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DESTROYING TUE CHRYSALIDES. 97
very edge of the cliff; the spot he stands on, and the circular hollow all around 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-AIun are familiarly acquainted. They boast of
having witnessed its lustre in the valley of mist, and compare its verdure to the Laii,
the plant from which the rich colour employed in dyeing is extracted.
DESTROYING THE CHRYSALIDES, AND WINDING OFF THE COCOONS.
It has been shown, with a sufficient degree of certainty, that the invention of silk
manufacture originated with the Chinese ;* their authors assert, that from the earliest
period the Son of Heaven himself (the emperor) directed the plough ; the empress planted
the mulberry-tree — examples which had the most happy effect upon their subjects. An
Imperial treatise on "Husbandry and Weaving," gives minute instructions for the culture
of rice, from the first ploughing of the ground, to the ultimate packing of the grain;
and is equally circumstantial in detailing the process to be observed from planting the
mulberry to weaving the silk. The Chinese are utilitarians ; laws for the promotion of any
means, whereby food and clothing, the principal necessaries of life, might be obtained
with more facility, of superior quality, and in greater abundance, would necessarily have
become popular amongst them, and the author, or inventor, have secured the lasting reve-
rence of the nation. But, it is less than questionable, whether these principles add to their
happiness here; it is perfectly certain that they cloud their prospects of an hereafter.
Possessing outward placidity of manner, for the purposes of conciliation and deceit,
they are known to be bard-hearted and unforgiving. As a people, they are without
virtue, deep feeling, or dignity of character; toiling for food like inferior animals.
Their total absence of sentiment or delicacy, as well as their disgusting cupidity, were
glaringly obvious in the late Chinese war. Our fleet having destroyed the forts of
Amoy, and killed hundreds of their count'-ymen, scarcely had tlia firing ceased, when
the small trader-boats were alongside our men-of-war, with dealers otfering fruits, fowl,
rice, and other articles of fresh food, for sale to our men, so recently their mortal enemies.
It is hardly possible to imagine a fact mere derogatory to national, more disreputable
to individual character.
In the preparation of clothing^or rather of a superior description, silk cloth —
the Chinese have attained a remarkable degree of excellence. Commencing with
the mulberry, the food which supports the extraordinary insect from which the
original material is derived, they bestow the most tedious, yet profitable care, upon every
step in the process, from its opening to its close. The provinces of Secliwen,
Hovv-quaug, Kiang-si, and Che-kiang, traversed by the thirtieth parallel of latitude,
are all adapted to the growth of the mulberry ; but it is in the beautiful valleys
• Inlf, p. 44.
\oi-. I. 2 b
98 DESTROYING THE CHRVSALIDES, AND WINDING OFF THE COCOONS.
and fertile plains of the latter that the worms are reared most successfully, and the
finest silk obtained. Woollen clothing was generally worn until the reigii of Ouen-ti, of
the Han dynasty, from which period silk has been the most esteemed, and constitutes
the dress now most prevalent amongst all the opulent classes. The produce of Che-
kiang, and of the adjoining silk district of Kiang-nan, is the most valuable, bringing, in
the Canton market, double the price of that produced elsewhere, and being preferred by
the English manufacturer to the cultures of India, Turkey, or Italy.
As the end of cultivation in mulberry gardening is the production of the greatest
quantity of young and tender leaves, at the total sacrifice of the fruit, the trees are
never allowed to exceed a regulated height and age. The branches are pruned off,
and the parent tree headed down; leaves from the young scions being found to be
more tender, more delicate in their texture, and more nutritious, than the coarse leaves
produced upon older branches. Although there are many species of the genus 3Iorus,
two only are distinguished in the East as supplying food for the silkworm ; the black,
or common, which is a native of Ital}', and flourishes also in England ; and the ivhite,
which is indigenous to China; the Persians, however, use both species. The red mul-
berry is a native of America, where it is much esteemed for the quality of its timber, and
employed for knees in shipbuilding. The Morus Alba is propagated from seed, by
layers, or from cuttings; plants from seeds, in this, as in most other species, will be found
to be more health}', and therefore preferable, although more disposed to be fruitful.
