XIV.
Hong-kong.
Duration of Stay from 5th to 18th July, 1858.
Rapid increase of the colony of Victoria or Hong-kong.—Disagreeables.—Public character.—The Comprador, or "fac-totum."—A Chinese fortune-teller.—Curiosity-stalls.—The To-stone.—Pictures on so-called rice-paper.—Canton-English.—Notices on the Chinese language and mode of writing.—Manufacture of ink.—Hospitality of German missionaries.—The custom of exposing and murdering female children.—Method of dwarfing the female foot.—Sir John Bowring.—Branch Institute of the Royal Asiatic Society.—An ecclesiastical dignitary on the study of natural sciences.—The Chinese in the East Indies.—Green indigo or Lu-Kao.—Kind reception by German countrymen.—Anthropometrical measurements.—Ramble to Little Hong-kong.—Excursion to Canton on board H.M. gun-boat Algerine.—A day at the English head-quarters.—The Treaty of Tien-Tsin.—Visit to the Portuguese settlement of Macao.—Herr von Carlowitz.—Camoens' Grotto.—Church for Protestants.—Pagoda Makok.—Dr. Kane.—Present position of the colony.—Slave-trade revived under the name of Chinese emigration.—Excursions round Macao.—The Isthmus.—Chinese graves.—Praya Granite.—A Chinese physician.—Singing stones.—Departure.—Gutzlaff's Island.—Voyage to the Yang-tse-Kiang.—Wusung.—Arrival at Shanghai.
Victoria, the name by which the settlement situate on the north side of the island of Hong-kong is known in official
documents, strongly recalls another renowned British possession, Gibraltar. A mere uninviting granite rock of about 9 miles in length, 8 in breadth, and 26 in circumference, Hong-kong, situate as it is at the mouth of the Canton River, is one of the best harbours in the Chinese Empire. Owing to the barren, treeless surface, which consists for the most part of chains of hills, the highest point of which is 1825 feet above sea-level, with narrow valleys between, and a small extent of level ground around the bay, hardly a twentieth part of its surface is adapted to agriculture. The modern cheerful town, thoroughly European in character, has within these few years rapidly attained large dimensions, and its numerous palatial structures speak volumes for the wealth and prosperity of the residents. The buildings of the colony rise terrace-like one above another, and extend in rows all along the steep slope of the granite, for a distance of nearly three miles. Besides the population inhabiting the town, many thousand Chinese of the very lowest class with their wives and children live here in small boats year after year, so that the total population of the island amounts to about 80,000 souls.
Twenty years back Hong-kong was but an insignificant place. Only since the peace of Nangking in 1842, which shook to its foundation the exclusive system till then prevalent, and among other important advantages secured the island of Hong-kong to the English, besides bringing into the community of nations the huge unwieldy empire with its
400,000,000, occupying 78 degrees of longitude and 38 of latitude, has it been developed into the most important business centre of China. It became an emporium for all European manufactures, as well as for all produce from the interior, which is shipped hence to the various marts of the world. Unfortunately the period at which the flag of the great Mandjing, or Double Eagle, as the Chinese call Austria, was for the first time unfurled on the shores of the Celestial Kingdom proved most unsuitable for scientific observation. While in the interior a variety of circumstances seriously threatened the stability of the throne of the reigning dynasty, the flames of war were once more breaking out along the coast also, and adding to the confusion and distress of the Chinese diplomatists. In the present war the English were for the first time in these waters fighting side by side with the French, while the Russians and North Americans were cautiously maintaining an observant, but none the less on that account menacing attitude. The hatred and animosity of the Chinese populace, stirred up by their own authorities, was continually goaded to increasing fury with each new victory of the "red-haired barbarians." The Chinese bakers in Hong-kong had devised the cruel expedient of poisoning the bread purchased by the English, and thus avenging themselves on the foe more fatally and more certainly than by Chinese weapons. Even while walking in the neighbourhood one's life was not safe, and even the usually not very easily terrified Englishman was now begirt with "revolvers," when
he rode forth of an afternoon with his wife, or was taken in a sedan-chair to a friend's house of an evening.
Shortly before our arrival, the captain of a merchantman, while taking a walk outside the city, was set upon by some Chinese, robbed, and so severely maltreated that he expired of the injuries he received. So too the clerk of a mercantile house had been picked up just outside the city weltering in his blood and pierced with a number of wounds from a dagger, the murderer in this case also evading detection. An attempt was even made against the life of the Governor, Sir John Bowring, which was only frustrated through the vigilance of the sentinel, who discharged his piece at the scoundrels just as, favoured by night, they were stealing over the walls of the Government-house, with the view of creeping through the garden as far as Sir John's cabinet.
Even in the most ordinary domestic matters might be traced the same relentless hostility on the part of the Chinese, and the state of affairs was becoming every day more intolerable to the European residents. All the domestic servants at Hong-kong are Chinese, who come hither from the nearest provinces of the mainland, in order to benefit by the rate of wages paid by the "foreign barbarian." The Chinese officials, vying with each other in every possible method of showing their implacable hatred to the strangers and to embitter their life in China, now issued an order to all the Chinese resident in Hong-kong to quit the island and
return to their native country. This ordinance would assuredly have been disregarded by most of the resident Chinese of the Middle Empire, had not any violation of the Imperial rescripts been visited with such appalling consequences. For by the Draconic laws of the Empire, the family of the criminal expiate his offence, should he take to flight and get beyond the reach of the arm of Chinese justice. For any such absentee from justice, some other member of the family is substituted, who may be still on the spot; as for instance, the father, mother, or brother, who is punished exactly as though he had in person been guilty of the crime or misdemeanour. With such terrific means of repressing disobedience impending over him, no Chinese would venture to set at defiance the orders of the Mandarins; and accordingly, during the summer of 1858, 10,000 Chinese returned home at once; others, who did not dare to return, but could not endure that the ruthless doom should be executed upon their relatives, committed suicide. The position of European ladies in Hong-kong became anything but enviable, as they had at a moment's notice to take up the pot-ladle for themselves, and get through the various fatiguing details of their households with what skill they could. Moreover there was good ground for apprehension that the Mandarins might cut off all communications with the neighbouring provinces, which move, as the greater part of the every-day necessaries of life are supplied from the mainland, might have exposed the population of Hong-kong to the severest straits.
Under these circumstances any more remote excursions, or visits to the adjacent mainland, were of course impossible. We had to confine our investigations to the island itself, there to collect what memoranda we could, and see as much of the island and its inhabitants as the shortness of our stay and the prevailing disorders might admit.
Life in Hong-kong has already a strong leaven of western civilization. Only in the narrowest streets does the visitor come upon examples of the genuine Chinese type. Most of the natives even inhabit houses built in the European style, so that one feels as though in a European city inhabited by a Chinese population, the latter having however greatly altered from its originality. Only very few types of Chinese popular life are met with in this English colony. Of these characters the most interesting and unique is the Comprador (Mai-pau), a sort of factotum, whom no household can dispense with, and whose importance only those can adequately do justice to who have lived some time in the country. The Comprador, or shroff, is the soul, the good or evil genius, of the house: he sees to all sorts of purchases, manages the domestic economy, and maintains order and discipline in the house and household. The entire domestic control is exclusively lodged in his hands, to that extent that even the master and mistress of the house may not, without consulting the Comprador, dismiss one of the servants or engage a new one. For all that goes on, the latter is responsible. He has to answer for the honesty of
the servants, and must replace anything that may have gone amissing from the house inventory. If the family leave their house for any time, the Comprador is informed of the place where the most valuable articles are deposited, where they are more likely to be found in proper order on their return than by any other device. Even during the late war, in which the feeling of the Chinese to the Europeans was anything but friendly, the Comprador held to his fidelity, and was as useful as ever. In view of the actual state of matters, a traveller must feel no little astonishment at beholding the doors and windows of the private dwelling-houses everywhere wide open, and valuable articles lying exposed in the various apartments. As however the Comprador himself must get a number of bails to become responsible for him, and as the post is a very profitable one, it follows that there are but few cases of dishonesty in this singular profession. It is especially remarkable that few of the populace seem to be as hostile to the strangers as the Mandarins, and all the numerous annoyances inflicted on the latter are invariably to be traced to the intrigues of the Chinese authorities. How else would it be possible for a couple of hundred Europeans to rule a colony in which are 80,000 Chinese, and which moreover is dependent upon the mainland for the very first necessities of life?
The Comprador receives for all his services and attentions no higher pay than from 12 to 15 dollars a month, besides support for himself and family. This however is not his
sole income, as every tradesman must give the Comprador a per-centage upon everything, even the most insignificant article that enters the house, and this custom even extends to any purchases made by a Chinese in the warehouses of the foreign merchant.
