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CHINESE PEASANT LIFE— GOING TO SIAFtKET.

{From a Chinese Engraving^)

OLD HIGHWAYS IN CHINA

ISABELLE '^VILLIAMSOX

OF CHEFOO, XORTn CIIIXA

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY

56 Paterxosteb Row, and 65 St Pal'I,’3 Churchyard

1884

LONDON* i PKINTED DY

SrOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STHEET SC^I'ABE
AND PARLIAMENT STUEET

PEEFACE.

During my earlier years, in the company of my hus-
band, Dr. Williamson, I made several journeys through
the province of Cheh-kiang, and resided in some of the
cities in the interior of that province. At that time I
gave mv impressions of the women of China in a series
of articles, entitled ‘Our Sisters in China.’ These
appeared in the ‘ Leisure Hour ’ for 18G3.

In 18G4, removing to the province of Shan-tung,
which had been recently opened to foreigners, I occupied
myself for some years in tentative work in Chefoo and
the neighbourhood. After becoming familiar with the
lanoaiao'e of that district, and also with the habits and
etiquette of the women of that province, I made four
long journevs, two of which are briefly described in the
following pages.

The first journey was undertaken in the autumn of

PREFACE.

1873, via Weiliien, Tsi-nan-foo, Tai Shan, and the cities
of Confucius and Mencius, retui’ning by Mung, Yiu liien,
and Tsingchow-foo ; the second in 1875 to Weihien,
Tsi-nan-foo, and back; the third in 1881 from Chefoo
to Peking, as narrated ; the fourth in the spring of
1882, partly on the ‘ Old Highways,’ and partly on the
byways and bridle-paths of the eastern portion of
Shan-tung.

The object of these journeys was first to carry
Gospel truth to as many of the women of China as
I could reach, and secondly, to familiarise them with
Western women, and so to render the visits of those
who followed me more easy.

Both objects were attained, and the result has been
that Western women can safely travel and reside in any
part of the province.

This volume does not profess to give an account of
mission work — that will be found in our denominational
literature — but rather records obseiwations of eveiy-day
life made during my journeys through North China
and during my intercourse with the people.

I trust, however, that it Avill deepen the interest of
English readers in the women of China ; they well
deserve it. As regards natural endowments, they
are, as may be supposed, in every respect compeers

PREFACE.

of the men— active, intelligent, and, like our sisters
in eveiy land, more open to religious teaching than
the men are.

■Missionaries of the widest infoi-mation and greatest
experience, both in China and India, concur in afl&iming
that missionaiy operations have reached that point
when efficient zenana work is indispensable to satis-
factory progress. They find that men will never be
converted in any large numbers till the women are won
over to the side of Christianity. The women conserve
the ancient religions and superstitions of their countiy ;
and what can a man do when the women of the house-
hold are against him ? The elevation, therefore, of the
nations of the East, and the advancement of Chris-
tianity among them, depend to a large extent upon
the women of Christendom.

Again, the promises of Scripture converge towards
the Gospel being preached to eveiy creature. Nearly
half the women of the world belong to the two gi’eat
empires of China and India. The Scriptures can never
be fulfilled so long as these Eastern Avomen have not
had even the opportunity of hearing of the Gospel of
Salvation. The end of all evils, therefore, and the
fulfilment of the purposes of God, seem contingent on
our Zenana work. I look upon ivork among the women

PREFACE.

of the East as now the great question of the Christian
Church.

There are many noble-minded Avomen of independent
means and feAV family ties A\dshing for an outlet equal
to their zeal, and why should they not go forth resoh'ed
to spend their liA’es in this work ? In such a beautiful
countrv’ as North China there is no more dangrer to
health than there is in the Northern States of America
or in Australia.

IMay God so bring home, to those who can go, the
needs of the women of China, that there may soon be a
great going forth of the Christian AA'omen of Great
Britain, thus fulfilling the prophecy contained in
Psalm IxAuii. 11, new Aversion: ‘The Lord giveth the
word, and the Avomen that bring glad tidings are a
great host.’

ISABELLE WILLIAMSON.

A '

m rr VI T, o n r-.

X JiX . . ^ ^ ■“ '

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PA HE

Old highways — Their great interest, antiquarian and modern —
China’s daughters — Our vehicles — Their construction and
motion — Our start— Our travelling companions, their dress
and idiosyncrasies . . . . . .17

CHAPTER II.

Our first halting-place — An old friend and his family — Hearty
welcome and cordial greetings — How mandarins become
rich — The famous mountain, Ai-Shan — Legendary lore — A
quaint and beautiful story pertaining to Ai-Shan . . 23

CHAPTER III.

Eugged roads — Charming scenery — A wasteful watercourse —

Lotus ponds — Arrowroot produced from lotus — The village
of Wun Shih Tang — The inn and its garnishings — Hot
mineral baths — An amusing incident. . . .31

CHAPTER IV.

The Old Highway again— Our first hostelry : its guests and
bustle— The city of 'Whang Hien, its reputation — The market
town of Pe Ma, or White Horse Town— The cordiality of
the natives — The town of Whang San Kwan — Chinese
peasants and peasant life — Wayward and wasteful water-
courses again, alternating with plains of wondrous and
varied fertility — Multitudinous variety of grains and vege-
tables— Beautiful orchards . . . . .36

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE V.

PAOK

Arrival at the city of Laichow-foo— Our experiences there —
Boys: their pranks, and their defeat— The traffic as seen
in the inn-yard — Trip through the city — Steatite slabs,
cups, and ornaments — Fine marble quarries— Contrast
between cities and villages — Our departure ; a block on the
road— Chats with the natives and wayfarers — A bridge out
of the way — A beautiful archway . . . .41

CHAPTEE VI.

The town of Sa Hoh — The centre of the great straw-braid dis-
trict— The producers : their diligence and expertness — A
Chinese funeral — Preparations made at night, and the
reason why— A descrqDtion of the rites, procession, and
obsequies. , . . . . . .48

CHAPTEE VII.

A genuine country fair — The buyers and sellers : their com-
modities, ways, and keenness — Barter — Domestic cotton
spinning ; its utility and importance — The town of Han
Ting — A touching sight at the inn —The city of WeiHien :
how it was taken — The inn-yard . . . .53

CHAPTEE VIII.

Chinese ladies — A Chinese lady’s dinner — Its cuisine, etiquette,

and elegance. . . . . . .50

CHAPTEE IX.

A grand archway in honour of a virtuous woman — Its ornamen-
tation—Pleasant villages— The city of Chang Loh— Lime-
kilns— Novel house-building— Sunday — Native Christians
— Transmission of letters — Manufacture of twine . . C9

CHAPTEE X.

The city of Tsingchow-foo — Its antiquity — Inns — Process of
disinfection — A murder story — Falcons and falconry —

CONTENTS.

Archers— A walk through the city— Trades : silks, cutlery,
calico printing — Musicians — Chinese music — Maxims by
ancient sages — Steam-whistles in China — The manufac-
ture of silk — A Tartar city . . . . .74

CHAPTEE XI.

A Chinese bride — Bridal privileges — Bridal attire — The return
of a bride to the house of her parents — Betrothal : when
and how— Sacredness — Marriages are made in heaven — A
famous Chinese story in illustration thereof . . 82

CHAPTEE XII.

Chinese marriages : their antecedents and formalities — The
bride passes through a trying ordeal — A Chinese woman-
hater — How he trained his son : his precautions, and the
result. ... .... 89

CHAPTEE XIII.

A religious festival : its inconvenience — A ruftian innkeeper —

The Chinese theatre : its acts, actors, and character— The
town of Chang San Hien, or Long Hill Town — Large
crowds : their anxiety to see us — Kindliness of the
women — A Chinese mother and her first-born — Women
police — Fine pei-lows in the place — Silk for England’s
fairest daughters : how and by whom produced . . 9G

CHAPTEE XIV.

The outskirts of Chang San Hien ; their beauty — The city of
Tseu Ping Hien : also of great antiquity, and full of pci-
loics — A city market — The politeness of the people — Efforts
of the women to see the foreign sister — ‘ She speaks our
language ’ — A Chinese lady ; her kindly attention — A cup
of tea — How to reckon the population of a city — Crema-
tion : its former practice, its present illegality — A funeral
cortige on its way from Peking — The desire of the Chinese
to be literally ‘ gathered to their fathers ’ . . . 101

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE XV.

PAGE

Waterwheels— Coal and coalmen— Native ventilating hats—
Nearing the capital— Bullocks shod with iron and with
straw— The Sentinel Hill— First visit to Tsi-nan-foo— Pro-
vincial examination— Tsi-nan-foo, the Paris of North China
—The Roman Catholic cathedral— The Mahommedan
mosque— A sail on the Shining Lake— Pleasure palaces—
Pleasure-seekers— Gay students— Enchanting scene at
sunset on the lake — Floating lamps used for divination —

Sad cortige — The Chinese Morgue— Superstition against
dying in a neighbour’s house — Chinese revenge— Visit to
mosque - Mahommedan women . . . .Ill

CHAPTEE XVI.

Tsi-nan-foo in Carnival time — Comical heterogeneity of the
fair — A Chinese auctioneer : his tricks of trade — The
natural fountain of Tsi-nan-foo— Encounter with a bear —
Merry-makers of many kinds- Contrast between the
theatres of China an Rome — The mosque revisited— Two
heroines . ...... 120

CHAPTEE XVII.

Classic China — Talk with the women — An invitation — A party
of Chinese ladies — An indolent daughter punished — Care
of Chinese mothers in training their daughters — The tomb
of Shao Hao — The Tai Shan — The Temple — The ascent of
the sacred mountain — A nunnery — A priest sitting in his
bones — The land of Confucius — Kio-foo-hien — Invitation
to the duke’s palace — Descendants of Confucius — The
Great Temple — The tomb of Confucius — Tsow Hien —

The Temple of Mencius —The mother of Mencius — Tablet
erected in honour of the sage— Mencius contemporary with
Plato and Demosthenes ..... 132

CHAPTEE XVIII.

Tsow Hien, or the city of Mencius — Our reception there — The

teaching of Chinese sages .... 151

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE XIX.

PAGE,

China’s Sorrow ’ — Crossing the Yellow River — The ferry ;
ferrymen and mules — Rural life — A fine inn, but a bad
landlord — Uniformity of the scenery — Wheelbarrows with
sails — Arid soil — How the natives treated the gods to cause
them to send rain ...... 135

CHAPTEE XX.

Chinese burial-grounds — An imperial courier — Temples : the
beauty of their sites — Chinese Christians — The spread of
Christianity in Shantung— The telegraph — Whang ho Yeh—

The emporium of Teh Chow — A great depot on the Grand
Canal — Fine pei-lo^o — Great display of lethal weapons at
everygate— Bookselling— Chinese ‘exquisites ’ and Chinese
roughs— Hunt for an inn — A guest-room tastefully orna-
mented— ‘ The seven ages of man Chinese honesty. . 162

CHAPTEE XXL

Tlie Grand Canal ; the ferry— A new fort and garrison — Another
imperial courier— The city of King chow with fine pagoda—

An affable innkeeper — A newly dug canal — Chinese bridges
— Superstition connected with their erection — Sacrifices of
children— The reopening of water communication — The
towTi of Shen Kia Lin— Sickness— Gambling — Chinese
gallants . . . . . . .172

CHAPTEE XXII.

The famine districts in Chih Li— Sad stories — A good dog story
— The departmental city of Ho kien fpo — Roman Catholic
establishment and Church of England mission — The ruins
of old and handsome bridges — An inn three storeys deep — •
Sing-song girls — A specimen of their musical recitations —

Tune, Madame Wang — Great distributing city cf Ma Chow —

A great wholesale fair— Sign-boards and advertisements — A
miserable inn— The merrymaking of the fair— Canals and
junks. ..... ISl

CONSENTS.

CHAPTEK XXIII.

PAGE

The banks of the T’sing ho — A beautiful walk — Pao Kow ho
— Origin of the term ‘ Hla tcu ’ — Another unruly mob —
Origin of names of places — Natural hayforks — Lumbermen
— The city of Tso Chow — A nation has changed her colours
— Death of the Eastern Empress — Sign-boards — Pawn-
broking— Peripatetic kitchens — Magnificent bridge — The
tortoise, heraldic emblem of China— How Chinese defend
their live-stock against wolves .... 194

CHAPTEK XXIV.

How our ‘ walking map ’ turned out - Difficulty of governing des-
ireradoes — A run on a bank — The summary xmnishment of
the villains — An escape from roughs — A new feature on the
‘ old highways Camels : their drivers and burdens —
Approach to Peking— Bad roads — A Peking street — The
walls— Manchu women — Origin of the small feet — Band-
aging and the pain it causes .... 207

CHAPTER XXV.

Peking— Its plan, buildings, and institutions— Its social economy
— Imin'ovements since 1806 — Eailway and telegraph —
Journey by canal — Infanticide not common in North China
— Tien-tsin — The Pei hoh — The Taku Forts — Chefoo . 218

ILLUSTRATIONS

CHINESE PEASANT LII'E— GOING TO MAEKET .

A CHINESE BULLOCK CAItT ON A COUNTI'.V liOAH .
A CHINESE OFFICIAL ....
GATEWAY OF A W.ALLED VILLAGE . .

A CHINESE LADY ....

CHINESE MUSICAL INSTKUMENT.S
CHINESE COUPLE LATELY MAliltIKD
A CITY MARKET OR F.AIR .

CO.AL MEASURE WITH HANDLES FOR CARRYING .

A CHINESE TEMPLE ....

A CHINESE WHEELBARROW WITH SAILS

Fronlhpiecc

-lo

103

112

119

160

A CHINESE CANNON . . . .

A CHINESE OFFICER .....
CHINESE SOLDIERS AND TENT ....

A CHINESE LIGHT CART OR CAB

A CHINESE MERCHANT .....
CHINESE LUMBERMEN ON THE TA t’SING HO .

THE CHINESE CHAR.ACTER ‘ TANG,’ THE PAWNBROKER’S SIGN

166

171

175

179

190

197

202

A Oear.RAPnucA/ SsiABti^Hytt^fr

G PATEftNOStER 3uiLD'NC5 ^ C

A CHINESE BELLOCK CART ON A COUNTRY ROAD.

OLD HIGHWAYS IN CHINA.

CHAPTER I.

01(1 highways— Their great interest, antiquarian and modern—
China’s daughters — Our vehicles — Their construction and
motion— Our start— Our traveUing companions, their dress and
idiosyncrasies.

Fuom Cliefoo to Peking is a journey of about seven
hundred miles, and we go by the Old Highways.

Old Highways indeed ! old, almost beyond historical
record. Trodden by the feet of more than a hundred
generations, they are yet fresh as of yore, and ever and
anon present landscapes of the rarest beauty. To one

CHINA'S DAUGHTERS.

acquainted with the language and habits of the people
these highways are a never-ending book of antiquity,
from which to read the story of the past, blended with
the life thoughts of the present. China comes to us
like a submerged continent newly upheaved from the
ocean of time ; and on its vast extent there are no
objects of interest greater than China’s daughters.
Beautiful they are with a certain beauty of their own.
On them, alas ! centuries of non-culture have pressed
heavily; but now. Undine-like, each Chinese maid and
matron seems rising and asking for a soul.

On the journey my interest was chiefly in the
women, and I looked at all through a woman’s eyes.

April 7th is the day fixed for our start. The
muleteers promise to be in good time ; all arrangements
have been made, and nothing has to be done in the
morning but to load the animals.

Our preparations have not been extensive, as we
depend on native sources for our supplies. We take
a few pounds of sugar, a pound or so of tea, four tins
of condensed milk, a small bag of sea biscuit, three
bottles of arrowroot, a few articles of crockery, and a
small medicine chest. Our clothing is in a carpet sack,
which serves for a pillow. A dressing bag does a like
duty. These, and a Chinese quilt for each, comprise
our travelling outfit.

There is a small mountain of books to be conveyed,
inasmuch as to sell and distribute good books is one of
the main objects of our journey. They also are piled
up in readiness.

hbules are always used for long journeys, as they
are hardy and sure-footed. True to their promise, at
early dawn the muleteers lead the mules into our

otiR vehicles.

courtyard. To convey our books and baggage we re-
quire six animals. They are all examined to see that
they are in good condition. One ml^le has a large
wooden pack-saddle ; a second has a pair of immense
panniers.

Our vehicles are called shendzles, and each sliendzle
requires two mules. These shendzles are of the sijnplest
construction, and are very light. Three small wooden
pack-saddles are laid on the ground about three feet apart.
These are fastened to two poles about eighteen feet
long. After the poles are securely tied to the upturned
saddles, three narrow but strong strips of bamboo are
arched over the poles. Reed matting is spread upon
the bamboos, and sewn firmly to them with twine. Be-
twixt the poles, about two feet from either end, there
is stretched a broad band of cowhide. The shendzle
mules have wooden pack-saddles, and in the centre of
each saddle is fixed an iron spike, standing upright.
In the middle of the band of untanned cowhide a hole
is pierced, and in putting the shendzle on the backs of
the mules, the poles are raised so high that the iron
spike on the saddle can be run through the hole in the
cowhide band. There is no strap or fastening. There
you are — balanced. Very careful driving is required,
and a good muleteer is always on the watch to lay hold
of the poles at any signs of toppling.

Over the shendzle we tied a sheet of vulcanised
indiarubber cloth, which is most useful in travelling.
It defends from both sun and rain. Every night it is
spread on the sleeping-place, as a protection from damp,
and in v'ery many other circumstances it is a comfort.

Our energetic friend, ilr. Baton, looks after the
packing of the books. The panniers are filled with

OVk START.

them. A box of them is strapped on each side of the
pack-saddle, and the remainder is packed away in the
under parts of the shendzles. Our quilts and eatables
are put in. Eveiything being ready, we are invited to
crawl into the place that is to be a home for many days.

We crawl in. Good-byes are said to numerous
teachers and Chinese friends. All the school girls and
boys and all the members of the establishment come
up and wish ns a good journey and a speedy return.
We say good-bye to Mr. Paton, and to the sunny-haired
English baby in the arms of her smiling mother. How
fair and sunny the two look beside the bronzed and
yellow-tinted sons and daughters of China !

Well, of all vehicles a shendzle is one of the fun-
niest. Outwardly, it looks like a gigantic chrysalis ;
inwardly, it seems comfortable as a couch. There is
great difficulty in the balancing of it. Slung simply
on the backs of the mules, an unlucky, awkward move-
ment of the traveller within it may send it rolling down
the first precipice. So soon as we are fairly started,
one is requested to sit ‘ a little more to the north ’ ;

then, ‘ a little more to the south ’ ; ‘ no, not so much ’ ;
till, after a variety of orders and counter-orders, at last
the muleteer is satisfied. We climb a hill immediately
after starting, and we soon find that the mules have
had no training, and never by any chance step together.
We are rocked from side to side cradle fashion, then
jolted to and fro from head to heel.

Backwards, forwards, see-saw, zig-zag, jerk, jolt,
jog, joggle ! — the proverbial ‘ baby on the tree top ’ must
have had quiet compared to this.

Sea-sickness is disagreeable, but mal de shendzle is
worse. However, the disagreeable experience usually

OUR TRAVELLING COMPANIONS.

passes away with one day ; and it is found that, although
it is a very unsocial, yet it is not an altogether un-
pleasant, mode of travel. Few can read in a shendzle,
and those who do read must have books of very large
type. A Chinese book in good-sized type may be read
with comfort.

Our travelling companions are two muleteers, a help
for bookselling, and a man who is half servant half man
of business. My muleteer, who claims the lead, is a roguish
looking man, rather surly and taciturn. He has some
ugly scars on his visage, and a peculiar leer in one eye.
He is strong and hardy, and has the reputation of being
a perfect walking map. His head is adorned with a
marvellous cap of soft grey felt. On ordinary days it
looks like a plain skull-cap. As the weather changes I
discover that this cap is a onultum in imrvo. If the
wind blows hard from the north, he immediately doffs
his cap, and pulls out a flap that defends his ear and
neck. If the mornings are cold, the cap has flaps to
cover both ears. Should the sand be driving in his face,
an immense scoop is projected in front to protect his
eyes. When it rains, a great peak appears, to prevent the
water running in at the collar of his jacket. His jacket
is of blue cotton, wadded. His continuations are buff-
coloured leather. He has white cotton stockings quilted
with cotton, and black cloth shoes with a most liberal
allowance of sole. He carries a whip at his girdle, but,
to my great comfort, seldom uses it. The other muleteer
is a younger man, with a quiet look. He is dressed
much in the same style — only his continuations are of
olive-green leather, and he is not the proud possessor
of a multum in parvo cap.

The bookseller was engaged the evening before we

OUR TRAVELLING COMPANIONS.

started, lie was recommended as a ‘ decayed gentle-
man.’ He is very much decayed indeed, but lie lias a
cheery, happy-go-lucky way, and is not an unpleasant
travelling companion. He has a faculty of making
friends, not enemies. We were obliged to take him in
the place of a dear old man who became ill just before
we left, and who died ere we returned from our journey.

The man Friday is a fine, tall, handsome Chinaman,
a good scholar, and a gentleman in his manners. He
can do anything, from writing a Chinese document to
boiling an egg, and he has a marvellous facility for
making palatable whatever provisions we can get at inns
or country markets. He is the butt of the party. His
mounting on his mule is one of the sights not to be
lost. ]\Iany directions he receives as to his demeanour
on his steed. ‘ Sit to the east,’ is shouted to him ; again,
‘ To the west ’ — ‘ IMore to the back ’ — ‘ Nearer to the
front ’ — and he makes an effbrt to comply as far as he
can. His perch is on the mule with the panniers, and
he falls off on an average three times a day. It is
supposed that he goes to sleep, and thus overbalances
the panniers. His falls are not serious, as the panniers
save him, and he is generally found seated in one of
them. He always persists in packing the crockery in
these panniers, as a proof that he has no fear of an
upset, but after reducing us to one teacup, he becomes
exceedingly careful to put it in the snuggest place in
my shendzle. I fear I must be troublesome to him, as
I constantly tease him to read all the sentences the
Chinese write on their doors, and also the ornamental
scroll-work with which they decorate their dwellings.
He is a most agreeable companion, and never loses his
temper : his wits he sometimes loses.

CHAPTER II.

Our first halting-place — An old friend and his family— Hearty wel-
come and cordial greetings — How mandarins become rich — The
famous mountain, Ai-Shan — Legendary lore— A quaint and
beautiful story pertaining to Ai-Shan.

Our path lay off the main road and through a fine
valley. The greater part of the way was a watercourse,
lined on each side with lovely trees.

We had arranged to stay the first night at the house
of one of our church members, a faithful old man with
small ability but a true heart. He and his friends were
expecting our visit. As we emerged from the shade of
the trees, and were crossing a stony ridge at the head
of the glen, in the dim twilight, we could descry figures
and hear voices hailing us, and shouting, ‘ Take the
north road.’ Presently we met the old man and his
son, their faces beaming. In the distance we could see
lights and hear the hum of a village.

As we got near to the house, just on the edge of the
hamlet, we found nearly all the villagers assembled.
The greetings were numerous and cordial. Women
came round, and were introduced as the mothers of sons
named to us. Indeed, a woman’s title in China is usually
the name of her eldest son ; and what title is sweeter to
a mother’s ear ?

Everything was made tidy for us. The best Ixang '

' Brick bed.

A/V OLD FRIEND.

was lit, and tlie mill-room arranged for a sitting-room.
For a long time Dr. Williamson sat conversing with the
men on religions subjects. In the inner room, entering
by another door, I saw the women. It was pleasant to
find how much of Scripture truth the women and girls
knew.

The family of our host consisted of his wife, a son,
and a daughter, the brightest little Chinese maiden I
have ever seen. She was greatly interested in my
buttoned boots ; the particular fault of this little
Chinese maid was a tendency to be untidy in her gaiters
and shoes. So she at once informed her mother that
she would not need to be scolded for her besetting sin
if her shoes and gaiters were all in one piece, as mine
were, and if they were made of leather. Altogether
she took my heart — a cheery, sunny, little lassie.

The story of this family is a good illustration of how
an unjust magistrate may oppress his peojfie. Some
five or six years ago this man had, in foreign employ-
ment, saved about one hundred and twenty thousand
cash. For a peasant this is quite a little fortune. The
mandarin of the district, a very petty magistrate indeed,
knew this. For some time he sought an occasion to
bring this man up before him on some offence. First
he had him arraigned on a charge of having broken
down a small mud embankment, and sent water and
stones over a field belonging to a neighbour. But it
was clearly proved that the water and stones had found
their way into that field without Shoo’s help. At the
time of the floods the man was at his work in Chefoo,
some twenty miles away ; and his wife could not have
walked such a distance in the storm. This charge thus
fell to the ground, though a horde of underlings had to

/fOlF MANDARINS BECOME RICH.

be paid tbeir fees. Nevertheless the mandarin raised
another case against him, and kept it on and on, till,
by fines and otherwise, he got the one hundred and
twenty thousand cash Shoo had saved. He then released
his victim, who had all the costs of the suit to pay.
Old and poor, he has to begin again ; and he says, ‘ If I
save any money now. I'll be careful not to let my
neighbours know.’

A CHINESE OFlICLUi.

There is nothing a respectable Chinaman fears
more than to get into the clutches of the mandarins.
He prefers to suffer loss rather than go to law to
recover a debt, particularly if he has any money to
lose.

After a comfortable night, and after seeing a great
many Chinese who were clamouring around us before

26 THE FAMOUS MOUNTAW, AI-SHAN.

suurise, we started from Mee Kow about seven a.m.
Almost immediately on leaving Shoe’s village, afar on
the horizon, framed in by the arching trees, rises on our
view the lofty Ai-Shan. Its summit is strikingly like
the dome of St. Paul’s, but under a bluer sky. The
general outline of the whole mountain is suggestive of
a majestic cathedral. Its highest peak is seen afar
off on the sea by the mariner, and guides him into
harbour.

The following is a legend of this mountain : —

A young girl, beautiful and affectionate, lived under
the shadow of the celebrated Ai-Shan. Her father
owned property in junks, and was very rich. She had
two brothers older than herself. Her father and her
two brothers set sail for the south, one fine autumn day.
They went each in charge of a junk. The girl was
sorry to part with them ; but they comforted her by
promising to return in the following summer, when the
soft south wind would waft them gently home to their
own quiet bay, and they would bring beautiful presents
for her, as by next autumn she would be weai-ing the
scarlet dress of a bride.

Months passed, and the 3'oung maiden dwelt with
her mother. When the winter wind howled round
their home at night, she used to shiver, as she thought
of her dear father and brothers in the junks, tossing on
the stormy sea. Sometimes an old friend of her father
would come to visit them. This man was also rich, and
a junk owner. The fair young maiden sat inside the
damask embroidered curtains, and listened to the tales
of the sunny south which the old junk owner was in
the habit of telling her mother. Inside the curtain she
sat because it was not etiquette for her to be seen ; but

THE LEGEND OF A I -SHAN.

the old man knew that she was a far more attentive
listener than the old mother, who would interrupt him
in his most lovely description by asking if her husband
was sure to make lots of money. The old man loved
the girl, whom he seldom saw, for he hoped to have her
for a daughter-in-law. His only child, a son, was with
the junks.

"Winter with its storms passed over; spring came;
then summer, and the gentle south wind, that was to
waft the dear ones home, died in the changing monsoon.

Day by day preparation was made for the return of
the sailors. Daily Aim Yune longed to be able to go
up the Ai-Shan just a little way, to see the ocean where
sailed the loved ones, but was prevented by Chinese
etiquette. Another summer was passing away. Still
the junks came not. Night after night she dreamt of
her father and brothers, still they came not. Summer
also had its storms, with lashing rain, and dreadful
thunder, and lightning flashing into her chamber.

One night she dreamt a dream. In the morning
she was found lying on her Army. Her garments were
dripping, her hair was dank with sea-water, and she
lay pale and exhausted. They changed her clothing
and carried her to her mother’s Imiuj. There she
revived, and then she told her dream : —

‘ I went up Ai-Shan, oh ! so far — high up amid the
clouds. Then I saw the sea, and away off, just like
three specks, the three junks. Suddenly the clouds
gathered black, the thunder rolled, and under each
lightning flash I saw the junks, the sea beating over
them. They could not reach the harbour, for the wind
was in their teeth ; the black rocks were behind
them ; they dared not go back. Suddenly I felt myself

THE LEGEND OF AI-SHAN.

moving near to them. I came so near that I saw my
father’s face and the faces of my brothers. They were
all imploring Heaven to save them. “ Heaven has sent
me,” I said ; but they heeded not, for they did not see
me. On my father’s junk I saw one, young and hand-
some, I knew, though I had never seen him ; that was
he, and I loved him. One brother’s junk was on the
right side of my father’s, the other on the left side. Down
into the cold dashing sea I went, laid hold by one hand
of my eldest brother’s junk cable, and with the other
my younger brother’s junk. Then I said, “ Oh ! my
father ! ” And lo ! I felt something across my mouth.
With my teeth I grasped the cable of my father’s junk.
Then we sailed straight for Ai-Shan. I could not turn
my head, but I felt the three junks towing after me.
Something whispered, “ Trust in Heaven, do not be
afraid.” We sailed swiftly on. Waves dashed— I was
not afraid. Thunder rolled — I was not afraid. We
sailed so close to land I could only see the peak of Ai-
Shan. Closer, and I could not see Ai-Shan. The sea
washed my hair ; the silver pin became detached ; it fell
down my back. I opened my mouth to say, “ Oh ! my
silver pin ! ” for I was vain of it. The cable slipped from
my teeth. I lost my father’s junk. In a second my
brothers’ juuks touched land. I sprang on a rock, to
see where my father’s junk had gone. Oh! horrors!
it was sticking on a great black rock. In the front
stood my father, and that other, and I loved him. The
great waves broke over them ; the foam covered all.
Again the masts shook, the foam dashed. I saw the
two ; the young man held the old man in his arms.
Again the foam broke, but only over the rock ; the great
junk was not there. I sped home, and the day dawned.’

the legend of A/-S//AN.

‘ Let us get down to Cliefoo/ was on every tongue.

‘ Yes, I can lead you to the place.’

Litters, mules, donkeys are fast carrying them to
Yentai, the port of Chefoo. The old junkman heads the
cavalcade ; straight towards the harbour sands they go.
Aim Yune rises up in her litter. ‘There are the two
junks,’ she Cries, ‘and yonder the black jagged rocks.
Oh ! my father ! ’

On they go. The junks are there. A crowd is on
a rock. Two handsome, stalwart men are wringfing:
their hands. An old and handsome man lies there, just
washed up by the sea, and by his side a young and
noble-looking man. ‘ It is he ! ’ exclaims Ahn Yune,
and buries her face in the old junkman’s gown.

On that spot the brothers built a large temple,
which stands till this day, and is called the ‘ Niang
Niang Miao,’ — ‘ The Lady’s Temple.’

Ahn Yune never left the old junkman. She became
his daughter-in-law, though her betrothed lay in the
little cemetery. She did all she could to help those who
lost their kindred in the treacherous sea. To the last
she tended the old junkman, who had many stories of
the southern seas to tell her and her mother, who often
said to her, ‘ It was well you saved the two richest junks.’
Such is the legend, as told by the peasant people
who now dwell in the hilly conntry round Ai-Shan.

It is the custom, in the long winter nights, for
friends to assemble in each other’s houses ; and, while
seated on their hot brick beds, to relate legend after
legend, and to repeat tale after tale. When the tales
and legends are ended, the younger people amuse them-
selves with riddles and conundrums, some of which are
cjuite ingenious.

THE LEGEND OF AI-SHAN.

Scliolars will discover in tlie above story tbe legend
of tbe Goddess of Mercy ; and they will also see how
the Buddhists here, as elsewhere, localise their myths,
and so impart a vividness and verisimilitude to their
marvellous narrations.

CHAPTER III.

Kugged roads — Charming scenery— A wasteful watercourse —Lotus
ponds — Arrowroot produced from lotus — The village of Wun
Shih Tang— The inn and its garnishings— Hot mineral baths —
An amusing incident.

Over hills we jogged, and over rough and uneven
ground we jolted. The scenery was enjoyable, with
always the grand, lofty Ai-Shan in the foreground.
Sometimes it was seen against the bright blue of the
sky. Sometimes the plantations of young willows,
with their slender stems and leafless boughs, formed a
fairy screen to veil the mountain.

After about twenty miles of this road we suddenly
descended into the almost dry bed of a mountain torrent.
Acres and acres of land, swept over by the stream when
in flood, were now dry sand, which the least breath of
wind sent blowing about in clouds.

On the borders of this stream is a large tract of
land where the lotus is grown in hot-water ponds. The
water is so hot that during winter it does not freeze.
This lotus is a water-lily. The root is ground into
farina, and makes a very good kind of arrowroot, used
by the natives. Lotus-growing is a large branch of
industry, as this farina is in great demand, and is sold
at four hundred cash per catty — that is, about two
shillings per pound weight.

THE VILLAGE OE IVVN' S LI ILL TAJVG,

I’assing the lotus i^onds, we came to the village of
Wun Shill Tang. In the east end of it is a building:
resembling a temple. In large Chinese characters, the
public are informed that on the east side of this build-
ing there is a bath for men, on the west side one for
women.

We stopped at an inn near the baths, and were
ushered into a large room entirelv destitute of furni-
ture, save a small, narrow table and a bench to match.
Neither would keep steady, partly on account of the
irregularities of the mud floor, and partly because the
carpenter (for the sake of variety, probably) had been
careful that not two of the legs should be of the same
length. We hunted up stones of various thicknesses,
and, to ensure a level surface for our teacups, we propped
up the feet of the table. This process has to be gone
through at almost every inn.

After a hurried luncheon in the presence of a great
number of spectators, we had a talk with the peoifle who
came to greet us. Some of them were members of the
church. All of them were more or less acquainted with
the truths of the Christian religion. As they had fallen
into a state of religious lukewarmness, they Avere Avarned
of their danger and exhorted as to their duty.

The Christians in the A’illage Avere pleasant, and
looked so much tidier and so much more intelligent
than their neighbours, that I rejoiced.

With one of the Christian Avomen for a guide, I
visited the bath for AA'omen. AVe entered a gate, passed
through a little labyrinth, and reached the large square
room AA'here the bath was. The bathing tank Avas faced
round Avith stone on three sides ; on the fourth there
AA’as some movable contriA'ance for an outlet to the

A VISIT TO THE WOMEN'S BATH.

water. There were steps running all round the tank.
The topmost ledge was piled with garments of all
descriptions. The bath was almost full of women and
girls — the owners of the garments.

The girls were enjoying the bath in a most boisterous
fashion, splashing evidently to their own satisfaction,
but to the annoyance of the women ; for, as I entered,
I heard a most resounding slap administered, and an
accompanying threat to drown the delinquent if she did
not keep quiet. Neither the slapping nor the threat
had so much effect in producing quiet as the entrance
of a foreign lady.

It was not an intrusion, however, as they were all
pleased to see me. Several of the bathers were old
friends, and immediately began a most animated con-
versation, chiefly in the style of the catechism, ‘ How
had I come ? ’ ‘ How long was I going to stay ? ’

‘ Had I had a good journey? ’ ‘ Would I have a bath ? ’
They were kind enough to offer all to get out, run the
bath off, and let it fill afresh. I thanked them, but
declined. The water must have been very hot, as some
of them looked as red as the proverbial lobster.

An idea got suddenly into the heads of the girls that
they would lose the fun of my starting if they did not
immediately dress. So four or five of the wildest little
lasses got out of the bath, and dragged their garments
from amongst the piles on the edge of the tank.
Suddenly something was projected into the middle, and
went down with a splash. I thought a dog had espied
his mistress and leaped in. However, a young and
pretty woman screamed out, and in an instant div'ed
after the submerged something, and fished up a baby !
With all haste she cleared its mouth and eyes from the

AN AMUSING INCIDENT,

water, and seating herself on tlie step, half under water,
proceeded to comfort the poor little thing. It jjroved
to be a baby three months old, who had been laid on a
small quilt. A big girl roughly pulled the quilt, hunting
for her jacket, and thus sent the child spinning into the
water.

The little mite did not seem the worse for his duck-
ing ; and, as his wardrobe consisted of a jacket and a
cap, there was not much harm done. The cap was
missing. A neighbour felt about the tank with her
feet, and soon brought up the scarlet head-dress. I don’t
know how the baby liked the dip, but it caused great
mirth to the crowd of girls round the bath. Order was
restored, and the girls proceeded to make their toilettes,
amid a good deal of scolding and much laughter. The
real offender made off with only a portion of her ward-
robe in her hand, and nothing on but her shoes.

I went to visit at the houses of our church-members,
and was pleased to see the neatness and cleanliness of
their apartments. One woman proudly showed me how
she had set aside the time-honoured custom of having
the cooking-stoves, or rather coppers, placed at the sides
of the doorway. She had them put at one end of the
house-place. ‘ So,’ she said, ‘ you can pass in and out
without soiling your skirts or blowing the ashes about.’
Her daughter, a young bride, was busy preparing her
trousseau. That morning a friend had presented her
with an ordinary chair — a luxury they did not before
possess, the sitting accommodation being generally
limited to a narrow bench — simply a perch, not a seat.
A counti’yman usually, in lieu of a seat, sits literally on
his heels.