Suitable soil is pi-epared by trenching, mixing it with ashes and river-mud, and making
the compound moist and loamy; it is thrown up into beds or ridges, about a foot in
height, and in these the plants are set, generally in the quincunx form, and at convenient
distances. The intervals between the rows serve as conduits for water, occasionally ; but
are uniformly occupied with rice, millet, or pulse of some kind, so that not a square foot of
land is lost to either landlord or tenant. Various stratagems are employed for the destruc-
tion or prevention of insects; and, in applying essential oils, as well as in gathering the
leaves, double ladders are always used, the trees being too slender to sustain any great
weight or pressure. Gathering of the leaves, the lungs of a tree, necessarily superinduces
disease, which the cultivator endeavours most artfully to relieve, or to remedy, by
pruning, lopping, and cutting out old wood. When these appliances all fail, and the
inveteracy of the canker baffles the skill of the physician — when the tree shows a
greater tendency to the production of fruit, and a less to that of delicate leaves, it is
removed altouother, and its place supplied by a healthy young plant from the nursery.
The silk-worm (Bombyx) of the genus Phaltenti, and by entomologists called
"PhalcEiia /jombt/x mori,' is originally a native of China. From the egg (about tlie size
of a pin's head) when fostered by a genial warmth, proceeds a minute dark-coloured
worm, that casts its skin three or four times, according to the variety of the species, in
its progress to full-grown existence and to a caterpillar form. It now acquires a whitish
colour, speckled with blue or yellow, ceases to feed, and commences those labours,
which have rendered it so famous in natural and in commercial historj'. On the first day
of its caterpillar-life, that is, about the thirtieth day of its entire existence, the insect
CHINA ILLUSTRATED. 99
puts forth, through two apertures in its nose, a viscid secretion, hy which it becomes
attached to the surface on which nature or art may have placed it ; on the second, it
forms, by means of duphcate filaments, proceeding through these nasal foramiita, a
ball of an ovoid shape around itself, as a shield against hostile insects, and against a
frigid atmosphere; and, on the third day, this cocoon completely conceals the little
labourer from view.
At the expiration of about ten days, its insect toils being completed, and the suste-
nance previously laid up exhausted, the caterpillar changes into the chrysalis or
nymph state, and remains for some days longer, awaiting another transformation. In the
natural state, when the time lias been fulfilled, and the piipu completely metamorphosed,
the prisoner, guided by instinct, cuts through the silken barrier of the cocoon, and
comes forth a new creature, the destined inhabitant of a new sphere, and, being furnished
with limbs, antennaj, and wings, takes flight towards the regions of Ilini that made him
so wonderfully. In a state of culture, none of course are permitted to destroy their
cocoons, save those that are to be pi-eserved for the continuation of the species ; and
these awelias, or moths, are carefully brought together, and placed on soft cloth or
other proper surface, to deposit their eggs. There is a viscous liquid around the eggs,
w hich causes an adherence to the paper, or cloth, or leaf, on which they are laid ; but
they are easily released from this encumbrance by dipping them in water and wiping
them dry.
Nothing is more necessary to be guarded against in the rearing of silk-worms than
the effects of noise and cold ; a sudden shout, the bark of a dog, even a loud burst ot
laughter, has been known to have destroyed whole trays of worms; and entire broods
perish in thunder-storms. The utmost vigilance, therefore, is practised in keeping off
visitors or intruders from the sheds, which are always constructed in a remote situation.
It is this necessity for the formation of an artificial temperature that creates the great
difficulty of rearing silk-worms in Europe. About 35° of Fahrenheit is the most
suitable for the preservation of the ovum; but there is considerable risk attending any
increase, lest the process of incubation may be accelerated so rapidly as to precede the
moment when the mulberry leaf shall have reached its edible age. In the silk-
nursing provinces of Ciiina, the mean temperature, according to the same description of
thermometer, from the first of October to the first of November, is about 55° at sun-rise,
and G.')° at noon, with an atmospheie uniformly clear and trantpiil; and seldom, at any
season, exceeding 85°, the highest temperature to wiiich the worm may with safety be
exposed. Here then, evidently, is the native country of this extraordinary insect, where
the process of incubation proceeds simultaneously with the growth of the oidy species
of food on which it can subsist.