Another "public character," whom one frequently meets in the lower parts of the city in the public streets of the Chinese quarter, is the "soothsayer." On a small table before him stands an open draught-board with a number of squares, on which are inscribed a variety of proverbs and oracular sayings. In each square is a grain of rice, and quite close to the board is a bird-cage with a tame canary. Presently some good-humoured gaping rustic comes up, who wishes to learn his destiny, upon which the soothsayer suffers the canary to hop out of his cage upon one of the squares, and pick up a grain of rice ad libitum. The sentences and interpretations, which are inscribed on each square from which the canary snaps up his food serve for a reply and decision to the curious questioner, who hands over a small honorarium. The apparatus is simple and ingenious, but the proverbs are excessively silly, and recall much less the land of Confucius than the dream-books of certain countries standing high in European civilization.
The stores which seem most to attract the attention of a stranger are the "Curiosity-shops," in which are heaped up those innumerable articles of Chinese industry and Chinese taste which are so characteristic of the country and its
inhabitants. Here the eye rests upon objects of the most bizarre shapes, which in material design and execution are totally unlike anything the European sees elsewhere; workmanship in wood and stone, that illustrates in a remarkable manner the extraordinary patience of the artisan, such as drinking-cups, barrels, frames, cut all in one piece, and beautifully carved, elegant fancy articles of horn, stone, mother-of-pearl, ivory, roots of trees, metal, or wood, vases and dishes, statuettes in copper and clay, woven portraits, embroidery, &c. &c.
Among all these various manufactures, one especially remarks those prepared from a leek-green, slimy-feeling stone (nephrite), which is in much request among the Chinese, and is highly valued. The Chinese name, Yo, from which in all probability is derived the French name Jade, does not indicate however a peculiar species, but is used for all sorts of carved stone-work and gems, while the most valuable one is called by the Chinese the "mutton-fat" stone. The articles prepared of what is named steatite, or soap-stone, are largely used in commerce, but are of very small value, and usually cut only in very clumsy figures.
But these manufactures make much less impression upon the stranger than the beautiful pictures of the Chinese artists upon rice-paper, a peculiar branch of art, cultivated by the Chinese alone, and which as yet has never been successfully imitated in any other country. The most exquisite specimens of these are sent to Canton, but among the Chinese in Hong-kong we
saw several beautiful works in this style of painting. The common designation of rice-paper has led to the erroneous idea that the substance of which these pictures are made is manufactured from the leaves of the rice-plant, whereas it is prepared from the pith of an entirely different plant (Aralia papyrifera), which grows in Funan and Tukun. The marrow is steeped for some time in water, after which it is split by means of very keen sharp knives into thin leaves, which are then subjected to gentle pressure. The largest are about a foot square, and are reserved almost exclusively for pictures, the shreds and inferior sorts alone being used for the manufacture of artificial flowers. We saw portraits of the Emperor and Empress, of the rebel leader, Tai-ping, of the notorious Yeh, ex-governor of Canton, and other well-known or conspicuous personages. Latterly there has sprung up a strong tendency among the Chinese artists to daguerreotypes and photographs in miniature upon ivory; and in the ateliers of Hong-kong a number of artists were engaged in this, at present the most profitable branch of Chinese artistic skill.
In all these shops the medium of trade is what is called Canton-English, less a dialect than a confused jargon of English and Chinese words, consisting of concessions made on either side to the grammar and idiom of the other, so as the more readily to comprehend each other. A few Spanish and Portuguese words have also crept in, recalling the former relations of these countries with China. All English words ending in e mute have in this gibberish an i attached to
them, as also all other words whatever. Thus they say timi, housi, pieci, coachi, cooki, &c. &c. There are certain Chinese, especially in Canton, who pick up a living by initiating young country folks, who are about entering service in English mercantile houses, in this singular language. Curious and unpleasant as this Chinese English dialect sounds in the ears of strangers, it is found greatly to facilitate intercourse with the Chinese, in consequence of the immense difficulties attending the study of Chinese, so that most Europeans find it far more comfortable to master this jargon, which is not without some influence on the spread of English in the chief commercial cities, than to occupy themselves with mastering Chinese. The language spoken by the sons of the "middle kingdom" consists of 450 monosyllabic sounds, which by various delicate differences in accentuation may increase to about 1600. The slight, and to unaccustomed ears almost inappreciable, shades of aspiration and accentuation, are the main difficulty in the way of foreigners desirous of learning the Chinese language.
To learn the written characters is equally arduous, and requires not less time and perseverance; for this does not consist of a number of letters, the varying arrangement of which constitutes words, but of 40,000 more or less complicated signs, each of which expresses a whole word. They are rude forms, representing most imperfectly ideas and material objects;[112] however, the knowledge of 4000 to 6000 such signs,
with their various significations, suffices to understand most of the common Chinese books. These singular hieroglyphics are not written horizontally but vertically. Moreover, the Chinese begin from the right side, so that, directly the reverse of the European custom, the title of a Chinese book is found on the first page, the leaf furthest to the right hand. Long ago, the Chinese, like most other Asiatic nations at the present day, wrote with metal styli upon split leaves of bamboo. Ever since the third century before Christ, however, when the art was invented of making paper from the rind of the mulberry tree and the bamboo-cane, and preparing pin-soot, glair, musk, glue, Indian ink[113] (méh), and other substances,
the pencil has taken the place of the graver. The hieroglyphics now made on paper are softer, more elegant, and in distinctness of outline admit greater varieties of form. Most of the Chinese whom we saw engaged in writing formed the most complicated characters with great celerity and ease upon the thin paper, and without the firm strokes losing anything of their neatness and clearness of outline.
Among the various scientific objects recommended as important objects of inquiry to the members of the Expedition, during their visit to China, by the renowned sinologue Dr. Pfitzmaier, was the obtaining of rare Chinese books, and the elucidation of certain ethnographic and linguistic questions. Whatever was achieved by us in throwing light upon these matters is due in great measure to the cordial reception with which we were received by men of science resident at Hong-kong. Especially we would name in this respect Dr. M. Lobscheid, a German by birth, a missionary and inspector of schools, who, thoroughly conversant with the Chinese language, exerted himself to the utmost in forwarding the objects of the scientific corps, besides assisting us in the purchase of a variety of the most valuable Chinese works, and giving us much interesting information respecting the country and the inhabitants. Dr. Lobscheid
himself has a well-selected, valuable, and extensive library of rare Chinese works on geography, natural science, history, philology, and numismatics, and presented a number of valuable gifts to the Expedition. One of his colleagues, Dr. Ph. Winnes, also a German, and a missionary from the Mission Society of Bâle, compiled for us a list of words of the Hakka dialect, as spoken in the interior of the province of Quang-Tung, hitherto so little known philologically. It is indeed astonishing what English, and German, and American missionaries have effected as publicists, during the short period they have been resident here. The educational and religious works published in Chinese at the expense of the various religious societies form already quite a respectable literature of themselves, although the Chinese language puts as many obstacles in the way of mere Christian civilization as in that of the propagation of the Evangile itself. Most of the missionaries consider any attempt to substitute Romish for Chinese characters as being quite vain. The indistinctness of Chinese signs has already been fruitful of much controversy among the missionaries themselves. Thus, for example, those engaged in promulgating the Christian faith are not as yet agreed by what Chinese word the God of Christianity may best be indicated. The Roman Catholic missionaries write Tientschù (the Highest of all things); the English and German Protestants use the sign Schang-Ti (the Most High); the American Protestants make use of the word Schin (Spirit). These varieties of opinion as to the mode of
expressing the idea of "God," have given rise to a vast number of publications, which however have unfortunately tended rather to envenom the dispute than smooth the way to a common understanding.
Conspicuous, however, as are the services of the missionaries in the publication and diffusion of useful and moral books in the Chinese language, their direct efforts have, on the other hand, been attended with but limited results hitherto, and although it is always laid down as an axiom in the books and manifestoes of the Tai-Ping insurgents, that the doctrines of Christianity, as deduced from the writings of the Missionary Societies, are the leading principle of the movement, yet, as set forth and promulgated by the insurgent chiefs, they cannot be said to deserve recognition by any known form of Christianity.
