally cut, and before the harvesting is wholly completed, preparations are begun for a new or second sowing, by pulling up the stubble, collecting it into small heaps, the ashes of which, after burning, are scattered over the surface. The second crop attaining maturity in October or November, is submitted to the operations of reaping, and carrying, and threshing, applied to its predecessor. But the second stubble, instead of being burned, is turned under by the plough, left to decompose in the earth, and become manure for the spring-crop of the following year. Although no Chinese rice finds its way to England, the produce of Anglo-India is imported by our merchants in large quantities. For many years, cleaned rice from Carolina excluded most other varieties ; but, as American labour was expended on its cleaning, and as it is the interest of England to import raw materials, and fashion them for the markets of the world by the labour of her numerous mechanics, so we now prefer to import Bengalese rice in the husks, and prepare it for immediate use by machinery of home-manufacture.
PLAYING AT SHUTTLECOCK WITH THE FEET.
With dice, with cards, with hazards far unfit, With shuttlecocks mis-seeming manly wit.
HiiBBARD's Tale.
Near to the afflux of the Tchang-ho with the Cha-ho, river of flood-gates, or imperial canal, is a splendid octagonal pagoda : it consists of nine stories, adorned with project- ing eves, and it tapers with a remarkably gradual and graceful convergence. From its basement to the edge of the waters, the grounds slope gently, and this pleasant area being reserved for the recreation of the citizens of Lin-tsing-choo, generally presents a scene of mirth, although not always of morality. Here jugglers display their unri-
i*- .'V,.-:^, -^V/ */*r-»-'%
t \>. ■ -. "^jV .! -!■ ■. . ;... ,«■ ?■■ "^ i. t » . r.> .. >. »
»J«W''
|
111 1!! |
V^ Syjr,. f^W' ■■ .'C*-' t
^
■l
PLAYING AT SHUT'ri.ECOCK Willi THE KEET. 33
vailed dexterity in the arts of deception ; tumblers, vaulters, aiul nierry-andrews, exhibit feats in whit-h tlio strcngtli and ductility of the human body are conspicuously shown, and old pulcinello, the long-admired of civilized Europeans, asserts his claims to a pre-eminence. All this would be well and unobjectionable if the kingdom of mirth were not extended further, nor its powers of pleasing distorted by dishonest and vicious votaries of chance. Building, with a certainty but too secure, upon the evil jjropen- sities of our nature, quail and cricket fighters, mora players, and gamblers of every description known in this wide empire, here congregate, to exercise their demoralizing callings, and accelerate the ruin of thousands who become the easy dupes of their villany.
Around the groups engaged with absorbing earnestness in games of chance, the more cautious, but not less interested, are seated, relieving their anxiety upon the pending bet, by the pleasures of the chibouque. There are, however, other, and these rather numerous assemblages, more innocently occupied with either feats of activity or childish sports, which, though probably little suited to their nudtiplied years, are exer- cises of virtue in comparison with the grave occupations in which their fellows are engaged on the greensward all around them. Kite-flying constitutes a favourite amusement, and few nations have ever succeeded, possibly none have ever aspired, to elevate these simple structures to such an height as the Chinese. Their delicate, light, yet durable paper, their pliant and fissile bamboo, invite experimentalists in this kind of aeros- tation, from the peculiar applicability of the material to the manufacture. In this sport there is much emulation, and not boys only, but adults, put forth their best energies in flying kites to the greatest height, and in endeavouring to bring down their antagonist's by dividing the strings.
Puerile taste is not confined, however, to this innocent amusement ; the sport of shuttlecock, certainly a healthy recreation, is pursued with a degree of enthusiasm which it is seldom known to excite in the western world. There it is strictly limited to the youth of both sexes, and in some resigned to the gentler exclusively ; but, in China, the most muscular men amongst the labouring classes seem to feel inexpressible delight in the sensation it produces. No battle-doors are employed, nor are the hands generally of any service in the game, save to balance the player's body during its rapid movements : the shuttlecock is struck with the soles of the feet, sometimes unprotected by any covering ; at others, however, wooden shoes are permitted, and the noise which these cumbrous accompaniments contribute, is considered an accession to the mirth. Five, frequently six persons, form themselves into a circle, for the ])urpose of playing at this active game ; and whether shoes be permitted, or hands occasionally allowed, to aid the feet in preventing the shuttlecock from coming to the ground, the least successful players fall out of the ring in turn, until the number is gradually reduced to one ; this one is, of course, declared to be the winner of the stakes, or the pool, or the object played for, whatever it may happen to have been.
III.
34 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
ENTRANCE TO THE HOANG-HO, OR YELLOW RIVER.
" But ere the mingling bounds have far been passed. Turbid Hoang-ho rolls his power along In sullen billows, murmuring and vast, So noted ancient roundelays among."
The Chinese carry the process of irrigation, and the benefits of water-carriage, to a greater extent than any other nation, and they seem to have received encouragement in both objects from the natural facilities that present themselves in every part of the empire. A level surface permits the easy execution of the one, — vast mountain-chains, either within the imperial confines, or in the adjoining countries, supply endless resources in effecting the other. Two great rivers have long been known to Europeans as the feeders of Chinese canals, and as the principal sources whence fertihty is diifused over the surface of that ancient empire — the Yang-tse-kiang, sometimes incorrectly called the Blue river ; and the Hoang-ho, or Yellow river. The first of these noble streams has frequently been spoken of in the preceding pages ; the embouchure of the second constitutes the chief subject of the accompanying illustration.
Issuing from two spacious lakes, Tcharing and Oring, at Sing-suh-hae, in the lofty mountains of Thibet, and in the region of Kokonor, the waters of Hoang-ho descend from their fountain, at first, through a length of two hundred and fifty miles, with the most uncontrollable impetuosity ; then turning from an eastern to a north-western direction, they find a more level course for about an equal distance, after which they enter the Chinese province of Shan-tse, and the stream, remaining parallel in its course for some hiuidred miles with the Great Wall, at length intersects that celebrated work in the twenty-ninth degree of latitude, and takes a northern direction for upwards oi four hundred additional miles. Hence " vires acquirit enndd" briefly describes its cha- racter, many rivers and lakes contributing the overflow of their waters to swell those of the great recipient; and again directing its power eastward, it recrosses the Great Wall, traverses the northern provinces for hundreds of miles further, and enters Honan in the same parallel of latitude in which it has its source. In Kiang-nan it is augmented by a vast contribution from Lake Hong-tse, after which the majestic volume moves more slowly towards that part of the eastern ocean to which it imparts both its turbid cha- racter and expressive name.
It is its intersection with the imperial canal — the junction of Lake Hong-tse, the afilux of the Salt river— that is considered to be the mouth of the Hoang-ho; and here it is that commerce has formed a rendezvous for shipping, and here also superstition has erected an altar to her worship. Descending with rapidity through a constant slope, of two thousand five hundred miles, the stream of the Hoang-ho acquires a momentum that renders the crossing from shore to shore always a perilous undertaking. At the efilux of
VA 1
• /
ia!«t«
li
r\
i
■^/ */^-^'%
u
l^
;*'%.%^,»,* .JP,.,«'. i5?^.^.-'^ <!^,
rs^iP
'4
^
I
ENTRANCE TO THE IIOAXG-IK). 35
Lake Hong-tse, and at the precise spot where the canal locks into the river, the velocity of the current is seklom less than four miles an hour, although that locality is not more than twenty miles distant from the sea. It has been calculated from obvious data — the breadth, mean depth, and velocity — that this famous river discharges into the Yellow sea in every hour of fleeting time, '2,563,000,000 gallons of water, which is more than one thousand times as much as the Ganges yields. Nor is this immense volume its sole distinguishing feature, it has a second still more extraordinary, — the quantity of mud which it constantly holds in suspension, and which it carries with it into the sea in such proportion as to disfigure its brightness, and give it amongst geographers a charac- teristic name. From an experiment cautiously performed, two gallons of water taken from the middle of the river deposited a quantity of yellowish mud, which, when com- pact and formed into a brick, was equal to three solid inches. Hence it follows, that the quantity of water which is supposed to escape hourly into the Yellow sea, conveys simultaneously two millions solid feet of earth.*
This turbid property excites no attention, is directed to no particular or special purpose, is attended with no unusual respect, from these worshippers of natural effects ; but, the dangerous velocity of the stream of the Hoang-ho has, from immemorial time, obtained the most reverential acknowledgments. Before the barge shall launch upon its surface, victims for sacrifice are provided, and brought on board. These consist gene- rally of fowls,! or pigs, or both, according to the means of the navigators. The blood, with the feathers and hair, is then daubed on different parts of the junk, after which cups of wine, oil, tea, rice, flour, and salt, are ranged in order on the forecastle. Tlie last of these articles of existence has long enjoyed the respect of nations. The Hebrew law directed, " Every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt : neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering." Ovid speaks of the "jow?7 lucida mica salts" amongst the oblations of the primitive Italians; and Horace, of the '^siilietite mica" amongst the peace offerings to the offended penates. But, in Oriental countries, especially under tropical climes, where salt is not only scarce, but the chief antiseptic for meat, it is not singular that it should be so much valued, and employed consequently in offerings, either of supplication for mercy, or atonement for crime. Amongst the ancient Romans, salt was estimated at such a value, that he who had obtained a pension from the state, was said to have received his salariiim, the price of his salt, whence the English word salary ; and the phrase of having "eaten the salt of such an one" is still familiar amongst the Hindoos, who claim it as a bond of friendship, or at least a ground of obligation. J
* When a Chinaman wishes to deny the possibility of an event, he sometimes expresses his inirediility by the well-known ])roverb, •' llmt it wilt come to pass so soon as the Yellow river becomes clear."
t So, also, the Levitical law prescribes, that " the priest shall bring it (the fowl) nnto the altar, and wriiij; off its head, and burn it on the altar ; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar, and he shall pluek away his crop with the feathers, and cast it beside the altar."
\ When the Duke of Wellington, (Sir Arthur Wellesley,) was stationed at Hastings, immediately after his return from India, a friend expressed his surjiriiu that the general, who had led so many thousands to victory.
36 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
The slaughtered animals, the vessels of offerings, and dishes of cooked provisions, being duly spread out on the deck, the captain takes his place before them, and remains in a standing position, until the junk reaches the most rapid part of the current, an attendant all the while beating on a gong with untiring industry. This critical part of the voyage being happily accomplished, the captain proceeds, with the utmost gravity, to pour the contents of the cups severally over the bow of his vessel into the stream, sending the oflal after the libation, but retaining for his own use the dishes made from the most delicate parts of each victim. The removal of the dishes to the cabin is attended with a still more violent beating of the gong, a rapid discharge of squibs, crackers, and other species of fireworks, during which the crew are busily engaged in performing three genuflexions, and as many prostrations. In this way the Yellow river is passed by the junks that navigate the imperial canal; and, although an English sailor would feel little apprehension in making this voyage of not more than a mile, where reason- able diligence can scarcely fail in accomplishing the object, very many fatal accidents occur to the Chinese. Against their recurrence, however, no means have yet been devised, or introduced, by the followers of Fo, beyond these customary attempts to pro- pitiate the evil spirit by offerings, which are believed to have been accepted whenever the navigator reaches the destined bank in safety.
SACRIFICE OF THE CHING-TSWE-TSEE, OR HARVEST-MOON.
" The harvest-treasures all Now gathered in, beyond the reach of storms, Secure the swain ; the circling fence shut up ; And insolent winter's utmost rage defied."
Thomson.
Every pretext that can be advanced to palliate idolatry, is in the possession of a China- man. He propitiates evil spirits by land and sea — he deifies innumerable natural objects, and constructs divinities for his adoration by the assistance of art. Sacrifices and oblations continue to be oflered, as if the one great atonement had neither occurred, nor been promulgated ; and the earliest practices of ignorance are observed with a tenacitv worthy of the world some two thousand years ago.
Such sacrifices are divided into three classes — great (ta,) medium (choong,) and lesser (seaou.) Amongst the second kind are those made upon the gathering in of harvest,
could so soon become reconciled to the command of a brigade. " I am mimmukwallak," replied Sir Arthur, " as we say in the East ; that is, I have eat the king's salt, and therefore I conceive it to be my duty to serve, with unhesitating zeal and cheerfulness, when and wherever the king and his government may think proper to employ me." — Wright's Life and Campaigns of Wellington, vol. i. p. 97.