Much attention is given by the Americans of the United States to the culture of
the silk-worm and the establishment of silk manufactories, and this brancli of industry is
rajiidly spreading amongst tiicm. The niorns mnlticaulis, on the leaves of which they
feed the worms, appears to thrive luxuriantly in most of the States ; and the government
seem so intent upon at least supplying the home consumption of this valuable article of
100 DESTROYING THE CHRYSALIDES, AND WINDING OFF THE COCOONS.
commerce, that twelve of the States pay a handsome bounty for the production of
cocoons, or of the raw silk. In the year 1842, upwards of 30,000 pounds of silk were
obtained from the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania,
Tennessee, and Ohio alone ; but it is fully ascertained, that from the Southern border
of the Union, up to the 44th degree of latitude, the climate is admirably suited to the
culture of silk. Success in rearing the silkworm has naturally encouraged the application
of machinery in the preparation and manufacture of the filaments ; and the inventions for
reeling, spinning, and weaving silk into ribands, vestings, damaslj, &c., deposited in
the National Gallery and Patent Office of the Republic, are equal in ingenuity to any
that can be shown in China or in Europe. The annual value of silk staffs imported
into the United States exceeds 20,000,000 of dollars ; the silk annually manufactured
in France is valued at 25,000,000, and of Prussia at 4,500,000. It has been calculated
that if one person in one hundred of the States' population were to produce annually
one hundred pounds of raw silk, the yearly value of such product would be double
that of the cotton now exported, and nine times the worth of the exported tobacco.
This estimate is not unreasonable as regards the quantity of silk that might be obtained
by the industry of the people, for, the Lombardo- Venetians, only four millions of souls,
have raised and shipped, in a single year, six million pounds of silk : the American
conclusion, as to value, is, of course, fallacious, because when they are able to raise
silk enough to throw Venetian produce on the general market, the price would fall in
proportion.
Hlndoostan is the native country of several species of moths, resembling in habits the
common silk-worm ; most of them, however, live wild, and in this state have hitherto
proved so productive, that the Hindoos have not thought it necessary to nurse them.
The Joree worm, of Assam, feeds on the pipul tree; the Saturnia, including several
species, lives on the hair-tree leaf; this is the largest moth known, measuring ten
inches between the tips of its wings ; and its cocoons, the size of a hen's egg, are brought
in quantities to Bhagelpoor and Calcutta. One species, the Eria, which lives on the
palma-christl leaves, is domesticated in India; while another, of the Saturnia tribe, is
wholly neglected by the Assamese.
Silk has been obtained from the spider's web, and gloves, made of this strong, glossy,
and beautiful material, were presented both to the Royal Society of London, and the
Academy at Paris, by Monsieur Bon. It was soon perceived, however, that great
difficulty must attend any attempts to appease the voracity, or calm the inquietude,
of the spider. It was almost impossible to rear them in any considerable quantities;
and when a number, at the expenditure of much time, trouble, and anxiety, were brought
together, unless they had an ample supply of flies to prey on, they quickly destroyed
each other.
DYEING AND WINDING SILK. 101
DYEING AND WINDING SILK.
Hour after lioiir the growijig line extends,
Nur time nor circuiiistanee controls its ends ;
Soft cords of silk tlie whirling spoles reveal,
If smiling fortune turn the giddy wheel.
H.wiNG destroj'ed the clinsalides, and wound off the prodnce in its primitive state,
from the cocoons destined for filature, the mere husbandr}' 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 tendence of the
magnanicre. Sometimes the patriarch of the family purchases cocoons, by which the
risk of rearing is avoided, and fills up his daughter's leisure time with the process of
filature. There are, of course, some nurseries or factories, where silk is jnepared
expressly for exportation, but in general the manufacture is for home-consumption. The
Chinese dislike foreigners, from jiractice and national insiitutcs, 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 ami in
Rome.
Time, intcrcoiu'se, letters, religion, are gradually working such a revolution in the
social condition of this old empire, that the imperialists are beguinmg to understand
the meanmg 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, tor 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
reelin<T the raw silk that has been brought from the magnanicre, or piu-chased for
filature from the feeders. From the reelcrs' verandas, the material is consigned to
those of the washers, and dyers, and bleachers, successively.
