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ASIA 






L/BRARY 

ANNEX 



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QJorttEU Uttineraitg ffiihtara 

Strata, SJem ^mk 



CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 

COLLECTION 

CHINA AND THE CHINESE 



THE GCFTOF 
CHARLES WILLfAM WASON 
CLASS OF 1B76 
1918 



Cornell University Library 
DS 709.T19 




3 1924 023 226 446 




The original of tiiis book is in 
tine Cornell University Library. 

There are no known copyright restrictions in 
the United States on the use of the text. 



http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023226446 



ORIENTALIA 

Pamphlets and Magazine Excerpts 

NINGPO TO SHANGHAI, IN 
1857 
by 
William Tarrant. 




NINGPO 



TO 



SHANGHAI 






A 



IN 18 5 7 



IVfA TffM lipRDERS OF AN-WHUI PROVINCE, 
MOO-CHOW-FOO AND THE GlfAND CANAL.-] 



— www^ i» » M» aw 



CANTON; 






>■{»^.(J. 



^-f'HNKi 







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PREFACE, 

The following pages were printed off as they were 
written, shortly after the writer's return to Hongkong 
in I857i sQcl would have been published before, had 
time allowed the prepAation of a map and index which 
he intJMided to accompany the itinerary, 

Alm^hih&WilijoIe of the country travelled over has 
since fallen into the hands of the rebels^ so that, though 
late, what is now submitted will prove useful to future 
travellers in affording materials for a contrast. 

WILLIAM TARHANT^ 
Cantoo; January !i!lst, 1862^ 



INDEX TO ORDER OF TRAVEL. 

DEPAETMENT OF NING-PO (CHE-KIANG.) 
KING-PO MSTiaCT 

Kong-keao to Ning-kong-jow p_ j 

Jiing-koDg-jow to Haou-long p. 2. 

DEPARTMENT OF SHOU-HING (CHE-KIANG.)' 
' f'UNG-'WHA DISTEICT. 

Haou-long to Ho-pe:chee p. 2. 

Hd-pe-chee to the Kwei-ling-foong . . . , p. II. 
'- • SING-CHONG DISTRICT. 

Kwer-Ung-foong to the Poosan Monastery . p. 13. 
The P(^,^jgni^astery to the Iron Streams . p. 15.* 
The Iron Streams to Sing-chong .... p, 24. 
D2aNG DISTKICT. 

Sing-chong to Dzing , p. 33. 

TCHI-KI DISTRICT. 

Dzing to the Fong je-ling , p. 35, 

The Feng-je-h'ng to Fong-je-how p. 39. 

DEPARTMENT Of HANG-CHOW (CHE-KIANG.) 
TSIEN-TANG DISTRICT. 

Fong-je-how to Foo-yang p. 40. 

FOO-YANG DISTRICT. 

Joo-yang to the Dung-ling p. 42. 

YU-HONG DISTRICT. 

The Dung-ling to the Nan-kae-Iing , . , p. 43, 

LING-HAEN DISTRICT. 

The Jian-kae-ling to Ling-haen . . , . , p, 44. 



U-TSIEN DISXBICT. 

LJng-haen to the Woo-ling-ize p. 45. 

Woo-ling-sze to the Eastern Teen-muk-san , p. ij. 
Fast Teeiv-tnuk-san to the Choey-yen-sze . p. 51» 
The Choey-yen-sze to the Western Teen-muk- 
san . . . . p. 62. 

l"he Western Teen-muk-san to the T ai-ye- 

wan-ling . . . . , p. 63. 

DEPAKTMENT O^" NING-KWOK (A.N-WHUY.) 
NING-KWdfe DISTiaCT " *> 
Tai-ye-wan-ling to Taichew-fong-ling . p. 63. 
■^^li^^hew-fong-liag to the Confucian Pass p. 76. 
^""^^lap'AKTMENT OF HOO-CHOW (KIANG-SU.) 
V -^-.j^OU-FOONG; DISTRICT 
The Koon-jfootquan to Haou-foong , , p. 77, 
! ANE-CHEE DISTRICT. 

Haou-foong tof Sze-tche-sah p. 78. 

Sze-tche-sah to Ane-chee ..... p. 79. 

Ane-chee to Mai-chee p. 80. 

jllai-chee.to Hoo-cho\r-foo p. 81. 

WU-DZING DISTEICT. 

Kan-dzing to Jin-zek p. 82. 

DEPARTMENT Of KEA-HING (KIANG-STJ.) 

KWEI-GNAN DISTRICT. 

J|n-zek to Say-ehee and Ping-bong . . p, 83, 

DEPARTMENT OF SUNG-KIANG (KIANG-SU.) 

TSING-PpO DISTRICT. 

Ching-zek to Ching-koo-yuen . . . .p. 8S. 

SHANGHAI DISTRICT. 
Ching-koo-yuen to Shanghai . . , . p> 87, 



DEPARTiMENT OF NINGPO. 



District ofNingpo. ^ 

Kong keao ^ p (Stream's mouth) is a small 
village of one street on the right bank of a wide 
gtream, crossed, though fordable in the dry season, by 
a substantml^roofed bridge. Ihis bridge is lined on 
the viitegf*ur sJ^hern side, for about a hundred 
feet, with small shops and idol depositaries. 

P^eeding from kong-keao to Ning-kong jow * 
the course, to the right of a seven storied Pagoda 
on the bill over the north bank of the stream, 
is about N. by W. the distance 14 ntiles. The 
road, or pathway, about five feet wide, is laid 
with round and rough dark red granite blocks. 
Road ways of similar description, in some cases im- 
proved with a. centre line of flat slabs, are found to 
run between most of the villages and thorough-fares 
throughout the province (Chekiang); — stone tablets 
here aiid there bearing and immortalizing the names 
of the iildividaals by whose means the works were 
effected. 
■ The most unpleasant part of the travelling in this 
quarter is the continued sight of and effluvia from 
ordure pans and necessaries on the sides of the road. 
In half a dozen hours' travelling, as many as half a hun 
dred of these necessaries are to be seen, and of pans, 

* The Chinese characters for this as well as the names of the 
ether places mentioned will be found in a separate inde.v. 



2. Ningpo District. 

abput three feet across and of similar depth, the num- 
ber is i^ncountable. '1 he absence of other material for 
manure is, of course, the apology ; though, as such 
things are not met with in such profusion, or in such 
display in other parts of the province, the applogy 15 
a poor one. The lEnd yields tMf'o crops annualiy--that 
of the. autumn will be rice principally ; — of the spring, 
Wheat, Grassicher (1) Beans, Tea and Cloyer. 
The latter is ,grown over the Paddy stumps, With 
which it is afterwards ploughed up and left to rot 
and enrich the soilr The Teas, Beans, and Bean seed 
of the Grassicher spdken of, are cultivated principally 
, for the oil expressed from them. The leffves'and 
sptouts of the latter are eaten as a vegetabfe, The. 
region hereabout, however, is re^^kable for the pro. 
duction of a medicinal bulb called -T'ko^^ap ^ -j^ (2) 
Growing as a grass, its blade's reseriibie tH^se of 
the carnation. It is planted in the fourth month of 
one year and rem ins until the fbfiffh month'^f the 
year following, when it is taken up and sold to Urug- 
gets as atonic for sixty cash a catty. During thg year 
of its -growth, Potatoes, Hetap or Cotton may be 
grown over it, A mow of land produces from two to 
five hundred Chin^ (3 ) of the bulb in a year. Rushes 
for mat making are grown 'here too, and. Mulberry 
and Tallow trees flourish largely. From the berry of 
the latter the candles usfed in Chel^iang are made. 
Coated with animal fat th^ey bUrn -^ell, though the* 
clumsy bamboo wicks, swathed #it£ cotton twist 
emit a good deal of unpleasant smoke. .* • ' 

To reach Ning Kong jow, the stream has to 
be crossed three times, one of the bridg^at a 
place called Seang'koh deo, t^ith some S^qOOJu 
habitants, being rooofed over as at Jtong "Meo. 
About 5 le (4) from Seang'ho deo is another vQlage' 
called I>MW^-JeAoic/with 100 families ;— a family 
being estimated as consisting on the average of five 
souls. There may be other causes apart from the ^ae» 



Ningpo District. 3 

tice of recording families in the ancestral hall which 
induce an acquaintance with the subject ;— but. it is 
a circumstance of note that a Chinese, however loiv 
his rank, if asked the number of families in his vil- 
lage is invariably prompt with a reply, — and in 
three answers out of four the number approximates. 
As NingJcong,Jow is often visited by iVlission- 
aries from Kingpo, no more need be said of it 
than that it appears to be a place of considerable 
traffic in timber and bamboos, as seen in rafts on 
the stream. Of its reported 3 000 families it boasts 
a fine ancestral Hall of the *M Foo family. 

Four le from Ning kong jow, in a Spu' vvesterly 
direetiooa, is a village called Pow site hoe The 
• sceneTy^ oji the„^Qjad is most pleasing; the high 
cliffs overhanging'the stream giving it the charac- 
ter of the country about the Swiss Lakes. Fishing 
with cormorants is common here; — the house 
wives busy with cotton spinning. 

About three mites from Pow she ho in a Nor' wes- 
terly direction is the Heaven Struck rock, a 
' spot of considerable note among the natives of 
the district. The path way to it is cut out of 
solid brown lava like rock,-p-ihe hill angling up at 
jabout,80<» to a height of seven or eight hundred feet. 
Teen tutig gun is the native na.me of the locality. 
The stream at this place, though shallow, flows 
rapidly from the Eastward. 

A little to the northward of Teen tung guv- 
is the village of Tehing koe with l,Qo6 families. 
Good blue Bricks and Tiles are made at Tching koe-, 
' — ^the sisse of the former, 13 inches by * by 2 being 
quite out of pariiamentary standard. They are 
half burnt as in the south. In building they are 
placed edgeways— ^hollows oi from three to nhie 
inches being left throughout each wall.' This 
jicigde of building is the same throughout the pfo- 



4 Mngpo JHstriet. 

viiiae. These briclcs ai'e sold at the Kiln at 1600^ 
Cash- per thousand, or, according^ to their cube^ 
someAvhat dearer tjhan Bricks in the South. 
'the tiles aie two cash each— also dearer then the 
better burnt Kwaag turig tiles.. - '<L'^' 

Nor' west from Tchingkoe, distant Five ie, is the . 
village of G hong ching with &00 families. On the 
road to it some of the cultivation is found to be taken, 
up with young firs. These fir sprigs are at first 
piaxited in rows four or five inches apart, as many 
ad four thousand being seen in an area of twenty 
yar.ls by ten. Arrived at the age of thfei^>^ears 
they are taken up a;;d planted on thq biHs, SQ^ȣ*imes 
in little crevices over rock wh'^r^ nothing ifji*e 
v?ouId thrive. In such a vyay, the^h;jls TQ^y^he ^^^ 
covered for miles, and where tiftey are A^t^softhe 
ground is under preparation. for the»»i,---fHe cultiva- 
tors and proprietors of tliese Fir 'plantations have 
various ways of disposing of their Crops. The first 
gain is from the loppings of a certain quantity 
of the branches,— rthen, when mature, the whole of 
the branches are sold^ afterwards they make sale of 
the poles, with or without the bark, and lastly the 
roots. Men grubbing for roots and preparing the 
soil for a crop pf Ma^a may be seen on hills- if 
most desperate angle. The maize stumps are not 
reMiov6,d, but are left to enrich the soil. before firs 
are again planted, or they are burnt and worms 
destroyed. fp 

To reach Haoulung the traveller has to retrace, 
tbie path from Chong ching tq Wching hoe. At 
the latter place is a free ferry, a boat and hauling 
line being provided by the Country people for 
whoever may want them. The stj?eam here though 
the water is shallow, is of considerable width, and 
the traveller cannot help noticing how very much 
ground is lost to the pubUc by the inabilitx to 



Mngpa District. . 5 

restrain the streams within narrower channels. 
Rather to' Want of pecuniary means than to lack o£ 
engineering skill, this inability, has to be attributed. 
From Tching ko to Hapu loong the distance is 6^ 
attles, almost due South. . 

Haou lotjng within the memory of the oldest 
iniiabitant in 1 857 had never be n visited by foreign- 
63*8, and that old gentleman, the oldest inhabitant, 
oneofsevieral of ei^ty years of age and upwards; 
was a patriarch ofthe Clan 'rzing\^-^& clan showing 
iti its ancestral Mall the tablets of twenty genera- 
tions. The -^blets spoken of, — though alike in shape 
t<> tho tablots usually seen, viz pieces of half-inch 
durable Jcard, a^bfiat ft foot long and two. or ^ree 
inches wide, with a small stand,- — are" here painted 
. green and picked with gold ; the characters denot- 
ing the name of the honoured spirit being also gilt. 
Of one thousand families.in Haou, loong seven hun- 
dred glory in the naijie of Tzing. 

The tax on land here is 450 Cash per year per 
mow (6) or, according to the rate of currency, about 
fourteen Shillings per acre. Neighbouring villages 
pay 300 cash per mow o^g, — the villagers having 
objected, uiciarmiV, to pay more. But the Tzing$ 
are loyal men. One of their clari, in lfc56, received 
the degree of iSwEfcai. They look upward for the 
Celestial glance, and, like sycophants all the world 
over, bear uncomplainingly the burdens their more 
independent countrymen resist. Four Jiundred 
and fifty cash a mow. however, is not so. high 
a rate as is levied in other parts of the province. 
On a professed , annual value of 6,000 cash, ten per 
cent is known t^be taken.( 7) T'hat the land tax gene- 
Fallj is deemed a trying burden is- evidencijd by 
the fact that in many cases, as told of by Vv Med-. 
hoTst in the accoant of his visit to Teen muh son 
fa 1854^ and by other writers,, the landholders Fe-, 



6 Mngpot District. 

quire bamboqing before it cag^,be got froai- theftt; 
and the unfortanate proprietoia hail the advent of 
a revolution as a mcan^ to relieve them from pay- 
menfofthe impost. And with justice, indeed, rriay. 
the people complain, when, for whatever tax they 
pay, they see nothing in the shape of return. The 
Governnient, to all intents and purposes, is conduct- 
ed by the people themselves* '1 he laws of society 
outraged, the offender is taken to thie- ancestral hall 
of his clan, or to the nearest monastery. There, the 
superior of his tribo, if the offender is a native, qr^ 
the superior elder if a -stranger, investigates the- 
complaint, enforces the punishment, and at once en'Js 
the mattei'., The bamboo for iRiitetion> esSrpunisb- 
menf harig^ in the Monastery kitchen ready for ithe . 
culprit. There is no imprisonment— no law's delay. 
Wiien offeno3S are really serious, as defined by 
the Ta tsltig leu, lee (Code of the present dynas- 
ty)" a messenger is sent to the Fttere or district 
town with a report, and, if the offenders are several 
ill number, soldiers are despatched to bring them 
to the Yamun, whore the complaint being detailed 
(the investigation ends w'ih the patriarchs) pun- 
ishment is inflicted according to the scale.'(8) 

Whether the incoming Government can aineni 
this system is doubtful, whether they will attempt 
to alter it, and Avhethfer Government generally 
can or will ba conducted at a cheaper rate than the 
present, are problems,, the solution of which remains 
m the womb of theifutura.. One thing is certain — 
the mode of obtaining office must be altered. 
Western writers point to China's system of giving- 
oSce to men, who have distinguishei themselves in 
a literary way as something excelleilt. The ide% 
speaking generally, is a ialla^y. JNo matter how 
excellent a, man's ability — the first office can only 
be obtained by p^rchase after the liter^iry degree 



Nhigpo District. '7* , 

hais been conferred ;^-rsuec6eding steps by the sime 
means; — so that, in reality, he who can extort with 
the gr^tesfe ability is the man most likely to 
make his' wiy. The present Governor of Hang- 
ciiow, a detestor of loreigners, is a remarkable in- 
stance of this. Brought up in fuUviaw of the ma- 
chinery of Governthent at i^oo chowfu where liis 
father held an office only a step removed from thit 
of a runner, aud barely enabled to compete at the 
literary examintions by reason of want of qualitica- 
■ ition, (no child of a runner of a. Government office 
being permitted to present himself for three genera- 
tions^)l.he has^een able to raise himself,— and Ho 
doubt but he is a ftian of great energy — to his 
present high position. But these are the men 
who form the great bars to China's progress. Onee 
in office they extort right and left — the man with 
the longest purse, so able to buy office and play 
counter foil, beinrg the only party likelyto ba satis- 
fied with the system — a system which, throughout, 
flourishes on its own rottenness. 

In Haou loong there is not one opium sihokei'. 
Infanticide (Female) is practised occasionally by the 
poorer people, but the pramceis deprecated. N'ot 
far distanf from the village is a Monastery, to which 
tradition assigns the residence of a dragon, but 
the anirnal has not been seen lately. Seven le from 
Haou-loffngm a Sou' sou' * Westerly direction is 
the village of Wan ehe, of 100 families, and four 
le further on, the village erf Neu- ang hoe. '\ he 
>scenery in this neighbourhood is very pleasing, — th<i 
hills being covered with ^lofty firs, here and there 
varied with groffps of w;aving baniiboos, which, at a 
distance, appear like wteaths of cloud on a dark 
back ground. - 

Tow vow yuen is a small place oiie mile from 
Nm ang hoCf 9xA five U farther, still in a soi^ 



8 Nii^0 JHstHct. 

trester^y directiou,i» the Wong-'kfiongling (Princ*^ 
Buke P^iss) at the top of which is a. saiall Temple 
'S^nd IW«^ or, rest house for travellers. The walls 
of this Temple are of the niosfe simple ccmstructictt*, 
vix uprights and frame werfc of wood; with spBt • 
bamboos inter woy«il daubed with mud. 

Tchang leoe is a good sized village in a valley S. 
W. from Wpng koang ling, and.from which it is dis- 
iant one mil^., TChe bed of a- wide ford is passed :^ 
en-route^ over a bridge of six apertures, formed fcj^ 
granite uprights, the road wayof the brjd^ beintj. 
a. mere split bamboo platform laiJiiit' on spars.igii, 

The Poo-coo lAng (PigeoM Pass]) directly-SK^th. 
from Tchang koe, is a tiresome "ascent of over 
fifteen hundred f^et; — the mountain, a huge granite 
boulder, being still three or four hundred - feefe 
above the Pass. This pass marks the boundary 
of the Ningpo and Ftthgmha Districts. -The view 
from the top is fine, Running east aral west, at 
at a distance of eight or ten miles, is anothei^ 
chain of mountains, between the base of which and 
the 'Poo-coo mount a stream meanders under a- 
smaller line of hills, the plai^ within being covered 
with Mulberry and tallow trees over what would be 
taken for pasture ^and, but that the few cattle fod^ 
dered render such plots unnecessary. Wheat, Beans 
Grassicher, Clover, Peas arid some Tea Bushes are 
all to be found here, in the spring, of the year-^the 
Hills, as before told of, being studded with firs a» 
thickly as they can stand. 

Four or five le from the loot of Poo-coo mount, 
in a southerly direction, is the- village of jSom.^ new 
haen with a. papulation of 30O f^Uies. A little 
outside the village "at its entranae is a huge hollow 
tree, 24 feet round, the branches of whkiii cover a 
space of a hundred feet an<t upwards. 

On the way from Song new ham to Shang hien^. 



F^^^ha Distriet. 9 

Mng, a small tempte four le further south, the tra- 
veller espies, in a sooth easterly direction, a pecu- 
liar i'Ock ealled' Ye-Ung' Tung san, standing upright 
between two rocfe» as high, apparently, as one 
of the loftiest Pagodas. This curiosity of nature 
is at no great distance from the district CSty of Fung 
wka, ^ Still travelling south, Shang yuen, amid 
tt clump of bateb«os,is distant one mile, — thence to 
Che kaou the route inclines a little to the west 
of south for some tw '» miles further. 

At Che kaou they manufacture bricks grooved 
-^a device for saving material. Close by the Pot- 
tery is the stream seen from Poo coo mount. Turn- 
ing from West, a hundred feet wide, this rapid stream 
is confined by a high mound from spreading over the 
▼alley. Ihe Pigeons giving a name to the Moun- 
tain are here seen in gocdly numbers. They are of 
a br^wn colour, their wings tipped with white. Oil 
cako from Cotton seed is manufactured here in some 
ijtiantity. At the entrance of the village on a small 
Hioufid, is a pavilion to the God of Literature, 
Che kaott is a thriving place of over a thousand 
families, and dealers here give as many Cash in 
exchange for a dollar as can be got at Wingpo; but 
they do not change them vrillingly. / 

One mile west sou' west of of Che keaou is Song 
sah, a small piace. A Bridge over the stream 
bed on the road to it is of simpler construction 
than that last described — ^the^uprights being mere 
poles, with a floor of split bamboo, roughly wove. 

^ng Cotmg dong, two miles S. S. W. of Song 
sfihj lies In the route by which cattle are sent to 
market from Tachow ; and Zee copoo dow, a village 
of 400 families, is four le Sou' west of it. 

From Zee edpoo dop to Tong fong she^ a vil- 
lage of 3000 families, the distance, still sou' wester- 
ly, is five U. A tablet under a Jojfed bridge at this 



10 Fung-wha District. ; i J^-- 

place records the spirit of a schol|t|r,.itt the Sungf 
Dynasty of the name .of Leo dow, -who started, 
with a contribution of 300,000 Cash, a project 
for cutting a Canal from the adjacent River 
Tong. This canal, five thousand Chang (about 
thirteen miles), in length, was repaired in Kaagke's 
reign, and an additional record planted. 

The River Tong or Kaong Tong spoken of is a 
wide though shallow stream running from the west- 
ward. From Ingfong sze,'A village of .300 families, 
by its right bank, to Kong ling, anothfer village of 
similar size, the distance in a westerly direction is 
five Is. The water here about has a strong iron 
smell. The people of the locality exhibit more than 
usual energy in the construction of causeways and 
embankments against the ravages of the stream. 
Though unswollen by floods, this stream runs at a 
rapid rate,rendering its navigation by the means em- 
ployed viz, bamboo rafts, a work of much difficulty. 
On the bamboo rafts spoken of, articles of commercsJ 
are transported immense distances. Working against 
the current they are moved singly. Laden and pas^ 
sing down, as many as twenty may be seen lashed 
together in pairs when the stream is wide enough. 
These rafts are formed of the stoutest bamboos 
procurable, bent at the small ends by means of iire, 
so as to form a prow three feet above the floor which 
consists of some half a dozen bamboos swifted 
together. By placing bundles of bamboo branches 
on the top, a fine ^platform is constructed, and 
goods of the mpst delicate nature, as well as pas- 
sengers can be transported with speed and safety. 
'The agility exhibited by the prow' men with theii? 
bamboos, in keeping the rafts in a proper direction, 
is remarkable. Another description of raft is form- 
ed of short pieces of firewood, bundled in rows, like 
"iphains,— buckling up and floating ov?r obstacles 



Fung-wha District, \\ 

in its path, and rightujg to a level \plien in deeper 
water. 

5'rom Konglmg^ %o the three hundred family vil- 
lage of San^ look, th.Q distance is five miles and a 
thtrdt^nd 2 le further, on, in the same course of S. by 
W. Sang^ihong'xB reached, a Straggling place report- 
ed as numOering a thousand families. 

From Sang dhong to Hod, a viUage of 300 fami- 
lies, the distance Sou' sou' westerly is one mile, and 
tlience to Ching kong, a village of similar size, Sou' 
west 4 Zg". Tea is growij^ in gardens bordering the 
xoad side here, and in spme instances on the walls. 
A lofty mountain bearing S. by E. called Koufoong 
san attracts the traveller's attention at this place 
and for miles onward. Ho pd chee, the next stage, 
a distance of 7 U S. S. W. is not far from its base. 

In the village of Hope ehee mire are about 200 
families of Wongs and 80 oitSungs. Though so short 
a distance from that emporium of news Ningpo, 
(under 25 miles) but little is known by the inhabi- 
tants of what is going on in the. outer- world. The 
fact of that place having been in the hands of the 
English in 1840 is not known to,, the common 
herd; and but little desire to learn of things from 
afar is indulged in even by the most educated. For 
wealthy men to tell of aU they know, is to lay them- 
selves open to the squeezing propensities of the of- 
ficers of their Government, by whom the most trif- 
ling matter is made use pi when the game is sure. 
Permission for a foreigner to reside upder the same 
roof for more thyn one night j or even for that period, 
is sufficient cause for an extensive mulct. , Taverns 
or Monasteries are the only sleeping quarters for 
travellers. ■* • ' , r 

Sheong^e ehee^ a viljage of twO; hundred families 
is only a short distance ftom ffope,fiJ(ee, Thence 
to Ying how Hiig, a village of 400 feaailies, t^e dis- 



tpli* irt 'af S^ir -WdiMf ^Ifk&Ci&i^ i§ 3^6n l^. 
Travellers from the west will be pleased aad inter- 
ested ait '^e&^f if«»fe »^elk^ ©f bridge biMldifig 
m(k sta i^yf ^M iMt haMf ^xfe^t^a.- The stoaes of - 
#Hie3i it- is O0ifl|t^d ar© s(» rtJUgh- aS thej-gfew, 
afid ^Med'Wi^mmeilyi^ ^ arch of 2?|^feet spaw 
that not one stoii« UWii «f lifif^} the skill of the btlild- 
eh i& fiiiii^tfee kef^^e^fifcifig a knowledge of eiigi- 
imdt'm^ fiitoeipfes £§b which eh&ese are seldom cre- 
dited., Th0r^std;wa^3roYe^.thetSp ispt'ettily tesselat- 
ed. Ihis sftyfe of eObMe^ ^reh is not uncomniion iw 
other pa^s'of theptovlueei^-^fhe sriiaBer brooks in 
mmf p]rsi^4 biding so bi-idged over. 

Wiiig haw IMgi tdo,' is in the great market 
thorViW^htltfe j-^roWl etM^rs aSAd df overs being met 
in sUch iiUffibdrS, ocUasiSiiaffyj that the road is block- 
ed up with thefik 

^hit dee deo, abOtot l4 ie touth from Ying 
hmg Uwgi \s the rfeSidgflee of a -Shanghae dealer 
sipeSiiig Biif fi^h,- of the haihe of Adjifig. Travel 
lers thife fsad- Will fiiid ft ri^y Wekdiae at his 
house. Fah igfioMg Mtig fe a hamlet of a hundred 
families not M &®M the place last mentioned. 
A Tefflpl^; htre i;S- ^aiied She Wong km mew. 
•Mbe^HS^, a va$age ictf &!siHiikt size is abcut two 
mile's ftfomC^ to *%v^^: ^rMi road pass) and 
iiare is" a, snsafll T^fifif % Whfete^ai ffoshang, (tJuddhist 
pHfest) supplies het tea ig^^itS'ftl who wish it; the 
fiOst^the establi*h«aMt beiSg detria^ed by the people 
of the village^ k pl^ fmffiberiiig -1 00 families. A t 
ihiB point the-tmveller finds himSdf in the hiH re- 
gion, and ^j&^p^'UtfelyWiti&ijt 

¥i(Hg<-kp fo'^mA ■ SiWg M'p &t& each villages 
of 100 families between the pass last mentioned 
atida 'vfesy ste^p ahd'hl^-i^aifes ealM Kvm ling 
fc0f^, the boundai^ &i>%hQ >Fi^ Wha and Sing 



Sing-ekong District. 13 

. The retnfirkable way in Avhich the hills are coveic- 
ed with Fir or other timber here, not an inch of 
^fivtq^ble ground being left unimproved, has much 
to do"^^ponvincing the sceptical that for future 
generations there is little, room— China- is full;— /or 
her increasing peculation there must be an outlet 
or other modes must be invented whereby they may 
gain existence. If mines could be opened in places 
of known mineral production, a great relief might" be 
obtained. ^ ; 

- The view from the top of .the Kwei-ling-foong and 
from the Jbng-kong-ling temple, a little way down 
the hill, is grand to a degree. Jn a W. S, W-'ly direc- 
tion the mountains are very high. Tea is. grown on 
the hills here in some quantities, an4 bamboo trees 
in much greater. 