We made several visits, and it was pleasant to find

HOT MINERAL SPRINGS.

a great amount of comfort and happiness amongst the
people* The village street has been recently paved.
Outside the bath-house there were two wells faced with
stone. The villagers come to these for hot water for
domestic purposes. As we passed, two children and an
old woman were busily washing turnips at the wells.
This water must be a great boon to the villagers.

These springs are constantly resorted to for health.
At a certain season of the year the village is full of in-
valids. Eheumatic people especially are much bene-
fited by this hot bathing. Sulphur springs are found
in many parts of Shan-tung. At this place, and at Ai-
Shan-Tang, the water as it comes from the spring is too
hot for bathing. At another place about sixty miles
off there is a spring so hot that eggs and fish can be
cooked in it. The name of that spring is Chau Yuen.
On the Shan-tung promontory, at a place called Wun-
tung Hien, there are seven or eight hot sulphur
springs, and near that place there are numerous caves
and grottoes.

CHAPTER IV.

The Old Highway again— Our first hostelry : its guests and bustle —
The city of Whang Hien, its reputation — The market town
of Pe Ma, or White Horse Town — The cordiality of the natives —
The town of Whang San Kwan — Chinese peasants and peasant
life — Wayward and wasteful watercourses again, alternating with
plains of wondrous and varied fertility — Multitudinous variety
of grains and vegetables — Beautiful orchards.

Leaving AVun Shili Tang, a short time brought us to
the Old Highway we had left two days before. It is
always much pleasanter to travel on the main roads
than in the country lanes, which, though pretty, are
very rough. In a mountainous district the fatigue of
getting over them in a shendzle is rather trying. This
evening we were fortunate enough to get into a com-
fortable inn just in time to secure the only apartment in
it fit for a lady. We had scarcely taken possession when
eight or ten travellers arrived — young Chinese gentle-
men, who looked rather disappointed when they found
there was no better accommodation for them than the
common room, where their companions might not be
so scrupulously clean as they would desire. However,
they took their disappointment philosophically, particu-
larly as they knew that possession was, at a Chinese
inn, the whole ten points of the law. In an incredibly
short time every corner of the inn-yard was full of carts.

WHANG HIEN AND PE MA.

mules with pack-saddles loaded, and donkeys with im-
mense panniers.

Next morning we passed through Whang Hien, a
large and very busy city, which has always been con-
sidered unfriendly to foreigners. Its citizens have the
reputation of not being at all particular on points of
etiquette, of being rough in manners, but always suc-
cessful as merchants. They have a slight peculiarity of
speech which shows that they are natives. Sometimes
a Whang Hien man will be greatly amused if you tell
him you know by his tone he has come from that city.
There is a great deal of wealth in Whang Hien, but no
special manufacture ; it is merely a great caravanserai.
The city has a fine wall ; the gates are in good pre-
servation. The main street is, perhaps, the busiest
place I have seen during this journey.

In the evening we came to a quiet little place called
Pe Ma, or White Horse Town. It got its name from a
Taoist legend of a white horse, as visionary as the Flying
Dutchman. The horse was possessed by one of the
eight immortals. It carried the owner thousands of
miles in a day, and when he halted he hid it away in
his wallet. He is one of those who are supposed
to have entered immortality without suffering bodily
dissolution.

We had quite a long talk with the women, who had
often seen foreign gentlemen, but not ladies. The
landlord made a journey into the country, to bring a
favourite grand-daughter to see the foreign lady. She
was a merry, bonny little maiden, dressed in all the
colours of the rainbow, and almost as harmoniously
blended. She was made perfectly happy by the gift of
a pictorial magazine and some pieces of foreign cloth.

FEASANTS AND FEASANT LIFE.

A bit of black velveteen rejoiced ber immensely. ‘ Oh !
what splendid tips for my brother’s shoes that will
make ! ’ she exclaimed. She was a loving, joyous little
child.

We passed the lively town of Whang San Kwan,
which was busy, a market having been held that morn-
ing. In the afternoon we saw a great many peasants
returning from the fair. They had a pleasing look
of contentment. Not one of them seemed to have in-
dulged in drinking anything stronger than tea. Almost
every man among them was carrying some article for
household use. They had brooms, hay-forks, pot-lids,
sheets of matting, baskets, wooden buckets, straw
sandals, teapots, toys for children, and a variety of
other domestic utensils. These peasants depend on
their little markets for the necessary supplies. In
many villages there is not a single shop. All over
the country there are pedlars selling oil, cloth, and the
various little silk trimmings and silk thread so neces-
sary to beautify the tiny shoes of which every Chinese
woman is so proud. These pedlars are complete plun-
derers. They charge exorbitantly. Unless a Chinese
woman is quick-witted, they will, in the most glaring
way, add up the items wrongly, but always putting the
error on the side that fills their own pockets.

The country we passed through was not very in-
teresting. We crossed a great many watercourses,
almost dry at this time, but in the rainy season what
sweeping torrents they must be ! I was quite distressed
at the amount of land covered by these mountain
torrents. They spread out over acres and acres of ground
strewn with sand and loose stones. The inhabitants
make use of them as drying-grounds for their vermicelli.

VARIETY OF GRAINS AND VEGETABLES. 39

When I saw the poles, and long white hanks drying,
I thought we had come on a Chinese bleaching establish-
ment. The finest, snowy white, was hanging on poles
in immense skeins, just as yarn is when in process of
drying. Vermicelli, made from a very glutinous bean,
is a great article of export to Hong Kong, Singapore,
and the South of China. The natives rarely use it
except at the new year. They count it too precious
to be wasted in home consumption.

Lying between these large tracts of waste land are
fine fertile fields, most carefully cultivated. Wheat is
just now looking its richest green. By-and-by, many
varieties of Indian corn, several kinds of millet,
panicum, and buckwheat, beans, peas, turnips, carrots,
endless varieties of melons, from the gigantic water-
melon to the fine-flavoured musk-melon, not much
larger than an orange, egg plants, enormous vegetable
marrows, cucumbers, and smaller vegetables of all kinds,
will be found in great abundance in this plain. Here
and there are small patches of upland rice, which grows
like wheat, and needs no irrigation. Indigo, saffron,
madder, and many other dye-stuffs grow on the farms ;
also tobacco and the cotton plant. They have sweet
sorghum,* from which they make a kind of thin syrup.
On the hills they have a plant from which they make
coarse, bitter tea, and on their own lands, by the sides
of streams, they can raise timber enough for building
purposes. Altogether, they are fairly independent of
the outer world. The only time of distress among them
is when the fruits of the earth fail.

In little sheltered valleys we come on orchards. The
blossoms are just opening on the cherry trees. In a few
' A species of Barbadoes millet.

THE VILLAGES.

clays these orchards will be ablaze in the pink glories of
the peach and the soft white of the pear.

The villages look comfortable ; most of the houses
are built of stone, and roofed with blue tiles. The
village street has invariably its idol shrine, and generally
a pond, lively with ducks and geese. The outside yards
are usually carefully swept. Inside the houses is a sort
of organised untidiness, for the houses are shop and
house in one, where they grind the corn for their daily
need, spin the cotton, weave it into cloth, and often
prepare their dye-stuffs.

The peasant life here at present is something like
the life that Scottish farm-labourers and peasants lived
in the time of the poet Burns and the days of Sir
Walter Scott. Amid all this agricultural population I
am sure there are many who, although they do not sing
of the

‘ Wee, modest, crimson-tippit flower,’

yet praise some Chinese gem with equal fervour. I
have come across not a few of poetic taste and alive to
the beauties of nature.

CHAPTER V.

Arrival at the city of Laichow-foo — Our experiences there — Boys :
their pranks, and their defeat — The traffic as seen in the inn-
yard — Trip through the city — Steatite slabs, cups, and orna-
ments—Fine marble quarries — Contrast between cities and
villages — Our departure ; a block on the road— Chats with the
natives and wayfarers— A bridge out of the way — A beautiful
archway.

A FEW Lours’ ride next morning brought us to the city
of Laichow-foo. My husband immediately went into
the city with books, and left me at the inn, to give
attention to matters relating to provender. Crowds of
boys came rushing in to stare at the foreign woman.
I was speedily considered fair prey by a small army
of young ruffians. To escape from them, I closed the
double-leaved door, and retired to a corner with my
books. They crept quietly up to the door, and suddenly,
with a bang, opened both sides of it, and whooped and
howled distractingly. Outside there was quite an em-
bankment of faces. Again I shut the door and bolted
it, and hoped for quietness, but the hooting and noise
of the boys continued. They shouted, ‘ Devil woman,
open the door ! ’ Then they began to use language which
they would not have used had they known that I
understood it. This was not to be borne ; I opened the
door to make friends with these boys. That crowd of
youngsters had something like half-a-dozen Chinese

BOYS: THEIR PRANKS AND DEFEAT.

‘ Tom Sawyers,’ hooting and yelling as if possessed.
Ont I came, and said, ‘ Look here, hoys. Have j^ou got
fathers ? ’

‘ Yes ! yes ! yes ! ’ all over the crowd.

‘ Have you got mothers ? ’

‘ Yes ! yes ! yes ! ’ more loudly.

The ringleader pointed to a meek-looking little lad.
‘ His mother is dead ; will ijou take him ? ’ This of course
raised a laugh.

‘ Have devils fathers and mothers ? ’

‘ No I no ! no ! ’ very loudly.

‘ Well, boys, I cannot be one ; for I have a father
and a mother — an old mother of eighty, far, far away
over the sea, in America.’

The boys looked disconcerted. The crowd began
to melt away. There was no more fun to be got by
worrying a woman who talked to them like this. I
told them of their Father in heaven, and of all His
goodness to them, and of His Son, our Saviour. ‘ That
is a Jesus-religion woman,’ said a man on the edge of
the crowd. The boys retired discomfited, but not con-
vinced ; for the ringleader put his head round the angle
of a building, and, as a parting salute, shouted, ‘ Kwei
Tzl Lao poll,’ alias ‘ Devil woman.’ However, I was
left in profound peace till my husband returned, after
having traversed the city and sold many of his books.

In this inn-yard of Laichow-foo I counted forty-
five animals at one time. Tliere were carts, large and
small, laden with goods of all kinds. Some were going
west with bales of piece-goods, Manchester cottons, and
woollen cloths. Some were en route for Chefoo, with
native produce, straw braid, for England and America,
vermicelli, for the South of China, great quantities of

STEATITE SLABS AND ORNAMENTS.

medicinal drugs, barks, roots, and dye-stuffs, the saffron
thistle, and indigo, besides miscellaneous articles for
home consumption.

In the neighbourhood of Laichow-foo there is some
fine and very beautiful steatite, of a soft grey colour.
As the steatite is chiefly found in lamina?, it is only
used for ornamental work. Broad slabs of it, finely
grained, are thought very handsome. These are mounted
on stands of wood, and placed in libraries.

It is pleasant to visit the shops and observe the variety
of articles for use and ornament devised by the ingenuity
of the people. The largest were trays made of slabs of
steatite with borders of carved wood. There were teacups,
little teapots, saucers, carved gods innumerable, and all
sorts of grotesque figures of the same material. There
were also some basins of solid stone cnt out in compart-
ments. The most artistic thing 1 saw was a piece of
steatite of a soft grey colour grained with white and black,
and carved out in the form of a lotus leaf with its edges
curled up, so as to make a large flat cup. There was a
great variety of screens, on which the steatite had been
carefully carved to represent fruit and flowers ; and, as
the flowers were tinted, the whole effect was pleasing.

In this neighbourhood there are immense marble
quarries. The marble is quarried out in very large
slabs, and is used extensiv^ely for gravestones. It is
very white and durable. The longer it is exposed to
the weather the whiter it looks.

We left the city of Laichow-foo, with its handsome
walls and imposing gateways, with reluctance. It has
a much cleaner look than most Chinese cities. The
people are pleasant. They are not so bnsy with mer-
chandise as to have little leisure for study. The literary

A BLOCK ON THE ROAD.

men among them are fond of reading, and discuss-
ing the literary magazines. The shops are always
interesting, from the great variety of stonework in
them.

A walled city has always a handsome look that
straggling places lack. The defined wall hides many
deformities. Some towns lose themselves in the country,
or the country gets swallowed up in the town. In such
cases there is a want of decision, as if neither town nor
country had strength of mind enough to say, ‘ III stop
here.’ The moat surrounding a walled city often im-
proves its appearance, filled, as it sometimes is, with
the pink water-lily and other aquatic plants, while the
green banks are starry with wild flowers and shady
and cool with waving willows that grow most luxuri-
antly.

IVe were brought to a halt just outside of a small
town a little beyond Laichow-foo. AVe found a large cart,
laden with bales of cotton and vermicelli, blocking up
the entire gateway. One of the mules drawing the cart
had slipped on the smooth stones of the incline at the
gateway and fallen. Our muleteers, powerful men,
helped to release the fallen mule and to remove the
block from the gateway.

AA’hile our party waited for the clearing of the way,
we had a talk with the people. One rather nice-looking
man begged very eagerly for medicine to cure his eyes.
He said that he was a block-cutter, that his eyes had
become sore, and that now he was quite unable to do
any work at engTaving, and so his family was suffering.
AA"e advised him to go to Chefoo, that he might be
healed. He said that he would be only too glad to go,
if he could be restored to fitness for working. Over the

GATEWAY OF A W.ALLED VILLAGE.

{From a Chinese Engraving.)

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* 1# , ’ ' I ,-

■ , ' . ...

A BEAUTIFUL ARCHWAY.

gateway wliere the cart was stuck fast was a motto cut
in the stone,

‘KINGDOM PEACEFUL — FAMILY HAPPY.’

AVe are frequently crossing bridges that span the
dry earth, while the water wanders off at its own sweet
will, and looks back, as if enquiring of the empty arch,
‘ Don’t you wish you could catch me ? ’ J ust after
passing one of these empty bridges we came on a very
fine old willow tree, growing by the side of the vagrant
water. In some bygone storm it had been partially
uprooted, and now it made a complete span of the road,
rising in a fine arch. From the centre of the arch there
had grown np, as if planted in the old trunk, four fine
trees. It was a natural curiosity, and made quite a pretty
object, seen far off on the highway.

CHAPTER VI.

The town of Sa Hob — The centre of the great straw-braid district —
The producers : their diligence and expertness — A Chinese
funeral — Preparations made at night, and the reason why — A
description of the rites, procession, and obsequies.

Twenty miles west from Laicliow-foo we readied Sa Holi,
the centre of the district in which so much straw braid
or plait is made. It is prepared from wheat straw. The
natives are very expert at plaiting it. At every door
stood girls and women busily plaiting, their fingers
going as nimbly over the braid as though there was no
toil in forming those wondi’ous bunches of fine straw
plait. The finest of it is plaited by women from seven-
teen to thirty years of age. AVhen older than thirty-
five expertness fails them, and, as a rule, they do not
plait so well. This plaiting is one of the most im-
portant industries of Shan-tung. Great quantities of
the plait are exported to New York and to England.
It is also dyed in very fine colours. The mixed braids
of green and white, and of magenta and white, are
exceedingly pretty.

The town has improved immensely since I saw it
first in 1873. Many new and handsome places of
business have been opened. Many houses have recently
been built. There is a general well-to-do look about
the people. Certainly foreign trade has done a great

A CHINESE FUNERAL,

deal, not onlj’ for Sa Hob, but for all the surrounding
district.

The whole town w*as astir because of a very impor-
tant funeral. A funeral is always a cause of excitement
among the Chinese. They have a great appetite for the
pleasure to be got from a large burial. The liveliest
music is then played, and, if the people have money,
there is a good deal of feasting.

We were disturbed the whole night by the firing
of crackers, the promenading of the orchestra, and the
clattering of their cymbals and other instruments. The
age of the man to be buried is announced at certain
stages in the orchestral performance by the firing of
guns. This poor man was seventy-eight ; so we had
quite a night of firing and broken slumbers. I asked
the people why they made all this parade in the night.
They said, ‘ In the daytime we are too busy with straw
braid to pay attention to buryings.’

Just at dawn the procession was formed, and the
old man was carried to his long home in a little yew-
shaded graveyard outside the town. His age having
been told by firing, his history was shadowed forth in
the order of the funeral procession. The following is
the order of procession : —

Two rough fellows dragging the effigies of two public
lictors, not toys but life size.

A man carrying a supply of fire-crackers.

Two men with red flags — the banners of the house.

Two men dragging effigies of lions.

Two men waHng large placards, with a character
on them which signifies to all people that henceforth
all personal matters with this man are at an end, and
no personal quarrels, &c., are to continue in his family.

A CHINESE FUNERAL.

Four slirines, with offerings for the gods. The
offerings include flowers, fruits, meats, and wine.

Four paper houses, witli dresses, furniture, and
servants all complete. These four houses signify that
the man has four sons, who each provide him with a
house for the world of shades. If tlie sons are dead
their descendants attend to this.

An effigy of his private horse, riderless.

An effigy of his wife’s miile, with her seated on it.

An effigy of his private cart. These have all their
suitable attendants, life size.

A number of mourners in the second degree, their
blue clothes showing under the white.

All the schoolboys of the family.

A few friends, literary graduates, in their best robes.

A few more special mourners of the second degree.

Two effigies of the gate-keepers of hell. These are
carried about by men inside of them, and are made
immensely large. They are represented as carrying heavy
brass maces. All this is to insure that no one comes out
of hell to drag the man into it.

A handsome gilt shrine with crimson canopy, car-
ried by four bearers, containing offerings for the dead,
bread, meat, fish, pork, and nsually a boar’s head.

A man carrying fire-crackers.

Priests, who are also musicians, and discourse music
all the way to the tomb. AVhen they stop playing
crackers are fired off.

The tablet of the village or district god.

Men bearing flying banners of strips of silk. These
are to catch any evil influences that are in the air, and
that might harm the dead.

The empty sedan-chair of deceased, with trumpeters
following.

A CHINESE FUNERAL.

The chief mourners.

Man with bowl.

The hearse, borne by sixteen bearers, with paper
attendants inside.

The coffin on a bier.

The chief mourners (women), who remain kneeling
and wailing till the crackers are fired, telling that the
coffin has left the village.

Several masters of ceremonies form the procession
into proper order. As the coffin is brought out all the
chief mourners kneel in front of the hearse, the eldest
male relative holding in his hands a very large bowl.
This bowl contains the ashes of all the dead jnan’s
private letters, and all personal things that he has not
put in the hands of his secretary. Immediately after
the man dies these are burned, and the ashes are put
into a large handsome bowl prepared for the purpose.
Just as the coffin is put into the hearse this bowl is
broken to atoms by the man who holds it, and who
utters some words, signifying that the dead man has
done with all things here. At the same time an atten-
dant woman cuts through a double scarlet cord, and
says, ‘ The cord is loosed.’ This is done only if his wife
survives him. This has a most solemn effect, especially
as all have been silent till now. But now the floodgates
of sorrow are opened, and the women wail in most
heartrending tones.

‘ The loosing of the coi-d ’ has reference to a very
ancient phrase that is always used when betrothals are
spoken of. The phrase runs in Chinese, ‘ Their feet
have been tied together.’ How similar to the words in
the Book of Ecclesiastes, ‘ the bowl broken,’ ^ the cord
loosed ’ ! Shan-tung is classic China, and here are found

J CHINESE FUNEEAL.

the oldest religious traditions. I have given the order
of this procession. In large cities the funerals are much
more imposing.

The wheat straw of Sa Hoh is a curious instance of
the effect of soil on plants, showing that the virtue does
not always lie in the plant, hut in soil and environment.
With a view to bring the straw braid nearer to the port
of shipment, several farmers sowed the seed from Sa
Hoh in the immediate vicinity of Chefoo. It produced
most excellent wheat, but the straw was worthless for
plaiting.

CHAPTER Til.

A genuine country fair — The buyers and sellers : their commodities,
■ways, and keenness — Barter — Domestic cotton spinning : its
utility and importance— The town of Han Ting— A touching sight
at the inn — The city of Wei Hien ; how it was taken — The inn-
yard.

Next morning we came to a small town wliere a
genuine country fair was going on. I was astonished
to see so many women buying and selling. There
were charred and wrinkled forms of womankind, also
middle-aged peasant women, and a small proportion of
young women. At these fairs one can read the life of
the people.

At the entrance to the town is a lovely little temple
built on a height. The temple is like a miniature
palace, and is surrounded by very handsome yew and
arbor vitce trees all around. It has the look of a
toy palace for some fairy princess from Liliput Land.
In the square in front of this temple a noisy market
was being held, a genuine small country fair.

The flight of steps which led up to the idol shrine
had been taken possession of by the women. On the
lowest step sat a rather pretty woman about twenty-
four years of age, displaying for sale a fine black fowl.
I would fain have stopped and bought it, as our stock
of provisions was low, and we had not been able to get

A COUNTRY FAIR.

fowls in some places tlirougli which we lately passed ;
but I thought she would have asked six times too
much for it. Higher up the steps leading to the shrine
eggs were placed in baskets of all sizes, and salted
eggs in great abundance, carefully guarded by old
crones. Hot steamed bread was carried about in
baskets exactly like our straw beehives, with the mov-
able tops for lids. An active-looking 3'oung rustic had
skilfully piled up a pyramid of leeks. Next to the
leeks was a butcher’s stall, where various sections of
good pork were hanging. The pork-butcher was hard
to bargain with. A spruce young husband was trying
to barter a string of yarn cops of his wife’s spinning
for one of the finest pieces of pork chops. As our
shendzles stopped, the young man said, ‘ 'i'on won’t
often see such fine spinning ! ’

‘ Who spun it ? ’ said the butcher.

‘ iMy people at home.’

‘ I don't want fine thread. We are not weaving
cloth this year.’

‘ I'll give yon the half of them for these ribs of
pork,’ persisted the husband.

Our shendzles passed on. I suppose the man had
the pork after all. There seemed to be little money
passing in the market. ]\Iost of the business was done
by barter. It takes a long time to dispose of things in
that way. It may be a primitive mode of business, but
I could see it was very inconvenient. An old woman
with a basket of cotton, snowy white, just as it comes
from the pod, wants three very large Shan-tung cab-
bages. The vendor offers two. kShe insists on having
three. She puts a handful or two of the cotton into
her lap, and offers again. The bargain is concluded ;

DOMESTIC COTTON STINNING.

slie gets two cabbages for tbe cotton minus tbe two
handfuls. At one end of the street there is a regular
barter of spun yarn for raw cotton.

In the poor peasant households each daughter-in-law
on her arrival is presented by her mother-in-law with
a pound of cotton. Sometimes she is presented with
two pounds of cotton. With this she is expected to
clothe her husband and herself ; and it depends on her
industry whether they shall be comfortably clad or in
rags. She spins the cotton. Her husband takes it to
the fair. For one pound of very finely spun yarn the
merchant will give two pounds of carded cotton. If
it be indifferently spun he maj^ give only a pound and
a half. If she gets two pounds of cotton, at her next
spinning she retains one pound. The husband again
takes the other and barters it for two. It is astonishing
how much j’arn an active young woman who is an expert
spinner will thus accumulate during a year. In the
winter months it is quite cheery to hear the swish of the
shuttle and the click-clack of the treadles as the men
make the yarn into cloth, for weaving is always done
by men, such work being thought too heavy for women.

A yarn merchant makes quite a profit. He sells
the yarn either to professional weavers or to families
whose spinning has been deficient. Native cloth is
worth much more than that from Manchester looms,
and it wears twice as long. City people do not spin so
much. If the Via Victoria ' brings in its wake spin-
ning-jennies and sewing-machines, what will China’s
daughters do ? No hum of spinning-wheel, no elabo-
rate stitching ! Are England’s daughters happier with

' Via Victoria, a.5 the raihvay has been aptly called— true both
of Us era and its issue.

THE TOWN OF HAN TING.

Cambridge examinations and art galleries than were our
great-grandmotliers with their spinning-wheels ? I
leave the West to answer this.

But we have not seen all the fair. It begins at
the temple and wanders all up the village street. The
cake-sellers and sweetmeat-sellers get cash. Of course
the toffee is as attractive to young China as to our
home children. The sweetmeat-seller drops his cash
into a long piece of bamboo, which makes a capital
purse, and the children stand round and watch for the
drop of the coins, so that they may hear the rattling noise.

From Sah Hoh to Wei Hien the country is very
lovely, though flat, but on every side are the spreading
wheat fields. In consequence of the value of the straw
braid for export, as much wheat is sown as possible.
We stopped at Han Ting, a few miles from Wei Hien,
and had long talks with the people, who remembered
much of the former teachings. The inn-yard was not
so crowded as usual. I was interested in little twin
children, of whom their father, quite a young man, was
exceedingly proud. As the mules were prancing hither
and thither, he got anxious about his little ones, and,
for safety, sat them in a manger. These Eastern
mangers are large troughs, standing on four feet, and
are movable. We thought of the Babe of Bethlehem
and the manger cradle.

All along the outside of the town the rope-makers
were busy making splendid ropes. The flax or hemp
used by them was of a fine colour and very long in the
fibre. Their winding machines were most ingenious,
and were worked most efficiently. Some of the ropes
were immensely thick and hard-twined. The large
coils of them must have been very valuable.

THE CITY OF WEI HlEN.

In this neighbourhood the handsome barn-door
fowls, something like our Dorkings, constantly attracted
my attention.

The next stage on our journey was the city of Wei
Hien, which lies in the centre of an immense plain,
which, in the autumn, is like a great ocean of waving
grain. It is a most important place — a busy, wealthy
city, surrounded by a fine, lofty, crenelated wall, with
only here and there an embrasure. The inhabitants have
the reputation of being proud, turbulent, and very ex-
clusive. After the treaty of 18C0 they resolved that,
although the government had allowed barbarians to
travel throughout China, their city at least would not
open its gates to them. After some yeai’s a foreigner
presented himself at the gates. Great was the con-
sternation. The whole city was moved. The elders
assembled. ‘ Tell him he can’t come in.’

‘ He says he is coming in.’

‘ Call out the military, and let them defend the gate.’

‘ He says the soldiers belong to the Emperor, and
he carries the Emperor’s order to go all over Shan-tung,
and he is coming into Wei Hien, as this is part of
Shan-tung.’

‘ Fix spears, and defend the gate.’

‘ So it shall be.’

But the foreigner is quietly walking through the
gate and up the main street. The soldiers, with spears
fixed, and eyes fixed too, gaze at the tall bearded
foreigner walking alone with the imperial passport open
in his hand. What could they do ?

So Wei Hien received the much-dreaded barbarian ;
and ever since, the city has not only been open but
kindly to foreigners.

THE INH-YARD,

The foreigner who first walked into the city lias
again and again visited it, has established a station in
it, and now has arrived on another visit.

It was early afternoon, and Dr. Williamson almost
immediately went into the city, taking with him many
Scriptures and books. I remained in the inn. Soon
old friends came with kindly welcome and kindly
questions : ‘ Had I brought my daughter ? ’ ‘ Would I

stay a long time?’ After awhile an old friend who
had got much teaching in the doctrines of religion
came. His greeting was warm and earnest. He spoke
of our hospital at Chefoo, and said, ‘ You should make
one in Wei Hien ; every one would like it. AVei Hien
people all like foreigners. Even the mandarins say
foreigners come to teach people to be wise and good.’
This man and all his household have embraced
Christianity.

^lany women and girls came to see me. On former
occasions I had lived in the north-western suburbs, but
now many of these women had come all across that
great city to see me again. It was pleasant to be
recognised by them, and to find they had not forgotten
what I had attempted to teach them.

CHAPTER VIII.

Chinese ladies— A Chinese lady’s dinner — Its cuisine, etiquette,
and elegance.

I HAD formerly visited Wei Hien, and had many kind
friends within its walls. So, some time after our
arrival, I sent in my card to one of their houses, in the
evening. One of the servants came to me with a return
card, and a message from the ladies asking me to excuse
them from receiving me, because they were out of
health, and their house was not in complete order, and
saying that they would be glad if I would visit them on
the following day. Early next morning a fine cart
drawn by a handsome mule came rattling into the
courtyard of the inn. In the cart, as escort, was the
personal maid of the Chinese lady at the head of the
house. This maid was a shrewd, sensible woman of
forty-fiv^e. She said that, lest I might not like the
jolting of the cart, the lady had sent her sedan-chair
for me, and a lictor to clear the way. AVhich would I
have, the cart or the chair? I preferred the cart.
From the front of the cart the lictor brought a stool,
placed it firmly against the wheel, and so I mounted a
conveyance which, in China, takes the place of a private
carriage. The maid sat behind, because the front seat
is the best. The curtain, in the centre of which was a
square of glass, was let down, and off we rattled, the

V/Sir TO A CHINESE LADY.

coachman holding the reins and running alongside,
this being the dignified thing to do. What a bumping
and knocking about from side to side over the rough
stones ! Still, it was pleasant to look at the shops, and
watch the concourse of people. The crowds on the
street were most polite ; for, was not this foreigner
seated in the family chariot of the ^^roud possessor of
the highest poles in the city ? In China it is not the
man with the deepest purse who is entitled to honour,
but the man who, for some special merit and good
conduct, is entitled to put up at his front gate the tallest
poles — red lacquered poles, like giant masts.

After driving for half-an-hour we reached the house,
close to the city wall, within the east gate. There
stood the poles, one on each side of the entrance to the
mansion, and kept in their places by four enormous
blocks of granite. These poles, a greatly desired mark
of distinction, were about sixty feet high, with orna-
mental cross-trees, and varnished with imperial ver-
milion. As the cart drew up at the door a great crowd
collected. It was quite orderly, and made a line for me
to pass through the gateway and into the inner court.
Here the lictor stopped the crowd, and ordered the
door to be closed. The maid apologised to me for not
reaching the ladies’ apartments through the grand
library, because, since the death of the master of the
house, his widow had locked it up, as it contained many
very valuable objects of art, which she feared might be
stolen. In this library was the coffin of an uncle
waiting for interment for twenty-one years, because
that branch of the family were not able to afford a
handsome funeral.

AVe passed into a court behind the library, and

F/S/T TO A CHINESE LADY.

from thence into the ladies’ court. Close to the great
door of the ladies’ court, as it was opened, stood the
eldest lady of the family. She stood alone in the centre.
On each side of her, drawn up in lines, were the other
ladies of the household. On her left were the sons’
wives, their children and attendants. On her right
were her married daughter and other female members

A CHINESE L.U)Y.

of the family, with their attendants. It was quite an
imposing sight. I am sure there were over fifty women
in that courtyard. We saluted each other by clasping
one hand over the other and making a salaam. Then
the old lady, with words of kindly welcome, took my
hand and led me up to the top of the stone steps, the
ladies following in two lines, first left, then right. We
saluted each other formally. Then the lines were

VISIT TO A CHINESE LADY.

broken up, and we bad such a greeting of old friends.
The eldest son’s wife, a pretty woman of forty, claimed
me as her friend. The eldest daughter, a woman of
forty-five, also claimed me. They hugged and patted
and petted me in a most un-Chinese fashion. They
were most unfeignedly delighted to see me, and ex-
claimed, ‘ Why have you been so long of coming ? ’

They told me their sorrows ; — how the head of the
house had died ; how the eldest grandson had died ;
how the two younger daughters of the house had died ;
and how, when one after another died, they always
wanted me to comfort them. Then they told me that
the second son was very ill, and could not live long.
‘ AVould you mind sitting in his room and talking to
him ? We promised him you would.’ I said I would
be only too pleased to go. We went into the Tai Tai’s
room. One half of it was screened off by a silken damask
curtain, a perfect piece of beauty, gold ground with
crimson flowers, and broad stripes of pale sea-green.
In front of the curtain was a low ottoman, covered with
fine crimson felt, and in the centre of the ottoman a
handsome brazier of brass filigree work was placed, in
which charcoal was burning. I was taken to a seat on the
ottoman, and asked to warm my fingers. Then a silver
pipe was presented — a water jsipe, in w'hich the smoke
is purified by passing through water. I declined to
smoke. Then tea in beautiful cups with silver saucers
was offered. The saucers were not round but oval,
pointed at either end. Various kinds of sweetmeats
were given with the tea, the finest being crystallised
Siberian crabs. These were most delicious. The ladies
told me that every year they had a supply of them from
Peking.

A TALK WITH AH INVALID.

We had a pleasant talk of the various changes in
our households. We spoke of how the Da Sian ISTiang’s
daughter was married ; how they would not give her
to an opium-smoking husband ; how my daughter was
married, and when she would come to visit me.

Suddenly a movement of the damask curtain, and a
voice saying ‘ Mamma ! ’ in our own identical tones,
startled me. Behind the curtain was a luxuriously
furnished divan, and there lay the sick son. He was
most handsomely dressed. As he extended his hands
they looked like ivory. His face, though pale, was not
unpleasant. A habitual opium smoker, he was wasting
away.

He greeted me most pleasantly, talked of his old
friends, and asked where they were. He mentioned
particularly Dr. W. A. Henderson, who, he said, had
been most kind to him and to his father. I said, ‘ I fear
we disturb you.’ He replied, ‘No, I like so much to
hear you all talking.’ He was most affectionate to his
mother and sisters, and spoke kindly to his wife. He
evidently had the feelings of a true gentleman. We
talked of Russia, and of European news that he had read
in the ‘ Globe Magazine.’ AVe spoke much of religious
matters. He told me he was afraid to become a Christian,
lest when he died he would not go to the same place
as his ancestors. ‘ All the New Testament,’ he said, ‘ was
good, but the Revelation of St. John was splendid.’ Our
conversation was mixed with talks of railways, the falling
of the Tay bridge, and current news.

After a time we adjourned to the apartments of the
younger ladies, and had luncheon of confections, fruit,
pastry, salad, and tea. Only the old Tai Tai ate with
me. The young wives and daughters ate afterwards.

AN IMPORTANT QUESTION.

The divan on n hicli we sat, and on which was placed
the small dining-table, was covered with a magnificent
wadded quilt. The centre piece was yellow silk with
crimson brocade pattern, richly mixed with gold. I
think these gorgeous damasks must be like the cloth of
beaten gold spoken of in Scripture. The opposite divan
was covered with a quilt of greater beauty — white satin
embroidered in pink and gold and green. The border
was a Avide piece of pale sea-green satin. I never saAV
such costly damasks. Perhaps the ladies had beautified
their rooms Avith spoils from the old mandarin’s hoard.
They told me that these damasks and the elaborate
embroidery that hung as a drapery on the front of the
Icangs Avere a present. A rich man in China often
fears to shoAV his Avealth, as he is so apt to be victimised
by the officials. "While Ave Avere at luncheon the whole
household of Avomen came in and partook of melon seeds
and SAA’eetmeats. Some of the nieces of the old Tai Tai
came in Avith their children. There were many very fine-
looking Avomen amongst them. They all talked gently
and pleasantly.

I spoke to them for a long time on the truths of
our religion. They Avere attentAe listeners, and asked
a number of most intelligent questions. Tavo or three
of them AA’hispered together for a short time, and then
the eldest daughter said, ‘ AVe liaA’e one important thing
Ave wish to knoAV. AA^e are ahvays thinking of it and
talking of it. Many of our family are dead, and this
brother Avill soon die. This is the important question :
AA’^here do people go Avhen they die? Do men and
Avomen go to the same place ? ’

I told them of the city that hath no need of the
sun, of the pearly gates, and of the golden streets, of

A cniNESE LADY'S DINNER.

the inhabitants of the city who hunger no more, neither
thirst any more. I told them of the multitude which
no man can number, of all nations and kindreds and
people and tongues, and ‘of God the Judge of all, and
of the spirits of just men made perfect d

The great event of the day was dinner. I had
hoped to return to our inn before evening, but as I
found they would be disappointed if I did not stay to
dinner, I reluctantly consented.

Just at sunset dinner was served. None but the
old Tai Tai and I dined, although there was ample pro-
vision for the thirty or forty women and girls who sat
round about the room, talking and amusing the little
ones. The table, about a foot high, was laid again on
the cloth of gold divmn. The eldest son’s wife sat by
the side of the old Tai Tai to assist her. The eldest
daughter of the house sat by my side, to give me what
help I needed in selecting the most recherche viands.
Various women servants waited table. A relative — an
aunt, I think — whose duty it is, began the dinner by
pouring from an exquisite little china teapot some very
toothsome sauce into a porcelain spoon that was laid
on a saucer for each. Another relative brought wine
in two silver measures. The eldest daughter-in-law
brought in wheaten cakes as thin as paper. The eldest
daughter brought in two napkins, called food arresters.
These were beautiful squares of silk about the size of
a large dinner napkin. The one handed to me was ot
pale olive-green, printed in colours, pink roses being
the chief patterns. It had a lining of pale pink satin ;
one corner of it was folded down, and a silk cord sewn
on to serve as a button latch. The lady deftly fastened
this on the topmost button of my dress, laid the corner

A CHINESE LADY'S DINNER.

straiglit down the front of my dress, and spread the
other two corners out towards my elbows. The old Tai
Tai was similarly adorned. The prevailing colour of her
napkin was blue. The lining of it was of gold colour.
Ijadies strive to have these napkins in as much variety
as possible.