Little celebrated for integrity, the total forgctfulness 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 arc sometimes of early date, originating in
VOL. I. 2 c
102 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
the impurity of the 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, carded, and
spun like cotton. These three species, foi-med 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, french-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 species being rare, the larger portion of their exports retains its native
bright and beautiful yellow.
SOWING RICE, AT bOO-CHOW-FOO. 103
SOWING RICE, AT SO 0- C II W -F 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. HoiiACS.
It is to the productiveness of the aryza saliva, a simple grass, on which nature has
conferred the peculiar 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, unquestionably,
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 conveys. 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 jjopulation, and
chief export of the maritime ; there, the date of its introduction, 1()97, 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 jjartial, 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 Ratavians 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 jicrvades the German
states, where, in the southern latitudes, from long culture, it has acquired a remarkable
• It is called in .\rabic, nruz ; Hindoosliin, chaul : Latin, oryza : Italian, riso ; French, riz.
lot CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
degree of hardines?, 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-
faii, morning rice, means breakfast; and by ounn-fan, 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 tlie Malabar coast, as
well as in the island of Batavia, the ardent spirit called i-ack, 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 distillatioit from rice, was sold in every little public-house in China.
Inebriety was not the only deplorable coriscquence sup])osed 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 Kgypt, 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 initil the reign of the Caliphs, when it was
brought thither from the East. If this disease predominate in Ciiina, 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 oflal uniformly
• Carolina rice contains— of starch, 85,07 ; of gluten, 3 60 ; of gnm, 0.71 ; of unrrystiillizable sugar, 0,29;
of colourless fat, 0.13; of vcgetaUe fibre, 4.8 ; of salts with lime bases, 0.4 ; and of water, 5.0.
SOWING RICE, AT SOO-CHOW-FOO. ] 05
collected near each entrance, and, lastly, from the very frequent practice of bathing the
face with warm water.
The benefits and the blessings of such a staff of life as this readily-raised crop, suffer
no slight drawback, from its precarious character; for, any failure, however slight, is
attended with the most deplorable consequences. AVhere population is so amazingly
crowded, subdivision of land practised to so great 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, therefore,
famine visits and wastes the 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 the 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 of the soil is bound to look parentally to tlic 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-
Yerbially ingenious, and Chinese husbandry peculiarly interesting.
VOL. I.
2d
106 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
TRANSPLANTING RICE.
So when a peasant to his garden biings
Soft rills of water from the bubbling springs,
Swift as the rolling pebbles down the hills,
Louder and louder purl ihe falling rills ;
Before him scattering they prevent his pains,
And shine in mazy wanderings o'er the plains.
HOiMER.
RiCE-grounds consist of neatly enclosed spaces, the clay banks surrounding them seldoui
exceeding two feet in height. The primary operation of tillage-ploughing is performed
with a verv 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 barrow
with wooden teeth over the surface, after which the earth is deemed sufficiently 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 sheot of water is let in 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 trans[)lanting ])erformed 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 diff'used 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 thisuecessary operatiouofirrigating rice-
grounds. In one of the most lab jrius 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 Kice at Soo-chow-foo," p. 103 preceding
TRANSPLANTING RICE. . 107
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 bucket 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 lorger
arm, it is soon raised, and discharged into the reservoir. How exactly is the Chinese
process of irrigation described in the book of Numbers — " He 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 s,talk ranges from one to six feet; it is annual, erect, simple, round, and
jointed: the leaves are large, Srm, 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, differing 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 toothed reaping-hook, the crop is soon
cut down on a surface, now rendered perfectly dry by evaporation ar.d absorption ;
after which the bundles are removed, in frames suspended at the extremities of
a bamboo pole, the national mode of carrving, to the threshing apparatus, of whttever
kind it may be. The edge of a plank, the margin of a large tub, with a screen drawn
up behind thein, 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 manngement of this primitive implement of hus-
bandry : in China, 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, a])pears 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 c«ly\ ip a bivalvular uniflorous glume ; the corolla bivnlvilar, neatly equal, and adhering to the seed.