"iwlffl
i
i
r
5
'^^
,_^*t.* V^^».t .|?^«\-;5?^^.:^f,^^, ©
|
1 |
1 |
|
\ |
1 |
I
\' K^^^'^-.
SATRinCE or THE IIAUVKST-MOOX. Ol
which are accompanied by the genial quality of gratitude — a gratitude, however, which the display of an all-powerful Providence, in the production of an abundant harvest, can scarcely fail to obtain from man in every state of liis existence, from liis entire con- viction of the vanity of all human efforts, unaided by the benevolence of his Creator.
When the day of the full harvest-moon arrives, Chinamen, wherever they may be, or however engasied, with a sort of Mussulman scrupulosity, make their oblations to the gods of grain and of land. In every city, usually where the highways meet, this offering to the Chinese Ceres is made. Generally a rude stone is set up for a harvest-god, before which incense is burned ; and logs of wood, hewn into imperfect resemblances of the " human form divine," are placed around, to represent rustic deities, local genii, tutelar gods of agriculture, horticulture, and rural occupations ; these unsightly eflBgies being, in some instances, most audaciously imposed upon spectators as appropriate representations of the sun, moon, clouds, winds, rain, and thunder.
Even those who happen to be at sea, or navigating the great rivers of the empire, when the day of the full harvest-moon arrives, are under an obligation to sacrifice to the gods or goddesses of plenty, whom they especially adore. For this purpose the favourite images are brought upon deck, and suspended over three cups of tea and two bundles of sandal-wood, the captain and his crew kneeling before them, and performing the ko- tow repeatedly. The ceremony having proceeded so far, the captain arises, takes up a lighted torch, and, walking three times around the bow of his vessel, exorcises all evil spirits in the name of his guardian idol. The contents of the cups are now given as a libation to the marine deities, the wooden gods are laid on a funeral pile made of paper, and totally consumed, after which the pageant is closed with a discharge of fire- works and a violent thumping of gongs.
Amongst the Greeks there were Thesmophoria ; amongst the Romans, Cerealia ; sacrifices, or rather festivals, in honour of the deities that presided over agriculture. The Chinese observe mysteries having a general resemblance to those of the ancient kingdoms of Europe, and in motive and principle precisely identical. When the harvest is completely ended, or rather when the harvest-moon is at the full, forgetting
" That, with to-morrow's sun, their annual toil, Begins again the never-ceasing round" —
the Chinaman holds his agricultural festival, unimpeded in his religious duties by the claims of those that are temporal; the labours of the barn, performed by the swingel— the operation of winnowing, in which a bamboo sieve and spacious cotton sheet are the only implements — and the preparation of the fields for another crop of rice, all "go bravely on," while the family, in the attitude of prayer and thankfulness, are engaged before the altar of their rural gods. In the vicinity of the farm-buildings, but always in an open posi- tion, a portico is constructed, in a style of peculiar neatness, for the reception of the miagc selected by the patriarch of the family. A table in front of the niche in which the rude figure is set up, serves as an altar on which flowers, and pastiles, and tapers, are ranged, with cups of rice or tea. Here, before this most contom|)tihlo mockery of intelligence and power, the mother of the family presents herself, holding in her apron such produce
III. K
38 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
and grain as she deems most suitable for a first-fruits oflPering. Behind and beside her, on a mat spread out before the rustic temple, her husband and children attend, and second her intreaties that the oifering may be accepted, by prostrations, genuflexions, and silent prayers. This surely is a scene of gratitude and affection : it implies the presence of the finest feelings, it is exemplary in its observance, and the actors betray the influence of no motive that is susceptible of an anti-moral tendency. Is it not there- fore encouraging to those whose Christian duties demand the diligent exercise of their abilities in expelling the long night of idolatry from China, by directing the rays of Christianity to shine upon the land, to perceive, that there, too, are hearts that can be moved by a sense of obligation — souls capable of appreciating the benefits conferred upon them by an unknown God — minds prepared by custom, habit, practice of long continuance, to receive a just account of the relation that exists between the Creator and the creature, and to acknowledge the eternal obligation under which the merits of a Redeemer have placed the whole human race, from the beginning of the world till time shall be no more.
The accompanying view, which represents a rice-farm a few li from Yang-tcheou, is remarkably characteristic, conveying a most full and perfect representation of the national habits and local scenery. A town of the third class, with its pagoda tower- ing over it, fills the remote distance ; the rice-grounds, in preparation for a second crop, occupy the middle; while the harvest sacrifice, and reduction of the crop just saved to a marketable state, take up the whole foreground of this epitome of utilitarianism.
In this little scene, that cannot be viewed without an afl'ecting interest — without increasing, or rather creating, a respect for the character of the rural population of this vast empire, the appropriations of the national tree, the bamboo, are more than ordi- narily conspicuous. The shed, and gates, and fence of the threshing-stall are of split stems; the sieve used by the winnower, the large mat on which the family are kneeling before the altar, the hat worn by the patriarch, the table under the portico, and the entire of the temple itself, are composed of the stems, or the canes, or the fibres of this invaluable vegetable production.
|v
~si
I M\S
f
r ■
r
»
m
«
:.''#? fit',
<t,*%.'^«.*.tJP^.«', ii^^'S..^, .c^
irjijji*^
to
I -,Vi
\f~-
KCDa
rfr>
1^1
Till'. WKSTEllN GATE Ol' PEKING. 30
THE WESTERN GATE OF PEKING.
'• They bring tlie varied stores from cast and west, Rich cloth of gold, and floating gossamer ; From southern climes the loose embroidered vest, And from the colder north, its downy fur."
The City ok Damascus.
Peking, or the Northern Court,* the capital of the Chinese empire. Is situated in a fer- tile plain, about fifty miles from the Great Wall, in the province of Pe-tcheli, and on the Yu-ho, a tributary to the Pei-ho about fifteen miles eastward of the city. Its form is that of a rectangle or right-angled parallelogram, having an area of about fourteen square miles, exclusive of extensive suburbs, divided into two totally distinct and separate sections. Of these, the northern, King-tchhing, which is a perfect square, was founded by the Mantchoos, is inhabited by Tartars exclusively, and includes the imperial palace : while the southern, Lan-tcliliiug, or fFai-Zo-tch/iing, in the form of a parallelogram, is occupied solely by Chinese. Each city is enclosed by its respective walls, the enceinte of one series covering nine square miles; of. the other, the imperial, or Tartar, occu- pying five. The mural defences, like those of other cities of the first class, consist of walls about thirty feet in height and twenty in thickness, constructed in the manner common, in the early ages of architecture, to all countries. Two retaining walls, the bases of stone, the upper parts' of brick, having a considerable slope on the exterior, but perpendicular within, were first raised, and the interval afterwards filled up with earth. The summit between the parapets is levelled, floored with tiles, and access to it afforded by inclined planes enclosed within the thickness of the walls. This is the plan according to which the great national rampart is erected ; this is also the mode in which our feudal castles of old were built, except that rubble-stone, instead of earth, was thrown between the retaining walls, and mortar poured in amongst them to form a lasting concrete. The south wall is pierced by three gates of entrance, the others, by two each ; whence the origin of the second appellation, " the City of Nine Gates ;'' a name for w hich history supplies parallels in Ileptapolis and Hecatompolis, ; and the central entrance on the south side opens into the imperial or Tartar city. A moat, filled with water, encircled the whole city at an early period, but the increase of the suburbs rendering this defence simply a separation between the inhabitants, the authorities permitted its waters to evaporate. The walls, on which twelve horsemen may ride abreast, are finished with parapets, deeply crenated, but without regular embrasures, which do not indeed appear to have been required, since the Tartar's rights rest on his bow.
• So called to distinguish it from Nanking, the Southern Court; it is also designated " the City of the Nine Gates,"
40 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
For more complete security and defence, the walls are doubled at each principal gate, or, more correctly speaking, in front of each entrance is an esplanade enclosed by a semicircular curtain, and used as a " place of arms." The entrance to the esplanade is not immediately in front of the inner gate, but lateral, a plan adopted in European fortresses ; and the battlements above are unprotected by any implements of war. Above and behind these great bastions rise pavilion-roofed watch-towers, of nine stories each, and pierced with port-holes ; these, however, are not available in cases of sudden emergency, for the forms which they present are unreal, the cannon shown in each aperture being only painted, sham, or quaker guns, such as frequently ornament the sides of vessels in our merchant-service. Besides these vain port-holes of the many-storied towers, their walls are pierced by numerous loop-holes for the discharge of arrows, and a similar policy is adopted on the mural ramparts, where the embrasures are unoccupied by cannon, but oj)enings for archery are formed in the merlons. At equal intervals, some sixty yards, the distance at which a Tartar's bow proves fatal, stand flanking- towers, projecting from the curtain-wall about forty feet. These are similar in design, and equal in height, to the great structures that command the gates.
Notwithstanding the vast area enclosed by its walls, Peking does not probably con- tain a population equal to that of London : it certainly does not exceed two millions. A large portion of the enceinte is devoted to the accommodation of the imperial house- hold; public buildings, of mean elevation but spacious ground-plan, cover a large addi- tional space, while numerous public vegetable-gardens, and large sheets of water, still farther detract from the site on which the city is said to stand. Two principal streets, a hundred feet in width, and four miles in length, connect the northern and southern gates, and two of corresponding breadth extend from east to west. With the exception of these noble avenues, the streets of Peking, like those of all other Chinese cities, and like those also of the old cities of the European continent, are dark, dismal, narrow passages, where light and health are equally forbidden to enter. If any accession to the lonely character of these alleys were required, the style of national domestic architec- ture would very amply afford it. With apparent inhospitality, the gentry, who dwell generally in the cross or private streets, turn the backs of their palaces to the highway; along blank wall, with a gate of entrance, never left open for a moment, forming the continuous line of building on either side. Sufficient commotion, and bustle, and business, however, eternally present themselves in the four grand avenues of the metropolis. At their intersection stand a number of Pai-loo, or triumphal records, raised to remind the public of some great legislator, or hero, or benefactor, whose memory is deserving of lasting respect.
Each of the high streets is lined on either side with shops and warehouses, places of entertainment, specimens of the particular merchandise sold in each establishment being exhibited in front of the houses. Above the low projecting eaves, are seen banners waving from a staff, or boards secured to a tall pillar, inscribed, in letters of gold on grounds of green or vermilion, with the name of the ware, and the established reputation of the
• .\s in Beaumaris Castle, North Wales.
THE WESTERN OATE OF PEKING. 41
vender. To enhance this record, and attract attention, eacli motto is generally discovered through the flajipings and tlaiintiiigs of streamers, and tlags, and ribbons of the most gaudy colouring, and most profuse employment. The variety of articles offered for sale is naturally infinite, and the singular character of Chinese manufactures gives to European visitors the idea of a fimcy-fair, rather than that of an established commercial emporium: the gables, sides, door-posts, and roofs of the houses, are adorned witii devices in azure and gold, and the most gay and gairish-looking articles are presented for sale. Amidst the bijouterie that glitters in their stalls, are ready-made coffins ; these melancholy mementos of human vanity, are of disproportioned magnitude, and disgust- ingly adorned with painting and with gold.
But the trade of the Four-ways is not monopolized by the owners of the handsome bazaars that enclose them ; itinerant traders, and their moveable workshops, dividing the profits with the wealthier citizens. The continuous hum which rings in the 7c/i/i(iiii/iigau- kiai, or " street of perpetual repose," so named, most probably by antiphrasis, because there never is repose there, evidences the energies of its industrious occupants, for " so work the honey-bees;" and the recollection of the scene can never be obliterated from the traveller's memory. The whole central causeway is a dense moving mass, comjjosed of operatives in every department of active life — tinkei's, cobblers, blacksmiths, barbers, occupy their locomotive shops- — booths and tents are erected on the kerb of the footway for the sale of tea, fruit, rice, and vegetables, so that little space remains for passengers, when the accommodation which the specimen-goods before each shop, and the temporary stalls require, is subducted. In the midway are seen, " in most dense array," public offi- cers, with their retinues bearing umbrellas, lanterns, flags, and numerous insignia of rank and station ; coffins, attended by mourners clad in white : brides, conveyed in palanquins of glittering decorations — the cries of sorrow that escape from one procession being occasionally drowned by the shouts of exultation and peals of music that ascend from the other. Mixed with these are troops of dromedaries laden with coals from the TVestern Mon/ituins, wheelbarrows and hand-carts, and, an immense concourse literally struggling for liberty to go in pursuit of either their way or their wants. The confused noise arising from the cries of various venders, and wrangling of purchasers, is occa- sionally exceeded by a strange twang not unlike the jarring tones of a cracked jew's- harp ; this successful attraction of notice is merely the barber's signal for custom, which he makes with his tweezers.