The a&eent oi- ihe Kwei-Mng'foong occnpxes near- 
ly an hour of trying travelling. At the base on 
the western side, is another temple, Kwei-ah-Deen, 
with a free tea table ;- — Prince and peasant, rich and 
poor, being equally welcome to a bamboo noggin of 
the beverage "^which cheers but not inebriates." ■ 

The village of New-Za is five- miles, in a sou"^ 
westerly direction, from the Temple on the mount; 
— and five miles further^ W. S. W. is the Poosaw 
Mpnastery. On the road to this place are four 
Bridges, constructed by public subscription in the 
3rd year of TaoukWang (as told of in a tablet by a 
small shrine to the God of waters, opposite Rhino- 
ceros mount) the Chang family heading the list 
of contributors, a member of the clan, though pro- 
fessing his ability to, be small, writing the in-- 
scription, and setting forth the reasons for the 
construction of the works.— One of these bridges^ 
Toong-joio, is a specimen of many others in the pro- 
vince, Gonstructed of granite stones, three or four' feet 



14 Sing-^cJumg District. 

long, dressed to a curve, and built up, la^tudinally. 
Thus, fro,m:;tlje floor to the crown of this bridge, of 1 8 
feet spaui there are only thr^e stones on one side^wd 
two»yhere the aide rests on a rock, on the Qther; 
— the whole arch being built with- about thirty 
dressed blocks,, .packed on the haunches with uij- 
"hewh stones from- the brook below. 

Some remarkable sand cliffs, one called precipice 
gate, are to be seen here, ^nd the mingmlogist will 
find materials for research in the vajrious soils of 
purple, red and other colours in the B^ghbourhood. • 

There are five-residei;t priests at the Poosan 
monastery ;— the Abbot's name is Kingrchuen. Mon- 
astic lands (the Poosan Monastery possessing 100 
mow,) are not exempt from the customary impost. 

Ten miles (30 Ze) N. W, from the Poosan Mon^ 
astery are the .hills from which iron sand wa.shes. 
into thfe stream bed below. This sand js sinelted inio 
pigs' at various, places in the vicinity. Tliere are 
one or two such smelteries close by the Kwei^ah- 
Deen (the Temple spoken pf at the loot ofAe Kwei^ ' 
ling-foong) arid the traveller may be interested in 
visiting them as well as the raihes. The furnaces are 
simple upright clay cj^linders, similar to those used 
for casting purposes in the south of China.. The 
sand yields of pure ore-two thirds of its^grossweight;; 
(66 in 100) which, cast in pigs of 3 catties each, 
sells at the furnace for. 32 cash a catty, about.^ 
equal to £-12 per Ton of 20^Cwt. (9) They smelt 70o"-; 
peculs a year at this place, the. residence of 100.. 
families. ' . 

Leaving the village of JVeie^Za fov the mines,—-' 
about a mile nor^ west is the Ij^amlet oi Chang-vab!^^ 
with 40 families, and one mile north again fe Djee 
Deo with 100 families. The women here dress. 
thex]J hair in a peculiar manner. In front it i^ brushes 



Stng-chong District. 15 

«d back as in the south, but the back hair is twiated 
in a joll, and bound tightly from" the poll with black 
silk cord j^r alength of 7 or 8 ineh6s.(] 0) This is then 
turned up, like a horn, at the back of the head, and 
stands four or five, inches above the crbwn^ the hair 
then being turned round, so as to- give it the'appear- 
ance of a ha;ndle. In cases where, instead of being up- 
right, the Aorn inclines to either side, the wearer has 
quite a jaunty appearance. In the spring of 1857 
foreigners had not been seen before in this quarter, 
the curiosity exhibited "by all on the occasion of the 
first visit being something extraordinary. The style 
of head dress spoken of is fiaund to extend through- 
out the country from this to the River Tsien-Tdng. 

Gn a hiir over the large vUlage of /n-^e^'-coon, of 
.500 families, is an hexagoijal pa^vilion which can be 
seen for some distaiic&./jjf-g^ec-cowtt is one mile N,-W. 
from J)je€-l)eo, and one mile further N.W. is Poey- 
woe, a small place of 50 farhilies. There are two large 
villages witWh a distance of 4 iB, still^N. W. froin 
Poey-woe, viz Gan-Deo with IsO and Woo-Dong. 
with 400 families. The houses are well built at 
Woo-Dong, and it bears the appfiarance of a thriv- 
ing place. 

Tobacco is grown in, this quartet, though not 
largely. Travelling, by those who ca.n afford it, is 
in chairs, or rather trays, swung to a pole, the ends 
of which rest on men's shoulders, 

Qne mile N. N. W^ from Woo-Dong, is Kahg-lew, 
&, place which, besides a temple, has only a few 
Straggling hoases,. But N. N. W, thence, about 
4;iie^oflF, is the broad bed of the stream, where, in 
groups »f 30 and AO together, are the iron washers. 
The iron sand as befojre mentioned is washed from 
the hills. This is ascertained by the yield being 
- most prolific after the floods from the heavy iaihs 



16 Smg-chong District. 

have subsided, say in the 1st and 2nd months of th^ 
year, Jthepr<;>duce in the ,6th and 7th raonths, (the 
dry season) being little, The' region over which 
the iron washings extend i^ from the village of 
Tung-ling to Wong-Zac» a distance of ten miles 
(30 /e)-r'the line, so far as it can be observed 
from kekn-che^rnnhmg N. E. and S. W. ' Th^ 
stream bed is over a couple of hundred yards in 
width in some places, though, excepting at rain 
seasons, the flow is inconsiderable ; sufficient, how- 
ever, to enable bamboo rafts'to get to the charcoal 
deposits among the mountains; ' .', 

The process of irfen washing' is simple. The bed' 
of the stream, washed and unwashed, is marked 
off in sections; and small channels, about a yard- 
wide are made from the main stream, of suf- 
ficient length to give a good fdll into a wood trough 
about 6 feet iorig and $ inches deep, 3 feet wide at 
the top and' tapering to a foot and; a half. Into 
this trough, placed On a slight inclination, with the- 
water flowing over- the head board', one man pours 
iri sand as it is brought jby others,^ or he exhausts a 
heap lying co:^tiguo«s; Most ofwhat is put in washes- 
away immediately, leaving- behindit, however, the 
sought for iron. One trpugh beitig filled,,the water 
is partially turned off^ and another is proceeded to. 
In the course of three' or font hours, or less, a 
trough is thoroughly drained of the- superfluous 
sand, and the iron grains remain, Sempved in 
to baskets, this is sold to the first comer at 19 
cashaeatty. The washers prqf^s to earn,Hn good 
times, as much' as 20(J cash a ' day— -at pthers, a 
mace only — little eflough for such: Paborioiis, wol'-k 
and so much expo^re. The water, about 5° of 
Fahrenheit higher temperature than the air at a 
spring noan--is rough to the- palate and tasteless. 



Stng-chong District. \7 

•- / s it flows gently, the iron, thougli almost imper- 
ceptible to the touch, may be seen in light streaks 
on the yMlow sand beneath. The stream here 
flows from the eastward, and the course to a sfnalf 
hamlet of 30 families called Ding^wong, is along its 
left bank for two or three Z^. Half a mile further 
from this place the road to Shang-chwne breaks 
away to the southward, through a defile clothed 
with firs and called ahung-Kay-ling. It was 
stated at page 12 that the Kxod-ling-foong was the 
boundary of the Fhing-wJui and Siiig-chong Dis- 
tricts. 1 here, too, commences the^jj^- 

nEPARTMENT OF SHAU-HING. 

Shang-chxjnk is a thriving little town, and here, 
at stalls by the Hbad side, the traveller finds ex- 
cellent wheaten flour pancakes, so cheap that a 
hearty meal can be made of them for the merest 
trifle. The process of manufacturing these pan- 
cakes is simple. An earthenware pan is filled 
with a stiff" batter of flour, water, salt and eggs, 
and in this the manipulators, old women generaHy, 
dip the fore fingers and spread, or rather smear 
the batter lightly over the hot pan ; — one spread 
one way, one the oth#, a second's delay and the fond 
is cooked ; coming from the pan as crisp and delici- 
ous as Hebrew passover cakes. Prepared in stacks 
a foot high, they are sold by the catty, or singly 
as required. Similar pancake stalls are found ia 
and for several days of travel beyond the district 
city of Sing-chong, and are extensively patronis- 
ed by way-Tarers from the hills A stream, not 
the iron washing, is Tiet with at this place, itsi 
course from the h-Ils^ being almost due south, and 



18 Sing-chong Dhtrict. 

though shallow is a hundred feet wide. Another ^ 
stream is crossed, too, on the road to Tah-mjjufg^zee, 
over a bridge of planks and trussels 250feefin length. 
Tah, ming-zee, a place of 400 families, is one mile 
S. W.from" Shdng-chune. — Mulberry and Tallow 
free, growing over a sandy soil, are met in several 
places on, the road, 

Hoi-yen, a hamlet of 30 families, is two mile sou' 
west from Tah^ming-zee. The devotion exhibited 
hy the old women of this neighbourhood in telling 
beadg and muttering the Buddftist chant of O-me- 
fo-fah or veh is remarkable; and if such acts 
could atone for sins or obtain the wished for good 
fortune, success would be sure from the zeal idliS' 
played Opbasioiially, in road side temples, old wo- 
men and men in threes and fours may be seen per- 
petrating for themselves services prescribed in pa- 
pers sold at some monastery of notoriety, and to reach 
which they make extensivei pilgrimages, . Seated 
at a table together, all repeating -the mystic words 
"till both tongue and brain must ache with the 
1-epetition, one counts beads, another, at each 
rfivoiution of the string, moves from a bundle, a 
sanctified joss stick, the act being signalized by 
n third with a tap on a small bell, by another 
with a rap on a skull-like drum, and so on until the 
prescribed number of joss strcks is expended, and 
the service finished. Of all Jhe intellect-stul 
lifying devices superstitiously conceived, Budd- 
hism must be the most successful. Happy the 
dtiy when tie devotion now so uselessly expend- 
pd is given in the exercise of a rational religion ! 
^peaking of them as a body, the Chinese are, in- 
trinsically, a very God fearing people, and Ghristiani 
ty once introduce^ "will have ardent and faithful 
practisers. 



Sing-chOiig District. ^ 19 

From Hoi-yen to JFoiig-quong-ling, a. Ding on a 

hill,which, Vrith its arched verandah and white wash- 
ed walls is s3en from a good distance, the course is S. 
W. one mile. From the top of the Ling, Sze-ming- 
shttn^ a mountain 2,500 feet high, beats N. by W,dis- 
tant some fifteen miles.. From the top of Sze-ming- 
shon a view is obtained of three departments at a 
glance, »iz Ningpo, TaechowandShaouhing. Saii- 
Tew, a small hamlet of 30 families on the top of 
llnisiiill, surrounded by tea bushes, is' W. S. W, 
5 Is from the ding sppken of. From this spot, as 
far as the eye can reach all rourtd, only moun- 
tains meet the view. A little way down the hill, 
southerly, is the \\)l&g<& o^ Wong-mg-teah, of lOD 
families, 10 Zr from which, due west of the village, 
is the district city of $ing-chong. 

The great object of attraction at Sing chong is 
the TotO'Va-sze^ or Temple of the Great Buddha ; 
iind to reach it, travellers from the east pass through 
the city and mount a sharp ascent in the rear; then 
descending a flight of ^teps to the other side, a to- 
tal dist mce from the city walls of 4 le. A monastery 
of nO priests is attached to the Temple, and, by the 
Abbot and Gluest chancellor, the latter particularly, 
every attention and kindness are readily given tr> 
foreign visitors, A more fortunate selection for such 
f n establishment could not have been made. It is 
i n a complete hollow amid a group of hills and preci- 
pitous rocks from one to two hundred feet high, 
just large enough for the Monastery and outbuild- 
ings, the approaches winding in such a way that,^ 
but for a knowledge of the existence of the place, it 
would not easily l)e discovered. Here, carved but 
of tlte solid rock^ fifty one feet in height from the 
base on which, the demi-body sits, the great Buddh 
is arched in and enthroned in truly god-like state. 



fldf Smg'ckong District. ,= 

The rocli out of trhieh tfie idol is cut, (a congloiH^ 
erate— porphjritic — resemblirlg a hard 'gray greere 
free stone) is about" a hundred ,feot high with a N. 
E'ly aspect. 

From the ^front of the knees (the figure 
being sculptured as sitting cross legged) the depth 
back is 29 feet, the" recess being smoothly coved up 
until it meets ixt a lozenge arch three feet above 
the crown of the idol's head. Springing from walls- 
rising 29 feet above the floor,, and meeting,, on its 
inner face, the natural rock, is an artificig,! well 
turned arch of ccfrved »toneSr 46 fret in span, ex-- 
tending out and forming 25 feet of the roof of the 
temple, whicb, ort the fcor,,is 4e feet square. The* 
table ou which the idol sits is Si- feet from the 
floor, the whole beigbt of the temple being 58 feet to> 
the cro^vn of the recess. Stout granite columns^ sup- 
port the verandah forming the exterior of the HalL 
P> long the walls, on each side, are alcoves, with ten 
idols in each, of somewhat Jess thai^ human size, Tn. 
the centre of the area, 7^ fe^* from the great Bud- 
dha, on a table &feet square, is a very jolly represent 
tation of the god Me-doe, 6 feet' 6 inches high from: 
his 3€g,t, supported on either side by the uniinished 
halves of two figures,, intendecl,^^ when complete, 
to be ] 8 feet high. 

Excepting that the ears are extraorcMnarily long,, 
the great Buddh is modelled in regular proportion. 
In the palm of the right hand, the fore finger of which 
measures 6 feet 6 inches in length, is an image on 
a pedestal. This image, viewed from- the; end of the 
temple,appear^ as diminutive a-s^ doll. On measure- 
ment, however, it proves to bo, with the pedestal,. 
2 feet 8 inches high. The grea*. Buddha in Ader 
to make it smooth enough fer gilding, is, in places-, 
thickly plastered. The head is carved ta the ap- 



Sing-chong District. 21 

"peas^ioe dfaskdil cap, studded with fir nuts, with 
& round^-sp^ over the forehead, painted partly red, 
partly brown, similar colours with blue decorat- 
ing' the head dress. Between the eye brows stands 
a large round Jade, and in the centre of the barfe 
T>reast, the bra^tica or character JW is depicted, 
studded with blue drops. The gilding, though bright, 
is thin aiwi well executed; the folds of the garments 
and bands being picked with verinillion, as also 
are the lips of the image. The countenance is pleas- 
ing. The width over the Icnees on the seat is 36 feeti 
In a halo over the head, the recess is coloured to 
a purple brown, the rfest of the coving and the arti- 
ficial arch being white-washed. 

Of the history of this idol the monks know little 
{11); but tradition assigns its sculpture to the time 
of the Lean^ Dynasty' (A. D. 550) The tomb 
of the first high priest is shown close by the 
temple, under some trees, and is poipted to with 
much veneration. A cave in a rock above the 
temple is also said to contain the books and re 
mains' of a studious old priest. The monks speak 
of a fire so intense as to have destroyed the 
fingers of the image as at first carded, and of the 
plunder of a precious gem, erst in the place of the 
present jade between the eyebrows; — circumstances 
leading to the conclusion that in days gone by there 
were ruthless men as little disposed to pay respect 
to Buddha as the present iconoclastic followers of 
Tai-ping-WANG. 

Attached to the Monastery are 150 nioVr of land, 
for which the priests pay government annually 250 
cash a mow.-^Altogether they pay the state 60 
Taels per annum. On the exterior of the great 
temple are the following inscriptions. Over the 
lower verandah ^ WM-1r Tah-yeartg-jwio-tea, 



23 iSwigwc^oii^ tHstrttt 

OvBTtke seconEfe story Jj^ ^ ^ ^ Sam-sin g-seng' 
cJieh. Bettveen the second And third ^^y^ Seaoti^ 
fimi'ladUf and over' the ioxitth 5^;?N Wl S® ^^' 
leh-tong-fien, whilst within, on either side of the 
Tmiige are the following— '^ ^ ||| ^Clmey'sikg^ 
chongrmie^-^^ ^^ Wl ^^■'t^l^tig'fehi (12). 

On the right of the entrance to the Monastery are 
two caves. One of theses^ an aperture some 2 J feet 
high, 30 deep and 35 wide,, is dedicated to the god' 
dess of mercy, with whose: image, attended by some 
two dozen* oiBbers,^ one oft them, a monkey, the cave- 
is adorned. The other caVe, «orae 40 feet; wide at 
the entrance, is appropriated to a represeMatibn of 
Che-foo-tszet and to some comfortable apartments? 
for priests. Thena,me of Che-foo'tszef\he founder, 
some seven or eight hundred yea»s agOj of the 
Chinese atheistic school, from eh^iracters said tc 
have been written by hinpiself, is engraved on a rock 
outside the cave a short distance: from the.Mon- 
astery, On the right of the flight , of steps from 
. the hill top is another cave aboiit 80 feet wide,. 
30 deep, ^> and 16 high. No, less th^n one thous' 
and images line the walls of thi% place, mere dollsr 
for the most part, recessed in mud diatribings around 
a gentleman*of large proportions in; the centre. Ilie 
priest in attendance here is an intelligent and thrifty 
old many speaking wit^ an evident sense erf self merit 
;at having been able to build a hoi^e and purchase 
some 25 mow of ground out of the oontriljutions- 
of devotees at the shrine of which he is^in^jcharge. 

The antiquarian finds- much to. interest him i n the 
neighbourhood of the Monastery,- and does, .p,ot 
overlook the ruins of a paviEon and tx)mb doge by, 
«^a horse and dragon on the latter, though still in 
gpQd relief, indicating the hand qf a sculptor pf 



Sing'Chong District. 23 

jnausy ce»|^?ies past. 

The wails of the City of Sing-chong, upwards 
of three miles in circumference, ar^d of the average 
height ©fGhinese city walls, are solidly built of dress- 
ed granitej with brick battlements, and are in good 
preservationji^^uging in gottiewhat like the sides 
of an old fashic*i«ld. ahip. The shape oi the city is that 
of a long lozenge, smallest on its northern end. i^s 
■e«stomaa?y^ there are gates at each of the cardinal 
points. Much of the space withiti the walls, espe- 
cially away fttim the centre, is. occupied with mul- 
berry trees, and vegetable gardens within neichune 
walleAcompounds, one and two hundred feet j?quare. 
The tmttlenaehts, Mning a roac'-way from 12 to 15 
feet wide, are pierced for gingalls only ;— but none 
of these impteirients, nor any other kind of artillery, 
are mounted in peaceful times. The foreigner, as an 
object of curiosity, creates about him, as a matter 
of course, huge crowds of obstreperous boys and 
wonder seekers, —but they are not vicious, and 
give vent to bo such obscene and insulting expres- 
sions as are continually heard in the south. 

The street leading through the city frong the gate 
at the. nor' west corner, is well lined with market 
stalls, though not much has to be remarked of the 
wealth or business of the inhabitants. * I'or instance, 
there is no silver-smith shop ; the first established 
luxury dep^&ien in a fishirig village in Kwang- 
tur^. StiUi the people lo«>k fat and contented ; arid 
but few beggars are seen, At established money 
changers, -Caroltift'doUarSi, 10 par cent better then 
Mexican, ;yieH from 1020 to 1030 cash, each-*- 
a trifle only under the rate obtainable at J\ing- 
/po. A reepectable looking ten cash piece is cur- 
rent h<2re ajid in the immedia-te neighbourhood 5 
but it is useltas f<M? the traveller to burden himself 



24 8ing-chong District. ^ 

with many of them ; for a few miles fuptlier on they 
are received unwillingly, or are altogether rejected. 
These coins, though bearing the present Emperor's 
name both in Chinese and Manchou charactefs, are 
said to be the production of private mints ;--the pro- 
fessed objection to their receipt being that thejr 
are cast of an inferior metal and below the Imperi- 
al touch. Only the Carolus dollar will be receiv- 
ed in change at any of the cities, — Mexican or 
other stamps being repudiated. 

The .temples, the only fine buildings at Sing 
chong, are without the walls. The river bed 
which, at a distance from it of from one ^o two 
hundred feet, runs along the eastern wall, though 
shallow generally, is wide. In fact it is a double 
stream crossed from the east for lengths of two 
to three hundrc>d feet each, with two bridges 
of stout planks and trussels. Between the stream 
and th^ wall the ground is covered with Mul* 
berry and Tallow trees, over wheat and other 
cultivation. Indigo is cultivated in this region 
too. A short distance west of the city is a semin* 
ary for ^he education of respectable youth, — and a 
little beyond, it may be seen a five storied pagoda, 
crowning a hill overlooking the road froni Sing- 
chfOng to Diing. This pagoda marks the boun- 
dary of the Sing chong district. 

Dzing, or Dzing Yuen^ Yuen or ^cen signifying 
the chief city of a district,— lies about N. W. from 
Sing chong yuen ; — though for a third or so of the 
distance of twelve miles between the two places, the 
yoad runs to the southward of wefet into a plain. 
Ten7e from the Tow-ua-sa;*, is the hamlet of San." 
cheeof Thirty families ;-*-F6ur Ze further, W. by 
N. is So'chee-deo, a hamlet of similar si^ej and 
Vow-chee^ a village of 100 families lies a little b«- 



Dzing Disiriet. 25 

ftmd. The European traveUer has no reason^ to 
complain of difficulty in getting along in this quar» 
t«r. DingSf {iubstantially roofed sheds, through 
which the roads run, open ta all, are to be found 
at nearly every mile, and within them, or not fai' 
iiistaBi<t, are »hopsfbr the S9le of gbod wheaten flour 
pancakes at two cash each, fresh boiled sweet pota- 
toes at fire cash a catty, rice congee at 2 cash, the 
half pint basin, and a liquor not nnlike stale small 
beer, a potation ncrt o^cr agreeable to all pflates, 
fermented from rice, pnd sold hot at eight cash the 
gill. Hot gruel stands ready in some of the dings^ 
Chinese taking it either as gruel at 2 cash the half 
pintlmshi, cr, flavoured with soy, chopped onions 
and small dried shrimps as a soup, at ^ cash the 
basin. Haifa dozen of the pancakes, and a couple 
^ basins of the soup, form a j^ood meal for a mode- 
rate man, and with five cash worth of tf a can be ob- 
tained at a total of something under twelve cash 
■4^ penny. Hot water standing ready, the five cash 
iTOTth of tea has a good many brewing when the 
traveller is thirsty before the leaves are thrown away. 
The plain between Singchong and Dzing:^ bound- 
ed by huge granite boukiered hills, is .studded with - 
numerous viHage»-r-the stream- l)ed winding here 
and there among the muJberry trees deep enough 
fi)r bagnboo rafts laden with bean cake aiwl charcoal 
for naore eastern markets 

Two* U W. by N . from Dow-cheeis Wong^neejoh 
a, sntall hamlet of 20 famihes, and a Z^ i\.W. is ifuers 
maou, with 50 families. Many of the inhabitants of 
(his quarter appear to be blind, or weak in the eyes i 
and na greater" kindness can be shown to the poor 
creatures in parsing than the gift of small parcels 
of blue vitriol, with written directions for dilution 
and use. 



26 Dzing District. 



o 



J?z*w^-yt«e«j is seventeen le, nearly six> miles, idue 
north from Yuen-rnaou, over a splendid road, wide 
enough for a carriage aiid pair with outriders) 
— the surrounding country being -not unlikevthe 
small- arable downs of lingland.-i i^pproaching 
Dzing, the stream is again met running shallow' 
and fast from the westward; crossing which the 
ror.d, through gi^oves and' hedge rows of bamboos 
and mulberry tTee_s, and fields of wheat and barley, 
,is a perfect zig-zag,- until it reaches a wider and 
deeper stream, crossed by a substantial starlinged 
bridge. 

On the southern bank of the stream, skirting the 
suburbs of Dzing, is a small monastery, in whic^ 
the foreign traveller can obtain, quarters', though 
less luxurious than those of the (Tow-va^sze. A 
tablet here records the setting off of a large tract 
of the river for the preservation of life; and fishing 
within it, in order that life may be sustained, is not 
allowed. ^ 

Very good boiled bread, in not less than four 
catties at a boiling, can be obtained at Dzing, if 
orderf'd over night, at 40 cash per catty. Buffalo 
nrtilk is procurable too occasionally. The city 
walls, gome three or four miles in extent, are in 
good condition ; on the northern face running 
sharply up a hill for a considerable distance. Dzing 
is a quiet place, with the character of;,being the 
abode of many of the literati. Of general business 
there appears to be but little. A iemple to Con- 
fucius, and some excellently carved stone work, are 
objects of attraction in the centre of the town. The 
condemnable custom of leaving' the coffins of the 
dead ^bove ground, is not practised here so freely 
as at. Ningpo and other parts of the province; 
and for miles the hills in the spring time are seen 



DsUng- Bistriet, ^7 

■covered with the white and pink flowers of pluiA 
and peach trees, among waving bamboos and small 
#i's, over wtieat, beans and clover. 

With its charaseter for learning, Dzing, too, 
as a conseqixeDce, perhaps^ { after' the classic wit^ 
ticism ^ Port wine and Greek") is said to shar- 
ibour many opium smok.ers. Outside the abodes of 
csuch/ however, but little of the effect of the .priaetice 
4s seen ; and liough till may be true that is told by 
missionary travellers of the result of their observa- 
tions, it is a ■singuJar fact that ^lain meai of the 
world in China have to strain both their optic and 
their Tolfectory sierves to disco^r that -opium is . at 
all made -ase of. 1 his' fact, however, is no answer 
to the many escellent and sage observations of those 
who entertain a penchant f@r condelBning the. use 
of luxuries to which they, themselves, have no in- 
ielination. 

lazing, lite weost of the otiier district cities has 
rauchouhavated ground within its walls, and, except- 
ing thatsueh .places afford a shelter to officers of Gov- 
ernment, and aid in perpetuating the tyranny of 
the rulers, the benefit accorded to the people by the 
existence of walled cities is problematical, .. There 
was a time, perhaps, when the liehestmen of the pro- 
licinees were quartered within them ; and there are in- 
dications of such a time in many of the houses now 
used for the commonest-purposes. Taverns, ( Van- 
teens) in the suburb3,-^faii.ingmofiiasteries,the only 
quarters for the fdfeign trafeUerr— are often found 
to be well arranged houses, with ©pen courts in th^ 
centres,- and avenues and partitioned roomsT— *built, 
evidently, for. people who had some sense of taste 
and decency ; pnt now. Oh, how-filthy and begrim- 
ed with dust! That a quiet,>easily icontented peo- 
ple axe borne by their goyemment to the ground 



J% losing Distmcf. 

witlt ansoBe'tJian>tBigHfc.iaape«w«%ht, and icruBlie(J 
df aliiipirifefiMi al^gter order of enjoyment than 
that possessed by t& Bwate ereattt*«, is proelaim?- 
odt at, eveHr step m silent speaking liinguugef, mere' 
ek^ptient (tma the •wail ©f the western' slave: 

Jrcan tiTSing-yuen t&Coemg-dong-y a ttillagB off 
a kuadreciikBaikeson the top'of a Mfi^ the dis&nee- 
is seven- li we^. The. next *|»lace reaehed> N» W^ 
four mites^ is S^g-'^tfbn-yoMr a hamfetof 50" femi^ 
lies. Fwim. th® read way, in the centi* of a= semi* 
eircfe c€ hills,, ^e valley O&elbwj iji a soTSfcthepBy and. 
westeidly direetiJony is> stias^ied' witfij niHneK)us- vil- 
lages an^j -wi&ite washed' booses, many of thsm^ 
apparen<6ly,: the dilfellings of the worlrers among: 
the hv^e groups of mountains adjacent. Mosen^ 
shea one mife jN» W, of Smg-caon-you^ lies; a Rttle^ 
to: the Jgfl oi the roadv It is a 'Villa^^ said to^ 
number over 400 fenuliesi Thence X<y TsungHfirtf 
the course is W;. N. W. for about two- miles., 
Tstmg-^tif iai aa extensive viH^age- &t township o£ 
of er 3i000» femiiieSk^ Amon^®t&erciQribsa.<tie» m this- 
qfflarter^ wildixat, Iosb,- and bear iskina are obtain- 
a:bl)e ^aind ^u ^e spmig.^a small fruit o€ a pfeffisantly 
sour SavoksD^ difiioiieint frern: aaiy seen in other parts- of' 
Chinat. Jbsa.. sdck and bricl^ are made. I^rej and 
much: oi the' native maniifactusred eloth iS' d^d<r 
The. bedi ofi a shfallswir' stream- rusming from- the 
liortfe at this^' pJacCi, is oyer 2&0-' feet in^ widths andis- 
crossed! b^ k b^dgeQ^nine starllnged pierst But 
though so* flouiiDisyxi^ a plaecj the de^ders objecd 
to giving: cash ipa» eytch^a^t i&r fore^ro dollars ; — 
t^y say^as i» said at iiea!r%r all the inMnd> viliagesy 
they do mrt want silvePj amed woi^d rather lose tk& 
sale of theiir gQodd^itfaan make, what tl\|^ deem. s»cb; 
a bartbr exchan^, Some fine elm like tcees^ call-- 
ediFtrng^ey areto be seen iji thjs-q^isiarterj-nr-thft as- 



Dzing Bistricl. 29 

jsect ef the region being that of a picturesque vwoqii- 
land f interspersed with what foreigners are u^ed to 
call trmmphal arches, .These are square stone up- 
rightSy with liirtels and plinths, ihtended tp cojurae- 
niorate the virtue of some by-gone hero, or heroine. 
Widows who have lived virtuously are much honour- 
ed after their decease 'bw memorials of this kind; 
Indeed the majority of these ornaments appear to 
have been erected for such a purpose. 