108 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 be 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 Ansjlo-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, witli cards, with hazards far unfit,
With shuttlecocks mis-seeming manly wit.
HuBBABD'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-
PLAYING AT SHUTTLECOCK WITH THE FEET. 109
rjilled dexterity in the arts of deception ; tumblers, vaulters, and inerr)'-andrews,
exhibit feats in which the strength 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 propen-
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 multiplied 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 a height as the Chinese. Their delicate, light, yet durable
paper, their pliant and fissile bamboo, invite experimentalists in this kind of aiiros-
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 t^ie purpose 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 numl)er is gradually reduced to one ; this
one is, of course, declared to be the winner of the stakes, or the pool, or tlie object
played for, whatever it may happen to have been.
VOL. I.
2 K
no
CHINA ILLUSTRATE©.
ENTRANCE TO THE HOAXG-IiO, OR YELLOW RIVER.
" But ere tbe miiifjlmg bouiuis have far been passed
Turbid Hoang-ho rolls bis power along
In sullen billows, murmuring and vast,
So noted ancient roundelays among "
The Chinese cany ihe 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 vvitliin the imperial confines, or in tlie 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 fertility is diffused 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 tv\o spacious lakes, Tcharing and Oring, at Sing-suh-bae, in the lofty
mountains of 'i'hibet, 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 distancp, after which they
enter the Chinese province of Shan-tse, and the stream, remaining parallel in its course
for some hundred miles vcith the Great Wall, at length intersects that celebrated work
in the twenty-ninth degree of latitude, and takes a northern direction for upwards of
four hundred additional miles. Hence '■'■ vires acqitiril eiaido" 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 ihe 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
afflux 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 efBux of
ENTKANCE TO THE HOANG-HO. [\l
Lake Hong-tse, and at the precise spot where the canal locks into the river, the velocity
of the current is seldom less than four miles an liour, 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, v.hich, when com-
pact and formed into a brick, was equal to three solid inches. Hence it follows, that
the quantity of water w-hich 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 wliich
cups of wine, oil, tea, rice, flour, and salt, are ranged in order on the forecastle. The
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
slialt tliou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from tliy meat
offering." Ovid speaks of the " }>uri lucidu mica salts" amongst the oblations of the
primitive Italians; and Horace, of the " salioife mica" amongst the peace oftcrings 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 tliat it s-hmild
be so much valued, and employed consequently in offerings, cither 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 sularimii, the yx'icQ 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 friendshii), or at least a ground of obligation.^
• Wlion a Cliinamnii wishes to deny tlic possibility of an event, be «omctimes expresses bis incredulity by
the well known proverb, " that it will come tn pass so soon as the YdijW river becomes dear.'
t So, also, the Levitical law prescribes, that "the priest shall bring it (the fowl) unto the altnr, and wring
off its head, and hum it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar, and
he shall jiluck away his crop with the feathers, and cast it beside the altar."
\ When the Duke of Wellington, (Sir Arthur WfUcslcy,) was stationed at Hastings, immediately after Ins
return from India, a friend expressed his surprise that the general, who had led so many thousands to victory.
112 CHINA ILLUSTitATED.
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 vi'ith 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 offal 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 CIIING-TSWE-TSEE, OR HARVEST-MOON.
" Tlie harvest-treasures all
Now gathered in, beyond the reach of storms,
Secure the swain ; the circling I'ence 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 offered, as if the one great atonement had neither occurred, nor
been promulgated ; and the earliest practices of ignorance are observed with a tenacity
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. " T am mimmukwaUak," replied Sir Arthur,
"as we say in the East ; that is, I have eat the kings salt, and therefore I conceive it to be my duty to serve,
with unhesitating zeal and cheerfulness, wlien and wherever the I'.ing and his government may think proper to
employ me." — Wright's Life and Campaigns of Wellington, vol. i. p. 97.