There is yet another class of claimants on public jiatronage plying their respective, although not respectable, callings, with as much zeal, and even more success, than the honest merchant in his warehouse. In this fraternity are included conjurers, jugglers, peddlers, fortune-tellers, quack-doctors, mountebanks, actors, and musicians. The whole tumultuous assemblage not unfrequently receives an onward impulse, which must inevi- tably occasion inconvenience, if not injury, to many of its members : — whenever a man- darin or great officer of state has occasion to pass along this very public thoroughfare, a company of Tartar cavalry is despatched to clear the way before bim ; and these remorse- less satellites, armed with heavy whips, perform their duty with a fidelity ot the most
III. L
42 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
reprehensible description. The situation of those whose nerves are sensitive, whose strength is unequal to continuous pressure, must be painfully alarming ; and so much is an occurrence of this sort dreaded, that Chinese females never venture into the busy throng of the four high streets, nor indeed Tartar women, unless mounted on horseback. As the causeway is not paved, the dust in summer is intolerable, and the mud in winter oppressive ; to these annoyances is to be added one affording grave accu- sation against the civic authorities — -the want of drainage, or sewers of any kind. Exclusive of the more serious consideration of health, the nuisance that is experienced by every passenger is disgraceful to Chinese national character ; nor can the constant employment of perfumes, scented woods, pastiles, odoriferous tapers, and aromatics of many sorts, as correctives, be accepted in palliation of such defective institutions.
And it is along this crowded, noisy, dusty way, that the citizen of Peking conducts the traveller whom he desires to admire the civilization of his capital; and it was amidst this moving mob of mountebanks that the authorities thought proper to lead our most memorable embassy at the court of Peking, to the great western gate, through which also lies the principal route to the imperial palace of Yuen-min-yuen .
THE GROTTO OF CAMOENS, MACAO.
" He was in sooth a genuine bard ; His was no faint, fictitious flame. Like his, my love, be thy reward, But not thy hapless fate the same."
Byuox — iStanzas, with the Poeiiis of Cuinoens.
Amongst the many interesting memorials in the vicinity of Macao, is the cave or grotto of Camiiens, the most celebrated poet of the Portuguese. It is a rudely-constructed temple, standing on the brink of a precipice, and commanding a most glorious pros- pect over the peninsula, and the sea that embraces it, and the mountains that rise rapidly on the opposite side of the roadstead. Visitors are led to the pleasure- grounds of a private seat, "the Casa," with no inconsiderable degree of vanity, and thence to the little pavilion on the rock, where a bust of the poet is preserved. Should they, by any accident of education or defect of memory, be unacquainted at the moment with the chief labours of the poet, they are exultingly informed that " here Camoens wrote the greater portion of his Lusiad."*
Louis de Camiiens is an illustration of those great men whose merit was first appa- rent in after-times, while their own age abandoned them to want; one of those whose * Lord Clarendon wrote much of his History in an alcove in the grounds of York House at Twickenham.
'ai.
r./^
,t.*A-,*^.^.*^#,. «'. :&.
■f^ <.■■ n ,
--sfc«U^.
/
'A
li.-^:
>-»x.^' .,;-:^'^ ^'t^:-^-^ ,^:-^;f.\-^.
i
i
^s
^f
^
^*
THE GROTTO OF CAMOENS, MACAO. 43
tomb was honoured witli the hiurel-w reath tliat should have adorned his temples. Tiie son of a ship-captain, and born at Lisbon about the year 15'24, he was placed at the college oF Coimbra; from which he returned, after ])assiug the recpiired time, to his native city. Here he fell passionately in love with a lady of the palace, Catherine d'Attayde, and was banished to Santarem, as the result of a dispute in which his luckless attachment had involved him. Strong passions are frequently found united with eminent talents; and the ardent lover of Lisbon, was now the delightful poet of Santarem. It was here that he poured forth his spirit of poetry, that he bewailed the pangs of broken hopes, in numbers which are compared to the lyrics of Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, and Tasso; and, inspired with the most noble sense of patriotism, that he attuned his harp to lays more mournful — the wrongs of his country. Despair preying on a mind so sensitive, he now became a soldier, and serving in the expedition which the Portuguese sent against Morocco, he composed poetry in the midst of battles. Danger kindled genius — genius animated courage. An arrow having deprived him of his right eye at the siege of Ceuta, he hoped that his wounds would receive a recompense which was denied to his talents; but in this expectation also he was deceived, owing solely to the machinations of envy. Filled with indignation at this studied neglect, he embarked for Lidia in the year 1553, and landed at Goa, near to the spot whei-e his father perished by shipwreck only three years after. At first he was incited to deeds of glory by the example of his countrymen in India, and exercised his powerful imagination in celebrating their praise in a lengthened epic poem. The vivacity of the poet and the patriot's mind, however, is not without difficulty restrained by that moderation which a state of dependence exacts; and Camoens, disgusted with many acts of cruelty and perfidy in the government of India, wrote a satire upon the authors, which caused his banishment to the settlement of Macao. His appointment of judge at this place was but an honourable name for exile; and here he had, during several years, no other society than that of nature, which poured around him in abundance all the charms of the East.
Leisure was found at length for the imbodiment of his great conceptions, and, selecting Vasco de Gama's Indian expedition as the subject, Camoens devoted the palmy years of his life to the composition of the " Lusiad." The most celebrated passages in this immortal performance, are the episodes of Inez de Castro, and the appearance of Adamastre, who, by means of his power over the storms, endeavours to stop Gama when he is about to double the Cape of Good Hope. The poet is hardly responsible for the mi.xture of Christianity with mythological fable of which he has been guilty, for such was the pre- vailing taste of the times. To this taste also is to be attributed that imitation of the works of classical antiquity, which is employed in conjunction with the splendour of poetic description, so bright, so completely original, as to cause regret that fashion should have moulded the features of his genius in any respect. The versification of the Lusiad is so charming and harmonious, that not only the minds of the cultivated, but of the common people, in Portugal, arc enraptured by its magic, and learn by heart, and sing favourite stanzas from it. Genuine patriotism ])crvades every line of this great poem, and the national glory of the Portuguese is emblazoned in every form, in all the colours which
44 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
invention was capable of lending. It is for these reasons that the poetry of Camoens must ever be read with enthusiasm by his own countrymen, and remembered with all the tenacity of which memory is capable.
And now, when youth had shed its bloom, and even the vigour of manhood was beginning to decay, for the first time envy suspended its malignant operation, and the poet and patriot, of whom Portugal was yet to boast, was recalled from
" His root-built cave, by far-extended rocks Around embosomed, where they soothed his soul."
Sailing for Europe, the destiny of Camuens followed him, and at the mouth of the river Mechon, in Cochin-China, he suffered shipwreck, saving himself from his brave father's fate, by swimming to the shore. The only treasure which he reserved from the wreck was the MS. of his poem ; this he held above his head with one hand, buffeting the billows with the other, as Julius Caesar did, when he swam with his inestimable Commentaries from Alexandria to his galley that was lying in the harbour. Reaching Goa after this narrow escape from a watery grave, new griefs awaited him: and here he encountered renewed persecutions, being imprisoned for debt, and only released on the responsibility of his friends, who felt for the agonies he had endured by an exile so length- ened and unmerited. At the moment when he experienced the refreshment of liberty, he was encouraged by the patronage of royalty ; the youthful monarch, Sebastian, manifesting an admiration of his poems, and taking an interest in the poet. An expedition against the Moors in Africa being about to sail, the king, who conducted it in person, desired the Lusiad to be dedicated to himself ; and, feeling more sensibly than others had done, the genius and adventurous spirit of the writer, carried him along with him to the field of glory. Sebastian indeed attained his object, falling gloriously in the battle before the city of Alcaqar, in 1578; but Camoens, in losing his prince, lost every thing: for, with his death, the royal farnilj-, and the real independence of Portugal, were extinct. Returning to his native country, friendless, impoverished, envied, he saw that every source of supply- was dried up, every avenue of succour closed, every ray of hope extinguished — and for ever. A prey to poverty and suffering, a slave alone remained faithful to him in his misfortunes; and this humble friend actually supported his master by alms which he begged in the public streets. In this situation he yet wrote lyric poems, some of which contain the most moving complaints of the neglect of literary worth, and the ingratitude of mankind to public benefactors. Unwilling to survive his royal patron, and his Indian slave being no longer able to provide for him the necessaries of existence, or relieve his infirmities, he obtained admission into the chief hospital of Lisbon ; and there, this great ornament of his country — this honour of Portuguese and of European literature — miserably expired in the sixty-second year of his age: just one year after the last Sebastian had passed away from the world. Fifteen years afterwards, a splendid monument was erected to his memory ; and his works have since been translated into every European language.
^
>-
J^.
'•■^ .'*i .^"^^"^
f^^T^-ZHi'^'V
"^*S%^^^^«V.^,<-\.^, ,» . ..: %:
7:»9HicaUU^
m
I*
^
"A
%
THE UATAUACT OF SHUI-TAV. 45
THE CATARACT OF SIIIII-TAN.
PROVINCE OF KIANG-NAM.
He glorietli in his miglit alone,
A strong existence hurrying on In conscious joy of power and speed, And with tlie great sun doth he play At rainbows with his living spray. Rhaiadu Du.
The western parts of Kiaug-nan, bordering upon the inland province of Hou-quang, are mountainous, arid, and sterile. Fruitful in rivers, their waters are with difficulty approached, not only from the ruggedness of their rocky beds, but the great depths also to which these have been worn by the eternal action of the falling volume. Granite is the predominating rock in the most elevated places, but a species of slate-stone, hard, and of an irregular fracture, forms the channels of the mountain-torrents, assuming, in every instance, forms the most bold and picturesque. At an elevation of some 1,500 feet above the level of the sea, the Tay-ho, a chief tributary of the lower Yang-tse-keang, receiving the drainage of many hundreds of square miles, in a country whose climate is particularly humid, its w hole accumulation falls over the brow of Shih-tan into a spacious basin of slate-rock, presenting, in the rainy season, an object of beauty, majesty, and interest. Superstition, the companion and the badge of ignorance, has appropriated these sublime localities to the occupation of sorcerers, witches, magicians, evil demons, or, at all events, to beinps supposed to be possessed of supernatural powers, which they exhibit by the use of spells, cabalistic terms, charms, characters, images, amulets, ligatm-cs, philters, and incantations.
At the foot of the mountain-pass, which is much frequented by travellers between the two adjacent provinces, a toll-house is erected, where each borderer is required to drop his contribution to the spirit of the hills and the torrents, the principal produce of which is believed to be the performance of certain propitiatory rites, by the resident bonzes, for his safe passage, especially by the seven cataracts of Shih-tan. As the ascent is aided by stairs cut in the compact schistus, a firm step is all that is required to accomplish the journey; but, where real dangers are absent, credulity supplies those that are imaginary. In the cooler seasons, numbers of borderers cross these hiils, and brave the terrors of these haunted glens ; while they carry, suspended from their shoulders, various articles of produce and barter, from their respective homes. More wealthy persons are conveyed in a litter, or a comfortable sedan-chair, to the highest pinnacles and up the steepest ascents, whether for the purposes of business, or from superstitious motives.