Still continuing W. N. W. the road runs over 
one or two hills on which tea is grown, -though 
not in large quantities, for five miles until the 
foot of the pass called SMh'meaou-Mng is" reach- 
ed. Hercj' for at least one good day's plodding, 
the, traveller bids adieu to lev=el country, and 
mounts and- descends flights of steps and rugged 
paths till head and foot are well a^weary . Straw 
shoes for Chinese -pedestrians are in great demand 
here. The price-of them, with straw wisp sandals, 
is only ten cash, or under a half-penny a pair. For 
baggage carriers they are a bad substitute for a 
shield ;:to the foot, and are apt to cut the toes or 
CPeafe l>li8ters. The women in this quarter, even 
of-^;the poorest class, wear head ornaments of 
jade i stone set in gold and blue feathers, resem- 
Mng locket% in the centre of a tiara of black sitfc, 
satdn, or common cloth ; and though used to wdrking 
in the fields with the roeU; are all cramped into thi 
detei&l^ small foot system. 

Half a dozen miles beyoiid the pass is the vil- 
lus of Keu^i^in of 100 families. At this place 
there is a temple, and two fine arched bridges of 
cobbled stone. After h&v'ing ICewzhin the foad 
runs through a rocky glen, ^irith one or two beau'- 
tiful water fail', to the^mht of Seang-ming, oi 
30 ftanilies. The distaince from UTewzhin to tMa 



30 juzing jjtscrtct. 



.place is aboiit a mile aad a third N. W. — West 

Again, distanti four miles, Is thQi San-moong'lin^ 
to reach whicli, the road, very narrow, skirts tha 
sides of mountains of frightful acclivity, studded 
from bottom to top with some of the loftiest bam- 
boo trees in the world, here and there, on western 
sides,- over patches of tea trees. Ifras hardly ^fe 

^to attempt ridipg in a chair in this quarter;- but in 
iio part of the world can the beauty ofithe scenery 
througH which the travfcller passes, until he reaches 
the hamlet of Shih-chong, be exceeded ; the streams 
in the glens- below being of oonsideraJble; Width, 
■winding principally from the N. W. and running, 
angrily, to the southward, ^ though they hastened 
to become the fathers of useful rivers. - 

. Shih'^kangnntnhQvs some 60 families, all of them 
engaged in themanufactuirejof a coarse quality i>am- 
-boo paper. The bambocs used for this purpose are 
usually two years old. Split and out into thi*ee 
foot iengthi, they are placed in vats* in. some 

, cases , covered mth lime, and left to soak in Water 
until almost rotten. Some s£ these bamboo out 
tings remain in vat, for eight and nine months 
before using. This, however, is ar long perim, and 
one and two months are enough to render the 
pith of the -bamboo fit, fot the water-power- worked 
pounding hammer. The process of 'manufactur- 
ing the paper is similar to that in the .west. The 
pulp is thrown into vats which are fed with "water, 

- through skoota leading from the hill streams, the 
pulp being taken up on fine bamboo screens. 
One pair of hands- is able, to throw off as many as 

, 300 sheets an hour; a pile" of 3 feet high, of 
sheets 2i by 1 foot sqtiare, being a -fair day's work. 
The machine for expressiiig > the water from*tha 
pile is clumsy enough, but ^ififectual in r«duQing 



Dzing District. .31 

it to about a fourth of its cube. The drying houses 
are low buildings with walled ovens in the centre?, 
and fed from the outside. To the exterior of these 
Avails, as they slightly s;lope in from the base, the 
sheets are lightly pressed, and left until they dry 
and drop off, after which they are placed in stack, 
"ready for market. 'This paper is often used in 
the lieu of horseJiair or straw for plaster Avork, and 
sells for 2,400 cash per pecuL of 100 catties; A good 
deal of paper is made from straw, tooj in this quarter, 
and also" farther along on the bofderS of the River 
Tsiett'tang. The gOod white paper seen in Shang- 
-hae is. manufactured at Soo-chow, and, though of 
better fabric, is dearer than that made in the south. 
Frond Shih^chong, still tvaveUing W. N. W. the 
road runs through a continuous series of mountain ' 
passes; the rocks in some'place&lyiiigtip'and down 
in heaps in admired coirfusion;— foaming brooks 
and water^falls adding the highest grace to the all- 
romantic scenery. Some of the timber cut here re-, 
sembles the beech for closeness of grain, md would 
serve admii'ably for stocks for carriage wheels. In 
lengths of ten and twelve feet, large stacks of it are 
'- to l^geen in the streams, or on their banks awaiting 
transport to a mart. So difficult is it for the chaiv 
coal carriers: and native travellers in these defiles 
to obtain food, that they usually carry it^ (eold rice 
and greens^) in small ba^, and eat by the w^y side. 
•^ieu->koh-^an fbur mites and a third from Shili- 
ehtmg, is a small hamlet of 20 families ; and, still 
ascending^r-stili isscending— the next place reached, 
Tqft'Chay'WOO, by a small arphed bridge, number^ 
only three families. At the Z>ewg^ here, the travel- 
ler misses the customary idol ; but in place of it 
finds paintings of gods:andgoddesses,r^red capped 
and qiubbedbimtersi and venerable ladies. ThQ 



32 Pisiftg iHstribt. 

Ethnologist ipmeWmg through Cbekiang finds 
much «u|yeGt fpr ,w6rKing qft;*|i the marked ten- 
dency of the pa^le to vaiied forFms of worship. 
In each district there is morie or less of supersti- 
tion ci' a kind different from that of its neighbour. 
At one section the 4mgs have small, at others, large 
idols J— at one^ one cfess of paintings, at anothe^r, 
another class;— and northward^ between the pro- 
vinces of Ahwhujf and Eiangsu, both idols and paint-^ 
ings disappear. It is bard for a foreigner to predi- 
cate from the disposition of the peqpje in one province 
what is likely to fee expected in the province adjoin- 
ing.. ; In one district the inhabitants are biebly phi- 
lanthropic, keepiagtea ri^dy for thetraveller^com 
fort, with payment toi«a priest to see that the kettle 
boils ;— ^iu another the tea has to be paid for; but in 
all the districts we «re writing ofj there is a lauda- 
ble spirit of treating^ia^hotber kindly ,^ and doing 
for the neighbour what they: would have d(me for 
themsel^^es. 

The broad mountain stream from the west is 
met at Tan-chay-w&o by another stream from the 
north, following whose left bank tbe traveller, at 
two /e distance, arrives at Sun-chay-iooo, the Idea- 
tion of 2 or 3 families engaged 'in smelting- iron 
sand ; and a little further on isOpng-hongi^ a haimlet 
of HO families, near the foot of a pass ealled "Shang 
cop-twfg. A fariijaceous article called JLieo^gi^his.-' 
Jcee, IS procOTjedfrom the thin black roots of a fern- 
grovj^iqg inthis quarter. Woman and childten are 
the manipuiators, by -beating the roots^ which have 
an oily smell, dn stoaes by the way side. Tea is 
grown in some quantit^y on the tops of the hills here; 
the ascents^rigiftg at an average of four feet in ten. 

Descending, .tbe course is aibout N. N'. W. for one 
mile to the viiksf e of Sh^hong, <>f 150 famities> 



Tchi-ki District. 33 

and tlience, still descending, trending somewhat to 
the southward of west for about seven le, & Ding 
is arrived at, marking the boundary between the 
districts of DziNe and Tchi-ki. j^ 

i^': ' So Utilitarian are the Chinese in a'l their produc- 
tions, that, on viewing the marked difference in the 
aspect ef -the foliage on the approach to the I'chi-ki 
district, the traveller is induced -to stop by. the de- 
scending way to enquire into the character of the 
massive trees, with ferny branches of a deep olive 
green not ufdike those of the old Yew of England. 
Trees of thkidescription are cultivated in large num- 
bers and cut into e}C«eltent planking. 

The Landscape pajiiter, for a picture here, has to 
exhaust his pallet. The soil, of a red brown, is in 
parts cut up 'for iptanting ; in others covered with 
the yellow flower«l irassica before spoken of, or 
with maize or sedges; — 'then the limner has the 
green of wheat, the -deeper tinted tea, the gold a:nd 
silver wreathed itomboo, and the dark olive of 
the yew tree j— ^the hills, in some parts, rising 
pecpendieula«ly frofl) the stream bed below, and 
coQtiniially inoucing in the lover of nature in its 
rugged forms, an esM^lamation of pleasure and sur 
prise. • v, ' ^ 

Fong-jue-lin^, is the name of the pass between 
the:l^iiiia«y of the districts and a little Ibeation 
called fTehin-za'-dbm, 5 miles N.W. from the village 
o^Shee^kongi where one or two families are employ- 
ed in the manufactory of-paper. From Tchin-za- 
dow tO'C?^'9^--A;a-«o0, a •hamlet of 40 families, the 
ctui;se is IV;N.-E. one mile. A fine open ancestral 
hillis.tobe seen < here ;and from the appearance of 
th%BXted<»'s of the little two storied whitewashed 
h.ou6e%^ith>indented window lintels and ornament- 
ed .gaheJa, the inhs^itants might reasonably be ex- 



34 Tchi-hi Distiict. 

pecfed to possess more desire for clfeanliness within 
their dwellings. Dirt and filth, however, are all 
iheir ornament ; — the comfort of furniture, indeed, 
is sparingly im^iilged in hy Chinese. 

Prom ibis place to Che-hew, a village of a hundred 
families, the course is north, distant one mile. Good, 
swet t, crisp, finger shaped biscuits can be bought 
iiererat two cash each. By a tliree piered Bridge 
on the roaid side there afe several bamboo crushing 
mills for paper making. SdJi-keo, a village, of 150- 
familiep, N. by W. five U from Che-keWf is the first 
patch of houses on the plain. By a small temple 
outside there is a fine Camphor tree*- of latfge size \ 
the surrounding country being covered with mul- 
berry and other trees, of loftier growth. 

Yrom^Sah-keo to 5'Aae-faA, and beyond it* the 
paved cause-way is wide enough for a carriage, and 
js kept in excelh'nt repair. Skae-fah numbers 550 
families, and Woo-jaw,a. little further on, 700 fami- . 
lies. The houses, of a superior class, are walled in 
here, and from the number of celebration columns 
seen, and other indications, . the inhabitants ap- 
pear, to be above the ordinary standing. LoO'[ng7i 
is a hamlet of iO families two miles N. Wu from Woa- 
jaw J and 5 le further, W. N. W. is Zoo-tow of 50 
families. . 

At Loo'ngh is a fine two storied temple ; — 'the 
country around exhibiting some lofty firs and 
low poplars-;_the hills in early spring being covered 
with a^ralias of wild growth. N.W. of Zoo-tow^xm a 
hiiSI, is a square pagoda of five stories. A sixth story 
hss fallen off just over the uppermost window, so 
giving to the top of tiiG pagoda the appearance of a 
'pattlemenled tower. On measuretnent,' thispa^- 
da, built of brick, js found to be 13 feet square 
outside, the lower walls 3 feet 9 inches thick, lower 



Tchi-ki Distriei. 3$ 

story 13 feet blgh, and the other stories of similar 
height apparently. -^ ; , i^~ 

Imtmdiately beneath the pagoda, N. W. is 
the town of Fong-je-how^ and further on in a. 
Nor' westerly direction are a series of lakes and 
winding streamB between the hills- and the Rivlei* 
Tsien-tang. On the south fcot' of the hill under 
the pagoda is. a capacious niouastery, with good ac- 
comodatioH'forthe&feigniravellcrif he require it. 
l^ut at Fotmg-je-how there are three firms, viz the 
Wmi-hOyi\ie tang-jiw^ and the Ta-keu, all doing a 
stirring business in tea and silk with the northern 
consular I'orts. The head of the first named, a gentle- 
men of the name of Ijuh-eMng vsoo, ( 1 1 ) is prone to 
hospitality, and will not permit the foreigner to re- 
main at the tomiastery outside. f^ 

From Mr Imh or his brothers, the traveller 
may gain much - useful and interesting informa- 
, tion. From him it was learnt that though there 
were as many as 5,000 fanulies in the town, say 
2;',000 people^ there .was not one officer of gov- 
ernnaent; and as this place may be taken as an in- 
dex to towns of similar size throughout the country, 
we here see upon what erroneous bases we speak 
when we say that to destroy the government, as 
established in a walled city, we lea^e nothing to 
follow but anarchy ibr the mass. * In reality, as 
before stated, the people of China govern them- 

* The Weekly despatch oi ]hi^ 1st. February 1 8 57. 'thus re- V 
murks on the then recents acts of war at Canton, — 

"And now having destroyed the Chinese Government, and 
brought chaos upon 350 millions of people, wjl| Ministers tell us 
wbet|be;r they are prepared to substititte another ruling power for 
that they Jhai;e destroyed? Do w'e propose lo^annex China, or 
to partition it among the friends of the "sick man," American, 
French and English 1 ' Arq we re%Ily aware what we are about 
when we taker fronv coutitless millions their recognised ru.'ers 



36 TieMM District, 

selves.; a(nd no blows that may be directed at pro- 
vincial heads, will affect, so far as thetgeneral well 
being of society is cohceraed, the condition of the' 
masses ;— provided always that outlDlows are not so 
directed -a;nd so continuous as to pirostrate the whole 
fabric ; and to destroy that supreme police for which 
Governments, eveii of the worst class, are tolerated. 

By the ameestral hall of this &mily (a capadoa^ 
building exhibiting the tablets bf twenty four genera- 
tions of the clan Iduh,') the firm of Wan-ho have 
their manufactory for the tea knowxi to the trade 
as the Ping-suey, a greea of excelilent character. 
Until the fourth month of the year, when the gather- 
ing commences, the 120 drying ;pa/BS of the Wan- 
ho establishment are filled with paddy husk, to pre- 
vent them from rusting, and nothii^ is done, be- 
yond the mabufacture of tiie boxes. Erom Pmtg-je- 
hoWf the depot of some surrounding miles, 270,000 
pounds of Tea and 3^000 Bales, or nearly as m^ny 
pounds, of Silk, are s^t annually to the foreign 
markets. 

These goods when destined &>r Shaaghae are trans- 
ported in boats of the aapacity of a hundred chests 
each, by the way of Hatjg chow, at which place 
Teas pay a tax of 1,1.00 «ash (nearly three farth- 
ings per pound) per chest. Were these goods 
taken to Ningpo direct, such duty would be avoid- 
ed; and it is to be regretted that attempla are not 
made to -divert some portion of thetea ^nd «ilk 
to a place appearing to possess equal facilities 

and, -withdraw frdni tliis seething knass trf human Hfe the organ- 
ism by whicih it liire'd ?^ Have we nnOther administrative ;dis- 
petisatioti to differ it in the, place 6f that which has beealkshioned 
bjr the-light of the experience of man:y centUTies? Do we know 
what it is to undertalre such a respbn'il>iHtjr,ior to throw into ut 
ter confusion rfU the recognised tn^tihinery orState poster in such 
a boundiea empire ?'" ' ' 



Tchi-ki District. 37 

with the other Consular Ports for doing business 
•with dealers in the interior; At present the only 
artiqle taken in return is Sycee Silver,,and it may 
be^ some opium. The places where opium is made 
use of at Fong-je-how," ho-wever, are not publicly 
known; and the foreign traveller has some difficul- 
ty in finding them out. The article, it is Said, is 
carried to Fong-je-how by the way of Shaou-hing 
foo. Until recently, say up to the autumn of 18 56, 
clean Carolus dollars, in company with Sycee, were-' 
the media of exchange ;— but latterly there has been 
such extraordinary fluctuations in the rvalue of the 
dollars, (Government edicts, perhaps, have had some 
what-todo with it,) that Sycee Silver or Copper cash 
are the only articles in 'which, as a rule, value is 
returned. . /. ■ 

The people employed on the Tea works are all 
paid after the rate of a mace a day, in hard coin ; and 
it is easy therefore to understand that copper . cash 
will, be in great deitiand ; — ^but over and above the 
labourers'- wages there must be a large surplus, and' 
it is to be regretted that an introduetion can not 
be made of our woollen goods. It would t>e even ad'- 
visable to give away woollen comforters and socks 
and mits for a time in places like jFongfje-how, 
in order to induce a fancy to such things. In cold 
weather — and by common report it is cold enough 
— they would be iiivaluable, and highly„appreciatecl. 
Up to late in the spring it is not uncommon to see 
small brass band baskets, with live ashes, carried 
about from place to place, and moved from. foot to 
foot as reqijisite j^poor substitutes for the comfort 
of worsted stockings,!. ' ; r 

The land tax here is after the rate of 360 cash 

' 'per mow (&^ mows, or, to be precise, 6,nirraows 

going to an English acre) the best -land letting for 



38 ^M'M Msttiet. 

3,000 daste a mmr a yearV But]£iiid,Ji^|i^^!l||^, ife 
let to th6 ^Bilrferdifer fof d^ c#)tkgi^ $|me fcrb|)§'. 
What tMs pev detota^ is ii^ fdMife^ is ifeihd tlii- 
"v^ilRng to tfell ; afldj ffoni tlie VaripiiS tfe^bits, and, 
again, froifii tfce v^ti&tf ih Ai^^feigftts- Uiid ilieaaureS 
in the feeveM difeti^ibts-, tliea-e is' much aifeca|lty iit 
arriving at trti.thtel Statistics. For a^bdd Cai^oM 
dollar, 1100 (D6JJ{)gi'''cas!i can be obtiainedj^^for a 
Carol us 10 per 6ient'b^ttfer than a Mexican, lOlO 
Cash— FoT a M^icfeii dbllai* 9id cash. Some of the 
building*' a* Fdbkg-jd^Kbw resemble palaces ; and 
there is an' e:*^ll6iit Specimen of iAaBbUfy in vi lai'gei 
arched bHdgi9 oVer tlie. strfeaWi. i 

, Five /rl^i W. froin Fdng-je-hdib,h tlid hamlet of 
Tchwo^atii of 60 familidsj and ttti&mile futther 
on the hamlet of Owydee. Thence to the ferry 
and Boai statidn, «ti a dahallfeadift-^ t6 the T^ien- 
tang, the distaniSej ^tiil N. W. is about 2 Zfe. 
, The tidij #hieb by the way of the T^efA-T&h^ 
flows in feoiMjHaWgcfti&'vi^ Bay, runs up the cri^eK ef 
•canal* whi^ «fe ti-d^'ellbi' from FoTfg-i^^^Qtt 
takes boat for Fob^dng. These Bbiitsj ot about 
four tons burtherii are - priopelfed" irit a tttindttfe way 
by a nian eittittg at the- stei-tt, and pMyi'^^ with his 
feet on> the Weighted end of a broad bk^Md sknll, 
For a Watefc of half a d§zen hours the^e ftielh jfeeSp 
steadily attheii' post Withorit a^y oth^iF flKiVteiiieht 
than that of the feet^ Or a sw*6ep J-l^lf ^i* left Wittt 
an additionisiil' skull out of the sterft HeW ttiiddr; th^ 
arm. Th»^ricfe for hire of one bf thfe^ %aafe #bih 
.the VQtvfioFm-yang^ is 2,600 tefe^, ttigfeffii*- Wii^ 
wTiat is oatM Wi«e ftioney, which \k iL dld^^i^ 
of a. mace or so for good behavibiih Th!6 i^tt^df 
direotilitt U. the!^iia!ilft,"'lhtiugfe Wifldiiig' ih '^btaie 
extraordinary fcbtftbrtibi«i bi6talien%ll^ib WJHM^ 
I<to tH«s*t^y tdawhei«fe' it ewifei'fe mrTSIt/t^m^^ 



Tsien-iang Msti-ust. 39 

the distance is ^fcoiit 40 wiii^sir— tJie canal in mftny 
placesi passing through series of wide though shsX 
lowdakesrf 

Ahout Is miies by the stream from the Ferry, in 
a nor* Westerly directicmy is^ San-imig-keaou, a vil- 
lage of 35d ftpiliesi At this place two streams 
meet; one leading frMn JbhirM-yuen, (the chief 
city of the pistffc^ from whbb if is distant from 
l5 to 20 lail^^anteo^g-keow being a similar dis- 
tance from Hang chow one way, and from the Hiien^ 
tang an other (12)^ 

DEt»ARTMENT Ol" HANG-CHOW, 

Disttwit dfthb 'Mtft-'Pdng. 

The T^n.'i^m.^i 'fi^ifi the embeiifchure of th^ 
Fov^-j^lUrtb eaeMt to i^&-^ng, varies in width 
from one aild tVpb htifid^e^ iyai^k to a mile and up- 
Ward&; ihoil^ th6 ^i&p&i is^^ly sliifieient for Ves-' 
sefe of light dt^;:^l^hi^rteifh feel it i^ said, With 
a. tidal m& Slid fail «f ffirefe attd foiir fefet. The - 
course ^f the it^^'^^&rh th^fe caMPs liiouth on to 
Fdo^iMgi 4s febotot S.W. by W. for thirty ittites and 
ujitJlSdS,^ 'off the elicit ^Siteheg off to the south- 
ward.- >•■ 

The cdunfi-y -b<fi'de*ift| the riVei- is fiat for two 
©r tb^e miifes igta^^ afed fbi* the most pari covers 
ed vfMt fft^b^ri-y tl't^e^i, F^r^iHiig' appears to M 
i*th6 mmt^&iati^iAeii^lM^. Oh ¥he south face 
the wall reaches dertt^A to iht watef^s edge j^-ort 
the^ e0si Ik ix&k ^itfpff vtp'mi ascent, and down 
to^*iffft!^ bii td Ihg *{*rth side, y^Mre the«oun^ 
try Is ;Jfeet^i<^>aiifd^'bHt»fifl96' built 6n; the busi- 
ftess piH'i^ lii<4 leWri lyiftf on the south. On 
the #este^^ii^iitt^e*<3r tftfe! ^ivH is a well fuiiish- 



40 Foo-yang District. 

ed grey sandstonp three arched bridge of curved 
stones,, the road way on the top being Hned with 
market stalls,. The walls of the city of Foo-yang 
— an oblongr three or four miles round — are not 
in very excellent condition'} and in many places 
are delapidated and' covered with verdure. As a 
place of business, however, neither /fein^ nor Sing- 
chong can compare with Foo-yang for Bustle. 

A short distance north of the city is a small 
temple at Which a traveller could quarter, and 
one mile N". by W. is the vjWage^of L'eong-van-ha. 

Thence, two U W. N. W. is Sing-jow a long ;vil-* 
lage of 1,500, families, inhabited principally by 
straw paper makers. A branch of the Tsien-tang is 
here crossed by a fine one arehecf bridge, another 
branch running to the northward for a distance of 40 
or 50 loi Some' excelleftt peppermint lozenges are 
procurable here at the cheap rate of a cash each. 

From Sing-jow to Kwong-Djean the distance, in 
a N.W. iy direction,is four miles ; though, all around, 
the plain appears covered with straggling hamlets; 
the white washed houses, with their step like gables, 
appearing at a distance like gothic priories, • The 
people of this quarter speak in high terms of the 
security they enjoy from plunder or attack from free 
hooters. Bee hives are to be seen in this quarter ; — 
and honey is procurable at a cheap rate. Five le N, 
Y^ .Xrom Kwong-Djean \s Suchang a village of 200 
families, and two miles further on in the same course 
is Song-jin, a very old fashioned , little place, the 
inhabitants being similarly peculiar. 

Five Zr N, of Song-jin is Yang-ko-fah a. village 
of 100 families, and ^Is further on is Cheensoling. 
of 200 families. Thence to Cho-keu, a hamlet of 50 
families, is a short couple of /e, and a little over a 
similar distance is iioo-moe of 200 families. Three 



Yu-hong District. 4 1 

mil^s further en, still iri a northerly direction, is 
thi Dung-Idng, or pass. marking the boundary 
between the .Foo-Faw^ and Fw-ftong- Districts,: 
passing over wMch, the traveller descends very 
abruptly by gome large kilns for burning lime, 
The black lime stone rock here is aJniost perpen 
tiicular; — the strata being- intersected with, sstreaks 
of white and red porphyry and carbonate of lime, 
in lines running longitudinally to the E.N. E. Blast- 
ing does not appear to be understood, and each 
block for the kiln is cut out with the cold ciiisel. 

Farther down the pass, a beautiful place among 
the hills, is the hospitable village of Le-skuet-sun 
of 300 families, and. a short, distance up the. glen is 
the Ka-yuen-sze a,small monastery of five priests. 
. Umbrageously sheltered, it is a dwelling which in 
the greatest heats of summer possesses a delicious 
coolness. The Superior, by the name ofCke-yuen, 
is remarkably .attentive to foreigner|. Pumice 
stone, said to have been procured from neighbour- 
ing hills, is exhibited here, from which it mjiy be 
inferred that the region is volcanic. 

A mile from the Ka-yuen-sze is the Nae-hae-ling, 
a , pass, marking the boundary between the Yu- 
hong and Jjing-haen districts, and a Is and a half 
beyond it, jis Nieu-che-ning the residence of two 
or three taxaiYies—Ning-hwio-deo^ a. Is further on 
in a vvesterly direction, is another dwelling plaoe- 
of three or four families. The roads in this quarter 
are nicely laid with rough pebbles. 

Fwo-paleu, a straggling village of 250 faniilies 
is one le west (rom JSing-kwa-deo ;.r-^andpn a sim- 
ilar course, within distances of a Is and a half from 
each other, still descending, from th« pass, are the 
hamlets of Wo-ckee-deo of 60 families— So-che'dah 
of 5 or 6 families,— In-geewei of 3Q femilies, and 



42 Mkg4i:atn BisUrict. 

Shing-fatof 5 hmlm. Badket n^^kihg is larj^Iy 
practised in this qoiapftesr. 