As in their religion, so in their mode of life, and their national customs, the Chinese remain stiff-necked and obstinate, and in this direction also Christianity is in but few cases capable of mitigating their frequently barbarous customs. Children in China are constantly exposed in large numbers, and that not owing to poverty, but from indifference to the female children. One Chinese woman who at present professes Christianity, and is a member of the Bâle missionary community, has herself killed eight female children whom she had herself carried in her womb! Dr. Lobscheid informed us that he was personally cognizant of
one case, where a Chinese mother-in-law, irritated at the birth of a female child, murdered it before its mother's eyes, almost immediately after it had come into the world, and this in a rather well-to-do family! Young mothers often lay their children down in the open field, or on the sea-beach, watching anxiously if any one takes it away, or till a wave mercifully sweeps it off. One such infant, accidentally found by some of the crew of the English frigate Nankin, and tended with all the tender-heartedness of Jack when he finds an object of compassion, is at present in the German Mission House at Hong-kong, and was baptized in the cathedral by the chaplain of the frigate, who gave her the name of Victoria Nankin. Other mothers endeavour to choke the new-born girl with moistened ashes, which, not unfrequently with caressing hand, they lay upon the mouth of the little unconscious innocent. Male children, on the other hand, even such as are crippled or deformed, are very seldom, indeed quite exceptionally, exposed or put to death. In proportion to the harsh treatment which the female offspring experience, is the pride and anxious carefulness which wait on the male children. Indeed the Chinese are very much in the habit of having several wives, simply because by so doing they of course have a better chance of a number of male offspring, and it very frequently happens that the lawful wife of a Chinaman, if she has continued any length of time childless, will even seek out and bring to her husband a concubine by whom he may have heirs, that is,
sons.[114] In such cases the two wives usually continue on the best of terms, which cannot be said of those instances where the second or third wife is introduced into the family by the husband, without the intervention of his wife. According to the old Chinese law, the man had to be thirty, the woman twenty, before marriage. At present marriages, as a rule, are made between sixteen and twenty years of age. It may be assumed that one in every fifteen Chinese has more than one wife; the first, usually known as "number one," is generally taken from inclination, whereas the rest are usually bought, the price varying, according to their youth and beauty, from 100 to 600 dollars. This custom gives rise to quite a peculiar trade. Chinese women make a practice of purchasing for themselves from the poorer classes such of the female children as are of good health and well formed, whom they bring up with great care, with the view of selling them, when grown up, to the wealthy Chinese, and even sometimes to—European residents.[115] The custom of child-murder is most prevalent in the coast districts of the province of Fo-kien, so that latterly there was a positive scarcity of women, and marriageable girls had to be imported from the northern part of the province. The prevalence of this custom of child-murder in these localities is to be ascribed to the enormous migration of the male population to Siam, to the islands
of the Malay Archipelago, and other points. These emigrants supply the labour market in foreign countries, and but seldom return to their families. Numerous placards and pamphlets, pointing out the enormity of child-murder, and dissuading from its commission, are printed annually, partly at the cost of philanthropists, partly at that of the Chinese Government, and widely diffused, yet without producing any diminution in the practice of this appalling custom.
The custom of distorting the feet of the better class of women at the period of their birth, seems to have arisen from the jealousy of the husbands, who in thus preventing the possibility of gadding about, think they have secured an additional guarantee for the fidelity and chastity of their wives. However, one occasionally hears the first introduction of this singular and cruel custom ascribed to a Chinese empress having once been born with such distortion of the feet, and that in consequence it not only became the fashion among the females of the higher class in those days, out of pure obsequiousness, to imitate by artificial means a disfiguration accidentally arising from a freak of Nature, but even to recognize it as a necessary concomitant of the Chinese ideal of beauty.
The Governor of Hong-kong, Sir John Bowring, a distinguished savant, who received the members of the Expedition with the utmost consideration, invited them to his house and endeavoured to bring them into personal communication with those residents in the colony most interested in scientific
pursuits, so that each one of us could consult with the gentleman best able to advise him in his own department, and thus attain in the shortest time the most satisfactory results. Sir John, moreover, as President of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, admitted the members of the Expedition to the honours of an extraordinary session. He welcomed the Austrian naturalists in the heartiest manner, and expressed the most flattering anticipations from their visit. Very deserving of remark was the speech made on this occasion by the Lord Bishop of Hong-kong. In his capacity of a dignitary of the Church, he too bade us welcome in the warmest manner, and expressed his conviction that Christianity had nothing to fear, but only to hope, from the study of natural sciences! What would certain ultramontanists, had they been present, have replied to this remark of a high ecclesiastical dignitary?—they who consider government impossible without restricting the study of the natural sciences!
Among the various subjects discussed at this meeting were several of great interest, which sufficiently evidenced what a thorough disposition to mental activity the English show, even in a place where material interests are necessarily the main objects of attention, and where they, moreover, are continually exposed to great personal danger.
One of the communications received by the Society was a memoir by Mr. W. Alabaster, who had accompanied ex-governor Yeh to Calcutta as interpreter, treating of the Chinese population there, and its influence on the state of society.
The memoir contained the very remarkable statement that the Chinese colony in Calcutta, which in 1858 counted little more than 500 souls, had not alone monopolized several employments, such as shoemakers, tailors, &c., but had, even when thousands of miles distant from home, jealously maintained several of their customs and rites intact. This Chinese community, so inconsiderable in point of mere numbers, already possesses its own temple, its own priests, and its own teachers, who guard any Chinese immigrants from the perils of proselytism; it has founded a special association, whose object it is to transmit to their native land the bodies of such as die abroad, while their luxury is beginning to develope itself to the extent of ordering from China at considerable expense troops of actors, so as even at this distance to provide themselves with the national amusement of a genuine Sing-Song. This peculiarity is of great importance, inasmuch as the emigration from China is ever assuming more extended dimensions, and already embraces several portions of the world. We find Chinese scattered throughout Eastern Asia, in Australia, in California, in Peru, in Brazil, in the West Indies, and, what is very astonishing they thrive and prosper at most places they visit, despite the not very humane treatment they receive, and the wretched, desolate state in which they leave their homes. This enormous emigration of the sons of the Flowery Land seems destined to be of immense importance, and to be fraught with momentous influence upon the future of the other Asiatic populations, whom the Chinese greatly
excel in capacity for work, mechanical dexterity, and dogged perseverance. Even the religious movement gives the Chinese certain advantages over all other nations of the Asiatic type of civilization. The Hindoo, like the Catholic, has numbers of festivals, which greatly diminish the number of his actual working days; the daily ceremonies prescribed by Brahminism further curtail the most precious hours of labour; his exclusively vegetarian food not alone prevents the proper development of his muscular power, but also by its ostentatiously morbid delicacy, brings him constantly into collision with the social order of a Christian household. The Chinese, on the other hand, keeps but one holiday-time, the beginning of the new year, which he celebrates for fourteen days without intermission. But the remaining 11 1⁄2 months of the year are for him but one long day of work. Moreover, the Chinese has no fastidious notions about his food. He eats pork, and drinks wine, and prefers fat meat to meagre fruit diet, thoroughly unrestrained by any considerations as to whether such a mode of life accords with the institutes of Brahma and Menu, or the teaching of Confucius. Their sobriety, their capacity, their industry, their frugal mode of life, and their numbers, all seem to indicate the Chinese as destined to play an important part, not alone in the development of the Oriental nations, but also in the history of mankind. They are, as a German philosopher has profoundly remarked, the Greeks and Romans of Eastern Asia, and they will, if once hurried onwards by the great tide of Christian
civilization, perform such feats as to fill even the nations of the old world with wonder and amazement.
Another communication, made during the same meeting of this meritorious branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in Hong-kong, related to that singular plant, which has within the last few years excited so much attention in industrial circles throughout Europe under the name of "Green dye," or "Vert Chinois." Notwithstanding the experiments hitherto made with this valuable dye, and the excellent use which has been made of it, more especially by the Chamber of Commerce at Lyons, the first in Europe to make application of the new colour, there was yet much to be learned respecting the mode of raising and manufacturing it, in order to render its employment entirely practicable. The elegant pamphlet of the Lyons Chamber of Commerce[116] had just arrived from Europe, and led to a variety of interesting investigations. Nothing was known in Hong-kong respecting the plant beyond what was already contained in Robert Fortune's excellent work and Rondot's treatise. Somewhat later, we were furnished with more accurate and circumstantial information respecting the Lu-Kao, the well-known "Green dye" of the English (a species of Rhamnus or buckthorn), which we shall here transcribe pretty fully.[117]
Lu-Kao is grown chiefly in the northern provinces, extensive plantations of this valuable plant existing in the country around Foo-Chow and the environs of the city of Haening. The valuable green dye matter is obtained, however, from the rind, not of one but of two species Rhamnus, of which the "yellow" grows on the flats, the "white" on the high-grounds in a wild state. The preparation of the substance, which does not differ much in appearance from common indigo, is exceedingly primitive. Both plants are boiled for a considerable time in iron kettles, the yellow deposit or residuum being suffered to remain undisturbed for several days. Transferred thence into earthen vessels, a piece of cotton cloth is steeped into it five or six times, after which the adherent dye is wrung out, and exposed a second time to the process of boiling in iron pans. The next step in the manipulation consists in permitting the dye stuff, which now has much more consistence, to be soaked up by some pieces of cotton, when it is once more washed, sprinkled upon thin paper, and, lastly, exposed for some time to the sun.