After we were arrayed in tlie napkins dinner was
served. The viands were deliciously cooked, aud as course
after course was sent in I became quite bewildered.
There were fowl, fish, pork, salad, eggs, savory stews
of all things mentionable and unmentionable, heche de
mer, steaming hot bread of the whitest, chips of ham
of the finest flavour, confections exquisite in taste and
appearance, and, last of all, a tiny basin of soup, with a
slightly acid flavour and a mucilaginous consistence.
This wound up a dinner fit for an empress. If refine-
ment is seen in the manner in which we prepare and
serve our food, then the Chinese are a refined people.
The decorations on the various dishes were highly
artistic. When dinner was ended, two beautifully lac-
quered basins were brought in, with hot water and
a small napkin, which the lady wrung out and handed
to me ; so we did not wipe our hands on the lovely
satin pinafores. There were about forty young and
pretty women in the room. Kow and tlien the old
Tai Tai fed some little prattlei's with titbits, the little
rosebud mouths opening for them like so many little
fledglings.

Opium smoking has made sad havoc in this family.
Tliere is scarcely a healthy member in it. The sons are
all dead save one. The grandsons are puny and sickly.
One boy of eight has never had more than three teeth,
and is not likely to have more. Another child of four

EFFECTS OF OPIUM SMOKING.

has cataract in both ej’es. He was all right till he was
two years of age, when the cataract was observed. It
is affecting to see him turn his little eyeballs, and try
to look upon his mother. She is devoted to the child,
and asked me eagerly if a great doctor like Dr. Heirder-
son was coming, and if I thought he could make her
child see. It was sad to hear these women talk of opium
as having blighted all their lives. The heir, a fine boy
of ten, is quite like his mother, and has not a trace of
his father’s features. The women in the family are bent
on keeping him from opium. Tlie old grandmother tells
him that if he begins to take opium, she wnll sell every-
thing but the house, and divide the silver amongst the
ladies of the family.

I went to say good-bye to the invalid son. I asked
if I could do anything for him. He inquired if I had
any coffee. He said it helped him much against opium
smoking. We had a large bottle of essence of coffee,
and some tins of milk, which I sent to him. He also
begged me to send him two tubes of vaccine lymph.
In former years we had sent it. As many as six hun-
dred babies had been vaccinated with it in one spring
by his father.

I bade these friends a most affectionate adieu. I
returned to the inn in the cart. The driver was a verit-
able Jehu, for, in the evening, when the streets were
clear of traffic, and a brilliant moon was shining, he did
drive furiously.

In the morning, just as we were starting from the
city, the manservant came with his master’s card, wish-
ing us a happy journey, and with a present of two red
boxes of sweet cakes. It is a Chinese custom on such
occasions to present such cakes, which are a substitute

A PARTING PRESENT.

for the stirrup cup, and a good substitute. It is a
piece of affectation to pile these little red boxes in a
conspicuous place among the baggage, so that all may-
see how popular one is. On some carts a regular pile
of them was seen, ten or twelve at least.

CHAPTER IX.

A grand archway in honour of a virtuous woman — Its ornamenta-
tion— Pleasant villages — The city of Chang Loh — Lime-kilns — ■
Kovel house-building — Sunday— Native Christians — Transmis-
sion of letters — Manufacture of twine.

The next forenoon ■was fine. As we left Wei Hien
we looked lingeringly back to its lofty walls, and the
great powder tower that stands just outside the west
gate. A mile or two from the city, on the north side of
the road, we saw a most gorgeous pei-loiv, quite new,
and of larger projDortions and finer workmanship than
any we had seen. From every ornament on it, and
from every point from which anything could be hung,
there floated long banners of scarlet cloth. At all the
corners, also, were long draperies of scarlet cloth. The
breeze was just light enough to stir the banners and
give the whole a jubilant look. The grounds around
were newly planted with trees. Hundreds of workmen
were busy putting up a fine wall to enclose several acres
of ground around this handsome monument.

Who was thus honoured ? we inquired ; and great
was our suiqjrise to be told that it was a lady, the wife
of a great man in the city. We could not hear anything
more special about her than that she had been good, and
very kind to the poor and to the aged. But, alas ! she
had no sons to hold her memory sacred. Her husband

PLEASANT VILLAGES.

had been a great public benefactor, and had done good
service to the city in many ways. So, with imperial
permission, the citizens erected this gigantic monument
to perpetuate the remembrance of his wife. It had been
publicly opened a few days before, and the whole road
leading to it had a gay, holiday look. A village some
two miles beyond, in which the ancestral temple of this
family stands, was also decorated with great streamers
of scarlet. What amused me most was to see every little
idol on the roofs and gateways of the temple with a
strip of scarlet cloth tied round its throat, the ends
floating in the wind. Even the little poodles that were
running about the village had scarlet strings on their
necks.

We passed through pleasant villages shaded with
trees, and lively with young voices, the cackling of
ducks, the gossip of geese, and other cheery rural
sounds. AVe stopped for our mid-day halt at a very
small inn in an exceedingl}' pretty village, the street of
which was wide and filled on each side with small inns.
Tables were ranged on the street, and numerous travel-
lers were taking dinner in the open air.

On the outskii’ts of this village we saw a number of
men making beautifully smooth suii-dried bricks. They
were kneading the clay with their feet, and then press-
ing it into an oblong mould.

All their courtyards were tidily swept up, and their
fowls, exceedingly pretty, of varied colours, were well
cared for. Almost every chanticleer had a tippet of a
different colour. There were grey cocks with sheeny
green ruffs ; gold-coloured, with silvery grey ; white,
with golden brown tippets ; and black, with mottled
white.

NO VEL HO USE-B UILDING.

Passing over a mountain ridge, we came on a village
of lime-kilns on the sides of a spur of a kill. It was a
very busy place. The highway ran right through the
village. The lime-burners looked a wild and rough set
of men, who were busily loading great wheelbarrows
with the lime. This village is, I am told, entirely
deserted during the winter months, as it is too cold and
exposed. The huts in it are built tent-fashion — a low
wall, not a foot high, for a foundation; then, long millet
stalks forming a sloping roof, plastered with white lime.
They looked, in the distance, exactly like canvas tents.

After crossing the limestone ridge Ave reached the
city of Chang Loh. Here Ave found Avhat, for China,
AA’as a most comfortable inn, and almost clean — brighter
and lighter than the usual hostelries at which Ave have
put up. A A'ery early start in the morning had brought
us to our halting-place while the sun Avas yet high ; so
we had time to Avalk about, and get interested in the
people.

At one place they Avere building a house in rather
a noA’el AA'ay. At each of the four corners they had
erected a square, solid pillar of half-burnt brick. From
one of these corners to another tAvo long planks Avere
fixed in the form of a trough, Avhose width was to be the
thickness of the walls. Into this trough three men
and a boy were busily shovelling mud lightly mixed
with straw. After shoA'elling in a quantity, they laid
down their spades, got into the space betAveen the
planks, and stamped most A’igorously on the mud. Then
another filling Avas succeeded by another stamping, and
so on, till the mud was beaten hard. The planks Avere
then slipped up, and the process repeated till the wall
was completed. This house was entirely of mud and

NATIVE CHRISTIANS.

straw ; beds, cupboards, cooking pots, — all were built
in with the same materials. The cupboards were
millet stalks plastered over with mud. Nearly all the
walls in that village were built on the trough plan.
Some of the houses were plastered over with lime, and
looked bright enough. I fear they would be infested
by scorpions and such crawling things as are found
living in mud walls. The millet stalks also, I believe,
would most likely make a very earwiggy cupboard.

The workmen had levelled the earth for the floor,
and the hard knockings they made were accompanied
by a sing-song kind of grunt. Looking in, I saw the
floor was being pounded hard by three men, working
what Shakespeare calls ‘ the three-man beetle,’ and
rapidly making the floor smooth and solid. The house
was roofed over with millet stalks, plastered with mud
mixed with straw. When dry, the roof would get a
good solid coat of lime plaster. It was astonishing
that, with such scant materials and in so short a time,
they could make a tolerably comfortable dwelling.

At this city, Chang Loh, we spent the Sunday.
How often it happens that Sabbaths are so calm and
bright, as though heaven were so near that some of
its rest, and peace, and brightness had overflowed to
soothe us here !

In this neighbourhood are many native Christians,
poor peasant people who are struggling upward to the
light. In these weak ones are the germs of the true
righteousness whereby this nation will, in the future,
be exalted.

This was the third point on the route from which
we dispatched letters. We made them up in a large
packet, and gave it to the muleteer of a cart travelling

MANUFACTURE OF TWINE.

towards Cliefoo. Outside the package was written
that, on delivery within a specified time, the hearer
would receive one hundred and fifty copper cash — about
eight pence of English money. Letters are seldom lost.

The town of Chang Loh was much dilapidated. Yet
there was a great deal of life in the streets. The in-
habitants were busily occupied in making fine twine.
Along the sides of the streets were most ingenious
winding machines for twisting the hemp, some of them
twisting from ten to twenty lines of twine, each line
containing five strands of hemp.

In the neighbourhood of Chang Loh the soil is ex-
ceedingly fertile. All the plain is dotted with villages,
and to the south are many market-towns of goodly size.

CHAPTER X.

The city of Tsingchow-foo— Its antiquity — Inns— Process of disin-
fection— A murder story — Falcons and falconry — Archers — A
walk through the city— Trades : silks, cutlery, calico printing —
Musicians — Chinese music — Maxims by ancient sages — Steam-
whistles in China — The manufacture of silk — A Tartar city.

We readied Tsingdiow-foo about noon. It is a de-
partmental city of importance, and of great antiquity.
We entered by the east gate, but found there were no
inns in that quarter of the city. So we retraced our
steps, and went outside the wall to reach the north
gate, by which we went in. In one of the streets my
husband got a most kindly greeting from a pleasant,
bright-faced man. Inns were very few. After travers-
ing a great part of the city, we went into one — a low,
musty-smelling place. It was very damp ; so we lit
small fires of straw all over the floor, '\^'e were glad
even to shut in the smoke, to help in freshening up the
atmosphere.

A former traveller had deposited a large parcel of
salted fish on the floor. The odour left from them was
so very strong that I tried to avoid that corner of our
Tsingchow-foo domicile. An old woman who came in
gave another account of the disagreeable odour. Her
tale was this : — ‘ One evening two travellers arrived
late and had supper. After everything was arranged

A MURDER STORY.

for tlie niglib the younger of the two tapped at the
landlord’s room, and asked if he would take payment,
as they found they must start before daybreak. The
landlord did so, and noticed that they had had a great
deal of wine at supper. In the morning the stable-boy
was roused by a tap outside his window, and a voice
said, “ You close the door ; we are off.” This was in the
autumn. No more was thought of the two trav'ellers
till nearly six months after. Ever and anon some
traveller would complain of the foul odour of the place.
The dog at the inn began to scratch up the earth in a
corner under a wooden bedstead. At length the men
at the inn removed the bedstead to repair the damage,
and were horrified to find that the dog had scratched a
hole deep enough to disclose the putrifying remains of
a human hand. At once they went to the magistrate’s
bureau. In full state the Chi-foo came and had the
whole exhumed. A small boy at the inn was sharp
enough to identify some ornament on the shoes as those
worn by the travellers who were supposed to have left
the inn very early one morning about six months before.
The body found was interred by order of the magistrates.
Nothing had transpired to lead to the identification
either of the dead man or his murderer.’ I did not
like the inn any the better for the old woman’s story.

One bit of beauty lit up this dismal, foul-smelling
room. It was an exquisite water-colour painting of a
white ger-falcon on a perch, with silken cord and tassels
thrown over a finely embroidered belt. The artist must
have been a lover of birds, or he never could have
given the life-like touch to this one. A good deal of
falconry is indulged in here. It is astonishing how
successful the falcons are in capturing their quarry.

4 WALK’ THROUGH THE CITY,

They are carried on the wrist and hooded, as in the olden
time. Indeed, this city has altogether an old-world look.
We saw a great many archers. Two of them, -^vith bows
slung over their shoulders, came to our inn the first day
we were there, begging medicine for a man who had got
an arrow into his arm as the soldiers were practising
archery outside the IManchu city. Robin Hood and
Little John, I called them. One was tall and burly, the
other short and slender. They were clad in olive-green.

AVe had crowds of people all day to talk to. In the
evening we walked out, and found that the city, which
supplies a large district, had been improved very much
since the famine time. There were many fine streets
in it. One street, which I dubbed Sheftield Street,
seemed almost entirely filled with shops for cutlery
goods. There were scissors, knives, swords, all sorts of
steel implements and tools for various trades. The
people trading in them were all as busy as possible,
hammering, filing, welding, and riveting. In another
street there seemed nothing but silk shops. In a third
street many men were busily block-printing in colours,
laying one colour on after the other very expeditiously.
In another quarter men were brushing the patterns on
over perforated vellum, and laying one colour over the
other.

The peojfie were most friendly. An old man offered
to give us some music on an instrument called a mn
It ten, a kind of guitar. He had evidently a musical
taste, as he performed with some skill. His instrument
had only three strings, and some of the music from it
was wonderfully sweet. The crowd around him thought
he was a first-rate player, and Avere most anxious that
we should hear him play. After a time he asked us to

CHINESE MESICAL INSTECMEKTS.

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CHINESE MUSIC.

listen to a tune on the «>* Iden, a violin with two strings.
He played a well-known Chinese tune, the ‘Mo lee Wha.’
But we thought that the ur hien was much shriller and
harsher than the sail hien. At other places on the
journey we heard the Chinese play what is really their
best instrument, the chenrj. In this curious instrument,
which is a rudimentary organ, there is a large bowl or
cup, containing pipes of various lengths. In each of
these pipes there is inserted a metallic tongue. The
tubes or pipes have holes, to be covered and uncovered
by the fingers. The mouth-piece is at the side. Some
of the tunes played on this pipe are so exactly like
those heard from Scottish bagpipes that, if we had not
known them to be genuine Chinese airs, we should
certainly have believed that some Alister MacAlister
was operating on his national instrument. The Chinese
chenrj is not so overpowering as the Scottish bagpipe,
and has some beautiful notes.

The Chinese have a great deal of printed music.
They write their music all in the pentatonic scale,
though at times they do introduce a fourth and a
sev'enth, Avhich they call convenient notes. They have
also a kind of harp from which good music can be got.
They profess to pay much attention to music, but the
result is not very satisfactory. We thanked the old
man for his kindly wish to entertain us ; and he suc-
ceeded, for the tunes he played on the san hien were
extremely pleasing.

In one of their old Taoist books mention is made
of a great officer of state whose success was attributed
to his musical powers. It is said of him, ‘ that music,
morals, and the art of goveniment, formed the triple
pord wherewith he sought to secure the well-being of

^TEAM-WHISTLES IN CHINA.

tlie State.’ His teacliing on tliese subjects was uii-
coin promising. The three were indissolubly associated
in his mind.

‘ When affairs cannot be carried on to success,’
Confucius said, ‘ proprieties and music will not flourish.
When proprieties and music do not flourish, punish-
ments will not be pi’operly awarded. It is by the Odes
that the mind is aroused ; it is by the rules of propriety
that the character is established ; it is from music that
the flnish is received.’

These two philosophers were musicians ; the former,
Chuang Tsze, considered that no coarse or vulgar person
had any right to intermeddle with this divine accom-
plishment. His remark is : ‘ If a man be without
the virtues proper to humanity, what has he to do with
music ? ’ This was written nearly two thousand years
before Shakespeare penned the words :

‘ The man who hath not music in his soul
Is lit for wars, stratagems, and treasons.’

One thing seemed very fashionable in Tsingchow
too, viz. a gigantic hot -water kettle, with a compart-
ment for fire, and a funnel going up through the kettle. A
copper coin was so placed in the kettle that, when the
water boiled, the hole in the. coin, a cash, made a regular
steam-whistle.' These were whistling on all sides, as it
was just the time when the people prepared their even-
ing meal. One and another rushed to the hot-water
kettle to have tea infused. We, from our inn, patronised
one of these kettles for all the hot Avater we required.
The charge for a teapotful was not quite one farthing.

' The copper coins in use in China haA’e all a hole in the centre,
and are strung on a cord.

THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

It was amusing to notice the varieties of teapots brought
out by the inhabitants of Tsingchow-foo ; they were of
all sizes, shades, and shapes, round, square, hexagonal,
large enough for twenty, and small enough for two.

The most important industry in the city is the pre-
paration of silk. In all the district around Tsingchow-
foo the silkworm is reared. Under foreign ausj)ices this
trade has revived and extended wonderfully. Every
year thousands of bushels of cocoons are brought to the
port of Chefoo. These are wound and spun at a large
silk manufactory recently erected by foreigners. Under
skilled treatment the silk of the Tsingchow-foo dis-
trict is made most valuable for use in Europe, whither
it is sent chiefly in the form of reeled yarn. Over a
great part of the province of Shan-tung, and especially
in the neighbourhood of Tsingchow-foo, this trade is a
great blessing, as it gives employment to thousands of
women and girls who would otherwise be destitute.

Just outside the w^all of Tsingchow-foo there is a
Tartar city, not large, but with a good wall, that has
lately been carefully repaired. In former times there
had been a wide moat surrounding the wall. Now it
is dry, and is used for drilling the soldiers, and for prac-
tice with the large bow and arrow. This Tartar city is
entirely a city of soldiers ; no trade is done in it. The
only shops in it are for victuals. The Tsingchow-foo
people dislike the Tartar soldiers very much. As we
passed in the early morning the whole place looked
peaceful. All round the Tartar city wall the trees were
waving green, and in full leaf. In this neighbourhood
is a large number of native Christians.

CHAPTER XI.

A Chinese bride — Bridal privileges — Bridal attire — The return of a
bride to the house of her parents — Betrothal : when and how —
Sacredness — Marriages are made in heaven — A famous Chinese
story in illustration thereof.

One of many kind and tliouglitful laws of China is that,
at the end of a few months, a newly wedded woman has
the privilege of visiting her parents’ home. In Shan-
tung this law is almost always observed. The husband’s
friends are usually willing, but if they object to take
the trouble, the elders of the village can compel them
to convey the bride to her mother’s home in proper form
for this lawful visit.

As I journey on, along the old highway, there is
a ripple of silvery laughter, a trot, trot, of tiny hoofs,
hurrying to pass my shendzle. "What a bonny, laugh-
ing face looks into mine ! — large, lustrous, almond-
shaped eyes, and features, not Romanesque, yet perfect.
The lovely little rosebud mouth shows teeth as pearly
as can be boasted by any of Beauty’s daughters in
Western lands. She is too old to be afraid, and too young
to be prudish. She has for escort a nice-looking lad
about fourteen years of age — a brother ; the kinship
is written in their faces.

I give her a smile. She turns away Avith a blush
and another ripple of silvery laughter. She tries to

BRIDAL ATTIRE.

hurry the little donkey on, then changes her mind
quickly, and says to her brother, ‘ You need not be in a
great hurry.’ Then another look. I keep niy eyes fixed
on my work, as I know she is taking a good look at me.
Evidently she has not the least idea that I may under-
stand her language ; for in the prettiest Chinese she in-
forms her brother, ‘ She has yellow hair, and a purple
butterfly at her throat, and it is resting on a silver
leaf.’ This purple butterfly is a bow of satin ribbon.

‘ Can you see her feet ? ’

‘ No, they are under the quilt,’

‘ Do you think she will have red shoes ? ’

‘ No,’ saj^s the boy indignantly ; ‘ she is old.’

Then I look up. Again she blushes, and I have
time to examine her dress ; and, as it is typical, I will
describe it.

Most important of all in the eyes of a Chinese bride
are her shoes, so there I must begin. What radiant
shoes they are — of glistening rose-pink satin, worked in
shaded blue silk embroidery, intermingled with gold !
The outlines of the shoes are in fine gold braid, and just
at the instep can be seen the tiniest bit of white — the
bandage with which her foot is bound. The sole of
that little foot would not much more than cover the
length of my palm. Round the ankle is a small gaiter
of sea-green silk, tied with a red silk ribbon two inches
wide, and with tassels at the hanging ends. The little
foot is most artistically displayed under her riding skirt
of scarlet cloth. This skirt is made in gores, about six
inches wide at the hem, and tapering to the waist.
Each gore is bound with black satin, and the scarlet
cloth is profusely covered mth shaded blue embroidery,
butterflies being predominant.

BRIDAL ATTIRE.

Sitting straight on the hack of the donkey, her
elaborate riding skirt can be fully seen, it being spread
out over the saddle-bags, which hang well over the sides
of the animal. She wears a loose jacket of crimson
brocaded crape, the long sleeves draping most grace-
fully. The jacket has a black satin binding, and a
trimming of white satin about two inches wide, beauti-
fully embroidered in blue and gold. Then an immense
collar in arabesques, bound with black satin, and em-
broidered with various hues. Just where the sleeves
form a line from the shoulders, there hang two magnifi-
cent tassels of scarlet and blue and gold. The little
hands that hold the reins are gloveless, but they are
white and shapely. Her head-dress is a broad band,
mysterious in its beauty of satin and embroidery.’ This
also is bound with black satin, and, straight up the
forehead, studded with gems like small brooches. Her
earrings are a mass of slender chains of gold, with blue
enamel pendants, like a miniature chatelaine ; each
earring, though light, would be almost a handful, and
has this advantage, that it ‘ makes music wherever she
goes.’ Her jet black hair is smooth and glossy, put up
in a coil behind, and fastened with many and most
variedly ornamental gold pins. There are a few balls
of crimson silk at the left side.

Crimson is China’s bridal colour ; for brides in
China are all royal, an empress in ancient times having
granted them that privilege.

Whilst taking note of the lady’s dress I have also
been observing the kindliness existing between the rider
and her little squire. That boy loves his sister ; affec-
tion is seen in his every look. He has dressed the little
white donkey to bring her home. There is a bit of

BETROTHAL: WHEHANDHOIV. 85

red cord tying up its tail, a red rosette at each ear, and
its head-s:ear is all brilliant with twists of scarlet braid.
They turn up a cross road leading to a village shaded
by fine elm trees, and looking lovely in the morning
sunlight. On the edge of the village is a handsome
house. Near the house is a group of boys and girls in
gay clothing. As the little donkey trots up the road
I see demonstrations of joy among the band. The
blues and scarlets of their robes are intermingling like
a fairy show. Evidently there is a merry greeting for
the two, who, forgetting the foreigner, are urging the
little donkey to his utmost speed. I can hear the
shouts of the children, though I cannot distingui.sh
their words. A tall, handsome Chinaman comes out of
the house, just in time to take the beauty into his arms ;
and I am mistaken if that father does not clasp his
dauo-hter with as much affection as is bestowed on

daughters in Western lands.

‘ Marriajres are made in heaven ’ ; no nation believes
this more firmly than the Chinese. The formalities
necessary to a marriage are gone through in the gravest
manner. In every town and village there are women
who gain a livelihood by attending to these matters.
The precise time of a child’s birth is always noted by
the family, as that on which depend all the future
events in its life.

Betrothal is arranged for by the iironuha or go-
between. The family of the young man is supposed to take
the initiative. The first act is to give the go-between
a card with the family name, the hour, day, month,
and year of the birth of the prospective bridegroom.
This card is presented to the match-maker who acts on
behalf of an eligible young lady. A card gmng the

A CHINESE LAW OF MARRIAGE.

same information about ber is presented to the match-
maker on behalf of the young man. The two match-
makers consult Zadkiel. If he pronounces favourably
regarding the proposed match, then the details of the
betrothal are arranged.

One Chinese law of marriage is that no persons
bearing the same family name may be betrothed. This
prohibition has been in force from early times. In course
of ages it happened that whole communities came to
have the same family name, so that men had often to
make long and expensive journeys to get wives. This
became so oppressive that in the years between a.d.
1403 and a.d. 1425, during the reign of the emperor
Yung Lo, a law was enacted that members of families
who had military titles, and families who were strictly
private people, though having the same name, might
intermarry.

In China only the heads of families are interested in
the makino- of marriages. The vounw men and women
themselves are not likely ever to meet prior to their
wedding-day. Indeed, the Chinese idea of a happy
iinion is, that the couple do not see each other till after
the wedding, when it is the custom for the bridegroom
to lead his bride into his mother’s apartment. He there
unveils her, and for the first time looks in the face of
the woman with whom he is to spend his life.

In spite of early betrothals, there is a great amount
of domestic happiness in China. No feelings of injustice
and no ideas of forced marriage are associated with the
ancient and universal custom.

"While the details of betrothal are in process, it is
believed that if the marriage is not registered in heaven,
the Heavenly Father will interfere to interrupt it. So

A CHINESE STORY.

betrothal has to run the gauntlet of circumstances. If
anything unlucky happen in either family while
arrangements are in process, even so small an event as
the breaking of a piece of crockery or the loss of any
article of value, the negotiations would be stopped and
the cards returned. However, should the ‘ course of
betrothal run smooth,’ the horological card is produced,
and two threads of scarlet silk and four long and large
needles. These needles are solemnly threaded at each
end of the threads. Two of these needles are passed
through the card in the possession of the bridegroom’s
family, and sent to the family of the bride. The other
two needles are passed through the card in possession of
the bride’s family. These cards are kept most carefully
as evidence of the betrothal being binding.

All the documents relating to a marriage are written
out in front of the ancestral tablet. Until the whole
process is legalised the cards are deposited under the
incense vase in front of the tablet. The phrase used in
declaring a betrothal completed is, ‘ The red strings are
tied.’

I may relate the story on which this is based. It is
constantly told by the legend-loving : — In the Tang
dynasty, A.D. 618-905, a student went to the capital of
the province for his B.A. examination. He had worked
so hard and become so anxious that he could not sleep.
One fine moonlight night he walked out to the lake
beside the city wall. There he observed an old man
reading a book by the light of the moon. ‘ What are
you studying ? ’ said the young student. ‘ The book of
matches for all places under the heavens ; ’ adding, ‘ I
always carry about with me the cords with which to tie
those who ought to be united ; and when this cord is

A CHINESE STORY.

tied nothing can change it ; the two will come together,
even though they are at the extremes of the earth. You
will see your future wife in the home of the old woman
who sells vegetables at the north of the lake. The
cord is tied.’ Next day the student found the shop and
the old woman. She had a young girl in her arms. He
thought the girl would be ugly like her mother ; so he
hired a ruffian to kill the girl. The student was told
that the ruffian had killed her. No one Ccured, for the
woman was poor. Fourteen years afterwards, when the
student had become a mandarin, and many attempts at
marriage had failed, his superior officer gave him his
daughter in marriage. She was very beautiful, but
always wore her head-dress with an ornament over her
left eyebrow. Her husband asked her why she wore this
ornament. She said, ‘ When I was a little girl, my old
nurse carried me out in the street, and one day a robber
struck me. The old woman and I fell down on the
stones, and she thought I was dead, but she bound up
the wound, and I recovered. The scar of the wound is
still here.’ She pushed off her head-dress and showed
the mark of what must have been a frightful wound. ‘ I
am the prefect’s niece,’ she continued. ‘ My father died
in the Sung, and my old nurse, who sold vegetables, took
me to her home till my uncle could send for me.’

CHAPTER XII.

Chinese marriages: their antecedents and formalities -The bride
passes through a trying ordeal — A Chinese woman-hater— How
he trained his son : his precautions, and the result.

In rich Chinese families the wedding trousseau is often
a matter of vanity and parade. I have seen a wedding
outfit borne by more than a hundred coolies, and all
the articles tied with red silk crape to the carrying
poles. Before a trousseau is sent off everything in it is
‘ sifted,’ so that no evil influences may go from the
house of the bride. On the day previous to the
wedding, the bride’s parents invite their friends to a
feast. The bride is dressed in her wedding robes, and
her hair is done up in the style of a married woman.
While friends are feasting the bride goes through her
farewell ceremonies. She lights incense before the
ancestral tablets of her father’s house, and worships
there for the last time. She kneels down before her
grandparents, her father and mother, also her aunts
and uncles, and worships them. It is really a formal
leave-taking, and is often very sad. This is done after
the bridal chair, usually sent the day before the wedding,
has arrived.

On the morning of the wedding-day she is called
‘ The new woman,’ and is invested with a large and

CHINESE WEDDING CEREMONIES.

magnificently embroidered veil of scarlet crape, having
a bine and gold crown over it. This veil completely
conceals her features, and almost her form. Preceded
by musicians, and amid the firing of crackers, she is
borne away. Everything in the procession is crimson —
di’ess, chair, lanterns. These lanterns have printed on
them the family name of the bride. From the bride-
grooin’s home a procession goes forth to convey the
bride. When the bearers of the lanterns in the two
processions meet, they gyrate round each other ; those
carrying the name of the bridegroom take their places
in front of the chair. From that time the bride’s name
is changed, and her lantern-bearers with her name, and
her part of the procession, return to her home, where
the women of the house are supposed to be wailing in
great grief.

Wedding ceremonies are under the supervision of
the priests, and in connection with them are the
worshippings of both gods and men, and many super-
stitious practices. At the wedding ceremony the pair
are placed before an altar prepared in the reception
room. The bride is so completely blindfolded by the
thick veil that she has to be led about. The heralds
blow a blast. The priests chant some sentences. The
musicians play their loudest. When the din has
reached a climax, the pair kneel and worship heaven,
earth, and the bridegroom's ancestors. The assistants
produce from the altar two cups filled with wine, tied
together with a crimson silk cord. The bridegroom sips
a little from one ; the other is put to the bride’s lips, the
veil intervening. The two cups of wine are then inter-
mingled. The ends of the sashes are tied together, and
the bridegroom leads his bride into his mother’s room.

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CHINESE WEDDING CEREMONIES. 93

There is a little by-play as they take their seats together
on a sofa. Each endeavours to sit on a portion of the
other’s dress, as it is supposed that the one whose dress
is sat upon will be sure to get the worst of it all
through life. After this the groom unveils his bride.

Durinof the whole ev’ening the bride is exhibited.
Every one who chooses may go in and have a look at
her, as she stands up on exhibition. She must not
speak, or laugh, or scarcely move, but remain like a
waxwork figure, while people make remarks on her
general appearance. This is a most fatiguing and un-
refined ordeal, especially after a long journey and all
the excitements of the day. I was once called in to
help a poor young bride who had faiiAed away ; and
after she was restored to consciousness there was some
difficulty in clearing the house of spectators.

But, with all these tedious formalities, young China-
men are quite apt to fall in love. Ofttimes it happens
that a betrothed dies. Then, if the young man is grown
up, he has a chance of quietly looking about him, and
by some old aunt or other person get a marriage to his
liking arranged. Some of the most popular Chinese
songs relate such adventures. If he is a very aspiring
young man, and has taken a good literary degree, he
may in the large card which every graduate is allowed
to paste up insert an advertisement, saying that he is
willinsr to become the son-in-law of a rich man. This
is frequently done by poor but fortunate students.
!Many a rich man who has no literary standing keeps a
favourite daughter unbetrothed, in hope of getting a
literary graduate fora son-in-law. Of course the young
man takes the ancestral name of his father-in-law, and
is always spoken of as a son, while the daughter is

A CHINESE LEGEND.

spoken of as thougli she were anotlier man’s daughter.
Thus the rich can burnish their gold with the coveted
sheen and glory of literature

The following legend is told : — A man had an only
sou whom he loved very dearly. He had a good sum
of money, which he put out to interest, and retired, with
his son, to a house on the top of a mountain. As the
father was a literary man, he taught his son. The boy
became fond of literature, and particularly fond of orna-
mental writing and drawing. For many years the
father and son lived in complete happiness. The father
made journeys down the mountain to the neighbouring-
town for necessaries. He was careful to supply his son
most liberally with drawing materials. As age crept on,
and he was no longer able to carry their household sup-
plies up the mountain, his son dutifully entreated for
leave to descend the mountain along with him. He
reluctantly consented, and several trips were made. One
morning, as they got to the town they found a theatrical
company there, attracting crowds to the usually quiet
place. Suddenly there appeared on the road, hurrying
to the theatre, three lovely young girls, dressed to per-
fection.

‘ What are these ? ’ exclaimed the son.

‘ Don’t look at them,’ said his father ; ‘ they are
devils.’ But the son could not withdraw his e^'es from
a sight so wonderful.

On their way np the mountain the boy plied his
father with all manner of questions about the appari-
tions. The father was full of stories of the disasters
people had suffered through having anything to do with
such dreadful creatures, and of the frightful eHls which
would result from even thinking of them. In awe-struck

A CHINESE LEGEND.

tones the father told his son that, if he did not wish
to be separated from his father for evermore, he must
not again speak of them.

So they got home, and matters went on as usual,
though not quite as usual ; for the son took to going
out alone, and lying in the sun, with his hat over his
eyes. He took less interest in his drawings, and none
in his books. His little dog got no attention, so that
it preferred staying by the old man, while he cultivated
their little patch of vegetables. Matters became worse
and worse. The son scarcely ever spoke to his father,
but went solitarily about. His father feared he was ill,
and anxiously asked him to see a doctor. In their visits
to the town he noticed that his son always loitered as
long as possible. Suddenly the young man took to his
pencils and paints, and worked hard at some secret work,
always carefully locking up his little sanctum. Then
again he became listless. His father was most solicitous,
and once got up in the night to look. The light was
burning in his son’s sanctum, the door open. Noiselessly
he slipped in, and there sat his son, as pale as death,
before the picture of a beautiful Chinese lady. The son
became aware of his father’s presence, and, rising, threw
himself into his arms, exclaiming, “ Oh ! father, that
tallest devil ! ’

CHAPTER XIII.

A religious festival : its inconvenience— A ruffian innkeeper — The
Chinese theatre : its acts, actors, and character — The town of
Chang San Hien, or Long Hill Town — Large crowds : their anxiety
to see us — Kindliness of the women — A Chinese mother and her
first-born — Women police— Fine pei-loios in the place — Silk for
England’s fairest daughters : how and by whom produced.

In the course of our travels we came to a town wliere
a great wliei, or religious festival, was being held. Guests
were so numerous that, after travelling all over the town,
we were driven to take shelter at an inn which has such
an unenviable reputation, that Chinese who know the
place would rather trudge on by night or camp out
than risk staying at it. We had no alternative. By
representation of the muleteers, who said the inn had
changed hands, and was now in charge of very respect-
able people, we were induced to go in. When we first
arrived in the town the ostlers were all at the inn gate,
and almost forced us to go in. However, after a vain
search for another place we were obliged to return and
enter.

I was entertained afterwards with tales of lonely
travellers who had disappeared at that inn. We found
it really deserved a bad name. In the morning the
keepers of the inn insisted on being paid more than
three times the proper amount. On our refusing to pay

CHINESE THEATRES.

it, every man flew to his sword. A veritable set of
ruffians they were. While they were arming, we walked
right out and along to the high road, where there were,
though early, already many travellers. When the
scoundrels saw that we were gone, they took the amount
(twice as much as they ought to have had), and allowed
our mules to come after us.

At this place there was a great theatre, built of
matting, and most tastefully decorated. As we passed in
the early morning, the play had not commenced. It is
considered quite a meritorious act to give a play. The
actors are all paid by one rich man. The stage is
erected in a large open place, generally in front of a
temple. No charge is made for admission. All who
can get standing room may go. The respectable plays
are principally from historical subjects. Some of the
actors are of great merit, from a Chinese point of view,
and become such favourites that they command large
sums of money. In the historical plays, they are very
careful to be in the costume proper to the time. They
depend almost entirely for effect on costume. To the
other accessories of the stage, such as ‘ scenes,’ they
pay almost no attention.

So far as I can learn, the Chinese have no passion-
drama, such as the ‘ IMuharram ’ of the Persians, and
nothing at all in character like the tragedy of ‘ Husain.’
They are fond of emperors and courts. The religious
element does not enter into their plays. Power is the
keynote of all Chinese theatricals. Women are not
allowed to act on the Chinese stage. Young boys
always take the parts of women. Yet in their plays
they are fond of having many female representations.
The acting of the Chinese does not rise to the dignity

98 klXDLLVESS OF THE WOMEX.

of art ; and I have never heard that they cater for tears.
I was once privileged, in a private manner, to see one
of their finest companies of actors. They chose an
histoi’ical play, or rather a kind of opera ; for there was
a great deal of singing, and the orchesti’a accompanied
in a marvellously nnharmonious concord. The story
came out well, and some of the actors, under good
trainina’, would have been above the averagre stagre-
player.

At Chang San Hien we made our mid-day halt.
The town is very dilapidated ; we had great difficulty
in getting quiet in which to eat our luncheon. Dr.
AVilliamson had frequently to go out to clear a space
in front of the door.

As usual, numbers of women crowded round the
shendzle. Bright and pleasant they looked. AVe had
a nice little chat with some of them after dinner. One
liright young mother placed her baby, of whom she was
evidently very proud, in my lap, and said, ‘ Now you
can have him.’ The little fellow smiled up into my
face, not in the least afraid. IIoav beautiful mother-
hood is ! The one thought of that young Chinese
mother was that precious baby, and this was a little
trick to get him into notice. I patted and praised him,
and the mother blushed, and beamed with perfect sun-
shine on her face. The women were all exceeding
friendly, and one and another, as I passed out, said,
‘ AA’hen will you come back again ? AATien will you
come back ? Come soon.’