The coarse frdm In-g%e^U to the hattileit of 
Ting-yuen of aoofafflfli^is N. W;-^the dii&taimre 
foui- milesj priircipally thrditgfe a WMfey over a mile 
and a half wide. 1Fhfe Kftie ^tone strata hereabout 
has a pitch to the N.E."df SO." IHuch taste is exhi- 
bited by families io; this squafter in the neatness 
with which they di^ss their dhildi^nj 'wlidse blue 
or black jsefcets arfe prettily lined at the collar^ 
with red cloth and ^Inbroidered with Madk or eol- 
oCired silk. 

Five ?e North <jf>!F«>«^-t/nen the traveller arrives 
at an exceedingly fitie^fiveafrdhed Bridge built ttf 
granite, the river bed at this pla<ie bi^ta^ over 200 
ftet across. The cSentre arehis 31 feet gpan — the 
other arches 29 feet Span— Breadth 15^ feet. The 
stream here, running from the south, unless swollen 
by rains, is very shallow, and only- navigable by the 
bamboo rafts. 

Turnin-g sharply- from North to W.N.W. at four 
miles distant frdm the Bridge^ t4ie road leads over 
another well built.' tlfree ardied bridge, the stream 
running from west, into Wonff-sin-kwOj'a. village of 
SCO families^ over which on a hill, is a squaie five 
storied Brick pagoda;, and N, W. by N. distant ap- 
parently 20 or 30 miles is the cel^ated Mountain 
Teen-muh^sdn ^Ic CU {Heat^r^s^e). 

Two ieH.Vf.fcom Worig-dn-MUioia the district 
City of IAng-M^,a small plrice j the silhdrbs on 
the N. W^side containing about as many inhabit- 
ants fis the city itself, reported as having SOO 
families within the walls and 600 Without, Lmg- 
haiffn '\% msi of the 1600 waile'd dties of vfrhfdh 
the Eirijfife boasts. Bdt iibdiUd U tran iiafdly 
•be cMled;:— the bottoSary,-of--^6iit "tht-ee tnites, 



J4ng^iam Pi^rict. 43 



being , a .mere neicbuHe ^^r•Qf:1(i€lQ, seven or 
feet high and under a cample itrf" feet thick; -roth 
gates at each of the eardinal ipo^nts, Betwjeen 30 
and 40,000 Balies of Silk are sent annually from 
this quarter, .j^rinjcipaljly to^he Shanghae macfcet. 
For a tgofld Carolus do],Iar r«Eilj 980 cash can be 
obtained, ■. — Rice standing ia,t ,46 cash a .catty or 
nearly $5 a ,pQcul, jBloritbeir ie»pQirt(S, Sycee and 
Opium are returned frqm ,§hanghae. 

The antiquarian finds isejvejc^l objects of interest 
at Ling-haen ^ one lar<ge area containing the 
ruins qf an .ancient .Temptejand some lofty stone 
images both ;Of the: human rand brute forms. The 
ancestral hall Qf the -family !'^T«ien'' is within the 
compound ^spoken of, and a tablet ere«;ted in Mien- 
lootfg's re^gn records ^ merits of one of the 
!rs«e»?5,whJ05' when the, country was jn a st^te of 
Janarchy.after-.the destrnotion of tbe-*SfMng- dynasty, 
(A D 479 ) was a great .benefactor^ and almost 
founded, a dynasty ,fpr himself (IS). 

In the .city temple 4s a j^fine.iron bell orer five 
feet high, east jdjiriii^ the Ming, dynasty, and b^ar- . 
ing ainotto which, translated, nins " The state pro- 
*' tiects the peoj^e— wiAoutthe state there could be 
no>tria,nftui]lity ". Some coloured images in this tem- 
ple,, in the habilimentsQf-a.ncient dynasties, are very 
expressiyejra' cavalier sat liie entrance, life size, hav- 
ing flowiijgcurlSi hat and dress, as nearly aspossible 
after picfeurea of thejg^- courtiers of ottr Gharles 
the 2nd's,tiine. 

Seven l8 W. ,. from , MfigrJ^aen [ is the yillagc of 
Chirtg-ka-riea of; ^5 families,, and a little further on 
J)jui-cha pf 1 00, families, _. J^^f&ding-jou), a village 
of 300 families,4e|oneB^e NiW. from it. A Bridge 
to cost- :$40,()00 was cpwfiaesqtced over the stream 
here (between- two, or three iundredfeet acEossj,) in 



44 idrig-haen DistricU 

the beginning of the present year, 1856, andcontrt 
butionsto it are thankfully received from foreigner 
as well as native passing; that tvay (14). 

The contented faceS) the garden Hke country, the 
absence of beggars, combined with fine weather^ ren- 
der travellings^ in this part of the route delightful. 
Five iB W. by S. from Foo-ling-jom is the Toong- 
Mew a large temple, and near it, low down at the 
foot of a hill, may be seen^ half a mile from the road, 
a five storied hexagonal pag6da, white washed^, 
wherie not decayed and brake away. 

Two or three Temples^ are to be found at no great 
distance from a hamlet of 20 families called SMti' 
chee, at one of which, by a picturesque arched JMng 
of superior construction, the priests OflPer excellent 
accomodation to travellers. Tea bushes may be seen 
here and there on the hills, but not in large numberai 
One U W. of Shin-^he is Peau-hing-chak a ham- 
let of 30 families, and Ten IS W. by N. is Lan-pe of 
100 families. The river bed, nearly dry excepting^ ' 
in the rainy season, is very wide here, and is cross- 
ed to the right bank by a seven arched Bridge of 
excellent workmanship. 

One mile from XeiOT-j»e is Si-long-Jcet a village 
of 100 families, and hence to the Woo-loo-ling 
Sze (Monastery in. the' gorge) is Two UiV.NM. 
The pass above the Monastery spoken of is built 
in with an arched gateway 5 and as the mountain 
rises on each side of it and farms part of a chain 
extending for a considerable distance E. and W. the 
means for keeping the country safe from roving 
bands are very efficient. At the bottoto of the 
Ling on the Tvestem.side, in the U'tsein district 
is the village oiChavo-loong of 100 families, and hy 
a wide stream runing from the E. N. E. is Lang- 
hew of 30 families. Hence to the Vbk-Mng Mon- 



lAtsien Distnct. 45 

astery the distance W. by N. is one mile. 

The number of pilgrims passing this way to the 
Monasteries on the eastern and western Teen-muh 
sans, give to the occupation of the priests "the char- 
acter of Hotel keepeirs. The Szes, Tndeed, should be 
Galled Caravansaries, not Monasteries. The Vok- 
Mng Monastery (Carvansera)is a two storied build- 
ing about a hundred feet square, in the uiidst of a 
garden of mulberry trees. On the upper floor, the 
front rooms, with a sor^th -eastern aspect, are in 
the centre left open for travellers' baggage, whilst 
each wing contains three large rooms, with stand- 
ing bed places covered '.with straw for the lower 
order of travellers, of whom they could accomodate 
a hundred or soj — musquito curtained beds ( Oh, 
th& Fleas!) being for the better -class; — the Abbot 
having a room to himself, and four resident priests 
another. — The back rooms, commanding a V'iew of 
the Eastern Teen-muh, are filled with lumber, win- 
nowing machines and such like farming implements, 
Below,in the centre, is an open court yard,-the front 
hall, with an idol or two in it, being given to the* 
use of devotees; — the back and side rooms to the 
accomodation x)f guests, as refreshnieut rooms, &c, 
whilst on the north stands the kitchen, decorated 
with the bamboo flogger for the refractories upon 
whomjttdgement has been passed. — Outside, again, 
is .the bath room, in which travellers, for the cost 
of the fern that lights the fire, can indulge in the 
luxury of a hot bath, contrived simply enough in 
the large iron pan in which the water is boiled;— 
the fire being lit from the outside. 

it is customary for the European traveller to give 
the priests a small present, say half a dollar a night 
fjr the use of the rooms ;^ — and as the priests are 
money changel^, giving on the average only 980 



46 (I-tsien District* 

icash for the best of Carolus doUars/some little is ob* 
tained by them in the way of legitimate business. Of 
the priests here there is one who has been on the 
establishment twenty nine years, and from the age 
of ten served a novitiate often years at one of the 
Monasteries on the adjacent mountains. Another^ 
the Guest Chancellor, has been nine years a priest, 
6,nd yet so ignorant is he that he cannot write the 
natne of the Monastery in which he serves. A short 
distance N. W. of the Fbjfe-Aing' Monastery is a pub» 
lie cemetery and receptacle for dead children. J*Jot 
many, however, appear to be deposited in it ;— those 
"who can afford it burying the remains of their 
friends under brick tombs. Some of these tombs 
are large enough for two or three coffins (15). 

Chi-ting-joio W. N. W. of the Monastery is dis" 
tant 5 W from it, and boasts of 40 families ; whilst 
Che-chin g'Way-iloo, 8_U N.W. registers 30 families. 
/ 1 CTii'ling-jaiJB characters painted on the walls 
point the traveller to the proper roads either to th? 
eastern or the western Teen-muh, — the rule with 
. vhinese being directly opposite to that followed 
by the English in their jSnger posts. The women 
in this quarter dress their hair modestly, simpiy 
tying it up behind and confining with a small 
silver ornament. * 

The road to the Eastern Teen-muh is very beau- 
tiful, through groves of lofty firs and shrubbery; 
— though cultivation here is not so luxuriant as in 
other parts of the province; nor do the loftier moun- 
tains bear that profusely studded appearance so 
characteristic generally of the hill scenery of Che- 
kiang. 

Ten le N. by W. from Cke-ching'ioay'loo is the 
hamlet of Le-chin of 60 families ; and a little further 
on a comfortable Alonastery or Caravansera called 



U'tsien District, 4? 

Lungnisfe-way'MeicqV'i-deo. Aft inteliigent look- 
tog yoting priest here, a lad of the name of Skeo' 
ein, appears disposed to give much attention to the 
foreign visitor j— though, in the Spring of 1857 
the writer was the only one he had ever seen. His 
confreres are similarly attentive, and sinxilarly 
unsophisticated. 

Lung-zee-way is only a little distance from the 

commencementof the ascent of the eastern Teen- 

muh, the ^vsi Ding on the hill bearing W.N. W. 

from the foot of the roughly laid path. Four Dings 

are met between the hill foot and the Monastery at 

the top, and are placed as follows. From the hill foot 

the first Ding- is reached in 18 minutes walkings. 

From XWng' No. 1 to Ding No. 2 the course is 

about North, andean be reached in 30 minutes. 

From No. 2. to No 3 the course is about N. and of 23 

minutes walking-*-From No. 3 to No. 4 the. course 

i-=! northerly and westerly,— 25 minutes walking—-' 

Ding i^o. 4 is the entrance to the Monastery 

grounds, and is gratefully cool. 

Neither at t£e first por the ' second jDw^s are 
there any idols; only at the second there is a tablet 
bearing the insciption ^^h A (1^) I^wg No 3 has 
a small idol of Yen-Dah, the god of wealth, sitting 
on a seal like long tailed anitnal^ and holding for* 
ward a shoe of tinsel resembling a lump of Sycee. 
Ding No. 4 is a small temple with a shrine to the 
god Wei-doe, and attended by a priest who receives 
his meals from the Monastery above. Besides 
the Dings there are several conveniently placed 
stone seats under lofty firs. Should the traveller 
apprehend thirst gn his way up, he must not neglect 
to provide himself with liquid before starting, for 
though cascades are abundant enough within his 
sight on the opposite side of the gorge and above, 



48 U-tsien District. 

not a dribblet is met until after he has passed the 
third Ding. 

Experienced Geologists will decide, perhaps, that 
the Easteifn Teen-muh and adjacent mountains are 
of primary,.secondary and tertiary formations The 
strata, at the base, in layers slightly removed from 
a dead level, la composed of blue black slatey shafle. 
At the height of JDing No. 2 the rocks resemble a 
brown sand stone, quite distinct from the black 
strata on the opposite side of the glen of similar 
elevation ; that strata bearing, in places, a pitch of 
] 5, in others 50 and even 70 degrees. -Between 
the Sd and 4th Dings another species of formation 
is met Avith;— and over it tea is cultivated in 
patches, with maize, — firs growing to great heights 
and of considerable girth. On the oppos ite moun- 
tain, bamboo is the cherished tree ■; not growing 
\vildly, but regularly planted ; each plot or grove 
bearing marks, painted with indian ink, to distin- 
guish it from a neighbour^ stock. Ch^reoal 
burners do a large biisiness in these region.?, the 
weights Carried by them ,being far in excess of 
what would be borne by labourers of western lands. 
Provided with an iron shod staff to serve two pur- 
poses, one to help" them up ascents, the other to rest 
one end of their shoulder stave on without placing 
both packs on the ground, Chekiang land carriers 
go over immense distances, and up trying heights, 
for small remuneration. 

Passing J9in^ No. 4 through a grove of Fir^ 
Cypress and Bamboo trees of splendid growth and 
exubeirance, and still ascending, the traveller rea- 
ches the Monastery called Chaou-Ming-Sze, an 
establishment of 50 priest-!, and containing some 
fine idols ; the three principal ones being lofiy god 
desses on lotus leaves, concealed, until the hours 

for worship, by }-ellow silk hangings. There is a 



U-tsien District. 49 

fine brass idol too,, and, singularly, in one of tho 
upper roomi?, a white porcelain image which the 
priests call the Goddess of mercy. A cross on the 
breast, however, and foreign crown, at once stamp 
it as a "Mary" of Roman Catholic manufacture. 
To reach the western Teeri'inuh, the road has 
to be retraced almost as far down the hill as the 
1st 'Ding^ until a path, or rather steep flight of steps 
is met leading to the right, down which the travel- 
ler proceeds until he reaches first the Monastery 
called Chom-ming-haen of five priests, and then the 
village of Tcha-se-achin of 150 families. Here 
the formation, across a woodland valley, is of red 
hard sand stone, 

Near Tcha-se-achin w'lW be found a tomb evident' 
ly of great antiquity, embosomed in some splendid 
elm like trees and other shrubbery, enlivened with 
the antics of squirrels, and the music, a deep 
clear note, of a very handsome longrtailed bird, to 
be found only in this region. Five la west o^cha- 
se-achin we reach the base of a ? harp ascent called 
Chou-fod-lingi After thirteen minutes walking a 
small mud hut is reached, and five minutes walking 
further up the steps, is a Ding., from which there is 
a, guntle descent W. S. W. to two or three houses. 
The lower -Strata of this hill is similar to that of 
the base of the Eastern Teen-muk,viz black slaty 
shale, in rounded boulders of 20 and 30 feet tTiick 
— the faces of the hills anghng up as precipitously 
as 40O- — the strata at an angle of about 5a. 

From the western base oi Chgiirfop4in,g the ascent 
for some distance, WIN .W. is not too steep for a chair, 
until the head of a valley is reached in wbich five vil- 
lages lie within short distances of each other, the hill^ 
around being perfect forest wood land. Ke-cha s 
is a small hamlet often families, a U or so only fro:Ti 



50 U-t$im District. 

Yee-choub-lee.a. village of 150 families; — Yat-tow- 
Ide again, a fine village of 300 families, being only 
a quarter of a U or so from Kdn-se-chee of 1^0 
families. '; . , 

The pretty manner in which children dress 
their hair with natural flowers among these villa- 
ges is very pleasirig, and the inhabitants, geieral- 
ly, unused to sight or speech of foreigners, whilst 
curious are not obtrusive, and are exceedingly kind 
in their deportment. It is not an unusual thing fpr 
the foreign traveller in this quarter to be politely 
as ked to get out of his chair to hclooked af; — . 
every article of dress and foreign manufacture be- 
ing scriitinized with prying eyes. To pilfer or 
cheat appears foreign to their composition; — and 
loudly indeed may the foreign missionary declaim 
against opium 'smoking, for, on a cursory gjance at 
the habits of the 'people, it appears to be the only vice 
to which they are addicted. Of lewdness, drunken- 
ness, quarrelsomeness, or any thing but what is 
pleafeg in the eyes of an impartial lover of his 
species, nothing is seen ;— nought besides opium 
. smoking, and a want of cleanliness, is found to re- 
form but the inclination to idolatry; — and, whilst 
pitying, the truly charitable can but reflect on the 
purit yof the source fronar which such propensity 
proceeds,— the desire to pay homage tothe Supreme 
Bring a,fter that fashion which progenitors havo 
taught to be the best. 

Cleanliness being next to Godliness, Christianity 
when introduced will be a great boon. Idolafry, 
then, and the absence of a taste for cleanliness in 
their domestic arrangements, appear to be the great 
— almos tthe only — sins wi(;h which Chinese away 
from towns,have to be taxed;--the indulgence in opi- 
um smoking being seldom entered on 'till disease, or 



U^tsien District. 61 

— who shall deny it?^ — the desire to drown in forgiet 
fulness a feeling of hate for the government under 
which they live — renders it necessary. 

The road from Kan-serchee is ten feet wide, and is 
well laid with pebbles and rough stones for three or 
four le north to a Ding with a sln-ine to the three 
goddesses ^ioan-i//w ^ 1g^ >^ ^ (' 7) This.Din^ is 
only a short distance from another sharp ascent ; and 
chairs are kept for the use of lady devotees, of whom 
there are many young and old arriving from all parts 
of this and adjacent provinces. Here, again, in the 
valley the strata-is of the red brown granite like sand 
stone spoken of ;— whilst a little way up the hill it 
is black shale and lime stone. At the top of the ascent 
called Le-da-ling, there is a one priested Temple, 
at which pedlar brokers meet to purchase from villa- 
gers leaves resembling the mulberry leaf in shape, 
called ^ ^^ Tching-sha-yet (18). 1 hese leaves, 
suffused in boUing water, yield a pleasant cool- 
ing drink. In quantities, the dealers obtain them 
at three cash a tael, or about half a mace a Catty. 

To preserve them from the effects of the sun, 
wood cutters in this region wrap the head with blue 
cotton cloth of. native fabric. ^European manu- 
factured cloths, blue, white or gray, are not to 
be seen in this locpility ; and yet there must be much 
room for them, if there could but be an introduction. 
Not that for actual durability anything can excel 
the substantial cottons made, byi the thrifty house 
wives.— Sold, however, at a price commensurate with 
ths labour given to them, they are, excepting in 
scant quantity, above the means of the little earning 
labourer. 

Who shall describe the beautiful wood land dell 
through which the traveller passes from the Le-do- 



52 miien IHsMtt. 

Ling down to tlie great Monastery (the Choey-yen- 
sz€) at the foot of the Western Teen-muh san? 
Cypress and i-ir, planted in regular lines over the 
gre'CTi ' swttrd, or little hills of wheat, are the prin- 
cipal features. 

I'he Chdey-yen^sHe' is the most remarkable esta- 
blishment of its Mhd for many a league around. 
It was originally fouiid^d.by the priests' account, 
in the Sung Dynasty (A.©. 420) (18) and will 
have continually increased' until now it numbers on 
its foundation four Kundrfed priests aind a hundred 
laymen. Its "feitnation, within' an a'mphitheatre of 
wooded mountains, is 'inbst beautiful ', — -and should 
it at any time be iiecesiafy to fix the head quartei-s 
of an embas&y, or to fourid a seminary in this locali- 
ty, by no possibility bdulld a better site be selected. 

The principal eritrahde of the (Safe faces the south, 
the depth from the portico to the northern wall beiiig 
5/5 feetjwith a me&,ri breadth inthe centre of 4251eetj 
the corners rounding of with' an easy sweep.- Front- 
ing the portico is a seihr-^cirbuiar paved area, l221feet 
wide arid 72 feet deep, bounded by a moat, or ha-ha, 
beyond which the ground is cultivated as a kitchen 
garden. Within theehtranee from the front area is 
a spacious court yardi 70 feet wide by 100 jfeet in 
depth, with a flight of steps to the reception hall. 
Thence is another court yard^ about the'same size 
as the other, but with three flights of steps, lead- 
ing into atemple of a secondary class ; branching 
from which, on the west, are dormitories for the 
better class of guests; and' on the east, the refectories 
of devotei33 and priests. Bieyond this temple, still 
proceeding north, is another court yard leading to a 
capacious; hall,' beyond that again being .another 
court with a la^ge censer, and then the principal. 
Temple — a Shrine to the three goddesses Kwan-yin. 



i^-tsien Dtstrici. 63 

In tl e rear of this Temple a verandah, runs across 
from one side to the other over a length of 220 feet. 
This verandah fronts several smaller two storied 
tetnples, fuid altar pieces ; — ^in the rear being another 
ran we of five temples, with smaller ones behind these 
aiffHiii, and then a sraallkitchen garden, bounded by 
the Monastery wail and hedge. This boundary in 
its whole extent embraces an area of five aiid a 
half acres of ground. Onthe west side, besides the 
dormitories spoken of is a fine kit ehen garden^- 
on the east are buildings of various classes. A 
gate on the' north east Corner leads into a road way 
by a perfect street of two storied houses, at the end. 
of which is the- grand kitchen, a building in which 
the boilers for rice measure six feet - across, with 
scoops to remove the food not unlike the ladles 
used in iron foundries. Adjacent to the cuisine 
is a large two storied Hall, with an open area a hun- 
dred feet square, and a Rostrum, intended, appar- 
ently, for the purpose of ; addressing a multitude. 
Such a buiIding,.iiow almost altdgether unoccupied, 
would afford several companies of soldiers the 
most comfortable quarters. The south eastern 
quarter of the compound — the eastern sides of the 
entrance courts mentioned being- twice as wide as the 
western areas — is variously bestowed ; — Granaries. 
Winnowing and- Tea^difying RbOms, Garpetiters' 
yards and- sheds, and general depositories. 

A gate oh the south eastern corner leads to a 
water mill, in which the priests grind their flour, 
and to shops wiere Basket makers, Tailors, Shoe- 
makers, arid other artizans are employed — large 
plots of cultivated ground, fish ponds &c. affording 
satisfactory evidence that in enjoyment of the com- 
forts of life both priests and attendant laymen 
are well versed. INot that the priests indulge in 



' 54 . V Vi; If-isien DtstncL 

■ any thing besities^ food of graim "ajid'vegetaWes ',-^ 
f but thesci in th^eiT modes of cookery^ are well varied. 
Maize flouT porridge- or rice, eaten with salt, and 
yeg6table soupj form the stafdes^ aecompanied by 
greeriS) fresh- or in partial deeoraposition,. pickled 
gingerj salad^ beaaas^ arid grated bean- c-ard^ not um- 
f like parmesailJ cheese both in- taste and? appearance. 
Vr In Sugar' there' appears to- be little or no' indal- 
gence; — norj excapting for the- toast of the.maiza 
porridge from' the pan, do- they seem to> have much 
-relish for anything like Breadv Of liquids, I'ea^ and 
the ptisan', Tch^^-ska-yet, mentioned- at page 51, 
5" are the principal indulgences ;" — ^^no spirits'-^no' opi- 
um — no tobacco, nor anything of an oleaginous 
nature. Asa rule they appear in excellent healfh- 
and spirits,, and if, as-' hais been stated, they ara 
burnt to death for infringment of the rules 

®f the institution the principal of which' are 

abstinence from animal food and sensual indul- 
gence — they' do not' appear- to live in- much- dread 
_> ©f the sword that? hangs- over therai Nor have they 
} need, as it is competent for any of these- priests of 
i Buddha to give Up their vocation and' i'eturn to tiro 
World as soon m they feel dissatisfaction with the 
restraints imposed. 

We might have supposed- tha* in a service requir- 
ing' some asceticism, and- the display of peculiar 
talent td fit the superiors foe the- positions to <H*ich 
they are elected by vote among themselves, attempts 
would be made- to- elevate theorder of the duties; — 
•we might have thought tha,t learning or scientific 
ability would be a qualification' for higher postsi 
— But it is not so' ; and, for all that is known 
-to the contrary, the Abbot'of ths Lvrgest Vlo-aastery 
raiy be unable to write his ow^i nxm?, or do any 
thing .which- the humblest of the hrc^thran. nu^ht'tvo* 



t'-tsien Districft 16 

%ti able tG do. /nd yet they arc not devoid of 
aRibition ;■ — marks cf fuperiority among the fra- 
ternity being shown in rciind spots on the capuf 
ctrer the fonlal bone, nine or t-\velve, three in a 
row, about an inchapart,- burnt in with nn instru- 
Hierit kept f&r the purpose. 

To keep the liead sbaxfed-is also a rule of the order,. 
and to wear robes ef a piiculiar kind, simple as 
can be, loose and flowing, kept over ti e breast by 
a large hook and ring. Fxrepting by his yellow 
silk j^hoes, and it may he by a little cleaner dress,- the 
^bbct bears no ii signia by which he may be known 
fi?cm those helow himj — ^and the best reason ifl tl e" 
Morld for keeping hfm to the proper performance 
of his dutirs is the knowledge of the iiict, that 
those who have-elrctrd can also de|)oge him. Re- 
ports ©f such arbitrariness, however^ are not com- 
mon. 

Pilgrims to these MonaSferies from d'istiant lands 
do very little themselves in the way of worship; — 
The details are kfc to the priosts, who' have a fix-- 
ed price of 1600 Cish fet any, kind of religious 
gervice they may be called on to perform (^fi). 
These services appt^ar to c&nsist of a repetition 
ef set forms of words, either in- single toiees or 
in ehauflts by a company of priests, soraetimrs' 
numbering as many as forty together^^After a 
series of ehaunts,, at the- strikiirg of » bell them 
may be geriuflexions- fer half aohour together, 
the most ardent of the worshippers, and some , of 
tihem appear very sircere, striking, the head on the' 
gl-cund two and three times before- they rise,, to 
wait, wkh hands uplifted in thx) attitude of prayer, 
!m( ther tap o'" the hell and another call to send' 
fehi'm again prostrate. Some of tbe chaunts artr 
gartif u-'arly p'ea-ihg 5 but of tho meanings of tlw 



5G V-iSien' District. :• 

eotiHdg uttered even the most learnod in the land 
'are ignorant^ — Lo-iody-la—Lo-way-la on one note 
or varieii half a note each way, is music pleasing 
enoiiglj to those fond of monotony, — changing after 
a ffuarter of ah hour's repetition, perhaps, to Tod- 
Wfiy-it:oier—-T^ o-waij-wole- — er a more lively syiti- 
t?ho!>y of Faii-,si.ng-h'j Ching-ko-way — Fau-sing- 
ko Chhig-ko-waye o,i,8ova?! feucli words. -"* 

The Temple of the three goddesses at the 
Choey-yeii-size., aiul the services ' performed in it, 
will he found highly pleasing to the qiiiet ob- 
server ,— especially shou'd the hour of service be 
near suri«et, or before the bj'eak ijf day^ when the 
subdued light from a couple of.dozfen of candles, all 
at an equal altitude abjut eight feet^ from the 
ground, aiid ranged in lines around the sraokened 
hall, or at the altar piece, gives n peculiar mellow 
expr<!ssion to the countenances of the performers, 
with their bald pntcs, and yellow or *more modest 
coloured vestments. Many of these priests are 
''exceedingly sensible men, and On being asked why 
th(>y pay adoration to images of wood and'^stoiie 
lijl rcj'ly that the spirit they address is one and 
the same with the Being worshipped by men 
of western lands ;-^hut that western men, having 
more power of mind, are better able to realize 
the divinity than thems"lves and others of their 
country men, who require a visible representation 
of their god, else it is not in their power to confine 
their thoughts, and express their devotion with pro-- 
per effect. \As before stated, these priests, for the 
most part, are unlettered men, and, in nine cases 
out often, will inform' the enquirer that their rea- 
son for becoming priests was a want 'of the means 
of existence. Occasion ly, however, a child is born 
under the star ofa particular spirit and) the parents 



tl-tsien District. 67 

\ afe directed by astrologers to devote the youtli to 
his service ;— ^an injunction to be evaded only, by 
the enllstilient of a substitute— ^male, or female. 1 n 
proportion to the male servers, the number of nuns 
throughout the etnpire, ia very iiiconsiderable (2 1). 