The Chinese have as yet only used the dye for colouring cloths of coarse texture; all attempts hitherto to apply it to silks, &c., have proved fruitless. But the great development of chemical science in Europe justifies us in expecting that a method will ere long be devised for fixing this beautiful, durable light green tint, which does not alter even in candlelight, upon fabrics of fine smooth texture, and thus greatly enhance its value in the industrial arts. The Lu-Kao has
from time immemorial been used by the Chinese in watercolour paintings, but its use in industrial processes only dates from about 20 years back. The very price charged for the small quantities hitherto brought from China, is by no means natural, but seems to have been artificially forced up by speculation, apparently in consequence of an unusual demand. In Foo-Chow the price of one Catti, about 1 3⁄4 lbs., is 20 Taels, or about £6 10s. Were the production of this dye stuff really so expensive, we may be sure it would not be made use of by the Chinese for their ordinary stuffs, nor could these be sold as cheap as they are. We have found our opinion confirmed by competent observers in various parts of China, that this valuable product is susceptible of being acclimatized in Europe, and of being cultivated with profit, especially in those places where, together with favourable conditions of temperature and soil, the wages of labour are not too high.
Like the English authorities and Government officials, our German fellow-countrymen, resident in Hong-kong, did not fail to exercise their hospitality for the benefit of the associates of the Expedition, and we cannot sufficiently express our obligations to the Austrian Consul, Mr. G. Wiener, and the Prussian vice-consul, Mr. Gustav Oberbeck, for their delicate attention. The latter presented the Expedition with a number of articles interesting as illustrating the advances of civilization, which he had obtained during the siege of Canton, in Dec. 1857, and of which the greater part have since been deposited at the Imperial Cabinet of Antiquities at Vienna.
Through the kindness and interest of Dr. Harland (since deceased), surgeon-in-chief of the colony, some of the members of the Expedition were enabled to make corporeal measurements in the great prison, the inmates of which come from the most various parts of the empire, as well as in the hospital, upon a number of individuals of either sex, all "fair specimens of the Chinese race," as Dr. Harland assured them, the results of which will be found in the anthropological section of the Novara publications.
Before the frigate left Hong-kong, despite the insecurity of public affairs, several excursions were made to the south side of the island, to Canton, and to the Portuguese settlement of Macao, which proved as interesting as they were satisfactory.
In the course of their peregrinations about the mountains on the island, as far as the fishing village on the south side of the island, known as Little Hong-kong (sweet-waters), the naturalists of the Expedition were accompanied by Dr. Hance, the botanist, and the missionary, Dr. Lobscheid, both thoroughly acquainted with the Chinese language. Little as the pretty name of this small settlement, founded so far back as 1668, is applicable to the entire island, it yet corresponds well, and is eminently suitable, to the smiling valley, entirely shut in by lofty rocks, in which lies wretched Little Hong-kong. A beautiful wood filled with tufts of flowers, forming for the labours of the botanist a rich supply of the most splendid plants, and refreshed by copious springs of water from the
mountains, constitute a lovely landscape. Above the limit of vegetation of the foliage trees, are seen on the slopes of the mountain groups of pines, while the level ground at the bottom of the valley is laid out in smiling rice fields. The miserable inhabitants of the village, which looks gloomily out from among the trees, are not safe from the predatory onslaughts of ferocious pirates, even among the recesses of the valley. The streets of the village, hidden between trees, are uncommonly narrow, so that two men can scarcely pass each other, and the huts are all placed on purpose close against each other, in order, we were told, to be able more easily to admit of defence. Our rambles were rewarded with an abundant collection of specimens, and were particularly instructive in a geognostical point of view, as satisfying us that the island does not consist entirely of granite, but that a large proportion of the mountain is porphyritic.
Another excursion was made by the Commodore and some of his staff as far as Canton. The Commandant of the station, Commodore Stewart, had for this purpose placed the gun-boat Algerine at our disposal. The distance from Hong-kong to Canton is about 87 nautical miles (100 statute miles), and the voyage took full eleven hours, viz. from 6.30 A.M. to 5.30 P.M.
Canton, the third capital of the Chinese Empire, and its most flourishing commercial city, which but a short time before had numbered about 1,000,000 inhabitants, was at this period a desolate, almost entirely abandoned mass of houses,
half in ruins, half burnt. The stately European factories, which had adorned the banks of the river up to the walls of the Chinese city, were heaps of ashes. The floating town upon the river itself, the renowned flower-boats of Canton, with their marvellous splendour and their luxurious beauty, had entirely disappeared, leaving no trace. Whoever had anything to lose had fled the country. English sentinels patrolled the walls and occupied the streets of the interior of the city, and only the very poorest of the mob remained behind, watching every opportunity of getting the "head-money," which the Mandarins of the province of Kuang-Tung had offered for every head of a "barbarian" brought in. "The state of matters in Canton gets worse and worse every day," said the latest issue of the Hong-kong journals. Since the Americans and Russians had concluded private treaties with the Imperial Government, and the English and French allied fleet had gone north to the Gulf of Pe-Cheli, to treat at Tien-Tsin with the Imperial commissioners, the Chinese of Canton had been plucking up courage. They conceived the allies to be isolated; the Russians and the Americans they held to be hostile to them. The Mandarins and Imperial commissioners launched proclamations by the dozen at the "foreign devils,"[118] set on foot organized Guerilla bands,
which were called "Braves," who every night discharged rockets into the city, murdered and pillaged, and kept the allied troops, who were only 3500 strong (800 of whom were in hospital) almost continually on the alert.
When the gun-boat Algerine arrived off Canton, the Commodore, although it was late in the evening, was accompanied by a military escort to the head-quarters of General Straubenzee, commander of the allied troops. A stillness as of a grave-yard reigned throughout the city, and not a light was to be seen. By 10.30 P.M. the Commodore reached the post, and was most hospitably received by the General. The
head-quarters were situated on a hillock commanding the city, surrounded by the numerous buildings of a country-seat or Yamun, which had been the property of the father of Governor Yeh, who had acquired such notoriety during the recent warlike troubles. The ostentatious splendour of the apartments, the splendid ebony carved work, gave such an idea of the magnificence, the luxury, the gorgeousness of the Chinese princes, as can only be paralleled by what we read of the palaces of the emperors of ancient Rome. Yeh himself had by this time been removed from the political scene, and was a state prisoner in Calcutta, where he lived in more than monastic seclusion. To judge by his portrait, which was for sale in all the print-shops of Hong-kong, Yeh was a fine-looking man with energetic features, and an expression full of intellect, and, so far as his physical appearance went, seemed to take after his father, who in his ninety-second year was still tasting joys of paternity. In his own country, even among the Europeans, Yeh enjoys the reputation of being not only an able diplomatist, but a man of varied information as well. While at Hong-kong we were shown some large anatomical woodcuts, which Yeh had himself borrowed from a European work on anatomy, and published at his own cost on an enlarged scale, accompanied by a preface from his pen.[119]
Even more extensive and elegant in its outward aspect than that of Yeh, was the palace of the Tartar general Pihkwei,
now employed for barracks and the officers of the English and French commissariat, while a much less pretentious building had been assigned to the Tartar general for his present residence.
The Commodore had reached head-quarters and was sitting at the tea-table with General Straubenzee, when an alarm of fire was heard. The "Braves" had fired a house close by in the hope, it should seem, that the flames would catch the barracks as well as the powder depôt, or at all events compel the English to withdraw their troops from the post, and give an opportunity for inflicting some loss on them. Fortunately, however, what had been set on fire burned quite out, without fulfilling the anticipations of the "Braves."
In the course of a stroll, which our Commodore took with the General somewhat later in the night, they perceived that the Chinese kept up a continual flight of rockets against the sentries and buildings of the post, from a small eminence not two hundred yards distant, which was provided with ramparts and cannon, and the Austrian guests greatly marvelled that no energetic steps were taken to obviate the disorders produced by these guerilla bands of Chinese, who every night with their incendiarism and fire-balls kept the city, the head-quarters, and the pickets in constant alarm, seeing that their inactivity only tended to animate the courage of the Chinese, while in such harassing service, unattended as it was with any results, their own forces, already very much reduced, were proportionately weakened.
The morning after their arrival the Austrian officers, accompanied by the English commissioner Mr. Parkes, whose imprisonment near Pekin has since made his name widely and universally known, paid a visit to the sole Chinese authority still remaining in the town, the Tartar General and Mandarin, Pi-Kwei. An immense crowd had assembled in the streets through which the foreigners wended their way, and their reception by the Tartar General was accompanied by all the ceremonial of Chinese etiquette: three howitzer salvo-shots, and ear-splitting Chinese music, the General's body-guard, disarmed, drawn up on the staircase, the General himself, wearing his Mandarin cap on his head, nodding and laughing more or less to the foreigners presented, according to their higher or lower rank. The Commodore was provided with a raised seat. In the course of conversation, during which Mr. Parkes kindly acted as interpreter, tea was served. Pi-Kwei inquired as to the objects of the Expedition, and asked the names of the officers, which, owing to the symbolic nature of Chinese writing, could not be done but after much difficulty. Pi-Kwei, a man of colossal proportions, behaved and spoke like a lamb in presence of the small physically insignificant-looking Mr. Parkes. Like the regents appointed by the Dutch Government in Java, he was nothing more than the agent to carry out the orders of the English.