In this inn-yard I saw two women police. The
Chinese have at all their magistrates’ offices women
who assist in the duties of the court. In rural districts
they have women who are entrusted with the duty of

WOMEN rOLlCE.

helping to keep the peace, and who have a right to
interfere in the cause of justice. Western lands have
thought of many places that women might fill to advan-
tage. Has any one suggested women police ? These
‘ Ya-Men ’ women are easily known. They are generally
in the prime of life — from thirty-five to forty-five —
usually of a tall and strong build, and very loud-voiced.
When they come into an inn-yard they salute the land-
lord or the muleteers. They are women of good cha-
racter, but their position is not envied. I should have
said they are always widows, and are in this service with
consent of the parents of their late husbands. Eecog-
nised by law, there are also lady doctors.

The town is now very wretched, and dilapidated in
the extreme. Long years ago it must have been rather
a pretty place. In its palmy days many pci-?o?r.<;
had been built. In the centre of the town there was a
very old one. I notice that in the oldest fd-loiv the
lions are either crouching with outstretched paws or
seated with paws close together. The figure of the lion
as an architectural accessory has been imported into
China. The Cliinese name for a lion is a foreign word
of Persian origin. Lsually Cliinese artists are fairly
correct in their representation of animals, but they
always decorate the lion with a mane all down his
spine to the root of his tail. On the newer the

lions are seated, sometimes half profile, grinning at each
other. Under the paw there is usually a ball or the
globe. Sometimes they are fondling a tiny cub.

All along the street men were reeling silk outside
their doors. The reels were tiny things, prettily made.
The largest I saw was about three feet long. The
skeins of silk were just a fraction over fifty inches,

1 03

SILl^ FOR ENGLISH LADIES.

measuring all round. One skein given tome must have
been wound on a very large winder, as it measured
two hundred and two inches round. The silk was of
a most exquisite yellow, the real ‘ old gold ’ that ladies
have of late thought so becomino^. I thought how that
silk might perchance be woven into robes for ladies
in England. We are linked each to each all over
the world. The noble dame who may sweep through
stately halls in a robe made of this silk knows little of
the land whence it comes — how fair are its scenes and
how sunny its skies. Little can she know of the host
of workers that have contributed to produce the glossy
fabric she so much admires. I wish I could photo-
graph for her the lovely Chinese maids and matrons
who tend the silkworms, the bright-eyed cherubs who
gather the leaves for the food of the worms, the thou-
sand and one pictures of calm domestic life in the
homes of these people. And I would ask those who
dwell in the lordly halls of England to provide the
means of training the minds and bringing the comfort
of the Gospel to the hearts of those Chinese who con-
tribute so much to the adorning of the persons of
England’s fair daughters. I alwavs found that in the
districts where the silkworms are raised the people were
more refined, and certainly the women were more ele-
gant and more intelligent than in districts where the
crops are only cereals.

lOI

CHAPTER XIV.

The outskirts of Chang San Hien : their beauty— The city of Tseu
Ping Hien : also of great antiquity, and full of pei-loics—k city
market— The politeness of the people— Efforts of the women to
see the foreign sister—* She speaks our language ’—A Chinese
lady: her kindly attention— A cup of tea— How to reckon the
population of a city— Cremation : its former practice, its present
illegality— A funeral cortige on its way from Peking— The desire
of the Chinese to be literally * gathered to their fathers.’

Just outside the town of Chang San Hien there is a
beautiful piece of water, crossed by a long, flat, stone
bridge. At intervals, on the outside of the parapet,
are gargoyles, the water running off from the open
mouths of finely carved dragons’ heads. At the west
end of this bridge there is a temple, though now
neglected and fast becoming a ruin. "W hen first built,
it must have been very imposing. There could hardly
be a finer site. The water spreads out in front of it,
and it is surrounded by a raised embankment, with an
ornamental stone parapet. All around the plain is well
wooded. The roads are avenues of fine elm, beech, and
willow trees. In the distance the hills from which the
place takes its name (‘ Long Hill Town ’) have soft, flow-
inof outlines, and its blue is as intense as the blue of
the sky, but in tint a little deeper.

We bade farewell to Chang San Hien, thinking
that much kindliness to foreigners existed amongst the
people.

102

THE CITY OF TSEU TIXG HIEN.

Tseu Ping Hien is a town full of iiei-loics. One
in tlie centre of tlie town is of great beauty. It is very
ancient ; the people around could not tell how old it
was — an immense mass of stone, that spoke volumes for
the skill of the architects. Artistic talent was displayed
in the carvings ; some of the little pieces in panels,
executed in relief in stone, being really good. This
2)ei-low was jointed in the stone throughout, no mortar
having been used ; all the great slabs were grooved and
dovetailed into each other.

These pei-lows are really triumphal gatewaj’s, and
they have a most imposing effect. They span the road
usually in three divisions, a wide space in the centre
and two smaller at the sides. They vary from twenty
to over sixty feet high. Usually there are ornamental
panels on them, and sometimes the story of a hero is
cut in relief in white marble. At the base are often
the lions that the Chinese are so fond of representing in
stone. Surrounding the foot of this one in Tseu Ping
Hien were no fewer than sixteen stone lions, eight on
either side. These lions were all couching with out-
stretched paws.

If one is stopped in a Chinese street, he is apt to
say to himself, ‘ What an immense number of people
with nothing to do ! ’ Although the Chinese as a nation
are industrious, yet it is surprising how many of them all
their lives do absolutely nothing.

A great fair or market was being held, and plenty of
ready money going in it — not as in the little country
fair of which we have spoken. There seemed to be for
sale everything necessary for Chinese humanity, from silk
to soap.

It is hard to picture out before the reader a city

A CITY MIKKET ORaFAIR.
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A CITY MARKET.

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street more than a mile in length, lined on both sides
with stalls, on which are displayed all things for use or
ornament. Further, to the west, vegetables and grain
are sold : these are displayed on matting spread on the
raised pathway at each side of the street. The sellers
at these fairs pay a tax to the town. There were few
women in the market ; but a Chinaman has a verj’ good
idea of the requirements of his household.

The articles displayed at this market — and it was a
regular one — gave us a good insight into the condition
and comfort of the district. Vegetables and fruits of
many kinds were there. Grain was abundant, and in
great variety. There were many kinds of matting,
some of it quite gay in designs of white and scarlet.
There were baskets, brooms, crockery, shoes, incense
papers, silk, yellow and white, cotton in pod, and
spun yarn, native cloth of all colours, and great piles
of what in England is called Nanking cloth. There
were tables of cakes and confections, tables of fortune-
tellers and letter- writers, perambulating soup-kitchens
and peripatetic barbers, mobs of mules and donkeys,
salt and sugar-cane, gossiping ducks and gobbling
geese, hens and mocking-birds, imitating all manner of
sounds. There were firewood and charcoal, fir cones and
fir branches. What a strange mingling of all sorts of
things was there under the bluest of blue skies, under a
vault of heaven having a look of height that I have
never seen elsewhere !

Some of the stalls dazzled with sham jewellery,
bracelets and pins, earrings, all the gewgaws that girls
like, with a little box in a corner hamng a pair or two
of real gold and gem earrings, worth more than all the
sparkling show. There were books and artificial flowers.

^SHE SPEAK'S OUR TONGUE:

aucl blooming flowers and flowering sbrubs. As we
afterwards went along tbe road, we were greeted with
the exquisite perfume of the A'U’e /ura, and saw men
carrying flowers and shrubs in all directions from the
market.

In the midst of all the traffic of the fair our shen-
dzles halted, and our books were taken out. A rapid
sale began. The concourse of people became so great
that the way was blocked up ; so we had to leave the
booksellers behind, and go straight through the main
street to the outskirts of the town, where there was room
to nnload the poor animals.

Hither there was a great rush of little-footed China !
I was making an attempt to sell books, but saw it
would be dangerous, as I was in dread lest any of the
little children might be trampled to death. It was
interesting to me to see the efforts the men made so
that their women-folk might see the foreign woman.
Stools were borrowed and forms were hired from
neighbouring sIio^ds, and women and girls stood on
them, held up by fathers, husbands, and brothers. A
murmur ran round the crowd, ‘ She speaks our tongue.’
Then I was plied with questions. I moimfed on the
poles of the shendzle ; that raised me over the heads of
the crowd. Only women and girls were near. Boys
and men were on the outskirts. So I told them of my
reason for coming to China, and said that I had some-
thing to teach women. Immediately my voice was
heard there was a stillness over that great assembly.
A doctrine for women Avas new to them. A person
come to exhort women to be good, to avoid Ij’ing, to
curb their tempers and put a bridle on their tongues,
to pray to the Heavenly Father, and to reverence His

A CUP OF TEA.

107

Son, our Lord and Saviour, to worship the Heavenly
Father in their own homes, to raise an altar for Him in
their hearts, not to go to temples and worship and burn
incense to idols, and to believe that in heaven there was
a place prepared for Chinese women.

The men nodded their heads, saying, ‘ Good,’ ‘ That’s
right,’ The women said, ‘ True.’ Then a pause and
a change of audience, and the address was repeated.
Not once was an objectionable word used. All were
kindly polite. Some invited me into their houses, but
I declined, and told them I feared the difficulty they
would have in keeping out the crowd. Many of them
said, ‘ You will come back soon.’

A fine private cart, equal to a good carriage at home,
was drawn up near enough to hear. In it was seated a
lady who had a teapot in a basket-work cosy. She got
it filled with hot water at an inn on the opposite side of
the road. In a short time she sent her little daughter
in the arms of a serving man, the child bearing a cup
of tea with some sweetmeats in the saucer. It was a
ladylike act to offer the first cup to the stranger. The
tea was a most grateful refreshment in the midst of all
the heat and dust. Over the heads of the crowd I, from
my perch, bowed, or rather shook my hands, in acknow-
ledgment of the kindness. The lady answered the
salaam. "When I had finished the tea I returned the
cup to the child, and presented her with a small pictorial
magazine. Her mother evidently feared the child had
not thanked me, so she made her return in the arms of
the servant, and, in the prettiest way imaginable, the
little girl put her hands together and thanked me.
She was dressed in a beautiful pale green silk jacket,
with black satin arabesques, scaidet trousers, and pink

io8

CREMA TION.

shoes. It looked as if the man had captured a gigantic
tropical butterfly.

After some time the booksellers arrived, followed by
an immense crowd. In a little while we mounted our
shendzles and set off, amid much noise and excitement,
and a great rushing for a final purchase of books. The
people were all kindly disposed. My husband seemed
to be well known amongst them.

As we went out of the town, troops of women and
children gathered at various points to see us pass.
IMaiiy Chinese gentlemen came to purchase books, so
that my husband had to get out of his shendzle to
supply them.

On entering or leaving a Chinese city you can form
a good idea of its size by the number of the graves
that lie immediately outside its walls. These are
chiefly the graves of the poor and of strangers. In
the eleventh century there was quite a rage for crema-
tion. At first the priests, for the benefit of the poor,
encouraged the practice, as they said ‘ the poor could
not afford the expense of sepulture ’ ; but by-and-by they
began to cremate the rich also, and to appropriate to
themselves the legacies that ought to have been devoted
to ancestral worship. The priests made great gain by
it, and much valuable property passed into their hands.
In A.D. 1157 the Chinese Government forbade crema-
tion, and set apart cemeteries for the poor. However,
the priests still persisted in cremating ; and by this ac-
quired property in temples that they still retain. In
the year A.D. 1261 a petition was presented to the
throne for the prohibition of the erection of furnaces
for cremation. This was earnestly sought, as cremation
interfered materially with the rites of ancestral worship.

A FUNEFAL CORTEGE.

109

and was only encouraged by the priests to cover their
peculations. The petition was granted. Buddhist
priests of high standing are still cremated, and the law
permits the coffin of an unknown stranger to be burned,
especially if it has been lying exposed for a long time
and is decayed. It is legally burned, and the ashes
spread about.

The Chinese are not materialists. They have a very
marked belief in the existence of the soul after death.
Each grave mound we have passed tells this ; for at
the present season, spring-time, the graves have each a
beautiful square-cut sod laid on the top, to signify that
spring has come.

We met on the road an immense cavalcade con-
veying a large coffin from Peking. The coffin was a
very handsome one covered with bright blue Russian
cloth and trimmed with gilding. The pall was crimson
Russian cloth, hanging about six inches over the coffin.
Over all was an almost transparent oiled silk cover.
On the top, in a wicker cage, was a white cock leading a
most happy life. From the top of this cage floated a tri-
angular flag of yellow satin, bearing in black characters
the titles of the deceased. On a piece of yellow satin
at the head of the coffin was a long list of the virtues
of the dead mandarin. This was carried by four hand-
some mules, the largest I have seen. The cock is never
absent from the carrying of a coffin from one place to
another. The Chinese believe that this fowl has a
special influence in inducing the spirit to follow the
body.

It is the wish of every Chinaman to be ‘ gathered to
his fathers,’ to sleep his last long sleep in the little yew-
shaded graveyard where all his people lie. The bodies

^GATHERED TO II IS EATHERS.'

of the very greatest men of the empire are often thus
transported to be laid to rest near some obscure little
village. There is no Westminster Abbey or St. Paul’s
Cathedral for the Chinaman ■who has served his country.
The Chinese have more faith in the family than in the
nation.

1 1 1

CHAPTER XV.

Waterwheels— Coal and coalmen - Native ventilating hats— Nearing
the capital— Bullocks shod with iron and with straw — The
Sentinel Hill- First visit to Tsi-nan-foo— Provincial examina-
tion—Tsi-nan-foo, the Paris of North China- The Roman
Catholic cathedral— The Mahommedan mosque —A sail on the
Shining Lake - Pleasure palaces— Pleasure-seekers —Gay stu-
dents—Enchanting scene at sunset on the lake— Floating lamps
used for divination— Sad corh’pe— The Chinese Morgue - Super-
stition against dying in a neighbour’s house — Chinese revenge —
Visit to mosque— Mahommedan women.

On leaving Tseu Ping Hien, after a short ride in the
early morning, we passed Chang Kieu. Outside of the
wall to the east we saw four fine and very large water-
wheels in motion. There is abundant water power in
tliis neighbourhood. We dined at a small place called
Lee Tien, in an inn remarkable for dirt and festooned
with venerable cobwebs. The country is very flat.

In all these towns and villages coal is nsed as fuel.
The people looked dirtier than in otlier parts, and par-
ticularly the little'children were smutty in the extreme.
Along the streets there was to bo seen the perambulating
coalman, ringing a bell hung under his wheelbarrow,
the rope attached to the handle, and shouting ‘ Coal !
coal ! ’ It seemed to be very cheap indeed, and was
sold by measure in a great square wooden trough.
When a purchase Avas made the coal merchant obligingly

II2

VENTILATING HATS.

took hold of two of the handles of the trough, and
helped the purchaser to carry the coal into his house.

Outside the town of Lee Tien we saw many wheel-
harrow loads of queer, hexagonal-shaped straw hats,
with ventilating crown-pieces. For convenience of
carriage the hats were all packed together, while the
crown-pieces were in bunches by themselves. These
hats were most ingeniously woven, and were meant to
serve as hat and umbrella in one.

The highway as we got near Tsi-nan-foo became
wider, and the number of mules on the road was very

CO.U. MEASURE WITH HANDLES FOR C.ARRYIXG.

large. Indeed, it was a lively sight. There were a
great many travellers. The constant greetings of
friends and the chatter about local affairs were quite
entertaining. We made a very short stage, and stopped
at a place called Kwo Tien. It was some time before
sunset, so we had leisure to inspect the room before
we entered it. It was so dirty that we resolved to go
elsewhere ; rather than allow us to do this, the room
received such a cleaning as it had not had for years,
and was wholly refurnished to suit our convenience.

In the morning we feel that we are near the centre
of civilisation, for we are to enter Tsi-nan-foo, the

CHINESE HIGHWAYS.

113

capital of the province. This is China’s classic province,
and is in reality a kingdom. In Scotland there are
something under four millions of inhabitants. In Shan-
tung there are something over thirty-three millions.
There is in the province abundance of coal, iron, silver,
lead, and all material for building purposes. Shan-
tung has a splendid seaboard. It has a fine race of
people, and boasts of being the birthplace of China’s
greatest sages.

As we get near the city we have a very fair specimen
of the ‘ Old Highways.’ They seem at present to have
small attention from road committees ; broad highways
are left with the unrepaired ruts of many winters,
waiting till some severe flood will smooth them over,
to be again cut up by the wheels of busy traffic. The
bridges also are seldom in repair, and are often incon-
veniently ifiaced; yet we could not but admire the
wondrous engineering skill which the builders of these
bridges must have possessed.

In the cities the pariah dogs and the ubiquitous pig
divide the duties of sanitation, with an occasional
sweeping when the mud becomes like a liquid stream.
■\Vhen a foreigner complains of the condition of high-
way or street, the Chinese give a knowing look, as
much as to say, ‘ If you don’t like our roads, you can
stay at home.’

On the highway there was quite a number of
bullocks. Some of them were shod with iron, as of olden
time in Rome oxen used to be shod. Some oxen had
only straw sandals tied on each hoof. These they call
‘ five li shoes,’ that is, they last only about a mile and
three quarters. Oxen are much used for ploughing,
and do their work steadily. Going towards Tsi-nan-foo

1 14 FIRST VISIT TO TSTNAN-TJO,

we were particularly struck bj* tlie straightness of the
furrows on a piece of newly-ploughed land.

While we have been interested in highway and
field, there has been looming into view the great Sentinel
Hill, an isolated volcanic cone ; this morning gleaming
jourple as an amethyst, and standing like a grand sentry
to guard the capital of the province, the great city of
Tsi-nan-foo.

^fany years ago I made a visit to this city ; and as
it took place when the great triennial examination was
being hekl, it may interest the rtaider if I give an account
here of that most interesting visit.

We arrived just as the sun was setting in the
west, and the handsome gateway and lofty crenelated
wall were tinted with a glory of purple and gold. We
drove thi’ough the fine wide streets, and turned into the
spacious yard of an inn near the Mahommedan mosqiie.
There were already some forty or fifty mules in the yard,
many of them rolling over and over on the ground in high
enjoyment at being relieved of their hot pack-saddles,
others munching gratefully at their bran, beans, and
straw. The whole place was alive with restless animals.

The inn itself was old and much dilajjidated, though
roomy and airy. There were several courtyards belong-
ing to it ; and ranged round these were many small
rooms suited for students. These were all full, as fifteen
thousand Bachelors of Arts had arrived in the city for ex-
amination. We were shown to a suite of rooms at the ex-
treme north of the inn, where we had a chance of seeing
a great many of these candidates for literary honours.
They all seemed bright and intelligent fellows, very
sedate, and anxiously discussing examination affairs.
Students before their examination are sufficiently quiet

THE PARIS OF cm HA.

i'5

and subdued, but after tlie dread trial is over they are apt
to rush headlong into all sorts of wild practical jokes.
The mandarins are always excessively anxious regarding
the peace of the city as corps after corps is passed out
of the examiners’ hands. The first batch were still in,
so we felt fairly safe.

Early the following morning we set out on foot to
explore the famous city. After being accustomed to the
squalor of little towns, Tsi-nan-foo looked to me the
Paris of China. The streets are very handsome, mucli
wider than the streets of cities in the South of China,
and they are well paved. In the business part of the
city the shops are very lofty and most handsome. Every
shop is wholly exposed by day, and is shut in at night
Ijy immense boards. ^Vhile the eaves are a mass of
lacquer and gilding, each shop seems to vie with its
neighbour in the amount and gorgeousness of the carv-
ing, gilding, and exquisite colouring of the sides and
cornices. Scarlet, green, black, and immense portiont
of gilt flash in the sunlight and dazzle one with the
brilliancy. Each shop has a counter running all along
the front. The tea and .silk shops do not expose their
wares, but the counters are profusely decorated witli
flowers in pots, and with dwarf trees full of blossom.
The restaurants, the fruit and confection shops display
their dainties to the best advantage, and most of them
are decorated with flowers. The attendants at the finer
shops are very numerous, and are usually young men
exceedingly well dressed and agreeable in their manners.

The most prominent buildings in Tsi-nan-foo are the
Roman Catholic cathedral, Avith its Western architecture
and glittering cross, and the Mahommedan mosque,
with its silver crescent. These two buildings proA’e that

ii6

.1 SA/L O.V THE SHINING LANE.

1-eligious toleration is granted, and tliey speak constantly
to the students of teachings other than those of Confucius.

As the morning advanced the streets became more
crowded ; but the people were civil, though they stared
in utter amazement at the foreign woman, the first
woman of a strange race that had ever trod their streets.
If they showed any sjTuptoms of crowding or jostling,
a polite remark from me in their own tongue usually
made them fall back into a respectful attitude, and from
one to another would go the words, ‘ She speaks our
language,’ ‘ She understands our rites.’

After getting enough of the noise and heat of the
streets, in the afternoon we made our way to the
beautiful lake which is inside the city wall. There were
numberless pleasure boats waiting for hire. In one of
the most brilliantly painted we embarked and sailed
softly over the shining lake. It was jierfect fairyland
as we glided up one avenue and down another, for the
lake is divided into portions, each separated by a floating
artificial bank. These divisions are most ingeniously
arranged. Anchored to stakes and large stones at the
bottom of the lake are tiny wicker-work rafts. On these
rafts a quantity of sods and a stiff growth of reedy plants
and some mould are piled up. All are bound firmly
together by the natural growth of the roots and fibres
of plants. On these banks are planted willows and
other trees that thrive in damp soil, also endless varieties
of water-loving plants and beautiful flowers, some of
them almost tropical in their richness. All this vegeta-
tion was a pleasure to the eye. The spaces enclosed
were all radiant with pink lotus flowers and their
beautifully shaped leaves. I enjoyed sailing over these
avenues of water and watching the men at this season

CA V STUDENTS.

117

busy liarvesting these broad leaves, which are dried and
used extensively for wrapping up parcels of grocery and
other wares. The men gathering the lotus leaves were
all paddling about in tubs, I asked whj’ they did not
take boats. They said tubs were better, as they did not
injure either the lotus plants or the floating gardens.

As we sailed about, sometimes we came to a rocky
island on which a series of pleasure palaces were built.
In front of these was a large open space, where the pink
and white lotus were growing in the loveliest luxuriance.
It was just the time when all the loungers of gay Tsi-
nan-foo enjoyed the luxury of afternoon tea in these
handsome palaces. These palaces are public property,
but many people seemed to make a trade of supplying
tea to visitors. In the balmy air the gorgeous blos-
soms, the brilliant hues of the robes of the Tsi-nan-foo
dandies, mixed with the soft whites and blues of the
crape robes of the elderly scholars, were dazzling. I
could scarcely believe that this was China. Surely we
Avere under the spell of Aladdin, who is reported to have
lived somewhere in this direction. We seated ourselves,
and I watched a group of gay young Chinamen, some of
them lounging over the stone balustrade in front of the
palace. Regular aristocrats they were, and dressed in
the most lustrous of brocaded silks or in the crimpiest
of cream-coloured crapes, flirting their fans with admir-
able grace, talking, laughing, and thinking themselves
the observed of all observers, too proud to seem anxious
to Stare at the foreigners, j’et evidently most desirous to
study these specimens of Western barbarism. To my
eye, so long accustomed to the peasant Chinaman, the
elegance of these lolling students was quite a treat.

After a most charming afternoon, near sunset, Ave

iiS

FLOATING LAMPS.

embarked again in our gaudy pleasure boat. Here and
there, all over the water, was a beautiful aquatic plant,
as if a handful of the leaves of the rose tree had been
thrown at intervals all about. The sun set just as we
were in sight of a fine temple where we meant to disem-
bark. Suddenly the paddling at the stern of the boat
ceased ; a fine-toned bell tolled a few strokes ; all the
surrounding boats stopped ; not a sound was heard. In
the gathering gloom 1 could just descry a troop of men
aard another group dressed as young woiaien, each
attended by a pi’iestess, and coming down the bi’oad
flight of steps. Suddenly, out from the steps floated a
tiny spark of fire, that I’ose aintil it burned a steady flame.
Then another and another, till the whole place was full
of daiacing lights. Some floated so near that we could
see that they wei’e the celebi’ated lotus lantei-ns, anade
of little woodeaa basiaas, each sura'ouaaded by a beauti-
fulh' aaaade and exquisitely coloured paper lotus flower.
These basiaas wea’e filled with anelted tallow having a
thick wick in the ceaata’e.

These lamps are priaiaarily siqaposed to give light to
the spirits of those uaifortunate people who have been
da'owned iai the lake. I found this was aaot eaatia’ely the
fact, for if each of these lamps represeaited aaa accident,
that aaaust be the anost ta-agic spot on eaa-th !

The lamps aa-e set afloat chiefly for divinatioai on
personal aiaattea’S, aaid aa-e iaiteaided to foa’etell, iai some
cases, the fate of those afar off at sea, and, iai others, the
dui-ation of a beloved life, or the probable shorteniaig of
the life of some hated adval. At tianes two wei’e floated
off together — binary lanijas, to ascertain if a beti’othal that
was being ari’anged would prove propitious, or whether,
by the extinction of the laaiip that repi-eseuted the

FOR DIVINATIOX.

liusband, bis bride bad a risk of being left in the muck
dreaded state of widowhood. A keen merchant would
quietly launch one to know whether some great specu-
lation in business would be successful. Whatever Avas
the object of setting these tiny lamps afloat, they were

A CHINESE TEMPLE.

all watched with intense interest, and often with great
excitement.

These floating interrogations to the 1' ates made a
beautiful appearance as they moved hither and thither,
blown about bv the slight currents of wind that crept
over the surface of the lake. Some blazed up with a

120

A SAD CORTEGE.

spurt, and then suddenly died out in darkness. Others-
went away with a brilliant, steady light, floating far off^
till each lamp looked merely like the reflection of some
bright star in the dome of heaven overhead. Some
caught in the long reeds and became stationary. Others-
were stopped in their course by a fibre of grass, that
would arrest the tin}’ lamp for a moment ; then the fibre
would perchance ignite, and, burning through, set the
brilliant wanderer free to tell a false life story to some
anxious heart.

We became intensely interested in watching the
lotus lamps. Not one of the pleasure boats stirred an
oar while these indications of destiny were making their
res}>ective voyages. At length these twinkling lights-
all died out, and each questioning heart has turned
homewards with its fully believed sad or joyous answer.
AVe drew a long breath to shake off the spell of watch-
ing. A few strokes of the oar floated us to the steps of
the temple, where a mule was waiting for my husband,,
who just arrived as the lamps were extinguished. He
had been all day engaged in the streets of the city
preaching the Gospel and selling Christian books. In
the soft moonlight we walked to our inn, revolving in
our minds that the Chinese are not so prosaic as they
are generally considered.

Early the following morning we sent our- shendzles
ahead to wait for us outside the iMahommedan mosque.
As we reached the great street of the city the sun was;
rising. At one of the cross streets there was a block, occa-
sioned by a train of immense wheelbarrows laden with
crocker}’. From a side street there emerged a sad corthja
— four men carrying on their shoulders an open bier, on
Avhich a yonng man was laid in his last sleep. His face was-

rilE CHINESE MORGUE.

I2I

exposed ; a noble face it was, with fine features. Beside
the cold dead hand, that could never use them more, were
laid an ink-stone and a packet of books. The bearers ot
the dead were obliged to press close up to where we stood.
Our guide entered into conversation with them. They
said that the young man, who died in the night, had not
been sick 5 that he only gave two moans and was gone.
He was the only son of a rich family, was of great ability,
and had been in for examination. Evidently he was rich,
because the quilt that covered him was of handsome silk.
The ends also of the pillow on which his head rested were
exquisitely embroidei’ed. The body was being borne to-
the Morgue temple, there to lie till his friends should come
with a coffin for him. i\Iy mind went back to the palace
on the lake. I could not lose the idea that he was one
of the group of gay young students whom I had seen
lolling over the parapet.

‘ The doubly dead,

In that he died so young.’

M’hat hopes died out with that life we cannot tell.
I felt sorrow fill my heart for the lonely home.

This ^Morgue temple is indispensable, as the customs
of China prevent any one sheltering the dead. Such
temples are under the control of the district mandarin.
If a poor man dies far from home, a coffin is provided
for him by the authorities, and he is buried in the free
burial-ground ; but rich men often lie in coffins in these
temples for a long time.

Ever}' owner of property is held responsible for the-
death of any person whose corpse is found on his
premises. Hence, when any one seems near death in a
stranger’s house, he is at once carried towards his own
home. If he dies on the read, and the distance is toa

122

STRANGE MODE OF REVENGE.

great, tliere is always the IMorgue temple where he can
he laid. A proper-minded Chinaman cannot bear the
thought of dying in the house of a friend, as thereby he
might get his host into serious trouble. In Scotland I
felt the shock of this difference of custom. Some one
used the expression, ‘ He was a great friend of mine,
and died at my house.’ Hut, as a Chinaman thinks
that his greatest enemy could not serve him worse than
to die in his house, he would have said in such a case,
• The man had no manners.’

A very choice, refined, and effectual way of punish-
ing an enemy is to commit suicide on his premises.
The following instance came under my notice : A large
and handsome house was just completed, when, in
order to make the landlord suffer for some fancied
wrong, a carpenter entered one of the finest rooms,
fastened up the door, and then deliberately hanged
himself to a beam. It Avas many days ere the landlord
thought of opening the door. He belie\’'ed it had been
closed to keep the beautiful pillars and other decora-
tions from being spoiled. Judge of his surjAi’ise AA'hen
he discovered the state of matters. The unfortunate
landlord Avas hurried off to the court of justice. He
AA'as imprisoned, fined, and, in fact, ruined. The house
could not be occupied by a respectable tenant. For a
long time it AV'as empty. A large contingent of soldiers
arrived, and some of the officers AA'ere glad to get shelter
in the house. Eventually it AA'as let out piece-meal to
coolies and vagrants to Avhom its history Avas unknown.
As Ave walked through the street, I could not help
thinking on the strange contrariety of all things
Chinese.

In due time Ave reached the IMahommedan quarter

r/S/7' ro THE MOSQUE.

123

of tlie city, and found that the mosque was a gorgeous
building. We entered by a small side door, and there,
straight before us, was a broad flight of stejDS rising to
a great height. At intervals a landing broke the
ascent. The steps terminated at a large pa^■ilion sup-
ported on handsome pillars. This pavilion fonned one
side of the squai’e court in front of the great hall. The
hall is approached by a flight of steps, broad and
handsome, and running all along the front part of the
building. The mosque had just been repaired. The
paint and gilding were quite fresh, and the whole place
had a look of gorgeousness not usual in Chinese build-
ings. The wide portico in front was decorated by many
large mottoes beautifully framed. The mottoes chiefly
referred to the attributes of Clod, and were entirely
different from those that are put up in heathen temples.
Indeed, these scrolls might have decorated any place of
divine worship. The mottoes were : ‘God, the Pure and
dYue’; ‘The Incomparable.’ The great worship hall is
very lofty, and the ceiling beautifully panelled and
painted in fine colours, the prevailing tints being grey,
green, and gold. The roof is supported on a number of
massive wooden i^illars lacquered in crimson. The hall
is probably over two hundred and fifty feet square. The
floor is covered with a very thick matting that must
have been woven on the floor, as it encircles the pillars
without break or seam.

I was told that only on special days were women
allowed to enter. I was invited to go in, and told to
take off my shoes if I did so. I did not feel inclined to
enter, as I could see all that the hall contained. In it
were a pulpit or two for preaching, a lectern, a number
of red tables, and lacquered side tables with racks on

124

MAHOMMEDAN IVOJ/E.V.

tlie back for bolding candles. The arcbed door into tbe
boly of holies was covered with Arabic characters. A
fine Arabic scroll in gilding was over tbe arch. There
■were some framed mottoes, also in Arabic. A very fine
one was over tbe lectern in Chinese, with again tbe
motto, ‘ Tbe Incomparably True and Pure One.’ At
tbe east end was a magnificent screen of brass scroll-
work, very loftj'. Tbe whole place was beautifully
kept, and most tasteful shrubbery adorned tbe garden
of tbe A-boun’s bouse.

lleturning from tbe ball of Avorsbip, I was received
by a number of fine-looking women, whose features
differed entirely from tbe Chinese. They were all tall,
from five feet four to five feet eight, bad finely arcbed
noses and abundant hair. Tbe hair of some of them
Avas quite grey, almost snow-white, a thing seldom seen
among Chinese women. Tbe whole pose of their figures
was noble. Tbe eldest amongst tbe group spoke much,
and claimed me as a Avorsbipper of tbe true God. We
AA'ere standing at tbe top of tbe lofty flight of steps,
Avbence Ave could see many heathen temples embowered
in the trees aAvay off on tbe hillsides. To these temples
she pointed in scorn, and said, ‘ These people make
Avitb their OAvn bands gods of day and Avorsbip them.
We Avorsbip the true and pure One.’ As she stood
Avitb outstretched arm and flashing eye, she might
ba\’e been a Miriam or a Deborah.

These Avomen told me that their special duties Avere
teaching schools and instructing the A\mmen. They did
not go out to teach, but they said there are ahvays men
marrying ignorant Avomen Avho need teaching, and
children groAving out of babyhood to be instructed.
In the boys’ schools they teach the Chinese classics.

MAIIOM.MEDAN WOMEN'.

125

jMaliommeclans take degrees and become mandarins,
just as those -wlio adhere to the otlier religions of China
do. China is indeed very tolerant, and resents inter-
ference with politics moi’e than interference with
religion. These Mahommedan ladies very kindly in-
vited me to take tea with them and see over their
schools. They were dressed in the same dress as Chinese
ladies, but had their feet the natural size.

Oidy one A-houn could read Arabic, and we had not
taught any one else. He was the head A-houn, a fine-
looking and most intelligent man, who was hoping soon
to visit Mecca. Dr. Williamson presented him with
copies of some of his own writings in Chinese.

With great politeness the ladies escorted us out
and bade us adieu, telling us that when we returned to
the city we must visit them. They were exceedingly
kind, and sympathised with me over the miseries of
shendzle travelling. AVe passed down the great flight
of steps. At the door we found our shendzles waiting,
and got over that stage of our journey in good time to
reach our halting-place before dark.

125

CHAPTER X\T.

Tsi-nan-foo in Carnival time - Comical heterogeneity of the fair -A
Chinese auctioneer : his tricks of trade — Tlie natural fountain
of Tsi-nan-foo— Encounter with a bear — Merry-makers of many
kinds — Contrast between the theatres of China and Eome — The
mosque revisited — Two heroines.

On tills occasion we visited Tsi-nan-foo in tlie spring,
and during Carnival time. Holiday makers were
numerous. A large space around the great temple
and all its courts were completely occupied with
booths and stalls, on which goods of every description
Avere exposed for sale. There were stalls completely
filled with whips ; stalls where pens alone were sold ;
stalls for ink-stones ; stalls for books — the Chinese
classics in most choice editions, and novels innumer-
able ; stalls for shoes Avith the Avhitest of soles ; stalls
for hats of most fashionable shapes ; stalls filled Avith
toys ; and stalls for sham jeAvellery and endless quan-
tities of pins and other ornaments Avherewith the
Chinese Avomen decorate their hair. These last stalls
Avere surrounded by many purchasers, shoAviug that
Hrs. John Chinaman is not forgotten AAdien John goes
out for a holiday. The toy stalls Avere also much
patronised, and juA’eniles were strutting about in the
splendours of Avooden SAAmrds, brilliantly painted, their
faces adorned by false moustaches of the fiercest cut.

A STREET AUCTIOSEER.

Smaller cliildren shook rattles, flourished whips, and
hugged toy horses.

!Most interesting to me was a fine pavilion, where
the sale of plants was going on quite briskly. The
favourites were dwarf flowering shrubs. !Many dwarf
fruit trees were laden with blossoms. Small evergreen
cypresses were trained and thinned into exact repre-
sentations of miniature forest trees. Some of thes(^
were really beautiful, and would have been prized as
table decorations in England. There were hundreds
of monthly roses in various hues — deep red, pale pink,
sulphur, gold colour, and pale blush. There werci
quantities of grafted roses ; many rose trees which
would bloom during May and June ; flowering plants
growing in water, such as the lotus ; and various kinds
of narcissus. There was a most charming display of
peonies, and of the favourite flower of the Chinese
artist, the maiv tan Jiica. The air around the pavilion
was fragrant with the sweet scent of the lacci Jura.
It spoke well for the taste of Tsi-nan-foo and neigh-
'bourhood that such a display of flowers was possible,
and also that the prices given were very high.

In some of the larger booths outside the temple
courts Cheap Jack was at work, offering his wares, and
vigorously bidding against himself — beginning at fabu-
lous prices, then suddenly coining down to the value of
the article.

The street auctioneer is one of the wits of China,
and a good deal of coarse buffoonery is indulged in for
the benefit of the rustics. I stootl outside one of the
tents for a few minutes. The man was going on in a
loud chant that was quite dramatic, changing his tone,
as if two speakers were engaged, and when an article

128

A .YATUKAL FOUNT A IX.

of woman’s apparel was being offered feigning a femi-
nine voice.