III. M
46 CHIXA ILLITSTRATED.
In this picturesque locality, and amidst the shattered crags that hang over the seven cataracts, grows the Tong-choo, and also a species of Rhus, from the seeds of which an oil is expressed, used in the composition of a valuable varnish. Here also the tea-plant grows wild ; and pines, both dwarf and lofty, adorn the cliffs on every side. The transfer of rice, the preparation of oil, or of varnish, the felling of pine-timber, constitute so many sources of occupation to the mountaineers : but they have another origin of trade, little less profitable, in the existence of a charmed grotto immediately above the greatest of the cascades. Ta-Vang, a Chinese saint of royal birth, commiserating the lot of lunatics, devoted himself to the service of Fo, on condition that that most absurdly- conceived power would promise to spare men's intellects in future. Retiring to the seven falls, sometimes called the seven cups of Shih-tan, he there passed his declining years in solitude and supplication. His grotto or couch, in the dark grey rock, is now visited by pilgrims, and numbers of lunatics, brought hither by their relatives, are laid on Ta- Yang's bed, which they believe to be instrumental in restoring the phrenzied to their senses. The deliberate reader may doubt, perhaps, whether the afflicted patient or his credulous attendant be the more insane ; but, whichever way he decides, let him not ascribe to the ignorant Chinaman alone all such absurd practices. In a closet at the church of Poictiers, in France, the bed of St, Hilary is preserved, and here lunatics are constantly laid to sleep, in the expectation that its miraculous efficacy will restore them to perfect sanity.
GARDENS OF THE IMPErvIAL PALACE, PEKING.
FatigueJ with form's oppressive laws,
M hen Taou- Kwang avoids the great ; When cloy'd with merited applause.
He seeks the rural calm retreat : Does he not praise each mossy cell, And feel the truth these numbers fell ?
Klkal Elegance.
There are two distinct cities within the walls of Peking, one occupied by Chinese, the other by Tartars exclusively. In the latter of these are the chief public offices, several sacred institutes, colleges, halls, and, lastly, in the very centre of this labyrinth, the imperial palace and gardens. Three spacious gates pierce the imperial wall, opening communication with the external or Chinese city, which is also fenced and fortified; and an inner enclosure, called " the prohibited wall," surrounds an area of about two square miles, devoted entirely to the imperial household, and only entered by his majesty's retinue or his visitors. The mural defences of the palace are built of bright red varnished bricks, covered with shining yellow tiles, whence they are also styled " The Yellow Wall," and are upwards of twenty feet in height.
TT ■!
RiSte
ii
mm
n
rf-i>
n-^%
I
I
J
1^
••■>^
^^^
vl
«
t
^
^
X
GARDENS OK THE IMPmi AL PALACE. 47
Tlio inner surface of tlie enclosure is varied by the construction of artilicinl moun- tains, the exc<avation of lakes with little islands floating on their tranquil bosoms, and runninj^ rivulets, interrupted occasionally by picturesque cataracts; summer-houses and pavilions adorn the margin of the waters, and impart an interest to the numerous islands ; and the grouping of fanciful edifices, with chisters of trees, and masses cf rock-work, necessarily produce a most agreeable illusion with respect to both distance and mag- nitude. One great reservoir, or lake, supplies the minor basins within the gardens, and its surface is constantly animated by the arrival and departure of pleasure-junks and barges belonging to the attendants and retainers of the palace.
Pleasure appears to reign supremely in these fairy lands, and, were judgment to be given by the eye alone, that siren would be successful. But inquiry will soon correct the hasty conclusion, by discovering the melancholy admixture of sorrow that is infused into all human histories. The double walls, that prohibit surprise, are not unnecessarj', nor has the imperial throne been always "a bed of roses." There is a perilous uncer- tainty attendant upon making rice the national food ; and so frequently is this conse- quence experienced, that the emperor's palace would not be safe from the violence of the hungry, in those days of famine that periodically visit his dominions. The markets of Peking are frequently plundered in the most daring manner, and all the courage of the emperor's tiger-hearted myrmidons is requisite to protect the Tartarian city from assault. Nor are these the only dangers to which the imperial person is exposed. Though the succession to the throne depends on the arbitrary nomination of the reigning prince, this arrangement does not always prevent usurpations. An instance of this occurred in the succession of Yoong-ching to his father Kang-he. The son nominated by the dying emperor was his fourth, but that prince being in Tartary at the period of the emperor's somewhat sudden demise, Yoong-ching, who was a privileged wang, entered the palace, and seized the billet of his brother's nomination, l^efore the ninnber four, which he there found, he boldly set down the sign of ten, and in that way made it appear that he, the fourteenth son, was the prince actually nominated. Seizing the sceptre, he ordered his brother to be arrested and imprisoned, in a buihiing which is yet stand- ing, about four miles north of Peking, and there he detained him till death closed his melancholy story.
In the year 1813, and on the 18th of October, a formidable body of conspirators attacked the palace, during the emperor's absence at the thermal springs of Je-ho, but being gallantly resisted by the present emperor, second son of the reigning monarch, the revolt was crushed without further injury ; and it is to this act of bravery, most proba- bly, Taou-kwang's nomination to the throne of his royal parent is to be attributed. On the summit of the loftiest eminence in the accompanying illustration, stands a monument of singular structure, but of still more singular history ; it was the last scene of the exist- ence of that race of emj)erors who had beautified the whole of these enchanting grounds, and raised so many gorgeous buildings amidst their scenery. A man whom fortune seemed to favour, as if destined to become the head of a new dynasty in China, availed himself of the weakness and the luxury of the court; and of that indolence which, more
48 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
than even luxury, had brought the former dynasties to ruin ; with an army of Chinese, first collected under the hope of bringing about better times, and kept together after- wards by the tempting bait of plunder, he marched to the gates of Peking. The ill-fated monarch, too slightly supported, and possessed of too little energy to repel, but with sentiments too elevated to endure submission to an enemy who had been his subject, yet determined to save his oifspring from the danger of dishonour, stabbed his only daughter, and then terminated his own life with a fatal noose. Here were two iniquitous murders committed, by a man, who had not the bravery to die in battle, nor the moral courage to survive adversity.
CAP-VENDER'S SHOP, CAKTON.
Your bonnet to it's right use, — 'Tis for the head.
Hami.et.
A cap-vender's establishment is not unfreqnently a scene of gossiping, — a fashionable lounge, a rendezvous of those whose badge is idleness. Open in front, it is decorated with lanterns, and emblems of trade, and inscriptions, the latter setting forth the integrity of the long line of occupants, the quality of goods exclusively issued from that store, the reasonable charges uniformly made, and the total impossibility of trusting to the honour of humanity under certain circumstances. All these sentiments are expressed in characters of gold, on tablets suspended at the side of the open casement. A little rail- ing, partly for protection, but chiefly for ornament and architectural finish, runs along the external edge of the counter, and within it are stands supporting specimen or pat- tern caps, a practice adopted with ingenuity and taste by the hat and bonnet venders in London and in Paris- Entrance to the shop is often interrupted by a begging bonzee, in a humiliating posture, endeavouring to attract attention by the gentle humming of a familiar hymn, accompanied with the more annoying tap of a small plectrum upon a piece of hollowed wood, in shape resembling a pear.
As the illustration represents a well-known and respectable store in Canton, the style of decoration, attendance, and fitting-up, may be taken as a sample of its class. The goods manufactured and sold here are intended for the wealthy part of the com- munity only, of whom the cap appears to be a special prerogative. Neither Greeks nor Romans wore any covering on the head in the heroic ages of their histories ; hence all ancient statues appear either bareheaded, or sometimes with a victor's wreath: it was at later periods that caps of various kinds, and military helmets, were introduced. It seems tolerably certain, that the Chinese, not many centuries back, went with the head unpro- tected against either sun or rain, employing, occasionally, the skirt of the robes as a sub- stitute. Indeed, their antique c/ievelure aiSovded them most ample protection against the
liter-
tod
hiceili
r 1
f
i
>?'.*^
I
-P
.3i
$^
ill'
¥
u
V
v'
>l
4
.>l^
I
I
i
«j.^i"VM««wi«n immMijii:
I
f,
f H
lilf
i !
^^y*^' '
i^-%^'^^*^-¥^,-'^,_Ki?^\^.J^K-'x-k
>tftr^
^
t
itf J
jcifl^
tun-''"
•y ...M
CLOSE OP THE ATTACK OX CIIAPOO. 49
inclemency of the season, and to an economic people ])ossessed an additional recom- mendation. The preservation of this most useful gift of nature became the subject of a sanguinary civil war, in which Tartar tactics triumphed, and Tartar tyrannv used its triumph so ignobly, that the concpiered were com[)cllod to siiavc flic licad in future, reserving only one lengthened lock, depending from tlie crown, — the badge of tiieir subjection.
Should the season prove intensely sultrj', the tapering (jueue alone adorns the aristocrat's head; in less warm weather a skull-cap of padded silk is worn; and in still colder, a cap made of the thinnest rattan, slightly woven, having the edge turned u[) all round. These different descriptions are adapted to summer and winter, to home and out-of-door use. The summer cap most generally worn is a hollow upright cone of bamboo filaments, the apex of which is terminated by a red, blue, white, or gilded ball, or by an opaque button, according to the rank of the wearer. A large lock of red hair, taken from the abdomen of the water-ox, flows from the insertion of the button into the apex; and sometimes a beautiful agate, a lapis lazuli, or gem called yi'i, sparkles in the frontal border. In winter, the cone is exchanged for a covering of more solid manufac- ture and more appropriate shape. It is the cap with the turncd-up edge. The rattan is more firmly woven in this than in the summer caps, but the ornaments, the button of distinction, and the tuft of hair, are the same as before. At this season, too, especially in the northern provinces, the skull-cap is adopted much within doors, and the bamboo pileum without. Almost all the social habits of this ancient people are regulated by imperial decrees, issued arbitrarily at various epochs, and amongst them are rules for the proper, rational, and becoming decoration of the person. These laws enjoin the exchange of the summer for the winter head-dress, and vice versa ; and a broad hint is given to society by the example of the chief mandarin, or magistrate, of every district, as well as by an announcement in the imperial gazette, that the period has arrived when this part of the national costume 7m(st undergo the legal change.
CLOSE OF THE ATTACK ON CIIAPOO.
'* H:irk the fierce music on the wiml, the atabal. the gong, The stern avenger is at hand, — he lias not tarried long."
Chapoo, on tlie Gulf of Hang-chow, owes all its commercial importance to the exclu- sive trade which it enjoys with Japan, monopolized by six imperial junks. The harbour is situated at the northern boundary of Chekeang province, and, as the sea is rajjidly receding all along that coast, not only is approach dangerous to mariners, but the trade, most probably, will soon be transferred to Shang-hai, one of the free-ports of the empire. With the exception of the picturesque hills that rise immediately over tlie city and suburbs of Chapoo, the surface, for many miles in everv direction, is low, flat, III. \
50 CHIXA ILLUSTllATED.
and intersected by canals, some of which extend to the great city of Hangchow. Although the rise of tide at Shang-hai, only three days' sail, is not more than eight feet, yet at Chapoo it exceeds four-and-twenty, so that, at high-water, the harbour may be entered by vessels of large burden.
The city is spacious, walled, with suburbs equal in extent to the encebite itself. The immediate vicinity is highly cultivated, thickly peopled, adorned with mandarins' villas, pagodas, temples, pailoos, and halls of ancestors. The scenery amidst the adjacent hills has long received the unlimited admiration of travellers, and not unfrequently the emperor himself condescends to visit this garden of his wide dominions, this pride of China, and pass some months at a time in the enjoyment of its beauties. Residence here, however, is not either safe or desirable at all seasons, ophthalmia prevailing to a great extent, whenever there occurs a continuance of dry and sultry weather.
It was on the 17th of May, in the year 1842, that a British fleet, under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, arrived before the city of Chapoo; and, on the following morning. Sir Hugh Gough succeeded in landing a force of 13,00 men on a sandy beach, two miles east of the city, without the least opposition from the Chinese. With childish precaution, the enemy had assembled their entire force, 8,000 men, within the city, relying mainly on the strength of their fortifications, leaving the range of heights, a natural battery, and one that commanded their streets and the bay where the British lay, wholly unoccupied. While the British forces were ascending and forming on the hills, the ships of war opened upon the fortifications on shore, which were immediately silenced, and a brigade of 700 seamen landing, under cover of a heavy fire from the ships, drove the Chinese from their guns towards the city. Sir Hugh Gough was now in possession of the heights, from which the whole Chinese army was descried, defiling regularly through the streets, in full retreat. Their movements appeared to receive occasional acceleration from the fall of shells and grape amongst them, according as the howitzers and field-pieces came nearer and nearer; at length, Colonel Schoedde's escalading party getting completely over the wall, the rapid volleys of his musketry completed the confusion and route.