SACRIFICE OF THE HARVEST-MOON. 113
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 liarvest,
can scarcely fail to obtain from man in every state of his existence, from his 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 engaged, with a sort of Mussulmar scrupulousness, 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 rejiresent rustic deities,
local genii, tutelar gods of agriculture, horticulture, and rural occupations; these
unsightly effigies 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-Bood, 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 Kuropo, and in motive and principle precisely identical. When the harvest
is completely ended, or rather when the harvest-moon is at the full, forgetting
" Ttiat, witli to-morrow's still, tlu?ir anniuil 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," wliiie the fanuly, 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 image
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 contemptible mockery of intelligence
and power, the mother of the family presents herself, holding in her apron such produce
VOL. I. 2 F
114 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
and grain as she deeuis most suitable for a first-fruits offering. Behind and beside her,
on a mat spread out before the rustic temple, her husband and children attend, and
second her entreaties that the offering 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 affecting 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.
THE WESTERN GATE OF PEKING. ]];
THE WESTERN GATE OF PEKING.
" They bring the varied stores from east 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 of Damascus.
Peking, or the Northern Court,* the capital of thv 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-anjjled 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, Khig-fchhiiig, which is a perfect square, was founded
by the Mantchoos, is inhabited by Tartars exclusively, and includes the imperial palace :
while the southern, Lao-tchhiug, or fVdi-lo-tchliiug, 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 cf 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, z.nA the interval afterwards filled up with
earth. The summit between the parapets is levelled, floored with tiles, and access to it
iitforled 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 which history supplies parallels in Heptapolis 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 tiiis defence simply a separation between the iidiabitants, 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 culled to distinguish it from Nanking, the Southern Court; it is also designated " (he City of ilia
Nine Gates."
116 CHIN;i ILLUSTRATED.
For more complete security and defence, the walls are doubled at each principat
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 openings 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
exliibited in front of the houses. Above the low j)r<)ji'cting 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
• As in 15c:uirimris Castle, Nortli Wale*
THE WESTERN GATE OF PEKING. J 17
vender. To enhance this record, and attract attention, each motto is generally discovered
through the flappings and flauntings of streamers, and flags, and ribhons 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 fancy-fair, rather than that of an established commercial
emporium: the gables, sides, door-posts, and roofs of the houses, are adorned with
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 Tchhaiii/iigaii-
kial, 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, composed
of operatives in every department of active life — tinkers, 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 oflS-
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 jialariquins
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
fVestern Mountains, 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 ])atronage 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 mevi-
tably occasion inconvenience, if not injury, to many of its members : — wlienover 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 him ; and these remorse-
less satellites, armed with heavy whips, perform their duty witli a fidelity of the most
VOL. I. 2 G
1]8 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 thiong 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, Hutitious 6ame.
Like liis, my love, be thy reward,
But not tliy hapless late the same."
BvRON— .S/(i«;as, wilh the Poems of Camoens.
Amongst the many interesting memorials in the vicinity of Macao, is the cave or grotto
of Camoens, 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 e.\ultingly informed that "here
Camoens wrote the greater portion of his Lusiad."*
Louis de Camoens 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 bis History in an alcove in the grounds of York House at Twickenham.
THE GEOTTO OF CAMOENS, MACAO. Jjg
tomb was honoured with the laurel-wreath that should have adorned his temples. The son
of a ship-captain, and born at Lisbon about the year 1524, he was placed at tlie college of
Coimbra; from which he returned, after passing the required time, to his native citv-
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 India in the year 1553,
and landed at Goa, near to the spot where his father perished by shipwreck only three
years after. At first he was incited to deeds of glory by the example of liis 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 Camiiens,
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 imbodiinent of liis great conceptions, and, selecting
Vasco de Gama's Indian expedition as the subject, Camiiens devoted tlie 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? C"pe of Good Hope. Tlic 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 bo 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 n 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, ni Portugal, are enraptured by its magic, and learn by heart, and sin
favourite stanzas from it. Genuine patriotism pervades every line of this great i)0cni, and
the national glory of the Portuguese is emblazoned in every form, in all the colours which
120
CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
invention was capable of lending. It is for these reasons that the poetry of Camoens
mvist ever be read with enthusiasm by his own countrymen, and remembered with
all the tenar'ity of wliich memory is capable.