A great many gambling tables were spread about ;
also tbe tables of letter-writers, soothsayers, fortune-
tellers, and various other unauthorised prophets of lucky
or unlucky days.

Very few women were visible, and these elderly ; but
many pretty little girls were carried about by their
fathers, to get a peep at all the bravery of the fair. There
was a great amount of good-natured joking, and but few
attempts at rude horse-play. I saw no intoxicated men,
and no drinking-booths. There were innumerable peri-
patetic kitchens. The Chinese take a little spirit with
their food, but have not the habit of drinking, so sadly
])i’evalent in AVestern lands. Of course there would be
•opium smoking in out-of-the-way dens, but these revel-
lers at the fair had not an opium-smoking look.

This fair is held annually. Many of the articles
brought to it for sale are the results of the winter’s
labours of the peasants in remote villages. It is the
market whence pedlars and small countiy shopkeepers
replenish their stock. One of its great attractions is
a grand theatrical display ; but this year the death of the
hhnpress Tzr Ann prevented the company from acting,
and the theatre was closed. I heard many of the rustics
bemoaning the consequent dulness of the fair.

As we passed in and out among the booths the people
were most civil, though they followed us in crowds.
AVe went over all the temple to the innermost shrine.
In the central court is a most beautiful natural fountain,
where an enormous ainoimt of water is thrown up daily.
The main gush is a foot in diameter. Many smaller
gushes rise up aU over the surface of the small lake

ENCOUNTER WITH A BEAR.

129

round which the temple buildings stand. From out this
basin there flows a large stream of water — in truth, a
rushing river, that supplies the lake. The water is pure
and crystalline, slightly warm, as in frosty weather, they
tell me, it ‘ smokes ’ all over. In all parts of the city
there are springs. If these were utilised for decorative
purposes, Tsi-nan-foo might be made a lovely city.

As we left the fair I tried to avoid the crowds by
turning sharply round a large stall at a corner of the
temple. I nearly ran into the paws of a great black
bear, who was standing on his hind legs. He had been
going through a number of military manoeuvres, and was
for a time deserted for the rival attractions of a foreig’u
woman. I felt surprised when I found myself close
under the paws of the immense shaggy beast. Fortu-
nately Bruin was occupied hugging a large brass basin.
I believe our astonishment was mutual, else he might
have visited vengeance on his rival. However, I made
a rapid retreat. I had the best of him, for he was
chained, but his chain was long enough to have enabled
him to come some few paces in pursuit.

As we get disentangled from the labyrinth of stalls
and booths we And that the ground around is much
occupied with merrj^-makers. The Punch and Judy
show is attracting crowds. Innumerable boys are
walking on stilts. A band of musicians, also on stilts,
make ‘ music in the air.’ There is a general tone of
happiness all round, and a comforting odour of cooked
viands. It makes one think of Juvenal’s saying about
‘ panem et Circenses.’ A Chinaman must have some-
thing comfortable to eat. He is a civilised creature, a
kindly soul who never brings into his games aught that
is cruel, so that they contrast most favourably with the

1 30

THE MOSQUE REVISITED.

scenes in the fimpliitlieatres of Home and Alexandria,
where torture and death alone could amuse the populace.
A Chinaman enjoys a pleasant theatrical performance,
where the court of an emperor is well represented, and
where the crafty knave falls into his own snare. The
cold-blooded tortures and cruelties alleged ag’ainst the
Chinese are all under the auspices of the magistrates’
offices and imperial decrees. The masses ax'e not
embruted by such spectacles as we read of in classic
history. Their horrors are all confined to punishments
for crime.

Passing from all the hilarity of the fair we got into
some quiet streets, and thence paid a visit to our old
friends at the Mahommedan mosque. We had ex-
changed cards, and the A-houn and his retinue were
exceedingly friendly and civil ; but the crowd that
followed us was quite unceremonious, and rushed in,
up the lofty flight of steps, and even into the private
garden of the A-houn. We made oixr visit shorter than
either the Mahommedans or we intended, as we were
much afraid lest the numbers of peojile might sixoil the
flue shrubbery.

The great hall was just as we had seen it on our
former visit. We had not leisure to visit the lady
teachers. Wo learned that the head lady had died
during the past year, and that our favourite A-houn
had gained his wish, and was in Mecca. I scanned
the crowd closely and saw that many of the faces were
not Chinese. I noticed particularly that the hair was
different, lighter in colour and finer. Their manners,
however, were not in the least affected by this difference,
as they were just the same crowding, pushing, staring
throng.

M/SS/ON FAMILIES IX INTERIOR. 131

I almost felt inclined to take back wbat I had said
about the I’arisian look of Tsi-nan-foo. This morning
it was simply detestable. Eain had fallen during the
previous day, and the streets were filthy in the extreme.
The mud was so deep and sticky that I was fearful the
coolies would abandon me to my fate. However, they
took it as a regular part of the play, and trudged
through right manfully. "NYe came across one of the
numerous runs of water, so the coolies set the sedan
down, walked into the stream, washed their shoes,
then their feet, and finally their faces. AYhen these
ablutions were completed, they shouldered the sedan
and marched cheei’fully off to the eastern part of the
city.

Since the opening of the northern ports of China,
in 1860, gentlemen have travelled through Shan-tung.
It was not considered desirable that families should re-
side in the inteidor cities. Lately, however, since the
Chinese have become accustomed to foreigners, both
British and American Missions have been able to rent
houses, and two families now reside in this city and
several in other parts of the interior.

All honour to these missionaries and to the brave,
devoted women who have chosen to uphold their hus-
bands in the interior. It is depressing to live in a
Chinese citj' ; the houses are so closely packed together,
that the only view one can have from them is the strip
of sky overhead, and what variety the clouds can there
give. But these ladies are happy and contented, helpful
to their husbands in their work, and show to the Chinese
the examples of well-ordered households.

CHAPTER XVII.

Classic China — Talk with the women — An invitation — A party of
Chinese ladies— An indolent daughter punished— Care of
Chinese mothers in training their daughters — The tomb of
Shao Hao— The Tai Shan — The Temple— The ascent of the
sacred mountain - A nunnery — A priest sitting in his bones — •
The land of Confucius — Kio-foo-hien — Invitation to the duke’s
palace — Descendants of Confucius — The Great Temple — The
tomb of Confucius — Tsow Hien- The Temple of Mencius — The
mother of Mencius — Tablet erected in honour of the sage —
Mencius contemporary with Plato and Demosthenes.

'J'o tbe south-east of Tsi-uan-foo is a hilly road leading
to the most noteworthy portion of Shan-tnng. AVe are
now in classic China, and can use a road-chart made
about twelve hundred years B.C., and a most respect-
able map it is. Climbing the hills to the south of
the capital, ever and anon we looked back over the
mighty citj', sorry to leave its lively streets and busy-
crowds. In our ten daj's’ stay we had seen hundreds
of its Avomen, and found them exceedingly religious.
Amongst them I found many fine, matronly women who
had for twenty or more years scarcely missed attending
the temples at the new and the full moon, the first and
the fifteenth of the Chinese months. In some of the
zenanas I found women Avho eagerly upheld their idols,,
and even amongst themselves Avere emphatic on the
merits of a favourite shrine. Thus the city of Tsi-nan-

TALK WITH THE WOMEH.

133

foo, witli its man}* wealthjr zenanas, bad attractions in
. my eyes greater than almost any Chinese city I had
visited, and as its loft}* walls and gateways vanished
from sight I hoped that ere long I might be permitted
to revisit it.

We stopped at a clean little inn ; and as the story
of a foreign lady travelling had preceded us, the women
of the place were all in holiday dress, and all on the
look-out. The visit of a foreign sister was a new event
in their lives, and each seemed determined to get her
fair share of the show. They crowded the courtyard,
and inspected me with no little interest. This interest
.speedily increased when I began to talk to them, and
make myself known as a thorough Chinese lady. There
is a sort of talismanic power in striking at once into the
interests, the hopes, and the fears that make up the
lives of Chinese women. At once the bond of sympath}*
is recognised, and question after question will follow
till they begin to lose sight of the foreigner in the sym-
pathetic woman. They took very kindly to the thought
that I had come to announce a doctrine for women — a
Saviour as ready to help them as to help men, and a
means by which they all might attain to heaven at the last.

After quite a long talk in the courtyard, and a pro-
mise that after the sun was set I would come out and
have another chat, I entered the inn, but had scarcely
shaken the dust from my garments when there was a
most polite invitation from one of the wealthy families
.that I should visit their house. This invitation was
made emphatic with what in their eye is the most
important reason they could urge, viz. that the old
great-grandmother, who was eighty-three years of age,
wished to see me, but she was not able to come.

134

AX AGED CHINESE LADY.

Snell is tlieir respect for age that to refuse to gratify
a request of this kind would he looked upon as an un-
kindness of the most heartless description. The young
man who hroug-ht the invitation was fine-lookinsf and
intelligent ; he had seen my husband on some former
journey, and claimed us as old friends. I was glad to
comply with the request, as I knew that I should have
an opportunity of meeting the inmates of some of the
neighbouring zenanas as well as the one to Avhich I
was invited. Of course the ladies of these zenanas
could not gTatify their curiosity by coming to the inn-
yard.

After a short rest and a cup of tea, in the pleasant
afternoon light, I made the call, and ivas introduced to
quite a bevy of beauties. The elite of the village were
gathered to see this foreign wonder. There were smiling
young girls, dignified, silent, young Chinese wives,
middle-aged, loquacious matrons, and inquisitive grand-
mothers, all surrounded by a small mob of women-serv-
ants and nurses with their infant charges. In the midst
— queen of them all, as if holding court — was the aged
Chinese gTeat-gTandmother of eighty-three.

Contrary to my experience, this lady in her old age
was \er\ beautiful. She had a clear, delicate complexion;
bright, dark eyes, in which there AA'as no sign of age ; her
hair Avas snoAvw AA'hite, yet still so abundant that she had
no need for the head-band generally Avorn by the aged
Avomen. Her jacket of bright blue brocaded silk made
a fine contrast to her sih*ery crown of hair. Altogether
she looked, and I am sure she was, most lovable. For
forty-two years she had ruled the household alone ; this
had giA^en dignity to her deportment, and in her manner
there AA*as a peculiar graciousness.

Ay I y DO LENT DAUGHTER TUNISIIED. 135

Some most exquisite confections were served, and
then tea and pipes and tobacco. AVe had a long, pleasant
conversation, the old Tai Tai, as she was called, asking
some most apt questions. AVhile we elder women were
talking the young beauties drew near, and to each
other commented on my dress, my manners, the immense
size of my feet, and also expressed their appreciation of
the fact that my language was the same a,s their own.

In a pause of the conversation suddenly there was
an enquiry for some one named !Mae Koo, or Hawthorn
Blossom. Her mother, an active-looking matron of forty
or thereabouts, answered for her : ‘ Oh, she has been so
indolent that for three months she has not made even a
pair of shoes. AVe scolded her day after day, so now I
have punished her.’

‘ How old is she ? ’ I asked.

‘ Seventeen,’ was the answer.

AVondering what kind of punishment she had given
her daughter, and also wishing to learn a new lesson on
their domestic life, I said I should so much like to see
the J’oung lady. The be\y of beauties giggled, but her
mother at once said, ’■ Oh yes ! come ; she will like to see
you.’ Leading the way to a suite of apartments at the
extreme north of the courtyard, she lifted a silken curtain
and ushered me into a pretty room, with some very finel}"-
carved wooden figures standing on a side table. There
was no sign of an occupant. The brick bedstead, or
was faced all round with about two feet of open
carved work, and there in one corner stood an exceedingly
beautiful young woman, tied up by her thumbs! The
silken braid with which her thumbs were fastened was
so i:)ut round the offending digits, that while not
hurting, it was impossible to get out, and efforts for

CAA'£ OF CHINESE MOTHERS

ij5

release would only tigliten the tie. A most uncomfort-
able position, and quite trying enough to prevent idleness
in any maiden !

There she stood, her tiny feet resting on one of the
hard pillows they are so fond of using, and spread out
before her a fine confusion of silk and satin scraps, half-
made shoes, and unfinished embroidery, and in a tangle
a'l sorts of tinsel and fancy braids. These she had to
gaze upon — a quiet repi’oach in every unfinished thread.

‘ There is !Miss Idleness,’ said her mother, ‘ and there
are all the thino-s she ouoht loner atyo to have finished.

o o o o

How will a young lady like that ever finish a wedding
trousseau, even if she begins it ?’

‘ Now that I have come to see her you will take her
down,’ 1 pleaded.

The girl's pretty face was sulky, but there was a look
c-f interest in her eyes when she heard me speak.

I said, ‘ I am sure after this you will be more diligent,’
and I quoted two lines from their woman’s classic.

The mother said, ‘ I am not goingto take the trouble
to clamber up and release you ; I’ll send Mae Fang.’

AVe departed, and l\Iae Fang did her duty in un-
tying her friend ; but the idle young lady could not be
induced to join the talkers in her grandmother's sitting-
room. It would not be expected ; no one feels dignified
after being punished.

In the North I have always found Chinese mothers
('xceedingly careful that their daughters should be
trained to industrious habits. Tlie beautiful embroidery
made in all Chinese zenanas is a great blessing to the
secluded ladies. Like the tapestries of the olden time
in AVestern lands, in making these embroideries there
is a great deal to interest the mind and exercise the

IN TRAINING THEIR DAUGHTERS,

137

taste. Ijadies draw their own patterns on the material,
and are constantly on the look-out for some new design
in this style of decorative art. In a large zenana there
are always one or two ladies who have great facility
with their pencils. In working the embroidery they
select with great care the various colours and shades.

In the Li-Ki, Book of Rites, b.c. 800, the law is laid
down for zenanas. ‘ From their tenth year girls are not to
be allowed to go out. A widow is to teach them tender-
ness, grace, and obedience. They are to be taught to
work in hemp and linen, to manage silk cocoons, to braid
trimmings and fringes. They are to learn all kinds of
Avomen’s work, and to make garments. They are to
learn to look after sacrifices, take charge of sauces,
pickles, fruit, and meat. In all the worship they are to
assist at offerings before the gods.

‘ In their fifteenth year they are to receive ornaments
for the hair, to show that they are grown up. In their
tweirtieth year they are to be married, unless they are
mourning for a parent. In that case in their twenty-
third year they are to be married.

‘ When the parents are seventy j-ears old, the
management of the zenana is put into the hands of the
eldest son and his wife. But if the father dies before
the mother is seventy, all must submit to the old
mother.’

This zenana Avas Avell ordered and governed accord-
ing to the rites. After manv invitations to return and
A’isit them aa'O made our adieus, escorted to the library
<loor by all the elder ladies, and from thence to the
inn-yard by tAvo middle-aged AA*aiting Avomen.

AVith a feeling of regret, as though parting from
friends, I left the tidy little room and the bright faces.

138 . GANDERS TO KEEP WATCH.

I believe the pure mountain air had given them a beauty
of complexion and an elasticity of spirits unusual in
Chinese women.

The night was miserably cold, and before daybreak
we started over a wild and rocky road. We crossed
the ridge just as the sun glinted over the hills and sent
a flush of gold athwart a scene very like the banks of the
Tweed at Berwick, only on a grander scale. There was
a stretch of lofty hills where the limestone, having
decayed, had left many a pillared temple. The whole
scene recalled

‘Xorliam’s castled steep,

And Tv,eed’s fair river, broad and deep.’

On the steeps on either side there were numerous u'ei
hies, or refuges, with their banks of loose stones in readi-
ness for the pates of robbers, and far below in the valley
the river lay winding through.

The bank on which the road is made is high and
torn off, leaving the side abruptly precipitous down to
the water, some eighteen or twenty feet below, showing
that at times the stream must rush along with great
violence and carry off masses of earth. There were
immense numbers of beautiful ducks swimming and
paddling on the shallow side of the river. There were
also great flocks of geese in charge of most warlike
ganders, keeping the flock together, much as collie dogs
tend a flock of sheep.

These fierce birds were utilised by the farmers to
keep watch in their yards, and the noise made by some
of these was as effective in rousing the inmates as any
‘ watch-dog’s honest bark ’ could be. Certainly to the
intruder the noise was more disagreeable, while the beat

THE TOMB OF SHAO HAO.

139

of the extentlecl wings and the snap of the great beak
were exceedingly formidable.

'fhe country we were now traversing is the centre of
classic China, where every hill has a history and monu-
ments telling of the visits of emperors to the temples
of the sages. The temples are historic, built to men
famous for wisdom in all departments of life ; to men
whose engineering skill was called out to save the
country from the floods of the Yellow Kiver ; and also to
men who had guided the state through many a troublous
epoch. What tributes to brain power are found all
over classic China ! Tablets everywhere, and once we
came on a genuine pyramid, the tomb of Shao Hao,
who is said to have reigned B.c. 2-j97-2-j13.*

We crossed the beautiful Wan river, famous for its
sounding stones, and picked up pieces of coarse hour-
blende, which, on being struck, gave out a clear, sonorous
note, the larger and thicker giving the deepest tone.
These stones, it is recorded, formed part of the taxes
mentioned in the Trihute of Yi(, some two thousand two
hundred years B.C. ; and in the catalogue of the imperial
musical instruments such stones are mentioned. They
are suspended on a frame and tuned to a scale.

In this neighbourhood the villages had a most comical

O O

appearance, as roof, walls, and sometimes even the doors,
were covered over with paper, drying and bleaching — a
very poor paper made chiefly from straw and old rope.

In the afternoon light we descry one of the places of
special pilgrimage in Shan-tung, the Tai Shan, which is
the highest peak of a range of hills. Afar off we can
see the temples on its summit, their brilliant red walls
presenting a fine contrast to the green of the hill. We
■ See Journeys in North China, vol. i. p. 234.

TL'E TAI SHAN.

340

to travel round the hill, always keeping the temple
ill sight and not getting nearer, when suddenly, at
the foot of the hill, we reached the city of Tai-ngan-
foo. In the time of pilgrimages this city is very lively
and interesting, being full of pilgrims, old and young,
men, women, and even little children. Everything was
•quiet as we reached our inn, a fine large courtyard with
suites of apartments dotted all over it. Our innkeeper
was civil, but seemed to have a decided objection to our
having anything cooked ; and finally we ordered supper
from a cookshop, and most palatable it was, costing as
much as a supper in a first-class restaurant in England.

It was a glorious evening, so we proceeded to inspect
the great temple in the city, built to the divinity of
•the Tai Shan, which is the chief of the five Sacred
IMountains of China. The history of its worship goes
Lack to far remote times. It is said to have been an
object of worship 22-j-j B.c. There are authentic hi.stories
to show that for more than four thousand j'ears genera-
tion after generation has worshipped here. IVople and
.sovereigns have alike paid homage at this hill. It seems
as if each generation had had its own particular deity,
sometimes a god, sometimes a goddess, just as feeling
moved them. For all these generations has prayer been
made here, and emp 'rors have left records of their visits.
,8till the ])ilgrinis come year by year, with only a vague
idea of what benefit they are going to receive.

Over the entrance to the great temple there is a
tablet, and on it is inscribed ‘ Tai Shan is decreed to
give happiness.’ Still the quest, in East and West alike,
is happiness. How pathetic is all this striving for
happiness ! The human heart desires that for which it
was created. When will the world find it in obeying

THE TEMTLE.

MI.

the gracious words, ^ Come unto Me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest ’ ?

The lofty gateway of the temple faces the south, and
the great street running east and west is called the
‘ Way or Pass to Heaven.’ The entrance is a most mag-
nificent stone arch of the kind known in China as a
fo-UQ, i.e. square at the top. This arch looks loftier
than its actual height, as there is a paved sloping walk
leading up to it. Straight in front there is a beautiful
pavilion, where, we were informed, officials who find the
emperor’s business too urgent for them to take time to-
ascend the mountain may worship looking towards its-
summit. ‘ Far-off audience’ this is called ! Another fine
arch, and then the main gateway is reached. A row of
five immense gateways, the central one for royalty, the
others for magistrates, the outmost two for subjects ; but
one only stands open. The space within is very large,
as the wall is tlii’ee and a half li round, i.e. over a mile.

The temple itself is a fine lofty building, the roof
supported on ninety pillars, some forty feet high, all
shining with pure vermilion lacquer. The whole place
is worthy of Imperial China. It would take a day to-
see it and admire its galleries and temples and elaborate
imperial tablets. Nature too has done much for it, as
the cypress trees were very beautiful, as well as the
courts and walks of soft green grass. In some places
there were tables where tea was being sold, and literary
men chatting in learned fashion between their sips.

During the pilgrimage season, fairs, theatres, auc-
tions, &c., are held in the courts of the temple.

Before sunrise the next morning two mountain chair.s^
were ready, and the bearers having laid in a quantity
of solid flour bread, we started for the top of the Sacred

142

AS C EXT OF THE SACRED MOUNTAIN.

Mountain. Tlie liill is a veritable Pilgrim’s Progress
(lone in stone. Temples, pavilions, arbours, inscriptions,
records of imperial visits made — sometimes, in adverse
circumstances — bridges, gTottoes, and monuments. One
particularly attracted me : a great stone obelisk, and not
a single character on it ! We were gravel v told it was
erected to the emperor who burned the books, and, as a
reproach to his ignorance, not a character was cnt on it.
Satire in earnest !

China’s history is well represented here, as almost
every noteworthy emperor and sage has mention, honour-
able or otherwise. Up and up we go, passing 5,G10
steps either cut in the rock or built upon it. ]\Iany
spots bear most poetical names. I am afraid to look
downward as the men climb near the summit, and we
come to a flat sort of bridge called ‘ Touch the Sky,’ then
to the ‘ Gate of Heaven.’

Here we rest, and the men point out a spot to me
which is the most precipitous of all, and certainly over-
looks a fearful precipice. A wall is built to prevent
access to it. ]\[any pilgrims were in the habit of making
vows that if the gods of the Tai Shan sjiared the life
of a father or a mother, they would return and cast them-
selves from thence, and be dashed to pieces on the rocks
below — a sacrifice to the gods, as an act of filial piety.
This became so frequent that government had to inter-
dict the practice, and one of the emperors gave orders to
build the wall.

A glorious view rewarded us for our long climb. A
clear blue sky, not a cloud or a tint of haze. North of
us hills lay, range after range in their gTandeur and
solitude. Southwards and eastwards and westwards
stretched the great plain of Shan-tung, an ocean cf grain.

A A’UXNERY.

143

We could only see the Wun river by its gleaming waters
winding through, and the many brooks like silver streaks
that fall into the main river. The city of Tai-ngan-foo
we had just left, lying close to the hill, looks small, its
great temple walls scarcely visible. In the pilgrimage
season, on the day of the full moon, sometimes as many
as ten thousand persons ascend the hill.

"We made a rapid descent, and at times it seemed
dang-erous. The chair coolie tripped once, and but for
the presence of mind of his neighbour, who grasped an
iron chain that was fixed in the parapet, we should have
been sent whirling down some thii’ty or forty granite
steps. I could see they felt the danger by the scared
look on their faces and the smothered exclamation.

By the side of a brawling strea)u we came down, and
finally the coolies deposited me at the door of a pretty
temple. Out came three or four of the occupants, each
smoking a long pipe. They escorted me in after a
fashion that took my companions by surprise. But the
explanation was simple : the place was a nunnery, and
they were nuns, dressed in every way like priests, and
with large feet. ‘ North Bole Queen ’ was the name of
this temple or nunnery.

They took me into a large hall, and from the back
window there was a lovely peep of a cascade. A most
romantic spot these nuns had chosen, and they had a
most comfortable home. They were intelligent women,
and gave me a graphic description of the great temple
in Tai-ngan-foo, of which we have spoken. Temple after
temple on the hill had fallen to decay ; but they were
always rebuilt at an enormous expense. The imperial
treasury was always ready with grants of money. Only
recently the whole place had undergone repair.

144

A rRIEST SITTIXG IN HIS BONES.

Tliese bright and lively nuns claimed kin with
me, for had we not the same large feet, and were
we not living to help our fellow-creatures ? The
eldest, who was a scholar, and who enjoyed the fun
of my making Chinese quotations, declared that 1
ought to come and live with them and teach the pil-
grims. They told me they got very large sums of money,
and they beautified the temple with it. Eich ladies
often come to stay with them during the pilgrimage
time.

Parting from the nuns, Ave visited a priest sitting in
his bones, who died a hundred and thirty years ago.
He was sitting cross-legged in a shrine, where he had
.sat and starved himself to death in search of immor-
tality. Far less ghastly than the friars of the chapel of
St. John in IMalta, yet he Avas not a pleasant object.
Over his face is a mask, and around his shoulders a
mantle. As we passed out a number of people entered
and prostrated themseh^es before this piece of departed
humanity. I belieA’e he is a good source of reA'enue to
the priests.

Seen from the garden of this temple, the Tai Shan
presents a A’ery remarkable sight. It Avould be diffi-
cult to find elseAvhere a hill Avith so many human asso-
ciations. And iji a religious sense also it is a great
monument, testifying to the cry of the human heart
for something to Avorship. The Emperor Shun is said,
in the first year of his reign, to have worshipped
‘Heaven.’ This term ‘HeaA’en’ is precisely the same
as we ha\’e, when the prodigal returned. He said, ‘ I
liaA'e sinned against HeaA^en ’ : it means the Most High
God. AfterAvards there Avas worship made to the spirits
of the hills and rivers. In all the temples on this hill.

CONFUCIUS.

145

and upon tlie monuments, there is nothing that ap-
proaches the sensuous ; all is pure, and this tells its own
tale as to Chinese mind and feeling.

In the dim grey of early morning, we bade farewell
to the city of Tai-ngan-foo, and set our faces toward
the land of China’s greatest sage, Confucius. Great he
must have been, as no man has ever influenced so many
minds ; and the teachings of no other man have such
amazing power over the minds of so many millions.
And this power was gained by wisdom alone. Confucius
never sought by any undue means to gain this influence ;
no pretended revelation from heaven, no tales of visions
and messages in supernatural ways. In a clear and
straightforward manner he expounded The Art of Livmg.
He was wise in this — that he kept his teaching strictly
to things within his knowledge. The problem of life
must have been much before his mind, when he de-
scanted on the five relations, viz. between sovereign and
subject, between father and son, between elder brother
and younger, between husband and wife, and between
friend and friend.

It was rather a risk venturing on such classic ground
as the city of Kio-foo-hien. How would the descendants
of the sage tolerate a foreign woman wandering about
the tomb and temple of the ‘ teacher of ten thousand
ages ’ ? These questions came up as we traversed the
road on the banks of the Sze Shui river, another of the
streams famous anterior to the time of Abraham, and
spoken of in the TrUmte of 1 it, for certain articles that
were sent from the neighbourhood as taxes. Xear this
river is the hill always associated with the mother of
Confucius, on which there is a famed temple in honour
of the mother of the'gi'eat man.

146

AI ESS AGE FROM THE DUKE.

It was a liot autumn afternoon wlien we readied the
]\Iecca of China. Scarcely had we deposited our tra-
velling impedimenta in a wretched inn, with a floor of
clay and walls of mud and straw, when two servants
from the palace arrived with a request to know the
names of the illustrious travellers. IMy husband’s card
being given to the men, in about half-an-hour the mes-
sengers returned with four coolies bearing an exquisite
luncheon. The duke had sent his card and a message
of great kindness. On a former occasion my husband
had visited the palace. The message now was that they
still had a pleasant remembrance of his visit ; would
so like to see him again, but, alas ! the shadow of death
was hovering over the palace : the beloved mother had
but a few hours to live, the whole place was in sorrow,
and the grave-clothes were being prepared.

Although the palace was in the utmost confusion,
they would have the pleasure of receiving us in the
‘ hall of preaching ’ within the temple ; and the ladies
of the fainily would wait on me. The doors of the
temple would be thrown open to us.

The duke’s card and the message were suitably ac-
knowledged, and we promised to accept the in\’itation
to the Idamj shn tang, or ‘ hall of preaching.’

AVe set out to look at the city, not a very large one,
but lively and busy. Our inn was close to the south
gate. AVe found that besides the ordinary city gate to
the south, there was a special gate reserved for royalty
— an imperial south gate — directly in front of the
celebrated Confucian temple and the street leading in a
direct line to the temple gates. The west part of the
city is almost entirely taken up by this temple and
grounds ; and in this district, it is said, Confucius lived.

DESCENDANTS OF CONFUCIUS.

147

It was a lesson in history to talk with the men of
the place, who counted seventy-nine generations direct
from the sage ; men whose ancestors in one unbroken
line have lived and died in this city. ]\Iore strange
still is it to notice that these men, in face and fio-ure
bear a distinct resemblance to the portrait that the
old graven stones still keep in trust as a likeness of
Confucius.

One tall, poi’tly man, thirty-two years of age, inter-
ested us particularly, since he looked, I feel sure, exactly
like what Confucius must have been at his age. A
plausible, genial man, he seemed, obliging and likely to
get on vrell with those in whose company he was thrown,
lie told us that nowadays not many of the name took
high degrees in literature, feeling evidently that the
fame of their great sire was quite enough for them to
the end of time. When we passed his liouse — which
was humble enough, though he was handsome and
lordly — he rushed in and brought out two of his boys
and their mother to see the foreigners. I gave them
some foreign articles I had in my reticule, and they
were greatly pleased. One thing was carefully exam-
ined and praised, a reel of J. and P. Coats’s white
thread ! The woman said that for many years it would
suffice for stitching the black velvet ornaments on her
husband’s shoes.

Is ext day in the pleasant dewy morning we set out
— according to arrangement — to visit the great temple.
It stands to the west of the great gate, and there,
under a verandah, were assembled quite a crowd of
ladies with their attendants. Two of the elderly ladies
of the family and four attendants, who also were related
to the duke’s household, came at once across to meet me

148 THE LADIES OF THE PALACE.

aucl escort me over the temple. We had .a pleasant
morning. I found them most companionable and intelli-
gent. W^e talked of many matters of Chinese interest,
and they questioned me on many things relating to
England. Queen Victoria was a favourite subject.

‘ What size are her feet ? ’ was the first question.

‘ I believe about the size of the feet of the present
Empress of China,’ was my reply.

‘ Oh yes ! the Great Illustrious Empress has large
feet. She is a 3Ianchu.’

They were most anxious that I should see every-
thing that Avas noteworthy. They told me that they
often sat in the portion of the palace where the classics
of Confucius were dug out of the walls, in Avhich scholars
had hidden them, to save them from the emperor who
burned the books ; ‘ and of course,’ said they, ‘ that
ignorant emperor searched most carefully in the birth-
place of Confucius for the classics.’

It was a new idea to them Avhen I told them that
Queen ^Tctoria wrote books.

The part of the temple where the musical instru-
ments are kept had great attractions for them ; and
one of the j’ounger Avomen made a very good attempt
on a kind of harp to accompany herself while she sang
a faA’Ourite song, ‘The mo lee wha,’ — ‘The jessamine
floAA’er.’

We set out to vieAv the temple. The lofty, yelloAA'-
tiled roof of the great shrine looked like gold in the
sun’s rays, and the niarble pillars with the exquisitely
carved dragons coiled at the top AA'ere a sight of beauty.
The building Avas most carefully kept, and all round
the eaves there Avere Avire guards to keep out the birds.
Thev Avere extremely proud of the shrine, and asked me

THE TEMPLE.

149

to admire tlie gorgeous silken curtains that covered it.
The likeness of Confucius within is a large one, eighteen
Chinese feet high, and coloured life-like. The important
part, however, to them was the ixd tcai, or worship
tablet, his spirit’s resting-place.

At last we came to the preaching-hall, and there
we were served with an elegant repast, their morning
meal. Refreshing tea, cakes of many kinds, confec-
tions and some most delicious sweets with white icing,
each cake bearing the Chinese character of the duke’s
name in vermilion.

Tiffin over, we were shown a temple to the father,
and another to the mother of the sage, and also, behind
all, a temple in honour of his wife.

The ladies made me promise that if there was any
amendment in the symptoms of the sick lady I would
gratify the ladies of the palace by visiting them. We
bade each other farewell, and they were quite affectionate.
In the evening many boxes of sweetmeats were sent for
our use on the road, an attention never omitted where
there is friendliness and good will. The duke’s card
accompanied the present, and a message that the sick-
ness was unto death, and no hope was entertained of
the patient surviving till the morning.

In the afternoon a mounted escort was waiting to
conduct us over the graveyard. The fine avenue of
cypress trees leads straight from the north gate. The
burial-ground is of great extent, but the part where the
tomb of Confucius stands is enclosed by a high wall.
Aronnd the grave there are some fine old trees and
beautiful shrubs. There also are the graves of his family.

Wo were shown the spot where his disciples built
huts and dwelt in them, mourning their master for three

150

MOURNING FOR CONFUCIUS.

years ; and one favourite disciple sat for six years over
his grave and mourned him. The graves of his clan are
scattered ov^er a vast extent of ground, and the enclosure
contains much ground still unoccupied. The stones
all hear the date of so many generations after Confucius.
We saw the seventy-sixth, and were told that the young
children playing round the place were the seventy-ninth
generation.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Tsow Hien, or the city of Mencius— Our reception there — The
teaching of Chinese sages.

Tsow IIiEX, our next stage, is a citj' tvitli all the most
pleasing characteristics of a Chinese landscape. The
exquisite pagoda, the fine old grey walls, and the
picturesque range of hills lying beyond the city, make
a picture so completely Chinese as to satisfy the most
ardent worshipper of all that is pleasant in the peculiar
style of the Flowery Kingdom. In the range of hills
ljung behind Tsow Hien there is one mountain of
historic fame, the loftiest of the range, a high peak seen
from a great distance, called the Vih Mountain. In the
well-known TriJnite of Yii this mountain is spoken of as
the part from whence was brought in tribute to the
emperor the wood of a famous dryandra tree, celebrated
for the purpose of making lutes for the imperial palace.

At the present day this hill still has atti’actions for
the traveller on accoifiit of the stones that take the forms
of so many different things. One rock is said to be
exactly like a drum, another like a bell. We did not
explore the hill and its wonders, but pushed on to the
southei’n suburb.

I had a personal interest in wishing to visit the
Temple of Mencius, which is situated in this town

152

A MODEL MOTHER.

Through all niy residence in China I had constantly
heard of Meng Mu, the mother of Mencius. Her fame
is in every household, and she is constantly quoted as
an incentive to young mothers to take care of their
children ; and constantly held up as an example of how
careful mothers ought to be in regard to what they allow
their children to see or become familiar with in their
youthful years. 'Women who know nothing of what
IMencius taught, know a great deal about what his mother
taught him.

The Chinese idea of maternal wisdom is summed up
in Meng Mu. Her boy was but an infant when his
father died, leaving her residing near a large public
graveyard. This she believed to be a bad surrounding
for her boy, so she changed her abode. However, she had
not been sufficiently careful, because she found herself
in the neighbourhood of a market, and lo ! a butcher
opened a shop close to her house. Her boy, clever and
imitative, began to watch and imitate the butcher ; so,
fearing this might develop a cruel nature in him, again
she changed her abode, and found congenial neighbours
in an adjoining school. No doubt she had some anxiety
here also, as the pupils would be likely to teach the well-
guarded boy not a few schoolboy tricks. At all events
he was apt to be idle at his lessons and inclined to j^lay
truant. History tells us that she was obliged to resort
to a most graphic object-lesson to teach the incipient
sage the value of continued exertion in acquiring learn-
ing. She was engaged in weaving a web of cloth, so
she cut the threads across with a knife, to show him the
dangers arising from a lack of continuity. The web was
a web no more, only a small piece of woven cloth and a
tangle of useless thread. WT can judge that the object-

OUR RECEPTKN.

1S3

lesson was not lost on young Meng Ko, as his after
fame amply compensated liis mother for her spoiled web
and her many changes of abode.

The gatekeeper recognised my husband, and at once
admitted us. He congratulated me on being the wife
of a sage, and laughed outright when with a toiich of
sadness in my voice, I informed him ‘ it was only the
mothers of sages who were famous.’

Here, as at the Temple of Confucius, the man was
anxious that we should see the whole of the wonders
of the place. The most striking object to be seen on
entering is a colossal tortoise of marble, bearing on his
back a huge tablet. The tablet is over twenty feet high
and six broad, a magnificent slab of greyish pink marble.
This tablet was erected by the Emperor Kang-hi, in
honour of the sage. It had a regal look. The tortoise
is finely cut in black marble, and is over twelve feet long.
It must have been a work of engineering skill to poise
that slab on the back of the tortoise.

An avenue of cypress trees leads to the temple, and
on each side stand numerous tablets in honour of the
sage. Each dynasty seems to have done honour to
the great man. In the main temple, which does not
compare with the Temple of Confucius, there is a large
statue of Mencius. It stands on a raised platform
enclosed in a shrine gorgeous with carving and gilding.
The statue is reported to be a good likeness, and cer-
tainly from the stone there gleams a look of power, if
not of genius. With all the drawbacks of the rude skill
of the graver, we can at once see that no ordinary or
commonplace Chinaman is represented here. He was a
man evidently of swift thought and rapid action. A
Chinese face with a history. Mencius was contemporary

CHINESE SAGES.