Our departure was not less ceremonious and noisy than our reception: a number of fire-balls were let off in front of
the building, the noise of which gave much more the impression of an infernal machine than a salute. The rest of the day the officers spent in reconnoitring various parts of the city, as far as circumstances admitted, and all returned in the evening to Hong-kong in the same gun-boat which had conveyed them to Canton.
While we were lying at anchor in Hong-kong, an extra sheet of the "North China Herald," published at Shanghai, brought intelligence of a treaty of peace having been signed at Tien-Tsin, by Lord Elgin, on the part of England, and the Imperial Commissioners, and that it had been dispatched to Pekin for the purpose of being ratified by the imperial autograph. This treaty, which contained 56 clauses, invested England with far more extensive rights than she had hitherto possessed. Especially it was stipulated that an English ambassador should reside in a palace at Pekin, and be accorded all the honours due to his rank, and that the Christian religion should be professed and taught without any restrictions. British subjects, provided with passes from their own consuls, to be countersigned by the local Chinese authorities, were to be permitted to traverse the empire in every direction on business or pleasure; the navigation of the Yang-tse-Kiang, or Blue River, was also declared free; and in addition to the five harbours already opened to foreign commerce by the treaty of Nankin, the English were now to be at liberty to trade with New-Chwang, Tang-Char, Tai-Wan (on the island of Formosa), Chau-Chow, and Kiung-Chow
(in Hainan), to settle in any of these, to buy and sell house property, as also to erect churches and hospitals, and lay out cemeteries. Chinese subjects guilty of crimes or offences against the English, to be punished by the native authorities in conformity with the law of the land. English subjects, on the other hand, to be subject to the jurisdiction of the British authorities, in similar circumstances, and treated according to British law. All official communications on the part of the English authorities to be drawn up in English for presentation to the Chinese Government, and although, for the present, accompanied by a translation, shall in the event of uncertainty be construed according to the text of the English original. Article L provides that the symbol
(Barbarian) shall be discontinued in all official documents, whether in the capital or the provinces, and the term "English" or "English Government" be substituted. On the other hand, the Treaty of Tien-Tsin is silent on the subject of the opium trade, the main point in dispute, the prime cause of the various wars hitherto broken out! There was mention made of a revision of the tariff only. Obviously the British plenipotentiaries thought they would more readily attain their object if they endeavoured to get this difficult question solved in some less conspicuous manner. The opium merchants, as well as their antagonists the London philanthropists, seemed equally dissatisfied that the opium matter was still left a "pending question." On the whole, however, this was one of the most marked diplomatic peculiarities of the Treaty
of Tien-Tsin. Instead of rousing anew the passions of the Chinese, and, by wringing such an open and public concession from that Government, weakening still more the hold of the Emperor over his own people, and, whatever their professions of amity, rendering the authorities yet more hostile and rancorous against the foreigners, the wily English ambassador preferred quietly to include opium amongst the other articles of import under the revised tariff, and thus convert it into a common article of import. Accordingly, opium, like cotton, hides, and stockfish, may now be imported at a fixed duty of 30 taels (£8 15s.) per picul of 100 catties (133 1⁄2 lbs.).
The events of which China was the scene shortly after the signature of the treaty, the hostilities of the troops in the Taku forts, the desperate resistance which was made to the advance of the British ambassador, when the latter, agreeably to the stipulations in the new treaty, was preparing to travel to Pekin, all combine to prove that, in their professions of peace and friendliness, the Chinese were not in earnest.
Since that period an army of 20,000 Europeans has dictated a peace to 400,000,000 Asiatics, and their till then deemed impregnable capital; and on 24th October, 1860, Lord Elgin countersigned a new treaty, which, together with the clauses contained in the previous Treaty of Tien-Tsin drawn up two years before, provides for the permanent residence of a British ambassador in the capital of the Chinese Empire, as also for a war indemnity of 8,000,000 taels (£2,333,333); throws open the harbour of Tien-Tsin to
foreign commerce, permits Chinese subjects to emigrate, without any restrictions, to any part of the British colonies, and to take service there; assigns to Great Britain a portion of the district of Kow-loang or Cow-loon on the mainland opposite Hong-kong; and, finally, ordains that the original treaty, and all the various additional articles, shall be published by placard in every part of the Empire. Never before had the Middle Kingdom sustained such a humiliation. True, during the rule of the former dynasty, Tao-Kwang (Light of Reason), an end was put to a system that had endured for a thousand years, but conditions such as those that had been imposed by the western nations in the treaties of Tien-Tsin and Pekin, were altogether unheard of in the history of China, and afford convincing proof of its weakness and approaching downfal, the more so, as the late Emperor Hien-fung was a jealous upholder of the old Asiatic doctrines and state craft. Only the utmost necessity and unceasing pressure could have induced him to lower his arms before the barbarians of the west, and to endure that an enemy should have dictated conditions of peace in his own capital, hitherto inaccessible to foreign nations. English, French, and American ships of war hold possession of the most important forts of China. In several provinces of the interior, a rebel emperor has set up his camp, while on the banks of the Amoor, on the north of the Empire, Russia is building fortresses, and acting as if she were quite at home in that region. But all these phenomena, however divergent the interests, may at
present point to one stupendous result,—rousing the immense Chinese Empire from its thousand years' lethargy, and forcing the natives who populate it to follow in the great onward career of civilization, which in our days is rushing with the rapidity of a tempest through the world!
While the Commodore and some of his staff were proceeding to Canton in the gun-boat, the naturalists made an excursion to the Portuguese settlement of Macao, about 35 miles distant from Hong-kong, with which there is bi-weekly communication by an English steamer. Usually this voyage occupies from four to five hours, but the Sir Charles Forbes was a small slow-going tub, and as our departure was delayed several hours in consequence of a large shipment of chests of opium, for which it was hoped a better price would be obtained at Macao, and as we had on our way thither to contend with rain, squalls, and contrary winds, it was dark ere we reached Macao.
We were not a little taken aback at finding several of the passengers armed with revolvers. However, these seemingly superfluous precautions against danger in a pleasure sail of a few hours were well founded. Not long before, it had happened that the European passengers to Macao had been assailed by the Chinese on board, and all murdered in cold blood! the Chinese had stealthily watched for the moment when the captain and passengers were at table in the confined cabin of the little craft, took possession of the vessel, and murdered every European on board. The captain and
some of the passengers sprang overboard to save their lives, but only one man, an Englishman, succeeded in effecting his escape, and giving intelligence of this terrible affair. After they had possessed themselves of a considerable booty, the pirates set the vessel on fire, and set at nought all efforts to bring them to punishment by escaping into the interior of the country.
The arrangements for paying passage-money, expenses, &c., are apt to strike a stranger as singular. Gold is absolutely out of use, and the current coins, such as Mexican dollars, and copper money, or cash, are too bulky to admit of their being lugged about to pay large amounts. In order to provide for the expenses of a pleasure party of a couple of days it would be necessary to take a large bag, which there was the further danger might disappear somewhere without hands. An excellent arrangement has accordingly been introduced, by which each passenger pays his fare and other expenses, by means of a check on any one of the mercantile houses in Macao or Hong-kong, which is filled up with the entire amount for collection by the controller, and is cashed on his return. This custom is also a remarkable example of mutual confidence in public life, even if it be explained by the fact that the majority of the passengers are well known, and that China has as yet only been frequented by well-off foreigners.
The passage from Hong-kong to Macao is not entirely devoid of interest. The course of the steamer lies at first
among narrow canals, between lofty granite rocks: so soon as she emerges from these, the muddy disturbed colour of the water indicates that she is now crossing the mouth of the Canton River proper. Stately ships are seen passing up or down, while junks and fishing-boats are plying on every side. The majestic conical peak, 3000 feet high, of the island of Lantao, and the Castle Peak scarred with a deep furrow from top to bottom, on the mainland of the province of Quang-tong directly opposite, form the background. The regularity of the conical shape in these peaks, which seems to point to their being of volcanic origin, renders it probable that they are either granite or porphyritic in structure. The mouth of the Canton River is so wide, that the opposing shores only gradually become visible, the wide expanse of water, extending on every side till lost in the horizon, giving the traveller the impression that he is on the open sea.