Three hundred Mantchou Tartars, feeling the degradation their arms sustained by the desertion of so large a force, took possession of a strong building in the middle of the city, resolved to hold it against every opposition. This little devoted band had wholly escaped the notice of the pursuing army, nor was their resolute conduct understood until they became the aggressors, by discharging a smart volley upon the rear of the Irish brigade. Some twenty of this corps turned to revenge the injury, but they were soon obliged to retire, several of their number being instantly shot down. A second party, however, soon succeeded, and boldly advancing to the entrance, received the murderous fire of the Tartars, by which Colonel Tomlinson and several of his men fell mortally wounded. British gallantry seemed to rise in proportion as danger increased, and the death of their brave companions, the undaunted courage of the enemy, only nerved the arms and steeled the swords of Colonel Mountain and his brave party. Assaulting this " Hougoumont" of the day with all their national heroism, they were yet
■n^
J
>f
\i
m
\* .}? 1i#-
>,^,
yi*«
t^''%^-**-^.>«^v^.^-
-^rm^sk-iU
■M rii
i-Jy^ 'III
.'rl^i
am
4
ll^^
AN ITINERANT BARBER. 0 1
unable to propitiate tlie fortune of war, and after tlic Colonel and his two lieutenants , had been severely wounded, the position was again abandoned. What manly daring could effect had now been accomplished by these brave Tartar soldiers, as well as by their equally gallant enemies; but military skill, scientific adjuments, and superior discipline, being at length called in, their fate w^as sealed. Colonel Knowles now came up witli the shells and rockets, and in a few minutes the little fortress was in flames, its luckless defenders were all either shot or bayoneted, with the exception of about twenty, who were spared to grace the triumph of British military prowess.
A sort of wild despair took possession of the whole population of Chapoo, upon the sudden discovery of our infinite superiority in the art of war. The men, including 0,500 regular troops and 1,700 Tartars, abandoned the city; the women, ignorant of the English character, and equally horror-struck at the flight of their cowardly husbands, having destroyed their children, committed self-immolation, and numbers were found suspended from the ceilings of their once happy homes. Had our operations been a little more rapid, it is possible that many of those miserable events might have been prevented, for if the citizens but stayed to witness the gene- rosity with which our brave army exercised their power, indignation would thenceforth have pointed at the real authors of these miseries — the calumniators of British national character. Amongst the spoils of Chapoo were ninety pieces of ordnance, jingalls, matchlocks, bows, and gunpowder. The loss on the part of the Chinese was estimated at 1,500 men, on ours it is known not to have exceeded nine men killed, and fifty wounded.
AN ITINERANT CAREER.
" r the long queue and tonsure bald we trace The Tartar triumph— the Chinese disgrace."
Conquest or CAriiAV.
The ancient Chinese wore the hair long, a practice the aborigines of most countries are observed to follow, and only discontinued it upon compulsion. While they were per- mitted by their Tartar concpierors to retain their religion and laws, they were obliged, as a badge of servitude, to shave the head, with the exception of a single tuft upon the crown, that renders baldness visible. Time has softened the sentiments of sorrow that accompanied this humiliating mandate, and the adoption of the custom by all classes in the empire has at length obliterated the painful recollection of its origin. And now, the universality of the habit has created a necessity for a very numerous corps of barbers, who are all itinerant, and placed under very strict surveillance, a severe penalty being attached to practising the art without a regular license from the magistrates.
52 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
Not only the head but the whole of the face is to be passed under the razor, so that no Chhiaman can perform this indispensable ceremony for himself, — hence an additional necessity for an enlarged number of professional operators. In Canton, alone, upwards of 7,000 barbers are constantly perambulating the public streets, indicating their locus and their leisure by twanging a pair of long iron tweezers. Across the barber's shoulders lies along bamboo lath, from one extremity of which is suspended a small chest of drawers, containing razors, brushes, and shampooing instruments, made of white copper. This piece of furniture serves as a seat for customers, and its counterpoise, which is hung fi-om the other end of the shoulder-lath, consists of a water-vessel, basin, and charcoal- furnace, enclosed in a case. No beards being allowed to grow, no moustache permitted to remain before the age of forty, nor a single hair suffered to wander over any part of the face, the attendance of a barber is lastingly requisite, and considerable dexterity indispensable ; and the adroitness which they display in shaving the head, eradicating straggling hairs, and giving a clean and spruce ensemble, is almost an object of curiosity. A Chinese razor is clumsy in appearance, but convenient in operation, and whenever the edge fails, it is restored by friction on an iron plate.
But, shaving is a less scientific part of a barber's vocation than shampooing, a custom practised in many eastern countries ; and the instruments provided for this extraordinary mode of quickening the circulation of the blood, are not only numerous but delicately formed. The candidate being seated on a large chair, the operator beats rapidly with both hands upon all parts of his body. The arms and legs are next stretched, and with sudden jerks that give the idea of dislocation. Sometimes the patient is pulled by one arm, his head being pushed in the opposite direction, the finger joints cracked, and the quick beating repeated, the operator at intervals philipping with his fingers. Instruments are now employed ; the application of a brush, resembling the globular flower of the acacia, succeeds to that of the ear-spoon, a thin slip of horn, and lastly come the tweezers and the syringe. Nor does the extreme delicacy of the eye save it from the invasion of these professors of luxury. Several small instruments are applied to this tender organ, without injury, probably with advantage. The eye-pencil consists of a pellet of coral attached to a slip of horn ; this is thrust under the eyelids, and turned about with rapidity, producing, of course, a copious flood of tears. Shampooing, the ceremony of which lasts half an hour, and for which a penny is the usual compensation, is closed by paring the nails of both toes and fingers. The Tartar proclamation prohibiting the wearing of long hair, is never extended to the house of mourning; and wlien a family is visited by the king of terrors, their feelings are so far respected, that they may violate this despotic edict, and allow their locks to grow.
I
K
I
'^y ^l^-^i
A
-^
^<^*-
%^-^i:.^.^^'.^^_^^^%. <r, M ^
SCEXE IN THE SUBURBS 01' TI.NC-HAE. fjS
SCENE IN THE SUBURBS OF TING-ll.U:.
" Here may be seen, in tiloodless pomp array'd, The pasteboard triumph and tlie eavalciidu ; By sports like these are all their cares beguil'd The sports of children satisfy the child."
Goldsmith.
No regular day of rest and thanksgiving being appointed by Chinese lawgivers, the people are more liable to transgress the limits of propriety in seizing on occasions for mirth and festivity. And it is from this cause especially, that they are found to convert very many of life's usual occurrences, into pretexts for merry-meetings ; but no rejoicing can be complete, unaccompanied by a systematic procession, in which each person is assigned an active part ; jokes, in China, having no point unless they are prac- tical. Ting-hae, a populous, ancient, and commercial city, abounds in characters ever ready to participate in some feat of activity, some public display, or some pseudo-religious ceremony ; and the scenery of the locality, abounding in hill and dale, wood and water, wild and cultivated districts, traces of early occupation, monuments of illustrious persons, and lofty temples to the idols of the land, gives to each festal pomp a character eminently dramatic. At tiie great pailoo, in the suburbs of Ting-hae, where a flat bridge spans a creek margined with sedge, and rushes, and flags, the landscape is peculiarly pleasing, and the spot is chosen as a theatre of mirth by parties from the city. An endless variety of festivals and processions gives occasion for numerous visits to these romantic passes, and the joyous dispositions of the Chinese render such pageants in the highest degree extravagant. Like the populace of ancient Athens, Rome, and Egypt, they connect the pretexts of their chiefest processions with notions of religion, or philosophy; but, when these are tolerably exhausted, innumer- able others, of a confessedly profane description, are employed. Considering that all delights consist in material intercourse, the Chinaman concludes that his gods require off'erings of food, displays of mirth, sounds of music, and everything that ministers to the pleasure of the senses ; and under this belief it is that he suspends images across the street, decorates his house-front with lanterns, makes offerings of incense and fruits, and strikes his head with painful violence against the temple-floor.
Performers in a festivity are generally assembled in a booth or temporary erection ; where viands of various kind, fruit, pastry, and other delicacies, are spread in profusion, while prayers are offered, bells sounded, and flutes blown, with a determination tliat measures the zeal of the performer. The gods frequently manifesting indift'erence to the banquet, the votaries proceed to divide the dainties, some demolishing their portions, while others cast theirs amongst the noisy and mirth-loving crowd. Sanctity would appear to form no share in the ceremony : merriment, pleasantry, fun, in its
III. o
54 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
fullest sense, being the end and aim of every one's exertions. A bonfire of paper, or of other easily-ignited matter, lighted without the building, is the signal for clearing the temple, and for forming into a procession in which each has some particular duty allotted to him. An advance-company furnished with gongs precede every show of this description, and make the very welkin ring with redoubled blows of their muffled/^/ec^r«. Next come the bannermen, bearing flags adorned with religious, military, or appropriate devices, followed by a multitude of flute-players and drummers : the principal part of the sport consisting in noise. Some treasure, some ark, some palpable object, must necessarily be carried in procession, to which, as to the chief character in a royal cortege, particular respect is paid, and each in turn is ambitious of succeeding to its support and carriage. Whatever be the character or object of such demonstrations, their arrangements undeviatingly re- semble each other. Burnt-oflerings — presents to be submitted in a hall of ancestors — a bride going to her new home — a corpse proceeding to its last one, — are each in turn the burdens of procession-men; and the feelings experienced upon those occasions are so much alike, that spectators are unable to conjecture their precise objects from the demean- our of the attendants.
An English gentleman rose one morning in Macao, at an early hour, to bid farewell to an old friend who had resided in China for many years. On his way he encountered a procession, preceded by a band of music. It occurred to him that it was a wedding, and that by pushing aside the curtain of the sedan, he might get a sight of the bride. But as soon as he raised the silk, he discovered that it was his old friend, whom the Chinese were thus lionouring at his departure from their land for ever.
0 P I U M - S M 0 K E R S.
Ah ! then, methought, my iinseal'd eyes With wonderment and sweet surprise, First op'd upon a scene so fair, That ecstasy alone could share.
J. S. H.
The rapidity with which the crime of opium-smoking has spread over the empire, may be collected from the statement, that in 1821 only four thousand chests were in use, while upwards of twenty thousand were required, to satisfy the appetite for this narcotic drug, in the year 1832. Its deleterious and debasing effects were early known to the imperial government, and every means that benevolence could suggest, duly exer- cised to prevent its importation. Upwards of forty years ago, the governor of Canton threatened, supplicated, the rejection of this dangerous import; and finding moral sentiments inefi'ectual, artfully pointed at the monetary consideration : " Thus it is," says his proclamation " that foreigners, by means of a vile and poisonous substance, derive from this empire the most solid profits and advantages; but that our
*# '- .'>,^ V
3
■'nt
»
out
?^^l
■.'-^-
-^.i*A._^.,,,**,^ «' *»
l^l^KSSfe.
»
•'=^ illiiillll
♦
«
i
^taMri
x^
x^
oriuM-sMOKEns. oa
countrymen should bliuiily pursue this destructive and ensnaring vice, even till death is the consequence, without being undeceived, is indeed a fact odious and de|)loral)le in the highest degree." Yet this very governor was himself a notorious opium-smoker.
Increase of duty, threats of punishment, and obviously ruinous elfects upon the human frame, were still unable to resist the passion, the mania for opium, that in a few years absorbed the whole people of China : and to such an extent had the contraband and illegitimate trade in this noxious drug proceeded, that when war was recently declared against England by the Celestial Empire, the imports of opium exceeded the exports of tea bv three millions of dollars' value annually, whic:h balance of trade in our favour was paid in silver.