1 54

with Plato, Aristotle, and Demosthenes. Born B.c. 371,
he died at the age of eighty-four. His descendants
still live here. The eldest of the present generation is
seventy-two, his sons and grandsons are bright, intelli-
gent young men. I was told that there were a few
children of the seventy-third generation living at the
family house.

Like Confucius, the sage Mencius taught The Art of
Living, and most stoutly denounced the sins of the age.
His teachings on public and private morality are weighty.

On our way home we visited the burial-ground of
the family of j\tencius. It lies about six miles from the
city, on the southern slope of a beautiful hill. Nearing
it we enter a fine avenue of cypress and yew trees.
Traversing this, we come to a tablet, on which is en-
graved, ‘ Erected in honour of the holy Sage Mencius,’
and on the left of this tablet is a small mountain, under
which his remains repose. His mother’s tomb lies on a
similar hillside about eight miles distant.

155

CHAPTER XIX.

-P

Cliina’s SorroiV ’—Crossing the Yellow River— The ferry: ferrymen
and mules — Rural life— A fine inn, but a bad landlord— Uni-
formity of the scenery — Wheelbarrows with sails— Arid soil —
How the natives treated the gods tc cause them to send rain.

We now resume our journey to Peking along the old
highways. Four hours from Tsi-nan-foo we reached
the famous A'ellow River, well called ‘ China’s Sorrow.’
The Emperor Kia King, A.D. 1796-1811, in his will
gave it this name, and speaks of it as having been from
remotest ages ‘ China’s Sorrow.’ When we crossed it
looked peaceful enough, for the waters were low, but
the current was very rapid, and altogether it looked the
kind of stream one would not like to trust. At this
ferry there was visible one of the numerous griefs inflicted
on the government by this treacherous river, viz. a fine
bridge almost completely destroyed. In the centre of
the stream several arches still remained. Originally the
bridge seemed to have been strongly and solidly built,
but the arches had been too low. The river swept
iinder as long as it could, but when tlie waters rose and
it gained force it rushed over and carried away a great
part of the bridge.

In the hamlet above the ferry there seemed as
choice a collection of ruffians as I have ever seen. They
just matched the river — wild and turbulent they were,

156

FERRYMEN AND MULES.

evil-looking also. Our sliendzles were seized by tbem,
and tliey were determined to have our patronage for
tlie nigbt. The muleteers agreed with the fellows who
wished to detain us, and with quite an effort we got to
the river side. The sun was still high, and to make
our proper halting-places it was necessary to cross the
Yellow River that afternoon.

A large boat lay at the ferry, and the boatmen were
as anxious to carry us across as the innkeepers were to
detain us. So Ave pitted one set of ruffians against
another. My husband’s ideas coincided with those of
the ferrymen, and Ave resoh'ed to cross. The mules
Avere unloaded, A"ery reluctantly by the muleteers, very
heartily by the ferrymen : the baulked innkeepers
hovering gloomily around. The great ferry-boat already
contained two immense AvheelbarroAvs laden Avith delf
teapots. These barroAA^s AA'ere Avheeled to the stern, and
Avith much noise and shouting our shendzles AA^ere put
on board. On the margin there was a lively scene.
The mules, held firmly by the bridles, AA^ere plunging
about Avildly and rearing. The innkeepers stood halloo-
ing, still more to exasperate the frightened animals.

But at last all are on board, and Ave are shoAmd off.
We sail softly doAvn the stream, the men managing the
huge sail admirably. On the east side the current ran
strongly, but on the AA^est it Avas much slower. After
running doAAm Avitli the current we tacked, and came
sloAvly up the Avest bank, and disembarked at a point
only a little loAver doAvn than Avhere we had started.
There was no difficulty in disembarking ; the mules Avere
soon laden, and the shendzles Avere just in motion, Avhen
suddenly there arose a great hoAvl for bucksheesh. My
shendzle AA'as surrounded. A cry of disappointment

RURAL LIFE.

157

arose, for the shendzle was empty, as I preferred to walk
up the hank. Pell-mell they riisli on my husband’s
shendzle. They seem as if going to devour him, mules
and all. He scatters some cash, and in the scramble
the shendzle escapes, and we pass on our way un-
molested.

It is a lovely evening, the sun is still an hour from
setting. Everything is quiet except the tinkle-tinkle
of the mule bells and the lowing of oxen as they go
home from the fields. One set were just ahead of us,
three fine oxen abreast, and a mean little donkey with
his long traces as slack as they could possibly be, not
to entangle his heels. They were dragging a sledge
that is used to mark the width of the furrows, with a
box for sowing the seed in front. On the sledge are
now piled a harrow and a plough, with its polished
share brightly gleaming in the setting sun. The man
behind is carrying a windlass and close basket bucket
for raising water. The Chinese never leave any of
their farming implements in the fields. 'J'hough their
lives are primitive, their simplicity is not primitive.
Neighbour does not as a rule steal from neighbour, but
passing travellers consider the villagers fair prey.

Sometimes, as on this occasion, we see fine bits of
real rural life. A fine mule was dragging home a small
stone roller ; on his back was seated a sturdy little three-
year-old boy, chubby and rosy as any farmhouse pet
ill either ‘ Merrie England,’ or ‘ Bonnie Scotland ’ ; a
troop of larger children were following' and gambolling
around him. Young China was held on by his[^ather.
At the door of the house stood a smiling woman, young
and pretty, clapping her hands, and holding them out
for the little rider, who was kicking his little heels and

158

A BAD LANDLORD.

crowing back to lier. It was a lovely picture. The
colouring also was fine ; the soft grey of the mule, the
little boy with scarlet jacket and vivid green trousers,
and the elder children in various shades of blue. The
handsome young father also was a genuine son of the
soil, burnt and copper-coloured.

Soon after crossing the Yellow River we stopped to
enquire the way, and the answer to our enquiry was,
‘ Wang pei kii,’ that is, ‘ Go to the north.’ We went
northwards. The country- looked lovely in the twilight.
I walked for miles along the level road, sliaded at intervals
by lofty elm, beech, poplar, and willow trees. At this
season these have their fairest, freshest look. The wheat
though short was not parched, as a shower of rain had
fallen during the previous day. It was long after dark
when we reached the town of Ma Kia Tien, but W(i
found a fine inn, a Koong Kwan.

In the morning the landlord was very hard to satisfy.
We got in so late that there had been no time to make
an agreement as to money ; and for the honour of
entertaining us with the comforts of a large wooden
bench as a bed, and a little hot water for tea, he wanted
the same sum that the Foo Tai ' had paid, who had
brought something like fifty followers. AVe could not
reduce him to a reasonable charge, but compromised for
about half the sum he demanded.

AVe now reached a part of the province where streets,
shops, inns, temples have a uniform colour, and that is
the colour of their fields. The people also are grim and
grey-looking. ‘ And Adam was made out of the dust
of the ground.’ These words are constantly coming up
to me. The walls and roofs of the houses are only stalks
’ Governor of the Province.

UNIFORMITY OF THE SCENERY. 159

of millet plastered over. Few of the houses have even
the variety of a ridge pole, or any indication of where
the one side of the roof slopes off from the other. All
is one plaster of mud. Truly ‘mother earth ’ is mother
earth to them. But, with this glorious brightness of
sky, and the lovely trees, some of them all aglow with
fruit-blossoms, not even a clay-coloured village can look
quite repulsive : and ever and anon from the most
wretched hovels Avill peep the sunny faces of children.
Their bright blue jackets form a pleasant contrast to
the neutral tint of these sepia hamlets, as I called them,
and as one after another of these little black-eyed faces
smiled at me I could not help thinking of Dr. Charles
INIackay’s lines : —

‘ Who bids for these little children ?

Body and soul and brain.

Who bids for these little children ?

Young and without a stain.’

Occasionally we are startled. A distant curve of the
road seems suddenly full of sails, just like a small fleet
of pleasure boats. Each tiny sail has its ropes all taut.
Sometimes, if the wind is high, a reef is taken up in the
sail. Surely this is Liliput, and we are on the track of
elves or fairies. Such miniature sails could not propel
aught but a fairy bark. Certainly these are going
steadily and at a good rate. ‘ Is there water there ? ’ is
a question we ask ourselves. Possibly there may be,
for low banks prevent our seeing aught; but the Lili-
putian sails are gliding on. There is a break in the
embankment, and one by one the sails fleet past the
opening. These are the land yachts of North China!
the prosaic wheelbarrows ! The sails must be of much
assistance in propelling them, for they are very heavy.

i6o WHEELBARROWS WITH SAILS.

find there are generally two iiien, but sometimes only
one, handling each wheelbarrow. Human labour could
scarcely exceed the strain these wheelbarrow men bear.
j\[ilton speaks of Cathay, where Chinese ‘ drive their
cany waggons light.’ Had he seen them, and not merely

the tale in i\larco Polo, he would have had to use a
different adjective. Our mules don't like the sails, and
are always ti-oublesome while passing them.

We had a hot, dusty ride between Yen Tien and
Ur Shih le poo. All along the way, one is almost op-

ARID SOIL.

i6l

pressed by realising tbe great efforts required to trans-
port tilings from place to place. Surely tbe Via Victoria
ouglit to be here, to relieve this dreadful pressure, and
give human beings a chance of being something else
than mere beasts of burden. In the Southern provinces,
where water-ways are abundant, the urgent need of
railways is not felt, but in the North, wdiere there are
no water-ways, railways are necessary for the well-being
of the people, to set them free from this drudgery. Had
they water-ways, these would be of no use in winter,
for this is a most tantalising climate. Neither cold
enough to freeze the rivers thoroughly, nor warm enough
to keep them thawed.

So arid it was between Ur Shih le poo, and Whang
ho Yell that I was reminded of the alkaline plains
on the South Pacific llailway in America. The dust
brought the same biting, stinging sensation to one’s eyes
and finger-nails. Yet the trees are as lovely as possible.
The frost has locked up the moisture in the soil, and
trees, striking their roots deep, flourish. Tlie surface
looked dry, so dry, the wheat poor, and struggling hard
to live. In this neighbourhood the drought has been
trying. After praying in vain to the gods for rain,
the inhabitants at one village took down one of the
walls of a temple, so that the gods might see for them-
selves the dryness of the soil, and feel the glare of the
noonday sun. The people told me it was quite effec-
tual, as on the succeeding night a good shower of rain
fell, accompanied with thunder. In the districts where
there had been no lack of rain, and the wheat was
young and green, the whole plain had a park-like look,
owing to the great number and variety of the clumps of
trees planted over graveyards.

i62

CHAPTEll XX.

Chinese bnrial-grounds — An imperial courier — Temples : the beauty
of their sites— Chinese Christians — The spread of Christianity
in Shan-tung — The telegraph — Whang ho Yeh — The emporium
of Teh Chow — A great deijot on the Grand Canal — VmB pci-low —
Great display of lethal weapons at every gate — Bookselling —
Chinese ‘ exquisites ’ and Chinese roughs — Hunt for an inn — A
guest-room tastefully ornamented — ‘ The seven ages of man ’ —
Chinese honesty.

The Chinese government forbids intra-mnral interment.
Public bnrial-gronnds, given by government, are only
used for the very poor, or for strangers dying far away
from their homes, and who have not had monej* enough
to carry them to their native places. Sometimes at
the seaports, or other great places of trade, the men
from some distant province will subscribe and pur-
chase a cemetery, where those who are rich have tem-
porary sepidture, and the poor lie till the angel shall
proclaim that time shall be no more. Usually each
family has its own little graveyard in its own piece of
ground. Graveyards are therefore dotted over every
plain. Some of them have very fine trees. It is quite
unusual to see graves unshaded by the dark yew, or
the featheiy arbor vitse.

We have now reached the great main highway to
Peking. To-day we meet a courier with the imperial
mail for the South. A most imposing personage he

AN IMPERIAL COURIER.

163

seems. His yellow silk sask, anJ liis despatches rolled
in yellow silk and tied across liis shoulders, proclaim
his dignity. Couriers travel very rapidly. At each
stage a man waits, ready mounted, to receive the pack-
ages, and transfer them to the next stage. No delay is
permitted. How interesting it would be to know what
this messenger carried ! Ih'omotion to the fortunate,
degradation and often decapitation to the unfortunate, for
here, as in Western lands, ‘ nothing succeeds like success.’
We dined at a small place called Woo-li poo, or ‘ Five
Mile Cairn.’ It was a miserable little place, so wretched
indeed that there was no room fit to eat in. So we had
to betake ourselves to the open air. The people were
kindly and polite, and it was pleasant to have the blue
sky overhead.

Just after our meal an intelligent-looking man came
up and saluted my husband as ‘ pastor,’ rather a novel
salutation, but a most welcome one in these parts. Of
course that at once told us he was a Christian, and not
ashamed of his creed. We may think that the prestige
of a Briton is high, but that of a Christian is higher.
A Chinaman is not at all times anxious to claim his ac-
quaintance with a foreigner. Not unfrequently it brings
down upon him many petty annoyances from his neigh-
bours. Even the mandarins sometimes oppress those
known to be friendly to the outside barbarian. This
man, however, came with the utmost frankness. He
told us there were a few Christians in the neighbour-
hood belonging to the mission of the American Board
of Foreign Missions.

When my husband passed through this region in
1865, there was not a Protestant Christian nor a mission
station in any part of Shan-tung, except at the ports

164

CHINESE CHRISTIAHS.

of Cliefoo and Tung-cLow-foo. Wliat a change !
According to late statistics, there are now over 2,800
professed converts in Shan-tung alone, six ordained
native ministers, and little groups of Christians dotted
all over the province. Each year there has been an in-
creasing ratio of baptisms. AVe trust this will continue:
for not only does Christianity bring to Chinese hearts
the joy and the healing of salvation bj' faith in Jesus
Christ, but the advancement of Christian missions means
prosperity, deliverance from superstitious bondage, and
the removal of Chinese exclusiveness in every shape and
form.

Near this point the telegraph line between Tien-tsin
and Shanghai passes. There is now telegraphic com-
munication from Tien-tsin, which is the port of Peking,
to Shanghai, and from thence to London and all the
world.* This has been brought about by the power and
wisdom of the well-known Chinese general, Li Hung
Chang, at the instigation and with the able assistance
of Sir Robert Hart, the Inspector-general of the
Chinese Imperial Customs. The construction of this
telegraph marks a wonderful era in the history of the
Chinese Empire. The Chinese have gone at one sweep
from travelling couriers to telegrams, without waiting
for the intermediate penny postage. Who, after this,
can say that they are to adopt improvements ? The
successful planting and opening of this line of telegraph
has been greatly aided by the amount of intelligence
that has of late been spread amongst the officials and
people. The distribution of books and the circulation

‘ A higli mandarin told me lately that neither imperial mandate
nor guards of soldiers ^vould have enabled the telegraph to be erected
had it not been for the information diffused by the missionaries
among the people.

A FJXE PEI-LOW.

1 65

of periodical literature have enabled them to under-
stand the value and utility of our Western discoveries.
The frequent journeys of foreigners throughout these
Northern provinces have also helped to enlighten the
common people.

Very likely, in a short time, the Chinese will make
a corresponding leap from ruts to railways, without
going through the transition stage of macadamised
roads. Chinese roads will be repaired when Chinese
gentlemen require wheeled carriages to catch the trains,
and waggons to bring their goods to railway depots in
time to reach stated markets. In this empire railways
cannot lag far behind telegraphs ; for from speedy infor-
mation will arise the necessity of speedy transit.

The city of Whang ho Yeh, meaning ‘ The shore of
the Yellow Eiver,’ is now a very long way from that
erratic stream. It has fine, lofty, arched gateways, with
beautiful temples over them, though there is nothing
to protect but mud inside the walls. It is astonishing
how the people contrive to have some piece of beauty
in these mud-built towns. The temple usually absorbs
all the aesthetic powers of the inhabitants ; for although
there is not a brick or a tile in the houses, thej’ seem to
get bricks, and tiles, and paint to decorate the village
shrine. Care and money are evidently bestowed on
their little temples, which are always built on the love-
liest sites. Some of the finest trees are found in the
temple grounds. I speak of small village temples. In
large places the temples are often in a state of ruin and
decay.

We next reached Teh Chow, a most prosperous city,
the depot for the trade by canal. The streets are wide.
The shops and warehouses looked thriving. In the

i65

DlSrLAV OF LETHAL WEAPONS.

centre of tlie city is a fine iiei-loiv built of wood, the
first wooden fei-loio we met. The fretwork on the top
is particularly fine, with nothing of the grotesque. At
every gate and barrier — and these were more numerous
than usual in Chinese cities — there was a grand display
of swords, spears, battle-axes, bows and arrows, javelins,
gingalls, Ac. These, however, were only painted. The
actual weajoons were in the citadel beyond — quite an
imposing structure. Tliey would have been formidable
in the hands of such braves as we saw loitering about.

CIIINESK CAKXOX.

In the busiest part of the city we halted. Dr.
AVilliamson took a great quantity of Testaments and
other books for sale. AVhile this was being done, I
watched the sour looks of the grandees in the crowd.
Fancy to yourself an ‘ exquisite,’ tall and elegant, got
up in a long robe of sea-green brocaded crape, a violet
carmine satin jacket, a blue velvet collar, a black satin
hat with crimson tassel, irreproachably white stockings,
lavender silk shoes with black velvet toes, rubbing

CHINESE DANDIES.

167

slioulders with some of the most loathsome and wretched
siiecimens of humanity I have ever seen — and there were
scores of such among them, all the roughs of a most
turbulent city — yet such ‘ exquisites ’ braving all this,
merelj" to get sight of a foreign woman.

This particular dandj' tried to treat me to his most
elaborate sneer. AVhile he stood at one side I looked
steadily at the other, and made myself appear unaware
of his presence to such an unlimited extent that he be-
came angry. To another ‘ exquisite,’ in a stone-coloured
silk robe, a black satin sleeveless jacket, and black velvet
boots, he remarked, ‘ What an abominable odour these
foreigners have ! faugh, the Avhole street is full of it ! ’
Then Mr. Sea-green Kobe stood right in front of the
mule, and stared hard into the shendzle. Still was I
imperturbable, quite regardless^of his sneers and cynical
remarks. The dandies then commented on my appear-
ance, Avhich was not to their taste. Mr. Grey Robe said,
‘ Think of an old man like that bringing his daughter
out ; these barbarians sometimes don’t let their daughters
marry till they are over thirty.’ Mr. Sea-green ques-
tioned me

‘ How old are you ? ’

Mr. Grey said, ‘ She does not understand a word
you say.’

‘ Oh ! doesn’t she though ? She speaks as good
Chinese as you do ! ’ said a cheeky lad.

When they discovered I was not to be worried, they
walked off to the greater attraction of the bookselling,
where doubtless they harassed my husband not a little.

He was very much distracted by just such fellows
as I have described. Of course, when common roughs
get the countenance of the upper classes, they are apt

i68

BOOKSELLING.

to become very mncli more boisterous than they would
otherwise be.

At the close of his sales that evening, Dr. Williamson
tells me, a gentleman answering the description of Mr.
Grey Robe, made a raid on the colporteur’s basket.
Snatching a handful of small books, he scattered them
amongst the crowd for a scramble and made off ; but
not soon enough, for Dr. W. seized him by his queue ;
he screamed out. Dr. W. allowed him to go, as there
was no credit in provoking a fight. Such conduct is
a disgrace to Chinese gentlemen, especiallj' men getting
towards forty years of age.

The books were sold as rapidly as the money could
be collected — Scriptures of the National Bible Society
of Scotland, and books from the Religious Tract Society
in London. There was veiy great eagerness to get both
Scriptures and books. The Testaments sold were of a
new edition, with maps, introductions to each book, and
headings to the chapters, such as we have in our
English Bibles. The Tract Society’s books were a fine
collection, more extensive, and better suited to the
Chinese than we ever previously had. Amongst them
were many periodicals like the ‘ Leisure Hour ’ and
‘ Sunday at Home,’ mostly well illustrated. These
were in great demand, also a book called the ‘ Two
Friends,’ being a story in dialogue between two China-
men, illustrating the various points of our religion, and
a large sheet calendar with appropriate religious texts
and several illustrations.

L'sually, when a man or boy became the proud pos-
sessor of a book or calendar, there was a rush to read
it ; and over shoulders and on all sides numbers of
'oices screamed out as much of its contents as they

THE ^ SEVEN AGES OF MAN.' 169

could see. Then it was pronounced Ixo.w^ good, and a
pell-mell sale was the result.

At various points Dr. Williamson made arrange-
ments for supplying the magistrates witli a copy of the
‘ Globe Magazine ’ for one year. This is a gift from
the Religious Tract Society of London. The mandarins
expressed tbeir thanks for the kindness, and sent tbeir
cards. The ‘ Globe Magazine ’ is like the ‘ Leisure
Hour,’ with a few pages of news of the world.

While the bookselling was going on, the cavalcade
went off to hunt up an inn, where we might stay the
night. In that part of the city to which we had been
directed, viz. the western snburbs, there were only wheel-
barrow inns, with no accommodation for animals. So,
after much questioning and going round outside the
walls, we were at length directed to a very good place.
The crowd that followed us in a great human tide
rolled into the inn-yard. I got into the shelter of the
larc^e room of the inn. The crowd filled the courtyard
and began peering in at the windows and to tear the
paper. It was only with great difficulty that I forced
myself from the unwelcome attentions of the gazing
crowd. Left in peace at last, I found that the large
room of this inn was in a Chinese fashion rather
tastefully decorated. Over the sideboard, and opposite
the door, was a picture quite Shakespearian. The
‘ seven ages of man ’ were painted on a long scroll such
as the Chinese admire. There was age prattling to
infancy, the infant held in the arms of middle age;
manhood sat on a throne with an aureole of peacock
feathers ; youth stood slightly behind, as if attending
on manhood ; while boyhood and childhood were in
front in the act of presenting flowers and fruit to age

170

MORE BOOKS WANTED.

and infancy. This ivas a copy of a very old and favourite
picture. It was probably an inspiration of genius before
the Hard of Avon penned his immortal lines in ‘ As You
Like It.’ This picture was very vivid. It had been
recently put up, and had probably some connection
with a death in the landlord's family, as it was flanked
on either side by commemorative scrolls that told of
the ’■ five lakes ’ and the ‘ four seas,’ and of human life
slipping away like rivers to the ocean. There were
drawings on crimson paper quite artistic, studies of
plants, in which the bamboo figured gracefully. These
were all quite pleasing to my eye, and suggested the
sunny South, with its groves of fairy bamboos. Outside,
on the whitewashed walls of the court \'ard, were two
pictures in colour-wash. On one side travellers were
represented under a lofty pine tree, on the other side
a weeping willow shaded the wayfarers. These were
roughly done, but had the artistic touch that is so
unmistakable.

AVhile I was admiring this picture gallery, a man
arrived with an oral message from my husband : ‘ The
books are nearly sold out, send more, also calendars.’

‘ Did the teacher not give you a paper ? ’

‘ No ; nothing, only said, “ Bring books.” ’

‘ Did he pay you ? ’

‘ Xo ; but when I go back I am to have two books
for my trouble.’

The man had an honest face, though he was poor
and dirty. I committed to his care about fifty Gospels,
fifty ‘ Three Character Classics,’ and two hundred
calendars. After he started I was rather doubtful of
the wisdom of the transaction ; but when a Chinaman
is entrusted with anything he is usually faithful. I

CHIXESE HONESTY.

171

was deliglited to find that lie conveyed all the books
most faithfully ; though he was only sent hoping he
would reach the inn before the colporteur started, and
thus go along in his charge.

Tlie man got the promised two books that were to
recompense him for his trouble, and was as proud of his
act of service as if an honour had been conferred on
him.

172

CHAPTER XXI.

The Grand Canal : the ferry — A new fort and garrison — Another
imperial courier— The city of King chow with fine pagoda —
An affable innkeeper — A newly dug canal— Chinese bridges —
Superstition connected with their erection — Sacrifices of
children — The reopening of water communication — The town
of Shen Kia Lin— Sickness— Gambling — Chinese gallants.

Just outside tEe totvn of Teli Chow we crossed the
celebrated Grand Canal, the direct water-way to Tien-
tsin and Peking, and entered the province of Chih-li.
There were many boats in the stream. The ferry-boat
was large, and had no sail. It was simply drawn
across by means of a rope, though the deep canal is
at this point much wider than the Suez Canal.

About a mile distant, on the Peking side, we saw
a new fort bristling with brass cannon. Xo soldiers
were loitering about, as it was very early in the morn-
ing. At a little distance from the fort a courier on
horseback overtook and passed us. His despatches
were more bulk^^ than usual, but they were covered
with the geimine imperial yellow. Immediately behind
him, on a beautiful black pony, rode an armed officer,
to guard the precious papers. A heavy shower of rain
fell, and we left them behind. Vcr}' soon they over-
took and again passed us. They had stopped to cover
up the packet of despatches with oilskin, and the officer

THE CITY OF KING CHOW. 173

had drawn an oilskin hood over his helmet. Both were
pleasant-looking men. The officer remarked to the
muleteer as he passed, ^ How can the lady bear the
cold and rain?’ I could not help admiring their
steeds as they galloped oft. Not the usual podgy
animals that mandarins delight to see, but fiery little
barbs, with an Arab look about them.

In this neighbourhood are many camps of soldiers.
They are towards Tien-tsin, along the line of this canal.
Each camp contains five hundred men. A few of these
are cavalry, but the greater portion of them are infantry.
These camps are placed for the protection of the tele-
graph from Tien-tsin to Shanghai, of vhich we ha\e
formerly spoken.

At noon of this day we reached the city of King chow,
a most dilapidated and poverty-stricken-looking place.
The gates are imposing. Within the walls is quite
a handsome pagoda. The inhabitants are few, and
their houses are clustered together at the cross of the
city. Their manners are rude, insolent, and almost
savage. The inn where our dinner was prepared,
whilst my husband went to the streets to sell books,
was the only respectable-looking house in the place. It
was kept by a cheery old Peking man, who complained
that ‘these steamers from Tien-tsin to Shanghai had
taken all the trade from the interior ; that formerly the
traffic on this road was tremendous, but now, alas ! the
people here were too poor to live. His inn nas much
in decav, but he pointed triumphantly to the relics of
former grandeur in the fine mahogany lampstands he
used to set out when illustrious guests came. He
pointed to the fine tables and other furniture that had
evidently been the pride of his heart. I amused him a

174

A NEWLY DUG CANAL.

scaffolding, wliicli -would liave been a credit to any
trestle bridge railway contractor in America. This
scaffolding was to enable them to drive the piles. Pro-
bably, under each large pile would be put a living
child — under the piles on the west, boys ; under those
on the east, girls. Alas ! that men with brain enough
to plan and execute engineering works of great magni-

little by declaring that I was unfortunate not to have
arrived in the. evening, when he might have displayed his
lampstands for such an illustrious guest as a foreign lady.

In the afternoon we passed a newly dug canal,
where a number of soldiers were busy driving piles for
a bridge. They had erected an immensely high trestle

.k CHINESE OFEICEB.

SJCM/F/C£S OF CHILDREN.

175

tude were vet so dark with superstition as to believe
that the bridge would have small chance to stand unless
supported by this sacrifice of human life ! Xear Che-
foo, we knew of eight children being so sacrificed. A
wooden bridge had been frequently swept away by the
turbulent stream, so that, to appease the spirit of the
river, this sacrifice was thought necessary. The families
from which the children were taken were poor. Each
family got a handsome douceur, and the affair Avas

CniNESE SOLDIERS AXD TEXT.
{From a Chinese draicing.)

quietly managed. 1 am only sorry to add that the
bridge, being constructed of heavier timbers, stands still,
aud the people are satisfied that they have done right.
Children so sacrificed are supposed to enjoy entire free-
dom from punishment in after life ; and the sacrifice of
them is considered a meritorious act on the part of their
parents, so that there is no need to mourn. Afterwards,
when telling the number of their children, they never
count the little ones who perished thus.'

‘ Tliis I have on Chinese authority.

176

SHEN KIA UN.

At tlie town close by tlie canal we could not get
rooms. The place was full of soldiers and navvies.
The present Board of Works are making a great effort
to drain this portion of the country, which had been
seriously inundated by the Yellow River some years
ago. They are opening outlets that have been closed
for years, and at this point are digging an entirely new
canal, to open up water communication with the AVest
and South. At one place, so many coolies were carry-
ing round basketsful of mud that the plain resembled
an ant-hill. AAY were told that seventy thousand men
were engaged on this work, and I believe it to be the
fact. No wonder the people dread these inundations.
A few weeks before our visit the Yellow River over-
flowed at Chi Ho, the place where we crossed after
leaving Tsi-nan-foo, and there has been dreadful suffer-
ing and loss of life.

AAYll ! His Imperial Majesty’s workmen obliged us
to plod on for six miles, in a beating rainstorm, till we
reached a much more picturesque place, called Slien Kia
Lin, or, ‘The Forest of the Shen Familj^.’ That night,
probably in consequence of the wetting, my husband
became seriously ill. AA^e had a small stock of medicines
with ns, and fortunately just what was required to check
the disorder. On Saturday it rained in torrents, to the
great joy of the people, for the rain saved their crops.

I joined in their feelings, as my husband was improving.
Next morning he was much stronger.

Sunday morning was bright and fair. About noon '
there came sweeping into the inn-yard, in fine style, a
goodly cavalcade, shouting and flourishing.

The masters of the carts were young men ; some of
whom were tall, stout, and loud-voiced. In an instant

CHINESE PEDLARS.

177

tlie inn-yard was completely crowded with pedlars of all
sorts of small wares. Each pedlar rattled most vigorously
a bamboo about a foot long, filled with sticks, about the
thickness of an ordinary lead pencil, and the end of the
bamboo was fitted with something that sounded like a
drum. What could all these noises mean ? The bamboos
were lottery boxes. The sticks in them were all marked
so many blanks to so many prizes. The sticks were
well shaken up and down on this resounding tym-
panum. When a stick drawn was marked as a prize,
the drawer was entitled to a certain amount of the
contents of the pedlar’s basket ; but if it was marked
as a blank, his money was lost. The first basket I saAV
had a tray, with goose eggs, hard-boiled ; salted duck
eggs, also hard-boiled ; sweet cakes ; toffee ; and pea-
nuts. Some baskets had coloured tapes, used for tying
up Chinamen’s gaiters ; buttons, and all sorts of nick-
nacks ; eatables being more plentiful than anything else.
What an appetite for gambling these men seem to
have ! The Pekingese are the most noted gamblers in
China. Misery is always the result of their gambling.
Fortunes are lost and ftmiilies ruined in their gambling
dens.

Rattle ! rattle ! rattle ! half-a-dozen bamboos strik-
ing at once make quite a lively noise. Round and
round the inn-yard they move, till all the new-comers
have drawn several times, and all the cakes are gone.
The eggs also have disappeared. Indeed, the trays are
pretty Avell cleared out. It reminded me of what goes
on in some fancy bazaars at home, where fair young
ladies go round and tempt the unwary to dip into their
mystery bag, from which on payment of a sixpence one
may get something worth a penny. I think those

178

A CmXESE MEAL.

Chinese gentlemen fared better. They did look foolish
drawing the sticks and getting a handful of peanuts as
a reward. One unlucky wight drew a blank thrice, and
he threw the stick into the man’s face, and retreated
into his room in disgust.

^Meanwhile a brass basin filled with hot water is sent
round, and every man washes his face in it. After the
basin a teapot of large dimensions and cups to match
were sent round with tea for the men. For an hour
the inn-yard was lively, both with sound and motion.
The mules were busily munching provender from
mangers in the open air, three mules at each manger,
each mule tied up short, so that if one felt greedy he
could not get more than his own share of grain or
straw. The muleteers moved to and fro, adding now
one kind of grain, now another, to the bait, which
consisted of beans, black and green, Barbadoes millet,
Indian corn, bran, and chopped straw.

Presently from the kitchen comes a waiter, bearing
aloft a wooden tray, with four basins of meats and two
plates of vegetables. There are two guests in each
room. In a marvellously short time, each room has a
second supply of four basins and two plates of vegetables.
Little boys run in with bread steaming hot from the
oven, and kettles with hot wine. The food looks
palatable, and smells savoury : there are pork balls
with mushrooms ; breasts of chickens with olives and
vermicelli ; shrimps stewed with celery ; a white
jelly with savoury sauce; bean curd and onions;
kippered mackerel with garlic ; a nondescript dish of
jjigs’ brains, with chickens’ wings sticking out all over
it, giving it a hedgehoggy appearance ; carp with
onions ; a variety of vegetables ; tit-bits mostly con-

A CHINESE CAB.

179

entering a cart Avitli great dignity. Smack ! crack ! go
the whips, as the carters gather up the reins. With an
effort round go the hea\y wheels, and out of the inn-yard
they drive in most gallant style. As the carts pass my
window I see that some of them are quite handsome,
having coverings of blue cloth with arabesques of black

diments in small saucers ; ham sliced ; soup of chicken,
flavoured with sorrel.

I was careful to get the bill of fare. That was not
a despicable dinner for a country inn !

Bills all settled, purses all put up, guests crawl into
their carts. Only one lady in Peking has the credit of

A CniXESE LIGHT CA1!T Oil CAIi.

i8o

CHINESE GALLANTS.

velvet relieved by white, decorated with a scarlet-and-
white triangular flag. They are all armed. Two of
them are particularly warlike, having each a ten foot
spear, lashed obliquely to the side of the cart, and
projecting over the heads of the animals. This spear
has an old world look, with its lancewood shaft and
glittering steel point. Just where the steel is inserted
there is a long fringe of crimson silk, meant to represent
dripping gore. In spite of the petticoats the men wore,
the whole cavalcade had a martial look. We were
constantly meeting such groups of travellers, varied
occasionally by groups of officials. The latter are more
imposing, but they usually have such a set of villainous-
looking ragged followers that they are not so interesting
as the every-day travellers.

After the departure of these gallants, silence falls
on us. Every one has a siesta. Even our mules are
nodding in the sun.

i8i

CHAPTER XXII.

The’ famine districts in Chih Li — Sad stories — A good dog storj- —
The departmental city of Ho kien foo — Eoman Catholic
establishment and Church of England mission — The ruins of
old and handsome bridges — An inn three storeys deep — Sing-
song girls — A specimen of their musical recitations — Tune,
Madame Wang — Great distributing city of Ma Chow — A great
wholesale fair — Sign-boards and advertisements — A miserable
inn— The merrymaking of the fair — Canals and junks.

For two days we travelled over a district that Fad
suffered severely from famine. The tale was told in
roofless and doorless houses. All the woodwork had,
in many cases, been torn out and sold for food. The
millet stalks in the roofs had been taken and chewed,
to stay the pangs of hunger. In some villages manj*
houses were untenanted, and many fields around them
were untilled. The remaining inhabitants were finding
that in self-defence they w'ould have to till these weedy
fields, as the seeds from thence were spoiling their good
crops. I asked where the people had gone from the
locked-up houses. ‘ Went away "at the famine time,
and have not come back.’ That was the invariable
answer. Still, the empty house is no proof that the
former inmates are dead ; for they may have wandered
away, and found employment. Some day they may
return, and claim their houses and lands. In the ham-
lets, where the population was certainly greatly dimin-
ished, those that remained had a sturdy, healthy look.

FAMINE DISTRICTS.

182

In some places they offered their ground for sale at
about ten shillings an acre. The soil had always been
poor and dry.

Fever, too, had decimated these places. One great
pile was shown where a whole family had died of fever.
They had no one to bury them. A neighbour who had
recovered from this famine fever went to see how they
fared, and if he could do anything for them. He found
the old grandmother seated on the doorstep, trying to
call to some one who was staggering through a field.
She entreated the neighbour to go and bring the man,
for he was her youngest son. ‘ The rest are all dead,’
she said, pointing to the two inner rooms. ‘ The baby
was the last that died ; it stopped crying this morning.
I haven’t yet gone in to see. I brought my darling boy
out here, and now he has got up, and I can’t follow
him.’ The man asked if she had food, ‘ Oh, yes ! ’ she
said, ‘ we have food, but we have fever too.’ This kind
aieighbour went to get helji, hoping to remove the old
woman to a shed near. He returned with two men ;
but she would not let them come near till they went
after her son. In a field at no great distance they
found him, and carried him to her ; he was dead. When
she saw this the poor old woman gave one cry, and threw
herself backwards over the door-sill. In a short time
she also was dead.

It was evening when these two men left this sad
house and went home. Next morning they reported
the affair to the mandarin, who sent orders to have the
house pulled down over the dead bodies. The men
who had to fulfil the order stopped up their noses,' lifted
the recently dead, and threw them beside the others.

‘ This is a common Chinese practice to avoid infection.