And now, when youth had shed its bloom, and even the vigour of manhood was
beginning to decay, for the first tiune 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 Camoens followed him, and at the mouth of the
river Mechon, in Cochiu-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 Ale.xandria to his galley that was lying in the haibour. 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 Camiiens, in losing his prince, lost every thing: for, with his
death, the royal family, 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 neylect of literary worth, and the
ingratitude of mankind to public benefactors. UnwiUiiig 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 s])lendid
monument was erected to his memory ; and his works have since been translated into
every European language.
TUE CATARACT OP SHIH-TAN. 121
THE CATARACT OF SHIH-TAN.
PROVINCE OF KIANG-NAN.
He glorieth in his might alone,
A strong existence hurrying on
III conscious joy of power and speed,
And with tlie great sun doth he play
At rainbows with his living spray. Rhaiadr Du
The western parts of Kiang-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 chmate is
particularly humid, its whole 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 beings supposed to be possessed of supernatural powers, which
they exhibit by the use of spells, cabalistic terms, charms, characters, images, amulets,
ligatures, 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 hills, 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 wealtliy
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.
VOL. I. 2 H
122 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
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 IMPERIAL PALACE, PEKING.
Fatigued with form's oppressive laws,
When 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 tell.
RuKAL Elegance.
There are two distinct cities within the walls of Peking, one occupied by Ciiinese, 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.
GARDENS OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE. 123
The inner surface of the euclosure is varied by the construction of artificial moun-
tains, the excavation of lakes with little islands floating on their tranquil bosoms, and
running 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 clusters of trees, and masses of 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 unnecessary,
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 hungr}', 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-lie. 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 i)rivilegcd wung, entered
the palace, and seized the billet of his brother's nomination. Before the number 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 ])rince actually nominated. Seizing the sceptre,
he ordered his brother to be arrested and imprisoned, in a building which is yet stand-
ing, about four miles north of Peking, and there he detained him till death closed
his melancholy stoiy.
In the year 1813, and on the 18th of October, a formidable body of conspirators
attacked the ])alace, during the cm])eror's absence at the thermal springs of Je-ho, but
being gallantly resisted by tiie 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 pmiuence in the accompau\ ing illustration, stands a nionutnent
of singular structure, hut ofslill more singular history ; it was the last scene of the exist-
ence of tiiat race of emperors wiio 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 luxtu-y of the court; and of that indolence which, more
124 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, lie 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 offspring from the danger of dishonour, stabbed his only
daughter, and then terminated his own life with a fatal nooso, 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, CANTON.
Your bonnet to it's right use, —
Tis for the head.
Hamlet.
A cap-vendeh's establishment is not unfrequently a scene of gossiping, — a fashionable
lounge, a rendezvous of those whose badge is idlneess. 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 easement. 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 impro-
tected against either sun or rain, employing, occasionally, the skirt of the robes as a sub-
stitute. Indeed, their antique chevelurc -dffordcd them most ample protection against the
CLOSE OP THE ATTACK ON CHAPOO. '[35
inclemency of the season, and to an economic people possessed 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 tyranny used its
triumph so ignobly, that the conquered were compelled to shave the head in future,
reserving only one lengthened lock, depending from the crown, — the badge of their
subjection.
Should the season prove intensely sultry, the tapering queue 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 up 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 yu, 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 turned-up edsic. 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 arc 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, und 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 must undergo the legal change.
CLOSE OF THE ATTACK ON CIIAPOO.
" Hark tlie fierce music on the wind, the atabal, tlie pong,
The stfrn avenger is at hand, — he has not tarried long."
Chapoo, on the Gulf of Hang-chow, owes all its commercial im])ortance 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 rapidly
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 the
city and suburbs of Chapoo, the surface, for many miles in every direction, is low, flat,
VOL. I. 2 I
126 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
and intersected by canals, some of which extend to the great city of Hangchow
Althougli tiie 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 b«
entered by vessels of large burden.
The city is spacious, walled, with suburbs equal in extent to the enceinte 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 1,300 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. Wiiile the British forces were ascending and forming
on the hills, the ships 'of war opened upon the fortifications on shore, vfhich 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 vihole 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
uiulcrstood 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 'I'omlinson 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 " Ilougoumont" of the day with all their national heroism, they were yet
AN ITINERANT BARBER.