The public censor, whose power had proved so disproportionate to the magnitude of the offence, now declared that the buyer and seller of opium should be punished with one hundred blows, and bo pilloried for two months ; and whoever should refuse to declare the name of the vendor was judged an accomplice, and sentenced to a hundred blows, and three years' exile. The severity of these regulations defeated their object ; for, henceforth, few could be found so heartless as to expose his neighbour to the cangue, the bastinado, and banishment, for the sale of a few pounds of opium. This result is much to be deplored ; for now the spendthrift, gambler, drunkard, and votary of vice in all her deformed aspects, drop into the opium-smokers, and make that detestable drug chiefly chargeable with all the crime and guilt of the Chinese. Opium may, in particular instances, inflict only one additional spot on a reputation deeply stained; but in how many has not the fascination lured victims to the sin, who might otherwise have escaped the ruin !
It will probably be a melancholy satisfaction to Christian England to be assured, by competent and credible authorities, that the accompanying illustration does not exaggerate the deplorable spectacle exhibited by the interior of a smoking-house, into which the initiated alone are admitted. Lord Jocelyn, who accompanied a late mission to China, gives the following painful description of a smoking-house at Sincapore.
" One of the objects at this place that I had the curiosity to visit, was the o])ium- smoker in his heaven ; and certainly it is a most fearful sight, although, perhaps, not so degrading to the eye as the drunkard from sj)irits, lowered to the level of the brute and wallowing in his filth. The idiot-smile and death-like stupor of the opium debauchee has something far more awful to the gaze than the bestiality of the latter. Pity, if possible, takes the place of other feelings, as we watch the faded cheek and haggartl look of the being abandoned to the power of the drug : whilst disgust is uppermost at the sight of the human creature levelled to the beast by intoxication.
" One of the streets in the centre of the town is wholly devoted to shops for the sale of this j)oison : and here in the evening may be seen, after the labours ot the day are over, crowds of Chinese, who seek these places to satisfy their depraved appetites.
" The rooms where they sit and smoke are surrounded by wooden couches, with places for the head to rest ujion, and generally a side-room is devoted to gambling. The pipe is a reed of about an inch in diameter, and the aperture in the bowl for the admission of the opium is not larger than a pin's head The drug is prepared with
66 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
some kind of incense, and a very small portion is sufficient to charge it, one or two whiffs being the utmost that can be inhaled from a single pipe ; and the smoke is taken into the lungs, as from the hookah in India. On a beginner, one or two pipes will have an effect, but an old stager will continue smoking for hours. At the head of each couch is placed a small lamp, as fire must be applied to the drug during the process of inhaling ; and from the difficulty of filling and properly lighting the pipe, there is generally a person who waits upon the smoker to perform the office. A few days of this fearful luxury, when taken to excess, will impart a pallid and haggard look to the features ; and a few months, or even weeks, will change the strong and healthy man into little better than an idiot-skeleton. The pain they suffer when deprived of the drug, after long habit, no language can explain ; and it is only to a certain degree under its influence, that their faculties are alive. In the hours devoted to their ruin, these infatuated people may be seen at nine o'clock in the evening in all the different stages. Some entering half-distracted, tofeed the craving appetite they had been obliged to subdue during the day; others laughing and talking under the effects of a pipe; while the couches around are filled with their different occupants, who lie languid, with an idiot- smile upon their countenances, too completely under the influence of the drug, to regard passing events, and fast merging to the wished-for consummation. The last scene in this tragic play is generally a room in the rear of the building, a species of morgue or dead-house, where lie sheltered those who have passed into the .state of bliss the opium- smoker madly seeks — an emblem of the long sleep to which he is blindly hurrying.''*
It may be asked, can no remedies be discovered for a vice so deplorable, a disease so corroding to the heart of the nation ? Yes, let the Chinese abolish despotism, enlarge the liberty of the people — remove prohibitory duties, cultivate foreign commerce — establish philanthropic institutions — and receive, the Gospel ; then will the distinction between virtue and vice, truth and falsehood, honour and shame, be understood, and the duties of the public censor become less onerous and more valuable.
AMOY, FROM THE OUTER HARBOUR.
" Again their own shore rises on the view. No more polluted with a hostile hue : No sullen ship lies bristling o'er the foam, A floating dungeon — all is hope and home."t
Byron.
When Du Halde dwelt amongst the Chinese, Amoy was much valued as a commercial position, and, had the empire enjoyed free institutions, the trade of Eastern China would unquestionably have centered in this picturesque locality. " Amoy is a famous port, hemmed in on one side by the islands, which are high, and shelter it from every
♦ Six Months with the Chinese Expedition, by Lord Jocelyn, &e. t Vide Vol. II., p. 69.
a
Hi
y
1^
<.*^j,.*^■-,>:^^^«'..^^^•^
.1
^
,1
AMOV, rilO.M THE INNER iiARnouu. 57
wind ; it is also so spaoious, tliat it can contain many thousands of vessels ; and the sea there is so deep, that the largest ships may come np close to the shore, and ride there in perfect safety. You see there, at all times, a great number of Chinese junks, and about twenty years ago, you might see there many European vessels ; now they come hither hut seldom, and all the trade is removed to Canton. The emperor keeps six or seven ttiousand men there in garrison, under the command of a Chinese general. In entcrinn- the haven, you double a cape, or rock, which thus divides itself into two, almost as the Mingaret does in tlie port of Brest. l"he rock is visible, and rises several feet above the water. Three leagues thence, stands a little island, having a hole through which you see from one side to the other, and called, on this account, " the ]5ored Island." Between this port and Formosa, the islands of Pong-hou form a small archijjplago, which are occupied by a Chinese garrison, and the mandarin who resides there has a constant eye upon vessels that trade between China and Formosa." When Mr. GutzlafF visited this "famous port," so many years after, he found its natural features unaltered, and the prejudices of the people, or rather of the government, equally unchanged. The city, however, had outgrown the Jesuit's accurate descrip- tion, having a circuit of sixteen miles, and containing upwards of "200,000 inhabitants. Numerous temples arose amidst the houses, and pagodas towered over the narrow ways. Wealth has accumulated here in the hands of a few, leaving poverty still to be the lot of many, and the opening of the port to foreign trade will necessarily unfold new- avenues of prosperity to the inhabitants of the city and suburbs. Already, a fleet of 200 junks is actively engaged in the Formosa and Japan trade, and the province of Fokien derives its chief revenues from the duties collected in the port of Amoy.
It was to this sheltered, secure, and favourite harbour, that the British merchants directed their principal expeditions for the revival of trade with China; here the Delight ship anchored in 1685, the Hardwicke in 1744, the Lord Amherst in 1832; but all their efforts were frustrated by the jealousy and inhospitality of the Tartar rulers. Besides one large island, Ko-long-soo, that interrupts the winds and waves, and leaves a passage on either side into the retiring bay, several rocky islets grace the approach from sea towards the river ; of these, Chea-soo, Sio-ta, and Toa-ta, are fortified. The granite heights that command the channel and the suburbs, are also dignified with military structures on their lofty pinnacles, but, so elevated above sea-level, and so insignificant in capacity and strength, that they are wholly useless as protective positions. These heights are much admired, even by those to whom they are long familiar; and, in the deep ravines that separate them, are seen magnificent temples to Fo, sumptuous private villas, and lofty and many-storied pagodas. When the British took possession of Amoy, and silenced all its batteries, the scenery of these hills excited the curiosity of our brave soldiers and sailors, and, in their wanderings among the crags, they discovered a number of stone jars, coated with a tenacious lute. On opening these vessels, they were found to contain perfect human skeletons, dislocated, each bone carefully packed, ami numbered or marked with red paint. The discoverers have not guaranteed any solution of this singular problem, — nor does any probable one present itself, even after reflection.
III. V
58 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
A MARRIAGE PROCESSION
AT THE BLUE-CLOUD CREEK.
" So softly shines the beauteous bride By love and conscious virtue led. O'er her new mansion to preside, And placid joys around her head.'
That peculiar reserve of the sexes towards each other, common to most Eastern countries, prevails with as much strictness in China in the present century as in the earliest period of recorded history. When the ages of seventeen and fourteen have been respectively reached by the intended parties to a marriage-contract, the father of the suitor originates the matrimonial project, and makes overtures for an union on grounds purely commercial. This infelicitous custom arises from the still more illiberal act of prohibiting all associa- tion between the lovers before marriage — a custom which strongly marks the inferiority of Pat^an to Christian communities. If the practice be strictly observed, it is a cruel and slavish one ; if connived at, it mixes up falsehood in a rite that should be one of the purest amongst men. In the higher, that is, richer classes, duplicity, artifice, and conni- vance are permitted, and "a match-maker," called usually"a go-between," is indispensable to the formation of every union. Once upon a time, "the man of the moon" was seen in a temple of worship, consulting the marriage-book of fate, by an enamoured suitor, and leaning over a green bag containing the red silken strings for binding the feet of man and wife. Addicted to fatalism like all his countrymen, the lover concluded that the stars should be consulted, and " a go-between" employed for the purpose of so doing, in his contemplated marriage. And this ceremony is religiously observed, and match- makers are so engaged professionally. To them belongs the duty of carrying those fond and secret communications, which young hearts burn to interchange ; and it is their peculiar province to have the omens consulted— the flight of birds observed — the sticks of fate thrown— and the stars appealed to. It is to this latter mode of ascertaining the sincere foundation of a mutual affection, that Chaucer alludes, when he makes one of his most interesting heroines say —
" I followed aye my inclination By virtue of my constellation."
When the stars are propitious, the astrologer is remunerated, and the match-maker is not neglected, especially when she appears at the residence of the young lady, to announce the agreeable tidings, and demand a written promise of marriage from her parents. Upon the signing of the contract, rich gifts are presented by the bridegroom, consisting of gold, silver, silk, sheep, wine and fruits, according to the wealth of the parties. From this moment the lovers may be considered as united ; the youth now puts on a scarlet scarf, a joyous emblem, after which his father places formally on his head, first a bonnet of cloth, next a cap of leather, and lastly a mandarin's or nobleman's chaplet.
:f'*t,
r
r irmvr.
\ #■•* J" K-^ 4 ,,. -^^ i i' M' %
.-» ':,?«
'i't.
1
1
II
-s.'^„>.vf^^«v^,e'^
^
15^^
f^
^-
1
^
\
I
I
^
A MARHIAGF. PUOCESSION . 59
The lady also changes her costume: she braids her hair as matrons do, f'asteiiiiin; it with a pin presented by her lover— her companions now shave her face, and ])erforni other friendly offices for her; after which they sit and weej) with her, until the day slie bids farewell to her parentid home.
On the day appointed by the astrologer, a procession, consisting of a variety of objects, and a vast midtitude of performers, hired for the occasion, attends at the residence of the bride, to conduct her home with every demonstration of joy and con- gratulation : articles of household furniture, chairs of various forms, but all with straight backs, cushions, garments, lanterns, pavilions, and other valuables, are borne by the procession-men. These articles are supposed to be presents from the bridegroom to his bride, but being now a customary display, the whole may be hired from tradesmen whose chief business is to furnish forth all such pageants. Tall frames, resembling the laundress's horse, are borne aloft, from which depend sumptuous female dresses : these are followed by carved chests for containing them, then tables, stands for ornaments, jams and preserves, spirits and wine, fowl in cages, and hogs in penfoids. Geese, from their travelling in flocks together, at a particular season, guided by instinct, have long been considered in China as an emblem of fidelity and conjugal attachment. These animals, therefore, but generally of wood or tin, form a very principal symbol in a marriage pro- cession. Noise being requisite to all entertainments, vociferation is not only tolerated, but invited; and while the bannermen, carrying flags inscribed with mottos, and decorated with the image of the four-footed dragon, exercise their lungs in swelling the joyous chorus, a number of performers on wind instruments and drums, completes the " concordant discord." The sedan-chair of the bride is always a piece of elaborate workmanship, covered with scarlet and gold, and calculated to impress the spectator with the idea that beauty and virtue in the softer sex are indeed much valued in the Chinese empire. Behind the bridal chair, or canopy, servants clad in scarlet liveries attend, followed by a number of sedans, in which the elderly ladies connected with the bridal family are conveyed.