SAD STORIES.

i«3

Then they pulled out all the large timbers, and pushed
the whole structure in, and covered the corpses. This
sad house-grave was shown to us. It stands on a little
height outside the village. Near it, on the level road,
was a well, nicely paved round. By order of the mandarin
it had been filled up. Grass was plentifully growing from
its mouth, which the paving stones defined. The whole
story was sad and tragic. Such a story might be told
of many villages, for ‘ The famine was sore in the land.’
Travelling on westwards, we passed a small planta-
tion of trees. A good dog story is associated with
it : — Many years ago, during the autumn, a pedestrian
courier left Tsi-nan-foo on a journey to Peking. He
had frecpiently made the journey to convey letters
and money. On this journey he was entrusted with
some small gold ingots. These were sewn into various
parts of a wadded belt. He had agreed to reach Peking
in a specified time under penalty for each day’s delay.
The man had a hardy collie dog as his companion in
these journeys. Everything went prosperously until
he reached this neighbourhood. In the evening, on
arrivincr at one of the small inns, he missed his do".
He whistled, called, all in vain. He recollected that
at a certain grove of trees where he had rested and had
‘ forty winks ’ his dog was with him. He had started
up hurriedly, thinking he had lost time, and his dog
was forgotten. Could doggie also have had ‘ forty
winks ’ too many ? The courier went to bed hoping
that ere morning the dog would turn up. Morning
came — no collie. On a former occasion the dog had
hurt his foot, and of his own accord had gone straight
home. 8o the man concluded that this time, also, on
missing his master he had returned to his home.

A GOOD DOG STORY.

1S4

Without liis companion lie felt lonely, but bis letters
admitted no delay. So on be trudged to Peking.
When be readied tbe city bis wadded belt was undone,
one ingot was missing. How could this be ? In every
direction tlie belt was felt, and finally cut to pieces.
Tbe place where tbe missing ingot bad been was plainly
seen. A defect in tbe seam of tbe belt showed where
it bad slipped out. Tbe man’s honesty was undoubted,
evidently be bad lost tbe gold. So be gave a mortgage
on bis farm in Sban-tung for tbe amount.

A storm of snow prevented bis immediate return,
so be took a position as a workman with tbe man
whose money be bad lost. When tbe severity of tbe
winter was past be started homewards. On reaching
this grove, a particularly lofty tree recalled it to bis
memory. Association of ideas made him look towards
tbe tree under which bo bad slept. There was a heap
of someth ing. The fallen leaves bad been whirled about,
and in that place they made a little mound. Tbe man
walked straight over to tbe tree, kicked tbe leaves
aside, and disclosed tbe remains of bis lost favourite.
‘ Can be have become sick, and been unable to follow
me?’ said tbe man to himself. Immediately tbe lost
ingot occurred to him. He removed tbe dog, and there
lay tbe .gold ! Gratitude and sorrow together made
him go down on bis knees and wail as one wails for an
only son. He laid bis dog in the centre of a triangle
formed by three lofty trees, heaped a mound of earth
over him, and half-grieving, half-joyous, retraced bis
tteps to Peking.

Tbe merchant whose gold be returned presented
him with money enough to put iip a tablet to com-
memorate tbe faithfulness of bis canine friend. He

HO KIEN FOO.

i8S

also got imperial permission to erect tlie stone. The
weather was too wet for me to hunt up the stone, even
had I known the spot where to look for it.

Thirty li from Shen Kia Lin we reached Ho kien
foo. The only interesting part of the road between
the two places is that which lies along the new canal
that has been dug to drain away the overflow of the
waters of ‘China’s Sorrow.’ The people repeatedly
asserted that the seventy thousand men engaged in this
work were fairly well paid. They further said that
these workmen did not plunder, but paid for all they
got. Their chief food was rice, brought along the canal
in imperial junks. A great many soldiers were stationed
at various points, to keep these navvies in order.

The wall of Ho kien foo is fine, and in thorough
repair. The gateways are lofty, with a cjuadrangle and
interior gate. In passing through to reach our inn at
the western suburb, we found that the city looked deso-
late. Lai’ge portions of it were uninhabited. All the
houses have flat roofs. Towards the western portion
of the city we passed a lofty crenelated wall enclosing
<a good space of ground, with fine trees. e saw no
buildings in the enclosure, but the people told me it
was a ]da)vj shii tcnuj, or ‘expounding books hall,’
the name they usually give to a Christian temple. It
was a Roman Catholic establishment. Both priests and
converts were well reported of by the people.

In this neighbourhood, about two miles from the
city, there is a station of the English Church Mission.
The cook at the inn did me not a few kindnesses,
because he said the Rev. W. H. Collins, of the Church
^Missionary Society, had cured his mother of ague, from
which she had suffered for several years.

RUINS OF BRIDGES.

1 86

Just outside the west gate we crossed the Poo too
river. The bridge, a handsome one, seemed very ancient,
and on the four buttresses nearest the banks reposed four
frogs in granite, with outspread feet, and a horrible grin,
or leer, on their faces. On the east side of the bridge were
the heads of two imperial tortoises. The slabs they had
once supported were nowhere to be seen. The tortoises
themselves were now under a mass of mud bricks en-
closing a manure heap ! A magnificent pei-low lay in
ruins. The blocks of stone were immense. The carv-
ings in relief had been fine. The square columns had
tracery exceedingly like that on some of the old pillars
represented by Squire ' as having been found in the
laud of the Incas. At the foot of these pillars had stood
the usual grotesque representations that would craze
the most enthusiastic student of natural history, and
perplex the most inveterate unraveller of heraldic mj’s-
teries. Small respect had been paid to fallen greatness,
for I noticed more than one doorstep adorned by a slab
from the monument. There are Goths and Vandals in
all lands.

We jDut up at a pretty inn ; in Chinese parlance —
three storeys deep, that is, having three sets of rooms in
three courtyards. We occupied the innermost one.
The innkeeper was very busy.

I'here were numbers of sing-song girls going about.
All the evening there was a constant twanging of a
kind of guitar, as an accompaniment to a most un-
pleasant screeching. However, as I listened and got
interested in the story the singer was telling, I found
it less unpleasant than it seemed when first it caught
my ear. Unlike most of their songs, it was in the
' Squire’s Peru, pp. 385, 38G.

SING-SONG GIRLS.

187

colloquial dialect, and was quite intelligible to me.
One singer, whose voice was not disagreeable, sang a
verse, and at the end of each verse the whole company
sanjT the chorus. The chorus after each verse was
different, but at the last line there always occurred an
expression equivalent to our ‘Oh, dear! oh, dear ! alas!’
Between each verse was a part spoken by another voice
in good contrast to the screaming treble.

It may interest my readers to have a rough transla-
tion of the song, which is very popular. It is called —

Majdame WaN(!.

Sail tswong, sah tswong, wei ah !

Ling shae ur kaw ting dang,

Kao ur, wun shing shuae ah.

Ling shae ur, Wang Ta Niang.

(Spoken) Wang Ta Niang Tsing mun dzo dsieh lian, kao tung
shang liao.

(Chorus) Yih whoa, yih whoa, Heigh !

Dzoong yung ie, puh tao woa te ku fang te shang liao.

Yih whoa, yih whoa, Heigh !

The translation of this verse is : —

Outside of the gauze-covered window a neighbour tapped.

The maiden within said, ‘ Who is there ? ’

The voice replied, ‘ It is your neighbour, Wang Ta Niang.’

(Spoken) Madame Wang came in and sat on a high stool, Heigho !
You are unkind not to come often, Heigho !

(Chorus) Yih whoa, yih whoa, Heigh !

Madame Wang opened the damask curtains.

Inhaled the fragrance of the toilette perfumes,

Turned down the red damask coverlet.

And saw that the girl had wasted to a shadow, alas !

Yih whoa, yih whoa. Heigh I

Well, miss, how have you been ?

I have no strength or spirit, and cannot take my rice or tea, alas I
Yih whoa, yih whoa, Heigh I

A CHINESE SONG.

1 88

Shall I call a doctor ?

Oh no, do not call him, I don’t want him.

He will feel my pulse and sound me,

I am afraid of feeling and sounding, alas 1

I’ih whoa, yih whoa. Heigh !

Shall I invite a Buddhist priest?

Oh no, a Buddhist priest will only be jingling and banging,

I am afraid of jingling and banging, alas !

Yih whoa, yih whoa. Heigh !

Shall I send a Lama priest for you ?

Oh no, a Lama will only sing and chant,

I dislike singing and chanting, alas !

Yih whoa, yih whoa. Heigh !

You don’t want this, and you don’t want that. How did you
become so ill ?

In the third month, in the third month.

At the birthday of the flowers,

Wlien peach-blossoms open and willows are green,

I met a young student taking a stroll.

Yih whoa, yih whoa. Heigh !

Spring stroll or not ! What has that to do with you ?

He loves me, for I am beautiful,

I love him, he is j’oung and a student.

And we exchanged a few words of love.

Y'ih whoa, yih whoa. Heigh !

Love or not love, are you not afraid your parents will know ?

My father is seventy-eight, my mother is deaf, and her eyes
are blind,

I am not afraid of either.

Yih whoa, yih whoa. Heigh !

Well now it is all told out, what is it you wish me to do ?

Oh, my godmother, Madame Wang !

I kneel for you to arrange this matter,

I am not betrothed, he is not betrothed.

If you cannot betroth us, I shall die.

Yih whoa, yih whoa. Heigh 1

TUNE, MADAME WANG.
Mad.uie Waxg.

189

U L J 1

— ~ H —

— id— —

— 41 ^

e -

Master

Chaxg.

--d — 1 —

• 1 1 rj-

— ^

' S'

^ •S’ n

This song is popular, and, it is supposed, was written
to show that even in China betrothal is often at the
wish of both parties.

There is a corresponding song, in which a sm art
young bachelor tries to cast ridicule on their system of
betrothal. In this song the intended bridegroom, in a
most comical style, gives a list of his possessions, and
at the close of each verse the chorus is,

‘ Yet my friends desire to betroth me.’

His possessions are enumerated :

‘ An inkstone with the corner broken ; a teapot with a vagrant
lid and an abbreviated spout ; a hat with the crown worn out ; a robe
with almost all the sleeves gone ; shoes with the toes destroyed, Ac.
(frc., these are all I possess.

‘ Yet my friends are bent on betrothing me.’

CITY OF MA CHOW.

190

Next morning we puslietl on to Ma Cliow, where
annually in the fourth month a great market is held.
We found the place as gay as rose-pink paper and
beautifully written Chinese characters could make it.
Every few feet along the pavement, there was firmly
planted in the street a red board, intimating the locality
from which the merchant had come, and the goods he

A ClIINKSE MEItCHANT.

had for sale. This advertisement was generally supple-
mented by a model of the particular commodity to be
found within. On all sides were gigantic fans blazing
with gold ; umbrellas in gorgeous scarlet ; bales neatly
done up in matting ; all sorts of signs, reminding me of
what was the admiration of my childhood — the gilded
lamb that used to be displayed over the hosier’s shop-

THE MARKET.

i9t

door, or the gilt pot of the apothecar}-. Here also the
medicine man had a gilded or brilliant pewter pot to
tell his story. Advertising even at home could scarcely
outdo this ; all the old pei-loxvs in the centre of the
town' were placarded with crimson bills, some of them
high up over the lintels of the great structure. There
were ‘ Immense sacrifices,’ ‘ Grand clearings out,’
‘ Must be sold off this month,’ just as at home. One
man intimated that his fans must all be sold off, as he
must return with an immense variety of other goods.
The word that we are so fond of using, as our most
convenient generic term for articles of merchandise,
‘ things,’ is translated by the Chinese iooxiff si, i.e.
‘ easts and wests.’

In the centre of the town, our books were, as usual,
laid down, and our cavalcade went in search of quarters,
which were not easy to find, as all the better inns were
full of traders and their goods.

The market here is very old. Small shopkeepers
from long distances come to it to buy from the traders.
These traders bring their wares from great distances to
this place, which seems to have been chosen as a market-
place because of the water communication to it from
many parts of the empire.

The market had all the characteristics of such a
market at home. There were the amusements which
delighted our rustics some thirty years ago. The most
popular were merry-go-rounds, loaded with laughiiig
fliers, ‘ snatching a fearful joy,’ and rejoicing in their
flight. I heard one lad say as he dismounted, ‘ It is
better than having wings.’ ‘ I don’t know that,’ said
his companion, and at once gave proof that his flight
had not agreed with him. There were conjurors

A WHOLESALE FAIR.

I Q2

spinning basins on the points of cbop-sticks, and making
children disappear from under baskets, and a flower
grow up instead. There were Punch and Judy shows,
exactly like our own, where a Chinese Punch was
administering marital chastisement, and a Toby in a
frill barked deflance at the crowd. There were wrestlers
with immense muscles, wandering minstrels, and the
much-patronised story-teller. There were the usual hub-
bub and noise of a fair, but not the rude jostling or horse-
play that our rustics are ajDt to treat their neighbours
to on such occasions. Nor was any drunkenness visible.
Opium-smoking there would be, but that reflned vice
seeks quiet and retirement. All the fun of the fair was
gradually brought to a standstill.

When my husband returned from his Bible-selling
we loaded our mules and set off. Our road lay along
one of the waterways. A flne embankment, nicely
planted with willow trees, and a wide expanse of cool,
clear water made a pleasant landscape. Men were
tracking their boats by ropes attached to the very top
of the masts. Some of the boats were of a hundred
tons. At one point was a bridge ; what is to be done ?
The bridge is of stone, and, thongh the arch is lofty,
that tall mast cannot go under it. ‘ Will they stop
here ? ’ thought I. I was speedily answered. The mast
was lowered by a hinge, and was placed flat on the
deck. After the bridge was passed, the wind was fair,
the mast was raised again, the sail was hoisted, and
their brown wings bore them swiftly on.

The bridge was tine, and the embankment had great
piles of wood driven in it to keep the earth from slipping.
The wheat on either side of this river looked magnificent.
There were pretty villages i\Jong the banks and number-

FLOATING /SLANTS.

193

less sails ■were seen. There must be a great traffic on
this stream.

The day ■was hot, and it was a relief at times to pass
under the cool cavernous gateways of the cities. At
some points, where the water had inundated the land
for miles, the people had driven in stakes, and with
reeds and earth had constructed floating islands, where
vegetables were growing most luxuriantly.

All along our route we were charmed with familiar
birds ; everywhere we met the common house-sparrow.
After passing the Yellow Kiver, rooks with their bois-
terous caw entertained us almost every evening. In
the early morning, we found numerous wood-peckers
tapping on the trunks of trees ; and in many groves
the turtle-doves greeted us with their mournful notes ;
whilst in the villages we found every description of
tame pigeons.

194

CHAPTER XXIII.

The banks of the T’sing ho — A beautiful walk — Pao Kow ho —
Origin of the term ‘ Ma teu ’ — Another unruly mob — Origin of
names of places — Natural hayforks— Lumbermen— The city
of Tso Chow — A nation has changed her colours — Death of
the Eastern Empress — Sign-boards — Pawnbroking — Peripatetic
kitchens — Magnificent bridge — The tortoise, heraldic emblem of
China — How Chinese defend their live-stock against wolves.

Our road lay by the brink of a pretty winding river,
the T'sing Ho. It was so tempting that I left my
shendzle, and had a glorious walk by the river-side.
After the long dusty roads we had traversed, this made
me think of the River of Life that is in the midst of the
paradise of God, and of what it will be to us who are
weary with the heat and strife of this present world !

The shelving banks of the river were green to the
watei’’s edge. As the tiny wavelets rippled along it was
like the soft murmur of a mother’s song in the ear of a
sleepy babe. The splash and rush of the flat-bottomed
junks, as they came up from behind and swiftly passed
with their sails full, were pleasing to the ear. Occa-
sionally we overtook rafts, some laden with slender
spars of red pine, and some with naturally grown haj'-
forks of beautiful ash, and as beautifully fashioned as
though cut out by the hand. Many rafts were con-
structed entirely of large lumber. Every now and then

ANOTHER UNRULY MOB.

'95

the river shallows, and an islaird divides the channel.
The sun is low and large in the west, and is tinting
river and sail and raft, and even the faces of the boat-
men, with a rosy light, and making the eastern hills
look like gigantic piles of crumpled rose-leaves.

The sun is setting as we enter the busy town of
Pao Kow ho, and it is a hustlinrj ]jlace. It is a 2Ia
feu. The term is almost untranslateable. It means
neither a city nor a town, neither a ferry nor a ford,
neither a jetty nor a bund, but something of all these.
The place is in reality an emporium where the merchan-
dise is chiefly brought by junks. The words ‘ Ma ten’
literally mean ‘ horses’ heads,’ and the name is thought
to be derived from the Phoenician vessels, whose prows
were all adorned with a horse’s head. The early inter-
course China had with other nations is not yet thoroughly
known, and often the history of a Chinese word leads
to some long-forgotten facts in their wonderful national
story. The derivation of this name for these places of
trade may be fanciful, but is not in the least improbable,
for the rows of junks moored at such places must have
borne a striking resemblance to horses’ heads.

We got to a fine inn, built round the sides of
a space of ground almost as large as a public square.
It was the hour when the lumbermen and ferrymen
were leaving their labour, and instead of going home
they streamed straight into the inn-yard. A wild and
turbulent set of fellows they seemed. The schools
were dismissing, and the schoolboys joined the throng
already in the spacious inn-yard. They were vociferously
shouting that foreigners had come, and looked inclined
for some rude horse-play. My husband had not quite
regained his vigour, and was scarcely able to address

196 ORIGIN OF THE NAMES OF PLACES.

sucli a mob. There were two immense gates to this
inn-yard, and so soon as the bookseller could get them
to reason at one side of the court, a fresh influx at the
other upset his plans for quietness. Meanwhile my
husband was busy at the front door selling books as
fast as he could. I shall not soon forget the sound all
this mob of men made.

All at once they left off’ their noisiness. A mandarin
of the place, an old friend of my husband, sent his
servants with his card, and an offer to do anything he
could for us, also a request for certain books. The
coming of the mandarin’s servants put the people into
order. l\Iy husband’s Chinese name ran from mouth to
mouth. The official lantern of the great man was
enough to quiet the crowd, and afterwards only a few
boys made any attempt to be noisy.

Here we noticed what is often the case as to Chinese
rivers. The name given to this river by the towirs-
people was different from the name given to it along
its course. The boatmen called it the Ta T’sing ho,

‘ Great Clear Eiver,’ Avhile the townspeople called it
‘ White Door Eiver.’ Thev had some fable about a dosf,
from which they named the part of the stream that
flowed through the town Pao Kow ho. Eiver and
town had the same name.

A quiet night succeeded to a noisy evening. In
the morning our start was too early for any idlers to
be about. This time we made a false start, and found
ourselves about a mile along the highway that leads
direct to Pao ting foo, the capital city of the province
of Chihli. Peking is in Chihli, but is the capital of the
empire. We wished to take a road that would lead us
through cities my husband had not previously visited.

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L miBERMEN.

199

As I was trudging along well ahead of the cavalcade, I
was startled by a cry to halt. Then the mules were
driven in an opj)Osite direction. I was not sorry we
had to retrace our steps, as the new route took us
through a good part of the town and along the bank of
the river, amongst the extensive lumber yards. Here
we saw wood of all sizes, from the enormous log fit for
the mast of some immense junk to slender spars of
red pine. There were also piles of bent wood prepared
in the half-circles that are so much used for Chinese
chairs, and stacks of hayforks, all of natural growth.
Our friends the lumbermen were by this time too busy
to trouble us. The boys were in school. So it was
pleasant to go along the bank of the stream. Suddenh',
in the distance, I descry three of my own country-
men. It must be so, for there they are in kilts and
Scotch bonnets, hosen and brogues. Genuine Highland
men they look, each bearing a net on his shoulder.
A nearer inspection proved them to be only Alister
^lacAlisters in process of evolution. They were clad
in fishers’ garb. The kilt was of rushes ; the wide hat
had a red topknot. Their legs were bandaged in a
crossway pattern, and they had coarse untanned pig-
skin shoes for brogues.

In the afternoon we reached the city of Tso Chow.
We were much in need of a little rest and quietness.
Like all Chinese cities, Tso Chow has a great street
running east and west, and a corresponding one running
north and south. It has lofty gates, an outer and
inner, and is surrounded by great walls. The gates are
surmounted by temples. The temples over the south
gate of Tso Chow must have been beautifully decorated.
Now they are shabby in paint and gilding. There was

200

DEATH OF THE EASTERN EMPRESS.

a central temple, in wliicli tlie great idol sat in state.
At either side was a shrine surmounted by a canopy
supported by four massive pillars. It was something
like the shrine that now covers the Pilgrim Rock at
Plymouth. This, though smaller, was in form handsomer
than the memorial of the Pilgrim Fathers. In the
shrine to the east there hung a magnificent bell. The
archways of the gates are very thick, strong, and wide.
This strength is required to support the great mass of
temple buildings above.

In the morning we discover that, though the nation
has not changed her gods, she has changed her colours.
Tlie Easteni Empress is dead, and the land mourns.
The last city through which we passed was all gay with
scarlet. Now Tso Chow is in mourning. The outward
and visible sign of this mourning is the suspension at
every shop of two or more squares of blue stuff, satin,
silk, or calico, according to the wealth or taste of the
owner ; but all

‘ In that deep-blue, melancholy dress
Bokhara’s maidens wear, in mindfulness
Of friends or kindred dead.’

The crimson has always a gay and holiday look. The
blue has a sombre hue, and is rather sad-looking.

The Empress was but a woman, yet in all this land,
for a hundred days, while what is called ‘ heavy mourn-
ing ’ lasts, no man may lift a razor, no man may shave
either beard or head. During that time the barber’s
office is a sinecure, and he must live as best he may.
Three days are allowed to prepare, and after that the
Celestials go about looking simply horribly dirty. All
officials change their cards, letter-paper, and envelopes.
For the first twenty-seven days the cards, letters, and

SIGN-BOAJWS.

201

envelopes are of the colour of dead gold ; the envelopes
having a strip of the melancholy blue, pasted down.
On this the name is written. At the end of twenty-
seven daj’s the officials change cards again, from old
gold to a bright yellow, the letter-paper to green, and
the envelopes to white with a red stripe. At the end
of one hundred days the officials may return to the
usual red card, the barber may again flourish his razor,
and every Chinaman go back to his normal state. This
mourning is a severe trial to the Chinese. !My servant
says, ‘ It feels dreadfully uncomfortable to have the
head unshaven for such a length of time.’ The Chinese
have quite a tropical growth of hair — if that term may
be applied to human heads.

The ‘ Peking Gazette ’ also is in ‘ heavy mourning,’
with blue lines dividing the columns. All over the land
there may not be any festivities. Any marriage that may
have been arranged must either take place during the
three days of preparation, or be delayed till the hundred
days have expired.

For twenty-seven months also no theatres are allowed
to be opened, and no plays to be performed in public.
The religious festivals are not interfered with after the
twenty-seven days of deep mourning have expired.

In going through the main street of Tso Chow, I
was greatly interested by what the shopkeepers do to
beautify the various devices by which they make known
what they have for sale. A large tobacco pipe, elabo-
rately carved and gilded, reposing in a gigantic satin-
lined pipe-case, proclaims the tobacconist. A gilded
boot needs no explanation. The money-changer tells
his trade in strings of burnished ‘ cash,’ pendant at
either side of his shop. The mortar and pestle of our

202

CHINESE PA IVNSHOPS.

a2:>otliecary in Eiigiantl are represented by a brass can-
ister with an ornamental lid, wbicb the ‘ medicine man ’
displays. The three golden balls of Britain, upon which
we look as the emblem of pawnbroking, are represented
by a large black character on a white ground. The
Chinese character tang is quite a handsome one. When
anything special is going on in a shop, such as an auc-
tion, the proprietor places outside his door a tall pole of

THE CHINESE cn.^EACTER ‘ TANG,’ THE P.AWNBROKER’S SIGN.

black and gold, with beautiful ornamental black and
scarlet tassels.

The pawnshop of China is quite a reputable institu-
tion. It is more associated with banking than anything
else. Almost all the banks have been pawning places ;
for as their business transactions increased they allowed
the inconvenient pawn to lapse, or in most cases they
limited the articles received to gold and silver and jade-
stone ornaments. A legal pawnshop has a government

PA WNBROKING.

203

licence. On receiving the licence, the owner also gets
a small sum of money as a loan. The Mont-de-Piete
of France more nearly resembles the Chinese mode than
the British ordinary pawn.shop. The government at
present allows pawnbrokers to charge three per cent, a
month on small sums advanced, two and four-tenths per
cent, a month on large sums. This interest varies, but
the lowest interest allowed to be charged is one and six-
tenths per cent, a month. Large capital is required to
carry on this business, and government will not grant
licences except to wealthy individuals.

The articles pawned, unless redeemed, are kept, it is
said, for three years, but actually only into three years —
that is, for twenty-seven months. They are then sold
for the benefit of the establishment. A list of the
articles, with the names of the depositors, is posted up
some days before the sale, so that owners may have a
final opportunity to redeem their pledges. A really good
pawnshop, careful of its reputation, will giv’e to a de-
positor any excess realised on the value of the pledge
he has been unable to redeem, if by any well-known
calamity, such as fire or loss at sea, he has been driven
to relieve temporary personal need.

These auctions are conducted in a most refined
manner. The Chinese call them ‘ Dumb Auctions."
After the names of the depositors have been posted for
the legal time the goods are considered ‘ sealed,’ and
cannot on any plea whatever be redeemed. All the
goods are laid out in lots for inspection. Intending
purchasers go in, examine the goods, and judge what
they are worth. Each purchaser writes on a slip of
paper his name and the price he is willing to pay for
tlie lot represented by a number. On the afternoon of

204

'DUMB auctions:

the same clay the pawnhrolcei-'s assistant reads off the
numbers of the lots that the head man is willing to
dispose of. Very many of these silent bids are given
for one article, which the highest bidder gets. If the
pawnbroker thinks the offers do not come up to the
value he declines to sell, but in that case there is no
refusal, and the goods ai*e again bidden for. Family
valuables are often redeemed in this quiet way when
some rascally member of the family has pledged them,
and refused to give up the ticket.

Thieves and rogues of all kinds have a wholesome
dread of these reputable establishments. They fear
detection, and prefer to deal Avith small shops, Avhose
owners are really receivers of stolen goods. Almost all
these illegal paAvnbroking places are in close proximity
to opium dens. The rate of interest charged in them
is exorbitantly high, but a great portion of the profit
goes as bribes to mandarin runners, and constables Avho
keep these receivers from being molested. To cover
their illegal proceedings, these shops often are under the
name of a AvidoAv Avith a number of fatherless children.

Sometimes most daring women lend their names, and
give assistance to rogues generally. Some years ago at
one of the ports a Avoman of this description hired herself
to represent the Avidow of a man supposed to liaA'e been
shot. Daily she appeared with a retinue all in mourning,
and hoAA’led before the residence of the judge Avho had
given an adverse decision. This continued so long that
the judge got desperate, and ordered a detachment of
marines to protect his house. The admii’al realised the
joke, sent a detachment of marines Avith thirty rounds
of cartrido-es each, and orders to fire on the first AA'oman
they saAA’. Of course the joke was too broad ; but the

A MAGNIFICENT BRIDGE.

203

woman became a heroine because she bad succeeded in
causing so much annoyance to the representative of
British law.

After this digression, I must return to my post on
the street of Tso Chow. I observed a great many walls
with the character tang. These places were surrounded
by very high and strong walls, indeed there was no
opening in them save the door, and the walls were
decorated with placards containing long lists of pledges
and their depositors. It was very early morning, yet
the street was full of peripatetic kitchens, and scores of
men were eating a delicious-looking white soup, into
which they were sopping hot dough-nuts.

Outside the north gate of the town is a magnificent
bridge of many spans. I counted three hundred small
white marble pillars in the parapet ; these pillars are
divided by large slabs of stone of different sizes, some
as large as five feet, while none are smaller than three
feet. This shows the great length of the bridge. In
two places it widens out into recesses. At one of those
recesses were two elephants finely cut in white marble.
I’hough under life-size, they were very imposing.

At the south end of the bridge thei’e was an orna-
mental fei-loic, or rather gateway. It was as brilliant
as vermilion pillars and green and gold could make it.
At either side were shrines with tablets standing on
the imperial tortoise. These were all of very recent
date. What a fitting heraldic emblem ! While we for
our royal arms have the fleet unicorn and the strong
lion, slow-paced China chooses — what ? a tortoise ! The
tortoise is chosen for its longevity.

At the north end of the bridge is a handsome canopy
of wood, which at one time had been rich in colour with

2o6

SCA ICING WOLVES.

lacquer and paint and gilding. South of this canopy
are eight immense blocks of white marble, with couching
lions carved on the top. To the north are two very
ancient and large bronze lions ; but the casting is not
fine, as the bodies are seamed all over like patchwork.
This whole bridge is magnificent. As you stand in the
centre, in one of these recesses, and look around, there is
much beauty in the view. We saw it in the majestic
glory of a gorgeous sunrise : the western hills tinted
on one side rosy, and the shadows dark deep blue ;
whilst the lower hills, which the sun’s rays had not
touched, were dark, almost black. The still, smooth
water, the vivid green of the banks, and the wheat-
fields made a wealth of colouring that throws completely
into the shade all the puny efforts of man. A little
way off is another bridge older than that already noticed,
and decayed. At the west end of this bridge stands
an immense slab of black marble, perhaps over fifteen
feet high, resting on an imperial tortoise, also of black
marble, the whole very handsome, and worthy of an
emperor. The temple in which it is enclosed is entirely
of stone ; even the balustrades that surround the slab
are hewn in stone. These monuments are mostly old j
many of them were gifts of the Emperor Kang Hi.

The people in this place must be tormented by
wolves, for I saw in many places their walls marked
with vivid white circles. They believe that these circles
scare the wolves. How or when the wolves gave inti-
mation of their feelings regarding these circles I have
not ascertained ; but one man told me he lost thirteen
pigs through neglecting the circles, while not one of
his neighbours who had the circles lost any — though
they had more pigs, and fatter ones.

207

CHAPTER XXIV.

How our ‘ walking map ’ turned out— Difficulty of governing des-
peradoes— A run on a bank — The summary punishment of the
villains— An escape from roughs— A new feature on the ‘ old
highways ’ — Camels : their drivers and burdens — Approach to
Peking— Bad roads— A Peking street— The walls— Manchu
women— Origin of the small feet— Bandaging and the pain it
causes.

Not long after leaving home we discovered that onr
‘ walking map ’ had made good use of his opportunities.
In every district through which he had passed he seems
to have acquired any wickedness that might be new
and fashionable, and he grew especially proficient in
the art of harassing his unfortunate travellers. He
was, as all bullies are, a coward, for if we were near a
magistrate’s bureau he was as respectful and honest as
possible ; but when we came to caravauseries, and where
the scum of the cities had collected, he was quite un-
bearable. He drank and gambled, and when anxious
to show off before the roughs he was somethiuo- fearful
He always carried an open knife in his sleeve, and
threatened all who displeased him. He was, without
exception, the worst muleteer we ever travelled with.

Only the utmost forbearance on the part of my
husband, and a complete knowledge of the rules of the
road, enabled us to get along in safety. The roughs

20S

A RL\y oy A BA Ay.

instinctively recognised tlie man wlio was neither going
to be plnndered nor frightened.

Onr experiences with that muleteer made me pitv
mandarins who have to take charge of such ruffians ;
and one can scarcely be sur[5i-ised that capital punish-
ment is so often resorted to in order to keep such
scoundrels in awe. These villains are not simply
brutish. They are astute, keen-minded men, and there-
fore can do much mischief.

Lately, in a great city, a group of such desperadoes,
in revenge for some deduction of cash, resolved to harass
a large and honourable native banking company. They
laid their plans widely and carefully, and they succeeded
in making such a run on the bank that the city was in
danger. The mandarin at once, and most unexpectedly,
seized one or two of the ringleaders, and, after showing
clearly that they were the cause of this uproar, decapi-
tated them. In one hour the town was quiet, and there
was not a rough left. They saw where the jDower lay,
and took the hint to decamp and preserve their heads.

I once had a long talk Avith a mandarin on the
rapidity with Avhich they hurry on trials and inflict
capital punishment.

He said, ‘ These trials are all regulated by law, and
those men knoAV quite well when they make themselves
liable to be taken up. Soldiers also know their code of
military discipline, and it would be dangerous to let
certain acts pass.’ He said further, ‘ We have to rule
in our OAvn way and with our own weapons, else there
would be no government.’ He said that there is no law
for a mandarin to decapitate ruffians when they raise mobs
against foreicmers. Hence the Tien-tsin massacre. Had
the women massacred there been Chinese subjects, H. E.

CAMELS AND THEIR BURDENS.

205

Cliang-How could legally have decapitated the ring-
leaders in the street, but he had no law for that case, and
had to wait instructions from the capital, the complaint
requiring to be made by the British l\Iinister.

At a small town forty li from Peking we spent the
night. Early in the morning we started, and found the
main street a quagmire, and as the feet of our mules
dragged tlu’ough it an almost intolerable stench ai’ose.
The inhabitants had a most dissipated appearance.
They looked like the ruffians from a large citv. I
believe they Avere chased out of the capital, and had
congregated here. Our muleteers seemed desirous of
hobnobbing Avith these fellows. As Ave were leaAung
the inn there Avas a veiy faint attempt at a hoot, speedily
suppressed by the innkeeper, for which I belicA’e Ave
AA’ere indebted to the ‘ Avalking map.’

All along the patliAvay wei’e camels crouching, and as
AA'e left the street and climbed a bleak and ston\’ rido'e,
Ave met strings of them moA'ing with a sIoav, sailing
motion. Ghost-like they were, with their great spongy
feet and noiseless tread. They Avere in a A'eiy ragged
state of coat, and did not appear to be respectable
members of the animal kingdom.

These camels are chiefly used for coiiA'eying coal
from the mines, and they must haA*e become jAerfectly
acclimatised. "We passed hundi-eds of them. In the
beginning of J une they are driven off to the Mongolian
plains, AA'here they graze till September, as they cannot
endure the heat of the city in summer. They are double-
humped, very large, and shaggy in coat. Each has a
saddle that goes completely round both humps, Avith a
broad portion as a strap between them. They crouch
to be laden, and the Chinese do not overburden them.

210

CAMEL-DRIVERS.

Amongst tlie Imndreds we met I did not liear fi
sound uttered. The men who attend them are very few
compared with those who drive other beasts of burden.
I do not think the average was two men to twenty-five
camels. These men usually ride the leaders. The camels
are attached to each other by a string passed through a
hole pierced in the nostril. It seemed a cruel fashion,
but there is a liberal allowance of string, and they walk
with so much regularity that I do not think they suffer.
Besides, the end of the string is fastened to a guard of
fine smooth boxwood. I only saw one camel with his
nostrils slightly bleeding. The near camel of the string
has a bell on his neck. This bell gives a hollow turn-
turn sound, not a tinkle, like the bells on mules or horses.

In one of the sandy lanes, at a good distance from
Peking, we met a string of camels carrying grain. They
were very large, and seemed much better cared for than
those laden with coal. They had long beards and bushy
knee-pads. A mass of whity-brown hair on their heads
reminded me of the Soumalis at Aden. Following this
string there was a little foal. It was of a lovely fawn-
colour, smooth and soft. Its little humps were beauti-
fied with a tiny mop of flaxen hair. As it gambolled
round its dam, it was in great contrast to the tattered
coat that she displayed.

Unused to such sights, our Shan-tung mules became
troublesome, and one had to have his eyes covered.
Although we met these camels during part of two days,
the mules did not get reconciled to them, but always
eyed them with suspicion, and made ready for a bolt.

The camel-drivers looked a stujiid set of men. Their
favourite dress was a long ulster, cut from one sheet of
fine white felt sewn with brown twine, a seam up each

A ^ spill:

211

side under the arm and down the sleeve. When it rains
the camels have each a large sheet of matting girthed
over their burdens, and almost covering the whole bodv.

String after string of camels are seen, more numerous
and more ghost-like as we near the wondrous city of
J’eking, whose walls loom up before us in the grey of a
drizzly morning. Grand and imposing the gate looks,
fit entrance to this city of the Celestials ; but, alas for
our enthusiasm ! we have to pass over a miry road full of
ruts, in which the mules find such unsafe footing as to
render us apprehensive of ‘ a spill.’ AVhen a shendzle
falls it is literally a spill, as I once experienced.
When travelling during the night, the front animal took
fright at the muleteer striking a match, backed, and by
his pressure on the long poles threw the hind mule off
the path. Over went the shendzle, down a deep ravine,
roll, bump, over and over ; and with each turn a shower
of books, tins, cups, spoons, and finally a sprinkling of
such groceries as remained after a long journey, over-
whelmed the unfortunate occupant.

The remembrance of that memorable night kept me
intent upon maintaining the proper balance of the
shendzle, as I saw a chance of my being upset into
some odious cesspool, or submerged in a duckweedy
ditch, half sewer and half canal.

However, in time we safely passed the ditches that
abound in the neighbourhood outside the city Avail, and
reached the paved road that leads to one of the Avestern
gates. A Avell-paA’ed avenue it had once been, but now
in some places the immense blocks of stone are Avorn
into deep ruts by the ceaseless traffic ; in other places
the stones have been removed, giving rise to the suspi-
cion that the neighbouring householders haA^e helped

o 2

212

BAD ROADS.

themselves to these fragments of imperial property.
For many of the mud-holes in front of the houses are
provided with a stone crossing, whose likeness to the
stones of the avenue is too evident. Along each side of
this paved way there is a deep fosse, and the remains of
a row of trees.