Attached to the Choey-yen-sze are some 240 
fecres (1400 mow) of land, and in the value of the 
timber on the domain, alone^ *the establishment is 
rich. When spoken to of the rebellion going on 
in adjacent provinces, and of the fears that must 
be entertained for the continuance of their order, but 
little irom which an opinion can be formed is given 
by the priests in reply; — they are passive on the 
subject, and patierttly await, the coming of what, in 
their opinion^ appears to be inevitable-^a rev olution 
throtighotit-the country. Conveniently blind though 
they be, they are not so bigotted as to be ignorknt 
of the fact that the religion, or rather the mummery 
they practise is entirely unworthy the light of 
reason. ■ , / 

At the top of the gorge N.N.W. from the Ghoey- 
yen-sze is another Monastery of thirty priests, a 
building which, though no older in establishment 
thanthegrander one below, is not particularly sub- 
stantial in appearance, being constructed of wood 
principaiJy. - On the way to it, and immediately in 
the rear of the north wall of the Choey-yen-sze, is a 
pleasaat summer house ; and a quarter of an hour's 
walfe further on, on the left, is the small building or 
Cremating house in which the bodies of deceased 
priestaare burnt to ashes. It is a small hexagon of 
eight feet sides, and similar height, with a coved roof> 
alY built of brick, .When Buddhism was practised 
with more strictness then it now appears to be, the 
legend runs that priests disobedient to the rules of 
the order were burnt alive here 5— bdt such deeds 
have not occurred within the present century. -^ 



1$ U-fsiep. Bistf^ct^ 

Half an hour's ■vmlk from the Monastery, J^avci^ 
ling in chairs is no longer possible for tbtp ntial© 
adul;tj.r-:r-thpiiigh' small footed old ladies and unused- 
to-travellpg Chinese teachers, with heads insensible 
to giddiness from the peculiar swinging motioia im- 
parted by the bearers to chairs when ascending 
heightSj do manage to keep ^helr seat? with^ijt 
flinching. The firit Ding from the comjaaence-- 
ment of the ascent is reacfeed in aboat seven min- 
utes, and eight minutes walking further on brings 
the traveller within view of the snaall temple at 
the entrance of the Sze-tze-how^ or Gaiveof the 
Lion's mouth. The st^at^ at this height is ^of the 
red brown hard sand sjtone before apoken of. Few 
or no birds or animals are to be seen in this quarter j^ 
indeed, throughout the province^ the brute creation 
is sparse ;-^the necessities of the people; perhaps, 
inducing them to destroy and use for food all ti^ 
(pflro crossing their path. . 

Seventeen minutes walking from the first brings; 
the traveller to the second resting house, oaUed 
the Ping-sang-Ding. In neither of thege j0mf,s 
are there idols, pictures, or tablets, — the vicinity 
of so much priestly sanctity being -quiet sufficient 
for the :qative wayfarer apparently ^-^^apilegiws to; 
the old Hng^ish, sayi^gf,rrr"the nearer the JGfeurch 
the farther from the Qivijiuty.''' Five minutes' walk 
frornthe sepond Ding are thie. qu-arters of a priest 
whose maiii occupati,on. appears to be that of keep- 
ing the kettle or rather kettles boiling to supply 
passers by with wai^m tea. Here too can be obtain-, 
ed for a tew cash^ sweet cakes,, dates j ground nutsi 

The contrivance^ for keeping kettles away from 
or close to the fires, which are usually made oC 
charcoal in large iron pans placed on trussels, is, 



'(/•tsien Distrwi. 59 

Hiost ingenious. A hollow baHttboo, four or five feet 
long, is suspended frota the ceiling, and a rod with 
a crooked end, on which hang the kettles, is placed 
within it. and kept u,p or down by a small bamboo 
spoon shaped stopper attached to the upper bamboo 
^ a string; the angling of this Stopper, through 
TWhich the crook stick rifns,^aving the effect of 
keeping it at \Fhatever altitu * the cook wishes. 

Chinese say that good tea caJQ only be made with 
the purest hill spring water; and here, fit this little 
cot, the purity of the waterj which is led through a 
hollow bamboo direct from the rill to the kitchen, 
certainly produces-a beverage such as connoisseurs 
would pronounce exquisite. Some of the tea ob- 
tained ^t the way side dings is as different froin the 
iea. Europeen-ne As can well be imagined. If an 
tnglishman's mode of giving it a similitude can be 
realized, — it is the'flavoar, imaginary of course, of 
"buttered cowslips." So proud are the Chinese of 
'their hill water tea, that throughout the country it 
is not uncommon to see sign boards announcing 
the fact that good " san suey " hill water, can be 
had within, — in the same way that Tavern keep- 
ers at home advertise their Burton ale, Devonshire 
cider, and Dublin stout. 

It takes upwards of 20 minutes to walk from the 
Tea Dingy or Teniple as it should be called, there 
heio^ a small idol within it,^ to the point where the 
road branches off to the S^W. ; and if, instead of 
going on, the traveller sends on his chair to vj^ait 
for him at the top, and then himself proceeds along 
this soil' western path, he reaches, in about seven 
minutes, the very celebrated mausoleum of a priest 
whpse remains were interred beneath it so many 
centuries ago that tradition is faulty with the 
record. Here reside two priests, their cot or 



60 (f-tsien' District. 

perch being on such a narrow ledge that to reacfii 
the tomb the traveller has to pass through the 
house itself (22)- 

Since Dr Medhurst's visit to this place in 1854, 
several Gentlemen from Shanghae have Jeft their 
names in Indian ink on the ekternal wall of t^ 
mausoleum. * 

The rock here again/ a grey granite^ is quite dif-^ 
ferent from the strata lower down,. The mauso- 
leum measures 1 3 feet & inches in diameter, and 
is built of square blocks.of stone in a dome„ the 
crown of which is about three feet aWove the 
spire of the tomb. The base of this tomb, a hexagon 
of two and three quarters feet wide sides, and 
three feet high, decorated with antique sculp- 
ture in relief, is constructed oft;hered sand stone 
spoken of, surmounted by a plastered cone, four 
feet high, and ^within which, it is presumed, is the 
honoured urn. — Pilgrims from afar immediately on 
reaching th6 entrance, or arch way, six-feet high, 
prostrjate themselves, and render as nvuch homage 
as the most devoted Catholic would give to Corpus- 
Christi. The paved floor sounds hollow; — be- 
neath it, perhaps, is another cave. Without the 
entrance is the following inscription ^ § il^ 
(23-). 

*ren minutes walk from (he; mausoleum in an 
easterly direction, brings the traveller to the Woh- 
mai-mew, a Temple for the departed spirits- of seven 
respected priests, for whom there are hexagonal 
columns 6 feet high, the centre one 7 feet, the 

* Messrs. Butt and Coirtts, and Aiteheson and Points, in May 
1 855, and ^haw and Francis in the June following. 1856 recori^- 
ed np visitor there; — and in 1 857 ihe writer was the first on recofii 
to approach it from the south. 



U-tsien District. CI 

tablets of the .honored ones beuig Ickcked up in 
the plinths Two or: three minutes walk farther 
on is another temple, with an idol in front of a tomb 
as ancient as that just described. Some very 
fine firs are to be seen here ; one by the Woh-mai- 
wicw, at five feet above the soil, measuring 231 feet 
io girth, the spreading base covering space enough 
tQ give a table-lop ten feet square. A Plant ii 
this locality emits a peculiar gas-like scent, so 
strong . that it is unpleasant. Here among the 
peaks, uninterrupted ewen by the chirp of birds, the 
silence in a stilly day is most solemn, the rustle of 
leaves and the silent dripping of water being the 
oply sounds.— Between the temple last mentioiie.l 
and fi few minutes further walk' to the monastery, 
the traveller passes several monumental relics, and 
will pause on the edge of some cliffs to take a com- 
prehensive gaze at the scenery beneath ;.far in liie 
distance running a chain of rrjountains from E. by 
N. to West by South apparently — the proportion of 
valley to mountain seeming less than ono to ten 
— the Choey-pen-sze, in full proportion below, bear- 
ing S. S. E.. 

Three goddesses seated on. lotus leaves are alsQ 
the favoured divinities at the upper Teen-muh sze, 
or mmastery on the western mountain ; but after 
seeingso,much of Bhiiddism at thegrander establish- 
ment just left, there, is no great attraction in the 
services, and the traveller turns his observation to 
the devotees, from great distances, continunliy arriv- 
ing, resting for the n'ght a,nd then procesding to one 
or .other of the more important shrines. These 
pilgrims are gener.dly dressed in new clothes, and 
wear hats ]8rhich foreigners in the south of China 
are accustomed to call mandarin caps— but which^ 
in the north, decorated with a gilt button or othec 



62 U-tsien District. 

wise, are worn on ivhat may oalled state occasion^ 
—such as worshipping at the tombs of ancestors, 
on pilgrimages to temple, or other superstitious 
performances. 

A good walker can reach the top of the western 
Teen-muh-san in about 50 minutes from the mon- 
as(ery; but it,is a tiresome ascent, and,, unless the 
day is clear, hardly repays the labour it costs. 
The ground sounds hollow to the feet, — the pfi*h 
being laid with rough-slabs of the hill strata. 

On the top of the mountain is what is termed the 
cave — a coHection of large roclcs on end, or across, 
a-la Stoiielenge. — One of these is a slab of about 
12 feet long and five feet wide, length ways, and 
resting on a fough upright, so formmg a square 
aperture not unlike a door way. — ^"!his is the cave. 
From this point, about a mile and a quarter above 
the Sea, the vallies bf'low app^^ar to diverge like 
streams from a common centre (24). 

After leaving the oJd Monastery the roughly laid 
path takes up and away to the southward and west- 
ward — the 'huge mountain being literally skirtgd 
round for a distance of about seven miles, when, 
with the cave crowned peak bearing t ast, the 
read runs down a precipitous flight of steps to 
the N. N. VV , ascending as sharply to> an ai^ched 
Ding on a road side opposite. In some part^ of the 
. road, before it branches off as descirbed, the side of 
the mountain is so. nearly perpendicular that travel- 
ling in a chair is out of the question to any one 
keeping his eyes open. And here (singular cir- 
cumstance foB the province of Che-kiang,) the 
hand of man has nought to do with the growth 
of the straggling bru^h vroodand wild grassy left to 
luxuriate, die, and grow again vvithout interference. 
About five miles frosn the Monastery, at a poiaL 



I^ing-kiDoh District. 63 

where the mountain top bears about E.SiE., a path 
will be seen entering from the road, which, if follow- 
ed, leads to the summit by an easier way apparent- 
ly than that entering nearer the Monastery. 

from the arched Ding to Tm-ye-wan-Ung, the 
boundary of the Di^tticts Uisien and Haoufnng 
m Che-Kiangi and the border of Khig-Tmoh in An- 
vshuy, the distance, up a tiresomie ascent in a N. 
^ .W. ly direction, is some five IS. From this point 
to Ning-'hwok-foo, the chief city of the province of 
Anwhui, the distance is said to be 220 le westerly— 
the nearest Custom House Pass beitig Tsien-suen- 
ling (25). 

PROVINCE OF ANWHUY 



DEPARTMENT OF NING-KWpH. 

From Tai'ye-wan'ting to Tm-ckew-fong-ling the 
general course is about west ; but the travelling is 
all mountainous, down one ascent and up another, 
through ronaantic glena and across baPFen hill sides, 
^harp pitches alnd no flag stones, for a distance b£ 
about eight miles'. At the Tai-cheu-fong-ling the 
road breaks off from the direct course to the town of 
Kwang-fuh-tze, or Kwang-fuzzy^ as it is called by 
the natives, afud runs through some beautifully cul- 
tivated woodland country, along the ridges of hills 
towards iye-5an-g^<nr, ahamliet offbrtyfive families. 
The Geologist has fine subject here for the study .of 
the various stratse; — ^first of what might be called yel- 
low grey granite, — ^then lime stone rock— then again 
decomposed granite oi a, red brown eoloui* , — the hills 
being variously cultivated with bamboo, plum and fit* 
trees, or niaize, and the sedges wthcKe lesfives, are used 
in lining tea chests. The wood cutters seU a species 



64 Ning-hiJ}oh^ JDistrict . 

of beech nut^ too, oily in ' the; fruit, and as brawn 
^s if exposed to the action of fire. But the road is 
very narrow here, in soma places not wider than a 
man's foot, and genera,lly impassable excepting on 
dry sunny days. 

i'rpm Le-sanyow to Toang-haen a large village 
of 1 00 families on both sides of a, valleyj the distance 
is:about five Ze in a W.N. Wly. direction. There are 
two taverns at Toong-haeriy where travellers can 
quarter; — and as there is no monastery, and no 
priest, so there is no choice, and the best must be made 
of the miserable-accomodations at command. The 
valley here, running from W. S. W. to E. N.E. i& 
about a quarter of a mile across, and in beautiful cul- 
tivation ; — but, unused to the sight of foreigners, and 
at no grea^ distance from the scene of active opera- 
tions between the Rebels, and Imperialists, the recep- 
tion accorded to foreigners, at first, is mingled with 
what appears to be distrust of his intentions. * 

* Finding that enquiries regarding the fighting hands were 
not palateable, they were not persisted in. The informition. 
giv-en, too, was mo%\. contradictory By one it would be asserted 
that -Ning-kwoh foo was in the hands of the insurgnnis ; by 
another that it, never had been in their possession ; by a thiri 
that it had, hut was evacuated. The kst tale was after^ 
Avards found to be the' trhe one. An Imperialist Soldier came to 
Ningpo bringing from Ningkwohfoocertairfof the Patriot Books 
of religious doctrine, and in one of them was found the folio viri no- 
ode. -r- 

" Praise the L-ord above, the great high Ruler, 
The really true holy Father of holy beavenj • 
The Father of siitils, 
The one only true God, -'_- 

The one only holy God, 

Praise the Celestial Elder, Brother. 
- The really true holy Saviour of the world 
The first born Son 
Who gave bis life for men. 



Ning-kmoh Xi'istrict. 65 

Praise tbe Celeaial King, 

The true-appointed, true and holy Lord of all nations, 

The Governor T'hae-Ping. 

Praise the Eastern King, 

The holy ]Uovd vyho re4eeais from sickness, 

The true ^nd, hojy Wind of God, 

The true an4 h,oly Spirit. 

Praise the Western King, 

The holy Rain of God, 

The tru^ and hon'orabie man of high heaven. 

Praise the Southern King, 

The holy Olouds of God, 

The true and upright man of high heaven. 

Praise the Northern King, 
The holy Thunder of God, 
The true and benevolent man of high heaven. 

Praise the Assistant King, 

The holy Lightnipg of God, 

The true and righteous man of high heaven," 

Reraiirkiiig on this the translator writes, ^ — 

"The reader will observe that the five iCing-i here enumerat- 
ed are designated respectively the loind, rain, clouds, thunder,'ani 
lightning, of God. This mode of classification is common amdnar 
the Ohropse. Thus they speak of the five elements, water, fire, 
wood, metal, and earth ; the five virtues, benevjplence, upright- 
ness, propriety, wisdom, and sincerity ; the five relations, of prince 
and minister, of father and son, of elder and younger brothers, 
of husbarid and wife, and of friend and friend ; the five colors, 
green, yellow, r?d, while, and black ; the five cardinal points, 
east, sputb, west, north, and centre, &c., &c. The number of 
their kings, as well as their names, Eastern, Southern, Western, 
^nd Northern, seem ti have been suggested in this way, though, 
there is a want of completeness in the fifth's not being designated 
centrtflf But the designations ofwirid rain, clouds, thunder, and 
lightning, given to these kings are new, and seem to have been 
saggosted by a misapprehension of the circumstance that, in the 
Christiap books, from which they had derived so many of their 
i^eas, the expression for the Holy Spirit is sometimes, "The 
Wi44 9*^ Gfid/' Instead of understanding this expression as 



66 



synonymous with Spirit of God, or Holy .Spirit^ they seem to 
regard it as the symbol of this idea. Accordingly as they had 
been led to bestQw upon the Eastern King, on account of his , 
searching- Tfisdom, extended influence and controlling power.,,? 
the title of Holy Spirit, which was syoibplized by the wMta!, the 
idea, was suggested of representing the virtues ascribed to his 
associates by the associated terms ot rain clouds thunder, s.Tii. , 
lightning. This explanation may seem to some fanciful, but I 
have not been able to .find a better one,"' 

Warmly interested in the'rebellion, and viewing, with regret, 
the general apathy iu China regardi.ig itj we talce this opportunity 
to republish the Reverend Dr. Medhurst's — 

CRItiaUE ON THE ' IMPERIAL DECLARATION 
OF THAE-PING." 

This pamphlet consist of two odes and two essays. The first 
entitled "an ode on thte origin of virtue and the saving of the 
world." doe's riot much answer to the name it bears. The first- 
line, indeed, tells us that the origin of virtue is from Heaven, by: 
which is meant God ; and then the author goes on to talk about 
virtue and God, in rather an unconnected strain; but from begin- 
ning to end of the ode we hear nothing about the saving of the 
world, nor is the name or work of the Saviour once alluded to. 
We must ascribe something of this rambling forgetfulness to the 
fact- of the author having to compose in rhyme, which has made 
him more attentive to the harmonicalsuccession of sounds," than 
to the theme vyiih which he professed t6 start. Notwithstanding, 
however, its wantof connection, and the awkwardness with which . 
the ode necessarily reads in a translation, there are many impor- 
tant truths,' and*some splendid passages to be me; with therein, 
which in a great measure redeem its character. 

In the commencement of the ode the author,. maintains the 
vnity of God, who, he says, is the common parent of all, and to 
whom .from the earliest ages down to a period approaching the 
Christian era, both princes and people gave special honor. . Oa 
this he grounds the exhortation to al', to unite in vi'orsliipping 
him, from whom every fibre "and thread, every drop and sop 
cprae, and to whom our daily devotions should be paid. To 
worship'any other being, the author says, would be as vain, as it 
is siniul : he created all the elements of nature, every breath »e 
draw depends on him,, no othe' being can interfere wfth his ar- 
rangements,^ and to" no one else can be ascribed the honour of our 
creation. Idols, it is affirmed, are only recent inventions ; crea- 
tion, therefore^ could not have originated with them. Growing 



Ning-hiooh District. 67 

eloquent in his pleadings for God, the author tells us, "He warms 
lis by his sun, He moistens us by his rain, He moves the thun- 
derbolt, He scatters the wind ;" let us act, therefore, like honest 
men, iind jjive to God the honour -which is due to hjm alone. 

The^ poet then proce^deds to inveigh against lewdness, which 
he says calls'down'on those who practise it the wrath of Heaven, 
and brings with irits own punishnient. He therefore exhorts his 
readers to immediate reformation, and refers them to the four pro- 
hibitions against improprieties, given out by a <lisciple of Con- 
fucius, who forbad the looking upon, the listening to, the talking 
about, or the imagining of any uncleanness. ' . 

His next exhortation is to filial piety, which he urges from 
the example of the inferior animals, saying that if we neglect 
this obvious duty, we show ourselves to be worse than the brutes. 
The poet then exhorts to the imitation of superior men, such as 
the great Shun, who moved Heaven by his filial piety; he re- 
minds his readers of their obligations to their parents, which by 
their utmost effort they never can repay ; and concludes by a mo- 
tive of the strongest kind, saying, that in obeying our parents wa 
shew our obedience to God 

The 5th commandment having been disposed of, the \yriter 
proceeds to the 6th, and prohibits muider, on the ground that*all 
men are brethren, and Ikiat their soUls come alike from God, who 
views all mankind as his children ; various exarriples are then, 
given from Chinese history of the regard for human life, or the 
want of it, whicii was manifested by celebrated men, and of the 
recompense which followed it 

Offences against the 8th commandment then occupy the 
poet's attention, and theft is denounced as contrary to benevolence. 
After relating various instance? ol upright principle exhibited by 
the Chinese worthies of antiquity, the poet says, " From of old 
the honest and good have cultivated virtuous principles ; riches 
and honours are but fleeting clouds, that cannot be depended on ; 
if by killing one innucent person, or doing one' act of unrighteous- 
ness, the ancient worthies could obtain empire, they would not 
allow themselves to practise it." " 

The poet then denounces witchcraft and magic arts ; life and 
death, he says, are determined by HeavanJ why then deceive 
people by the manufactures of chafms ; wizards and necroman- 
cers have alvvays involved the world in poverty : the devil's 
agents have done service to devils, and the gates of hell stand 
open to receive them. 

Gambling comes in for a share of the poet's reprobation: 
tke vicious gamester, he says, conceals the dagger with which 



6S Ning-ktuoh District. 



he, striloes his victiiD^ therefore we are to beware of a practice 
nvthieb is opposed to reason. The getting of unrighteeus gain, h^ 
aiwrsj is like qmenching one's (hirst with poison : theinore you 
gamble die.poojier yoa become. 

Gpium aniioking ye alao aondsmned, upon which some peo- 
ple are so, mad. In the. piteqejuit day, says our po^t, many a 
Boble son of Han has stabbed him^li with the apium dagger. 
Wine has also ruined househodids, aod rulers have periskd 
through iheiir fondness for drinlf. 

&)io& very excellent remiatrks j^l}0<v, dewing the necessity- 
of paying attention to-the ininuiicB of actions; for, says our au- 
thor, if ycru do &ot regard spialil maitters, you will at length spoil 
great virtues. 

Ths.ode concludes by an appeal to the people, on the ground 
of the mETitef^s having ascended to heaven ; on which account he 
says, hi^ words are entitled to eredeoae. 

The second poetical piece i^ entitled' " an ode oi correct- 
ness," which is principally a pjay upon the word cerreot, that, 
terin, either in its positive or Q^|[atvve form occurring 60 times. 
This poem contains various allusions to Chinese history, illus- 
tmtiv.e oifthe possession sf correct principle, or the want of it. It 
may h» interestiiig to a native c«^er, but it contains nothing 
wxjrlhy of notice by foreigner?. 

Then follow two prose productions, the first entitled, "An 
68say on the origin of virtue for the Siw;akeDing of the age." It 
coDtiaiin^ imaay truths, Uhersl i]> their principle and new. to the 
Chinese ;the sentences are somewhnt*tautqlogical, to an extent 
that w>ttld oot bie tolerated ia E^gUsh oomposittoa, but the ssen- 
tiflfteats are congenial to ev,ery riight fejeliog. 

The «fiter.ih?gi(is by denpiunciog narrowness of mind, as 
eshihited in loca>l likes iind disUke?, and after ringing the chan- 
ges on tbJ9 subject throughl A page or two, he proceeds to tell 
us that tJuBi ancient sages 9if ()\am tipade no diSerence between 
one co.u.ntipy laad another, but viewed (>il alike. Having sufii- 
cie®tl;y iiU«strat.ecl these points, he fell «is that God is the uni- 
versal Father, that China and foreign nations are all equally 
uaierhj^fHle^nd that, all men are brethren. After quoting a 
passage fno^m Confucius, illustrative pf a happy state of society, 
said to h»vp prevailed in hisdays, the writer laments that " now, 
such .a.iSiaAe Q'f, society is hardly te.be looked for; nevertheless 
vthen diserdgr is at its ntm,ost h?»gbt) ^rder is sometimes elicited, 
and Ihe unfeeling world is occasionally rendered loving." 

'FJitea^^tld prose production begins with the statement thac 
all men iH^e one origin, both a? it regards their bodies, beir^ 



Ning-hooh District. 69 

sprung- from one ancestor ; and as it regards their soulsj which 
have all come from the original breath of God ; thus all under 
heaven belong to one family, and should all regard each other as 
brethen'. The writer then goes on to combat the erroneous notion 
current in Ohina,' that the king of Hades determined life and 
death : this king of Hades, he says, is no other than the old ser- 
pent, the Devil.* He then lays down a method by which men 
may judge of the correctness of principles, and avers that those 
which are difiu^ed through all ages and countries are generally 
right, while partial and private views are to be suspected : but the 
principle above stated he adds is found neither in Ohinese nor 
foreign classics, but in the Buddhist and Taouist books an J there- 
fore concludes that it must be wrong; This is not the first timej 
he continues, that lies have been invented in Ohina : for the ruler 
of the Tsin dynasty imagined the existence of fairies; Kwang- 
woo, of the Han dynasty, sacrificed to the kitchen ; people of 
later ages pretended that the dragdn produced rain ; whereas rain, 
it was evident came directly from heaven. Then we have some 
references to the Old Testament, about the forty days rain in tne 
time of Noah, causing the flood ; which rain was sent down by 
God as fi judgment upon a guilty world. t He goes on to say, 
that a Buddhist book called the " pearly Record " also ascribes 
the power of life and death to the king of Hades ; but the clas- 
sics of China arid foreign nations, he avers, all say that Heaven 
produced and nourished every thing, and that life and death 
are determined by fate, which is nothing else than the appoint- 
ment of God. This appeal to foreign (by which is meant Chris- 
tian) classics, as an authority in matters of faith, is a new thing 
in Ohina : as is also the allusion to the ^ ^j shin-pwan judg- 
ment, which God will enter into with the men of the world. 

The writer goes on to state, that because men aspire after 
longevity, and pant for good fortune, that therefore they are thus 

• The phrase employed for expressing this latter idea is very similar to the 
one used'iii Medharat's arid Gufilaff's versions of the New Testament, as may 
be seen by comparing them. 

Med's. <f Gutz.'i verr. Insurgent vers. 

♦ Thfl word used for " Old Testament " is the same as that employed by 
Morrisoji and Gutzlaff. The name of Noah cprreBpondff to that used by Gut zlaff, 

Tui": ^fflB Se. ^°''^> ""^ °°' '° Morrison and Afii, wlio employed ^^ ^g 
No-a. In the mode of expressing the 40 days and 40 nights, the writer 
agrees more tritU the Morrison than Gutzlaff. So that he most have had 
both versions before him, or quoted by memory occasionally from one and 
the oth«, as he happened to recollect. 



70 Ning-kwoh District. 



prone to believe lies. Thus errors creep in. and get possession 
of men's minds, and though God successively produces wise and 
holy men, to convey the truth to others, they will not lend an 
ear. Hence men, he says, are be wildered.and ignorant of God, 
they arc also stouthearted and do not fear him. If their descen- 
dants wish to get some knowledge of the truth, they do not know 
where to obtain it. Then follow some beautiful and correct 
statements regarding God, which we are tempted to exhiliit in a 
condensed form. "Taking a general view of the world, we 
find that men though numerous are all created and supported by 
God ; for every article of food and clothing they must depend on 
God, who is the universal Father of. all mankind. Life and 
death, happiness and misery are all determined by him. When 
I look up to heaven, I perceive that the sun and moon, stars 
and planets, the thunder and rain, wind and clouds, are all the 
wondrous eflfects of his mighty power : when I survey the earth, 
I perceive that the hills and fountains, rivers and lakes, birds 
and beasts, plants and fishes, are all the marvellous productions! 
of his mighty energies :" for this every man and women through- 
out the world, ought every morning to worship and every even^ 
ing to adore him. 

The writer then meets an objection, that though Gtod is to be 
acknowledged as the sovereign of all, yet ha must have various, 
ministers to aid him in protecting mankind. To which he an^ 
swers, that should such exist, they must all be appointed by God : 
but who ever heard of his appointing the idols which men are. 
in the habit of worshipping ? The writer continues,' that God 
did, at the creation, appoitit angels X '«> do his vvill; and if so^ 
there is no need of idols, who are mere monstrosities, invested by 
mortals, in defiance of bis authority. The author then takes up 
the same ground which a Christian missionary would assume in 
arguing image-worship in the ten commandments. According 
to the Old Testament, he says, God in former ages descended on 
Mount Sinai, and gave forth the ten commandments, written 
wiih his own hand on tables of stone ; and with an audible voice 
commanded Moses, saying, 'I am the Lord God : thou shall not 
set up the image of any thing in heaven or earth, to bow down 
to it and worship it ■,' now your setting up images and worship- 
ping them is a direct violation of the Divine conunand. ^ 

i The word Jp^ ^^ »hin she, fbr angel, is aOer Morrison aad Afe ; 
Gutzlaff employs ^^ , W^ t'heen she. 