The procession having halted before the gates of the bridegroom, a purifying fire, whose flame points to heaven, is kindled in the entrance of the vestibule, and over it the bride is carried by the matrons who attended her from her home. After the per- formance of this ceremony, she is conducted into an inner chamber, called the " hall of songs," where she partakes of a repast with her husband, for the first and last time of their lives, and then assists him in worshipping the matrimonial goose : on the table is placed "the wine of the decorated candle," from which the bridegroom having made four bows, drinks three times ; and the bride, covering her face with one hand, with the other raising the goblet to her lips as if pledging her husband, completes the "excellent ceremony," the marriage covenant, by tasting the " cup of alliance." The day after the ceremony, the husband and wife attend some place of worship, and visit their parents and relations ; the second day, they receive their young friends and former associates ; and on the third, the bride goes in state to her former home, where an entertainment is provided for a number of bidden guests.
60 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
LANDING-PLACE AT THE Y UK- SHAN.
Upon those mystic waves of thine
Time finds a symbol, and faith sets a sign.
Thus does Time's tlood roll silently away —
Losing the sunshine of its earlier day. Thf. Watkb of Life.
Few scenes in the whole winding water-way of the Kan-kiang present a more picturesque assemblage of objects than the vicinity of the great bridge of Yuk-shan. Here the granite ridges descend from their majestic elevation to human accessibility, and to human purposes also, leaving rocky ledges everywhere along the river-cliffs, where habitations are erected; and there earth may be deposited, or disintegration take place, sufficient to sustain vegetable life. On one bank a toll or custom-house is established, in front of which waves the imperial flag, one of the most decided badges of despotism in existence. The officer of customs is seated before the door, sheltered from the rays of a burning sun by a bamboo umbrella of considerable diameter, beneath the weight of which his slave is sinking ; while the duty of examining each cargo, detecting violators of excise-law, and repairing of pit-pans for the service of his men, is proceeding with alacrity on all sides. Tea, silk, cotton, are conveyed hither in country barges, and with the stream, from the fertile district north of the Melung mountains ; but there is a superstitious reverence attached to the bridge of the "Nine Arches," which leads the Chinaman to fear a change of fortune, should he not change his junk when he arrives within view of this ancient monument.
Famous as is the structure that bestrides the flood at Yuk-shan, the roadway is but a few paces in width ; the architect having only intended it for those who knew " to ride on a bay trotting-horse over four-iiich'd bridges." No idea of terminal or lateral pres- sure ever entered the calm conception of the engineer; he calculated on the strength of the materials, perpendicularity of the piers, adhesive quality of the cement, and obedience of the emperor's subjects, who would not dare to drive a team of cattle, if they possessed any such useful concentration of animal power, along its narrow causeway.
Fauy-tchoui, a celebrated hero of the days of old, constructed this bridge for the safe passage of his army; but, being a sorcerer and a soldier, he declared it to be unlucky to pass under it, in the same barge that arrived at its arches either from the lake, or from the fountain. Possibly the hero might have distrusted the stability of his structure, and been desirous of keeping off heavily-laden junks. However, some years after, a resolute character in the district, Ouan-tche, who conducted an extensive carrying- trade, determined to make experiment of the fact, but, before he entered the arches, repaired to a neighbouring temple, or hall of ancestors. Here he commenced calling on the shades of departed greatness, and bowing most reverently to the idols and pictures ; his trackers at length becoming uneasy at his protracted absence, entered the hall in search of their master, where they beheld him
I
;,■/
\*":.*'''ii#'
^V.'^'^_«!f-.>.t#.,«',i?:..^:'^
ll
i
■M
/
\
i
li fi'
'-TV^
X-
1
X
i
^:
^
J
1
>», Iflf -•• •
I
J
■^\f'^\.^\r\^.
^4
^
'r
M
III
■l^r^
iRif
SILK FARM AT II()0-CltO«'. 61
enacting ko-tows with the utmost diligence, as if lie had only then begun. After some dela}', they ventured to approach, and signify that he had been perhaps longer engaged in worship than was beneficial, or jjrobably intentional ; but in vain — for the spell had bound him, and from that day to that day twelvemonth, Ouan-tche never ceased making ko-tows in the hall of ancestors at the bridge of Yuk-shan. Satisfied of his sin, on being released from enchantment, he acknowledged his fault, and immediately setting to work, built the long line of store-houses on the south bank of the river, which from that ])eriod has served as an entrepot for all goods m transitu.
SILK FARMS AT IIOO-CIIOW.
Behold tliat land so bripht and fair : Whate'er the eye delighteth in is there : Whate'er the teaming earth, the genial heav'n, Can give to man, to them is largely given.
The planting, rearing, and care of the mulberry-tree, the culture of the silk-worm, reeling off the product of the chrysalides, dyeing and winding it, in subsequent stages, besides other operations connected with the manufacture of the great staple of Chin;i, have been both illustrated and described in the preceding volumes.* The accompanying view represents the buildings of a wealthy silk-farmer, situate on a tributary to the imperial canal, in the immediate vicinity of Hoo-chow-foo. This agreeable town is the capital of a department, in the fertile province of Che-keang, and the locaUty is termed by Chinese geographers, " The Silk-Worm District." From the productive, character of the soil, salubrious climate, and ample natural irrigation, the vicinity of Hoo-chow has been long amongst the most favoured places iu Che-keang; and, the surpassing beauty of the scenery on the shores of Lake Tai, has drawn hither many wealthy residents. Historians make the first foundations of Hoo-chow co-eval with the Chun-tsew, or spring and autumn of the Chinese historical sera ; and they write also, that it was then named Koo-ching, and, under the epoch of the three kingdoms, Woo-hing. The antiquity of this flourishing city, however, is indisputable, as indeed the density of its population, high state of cultivation all around, and unbounded riches of the inhabitants, already sufficiently testify.
Seated at the bridge that spans the afflux of the rivulet with the canal, is the well- known farm of Lou, a family settled here for ages, and the events of whose past years have furnished materials for dramas and novels that are highly popular. The buildings are rather comfortable than costly, affording accommodation to the venerable head of the house, with his sons and daughters-in-law, and grand-children. In some instances, (unhappily rare ones,) favourite daughters are permitted to bring their husbands to the paternal roof, reversing thereby the national custom of
• Vide Vol. I., p. 56. Vol. II., p. 8, et seq. Vol. III., p. 25.
III. Q
62 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
marriage. The raw silk, in hanks, is brought from the reeling sheds, to stores adjoining the homestead, and, when a sufficient accumulation is made, placed in broad flat-bot- tomed boats with bamboo canopies, and transported to the canal ; once on that high- way of commerce, its destiny, although in one respect fixed, is in another uncertain, for, it may be bought by a salesman as a simple -speculation, it may be transferred to a home-manufacturer, or forwarded to the markets of Hang-tchou and Chusan. Lou is indifferent as to the object for which it is purchased, or the direction it may take ; his life, a mere exhibition of selfishness, being devoted to the acquisition of wealth, for the sole purpose of surrounding his rural palace with all the luxuries that it can purchase.
It is from this district the silk is obtained for the robes and garments of the inipe- perial family : the richest mandarins often bespeak the crops of a season from the same locality ; and, foreign merchants profess themselves able to distinguish the silk of Hoo- chow-foo from that produced in other parts of China.
A CHINESE CEMETERY.
The sunlight gilds the walls Of kingly sepulchres enwrought with brass, And the long shadow of the cypress falls
Athwart the common grass. Marv Howitt.
It was the custom of the East, and in its earliest ages, to detach every profane object, or relic, or even sentiment, with the utmost scrupulosity, from the sacred shrines of their gods. This practice will be found to have prevailed invariably amongst the ancients — those that observed the law, and those that neither observed nor knew it. Mount Nebo witnessed the last moments of Moses' mission upon earth. Where was Aaron laid at rest ? Abraham was entombed in the cave of Machpelah ; even the holy sepulchre of our Lord was appointed in a garden : nor do idolaters of all classes appear to have been less attentive to this regulation. Whatever may have been the root, origin, or source of the practice, in all Eastern countries cemeteries are detached from places of worship. The Chinese extend the regulation still further, for they strictly prohibit interment within the walls, or suburbs, of any town or city; properly concluding, that the resting-places of the dead should be at a suitable distance from the dwellings of the living. And this example is now beginning to be followed : Parisians have their celebrated Pere la Chaise ; Londoners, their joint-stock cemeteries ; and in some in- stances, ancient tombs have been removed from the choir-wall, to which they seemed to have a prescriptive right, and consigned to spots less holy. — Custom, long use of privi- lege, tacit admission of an indulgence for a lapse of years, produced in the minds of European Christian communities so strong a prejudice in favour of interment, not only in churchyards, but within the sacred temple-walls, that all attempts to induce its aban- donment have proved abortive, until recent years. The Grand Duke of Tuscany was the first European who endeavoured to establish a public cemetery, at a convenient
A CUINESE CEMETERY. (iU
distance from liis city of Florence ; but the attempt to remove the coflins from tlie vaiihs of the different churches, produced an insurrt'itimi amongst his subjects.
Chinese pagodas, Mohammedan minarets, and Irish pillar-towers, are independent structures, removed some little distance from the temple, or mosque, or basilic, because their immediate uses were not sacred. In later ages, the tower was placed on the basilic, and became the pedestal of the tapering spire. Cities of the dead, therefore, are in China separated from those of the living, but furnished with buiklings and structures, and designs if possible more various and fantastic. A barren district, especially if the site be open and agreeable, is chosen for the demesne of the dead ; and here the graves of the poor are seen in countless assemblages, resembling the bar- rows so frequently observed in Asia !Minor, as well as in many parts of Europe. The rich, however, assert their prerogative of distinction even in the grave, by the eccentricity and pomp of their vast mausoleums. Buildings of stone, or brick, often two or more stories in height, distinguish the mandarin's last earthly tenement. The designs are circular, polygonal, or some other regular mathematical figure, and frequently a mural defence of considerable strength effectually prevents intrusion. The crescent is a favourite shape for an enclosure, and midway between its horns is placed a })iHar, or obelisk, or urn, or other sepulchral erection. Paths deeply worn between the many monuments attest the strength of filial piety, the grief of a widowed heart, the immi- tigable character of maternal sorrow ; and along these evidences of a broken sjjirit may hourly be seen the mourning train, passing to perform the last sad rites of sepulture, or to pour forth unavailing sorrow over a spot that just witnessed a similar scene. When the soil permits, trees of a drooping kind are generally planted amongst the tombs. The weeping-willow, and lignum-vitae with its pensile branches, are the usual accompaniments of these sad localities, besides the cypress, always beautifully sombre.
It is customary in China to have coffins prepared for the occupancy of particular tenants, from their youth upwards. The Emperor provides his coffin on the day he ascends the throne. Contributions are given to the friends of the poor, to provide handsome coffins; and the humblest classes desire nothing more than that their remains shall be laid in "the. eternal mansion," in a coffin of cedar, or other odoriferous wood. This point being happily accomplished, the soothsayers are still to be consulted as to the most lovely and suitable spot " in the ten-thousand-years' felicitous ground ;" and it is from the delay which this functionary makes, while pretending to learn the will of the gods, that the unseemly exhibition occurs, of coffins lying exposed upon the ])athway, upon the greensward, or beneath the shelter of a tree. It sometimes hapjjcns that the priests are unable to ascertain by the Sticks of Fate, or otherwise, where precisely the remains should be interred : should the delay be so protracted, that decay actually takes place, then the patient relatives, placing the body on a pile, submit it to com- bustion ; after which they carefully collect the ashes, and deposit them in a funeral urn.
64 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
A DEVOTEE CONSULTING THE STICKS OF FATE.
What fates impose, that men must needs abide ;
It boots not to resist both wind and tide.
Shakspeare.
With less diversity of appliances, less delusive pretexts, than the Greeks and Romans, the Chinese practise upon the credulity of their countrymen, and, by artifices the most contemptible, feed their fondness for fatalism. In every species of situation, public or private, where the three ways meet in any city, town, village, on the summits of the highest mountains, in the recesses of the deepest vales, in the most unfrequented soli- tudes, in the lonely shelter of almost impenetrable forests, in situations as opposite as the passions of one human heart to those of another, temples of fortune or fate are erected, the doors of which stand open for ever, inviting the children of chance to enter, and seek their destiny. Here an altar is raised to this most capricious and purblind goddess, on which vases are arranged, containing flattened pieces of wood resemblin'T the leaves of a Chinese MS. book, or the spatula of a chemist. On these, which are called the Sticks of Fate, certain words are inscribed, having a mysterious connection with each other, and with the contents of a sibylline library, kept in the temple for reference and consultation.