Already, before the houses of Macao could be very easily made out, we passed the merchant ships lying in the roads, which cannot approach within from six to eight nautical miles. The small thoroughly land-locked "inner harbour," as it is called, lying on the other side of the narrow tongue of land on which Macao is situate, is only accessible for small vessels and Chinese junks, which visit it in large numbers.
The first view of the city of Macao is not less charming than that of Victoria. The long ranges of houses are picturesquely grouped around the numerous little hills surmounted by forts, which form the greater part of the isthmus;
while the beautiful Praya Grande, where palaces and imposing mansions are disposed in long array close along the shore, in order to get the benefit of the refreshing sea-breezes, makes a deep and lasting impression upon the stranger. Churches with lofty double towers shooting into the air, and the vast dome of the Jesuit College, at once single the city out as Catholic, and impart to its external aspect a strong contrast with the adjoining English colony.
Macao is a favourite resort of the foreigners settled in Hong-kong for change of air, which in these latitudes seems to be even more necessary than in Europe. So long as Canton was the chief seat of the European traders, the Portuguese settlement was used by them as a summer residence for their families, whither they could themselves occasionally retire from the bustle of Canton, and the attendant insecurity of life, to spend a few days of calm enjoyment with their families. On account of the alarms of war of the previous year, most of the Canton merchants had come down to Hong-kong and Macao to settle, in consequence of which the latter town has an unusually lively appearance, while its trade, which had previously been in a rather languishing condition, has materially improved.
When the steamer makes its appearance in the roads of Macao, it is immediately surrounded by an innumerable swarm of what are called Tanka-boats, mostly propelled by women, who with yells and shrieks bid for the privilege of conveying the passengers to shore. As there is no suitable
landing-place on the eastern side of the roads, the traveller is conveyed to the shore through the lash of the waves in a small cockle-shaped boat, just as at Madeira or Madras, and equally uncomfortably; but although the boat and the mode in which it is navigated are anything but calculated to inspire confidence, such a thing as an accident is of rare occurrence.
The naturalists of the Novara found an exceedingly friendly and hearty reception at the beautiful residence of the Russian Consul, M. Von Carlowitz, who shortly before had come from Canton to settle in Macao, with his excellent wife, a very beautiful lady of Altenburg in Germany, there to await the upshot of the war.
Our first visit the following morning—a bright and beautiful Sabbath morning—was to the renowned Camoens Grotto, situated in a large well-wooded park, partly covered with primeval forest, the property of a Portuguese family of the name of Marquez. All around there reigned utter, almost sacred silence. Here it was that Camoens, banished from his native land, wrote his Lusiad. The park with its fragrant shady aisles, its majestic leafy domes, impervious even to the rays of the tropical sun, its huge piles of rock round which clamber the immense roots of gigantic fig-trees, its deliciously cool atmosphere, its soft green velvet paths, its heaps of ruined walls, and its death-like quietness, seems as though destined for the asylum of an exiled poet, who, instead of lamenting his destiny like common men in sullen silence, felt
his spirit roused amid this wonderful tropical beauty to fresh sublime efforts,—"Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme!" In an ill-contrived niche in the substructure of the grotto is a bust, in terra-cotta, of the great poet, with the inscription, "Louis de Camoens, born 1524, died 1579." On the broad marble pedestal whereon stands this bust, which savours but little of artistic taste, various verses from the Lusiad have been engraved with an iron stylus.[120] Formerly this grotto must have had a much more agreeable appearance, but the present proprietor thought to beautify it by making an addition to it, which has resulted in its having almost entirely lost its original character. From one point within the grotto, called the observatory, and traditionally used as such by Camoens, there is a beautiful peep over the inner harbour, with its throng of busy human ants. Quite close to this singular abode for a poet, is the meeting-house of an evangelical Christian community, numbering about 200 souls, with a cemetery attached, which, with its handsome stone monuments and beautifully laid-out gardens, constitutes one of the most interesting places of outdoor resort in the colony.
The most extensive and important edifice in the settlement of Macao, founded in 1563 by the Portuguese, on a peninsula of the same name, about five square miles in extent, is the Pagoda of Makok and its different temples, situate on the
slope of a hill between picturesque groups of granite rocks, studded with gigantic Chinese inscriptions and splendid clumps of trees. At the entrance of this retreat for the gods, is a large fantastically-adorned Buddhist temple, surrounded by a large number of apartments, in which reside the priests, and where they carry on their household duties, and prepare tapers and sycee-paper for the worship of their deities, and where are also a few private altars to divinities, whose influence and protection the Chinese ladies of doubtful reputation do not, it seems, venture publicly to invoke.
Steps cut in the granite rock conduct to the highest point, about 200 feet above sea-level, on which there is likewise a temple. At the time of our visit, a number of Buddhist priests in long yellow plaited garments were ascending to the summit, preceded by flute-players, there to perform their devotions. On their return they distributed among the poor Chinese congregated in the chief apartment of the temple, a large quantity of fruit and other eatables.
While at Macao we visited one of the most respected of the foreigners settled there, Dr. Kane, an English physician, who has for years resided in the colony. This gentleman was so kind as to present us with the head of a statue from the renowned nine-storied or Flower Pagoda (Hwa-tah) near Canton, which during a visit he paid to that half-ruined edifice in March, 1857, he had found lying on the ground, a fragment from a sandstone figure on the seventh story, representing a pupil of Buddha. This Pagoda, 160 feet high,
was constructed upwards of a thousand years since, which must accordingly be the age of the relic in question.
The number of inhabitants at present in Macao amounts to about 97,000, of whom 90,000 are Chinese and 7000 Portuguese and Mestizoes. Of other foreign nations there are but a very few in the peninsula. The chief article of commerce in the colony is opium, which finds its way hence into the interior in large quantities. Hong-kong is in too close proximity, is too favourably situated, and is inhabited by too energetic a race, to admit of Macao, especially so long as it remains in the hands of the Portuguese, recovering its former commercial importance. Portugal derives but little profit from her colonies, and it is only national pride that will not hear of this possession, which is more a burden than a source of aid to the mother country, being disposed of by way of sale to either the English or the North Americans. However, the maintenance of this colony costs the Portuguese home Government but little, as the colonists support the chief expenses themselves. Thus the pay of the Governor, who receives £1260 per annum, as also that of the military force of about 400 men, and of a small ship stationed in the harbour, are all defrayed by the colonists.
Macao is at present the chief point for the shipment of Chinese labourers or coolies to the West Indies. There are above 10,000 Chinese annually whom hunger and want drive to sell themselves virtually as slaves to the traders in
human flesh, to drag out a miserable existence far from home. They are chiefly sent from Macao to the Havanna. We visited the house in which these pitiable objects are confined till the departure of the ship; we saw the haggard, reckless look of these wretched beings, who, despite the dreadful fate that awaits them, hire themselves out to Portuguese and Spanish kidnappers. In return for a free passage to Havanna, they bind themselves to work for eight years after their arrival with whatever master is found for them at four dollars a month,[121] a rate of wage very much lower than that paid to the labourer of the country, or even to the manumitted slave. This immense difference however does not accrue so much to the West India planter as to the speculators who are engaged in the importation of Chinese, for each of whom a large premium is paid. The voyage, which usually lasts from four to five months and costs about £70 a head, is chiefly carried on in French, Portuguese, and—alas! that it should be so—English and German ships. What sufferings the unhappy emigrants are exposed to during the voyage, appears from the fact that a number of them not unfrequently jump overboard, to seek a refuge from their misery under the waves. Cases have been known in which, owing to hard fare and mismanagement, 38 per cent. of the emigrants have died on the passage![122]
The society which takes charge of this trade in exporting men is known as the Colonisadora, and has its head-quarters in the Havanna. Each Chinese must before leaving Macao subscribe a contract which is for the exclusive benefit of the society, and by which the poor emigrants explicitly renounce all the advantage they might derive from certain paragraphs in the Spanish Emigration Act, passed in 1854, which bear upon the interpretation of such contracts. As it is usually only the very poorest, most shiftless, and most ignorant class that emigrates, the contract is enforced without the smallest scruple, and if afterwards the emigrant in the foreign country becomes aware of the privations and oppression he has to submit to in comparison with other workers, the obligations he has entered into are made use of to invoke the protection of the Spanish authorities.[123] The fact however that these latter secretly favour the objections of the colonization society, sufficiently proves that the interests of a social class and the extension of the labour market in the island are considered by them as of far higher importance than the good of mankind.
To the English Government is due the credit of having initiated an energetic protest against this trade in human beings, and of having taken such steps as tend to mitigate the evil consequences which cannot but result from such a system of deportation. Its representative at the Havanna, Mr. Crawford, was the first and indeed only individual who ventured to make representations to the Spanish Government as to the little humanity shown for these poor Chinese emigrants, and to draw public attention to the system.[124] Under a humane and well-managed
administration of the emigration system in China, it might prove of immense service to those countries which are eager to absorb labour, as, owing to the super-abundance of labour in China, a far larger supply as well as a much higher class of labourers might be procured.