S The characters Dsed for expressing Sinai, are ^y ^^ Se nae, which, 
ftto identical with those employed in MeJhnrsi's and GutzlafTs version oCtbs^ 



Tiing-ktDoh District. 71 

He further argues, that since God has forbidden the worship of 
images, these could not be employed in assisting him in protect- 
ing mankind : and if God could make the world without their 
aid, he could surely preserve the world in existence without any 
assistance. The writer then states, in a way peculiarly Chinese, 
that God has made the, ground on which we stand, and the food 
we eat ; he also gives us sun and rain ; deprived of his aid, we 
could not live a single moment; why then should we pray to idolsi 
He then supposes an objector saying, ' but my idol is effir 
cacious.' And says, in reply, that all our blessings come from 
the great Gcd, while men erroneously suppose that they come 
frcm some corrupt devil. The associating with such, he con- 
tinues, is not only an outrage against Heaven, but an offence 
ae;ainst natural conscience, showing that the persons so acting 
are rebellious both against reason and religion. He then incuir 
cates the duty of praying to the universal Father ; and brings 
forward the promise of the Saviour, as an encouragement to its 
performance : quoting the well known passage contained in Mat- 
thew 7 : 7. " ask and it shall be given yon,',' «kc; It is Worthy 
of observafion, thatin this quotation, the writer has ce pied almost 
exactly the versi&n of Medhorst and Gutzlaff, published in 1835, 
the resemblances being nearly identical, as follows : — 

Med. 4- Gutz, vert. Insurgents.' vers. 

:|=n^ ^ ^ ^ 5^ 

?^ mm f^m m 

wimn mmn 

mmz mzz 

After having exhorted his readers to pray to our heavenly 
Father, he points out the folly of addressing such applications to 
idols, quoting from Psalms 115 : 6, in which he imitates, in 
some degree, both Morrison's and Gutzlaff's version, with only a 
little transposition and omission, resulting probably from his hav- 
ing quoted from memory. _ , ■ . J , 

The writer then goes on to point out the way m which idola- 
try sprang up in China. From the earliest antiquity, he says, 

New Testament: while in Momiop's former edition, and Gutzlaff's more 
recent edition of the Old Testament, ffi 7^ Se:nae are ertplojed. The 
word osed for ^tten M ehen, is found in Gutzlaff's, but in none other of 
The Lmer versions. TTphxase - 1 am the Lord Goa," W very sumlat to th« 
we eniploywl ^7 Cfu*?laff- 



7S, Nihg-Moh JDistYiht* 



doi»h to the tiio^e'tthifethiTe^ dynk^Si (B. O. 220) both princes 
and pebplte geih6M\y wor 6hij)p6d; Q^.' Sbriie ihrid^atiohis had^ 
however, spY liiig tip tWb thbtfsarid fSitni pi'eViously, when the 
KeW Le hiimied iA iavil spiHts,^fa({ 'ddliriipt^d th6 tHBd^ of Meay 
oil, who alr6 icfcbUhtfed thettbofigiijefe^oif Chiira. || Gbrrnptioris 
had crept iii, k\So^ aibHiii a thousjah3';^eir^ afterwards,' when men 
%ere emplbyefd tbrep^e^sent the ghost df the departed ; but during 
all this peridd', aiicbf^in^ lo this' Wfite¥, the mass of the peb[jlfe 
ccnltinued tb'b^ liibiiotheists; a6 at ihe first. As we approach the 
Ohristiail etk^ a ^updrstitious ireg&'rd' fo^ ghosts and hobgoblins 
increased, atd' th^' sea was Ibbk^d Mpa ih.i dbode of the genii. 
This led to in ihtferfereh'cd with me previous nionbtheistic prac- 
tice, ahd' otoof the rulers' of thd, ' Hinl dynasty erred egregf- 
ously, in stlppbiing' that the foiii? i^a'ttelr^ i*ith the centre of the 
world were eabh under the dbmirtf<ni of a' separitb Deity. Oorrapi. 
tions Speedily increased; diid sbbb i'ftd'r the'dse of.the, Ohrisfian 
era, thd ehilfiHofMib^', hearings that i lioliy rain hetd arisett in 
the w'est, sent' m'^ritb look for ^^V #hb ihSteM of penetrating 
to Jud6a, stopped short at India',' frofia! Wh<dnce they fntroduced 
the religrohjof BadaW,' virifc iti tiiUfit/rOTiii iihageb and superstiti- 
ous ritfeis. The fbtraidei ttf this T^bti sect, dso, came in for his 
share of religibui^ hbnbars atid bi^la elf th^ eni^eior^ thence gav^ 
himsejftipttp |)e|ipr[est in one of the mopa^teriesj-jfrom whence 
his mini^tefs hal to redeem him, at a large siini^ Thiilgs went on. 

II T^p^ciikunaVa&ce here alluded to is detailed in^he Shoo-laiig, when 
"Shun Mfecl^Ql his^fficers to cut off the coiinectio|i between earth and 
heaven, an j Pj^eyent the pretended descents of spirits:" , -The Commentators 
say " tbaf ^a^hg bbeii sabject to oppiession, the peopIej.-mn(^n| of its cause, 
had recotttae t<tipirits,1 and eaciificed to demons. Frompms arose marvelloas 
and lying-itoneiiii and Imen lapsed into error^ According t6-the records of 
the country it appears, that in the decline ofShaou-haoa's reign, the ^ew La 
ttlj:4»tSS iioamM'iiH&^'. ifttt^ 'OinTaSiiMliattdi thlis in«l) and!s^itiis^ were 
onngled together;; ereiyt fiiaiilj; had jits-^c^wjurtiri :f^ the .ipecipis oiadcC 
profane use of sacrifieial implemems. ^conseoiuaee of tUambn and epirita 
were thrown intoconifUsibn. , History. dedanes, that' when a country is aboiff 
t^ flourish; attemidn is paid'to th^ pedttle; mii wK^ti it' ie^ ahiat to pe'rbh, at- 
teMdn^»^Md'i6th!e' si^iKt^. ^On thi^ aecount Shua ptohibited the people! 
from udng magical arts in order to bring down tl^Q splits, Oue says, tnat \^ 
^-''^Jh^gW^®'^ age, .spirits and e)T{eS'(la ^Qtf,fp^, arid people (Jo not piky 
to the spirits.; but iq tinxes of cbnfanoii 'pebpta are much nven'up to spirits 
arid elvek they talk* Of lieci'oniiicy-anyi fimftunetelliiff \nthb6»iii5i ThI/ 
o^oere:of Shuu, dpplajed the principles of enlightened virtue, that men -mMtt- 
avoid' beih^'perrert^ by idle'and BUperst!titiiit# iSndis; a^d UoIdHierteeK'fbt^ 
happiness from apirits Foy men are apt to etr ftwn correct prinSpIes when 
they became ddltfded by spirituarbeings ; ttttf^hSh! tfiV attendlicf 'the iiwa>- 
ri^bje. principle? of e<jodnes3, they seek for hamnness iq the way of, constant 
'W^pe. «K3!,nPt in that of monstrous appewjihces.*' In the above'r^MlB^ 
the e6iflia«Ht'atdW, wherever thi eSperesMotf J^H<,i!*w*Jte, w »fr»aa*' «^«fet 
occurs, the word ia the original is iSAin. > ■■, 



Ning-hiffoh District. '73 



from bad to *\'orse, according to our author, when nwuy„on^ of 
the emperors of the Sung dynasty, changed the name which had 
been used for God into one oscd tot'esignate an imaginary deity. 
This alteration of the venerablte name of God is looked upon bv 
our author as displaying a great want of reverence towards himj'^ir 
and he~ proceeds to trace the'subesquent misfortunes which came 
upon the emperor Hwuy, and his son, to this source. In con- 
sequence of (ill these corruptions having crept in,our author says 
it is not to be wondered at that the Chinese should be now "so 
ignorant of Grod, and destitute of -his fear. 

Some reformers, he says, have occasionally sprung up,, but the 
remedies applied were only partial : though idolatry was in some 
instances put don n, in the majority of cases it was allowed to go 
on. Whereas, according to liim, all these genii and fairies, 
superhuman and monstrous appearancies, together with these im- 
pure rites and forbidden sacrifices, should have been discontinu- 
ed ; on the ground that besides the great God there is no spirit 
entitled to such honour as"the,Ohinese have been accustomed to 
pay them.** All the images of vi'ood and stone, which have 
been set up to represent these imaginary beings, are mere inven- 
ti ns of men, otherwise intelligent, who hav'e allowed themselves 



IT Thi; change in' the name of God, which excites so much the wrath of 
our author, is simply an alteration from the usual form SAang-te into Yuh-te : 
the former designation had l>een the name which was ar>| lied to God by the 
Ohifiese from time immemorial, and the lalter was a name invented by the 
Taoii sect, and used several hundred years before the litne of Hwuy to 
designate an idol. After having spoken of changing the appellation, ching, oi 
thegreatGod. our author, in recurring to the subject, and in order to show his 
reverence for the Deity, says, th.it his honourable name (tsun haou) was 
changed.' The phrase tsun hairu in certain connections may perhaps be ren- 
dered a title of honour. But here the' meaning evidently is "honorable name.' ' 
We have a similar expression in the Three Character Classic of the Insur- 
gents, where the phrase is inverted, but conveys the same meaning ; "Aami 
tsun tsung, his name is most honourable." It is not correct therefore to say, 
that the insurgents have indicated the fact that they use- Hwang S/uiug-le - 
as a title of honour. They have indicated no such fact : but they have used 
Hwang Shang-te, Shang-te and Tc, precisely in the sam'e way in which we 
use the word God. -In GutzlafT's version of Genesis, a portion of which they 
have reprinted, Sfaang-te is used as a translation of Elohim ; in their version 
of the ten commandments, the insu(<gents have employed the same term where 
Elohim stands in the original ; and no one, who had not fome fond theory to 
carry out, would ever dream of the insurgents having used Sbang-te in those 
cases asjL, title of honour. 

•• It iseviilent, from the context, that the writer by the word spirit here, 
means such spiritual beings as men have been in ^he habit of worshipping, but 
which he thinks are not entitled to that honour. That he could not mean to 
say, besides the great God there is no spiritual being, is plilin, because he uses 
thie word s^in' to designate- not only the genii which have no real existence, 
iiul the spirits of men whishi tiave. 



"4 ' Ning-hwoh District. 

to be deluded b}' the devil. The true spirit, he continues, isGod; ,: 
hut those images which rnen are in the habit of worshipping re- i 
present only devils, the mass of whom consists pf:nameless noxi'| 
O'js inventions, such as the spirits thought to pi'eside over the 
various quarters of the world, and the myrmidons of the king of ■: 
Hades. , Having cienQunced these pret-ended spirits, he says 
most truly,, the great Ood, (Hwang Shang'-te) he is the God, \ 
(Te) and he alone is entitled to that appeljatipri. Thrpugh a 
want 'of acquaintance with the Chrisitiaii Scriptures, and certain- 1 
ly not vi'ith the view of/sympathizing with the deniers of oiin 
l-iord's divinity, with whom he never could have come in contact,i 
the author of "the pamphlef-befiare us, -says, '-'lha.t even Jesus,,the 
fiist-boTn «pn-of God, is only called pur Lord, and is not called 
God ;" vvho then he askS' wculd dare to assunve the designation 
of God? would he not for.his blasphemous assumption be speedi- 
ly consigned to hell fie therefore exhorts his readers to woi^ 
ship God alone, and; thus they w.ill become his sons and daugh- 
ters here, and obtain his ble.?sing-hereafter. : ■■- r.' "' 
In -closing pur critique on this pamphlet, we shall,:0nce for 
a'l!.. refer to, the practice of the insurgents with regard to the word 
used for God. Maving compiWd all the hooks printed by them, 
ahd brought by the Hermes from Nanking, we h^'^e dravvn up 
. the following list of the number of.instances in. which they have 
used worjls bearing, any affinity to Shang-te, and T'heen for 
God ; as contrasted with thpse in which '^ they ha-ve employed 
Shin for God, or gods. We have alsoadduced the instances In 
■^^■hi;^h other tertrts ave employed to designate the Lord of all, 
besides those that have any relation to either Shang-te or Shin ; 
and v>-e close our list by showitfg in how many cases the vyqrd 
Shin is used far angel, genii, and Spirits. ' ' . ' , 

I. — Instances in which Shang-te and* ■- 
its cognates have been used for God, — . " 

Times. . 
Shang-te used for God by way of emi- 
nence, som'etimes accompanied with 
the statement -ihu Shang-te is -one, 
arid that there is no other Shang-te 

but this one, _._ _ _ „ 175 

Hwang Shang-te do do. S*?! 

Te * do. ' do. n 

T'heen-te , do. ' do. 2 

T'heen do, do. 100 

T'heen-foo do. do. 1&4 

Hwang-t'heen do. da. ij 



JSing-Jcwoh District 75 

• 

Hwang-t'heen Shang-te do. do. r- •'• i ^ 

HaoS-t'heen do. do. •> ■ 2 

T'heen-kung do, do. tB, ,' 1 '& 

■ ". 865 _ .vji 

n.— Instances in which Shin is used fg^God", j ^ 

or gods : — 

Shin used for God, or the Supreme Spirit, - - -. 4 

Shin used for others hesides the Supreme, 2 

'■. Ohin shin, for the true God, or Spirit,- -^ - _ 18 • ,/ 

Seay-shin, for depraved gods, or spirits,- U i, 

■ .. '• _ 38 -^. ., 

Ill— t'ases in which other terms are employed -v' 

for the Lord of all : — ' '''■'' J- 

Skang-choo, used for Lord,-«- - — — 52 

Choo-tsae do. ._-_-> — ____2 

Jehovah, — — — ~ 1 

Hwa-kung, creator,' - — -_~ 1 

■' ., ^ 56 

IV. — Cases in which Shin is ijsed for spirit, or 
'enters into composition to express angel, genii, &c. ; — 

Shin, used for the Spirit of God, 2 

Shing Shin fung. Holy Spirit, in which Shing, 

stands for holy, and Shin-fung for spirit, - — 4 

Tsmg-shin for animaP spirit, — ~--- 2, 

Shin-tseih,. traces of spiritual beings, used in 

the sense of miracles, --_- '■ - ■ ^ 

Shin-seen, genii, 8 

Shin-she angels — _-_~o 

Bhin-chow, regiotf of spirits, name for China 
in opposition to Kwei-fang, land of devils, 
used for Tartary, _-- !,.__---- 4 

Shin.yay, spiritual father, coupled with 

Hwan-foo, ghostly father, 3 

We have" observed elsewhere, that the example of the insur- 
gents is of little value as philological argument, because they 
borrowed their religions terms, as they did, their views of doc- 
trine, mainly from the foreigners who preceded thera. Their 
pracliee, however, shows to what class of terras they felt most 
. inclined ; and from this we find that they empFoyed Shang-te and 
its cognates for God by way of eminence, in almost every- i-nstancev 
This is indeed the rule observed in their books, while the use of 
jiim, in the same sense, is the exception. 

W.H.M. 



76; NiMg,-lmah Mislrict. 

Froim Toong-'haeh to Kbo-he-qui-show^ a snaalt' 
hamlet in a north-eapterly direction the distance ia 
about four miles. . Before reaching this hamlet^ 
however-, the trayeller crosses from the AnwJiui into 
the Ghekiang^^pT(yv'iacQ again, by the K&ort-foo- 
Icwari, or Confucian paSSr— a goygaabostt sixty yards 
across, with a broad military eaxuBevray, thirty feet 
wide, hping, on one side, a grasitef built arched 
gateway, through which, with determined soldiers 
for its maintenance, a passage; could not easily be 
forced (26). For good distances- each side of the 
pass the valley is narrow afttd capable of affording 
tentage accomodation for as many troops'as would bS 
requisite either: in defence, qr assault. On the An- 
whuyjmi&Q£ the pass is a small temple dedicated to 
Confucius, and^ rarely seerfc, a small gilt image of 
the honoured Sage, to which homage is paid as to a 
god. - _. 

PRaVINCE aF KIANG-SIU 



DEPARTJWTEJVT OF HaO-CHOW, 

A short' distance, from Koo-hoo-qui-show is Wei- 
zhong a hamlet' of 100 families, and some two or 
three miles, further, on is Pek-ling-wo, a little dis- 
tance from C%aowf-*fej«^ St hamlet of 90 families. 
Lirn^ stone is the formation here, the rock out of 
which the. path way is, cut being asr black and glossy 
88 coal. ^ ' - 

Timbar is transported in raft m. large quantities 
from this region ;, — ^pales sueh as would be used for^ 
scaffolding, being sold Sit the streara's edge for as 
low a c^te aa^ 5^0! cash a pecul — ^ay two pence per 
hundred weight ! Sialt; the article brought in 



ffaou-foong District. 77 

barter for the wood, costs, duty paid, 70 cash a 
i*»tty^say three pence per pound ! 
• From Ckoong-ching to Kow-jow, where, as the 
name imphes, there is a high, bridge, (curved granite 
slabs) of very good workmanship, the distance, 
in a north-easterly direction, is over five le, and 
fromKow-jow to Chongchtien a village of 200 fami- 
lies it is also five le. But there is ilo need for giving 
the particular course from village to village on the 
route from the Confucian pass to Haau-foong- 
yuen, the chief city of the district entered on after 
leavjng the Province of Anwhuy, the general direc- 
tion being about E. N. E. — for the most part over 
paved rq^ds and a level country, and by the beds of 
streams increasing in size as they progress from 
their sources around the Teen-muh-san. 

From Chong-chuen to Toh-san, a village of 150 
families, the distance due East is 5 le — Amoo a 
village of 100 famihes being a little way beyond 
it. But these villages, and those of Cow-ha-hai of 
150 families, Cheong-le of 80 families, Mo-sah of 
50 families, and Tongchin of 100 families, are all 
at little distances from each other. In a N.IV.Wly 
direction from Cow-ka-hai, distant about five miles, 
is a curious finger shaped rock, standing erect and 
apart from the mountain adjacent. The ladies 
in this quarter wear pretty red serge gaiters, the 
serge being almost the only specimen of European 
manufacture to be seen in this part of the interior. 
Approaching Seen-hing-ling-sze, the quarters of 
two or three priests, an artist, with time for the 
work, will find a most interesting picture — Cliff's, 
cottages, pagodas and streams in sweet variety — 
and, if required, a room for a day or two without 
much incovenienco to the Hozhangs (priests). 

Foong-sa-ven and Low-chee — the latter a village 



78 Haou-foong District, 

of a hundred families, the other;the residence of tw©' 
or three only, are but little distances beyond Ton^ 
chin, 'lea Bushes are agi^in seen in this locality, 
and proceeding onwards over a wid^ ford, and, 
through a walled lane, for about five Ze, the travelr 
■ ler arrives at a shrine to the Dragon God, close by 
which*in the grove by itself, is a small perm'inent 
Theatre of varnished wood. At Low-zhah-hong 
-a village of 300 families, the countny takes quite 
a level appearance, the hills each side, becoming 
smaller and smaller as though they formed the end 
of a huge chain (27) — Leang-zah-youof some 20 
families, Toong-djean of 1000, and Yah-hong-djow 
by a plank and trussel bridge of 21 apertiires — say 
250 feet long — are all at no great , distance fronj 
the Low-zhak-kong mentioned.— The Strata in thie 
quarter is of a blue black slate. 

From Yah-Icong-jow to Sac^wan-lee, a hamlet 
of 21) families, the distance, over eight IS, runs 
through a fine wood land, quite different from any 
thing the other side of the mountain range 

Some time before reaching Sac-ioan-le a seven 
storied Pagoda S.B. of the city of Haoufoong meets 
the view; and in the suburbs of the city are the 
best quarters for the foreign traveller (poor. enough' )•) 
at the Kwan-fi-mew, or Temple of the God of War. 

Haou^foong, or Skaou-foongr-yubn is a poor 
apology for a walled city ,t— the walls, about a mile 
and a half round, being in some places broken away 
wide enough for a carriage and pair to be driven 
through. It was a decent place enough once,^ per- 
haps, and the city Temple on a level with the top 
of the south wall is a fine building. The shops in 
the western suburbs, however, fur surpass those 
withih ; but it is a poor place for business, this being 
infelred from the want of silver in negotiations; — 



Ane^ee District. 79 

Money changers having the conscience to offer 600 
; cash only for the mosit beautiAil Carolus dpH^r 
ever haudled-r-gOO cash in barter for Riee being an 
exteme price (28). 

There is a junction of two wide though shallow 
streams on the S.E. angle -of the city, a well peb- 
bled road from the north gate leading by a large 
parade ground to a long plank and trussel Bi'idge, 
which the traveller crosses to the stream's right 
bank — The low ground hereabout is profu,sely 
studded with mulberry trees— Firs and elms, in 
clumps here iand there, .varying the scene. 

About four miles N*^- from Haou-foong is Ypji,- 
chong a small village — and Eight le further on 
Tow-foo, a bvisy little pl^ce of 200 families. The 
river appears deep here, and there is a good deal of 
traffic by baniboo rafts and boats of .shallow draft ; 
—but the average depth is but little over three ieet, 
as found at a ferry a little further on. A short dis- 
tance from Tgng-'foa is Tow-foo and not-th of that 
Sze-Doug-^^l^. N. E., again being the small hamlet 
of Se-tch6-sah. Here tiie river is crossed in ferry 
boats from the Haou-foong to the Gnan^keih, or 
as it is locally pronounced Ane-chee District,- — the 
first small village on the Ane-chee side being Che- 
che^s^h, a small place in a grove near fields of tea 
bushes over wheat. 

Chu-ho-lo of two or three houses is N.E. about one 
mile from Che-che-sah — ^and a little further on Ho- 
foo-loong oi similar size. Ing-ka-loong is the 
next village, and after that Sae-a-san, both of them 
exhibiting a good many tidy looking houses— 'the 
winding streams among the wood land giving a 
picturesque character to the route— the flat slab-' 
bed and pebbled path way being in excellent cqndi- 
tion. From Sac-a-san to a Ding a short distance 



80 AniB-ehee District. 

from Saii-qua-lee the road takes a sharpish ascent 
for a little distance over steps cut out of the rocfc • 
Sian-qua-lee i» a village of ISO families about 10 le 
from Chung-chow-chunet a hamlet in the suburbs 
of the district city of Ane-chee, 

Ane-chee is not much larger than Haou-foongy 
but the walls are in better condition, and there are 
no such wide gaps in them as those told of. 
The gates are small, not over seven feet square, the 
houses built principally of wood. But -more than 
half the enclosure is covered with mulberry trees 
a;nd large pools of water; and the traveller feels 
repeatedly induced fo put the question— '^ What on 
earth can be the use of these walled cities ?" Caro- 
lus dollars change for 950 cash here, and ten cash 
pieces are current. 

On the East side, the city is skirted by the 
River bed, and beyond the river is a pretty little 
Pagoda low down among some Shrubbery. A 
moat runs found the city on the sides not protected; 
by the river ; — a well constructed arched Bridge by 
the south gate leading into the suburbs, about the 
best part of the place as usual. The North wa!l has 
recently been repaired, and looks quite formid able 
to travellers approaching in that direction. Only 
four villages are met between Ane-chee and Mai- 
chee, a distance of about eight miles, viz- Kwong- 
heen^kang-deo^—Zan-woo-JMng — Shew-koon and 
Kow-jow-Deo. 

At Zan-woo five miles from Maichee, Tanal's 
lead off from the main stream, and run up in a N.Wly 
direction to the Tae-hoo, or great Lake, and boats 
can be hired here to take the traveller on there if 
he wishes. iRFai-cAec, though called a village oTily„ 
appears to be a place of considerable traffic, and 
two Government tuiictionarics, one of them a Mili- 



Ane-chee Dtstrict. 81 

tary, one a Civil officer havo their quarters here (29). 
There are upwards of, 1,000 families in the place, 
and there must he a large migratory population of 
raft mfen from the hills, and boat men engaged in the 
Hoo^how Trade. From Mai'chee to the Ferry at 
which Boats can be obtained for the passage to Hoo- 
chow, the distance is abont seven Ze— the head boat 
man of the place being of the family name of Tono- 
( Teng^Seeii'Sang), 

' The distance from iNlai-chee Ferry to Hoo-chow 
is said to be 90 le. It is in excess of this, but the chan- 
nel, from 50 to 200 feet wide, winds a good deal — 
S.S.E.— E.S E.— N.E.-.-.R S. E.— S. E. E.N.E. and 
East,- all being noted within a three hours' run, the 
general direction being due East. Thirty fe from 
Hoo-chowis Yuen-t0ng'J0to — ^Ten Ze east of which 
is Ne-cha-tieng — and as far farther on. Yah-co- 
chaong ; the ground on both sides, a continued level, 
being cultivated in the proper season with Indian 
wheat ;— Mulberry trees luxuriating in all directions. 
' At Hoo-ehow the stream deepens, and Junks of 
three and four hundred tons burthen discharge 
their! cargoes close to the banks. — But though of 
such twnflage, these vessels are flat bottometl, and do 
not draw aj the outside more then six feet of water, 
Hothichow^ the Foo or Chief city of the depart- 
ment, is a place of considerable importance, and 
judging from the busy habits of the people, no doubt 
a desirable abode. Jt is from Hoo-chow tHIit much 
of the Silk for the Shangliae market is 'taken, 
though little of the * mamafacture of it within the 
walls is seen. Wide and- deep canals run through 
the city, crossed in various places by handsotne and 
capacious bridges* The walls, which 'are in veiy 
excellent condition, 30 feet wide and 20 feet high, 
are upwards of six miles in circuit, and from the 



8t "Mi-dziii^ District 

numbering and .allotment of the lofty basttleiaieritf 
into sections, it does not appear likely t|iat/ the pla^e 
wonld be found unprepared should a visit be paid 
to it by the expected rebels. FHlb on; the sdiithsof 
the city are crowned with d(,'fensible barracks 5 and 
M hilst these remained in the hands of the city's hol- 
ders would prevent succeFsful assault in that direct 
tioii. On the other hand, if in the possession of 
asrailant«, attempt at defence woiald be unavailijag^ 
A lofty seven storied PagodA on a, hill south of the 
city commands, in a etear day, a view of tihe Tae* 
hoo, or great Lake* an-d the country adjacertt. Ve3?y 
much of the iirterior of the City is. unbuilt on< tar 
appropriated fbr, ardhery groundsn— r*-Aji aveHHe,neag^ 
the south gate is lined with »pwaTid» of a dozeD 
Memorial columns, of finished anticjue worJsman- 

Ship , . ' • .; 

At Hoo-ehow and t&e country near are mi^unfa'o 
tories of the Japajn varnish used ia the- Sflwath. s A 
kndwledge of tHis preparation w;ould bepfjze^'i'* 
Europe, and, with time and opportonity, a skilful 
inquirer might obtalm some li^erfdl iaD&r imvtioiDsef. 
garding it. The preparation, whateves it is^; is 
wrtmg^but in cloths by men- wospkittg' near a slow 
fire. Rice, still the chief article csliftjod aiaong 
the people, is dear here— viz, from 5,®0O to 1,000 
cash a pieeul, ob at Shanghae cuTreiac;^ a iittle short 
of three pence a pound. . 

Hooclrow stands partly on the Ane->ch,B (^Grnanr 
Iceih) District, partly pri the^ District of Ww-I>s^'ng> 
(30) and after leaVklgi iby the Canal, the route to 
Pahledeo, thr^eiorfouri mites fjfom- the easibera 
walls is about l*}. by S.^ — Two iniles or so. East of 
Pahledeo is Stiag'-saiwg; and about a mil© further 
Y(ih-jong-hok. 