In those deep solitudes, where the paucity of visiters would render the subsistence of a priest upon their bounty precarious, the temple is untenanted ; the Sticks stand in their urn, protected by superstition only ; and the book of fate, like the ladles to our wayside fountains, is enchained to the pillars of the altar. In great thoroughfares there Is always an attendant bonze, a large supply of books of reference, and hideous figures, allegorical of the darkness that interrupts our view into futurity. Occasions of applying to the Sticks of Fate, are sometimes of moment ; such as undertaking a journey, building a house, purchasing a new wife, or burying a deceased relation. The devotee, having paid the bonze in advance, takes up the vase, and continues to shake it with becoming timidity until a pair of Sticks falls out. The priest then examines the inscriptions, and, comparing them with the pages, or paragraphs, or number, in the prophetic volume, declares whether the applicant is likely to succeed in his undertaking. Indefatigable in all the imposts of worldly industry, the Chinaman is reluctant to obey even that very deity whose aid he solicits ; and, should a first or a second throw fail to afford that entire satisfaction which he anticipated, he perseveres until conquered fortune yields the victory. The purity of his gratitude is now displayed by the clear flame of a pile which he immediately kindles, throwing into it pieces of paper, covered with tinfoil ; and it is in these ceremonies that the greatest portion of the tinfoil imported into China from Europe is consumed.
The German mode of ascertaining the will of fate was almost identical with that now practised by the Chinese, and their custom of divining by lots is conducted with a
■** :*t- .^ "^.^'"f
r/\.
II W
&^
'■\^^', i*,
A nEVOTEE CONSULTING THE STICKS OF lATE. 65
degree of superstition not exceeded by any other nation. Tlie branch of a fruit-tree is cut into small pieces, which, being all distinctly marked, are thrown at random on a white garment. If a question of public interest be depending, the priest of the temple performs the ceremony ; if it be nothing offered to the gods, he holds up three times each segment of the twig, and as he marks nine in succession, interprets the decrees of fate.* The peasantry of England sometimes consult lots also, but never with a serious confidence in their guidance. "I remember seeing a company of gleaners, who, being at a loss whither to bend their steps, took a walking-stick, and set it as near the per- pendicular as their skill would allow them, and pursued the direction in which the oracle fell."-|- The Jews were upbraided for a practice not very unlike this — "My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto tliem."J
Oracles were consulted by the Greeks and Romans, and soothsayers, augurs, and attendant priests were attached to Apollo's temples, in several remarkable places of antiquity. To oracular consultation succeeded a belief in the sincerity of the magic art, and many of the most powerful monarchs upon earth disgraced the regal purple, and dishonoured the name of sovereign, by indulging in a practice at once so wicked and unwise. Nero, Heliogabalus, Maxentius, and Julian the Apostate, were all patrons of witchcraft, and believers in the art of divination. Nor does this morbid taste appear to have subsided amongst the rulers of the people who flourished in the middle ages of European history, for we there read of King Eric, who by means of his magic cap could raise and allay tempests, remove himself or others from ])lace to place insensibly, and cause misfortune to his enemies or rivals. In Lapland there once lived a witch, Agaberta, who could transform herself publicly into various shapes, and foretell the fortunes of all who approached her. Simon Magus, Apollonius Tyaneas, Pasetes, Jamblicus, were all famous in the history of witchcraft, and are said to have had power to build castles in the air, represent armies in marching order or in battle-array, com- mand wealth, feed thousands, protect themselves from persecution, reveal secrets, tell what events were going forward in distant countries, and make the dead suddenly reappear on earth. The means by which they gave a character of reality to their performances were secret, consisting of spells, philters, amulets, charms, images, stamped coins, reference to constellations, knots, barbarous sentences, metoposcopy, and cliiro- nianey. By such a variety of instruments, they were enabled to construct the most complicated engines for delusion, imposition, and crime. And so decej)tive, so attractive, have some of these proved amongst the timid and superstitious, that the very existence of the race of gipsies is attributable to the practice of a single one amongst them — palmistry.
* Tacitus de Moribus Gerniaiujnim. t Tradescant Lay. i Hosca iv. 12.
III.
66 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
GREAT TEMPLE AT HONAN.
" But 0, bow vile an idol proves this god !" . . . Twelfth Night.
This is the most famous temple of Buddhism in southern China, and, as its follies and idolatries have been witnessed by many Europeans, the authenticity of the illustration, notwithstanding its extravagant character, will encounter less disbelief. In a vast edifice of wood, and paint, and paper, decorated with countless figures, emblematical of some good or evil passion of the heart ; hung with pictures, miserably executed, yet sufficiently intelligible, representing the trial, and condemnation, and punishments of sinners in the lower world, while no effort is made to express the pleasures of Paradise, — adorned also with gaudy ribbons, splendid china jars, and various inexplicable ornaments — the three great idols of Honan are enthroned. A dais is placed beneath a minor temple or portico, supported by wooden pillars, painted red, and richly gilded ; allegorical images of the past, present, and future, upwards of ten feet in height, are seated within it, and shining in golden majesty ; they strike simply by magnitude, for there is nothing commanding, inter- esting, or terrifying in their aspect. Heen-tsae-foh, (the present,) occupies the centre; Kwo-kue-foh, (the past,) is on his right; and We-lae-foh, (the future,) on his left- These constitute the Triad, or three precious Buddhas, an ancient object of adoration amongst the Chinese. Before each colossus stands an altar loaded with offerings, and furnished with cups, jars, vases, and vessels for holding joss-sticks, and incense, and flowers, and perfume. Tinfoil is employed in profusion; pastiles are continually emitting fragrance ; and the flame of an ever-burning lamp represents the inextinguishable nature of Buddhas' rule over mankind. A tablet above the idols' throne is inscribed with Chinese characters that may be interpreted, " The great, powerful, and precious palace."
The most remarkable features, both of Honan temple, and the creed to which it is devoted, having been amply detailed in the preceding pages,* it will be sufficient to add in this place those reflections only which present themselves with peculiar obvious- ness. Similarity between the ceremonies, of the early Christian church of Europe, and the Buddhists temple of China, is so remarkable, that none can be so hardy as to deny it; and the parallels that maybe instituted between the precepts of Christianity and those of Buddhism, afford encouragement to missionary enterprise. In the moral works of Confucius (Isaiah), there is a passage, plainly declaring, that an individual was to arise in the West, uniting in his person the offices of king, priest, and prophet, (Christ,) ; that he should be attended by a female, whom the Chinese call "the mother of heaven," (the Virgin Mary) ; that at the age of twelve years he should withdraw from public life, but return again afterwards, and preach the metempsychosis, (the Resurrection from the dead) ; that having founded his religion he was to be transformed, (the Ascension,) into the god Fo, one person but three forms, (the Trinity) ; and this is the Triad, now represented by the three golden Buddhas. It would not be difficult to pursue the analogy further.
• Vol. I., p. 20, 37, 66, 68. Vol. H., p. 48, 52.
f^'-
•vn
^
/
I.
1
^
^
Vv:
N;:
ii'irffiai:iriiii!iiii|llif
|
•; » |
~i |
|
|
'', f^ |
■Ki |
|
|
5'^ |
^^ |
|
|
iM |
||
|
■■•'1 1 ■(i'i 1 |
1 Is |
|
|
\ |
.^ |
4 j^ |
\V ^
1^
1^
i
m
-<
I
/
m^l
-'^-
THE EMPEROR TAOU-KWAXG. 07
THE EMPEROR TAOU - KWANG REVIEWL\G HIS GUARDS,
PALACE OF PEKING.
The groves of polish'd spears, the targets bound With circling gold, the shining helms around Against the sun with full reflection play, Kival bis light, and shed a second day.
The Henkiade.
Political feeling, unavoidable discontent amongst a certain portion of the governed, and a growing desire for extended freedom, combine in exposing the imperial throne to daily danger. A Tartar corps, like the Swiss guard of Paris in times gone by, forms the chiefest protection against treachery or surprise ; and these military men are treated with a marked distinction by their royal master. Although their fidelity has never been impeached, and the rays of imperial favour shine brightly on them, the least abuse of power on their part' would endanger their existence. Of this fact, the fate of the Janissaries at Constantinople, and of the Mamelukes at Cairo, presents an appalling argument, derived from the analogy of despotic governments.
In the court of the Three Halls, in the palace at Peking, an annual review of the Tartar guards is held, by the emperor in person, as the new year opens. Along the embattled terrace in front of the extended colonnades, the great officers of the palace are ranged ; while Taou-kwang, seated on the throne, and surrounded by his ministers, looks complacently down upon the brave defenders of the yellow standard.
These Tartar lifeguards might possibly display the most courageous bearing, if called to defend their monarch's crown ; but, their mode of life, and imperfect discipline, do not atford much favourable promise. Although it is a practice of the Ping-poo, a military tribunal, to institute comparisons between their great officers, and the most ferocious kinds of animals ; recommending that they should be " tigers in their fierce deportment ;' although they deck their troops with skins of the lion and the tiger, and paint their shields with the most hideous devices ; yet is their uniform but a mere meretricious costume, and their discipline a most entire mockery of the military art
The full uniform of a Tartar officer on a field-day, or occasion of review, is compli- cated and costly, but not compact. A polished helmet, resembling an inverted cone, and ending in a crest about eight inches above the head, is adorned with gold and with coloured hair ; a robe of blue or purple silk, and studded with gilt buttons, envelopes the person, and descends to the boots, which are of black satin ; while the handles of their swords and horns of their bows, and stocks of their match-locks glitter with precious gems. The dress of the privates is less gorgeous, but equally fantastic; their robes are of stuff striped in imitation of tiger-skin, their cap or helmet lofty, and shaped as a tiger's head; and, on their round
66 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
sliields of bamboo cane are raised devices, either a dragon's figure, or a tiger's head. No duty, however, seems to be imposed on the imperial guard, beyond the watchful care of their august master; they are permitted to pursue commercial avocations, relieving each other in their duty at the palace ; but they reside always within the Tartar city, which is distinct, and separated by a lofty wall from the Chinese section of Peking. The ceremony of a review within the Imperial palace is necessarily imposing; the costume, if not suited to European taste, is still rich and brilliant; the banners are always numerous and of the most gaudy colours, while palanquins, lanterns, dragons, and other devices, carried by the standard-bearers, confer a character of sumptuousness, in which the Chinese falsely imagine that true nobility consists. None but the imperial band is allowed to perform: it includes kettle-drums and gongs of large diameter, wind instruments shaped like dragons, serpents, and fish, besides an unlimited number of clarionets and lutes.
END OF VOL. III.
FISHER, SON, & CO.. CA,\TON.PBrSS. LONDON.
University ol Calitornia SOUTHERN "E^^'O^N,^^:;^ "cVSSsS
from whlcMtwasborrowed^
"MJ*J»_
4WKIV1AR31 lOQS T-^'* MAR 1 Z 1995
♦. ^
S«;
W'^
S:^ i
f*.,
|
. |
nffi^^lH '' |
|
|
V... J. |
||
|
:-/ |
^» • |
|
|
• ■>« |
v?%.^.^;^s^:it^i'«^a=
:.AJ *? >Hi -if '^■f? 'iT .'
i**?' '«*? "Si.
fVf^ ?f C' 'l""^
ii.r#
^\ ' A>^,-" -4r /;i.r
m.f? .^*-
«w; .«!!< -«
./^^■^
\^%^:^^,M
.V .,1 ». ... .^^,„
* ' I * -i
■i^,?5 i^.* -L.
;^- ' f t'li- i'^
■Bii
■'%:'yx^'^
|
n |
|
|
d |
i |
|
^^■H |
''£%M |
f:f^
«>. 'V f,^ .%' !iV..,, -S-
-^ ..*..!ll.
^"m
f\M^
M. .*. * ^>\ 'M'
:».*
'U,m¥
^'' ■«;:
i^A