127
unable to propitiate the fortune of war, and after the Colonel and his two lieutenants
had been severely wounded, the position was again abandoned. What manly darinc
could etfect had now been accomplished by these brave Tartar soldiers, as well as by
their equally gallant enemies ; but military skill, scientific advantages, and superior
discipline, being at length called in, their fate was sealed. Colonel Knowles now
came up with the shells and rocliets, 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
6,500 regular troops and 1,700 Tartars, abandoned the city; tiie 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 opera-
tions been a little more rapid, it is possible that many of those miserable events
might have been prevented, for if the citizens had but stayed to witness the gene-
rosity with which our brave army exercised their power, indignation would thenceforth
have pointed at the real autliors 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 BARBER.
" r the long queue and tonsure bald we trace
TLe Tartar triumph — the Chinese disgrace."
Conquest of Cathay.
The ancient Chinese wore the hair long, a practice the aborigines of most countries are
observed to follow, and only discontinued ii upon compulsion. While they were per-
mitted by their Tartar conquerors to retain their religion and laws, they were obliged, as
a badge of servitude, to shave tiie 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 tiie magistrates.
128 CHINA ILLUSTRATEB.
Not only the head but the whole of the face is to be passed under the razor, so that
no Chinaman 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 a long 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
from 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 prof'essois 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 when 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.
SCENE IN THE SUBURBS OF TING-HAE. 129
SCENE IN THE SUBURBS OF TING-HAE.
" Here may be seen, in bloodless pomp array'd,
The pasteboard triumph and the cavalcade :
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, aneientj and commercial city, abounds in characters eve
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 the 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
.fferings 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 otferings 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 that
measures the zeal of the ])crformer. The gods frequently manifesting indiiFerenee
to the banquet, the votaries proceed to divide the dainties, some demolisliing their
portions, while others cast theirs atnongst tlic noisy and mirth-loving crowd. Sanctity
would appear to form no share in the ceremony : merriment, pleasantry, fun, in its
?0L. I. 2 k
132 CHINA ILLUSTRATED.
some kind of incense, and a very small portion is suiBcient to charge it, one or two whiifs
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,
afler 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, to feed 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."
BVRON.
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, &c.
AMOY, FROM THE INNER HARBOUR. 133
wind ; it is also io spacious, that it can contain many thousands of vessels ; and the sea
there is so deep, that the largest ships may come up 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 but seldom, and all the trade was latterly removed to Canton. The emperor keeps
six or seven thousand men there in garrison, under the command of a Chinese general.
In entering the haven, you double a cape, or rock, which thus divides itself into two,
almost as the Mingaret does in the port of Brest The 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 Bored
Island." Between this port and Formosa, the islands of Pong-hou form a small
archipelago, 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." \^'hen
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 21)0,000 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 Cliina; 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 apjiroach from
sea towards the river; of these, Ciiea-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 temjiles to Fo, sumptuous private
villas, and lofty and many-storied pagodas. When the Britir-h took j)ossession 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 oiicning these vessels, they were
found to contain ]>erfcct human skeletons, dislocated, each bone carefnlly packed, and
numbered or marked witli red paint. The discoverers have not guaranteed any solution of
this singular problem, — nor does any probable one present itself, even after reflection.
VOL. I. 2 L
184 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 Pagan 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 oi
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
negleuied, 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.
A MARKIAGE PROCESSION. 135
The lady also changes her costume : she braids her hair as matrons do, fastening it
with a pin presented by her lover — her companions now shave her face, and perform
other friendly offices for her; after which they sit and weep with her, until the day she
bids farewell to her parental home.
On the day appointed by the astrolop^er, a procession, consisting of a variety of
objects, and a vast multitude 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
wbose 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 penfolds. 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 niarriase 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, (irinlfs three times ; and the bride, covering her face with one hand, with the
other raising tlie 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 tlie third, the bride goes in state to iier former home, vvliere an entertainment is
provided for a number of bidden guests.
136
CHINA ILLUS.'.UTED.
LANDING-PLACE AT THE YUK-SHAN.
Upon those mystic waves of thine
Time finds a symbol, and faith sets a sign.
Thus does Time's Hood roll silently away —
Losing the sunshine of its earlier day. The VVatkr 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-inch'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
/
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