From this point to Shourming^ fu, a (Mstance of 



Kwm-gnan District; 83 

ten miles Ki by N.— tke esfnisl runs by the villages 
of Tching ta^^^an>-q»mi-deO, Ghang-terig and 
Yat'ling-jow-^tk^ low hills, a-found being thickly 
studded with Fira or Mulbei^y trees, over Wheat, 
Beans and Grassicher. — Bridges of excellent work- 
manship are met at various poitife where the 
streams go ndrth or south fr««n the principal 
Chaimel A littlfe Way beij««md YaMfi§-jow is the 
Poo-dee-mew | ffodl which Ndn-D9img or Noan- 
zin, and unwalled town ef 40 of 50^0110 inhabitants 
bears N. E. distant about 3 miles. Nttn-Dzing is 
a vei^ busy place, giviflg employment to many 
coopers of- the lad^gfed tabs atid impletaehts sold 
Ik northern China tftaaists, and 0(Jca^i6(nyiy seen in 
tie south. 

Jin-zeh^ fti^othe!r large town on the Canal's 
banks, is about five nii^ from JYd^'D^ing ; And 
half a dozei^ iMilies further on, in a N"orth easterly 
direction, is S^-ch^e, aXsoa place of cortsiderabie 
size, 'the next place ef hot*, after pH^sinig Say- 
chee, and'ah»9»it Ttti^e tttile^e&st of it is ■Piiig~bong. 
This is a£ very Interesting pfeee, the principal tradel 
being in oil and oil cake of which there are several 
manufactories." B^ the Fatst^Pi* ehtraWce i% a 
pretty 'lfemf)te { K^bd-'sMn-kiaih) with a shrine 
to Te-chang-^an the- Goddess- of Earth-^^he vitevr 
from the top df the P*gbda to th>e gO(Uthwar<r 
and westward being' over* lagbons iitld streams for 
immense distances*— Northward and eastward the 
country is flat for milcfs; &ild euttivated with the yel- 
low flowered ^i^issicherspokefl of atid With beaihs; 
— and in a Lake close Ify,. the^e is a picturesque 
temple on a shiall islet cftHed JtM^bing-htfO'dm. 
Eastward runs the Canal to Shataghaei. At the' 
entrance of the tetoplfr beneiat*! the Pagoda, thO' 
unbeliever in the virtue o£ Buddhism feels a strong 



84 Ping-hoo District. 

inclination to laugh at the Very jolly appearance 
of an idol, the Whole of whose body is hidden but j 
the face, wliich peers through a round aperlure at 
it's devotees, speaking^ as plainly as inanimsition 
ean speak— "What fools you are to think I can do 
any geodibr you !" Only two priests are attached 
to this temple |— a censer in the Court bearing date 
the 52d yeai' of the Emperor Kang-ke^ so Iqading 
to the inference that that was the period when the 
establishment was created. 

, The process of manufacturing Oil cake, and 
obtaining the Oil is as follows. Beans, Calabari' 
cos, the common white bean of commercte, are 
first thrown into a shot. Leading, in small qufinrt^ 
titles, as permitted by a crank worked by a cogt*| 
wheel, down to "a large flat stone, on which two ' 
very heavy rollers are moved by. blinkered, water; 
bullocks. ; So macerated under the rollers, the 
meal is removed to another , shoot leading to a pair 
of fluted, mill stones, and thence thrown into a bin 
by, which is a furnace jcirid two^ small' boilers, 
These hQilers have apertures on their tops, through 
vhich the quickly generated steam jig permitted 
to e3cap,e into wicker topped recepses of small 
half peck measures of an oval shape. In these 
wicker tops are placed the Bean meal, and, five 
seconds' passage pf the steam through them is quite 
sufficient tOiiconyert the jptiealinto cakes. Speedy as 
thought these cakes are then trahsferrad from the 
forms? to tw;isted rattan hoops,— -of .similar shapr^, 
the^ri covered with thin grass, and, in a pile.of soms 
two dq^en at a time, transported to a sq^uarg 
horis^ontal frame, where they are compresseii by 
wedges until the oil exudes into a tank beneatti.. 
So pressed, the cakes are again moved,, stripped, 
of their grassy wrap pings, placed in piles to dry, 



Siushui and, Ku^shen Districts. 85 

afterwards wrapped in straw, and, finally, sold as 
required. Either as manure for the ground, or 
£bbd for cattle, these bean cakes are much coveted 
(31). 

DEPARTMENT OF KtA-HINCi. 

A short distance East of Ping-bong is Hing- 
wong ; and between that and the hamlet of (So^o- 
Dee, twenty miles or so further east, the traveller 
passes the villages of Sah-ca-eoong, Tah-sean-^wo 
See-cheng,—Loa-fae, or Loo-chae (a place of l,20a 
families) and Jow-iooo-sah. 

The black slime from the stream bed takes the 
place of manure in this quarter. The mode of 
obtaining it is ingenious. To the end of a stout 
bamboo a piece of concave wicker work is 
attached — a similar piece of wicker work being 
so fixed that when the stout bamboo thrust on 
the bottom has taken out a scoop of the mud, by the 
pressure downwards of a lighter bamboo the wicker 
concave collapses like a ekmp shell, and con- 
fines the slime until it reaches the surface, when, by 
pinching together the light and stout bamboos, as 
we would a pair of tongs, the clamp opens, and 
the contents are emptied into a boat, whence, along 
side the bank, it is transferred to the shore, by 
means of a basket swung with ropes through the 
sides, by two men one at each end of the boat. 

Ching-zeh is large town three or four miles 
N.E. of the hamlet o? Sow-dee spoken of, and here 
may be seen, in quantity, the bamboo articles 
of furniture sold at the Consular ports and about 
the northern country— such as chairs, stools, bas- 
kets, lamprstands &q. Bread is not to be obtained 
at this, town — but plenty of bean " fixing" such as 



86 Ts'mg-p'oo and Shang'hae' Districts. 

curd cakes, smoied twist &c., are exposed in the 
stalls. Tobacco is grown and cut, too, here. On 
tlie whole. there is a quiet air of business in the 
streets, speaking great things for the thriftiness and 
content of the inhabitants. 1 

Eight or Nine miles M.Efof Ghing-zeh is Sam- 
pak-dong., a batch of red coloured houses on an is 
let in a lake ; a lofty lamp post serving to fender 
it the light house for some- miles around.' Five 
or six miles further oii is a fine town called Che- 
ka-hwoh. Though not formally walled, the houses 
have lofty backs, and join together, so that it is 
not possible to get into * the streets excepting by 
guarded ways. ' The g1"eat feature of the place is a 
splendid .five arched ' granite Bridge — the centre 
arch being over 3'5 feet 'to. span. 



PROVINCE OF KIANG-SU. 



DEPARTMENT OF SUNG-KIANG. 



Tsing-poo-yuen (or Tching-koo-yuen as it is call- 
ed by the inhabitants,) the chief city of the district, 
is about 5 miles N E". df Cke-ka-lcimJc. It is an- 
other of the 1,600 walled establishments, and though 
small is a neat place — The walls; brick over stone, 
are in very good condition, arid are entered at the 
north and west sides direct from the watet^^thei^ 
being hardly room for a coffin between the wall 
and the stream. 

S. S. E. from Tsing-poo stands a pagoda on a 
high mountain ( Sing kong?) and a short distance 
from the somewhat extensive suburbs on the N. E. 
at Tchirvg'iho-deOf is th.Q ^ Tdi-ping Granary, a 



- Tstng-poo and Shanghae Districts. 87 

series of six rows of white washed barrack like 
buildings, five hundred feet long, capable of con- 
taining an immense quantity of grain (32). 
.V From the Provincial Granary the canal takes a 
winding direction — Westerly, northerly,, easterly 
and southerly— but on the average about N.E.— (33) 
• Only two villages remain to he noted, viz Poon- 
zan-keo and Pmi-hJoik-quong — the country being 
ornamented with trees, not all planted, apparently, 
for cutting down purposes. Excepting a Ferry 
ca,Iled Ching-ha-chong; about 15 miles from Shang 
hae, no o&er village finds a place in our register. 



->fS-«0*!88«- 



APPENDIX. 



NOTES. 



1 — Page 2. — 1 his is a variety of the Brassica 
Napus, and is thus spoken of by Jortune in his 
first volume of "Wanderings." — 

" The oil plant, Brassica Chinensis, is in seed 
and ready to be taken from the ground in the be- 
ginning of May. This plant is txtensively grown 
in this part of China, both in the province of Che- 
kiang and also in Kiangsoo,, and there is a great 
demand for the oil which is pressed from its seeds. 
For the information of readers not acquainted with 
botany, I may state that this plant is a species of 
cabbage, producing flower stems three or four feet 
high, with yellow flowers, and long pods of seed 
like all the cabbage tribe. In April, when the 
fields are in bloom, the whole country seems tinged 
with gold, and the fragrance which fills the air, 

particularly after an i\pril shower, is delightful. 

« # * * * 

" Tery large quantities of the cabbage tribe are 
cultivated -for the sake of the oil which -is extracted 
from their seeds. Ihey are planted out in the fields 
in autumn, and their seeds are ripe in April and 
May, in time to be removed from the land before 
the rice crops. It must not be supposed, however, 
that the whole of the land is regularly crept in this 



92 ■ NOTESi 

manner, and that, as some writers- inform us, it 
never for a moment lies idle, for such is not the 
case.'' 

To this may be added that the boat people of 
Iviaugsoo appear to live almost entirely on the 
young sprouts, a delicious oleaginous vegetable ; 
but almost too pow^Bfii| for. sttiJCuropaan traveller's 
food. ' 



2.-^Page 2. — 'Dr Mac^BWan, our fellow travel- 
ler, the highest botainical attthprity in thi^Ipart of 
world, has kindly furnished thfi..follQ:Wing informa- 
tion regarding this Pep-mctp, or P^irmii bulb, as 
gathered frotn" the, Chinese Fharmacopc^ia • and his 
own experieUiCe.— i 

, '' Its nq/ijie iftderived from its resemblance to a 
cowipie, a, shell which was used for money in China 
until about the third Q.entury of our era. Two kinds 
are in usey— one from the province ofSze'chuen, the 
other the product of the mountainous parts of the 
department of iNingpo,, The former are the size of 
the smallest cowries ; white, of farinacous fpa,cture, 
and slightly bitter : — the latter is half as large again, 
and of, brownish color. It ia recommended in a 
host of complaints, but used chiefly in tfaosesof the 
air stoppages. It is of undoubted utility in cou*hs,- 
promoting expectoration, eiind uniting demulcanf 
with tonic properties. I am aiming to introduce its 
culture, and also its medical use into the West. 

"As you need a popular, nota professional charac- 
ter of the Pei-mu, {Qawrie Mo\hf.r?^ 1 mi;y men* 
tion an instance of its extOT-iat employmsnt — 'for it: 
is often applied in surgioal_ -casea. — Atimfirchaiailf' 
Avho lived iduringtho! period- pf< the Tong ^dynasty 
had an ulc§r9.ted tumor on his :left arm, just be- 



NOTES. 93 

lotv the shoaldersi which resembled the hutnan face. 
It gave him no pain.and his general health was 
good One day he playfully p">ured a drop of wine 
into the thirsty looking mouth of his left hand 
man ; — whereupon the ulcer face reddened and 
swelled. He then tried it, with varioui eatables, 
and found that when h3 fed the tumor it ex- 
panded,, and when the supplies were stopped it 
settled down. Attthe recommendation of a celebrat- 
ed doctor he administered aJLl sorts d£ medicines to 
the omniverous tumor, mineral, vegetable and ani- 
mal. Nothingmade any diffdreace with it until he 
gave it some ^ti^mu, — Pleased with its action, he 
thrust a culm- of mat grass into the mouth, and 
through that tube introduced an infusion of the 
root. In a little while the brows fell ofl^ the eyes 
closed' attd shrivelled up,. and so did the mouth, and, 
after a short time, thBTmage was eflfaced entirely. 
Our author in d^t^iling the case, which must not be 
taken as a sample of Chinese mescal writing, says 
he is really unable to tell what disease that was*;— 
nor can I." 



3- — Page 2< — As stated further on, — Measuj-es' 
of all kinds vary in different districts, and time did 
not afford us an opportunity of testing the content 
of a Cking in Fungwha. According to the table 
of capacities famished by Gufzlaff in his "China 
opened " Chapter XIV; — =a shing equals 31|'Cubie 
punts-a. punt being the tenth part of a Chinese 
eovid. This would give the content of a shing 
( ehing and shing being identical we presume ) qt 
a little under three quarters of an English pint. 

Giutzlaff says.^ — 
The measure of contents, which is seldom used, neatly every 



94 NOTES. 

artittle, and even fire-wood being weighed; are. the followittg : — 
6 Snh jnake a Kwei, 10 Kwei a Chaou, 10 Chaou a Tsuy, 
— The table in ".Chinese operied," referred to is foHows — 
10 Tsuy a Cho, 10 Cho a H6.' lOjo a Shrng^ or 31f cubic 
piints, 10 Shing a Tow, 316 cirbic p'.irrts, 5 Tow 1 Hw6, 1.580 
punts, and 2 Hwo a "Shih, or 3,160 cubic purits. These hoyy- 
everare only vsed in government accounts ; the common peop'e 
avail themselves of the following— 2 Yo make a.'Mfl, 10 Ho make 
a ShingbrpintjlO Shing aTow 10Tvv»a Hwd,2 Hwo I Shih. 
Another table runs — ' 



10 Shu 


equal 


to 


I'Liu, 


10 Liu 
24 Ch'u 




I) . 

J) 


I Chu. 
,1 Tae). 


16 Taels 
2 Catties 
30 „ 
100 „ 


ij 
I) 

JS 


H 

'3T 


I Catty. 
1 Yin. 

1 KiUD. 

1 Pecul, 


120 „ 

3 :, 
84 ., 




n 


1 Shih or Stone 

4 Pounds Avoirdupois. 

1 Cwt. 


I Fecul 


!> 


" . 


1 3BJ Pounds Avoirdnpois 



4 — Page 2-T— A Le is generally spoken of as 
the third, of a mile, FoUpwing are the usual — 

Measures of Lingih, 



Half a Tsun 


equal 


to 


1 Li. 


5 Tsun 


)3 


Jl 


1 Fan. 


5-Chih or Feet 


3J 


T3 


1 Pu or Pace. 


360 Pu 


1} 


SJ 


1 Li or Mile. 


250 Li 


!> 


33 


1 Tu or Degree. 


I Degree 


!j 


)? 


1460.44 Feet, 



C utzlaiF says— 

The Le, or Chinese mile, contains 180 (each often feet) fa- 
thoms, ov Chang, equal to 1,897^ English feet, or 2,853 toises, 
and 2lf0 Le meQSure a degree' of latitude. I'Tiis measurement, 
however, is not so Well fixed as not to admit of dotibt and »aria-" 
lion. The missionaries divided the degree into 200 Le, each 
Le amounlirig to l,826°English feet, which gives the degree 69. 
,166 English miles, orll-131 Frencii myriameters. 

The land-measure is still less accurately defined : 5 Chih or 
Covids make a Poo or Kung, and 68^ Mow one English acre — 
in squares. 5 Chih — 1 Poo,— 140 Poo to one Mow, or 6,000 
square covids. . • 



NOTES. 95 

5 ard 6— Page 5 -rSfatists differ as to the con- 
tent of a Wow. Sir George Staunton estimated it 
at 1.000 square yards. At the Land office, 
Hongkong 1951^0 were fixed as the standard. In 
Sbanghae, Six mows and a sixtieth constitute an 
acre. The usual land measure table runs.— 

5 ehih f^ make one ^ pu (pace), or H kung (bow). 
24 pu -^ make one /^fan ; 
60 pu ^ make one ^ kioh or horn ; 

4 kioh ^ or 240 pu make one ^J^ mau,or Chinese acre; 

100 man ^ make one ^ *'»»^- 

Taking the chih to he 12.587 inches, a square pu will 
measure 27.499636 square -inches ; this divided by 9,. gives 
3.0S55 square yards ; which multiplied by 240 pii gives 
733.32 sg. yds, in a Chinese mau, equal to 6.61 mau to an 
English acre. 



7-7-Page 5. — A good deal of erroneous statistic 
has been printed on this land tax point. The latest 
auihority ("Williams) says it ranges from II to 10 
cents a mow, or from 1 to 66 cents an acre, accord- 
ing to the quality of the land and difference of tillage 
But there is a wide difference, it will be seen, be- 
tween this and what is actually' paid. 

From Gutzlaff 's " China opened," one of the best 
works extant, Ave take the following. — 

LAND-TAX— TEEN-FOO. 

The lands are divided into king and mow': 100 mow tnake 
a king ■ 240 square poo make a mow ; and 5 chih, or cpvids, 
make a' poo, ( a chih is reckoned at [4| inches.) Thus, 6J* 
Chinese mow make 1 English acre. 

The grain is measured in the following manner :— 6 suh 
make a kwei ; 10 kwei a chaou ; 10 chou a tsuy ; 10 tsuy a 
cho; 10 choa ho; ashing, or-31| cubic punts; 10 shing a 



dQ 



NOTES; 



the eight standards, 801,848 kins'. Thisiuclrtdes 

1 ° . - #« 

nnd's belong-in^ to: the j^eople paying taoces. 



low, or 316' cubic punis ; 5 tow o hvrbj or 1686 cubic piint? ; 
and.ahwS a shih, or 316^ cubicipunt.a.* 

Th? whole arablearea of China Proper, amounts to 7,875,149 

king, 74 mow. Gardens, pijki, and plan tations 52,095 king" 

Lands and pastures. in Mongolia, and MantchpUfia, belonging to 

King. fneu). 
7,357,918 46 

Imperial domains, lands belonging to the princes 13,338 
Do. to the eight standards - ■ 140,128 71 

Do. to the Chinese flftilitary - ,- - 459,416 48 

Do.^^ to thB t^m,ples. - , ,-. - - 3j62Q 

Do. to the publie institutions, and 
for the maintenance of peon scholar^: - 11,557 73 

Shan-se lands, or, mountain ridges - , - 110. 60 

Arable soil in the E'Je district, belonging, 
to the eight stapdnrds 



Fiom these landsithe following' revenue arises^, 
taels, viz.: — 

Mftney eent to the capital 
Do. kept in the provincial treasury^ 
Do. kepit in the district deipoaits. - - 
Do. kept for exigencies 

Commuted cai^ita,tion tax ... 

Rent for the lands of the eight standards 

Dp^ of' the Chinese, soldiers • 

Rent from the lands belonging to ihepublic- 

institutions- - . -' - -, 
Expenses of transporting the money and grain . 

to Peking .- - ■ - . . . ;.j • 
For ma;ntainiiig the aqeducts of Ohih-le.and 

Gan-hwuy • - - - - 
Th« total amount ,. of the. Idnd-lax, in kind, is 

38,234,138 shih, viz.:— 
Annual tribute sent to capital ■ - . - 
Do. sundries, insurance, additional cioiitri- 

btttions under various names -i 



9,T6l 
53,730,21« 

Taels. 

27,448:701 
7,5^1,677 
1,016,108 

10,830,342 

3,521,27a 

• 276,201 

603,557 

20j6a9 

2,389,661 

212,000 

. Shih. 
2,561,278 

891,397 



NOTES 97 

For the use of the sailors on board the trans- 
ports - 6S8,090 

For the soldiers or the convoy " - - - 180,606 

'Grain kept in ^stores of provincial gran.irres 33,792,330 

Rent of eight standards' Ian Js - - • 200,244 

Do. soldiers' land . . - 373 

Do. puhlic inAitiilions • - - ' 19,760 

Taels. 

Total amcunt <f land-tax in specie • • 53,730,218 

*■ 

Tax in kind, valueJ at U ta°l, p6r shih - -57,351,207 

Sundry articles of tribute, as cotton, and silk 
piece-goods, metals, wax, &c , sent 
•annually froTn the different provinces to Pe- 
king, and mostlybought for money arising 
from the land-tax .... 2,316,632 



Total - . . I13i398,057 

In this calculation, however, it ought to be remembered, that 

we included the 38,792,330 sljih of grain stored up in the provin- 

ial granaries, which does not belong exclusively to government, 

but is owned by the greater part of ihe people, and is only under 

the management of government ofBcers. .. 'K' 

In giving these sum--, we have followed the stitistics wi|h great 
minuteness. In adding another 221,857 taels to the above sum, 
•which arises from marshy land, it will be found that the sum 
total realized by "the public from all the lands, is 113,619,914 
taels. 

For the satisfactnm of the reader, we present this result of 
unwearied research also in details, in which, however, we have 
left out acres belonging to public bodies. 



98 



AOTES; 



PROVINCES. 



Inbebitante. 



Chih-le - - - - 
Shan-tung - ■ 
Sh;in-se - ■ - 
Ho-naii - 
Koang-soo - 
Gan-nwuy 

Kpang-se 

Fokeen - - ■ 
•jhc-keang - - 
Hoo-pib - - ■ 
Hoo-nan - - 
Shen-se - - ■ 
Kan-suh - - 
Sze-chuen. 
Kwang-tnng - 
Kwang-se - - • 
Ynn-nan — 
Kwei-shoo - • 
Leaoutung - - 



Square miles. 



27,990.871 

28,95H,76i 

14.004,ai0 

23 037.171 

37.S43.50J 

34,168.(1.59 

30,4-2t).i)99 

14,777.410 

26 256.784 

27.370,(198 

18,6S2.507 

10,207.256 

I5,ia3,l--i5 

21,435.678 

19,147 030 

7,3I3,H95 

5.561,;i2, 

5 288,219 

943,003 



362.386,098 



58 949 
56,104 
55.268 
65; 104 

i 92.961 

72,176 
53,:^80 
39,150 

\ 144,770 

^ 154,008 

106.800 
79,456 
78,350 

J07.9t-9 
64,554 
Unknown. 



Jnhi,bi- 
tanta up- 
on each 
^ouarft .' 
mile. 



Commuted 

capitation 

tax 



Lends paying 
* ta^es 



473 
515 
253 
354 

774| 

421 
276 
671 

317 j 

I64J 

128 
Si 4 

93 

51 

82 



•1.28S979 



434,444 

'3.54,051, 

. 643,006 

120,26a 

,25,0,,764 

224 353 

183,145 

180.499 

237 518, 

109,999 

77 036 

240 313 

61,904 

56,991 

120,003 

46,303 

29 405i 

137,801 1 

23,474 



J^ixi^. mow. . 
227,256 50- 
984,728 46 
533,854 
718.20H 04 
447.S46 27 
34t).786 33 
462,187 27 
128,626 64 
464,120 IG 
594,439 44 
313,024 73 
358,404 12 
235,366 21 
463,819 39 
343;903 9 
89,601 79 
93,177 9 
268 54 
115.240 



:',52l 27217,357 319 46 



KesuliiT j Money 
laiid tax 1 sent to tlie 
in silver. ' capital. 



Chih-Ve 
Shan-tung 
Shan-.-e - - 
Hunan - - 
Keang-son - 
Gan-liwiiy 
Keai g se - 
Fokfen 
Cle-keing - 
Hoci-pih - 
> loo-nan 
t5hen-se 
Kai. BUh - - 
Sze-cbuen 
Kwang-iung 
Kwang-se - 
Yun-nim 
Kweiclioo 
Leaou-iung - 



Total 



Taels. 
2,0Sl,-2'ln 
3,36 1.000 
i^2i 4001 
3.131.' oiidi 
3,v!ii7,2i0l 
i,4:ii,uini 
1 884„=i()U 
l.t)07,*0<i| 
2'5f,6 9nO: 
1,014.700 
1 ('85 71(1 
l.3(i9,500 

319 mi 

6U;;)II" 
1,159 90: 

34-;,40i. 

172,911 
107,800 

iie.yio 



Grain 'and 
' etts. 
Land 
tax in 
kind. 



f Grain left 
Grain sent in tbe 



to the 
capital* 



■28.306,400 



Taels. ■ 
1 9-29 ,37' 
3,0ii 1 ,20 
3 914,349 
2.991,3.T 
1 ,<14 4H 
1,."1W,29 
1 808 2.> 
I , . 67,37 
2,-205 :il. 
],011,r)h-. 
1 ,03;j,(l3i 
). 407,81 S 
2>2,->,02o 
5«6 197 
990'470 
45 99- 
194,64 

7o,«es 

232,166 



27,41n,701 



Shih. 
5H 740 
.■>07,680 
1 '(1,160 
,34-1,85. 
378.050 
I's!0,7(10 
139,420 
301,120 
,3H3,10l 
143 83o 
144,45ol 
194,900! 
484 (l90 
12,1.'^0 
341,72.1 
130,130 
233,fi4 
183,370 
104.35 



provincial 
granaries. 



Money re- 
maining iQ 
the Provin- 
cial Trea- 
surer's 
hands 



83,258 

9 2.5 1 
015,917 
290,464 
351.683 

621,47.1 
93,676 
95,54 



,\193,73t» 



Shih. 
2 5t0,S24l 
2,ur)9 3^bl 
31.'),837 
3,310 999 
1.520,000 
l;^8^,00o 
l,i;i7,713 
•2,566,449 
■2,'^00,0.iU 
520,935 
7rt2,13,'< 
2,733,010 
3,a8{(,009 
20,800 
2,9.i3,661 
274,378 
701„500 
507,000 
20,000 



2,501,279 



33,792,330 7,561,67; 



Taels. 
847,351 
55H.8U3 
427,421 
378,48(> 
,276,998 
420,63fi 
383,461 
304,679 
310,642 
209,659 
277,130 
443,181 
101,909 
169,12'J 
245,121 
- 123,005 
130,617 
39,074 
19,387 



NOTES. 99 _ 

Most of the provinces pay in a leap-year an additional sum 
both in money and kind. The payment upon each mow varies 
according to the quality of the land, from 1 to 400 ash. 

The assefsmenl having been made, the government not only 
levies that sum,, but takes a certain per centage, as 5 to 10 per 
cent, insurance and loss in the, carriage— for changing cash into 
silver, and vice' versa— expen^-es of transportation, and 'many 
other items under diverse names. There is so great ingenuity 
shown in this affair, that the account is considerably swelled, 
and the peasant is obliged to pay at least from 20 to 30 per cent, 
above the assessment. Moreover, the extortions of the tax-gath-. 
erers, and the local mandarins, are far from trifling. Being badly 
paid, these officers are naturally very anxious to indettinify them- 
selve.' upon the people. Hence arise bloody encounters, and the 
people show a most determinate resistance against the oppressors. 
i\.any of the lands of the .Mantchoo and Chinese soldiers are 
situated' near the frontiers of the Meaou-taze territories. The 
greater part of the Ele area, has likewise been granted to these' 
warriors It is very natural that they should defend their own 
htird against their enemies, and thus become the natural bulwark 
of the adjacent districts 

Every collector must furnish a certain quantity both of money 
and grain. If he fails to do so, he must reimburse the deficit him- 
self. His whole property is made surety for the due payment, 
and if this be iasnfficient, he is sent to an adjoining rich district, 
and permitted to exercise extortions, until he has obtained the 
requisite sum. Such a visit is feared by the people as much as 
the plague, many of the richer classes immediately abscondj 
whilst iothersliide their valuables. 

It lias often been remarked, that the immense populousness, 
and the taxes, which on an average are per mow 160 cash, and 
per king, 16 laels, (1 tael per English acre,) raise the price of 
griin higher than it values in other countries. Rice is not half 
so dear in Bengal as in phina, Manilla is ena,bled to import 
large quantities to Macao, Java can furnish the market to advan- 
tagej and even in Japan it is much cheaper. We have nowhere 
found it to be at so low a price as at Canton, which is owing to the 
importation from foreign parts. The land is of very high value, 
and being parcelled out into naany small portions, the cultivators 
are enabled to extract much more than a large LtndhoJder would 
be able to do. Thus it can pay heavier taxes, especially in' the 
southern 'provinces ; the soil yields!, a threefold, and ofteti a 
fourfold harvest, i^ 

The richest province i^ Keang-soo, and it pays therefore an enor- 
inous tax ; Che-k?ang, the siaaiiesi province, is evidently over tax- 



l50 NtfES. 

ed, whilst Sze-chueti, Yun-hah, Kwang-se, and Kwei-choo, pay- 
very li^tle. 