M. de Carlowitz was so kind as to accompany us in our various rambles to the more interesting sights and points of view, and more especially when we were busied "doing" the "lines" of the city. On an eminence in the suburbs, about 200 feet high, is what is known as Monte fort, garrisoned by 150 men, whence there is a charming panorama, and the eye catches sight of the Chinese village of Whang-hia, at the period of our visit most hostilely disposed, and where on July 3rd, 1844, the first treaty of peace, friendship, and commerce, was drawn up and signed between China and the United States. Another hill, about 300 feet high, at the outer extremity of the peninsula, on which many years ago the Portuguese had erected a fort, of which only the foundations can now be traced, commands the tongue of land on which stands the city, as well as all the eastern portion of the island, and amply repays the trouble of ascent. On the road thither, by which the communication with the mainland of China is mainly carried on, we came upon the corpse of a coolie, which had apparently lain for several days in the very middle of the
road. A part of the head and the right hand had been already stripped of the flesh by the carrion-crows, and enormous swarms of insects had fastened on the upper portions of the naked horribly swollen dead body. The miserable being had obviously fallen a victim to want and destitution. His strength seemed to have failed him while he was earning his miserable subsistence, as two empty broken panniers were lying close beside him. Crowds of people were passing daily, men, women, children, even Portuguese taking their customary promenade on foot or on horseback, without any person giving himself the least trouble to remove the shocking spectacle. Even the representations of the foreign consuls seem to have but little influence on the Portuguese authorities in these matters, and it appears that it is by no means an infrequent occurrence to see dead bodies lying about. A hardly less sickening spectacle was presented on the slope of the hill, where were erected a couple of dozen of small, wretched, filthy huts of palm-straw, which served for the reception of a number of sick and lepers, who, shunned and abandoned by all the world, were sinking in their misery into the grave. Leprosy is regarded by the Chinese as a punishment for secret sins, and those visited with it are accordingly deprived of all assistance or attention. Very probably this coolie, whose body we thus saw lying on the road, was one of those unfortunates who were here digging, as it were, their own graves.
The isthmus which unites the Portuguese settlement on the
peninsula with the mainland, is barely a quarter of a mile in length by 500 feet in breadth. Formerly there was a wall built right across the centre of this tongue of land, which marked the limit of the colony. Here Chinese sentinels used to march to and fro to protect the Flowery Kingdom. This, however, did not prevent the "Macaoistas," as the inhabitants of Macao are accustomed to call themselves, from making frequent excursions and pic-nic parties to the mainland and the adjacent Chinese villages. On 22nd August, 1848, however, when the then governor of Macao, Dom Joâo Maria Ferreira do Amaral, while riding along the narrow part of the isthmus, was set upon by a couple of armed Chinese, torn from his horse, and beheaded, his skull and hand being carried off by the murderers, the Portuguese pulled down the wall and destroyed the adjoining Chinese fort, so that not a vestige of either now remains. The government of Macao insisted on the murderers being delivered up, as also on the restitution of the head and hand of the victim, but after the lapse of a year the authorities received an official notification that the murderers had been discovered, and on confession of the crime had been executed at Shunteh. The head and hand of the unhappy Amaral were delivered to the Portuguese officials by two Chinese commissioners, and solemnly interred with the other remains. In the course of the correspondence with reference to this matter[125] between the Chinese and Portuguese authorities, it appeared that, owing to certain stringent regulations
he had laid down, Governor Amaral had long been marked out for destruction by the Chinese population of Macao. The chief complaint against him was that he had profaned the graves of their ancestors in the suburbs of Macao, and had constructed new streets right through them. Every attack of illness, every unlucky speculation, every unexpected mischance, which happened to any of the Chinese residents in Macao, was ascribed to the vengeance of those spirits, whose repose had been so wantonly violated for such an insignificant purpose. The Chinese have no regular cemeteries for their dead. They inter them anywhere about the township, simply marking the spot with a stone or an inscription. At the new-year's festival these graves are adorned in the most gaudy manner, none, not even of the poorest, being neglected in this respect. This pious feeling for the dead is in singular and rude contrast with the indifference with which the Chinese regard the misfortunes of their neighbours, and the cruelty with which mothers expose their new-born children, or even leave them to die.
The trade between Macao and the mainland is very active: in the quarter of an hour that we were upon the isthmus there passed at least 60 men loaded with goods or provisions, moving to and fro to the settlement. Among these there were also sedan-chairmen, conveying back to the neighbouring villages such of the better class of Chinese as had been doing business in the city. The effect of warlike rumours from Canton and the Pei-ho had meanwhile become apparent
among the European population of Macao. The insecurity of life and property increased daily. No one could venture to go a mile or two beyond the city. Even a beautiful pic-nic house, erected by the foreigners on "Green Island," close by the town, whither during peaceful times frequent excursions were made by European residents with their families, had been for months empty and gutted.
The Praya Grande, or rather the shady promenade, at its eastern extremity serves as a rendezvous for the gay world, and on Sundays, when a band of music plays here, one can scarcely pass through the crowd.
The Portuguese, who even in their native country are not a handsome race, lose still more in their physical qualities by the unscrupulous manner in which they cross with the native races. This circumstance makes the contrast still more apparent of simple, graceful, pale ladies of the Anglo-Saxon race, who now and then appear between the ugly dark natives. In the evening, towards sunset, these lovely creatures make their appearance in their sedan or other chairs in the Campo San Francisco, there to enjoy the cool evening sea-breezes. A great number of sedan porters halt here with their precious burdens, and elegantly-attired cavaliers saunter about, striving by amiable phrases and flattering remarks to elicit a smile. While these vehicles form the commonest mode of conveyance, we also saw there but few saddle-horses, and only one single carriage, the property of a rich brownish native, baronized for the amount of 40,000
dollars, and who thought by this means to display his taste, his luxury, and his nobility!
We had heard so much of certain wonderful singing stones, on a large island opposite the inner part of the harbour, that several of our party made an excursion thither. Neither natives nor indeed Europeans could give us any explanation of this singular phenomenon, but all hold that the stones must contain metal in some certain proportion, while electricity and magnetism would do the rest. The naturalists were accompanied to this mysterious spot by M. Von Carlowitz, Dr. Kane, and a Chinese physician, Dr. Wong-fun. The estimable and highly-educated Wong-fun had graduated as Doctor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, and had afterwards enlarged his experience by practising some time in the United States, since which he had practised the healing art with great success upon his own countrymen. A European in intelligence and education, he was still a Chinese in external appearance, and wore, as formerly, a long tail. Probably Wong-fun adhered to this ancient custom in order the more readily to indoctrinate his fellow-countrymen with European ideas.
Some small Tanka-boats, in which, as already mentioned, only two persons can be accommodated at once, and which are exclusively managed by women, conveyed our party over the bosom of the inner harbour to the opposite shore. We then proceeded through a beautiful valley, covered with rice fields, and traversed in its entire extent by a mountain
torrent, which is dammed off, and drives a number of Chinese mills with the small water-courses. In the background of this valley lies the mysterious spot. The marvel itself presently became visible in a large expanse of syenite rock, greatly resembling that in the Oderwald of Hesse. Some of these have been tilted on the others, and the hard syenite resounds when struck with a hammer, just as a block of marble or basalt vibrates when struck, with a bell-like sound. These musical blocks therefore are but little interesting, unless that the Chinese make use of them to sculpture the figures of lions and tigers to adorn the entrances of their temples.
After a stay of two days in Macao, the naturalists returned to Hong-kong, where they had to devote the little time that would elapse ere the frigate sailed to sorting and packing the collections, and arranging for their transmission: for the manipulation of packing is, as Humboldt well remarked, as important as actual science in such undertakings. That naturalist confers but a small boon on science, whose only care is to collect, but who takes no pains to preserve, the fruits of his labour, by an exact indication of the place where found, and such special particulars as may prevent mistakes, and by carefully guarding against damage to the objects about to be sent, while on their way.
The kind reception and hospitality of our new friends in Hong-kong remained undiminished to the very last moment of our stay. We were fairly overwhelmed with attentions of
all sorts, each apparently striving to make us forget the unfavourable circumstances under which we visited the Empire of China.
The steamer Hong-kong, early on the morning of 18th July, towed us out through the narrow Eastern Straits, the Ly-e-num Pass, and the Ta-thong-wun Channel, into the open sea. As we passed alongside the English frigate Nankin, carrying the broad pendant of the amiable and excellent Commodore Stewart, our band played "God save the Queen," while the English ensign was dipped, by way of parting salute. A little further on the Chinese Comprador, who had supplied the Novara with provisions daily during her stay, had stationed himself in his boat to give us a parting farewell with a roar of gong-gong, while innumerable rockets whizzed and exploded in the air.