The road presented a curious scene. The middle of
it was filled with carts of various sizes, some immensely
large, drawn by many-coloured teams, consisting of
from seven to fourteen mules, donkeys, and horses.
Others were the carts of gentlemen, drawn by one large
and handsome mule. There were also costermongers’
carts, wheelbarrows of all descriptions, and our sheudzles
made a picturesque addition to the vehicles.

The unpaved side-paths are taken possession of by the
camels, some strings of them laden with coal, others with
lime, entering the city on the one side-jDath; while those
rid of their loads, and returning to the mines or lime
pits, as the case may be, are filing down the other path-
wav. Pedestrians get along as best they can, picking
cut the driest stones, and displaying an amusing variety
of pattern in umbrellas. Here and there boys are
amusing themselves by splashing in the pools of water,
others are offering small donkeys for hire to the unfor-
tunate pedestrians.

The road is so crowded that we are obliged to go
slowlv, and thus have ample time to see that the city
lies on a sloping plain, the Si Shan, or western hills,
forming a fine approach to this side of the city.

The wall is about 40 feet high, G2 feet thick at the
base, and 34 feet at the top. Massive buttresses are
thrown out at intervals. All the wall is crenelated, and
has a great many embrasures for cannon. Over each

A PEKING STREET.

213

gate there is a lofty tower, and as we approached our
muleteer declared the tower was a hundred feet high.
The exact jneasurement is ninety-nine Chinese feet.
These towers have a most imposing look, and I do not
wonder that the Chinese are proud of their capital.

As we passed through the tunnel formed by the
gateway we could not but admire its solid strength,
and the semicircular enceinte adds to the effect. As a
defence, the wall of Peking is not contemptible. It is
well known that in 1860, when one of the city gates
Avas in possession of the French and English troops, the
officers who examined the massive thickness of the walls
were not quite certain that they Avould have been able
to batter them doAvn ; at least, in their opinion it would
have been somewhat difficult.

It Avas not only in passing through it that Ave ad-
mired it, but subsequently, Avhen Ave Avalked up one of
the inclined slopes that lead to the platform on the
top, Ave found it Avell paved, handsome, and Avide ; the
whole in the most perfect order, Avith abundant gutters
to lead the Avater off. AVhat a splendid promenade it
was ! and from it we had a most extensh’e aToav of the
city. The yelloAv of the imperial roofs, the green-tiled
roofs of the pi’inces, the number and variety of the
buildings, and the foliage of the trees, made a most
pleasing picture.

In the streets of the city my notice was at once
attracted to the Manchu Avomen, walking about Avith
feet of the natural size. Accustomed to the miserable
gait of the Chinese Avomen, I could not but admire the
grace of their movements. So many of these women
AA'ere going about, that it seemed as if we had left ‘ little-
footed China ’ outside the Avails of Peking.

214

ORIGIN OF THE SMALL FEET.

The persistency of Chinese ^yolnen in cramping
their feet is a familiar instance of how far fashion can
make deformity popular. This practice took many
centuries to gain favour and arrive at its present uni-
versality. The best authorities state, and all the in-
formation I can gain on the subject shows, that this
custom is simply fashion. The practice began A. D. 501.
An empress called Pan Fei, to whom nature had
granted exceedingly small feet, was accustomed to
show their beauty by walking over a platform covered
with crimson cloth, embroidered with golden lilies.
The emperor used to say, ‘ Each footstep made a lily
grow ’ ; so that the little feet of the women are called
‘ golden lilies.’ The ladies tried to rival Pan Fei’s feet
by bandaging their own. This fashion took a long
time to become popular. In a.d. 975, the last empress
of the famous Tang dynasty, who was the most beautiful
woman of her time, had clubbed feet. She bandaged
and ornamented them so successfully that the fashion
of cramped feet spread through the whole emjiire. The
Emperor Kang-Hi, the founder of the present Manchu
dynasty, in 1G62 made a great effort to suj^press foot-
binding. After issuing one edict that proved ineffectual,
he prepared another, accompanied with most stringent
and severe penalties ; but his advisers warned him that
if he persisted it would probably cause a rebellion.
Thus the conquerors of China were conquered by the
women of China. They set their tiny feet on pi-inces !
On the men he imposed the shaven head and the queue,
and also the dress they were to wear ; but when he
tried to suppress this practice the women defied him.

The fact that all the empresses of the Manchu
dynasty have large feet is too frequently overlooked.

BANDAGING.

215

Another anomaly in this empire, where so many customs
are contrary to Western lands, is that whereas royalty
in Europe leads the fashion, here it fails, and the fd
sing, the ‘ hundred families,’ carry the day according to
their own whims.

A most serious whim this is. The process begins
in the child’s fifth year. The little foot is taken by the
mother, the four toes, leaving the great toe free, are
pressed down completely under the sole : a bandage
seven feet long and about an inch and a half wide is
used. This bandage is wound over the toes, and crossing
the foot is passed round the heel. The strength of one
woman is not considered sufficient, so another stands
behind and pulls at the bandage. It is wound over
the toes and around the heel till the whole seven feet
of cloth is expended. This bandage is tightened day
by day till the foot accpiires the desired shape and
smallness. The process is continued for years, and the
pressure is never relaxed.

There are three degrees of compression. The first is
adopted by some of the very poor peasant women, who
expect their daughters to have hard work, when the foot
is not quite destroyed. The second degree is most
common, and in Shan-tung almost every woman of
the middle class, and many of the poor, endure it. The
bandage is drawn so tight as to make the foot a shape-
less mass ; the toes are so pressed into the sole as
almost to obliterate them, unless, indeed, they become
diseased and require treatment. The third degree is
not often practised. In this case the foot is desired to
be so small that the great toe is also curved down under
the sole.

This cramping entails great suffering. I have

2I6

FA/AT AND DEFORMITY.

always found tlie little feet hot and painful till the girl
has attained her full growth. While some women
say that they did not experience much pain, most tell
me that at intervals it was excruciating torture. I
have often found young girls rocking themselves to
and fro, evidently in extreme suffering because of the
bandage.

Besides in many ways destroying the health it
shrivels the leg, and often produces serious disease in
the foot itself. Diseased bone in the instep has often
been treated in the hospital at Chefoo. Sometimes the
toes fester. Frequently women would come to the
hospital suffering so much that they implored me to
amputate the painful toes. After a while, finding they
could thus obtain relief from pain, they came in great
numbers.

Notwithstanding this pain and deformity, I have
found it a most difficult subject with which to deal.
When I have proposed to undo the bandage to give
relief, even veiy little girls would refuse, and say, ‘ Oh,
no ! we could not let you do so. We should not be fit
to be seen.’ Those little feet ! the one vanity of the
Chinese women. They are not vain of their beautiful
hair or of their lovely complexions, but these tiny feet
and exqnisitely embroidered shoes occupy their whole
thousrhts. Strange that thev should be vain of such

O O

folly, for as the women get old there is something per-
fectly repulsive in the look of these cramped, disfigured
feet. At all times their gait in walking is simply a
kind of totter. Yet we find it a matter we can hardly
touch, and as it does not involve a question of morality,
we must trust to gradual enlightenment and to the
spread of Christian principles.

A FUNERAL PROCESSION.

217

Passing tlirough Peking, •n'e were charmed by the
gay appearance of everything. W e pushed slowly on,
and after traversing miles of streets, passing legation
after legation, we arrived at the premises of the National
Bible Society of Scotland, where we stayed.

2i8

CHAPTER XXV.

Peking — Its plan, buildings, and institutions — Its social economy —
Improvements since 18G6 — Railway and telegraph — Journey by
canal — Infanticide not common in Xorth China — Tien-tsin — The
Pei ho — The Taku Forts— Chefoo.

Peking is a twin city : tlie Tartar portion on tlie
nortlp a square, three miles each side : the Chinese
citj' on the south, an oblong, nearly five miles by two.
Originally it must have been a splendid city, lying
as it does on a gentle slope, and built upon a most
eulighteued plau. It is a city of parallelograms, with
spacious streets cutting each other at right angles. It
has an abundant find never-fiiiling water supply from the
western hills, large lakes, a canal running through the
citv, and a good system of drainage. Notwithstanding
its present dust, dirt, dilapidation, and cesspools, it
might be made one of the most beautiful capitals.
Were due advantage taken of the several rivers which
rise in the semicircle of hills on the north-west, avenues
. of trees might shade each side of the thoroughfares,
and there might be running streams on both sides of
the streets.

It is a most interesting city still, with its elegant
Prospect Hill in the centre, adorned with clumps of
sluvdy trees and numerous arbours. The imperial palaces.

PEKING AND IPS BUILDINGS.

219

the palatial residences, the handsome legations, the altar
to the IMost High God, on which, every year at the
winter solstice, a red heifer, without blemish and with-
out spot, on whose neck the yoke has never passed, is
most devoutly offered as a whole burnt offering — the
most ancient and continuously offered religious rite that
has ever existed in the world — all impress the traveller.
He gazes wonderingly at the elegant triple-roofed
dome of glistening blue raised in honour of Heaven,
with its ancient cult, and within whose glass Venetians
of sapphire blue there stands no idol, but only a tablet
to the Supreme Ruler of the universe ; at its great
reception halls, its ornamental gateways, its pagodas, and
dagobas, bell and drum towers for time and fire signals.
He meets with much to interest him at the altar to
Earth, at the temples to the Sun and Moon, and the
shrine to Agriculture. The Lama University, with its
four courses of study, and its resident students (Lamas),
ranging from thirteen to fifteen hundred ; its morning
devotions, with its gorgeous ritual and wondrous deep
bass music. Then there are the Hanlin College, or
Imperial Academy, the College of Medicine, govern-
ment schools where young men designed as inter-
preters are taught Manchu, Mongol, Thibetan, Cochin-
Chinese, Turkish, and, formerU, the Burmese and
Newara languages. These are now all eclipsed by the
Tung AVen Kwan (Peking College), where the chief
European languages are taught, and the various
sciences of the AVest. There are also carefully kept
imperial libraries, the catalogue of one alone occupying
two hundred volumes.

Peking also presents a splendid field for the archaeo-
logist : many of its most famous sacred and imperial

220

PEKING AND ITS INDUSTRIES.

buildings being fac-similes of ancient structures dating
from B.C. 1200 to B.C. 800, abounding in relics of all
descriptions, sucli as tlie stone drums, possessing a
history of 2,500 years ; the eleven bells of the Chow
dynasty, B.C. 1200 to B.C. 220; the eighteen tripods,
the standard measure of capacity, and imperial dial ;
the famous gallery of portraits of all the emperors and
empresses, and all the noted statesmen and learned men,
from the earliest historic times to the present day.

There are trilingual and tetralingual marble slabs ;
huge printing offices, where the imperial almanac is
printed yearly in three languages — IManchu, jMongol,
and Chinese ; the court from whence the daily newspaper,
called the ‘ Peking Gazette,’ has for centuries been dis-
tributed by swift couriers all over the empire, where it
is reprinted ; the six boards, dating from a most early
period : viz. the Boards of Civil Office, of Eeveniie, of
Kites, of AYar,of Works, and of Punishments ; the Tsungli
Ya IMen, or Foreign Office. In addition we have survivals
of customs of the deepest interest to the antiquarian.

No less interesting to the student of human nature
are its varied industries. Its Paternoster Row, where
there are huge book-stores with books marvellous for
size ; national histories and geographies, which for ful-
ness and accuracy entirely eclipse all other nations.
There are also all the trades necessarj* to civilisation —
workers in metal, pewter, brass, iron. There are places
where carts stand for hire, not unlike the cab-stands of
London. There are many objects of interest in the
social economy of the city — its system of police, its
system of lighting, perfect in theory, its fire and time
signal towers ; its clubs, Avhere literary men have their
wine parties, and wit flashes fx’eely ; its caravanserais,

ITS SOCIAL ECONOMY.

221

restaurants of wondrous size ; its encampments of tlie
various nationalities of tlie East, sucli as tlie Mongol
encampment, the Thibetan, the Corean, the Loo-chooan,
the Cochin-Chinese, Burmese, and the Xepaulese, with
their diverse costumes and equipages which make
Peking unique among the cities of the East.

Then there are the tremendous granaries, the resi-
dences of the Manchus of the eight banners, and the
various ^Mongol banners. ■

Xor are these people wholly material ; they have spirit-
ualistic halls, where seances are held, spirit-rapping,
spirit-writing, volumes of poetry written by spirits, astro-
logj*, divination, j ugglery, and all the occult sciences so
much prized by those whose minds are dark and unrestful .

There are also benevolent and charitable institutions,
such as foundling hospitals, asylums for the blind,
hosi^itals for the relief of the aged, and a dispensary for
coffins for the poor. These institutions may not be so
efficiently carried out as one could wish, but the germ
is there, and is a proof of the considerate and liberal
character of the Chinese.

On this occasion I observed many signs of manifest
improvement since my last visit in 18GG. There were
gas-works erected by the Inspectoi’-General, which now
light up the premises of the Imperial Customs. There was
a brisker trade, and the shops were in better order, both
as to stock and decoration. There were fewer unin-
habited houses, and many more dwellings were in pro-
cess of repair. This process of renovation will probably
go on, and while these pages are passing through the
press news has reached us of old prejudices gi\dng way.
Railways have been publicly and officially sanctioned by
the Government, and there is a probability of two great

222

IN A ^EDAN CltAlli.

trunk lines being laid, one from Peking to Canton, tlie
other from Shanghai to North-west China. The world-
Avide netAVork of telegraphy has already throAAm its first
tAA'O lines into the city of Peking, one for official de-
spatches into the Tartar city, the other for business pur-
poses into the Chinese city.

"We dismissed our shendzles at Peking, and after
spending some time there, started homewards rid the
canal and the Pei hoh PiA’er. A kind friend lent me a
sedan chair, as AA’e had former experiences of the miseries
of being jolted OA^er the tAA'elA’e miles of paA’ed aA'enue
that lie betAA’een the city gate of Peking and Tung CIioaa’,
AA'here AA*e hired a boat.

We found the dust a serious incoiwenience, but our
coolies AA'ere stapA'art felloAA’s, and marched along at a
rapid rate. These men declared to me, and persisted in
the speech, that they could AA’alk faster AA'ith the chair
than AA’ithout it, as the impetus of the chair SAA'ung them
along. Four coolies AA'e had, and they carried by turns.
They brought tAA'o tiny donkeys, and rode them AA'hen
relieA'ed from the chair.

I AA'as alone, and the coolies made an attempt at
being most polite and considerate. Wherever they
stopped to drink tea they invariably brought out in a
fine porcelain cup tea for the lady, and refused to take
payment ; so I in my turn invested in some tempting-
looking cakes for the benefit of the party, and we had
quite a sociable time.

We reached the canal, and here left the ‘ old high-
Avaj’s.’ There Avas no difficulty in hiring a boat ; the
trouble was to get it started. The boatmen promised
to set off in the afternoon, but by various manoeuATes
they managed to detain us. There seemed no hope of

INFANTICIDE.

223

ffettinsr tlie crew too'etlier : first one man was missing —

‘ Oh, lie had gone to purchase vegetables ’ ; then another
went in search of him ; finally the missing man returned,
but the searcher did not, and a third man disappeared,
so they detained us till the morning. I did not regret
the detention, as I made friends with the women and
children in the neighbouring boats. On very many of the
boats there were whole families living. Healthy, happy-
looking children were plentiful, th 'ir mothers evidently
proud when the little ones were talked to. Domestic
discipline also was occasionally administered as the
bairns refused to go to sleep ; and no wonder, for few of
them had seen a foreign lady. Infant Celestials are not
as a rule cherubic, but sunny infancy is sweet all the
world over.

I have often been questioned as to the prevalence of
infanticide. In the north of China I have not found
any organised infanticide, and I have found parents
making most heroic efforts to bring up their little ones.
I have come on cases of mothers dying and lea\fing in-
fants who I fear got small chance of living from their
relatives. Among all the women I have questioned in
Shan-tung only one confessed to having destroyed her
infant, a girl, and she did so to leave herself free to be-
come a wet-nurse. Of the native women admitted to the
Church, not one had a tale of infanticide to regret, though
many with tearful eyes spoke of having lost three, four,
and five .children by that dreadful scourge, small-pox.

The idea of infanticide is developed by the fact that
the Chinese believe that a child dying young has no
personal soul, and is only inhabited by a vagrant soul.
The officers of justice from Hades come and capture the
runaway spirit ; hence when a child dies under two

224

JOURNEY BY CANAL.

years of age tliey take no tliouglit for tlie poor little
body ; it is not interred in tlie family burying-ground,
but generally given to some coolie, wbo for forty cask
(about twopence English) promises to put it away ; and
I know of two cases when the faithless, opium-smoking
fellow laid the little body down on a dust-heap close bj'.
Those who have travelled widely amd mingled with
Chinese most intimately in North China, found that it
was not practised there. It unfortunately existed on some
parts of the seaboard which were first known to the outer
world, and hence the idea that the crime was prevalent
all over China. We all know that it was our blessed
Saviour who made infant life sacred when ‘ He took the
little ones in His arms, put His hands on them, and
blessed them ’ ; and where His love is unknown the care
for childhood is not very active. The educated Chinese
ai'e ashamed of infanticide, and in almost every city
have provided foundling hospitals ; and also to relieve
the poor of the expense of interment the Government
provides towers outside of cities where dead infants
may be placed.

After all the infant laughter and tears had been
cpiieted we sat on the prow of our boat and enjoyed the
glorious moonlight; we admired the picturesque groups
of boatmen seated round their blazing fires, where in
immense caldrons the supper was being prepared, and
Avas ladled out hot and steaming; very palatable it
looked. A Chinaman is careful to have his meals com-
fortable, and has a horror of cold Auctuals.

In the morning there came the stir of unmooring
and getting out from the numerous boats around us.
Those remaining were veiy apathetic, and not in the least
inclined to assist those who were endeavouring to get out
of the maze. Amid many threats by the boatmen to cut

TlEN-TSm.

225,

ropes unless tliej' were pulled up, and a good deal of
scolding, we at last got into the open stream, and were
among; the first of a lon» string of these river boats. We'
had the wind against us, so our progress was slow ; how-
ever, we were repaid for this by being fortunate enough
to meet a squadron of junks conveying a portion of the
Government rice to Peking. They passed us at full
sail, and it was really a fine sight to see the whole
fleet as we did on that lovely summer day. We glided
along the canal, made romantic by the name of Kublai
Khan, and by all the pleasant memories of his capital,
the old-world Kambalu. It seemed to me, after the
fatigues of the shendzle, to be almost the perfection of
travelling, to sit sheltered from the sun, yet able to
view all that is going on as junk after junk in full sail
passed, up the river.

All the way to the city of Tien-tsin these grain junks
passed as close to each other as they could sail with safety.

Tien-tsin is a large and very busy city, reported to
be the refuge of the offscourings of the capital, scoundrels
who find it inconvenient to be too near the seat of law
and order.

Tien-tsin is also of unenviable fame in regard to the
sad massacre of the sisters of mei’cy and other foreigners
in 1870. Here there is a Chinese arsenal, superintended
by foreigners, gas-works, &c. It is also the head-quarters
of his Excellency Li Hung Chung, the most notable
man in China, the man who best understands the
strength and the weakness of the empire.

About a mile from the native city of Tien-tsin is the
foreign settlement, a pleasant place, well laid out with
good roads and a handsome esplanade, or what in China
is called a ‘ bund,’ nicely planted with trees.

226

THE PEI HO.

We found we were just in time to catch our favourite
steamer, the 8in Nan Zing. Here we were in civilisa-
tion as to the steamer ; but the river is so narrow and
so winding that the first thing done after we got on
board was to turn her round by means of a rope fastened
to a post on the opposite side of the river ; and funny
she looked, with her stem and stern straight across the
stream. Bend after bend we reach in the river, and
always the same process is repeated : by means of a
rope and a post on shore the steamer is twisted round
to face down the stream.

A very little trouble would straighten and deepen
the Pei ho, but the Chinese know that it is not in
their interest to render their capital easy of access.
One high official, a marine mandarin, told me that
‘ each bend in that river was worth a couple of ironclads
to the Chinese Government.’ And until justice rules
the world, or, what will sooner come, until China has
a navy that can cope with all the Western Powers,
she wisely keeps her Pei ho’s bends and double-bends.
The ironclads she is rich enough to buy, but what years
it will take ere she can have sailors and marines with
bone and muscle hardened, and hearts made brave
enough to get the title that our seamen rejoice in !

The winding course of the river had caused so many
detentions that we were afraid of being too late to cross
the Taku bar, where the celebrated fights took place
in 1858-60. Ultimately the forts were captured by
the allied forces, but afterwards returned to the Chinese.
These forts are now repaired, and said to be very strong
— the best national defences the Chinese possess — of far
greater importance than the forts of the IMin River at
Foochow, or the Woosung forts near the mouth of the

APPROACHING CHEFOO.

227

Sliangliai River. Off tlie Taku forts were lying several
beautiful little gun-boats, tlie first of what is now called
the Alphabetical fleet, they being named by the letters
nf the Greek alphabet. I suppose these must have been
Alpha, Beta, &c. They are beautifully fitted, painted
white, and rested on the water like gigantic sea-birds.
These vessels are most valuable, as they cany^ good guns,
and are in eveiy way adapted for the shallow bays and
rivers on the Chinese coast.

Passing the Custom House we reached the bar,
fortunately just in time to get across, although, by the
mud we stirred up, I believe our worthy captain brought
his steamer partly over-land. Two larger steamers
were lying, one outside the bar coming up the river, the
other inside the bar going down. We left them there,
smiling at each other like rival beauties.

This bar is a great grievance to the mercantile com-
munity in the coasting trade. Very little work, they
say, with a dredger would keep a clear channel, as the
bar is only the deposit from the river and the silt of
sand from the tide. The Chinese, however, are not i;n-
mindful that vessels other than the valuable merchant-
man would find a ready passage ; while with the bar,
guarded by the Taku forts, nations who are fond of
removing their neighbours’ landmarks would take some
time for consideration ere they would risk a run to
Peking. The Mian Tau Islands lay brightened by the
morning sun as we passed, and Chefoo Bluff looked its
best as we again neared Chefoo, and recognised the old
familiar smoke-tower.

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Samuel Manning, ll.d. New Edition. Revised. Profusely Illustrated.

“ Those Holy Fields.” Palestine Illustrated hy Pen and Pencil.

By the late Rev. Samuel AIanning, ll.d. tVith numerous Engravings.

The Land of the Pharaohs. Egypt and Sinai. Illu.strated hy

Pen and Pencil. By Rev. Samuel Manning, ll.d. tVith fine Engravings.
Pictures from Bible Lands. Drawn with Pen and Pencil.
Edited by the Eev. S. G. Green, d.d. tVitii fine Engravings.

LONDON: 56, PATERNOSTER ROW.

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY'S LIST.

LONDON: 56, PATERNOSTER ROW.

NEW ILLUSTRATED STORY BOOKS.

THE "SUNFLOWERS" SERIES.

A series of books intended for adults rather than children. In this series an attempt
will be made to supply books which shall not only interest as well- written stories
that afford studies of character and descriptions of events and scenes likely to
rivet the attention, but which shall also stimulate serious thouglit, and develop
the better nature of those who shall read them.

Sunflowers. A Story of To-tlay. By G. C. Gedge. With Four

Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. cloth.

Carola. By Hesba Strettox, Author of “ Jessica’s First Prayer,”
etc. With Four Illustrations. Crown Bvo. 3s. 6d. cloth boards.

Lenore Annan

dale’s Story.
By E. Everett
Green, Author
of “ Raul Har-
V a r d ' s C a m-

paign," etc. With
Five Illustrations
by Whvmper.
Crown 8vo. Cloth
boards, os.

The Doctor’s

Experiment.
By the Author of
“Under Fire,”
etc. With Illus-
trations. 5s.
cloth gilt.

A story of schoolboy
life, full of incident.

Luther and Car
dinal Albrecht
of Mainz.
Historic- Bio -
graphical Tale.
Given in English
by Julie .Sutter.
With Portraits.
Crown 8vo. 5s.
cloth boards.

Within Sea Walls ; or. How the Dutch kept the Faith. By
Elizabeth H. Walshe and Geo. E. Saroent. With Illustrations. A most
interesting historical tale. 4s. 6d. cloth gilt.

Boy and Man :

A Story for Old
and Young. With
numerous Il-
lustrations by
French. 4s. Im-
perial lOmo.
Cloth gilt.

Straight to the

Mark. A Story
for Old and
Y'oung. By the
Rev. T. S. Mil-
lington, M.A.,
Author of " Boy
and Man,” etc.
Illustrations. 5s.
Imperial lOnio.
Gilt edges.

Reduced f rom “ Lenore Annandale’s Story."

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY’S LIST.

3/6 ILLUSTRATED BOOKS.

Saxby: A Tale of the Coinmon-
wealth Time. P.y F.mma Leslie.
Illustrated. Cloth gilt, 3s. (id.

An interesting liistoi ical tale.

Ellen Tremaine ; or, The

Poem without an Ending. By
ilARiANNE Filleul. With En-
gravings. Crown 8vo. 3s. Cd. cloth

A very good historical story.

Bede’s Charity. By Hksba

Stuetton. CrownSvo. 3s. Cd. cloth
hoards, gilt edges.

Wind and Wave fulfilling-

His Word. A Story of the Siege of
Leyden, 1574. By IIakuiette E.
Burch. With Engravings. 3s. Cd.
cloth gilt.

hoards, gilt edges.

An interesting story of life in a West
Country fishing village, and of adven-
tures on the ocean ami in Australia.

Apples and Oranges : Fami-
liar Talks with Children on Fruits.
By Airs. Dyson, author of “ Child-
ren s Flowers,” etc. With Engrav-
ings. Crown 8vo. 3s. Cd. cloth
hoards, gilt edges.

Seven Steps Upward. BylM.

E. Ropes and sai.e.m II am.. With
Seven Illustrations. CI(j11i hoards,
gilt edges, 3s. Cd. A scries of tales
for young people hy tn o well-known
writers.

4 - EACH.

Lost in Egypt. A Story

from I.ifc. By .Miss M. L.
What ELY. 4s. cloth gilt.

Children of India.

Written for the Children of
England hy one of their
F’riends. With Illustrations
ami Map. 4s. gilt edges.

Under Fire ; being the

story of a Boy’s Battles against
Himself and other Enemies.
Illustrated. 4s. gilt edges.

3'- EACH.

Through the Linn; or,

Miss Temple’s Wards. By
Agnes Giuerne. 3s. With
Engravings, cloth gilt.

Hid in the Cevennes;

or. The ilountain Refuge. A
Story of a French Protestant
Girl. With Illustrations. 3s.
cloth, gilt.

Onee upon a Time ; or,

The Boy's Book of Adven-
tures. 3s. cloth.

Reduced from “ Wind mid Wave fiilfillinfi His IFord.”

LONDON: 56, PATERNOSTER ROW.

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY’S LIST.

2/6 ILLUSTRATED BOOKS.

The Sure Harvest. Bj- Mrs. Cuote.

A useiul aiul iiiterestiug Stoiy for
Girls, :1s. Uil. cloth.

Three Christmas Eves. By the Author
of ■■ Tlie t'ottuge ou the Shore, " etc.
Illustrated. 2s. Ud. cloth gilt.

Elliott Malcolm s Chronicle. The
Story of a Scotch Lassie. W ith Eu-
graviugs. 2s. Gd. cloth boards.

All e.vcelleiit gift-book for servants.

Angel Meadow. By the Author of
Field Court.' Illustrations. 2s. Gd.
cloth. '

Boys will be Boys. By George E. Saegent.

With lllustralioiis. 2s. Gd. clotli boards.
Thoughtful Joe. and how he Earned his Aaiiie.
By Airs, i: G ill Lamb. For Little Cliililreii.
2s. Gd. cloth.

Elsie's Footprints; or, Jesus your Life,
and your Life for Jesus. By Mrs.
Lucasshabwell. 2s. Gd. cloth lioards.
The Moth and the Candle ; or, Lucy
Woodville s Temptation. 2s. Gd. cloth.
Old Anthony's Secret. By Sarah
BoUPNEY. 2s. Gd. cloth boards.
Katie Brightside, and how she made
the Best of Evei.i lliiii';. Large tyiie.
ABookfor l.iiilc Girls. 2s. Gd. cloth.

Reduced from “ The Sure Harvest."

The Master’s Service. A Practical
Guide for Girls. 2s. Gd. cloth.

Ivy’s Armour. TVith Engravings. Il-
lustrating Eph. vi. 13-17. 2s. Gd. cloth.

Free to Serve. A Yoimg Servant's
Story. By E. P.. G.vrratt. 2s. Gd. cloth.

Golden Sheaves ; or, Grace Reynold’s
Work for the JIaster. 2s. Gd. cloth.

Olive’s Story ; or. Life at Eavenscliffe.
By Airs. O. F’. WALTON. 2s. Gd. cloth.

Children’s Daily Bread. Picture, Text,
and Ver.se for every Day. 2s. Gd. cloth.

LONDON: 56, PATERNOSTER ROW.

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY'S LIST.

LONDON: 56, PATERNOSTER ROW.

2I- ILLUSTRATED BOOKS.

The Secret Room. By Miss Pocklixg-
TON. Illustrated. 2s. cloth boards.

An unusually well-^vritten story of tlie
time of Queen Mary. The tale is well
conceived and the little book is full of
■• aluatile reading.

Seduced from " In London Fields.

Little Ben Hadden ; or, Do Eight,
fhatever conies of it. By M". H. G.
Kingston. With Illustrations. Crown
8vo. 2s. cloth.

Sunday Pictures for the Little Ones.
M ith Eighty-four Coloured Pictures.
2s. cloth gUt.

Great Voya-
gers. Their
Adventures
and Discover-
ies. 2s. cloth.

BY HESBA STRETTON.

Author of “ Jessica’s First Prayer.

2s. each. Crown Svo, cloth boards.

A Thorny Path. Illustrated.

Pilgrim Street. Illustrated.

Enoch Roden's Training. Illus-
trated.

Fern's Hollow. Illustrated.

Fishers of Derby Haven. Illus-
trated.

Children of Cloverley. Illus-
trated.

:ity Sparrows, and who cared for
them. By Kuth Lynn. 2s. cloth.

Harice Egerton’s Life Story. By A.
Lysier. 2s. cloth.

Bible Picture Stories. Full of Coloured
Pictures. 2s. cloth gilt.

In London Fields. A Story of the
Lights and Shadows of a Child's Life.
By Gglanton Thorne. With Engrav-
ings. Crown Svo. 2s. cloth boards.

A simple, unpretending story of a
child's experiences in the East of London.

Hester Len-
nox; or, Seek-
ing a Life
Motto. By
Howe Ben-
NiNG, Author
of “Quiet
Comei's,’' etc.
With Illustra-
tions. An in-
te resting
book for
thoughtful
Girls. 2 s.
cloth.

Drierstock.
A Tale of Mis-
sion Work on
the American
Frontier. 2s.
cloth.

God's Gifts to
Two; or,
ilargarct
Red fern’s
Discipline.
2s. cloth.

Pau 1 Har-
vard's Cam-
paign. Il-
lustrated. 2s.
cloth.

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY'S I/ST.

1/6 ILLUSTRATED BOOKS.

The Bpydges. By Mrs. Disney. Illus-
trated. Cloth boards, Is. bd.

Led into Light. By Lucy Taylor.
With Illustrations. Is. 6d. cloth
boards. A stoiy founded on Horatius
Bonar’s hymn, “I heard the voice of
Jesus say.”

Underneath the Surface. A Sark
Std y. By Louisa Dobiiee. is. 6d. cloth.

The Old Endeavour. By the Author of
“ John Denton," etc. Is. (id. cloth.
Penfold. A Story of the Flower Mission.

By Ruth Lynn. Is. 6d. cloth.

Quality Fogg’s Old Ledger. By Mrs.

Prosser, is. (id. cloth.

Ralph Trulock’s Christinas Roses.

By Annette Lyster. is. ud. cloth.
Rides Out and About ; or. Adventures
in Australia. Is. (id. cloth.

Reduced from “ The Brydges."

BY HESBA STRETTON,

Author of “JESSICA’S Fir.st Prayer.”
Is. ed. each. Royal 16mo. Cloth hoards.
Little Meg’s Children. Illustrated.
Alone in London. Illustrated.

Max Kromer. A Story of Strasburg.
Illustrated.

Crew of the Dolphin. Illustrated.

The King’s Servants. Illustrated.
The Storm of Life. Illustrated.
Cassy. Illustrated.

Friends till Death, and other Stories.
Illustrated.

Michel Lorio’s Cross, and other
Stories. Illustrated.

BY MRS. 0. F. WALTON,

Author of “ Christie’s Old Organ.”

Saved at Sea. A Lighthouse Story.

My Mates and I.

My Little Corner. For Mothers’ ileet-
ings, etc. Illustrated. New Edition.
Crorvn 8vo. Is. 6d. cloth boards.

FOR YOUNG CHILDREN.

The Three Brave Princes, and other
Readings for the Little Ones. Large
type. Is. 6d. cloth gilt.

Readings with the Little Ones. By
Agnes Giberne. is. (id. cloth gilt.

The Children’s King, and other
Readings for Little Ones. In very
large type. Is. 6d. cloth gilt.

LONDON: 56, PATERNOSTER ROW.

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY’S LIST.

!qf tii,e

'tory-land. By Sydney Grey. With Tliirty-two Illustrations
) by Kobekt Baknes, engraved and printed in Colour by Evans. 4to.

(js. handsomely bound in coloured paper boards.

The stories in this volume are well within the understanding of children, and both
interesting and instructive, while the very numerous illustrations make it a unique volume.
No better gift-book for a child could be desired.

The Sweet Story of Old. A Sunday Book for the Little Ones.

By Hesba Stkettox, Author of “Jessica’s Eirst Piayeij” etc. With Twelve
Colomed Pictur es by K. W. Maddox. 3s. Gd. cloth boards.

The story of the Life of Jesus, told so as to interest young children. For this purpose
those parts of our Saviour's life and teaching which appeal most directly to children have been
made most prominent. It is intended as a Sunday book, to be read to, or read by, the little
ones. The twelve full-page coloured illustrations add greatly to the interest and attractive-
ness of the volume.

My Coloured Picture Story-Book. With Twenty-four full-

coloured page Pictures, aud forty Yignettes. Comprising Our Pretty Village —
Little Antoine and the Bear — Rosa, the Little Cousin from India— The Black-
bird's Nest. 4to. 4s. handsomely bound in cloth boards, full gilt.

y New Alphabet Book. With large Coloured Pictures. 6d.

on paper, or Is. mounted on canvas, untearable.

arrison Weir’s Pictures of Birds and other Family Pets.

Comprising Pets of the Family — Feathered Friends — Frank and his Pets —
Handsomely bound, with side in Gold and Colours. 4to.

Happy Families.
5s. cloth boards.

Harrison Weir’s Pictures of Animals. Comprising In the

Woods— 111 the F’ields— The Farm-yard— The Poultry-yard. With twenty-four
large Colouied Plates. Large 4to. 5s. cloth boards, with Medallion on side.

Harrison Weir’s Pictures of Wild Birds and Animals.

Comprising Wild Rangers — Roving Birds- Lords of the F’orest — Birds and
Blossoms. With twenty -four large Coloured Plates. Large 4to. 5s. cloth boards,
with Chroiuo Medallion on side.

The Toy Book Present. Comprising AVillie and Mary’s First
Day at School — The Lost Lamb — Birds and Beasts — Alphabet House. 5s. hand-
somely bound.

The Toy Book Keepsake. Compri.sing Aly Birthday — Little

Mouse and other Fables— The Lord's Prayer — Pilgrim Children. 5s. handsomely
bound.

The Little Learner’s Toy Book. Comprising The Little

LearneFs ABC Picture Book — The Little Learner's First Lessons in Reading —
I'he Little Learner's Bible Pictures — The Little Learner's Home Pictures. 4to.
4s. handsomely bound, gut edges.

Bible Stories and Pictures. Comprising The Story of Joseph
— Stories from the Parables — The Story of Samuel — 'The Prodigal Son. A greatly
improved series of Toy Books. With simple letterpress in large type. 4s. hand-
somely bomid, cloth boards, gilt edges.

ittle Dot and her Friends. Comprising Little Dot’s Dai.sies—

i story of Jack and NeU ; or, ITie Little Helpers— Story of Little Pippin ; or,
Under the Apple-Tree — The Little Lamb. 4s. cloth boards, gilt edges.

■'he Town and Country Toy Book. Comprising A Visit to

. the Tower — The Seaside Holiday— Mother's Bight Hand— Charlie's Summer in
the Countiy. 4s. in handsome boards, with Medallion on side, gilt.

"'he Toy Book of Birds and Beasts. Comprising Domestic

. Animals— Wild Animals — Domestic Birds— Wild Bii'ds. With twenty-foui-
Coloured Pictures from Drawings by Hairison Weir. 4to. 4s. gUt edges.

LONDON: 56, PATERNOSTER ROW.

DS709 .W737

Old highways in China ...

Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library

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