8.' — Page 6. It is an axiom that in China 
the institutions and pMctices of Government are 
directly the reverse of those in Europfe. In the 
administration of justice this is illustrated ; and, 
proud as we are of our forms of trial in the abstract, 
there is room for bdieviiig that benetit w6uld ac- 
crue were we to borrow sbme\yhat from the mode of 
Chinese procedure. A writer in the Chinese Ke- 
pository for Septemfe 1833, says. — 

" Justice is often iadministered in the most sum- 
"mary manner. Not infrequently, in minor cases, 
"the man receives the punishment and again goes 
" free the same hour in which he commits the crime. 

" The forms of trial '^re simple. There is no jury, 
"no pleading. The criminal kneels before the mt- 
"gistrate, who hears the witnesses and passes sen- 
"tence ; he is then remanded to prison or sent to 
" the place of exectfti(5h. Seldojn is he acquitted." 

This non-acquittal arises in the majority of case's 
from the circumstance of all the facts being elicit- 
ed by the Elders, (who, in reality^ are both- Grand 
and Petty Jury) before the criminal is remitted to 
the Yuen. The writer goes on to say — 

" When witnesses are wanting, he is sometimes 
" tortured until he gives in evidence against hira- 
«self.;' ■ ' 

This atrocity, we have reason to believe, is found 
to occur in district cities principally — Police Magis- 
trates in cities relieving Elders of their customary 
patriarchal duties. Ti'hese Stipendiaries, no doubt, 
are very severe in their mode of eliciting truth. 

Illustrative of the difference in magisterial pro- 
ceedings, is the course pursued at Hongkong, where, 
until Y^ry recently, examinations in chief were con- 



NOTES. 101 

ducted by unlettered and iaexperienced Police In- 
spectors; — the wonder being, not that Ju^ticb was 
so administered, as that so much, with the in- 
struments, was effected. But, from the Police 
oifice to the Police-Uourt, and from that to the 
Supreme tribunal, it would be interestiao; to ascer- 
tain, from actual statistic, what propDrtioa of the 
whole number of charges meet a decree. In the 
Supreme Court, though the juries are by no means 
fastidious with Chinese culprits, the number of 
cases resulting in contictions, is^ certainly, under 
the half of the total sent up. 

9 — Page 14. — This calculation of £12 per ton 
is made on the estimate of 1250 cash for a Shang- 
hae dollar, or tael weight of silver. A worse ex- 
change, say 1 003 Cash only, would make the price 
of the iron in pigs on a par with English rod, ob- 
tainable in Hongkong, as we write this note (Feb- 
ruary 1858 ) almost a year after the remark to 
which it refers was made, at $3,75 per pecdl, which, 
at an exchange on England of 4s. dd, would be 
nearly £l5 per ton. When to this wo add the fact 
that Pig iron averages only £i per ton at a Ship- 
ping port * it will be seen, that so far as Iron goes, 
China's sand cannot compete with England's ore. 

[After writing this, we obtained the opinion 
of an experienced iron worker ( Mr Diet of irlong- 

* The price of iron has been subject to great fluctuitions, — 
especially of late years. In September 1824, the current price 
of common bars at the shipping port was £9 a-ton ; in March 
1825, a period of great speculation, it rose to £14 ; but by March 
1830, owing to the extended production consequent on this high 
rate, it fell to £3„5s. a-ton. Since that period, in consequence of 
the increased demand for railways and other purposes, the price 
has risen considerably, ami at present (February' 1842) it is quot- 
ed, in bars, at £5 1 5s. a-ton ; that of pig being £4. Taking the 
quantity stated above, 1,500,000 tons, as the present annual pro- 



1(^2 NOTES! 

kong) on a semple irtiiih we brDiightvfrdm one 
of the foundries. ^MsD|nBiQnrtins'asfoUelPB-"The 
pig of four pounidsTreig jit,, wfaiefe yoiatelline is. just 
as it ran from tlie furnacej may-not be-cljassed witk 
common 'Fnglieh pig* Ait oneieat it drew out in 
fiveieighths-bar, anancliwide, to thehngthxifBevem'- 
teen inches, and ie -so malleable and tenacious, that 
my men wished (to make some *'niut6''from it 5 — 
articles for which we always use the very best ma- 
terial. I should -class it with ihs best Swedi^ aaid 
if the Chinese . only possessed poliar^ machines, it 
might be sold for bar of quality E©t iirferior to . Jrdtt 
for which I am now paying here, landed ii^m -Eng- 
land, £14 per ton "]-— 

10. — Page 15 — The quantify of Silk Tised by 
each woman in binding the horn cannot be leBs than 
half a pound. Produced from ihek own eoeoons, 
the cost will be trifling ; but the a'ppearaQce of such 
an exuberance of silk cord could not fail in in* 
ducing a re flection on the use of a»n arlacle which, 
since trade has been released from the fetters that 
bound it prior to the war of S 84^0, has had so 
much to do with the currency and, exchange of 
England and the whole mercantile world. Prior to 
1 84 \ the total quantity of Silk exported from China 
did not exceed 3,000 bales a year— Fifteen times 
three -thousand is ijow the average ; — ^and fgr the 
year 1856-7 the deliveries of China Silk in Eng- 
land, alone, amounted to 74,215' bales, 

from enquiries made we find that thd^ extriior- 

duce, and applying, this )a?t price, of £4vS?'yes,ttie val,u.e in pig,at 
,%6,000,000; to which, udding i3,000,00QaS; the cost of -convexi- 
ing seve-n^teriths thereof ;!hp comfrvon -^tinj^ite) into bacSj bolts, 
rods, sheets, and ibewlwr fijvras.'of wrought iron, inakeslhe. an- 
nual valuo of the umnijiXacmre £9,,000^000. — Walersimt's Cy- 



NOTES. lX)g 

dicary differenee in export is not efiected oti increase 
of produc tion so mwch as on the inubility, ( for 
•want of means,) op the caiPelessn^ss -of the Chinese 
-to indulge in the luxury^ either as tsien for the 
tail, bands for the waist, or other .form of indul- 
gence,; and our ruminations have led us. to make 
ttheifdlowing oalculation. Allowing the population 
of China to be 300 millions (doubtfulj-tSfec Note on 
papulation ) and that each man, i??-oman, and child 
uses a quarter of a pound of silk cord a year for a 
piait to the end of the tail ( a qaairtet of a pound, be 
it remembered, being a minimum quantity,- — some 
of the richer classes plaiting in several new tsien in 
the course of a year, ' these again using half a 
|)oiuid, and even a pound at a time) we find that 
the total qt^antity used, 75 millions of pound, j 
equals the w^gbt of 750,080 bales. Estimatiiig 
the price .again at four pounds for a Sovereign, we 
have, in the shape of a tax to carry out a whim 
imposed by the Tartars on their subjugation of 
the country, a total sum of nearly JSineteen mil- 
li(Mis of pounds Sterling per annum— not far short 
of the interest on the debt -created by our fore- 
fathers in England to carry on the wars 

Whilst on the subject of China-men's tails, we 
may remark that the region in which we found 
the peculiar head dress educing this note is that 
in which the natives exhibited for a lengthen- 
ed period the firmest determination not to submit 
to the degradation of a tail ; and that this feeling 
still rankles in the minds of the people was clear 
from the questions of several of them. Being taken 
for rebels in disguise, as afe-der, one said—" Why 
do you not wear a tail?" (the rebels have discarded 
.jt)^-.-j4.wsioer " Because it is not the custom in our 
western country — ^Why do you % — "Answer, («w- 



, 104 NOTES. 

grily) — Because the Tatsing dynasty insist-oft it l'^ 
Martini, a iRoman Catholic priest of the Seven- 
teenth centifry, in his narrative of the Manchou 
conquest, thus writes on this opposition of the 
people to wearing a Queu. — 

" While the Tartars, A. D. 1644, were over running the Pro- 
vinces on the North of the Yellow River, the Chinese prepared 
to raak« a stand in the South. They proclaimed at. Nanking- 
Hungkwang a descendant of the Mings ; bnt another pretender 
made his appearance, and while the rivals were discussing th«ir 
claims, the Tartar hordes were pouring down from the Noi-lh. 
They met with little opposition until they appeared before the 
famous and opulent city of Yangchow. Seu, a faithful minis- 
ter of Hungchow. defended theplace with a large garrison ; but 
he was at length forced to yield. The Tartars pillaged every 
dwelling, slaughtered the' whole population, both citizens and 
soldiers*; and lest their putrifying remains should breed pes- 
tilence, collected them into houses, and reduced the city and 
suburbs to ashes.- When they advanced against Nanking, the 
General H wangchang mot them on the opposite bank of the river 
and proved that Tartars might be beaten by Chinese. But he 
fell pierced by the arrow of a treacherous subordinate, and with 
him. perished the hope of his country. , His soldiers fled in con- 
fusion. The Emperor betook himself to flight; and the same 
wretch who had slain the general, now betrayed his prince into 
the hands of the enemy. The unhappy monarch was sent to 
Peking and strangled. Thus obtaining easy possession of the 
Southern capital, the Tartars extirpated the family of Hung 
kw;ang'-,- and -marched against Hangchow. At that famous 
metropolis, prince Lo of the Imperial blood had assumed the 
sceptre. .But, as if in apprehension of a. speedy full, he declined 
the Impfirial title ; and in fact he had worn the crown only three 
days (scarcely as long as the kings in Chinese comedies) when 
the Tartars arrived. * * * * * » • 

Crossing the Tsien'tang they took possession of Shaouhing, 
and the rest of Chehktang submitted without resistance When 
however they required the Chinese to shave their heads a la 
Manchou, both soldiers and people began to sharpen their wea-' 
ponte ; rather solicitous for their jetty locks then for their- country. 
Risking their heads to save their hair, they fought bravely, ex- 

» Vyiien the rebels took Nanking, in 1853, in making that loudly decried 
extermination of the Tartars they only, retaliated, it will be seen— " root iuid 
branch "—blood for blood. 



NOTES. 105 

palled the enemy from Shaouhing, obliged him to recross tlie 
Tsient'ang, and if thoy had followed up these successes they 
might have cleated the province of invaders. But, ,is if satisfied 
with having averted the nzor from their heads, they paused and 
fortified the Southern bank. The Tartars were thus hell at 
bay for a whole year. — Translated from the Latin of Martini, by 
the Revd W. A. P. Martin, 

12 at Pages 21 and 22. — Idh-yeong-pow-tea 
signifies "Precious temple of the Great and Brave" 

Sam-sing-<?heng-veh. "The holy footsteps of 
the three lived ( Buddji.)" — 

Seaou-yun-laou — " The peaceful departments." 

Me-leh-tong-tien — " Me-leh (the nam 3' of the 
Buddh) comprehending the heavens." — 

II.— Page 21 — ^Thougli tlieir accounts of the 
idol's creation are confused and inconsistent, the 
priests furnish travellers with a native memDir of 
which the following is a translation. — 

The Stone Ima.ge of Buddh. The measure- 
ment of the great Buddh of the stone city moun- 
tain in Yok-chow, as reported by a priest. — 

Thirty le east of Sui'ke, in the district ofSing- 
chong, there is a Stone city, called the Secreted 
Mountain. In reaUty it is the Western entrmce 
of a defile called Teen-toey, and is distant five or 
six le from the capital of the district— near the 
peak of the twin mountains. The image is chisel- 
led out of a rock so perfectly that it is without 
seam or crevice in which grass or shrub can grow. 
Nor is there any hole or cave into which Tiger or 
wolf can enter. To external appearance, the place 
is like a beautiful hall ; — ind, with deep set eyes, 
Buddh sits in a really god-like place. Truly the 
maker must have had a special design in tiiis m vt- 
ter. Right and left— before and behind^this tem- 
ple is surrounded by rocks; — on all sides they stand 
as attendant servants. 



IQQ NOTES: 

According to the ancient records of Low-isz, 
in the fourth year of Wang-ming^ — Fow-to, whose 
iiame was Cheng-oo, reverently vowed by the three 
lives of Buddha that he would make ttae image of 
Bfe-feh^—the name of one of these gods 5 and in the 
s(;cor;d monihof thfi twelftli yearof TiWeaWj-of the 
Lecvg Dynasty, he made a commencement with 
his chisel— laying out the divine abode, — 110 cbak 
(Chintse feet) h^gbj— 7G-b'road and 10 deep. The 
body of his BuddEistic majesty was to be 1 QO cha% 
high, seated Upon a tTiroce 56 chak 'brdad^ Bis 
fa<;e from the commencement of the hair on the 
forehead to the chin w^s 18 chah,- — about 22 chtih 
long, and broad in proportion. 

His eyes were 6 feet 3 inches longyhis eye Jbrows 
7 feet 5 inches liis ears 1 2 feet, and bis nose 5 feet 3 
inches, his mouth 6 feet 2 inches. — From where 
-his hair comrnenoed to the top of hishBi.d,-wias 13 
feet; his fingers and palm were 12 feet S inches 
long, — broad 6 feet .5 inches; — his feet wesre of like 
measurement ; — his knees spread apai't 45 f«et, 
and the whole figure was beautiful and dignifi^ed, 
resembling a living being of the ^geof thirty two 
years. It was altogether most complete. 

In the fifth year of Ham P^ng^ — r-'Tuen-in^ 
made a journey to Teen^oey, and as his way Jay by 
thfe Mountain he ventured on an inspection of this 
wonderful image of slich extraordijiary din(iensions» 
'i benight of it induced profound .reflection. JBeside 
.this image, which is in the district of ira-«e»^-/jewg", 
under the whoje heavens there can be no other t0 
e(|ual it.* Thereifbre he determined to engrave the 
idol's dimensions on a stone, in order to preserve a 

* Were the dimengions given in this inettioir coftect, whicli 
tuey are not — the ira»ge,^large as it is, woB'ld be under the pro* 
portions cf the old Co'lossus of Rhodes. 



ttKenrorial for Spectators from exteiy qiiaf ter j— -so 
gratifying the eyes and ears with information re- 
garding it. Extraordinary is tliy 4n1ltience, Oh 
rivine Spdrit !--^Fx!traordinary the workmanship 
on thy exterioi" j'^afldj as ioing as gfenera'tiona 
endure, so long will-rtiy f amie,^ and tjiat of Low, 
who carved the^ be ^oM in^loiviing language; 

This matter lusas recorded m the ymr £ ^ 
Yum-yun, in the r«^w ^.Kampeng fffrthe iSun^ 
Dynasty •, — and , TftO'haing, either ^wise ,Pak 
Cheong^ desirmis Dfj^r^agaiing it^elUgeneet 
pr^eparfxl this dmuntBfii tin, the 3.lsi j/ear t^ the 
%ih mdvdh of the rdgn 4^ Tamdswang tff.tke Ta 
tsing JOyMosty j — the Jieftd Priest here:, with one 
of his vo-ratJ^UftwSj, setting ti^ the tablei on iijhich 
it is imprinted' 

Second M.— J'a^e 85. — It is is the custom in 
the south of China Jio call'ajjerson by the name 
attached, to the ianuly najme..; aad in Caiiton, Tfoo, 
or Ahwao^ would !be (Die cqgnomen^ihe.iospUiable 
individual Jiow written flf. At FongjieThimshovr^ 
ever, and in the north ^eueraljy, the ^lef, or family 
name is used .with aaafflx, i>y way* rof politeness, of 
Seensang ( Scholar ) and this i&cmm ,Seen-sangf 
(educated man,) is ap^plied.honararily even to those 
who have no education to boast m. Zath Seen* 
sang, then,. as we call him ( the head of the Wan* 
ho firm,) is, it is believed, a fair .specimen erf 
"Young China.'' Impatient at having to do business 
at'Stonghae thton^ the uatite broker Coong- 
imingf he has commenced the study of the English 
language'jin wbichjinia short time* he promises to 
become a proficient. Oiiceable ^^speak fluently, 
be then inteods tradmg 4irect Wit^ the forei;^ 
merchant. 



108 NOTES. 

Second, 12, at Page 37, — If the reader at this 
point will retrace what is written, he will find that, 
in a working Week!s travel of 424 le (or after the 
average of 707^ per diem, quite as much as can 
be done with comfort) we passed through 73 
villages and two waUed Cities;, and that of the vil- 
lages we have noted upwards of 21,000 families, 
or at the rate of 5 souls to a family, over 105,000 
people. The number of in habitants at the walled 
cities mentioned we are not in a position to give; 
but it may be of interest to the curious in such 
matters to observe' that, for the villages and dis- 
tance given, the rate of population is abqut 750 
per running mile. For running mile may be reaxi 
square mile;, but this may not be taken as the rate 
for the province, because, of plain where people re- 
side, to mountain where they do not reside, the 
proportion is as one to three ; that is to say, the 
mountain covers three parts, and the plain one, of 
the districts traversed. This is an under estimate, 
and one of plain to five of mountain would be 
nearer the mark. Though, therefore, the popula- 
tion of the district cities may tend to swell the ag- 
gregate in a very great degree, there appears grave 
reason for doubting whether the published state- 
ment of the census of 1812, * giving 670 souls for 
every square mile of the province of Chekiang is not- 
an over estimate ; — and that there is reason to be- 
lieve that the populations of the most populous 
districts have formed the bases for estimating that 



* Indeed the estimate made by De Guignes in 1743 and by 
AUerstein a score of years later, ef 1 5J miUiops for the whole 
province, is much more likely to approximite with the real 
number than the census of 1812 (^H ra^illions ) as. given by 
Gutzlaff in his tables quoted at 98 supra, and cited by other 
savans without a moment's reflection, apparently,' oa the proba- 
bibility of the correctness. 



109 

the whole number of inhabitants is so great as twenty 
six and a half millions. 



[The writer regrets his inability^ to furnish the 
Chinese characters promised on page 1. — The M.S. 
of them, besides some lithographed plates and other 
papers, of which use would have been made in this 
■publication, were lost during the Vandal-like pro- 
ceedings of the Hotigkong Government for what 
Vkts deemed a libel on its Ideutenant Governor in 

1859.] 

■ ' II 

, [The following letter gives a concise abstract %f the foregoing 
Notes of travel.'] 

: ,« Shanghae, 17ih April, 1857. 

Te the Editor of ths Nokth^ China Herald. 

Deak Sir, — The following brief particulars of a journey from Ning« 
po, via Teen muh san, and the Confucian Pass iu Anhhuy Proviuce, ta 
this place may be interesting to your local readers. 

We (Dr. Macgowan and myself) left Ningpo in a boat on the night 
of the 24th ult., and early the following morning reached KonghSaou, 
a small village in a southerly and westerly direction, soma 60 or 70 le 
from Ningpo, where we took to the chairs carried with us, and proceed- 
ed by the way of the Heaven Struck Rock and Ningkong jow to Haou- 
lung, where we slept in an Ancestral Hall. That day we travelled, 
somewhat circuitously, 93 Ze--though' the course aiid distance made 
good was only 7 mil.es N. and 7 miles W. . : : / 

March 2(\th—YiOTi^:Haoulung. to Ho p^ ,chee, where we again slepfc 
in an Ancestral Hall. — Distance travelled 100 le. — Course good, S. 27. 
Bjiles— W. 12. 

■ March 27th — From Ho pe chee to the Poosan monastery. — Disr 
tance travelled 86 le. — Course good, S. 13 miles— W. 18. 

March 2Qth —From the Poosan monastery, by the way of the Iroa 
washing Beds and Smelteries, to the Were city of Sin.gehong—i&Vmg . 
up our quarters at the Tow va sze, or Temple of the Great' Buddha, a 
demi idol 51 feet high from its seat, cut out of the solid rock. " Distance 
travelled 87 le. — Course gooil, S. 1 mile— W. 11 miles. 
March 29<A— Sunday,— kept as a ' day of rest. 
March 30<A— Travelled half a day to the distiict city of Dzing, 
where we slept at a monastery Qut side. Distance 40 fe.— Course good, 
N. 5i miles — W. 7. 



no 

. March 31st — Through & very mountainnus country to Shihehong, s 
Lamlut in a deW, where we slept in a house by a paper manufactory. 
Distance 90 ie.— Course, N. 11 miles — W. 2L 

April 1st — To Foongje how, where we were met by, and pressed to 
pass the night at the residence of a Tea maker and niercluint of the fa- 
mily name of Lnh: ■ Distance travelled (more than half a-day along the 
Bides of mountains) 67 /e> — ^Course N. 14^ miles — W. 25. 

April '2nd — A short walking distiiiirc; north of Foonrj-je-how we took 
boat at noOn, and at mid-night entered the River TsienTang. Es- 
timated course good, 20 miles west. 

April Sri — About 11a. m. reached the Men city of Foo-i/ang, never 
before passed through by Europeans. Pass through, and at night readied 
a monastery among the hills, called Ka-yuen-sze, where we slept. Wa- 
ter travelling estimated at llO ie — Land 45 le. Computed course to 
Foo-yang, S. 6 miles — W. 29. — Foo-yang to Ka-yuen-sze, N. 13 miles 
— W. 5. 

April 4i/t— ^Passed through the Men city of Linghaen (not visite(}: 
before by Europeans] and at night reached the Monastery or Caravan- 
sara of Vok'hing, where we slept. Distance travelled 90 le. — Course 
gpodN. 10 miles— W; 21 ^ 

April 5/A— Kept as the Sabhath — no travelling. 

April Qth — This day reached the Chaou-ming monastery, nearly at 
the top of the Eastern Teen muh san, never before visited by Foreigners. 
Here we slept. Distance travelled, two-thirds in ascent, 45 le. Course 
good N. 7J miles — W. 6. 

April 7th — Travelling, part of the day, from the Eastern Teen muh to 
the Choey yen sze, or monastery, an establishment covering, within walls, 
6 J acres of ground, at the southern foot of the Western Teen muh. 
Distance travelled 24 Ze. — Course good, S. 2| miles.— W. ft J. 

April 6th — Half a-day on foot to the monastery on the Eastern, 
Teen muh, and afterwards to the top of the mountain and back. Total 
distance- about 32 ie. Course of out journey good, N. 3 1 miles — W. 
If- 

April 9th — Passed into Atiwhuy, and that night slept in a Tavern in 
the village of Toongha-en. This was the most western point reached. 
Distance travelled 60 ie. Course good, N. 7| miles — W. 13|. 

April lOth — By the way of the Confucian Pass into Cbekiang Pro- 
vince again, through the Men city of Gnan keih (locally called Aan- 
" strike one of its people on the Emperor's high way ? Were it not for 
" our regard to the foreigners you accompany, we would take you all to 
"the" nearest authority, and there get you a hearty bambooing" I 
jueutiou this circumstance the tone of the admonition implying more 



Ill 

rhfh) anil on to the hien city of Haou-fung (or Shaon-fnonq) wliere 
we slept at tlie Kwaiiti jnew (TeinjileJ out side. Distance traTelleii 74 
Z?. -Course g.ioil, N. llj miles — K. 22. 

' Aprii llih —From Haunfung to tiie Maichee Ferry, — tlireo miles be- 
yoml the town, where we took boat at 8 p. >i. and a little .before mid- 
night started fur Hoochow, which was readied at 11 of the following 
day. There we remained till Monday morning, the Doctor then leaviilj^ 
BiK? by boat for Kan Poo, on his return to Ningpo. From Haou-fung 
to Maichee Ferry the distance travelled was 85 le. Course good N. 17 
miles— E. 20. 

While in the boats, four da) s from Hoochow to Shanghae, sometimes 
sailing at 5 or 6 knots an liour, tugging at 5, or skulling »t 2 knots — 
latterly through a continued series of winding creeks, it was not possible 
to fix the courses and distance with anything like correctness, and I 
have therefore not attempted it. • 

As it is my intention to publish fuller particulars in the shape of a 
hand-book to the wliole land travel, two-thirds of which was tlirougli 
districts never before traversed by Europeans in tlieir usual costume, at 
all events during the remembrance of " the oldest inhabitant," we found 
the people as kind as it is possible to conceive. A nod or a smile Wiis, 
instantly returned, and a salute promptly responded to in a spirit indica- 
ting respect and appreciation of the compliment. Certainly, if prtjudice 
does exist against foreigners in these regions, it was not exhibited to- 
Wiirds us; and there appears to me no reason to djubt but similar ex- 
cursions could be extended in perfect safety to the most western parts of 
the empire. 

If I might judge from a little incident in the district of Ningkwoh 

(Auwliuy) where one of our bearers struck the native guide foi- leading 

us over a tiresome path, I should say but little sympathy existsbetweeu 

the people of the several provinces. Complaint being made by the 

'■ guide to one of his countrj'men who came up with us on their return 

Hrom a pilgrimage to the Eastern Teen-muh, the words used by them 

i were— " How dare yoii, Chekianq men, to come into our province, and 

than is here expressed, because I think it tends to show that with our 

quarrel with the Cantonose the people ofybther provinces will not 

care a jot ; — and that unless the Chinese Government initiate it, 

(their means being required for the attempt to subdue a rebellion 

in which, in spirit, all participate) the war need not, of necessity, be 

• My compunioii having r*naiked at starting tnat the latitudes and tongi- 
tndes of the different cities in our roate weie variously stated by different 
authorit-'es, I was particular in noting our course with all tlie pains in my 
riowers so'as to chpck to half a degree at leist. The rate of walking was 
ixiug at an average to ten le [a little over 3 miles] per hour.— W. T. 



112 

fxteiiiled north of its present field. News travels so slowlj-- in the in- 
torior that iilty miles from Niugpo the ma.ss of tlie people never' lieiird 
tliat tliat place was in the hands of the English for some time in 1841 
ami 42 ; 'and unless brought more closely to their senses than is now 
apparent, the present generation of people 'away from the NortberiB 
Consular cities may never hear of the "Second War with China." — I 
am, Dear Sir, your's truly. 

WILLIAM TARRANT. 

P. S. — Throiighout the whole journey I did not s'ee, 'beyond a few 
well worn cloth winter Jackets, a solitary yard of foreign fabric. I di(^ 
not see an oft'ensive weapon of any kind, sword, spear or firelock ; — and,! 
none but small footed women crossed our path. — W. T. 



The appended wood cut gives an approximation 
tu the tracks out and home. As stated above, the 
distance and course from Fong-je-how, by the Canal 
and River Tsien-tang to Fu-yang, had tobe guessed 
at ; and the ffdlowing latitudes and longitudes, 
of the citits visited^ as found in the Chinese 
Repository for 1844, do not coincide with the places 
laid down on the Southern line. 



Sing-clwng Men S ^ in Shou-hing-fu. Lat. 29.32, — Long 120, 50. 

Dzing 1 1 1"^ or Shing-Men in Shou-hing-fu. Lat. 29.36— Long 120, 

42, 47.' 

Fu-yanc/ hien *^T&^'m Eang-chow-ju.* Lat. 30.04, 47,— Long 119, 

5:5, 37. ^ 

Ling-ngan hien C^At in Hang-choui-fu. Lat. 30.16, — Long 119, 42. 

Ngan-kih Men ^f-"^ i'^ Hu-cliow-fu. Lat. 30.40 — Long 119, 36. , 

Hiau-furtg Men ^^M in Hu-ehow-fu. Lat. 30.30— Long 119, 36, 

H'o6-chow-fu ^H^lil Departmental city,* Lat. 30.52, 48 — ^LongllQ^ 

52, 54.' 

* According to ^French observations. 

ERRATUM.— In the Index to Order of Travel^ 
for Department of Hoo-chow in " Kiang-su^^ read in 
" Che-kiang,'" 




<i%'H- 



^,>: 



■!/.«-#•