We found a tolerably high sea outside, but a fine fresh S.W. breeze, under which we rapidly increased our distance from the shore. In like manner as when we entered, we had now in getting out to thread our way among thousands of fishing-boats sailing about in couples, which cruise about to a distance of even 50 and 60 miles to sea. The steamer which towed us through the narrow Eastern Channel, and had us just four hours and twenty minutes in tow, charged the amount of 300 dollars (£63), so that each minute of towing cost rather over one dollar. After making a tack towards Lemma Island, in order to avoid the dangerous Nine-pin rock, the wind sprung up from E.S.E., so that we were
enabled to lie our proper course, and by sundown had cleared Piedra bianca.
With fine weather and a fresh S.W. monsoon our voyage was so speedy, that by 2nd July we were in the latitude of Formosa, but without being able to distinguish the high land, either on the Chinese coast or on that island, and by 23rd July we were off the Saddle Islands, at the mouth of the Yang-tse-Kiang.
Just as we reached this, the door, as it were, through which we had to enter, the weather chose to change with the utmost suddenness. Calms and contrary winds, coupled with the powerful current of the mighty river, sweeping through the islands, prevented our further advance, and on the 24th we had to cast anchor near the easternmost Saddle Island. Close to us on every side were numbers of other ships equally unfortunate with ourselves, while the spectacle of the steamers, pursuing their course without feeling any obstruction, filled us with envy. We had taken a Chinese pilot on board, and by 25th July were in sight of Gutzlaff, a small islet of rock 210 feet high, the best land-mark of the "Son of Ocean," and just before sunset anchored off the outer bar. We now had fair breezes, and without further obstacles passed over the bar in from 30 to 33 feet water, which in bad weather, however, is exceedingly dangerous. We were still out of sight of land; even the islands we had already passed sank below the horizon, and still there was nothing visible but an unbroken expanse of yellowish-red water, which reflected
with the utmost brilliancy the rays of the sun. A light-ship moored to a sand-bank, and a wreck on another sand-bank, are, after leaving Gutzlaff Island, the sole land-marks by which the pilot can hope to keep the channel, which is only from one to two miles wide in this vast shoreless river estuary. Indeed the entrance of the Yang-tse-Kiang is regarded as one of the most difficult feats for a large ship. With favourable wind and weather, the Novara cleared without accident the 47 miles between the bar and the place where the Wusung falls into the Yang-tse-Kiang, and on the evening of the 26th July dropped anchor in front of Wusung. The navigation presented little that was interesting, yet each man involuntarily felt a thrill as he reflected that he was sailing in the current of the longest river in China, whose source lies thousands of miles inland at Khukkunor, among the Mangolians.
As we neared Wusung, signs of life began to be visible on the river itself; tall three-masters were passing, bound in or out, and scores of Chinese junks with their peculiar rig and build. Far above the light-ship the shore first became visible, low, flat, scarcely above the level of the river, but green and fertile. A Pagoda of the well-known form of the Porcelain tower of Nankin and a few lofty trees enable the pilot to take the bearings of the channel at this point. Only the land on the left is actual mainland, the shore on the right being the coast of the island of Tsuning, lying at the mouth of the river. At the mouth of the Wusung, this southern
arm of the Yang-tse-Kiang, as formed by the above-named island, is about six and a half nautical miles in width, and a little higher up is further narrowed by Bush Island to a width of four miles.
The first inhabited spot at the junction of the Wusung and Yang-tse-Kiang is the wretched filthy village of Wusung, which owes its importance solely and exclusively to the opium boats, which the merchants of Hong-kong and Shanghai used to station here in the stream, in order more readily to sell and deliver to the Chinese that forbidden article. Thus the natives took on themselves the responsibility of opium smuggling, while the foreign merchants became thereby involved in a conflict with the Chinese Government. The opium sold per month from the ships stationed at Wusung amounts to from 2500 to 2800 chests, in value about 500 taels (£150) per chest (£375,000 to £420,000).
The mouth of the Wusung is the entrance to Shanghai, which lies about 12 miles up the Wusung or Shanghai river, but in consequence of a mud-bank is only accessible to large ships at spring-tide. Nankin lies up the Yang-tse-Kiang 180 miles from Shanghai, the channel being so deep that even a frigate may sail close up under its walls. Six hundred miles distant from the embouchure of the Wusung lie the three immense cities of Wu-chang, Hang-iang, and Shan-Keu, containing 8,000,000 inhabitants, the central point of the internal commerce of China; and about 400 miles further up are the first rapids of the Yang-tse-Kiang, which completely
prevent all further navigation. Up to this point the mighty river, like the Mississippi, the Rhine, or the Danube, may be navigated by river steamers, without the slightest danger or difficulty. What an enormous trade, what a tremendous development, will ere long be witnessed here, so soon as, in accordance with the stipulations of the Tien-Tsin and Pekin treaties, English ships, freighted with goods and necessaries of all sorts, shall steam up this most splendid of rivers and its tributaries, and the inhabitants of the far interior shall become acquainted with the products of European industry, and in exchange shall export to Europe innumerable articles of new and valuable trade. For it is the greatest service of the merchant that he not alone opens new channels of commerce, and by increased exportation of the fabrics of his native land tends to build up his power, but that he civilizes foreign nations, and enriches science and industry with innumerable fresh acquisitions.
The larger ships usually lie at anchor at the little Chinese village of Wusung on the river of that name, just where it falls into the Yang-tse-Kiang, and here accordingly, owing to the hostilities, we found upwards of twenty ships of war of various nationalities at anchor. Among others the powerful American steam-ship Minnesota, and the French frigates Audacieuse and Nemesis, an imposing spectacle in these distant regions, and to which the half-ruined Chinese fort on the tongue of land between the Wusung and the Yang-tse-Kiang, with its couple of wretched cannon, presented a tragi-comic contrast.
Numbers of Chinese boats, from the smallest cloth-awning sampan propelled by one man with a paddle to the large junk with fifteen masts, and sentences painted along the bends, were cruising in every direction. Ere long a Comprador found his way on board, who according to custom undertook to provide the frigate with everything she required.
Commodore Wüllerstorff purposed proceeding with the frigate to Shanghai; but as it would be necessary to wait for a fair wind, or else to engage another steam-tug, implying a delay of several days, the naturalists were permitted to avail themselves of the opportunity offered by the Comprador's boat to proceed at once to Shanghai, which voyage we were two hours and a half in performing.
While the number of European merchantmen that we passed, some lying at anchor in front of Wusung, others sailing up or down stream, was quite surprising, yet the sight of the river at Shanghai far surpassed all expectation. Here, close packed together in a channel rather narrower than elsewhere, was drawn up tier after tier of shipping, a quite impervious forest of masts, athwart which at intervals the large warehouses of the European merchants indistinctly loomed, lining the banks on either side. The newspaper lists at the time of our visit gave the names of no less than 102 large American and European merchantmen in the Shanghai River, in addition to which there were upwards of a thousand native junks lying in the stream with their short crooked masts, the most convincing evidence of the commercial importance
which this place has attained within the short space of time that has elapsed since by the Treaty of Nankin in 1842 foreign factories were authorized to be erected here.
On the shore the flags of the Consulates of the more important sea-faring nations fluttered gaily in the breeze from lofty flag-staffs on the top of the imposing buildings. Hardly had we landed ere we were surrounded by an ungainly crowd of Chinese coolies, who with their bamboo staves began such a serious battle among themselves for the right of carrying our baggage, that it was only by the interposition of the police that several were not left on the spot severely wounded.
The intelligence that there was in Shanghai not a single house of entertainment, such as we understand by the name of "hotel" in Europe, was the less agreeable, as the dwellings of the resident Europeans, where, under ordinary circumstances, strangers are received with the utmost hospitality, happened at present to be occupied by the officers of the numerous war-ships, as well as by members of the two embassies. The only place where we could be received was what is known as the Union Hotel, a den in the fullest sense of the word, in which we passed one of the most uncomfortable nights we ever remember. Myriads of mosquitoes, the true blood-thirsty "gallinipper," loud-shouting drunken seamen, dogs howling, intolerable heat, which not even a tremendous thunder-storm that broke forth during the night could assuage,—such were some of the amenities of our reception,
which, despite our exhaustion, utterly precluded sleep. With unspeakable longing we watched for the dawn of the morning, and, thanks to the hospitality of our new friends, we were in the course of the day fortunate enough to be released from this hideous abode.
The Novara did not remain long behind us. A few days later, on 29th July, she sailed gallantly up in an hour and a half, from Wusung, on the top of a spring-tide, and with favourable breezes, and on reaching Shanghai was welcomed with pride and delight by the German residents here—the first ship-of-war of a first-class German power that had ever been seen in the river Wusung.