XV.
Shanghai.
Duration of Stay from 25th July to 11th August, 1858.
A stroll through the old Chinese quarter.—Book-stalls.—Public Baths.—Chinese Pawnbrokers.—Foundling hospital.—The Hall of Universal Benevolence.—Sacrificial Hall of Medical Faculty.—City prison.—Temple of the Goddess of the Sea.—Chinese taverns.—Tea-garden.—Temple of Buddha.—Temple of Confucius.—Taouist convent.—Chinese nuns.—An apothecary's store, and what is sold therein.—Public schools.—Christian places of worship.—Native industry.—Cenotaphs to the memory of beneficent females.—A Chinese patrician family.—The villas of the foreign merchants.—Activity of the London Missionary Society.—Dr. Hobson.—Chinese medical works.—Leprosy.—The American Missionary Society.—Dr. Bridgman.—Main-tze tribe.—Mission schools for Chinese boys and girls.—The North China branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.—Meeting in honour of the Members of the Novara Expedition.—Mons. de Montigny.—Baron Gros.—Interview with the Táu-Tái, or chief Chinese official of the city.—The Jesuit mission at Sikkawéi.—The Pagoda of Long-Sáh.—A Chinese dinner.—Serenade by the German singing-club.—The Germans in China.—Influence of the Treaties of Tien-Tsin and Pekin upon commerce.—Silk.—Tea.—The Chinese sugar-cane.—Various species of Bamboos employed in the manufacture of paper.—The varnish tree.—The tallow tree.—The wax-tree.—Mosquito tobacco.—Articles of import.—Opium.—The Tai-ping rebels.—Departure from Shanghai.—A typhoon in the China sea.—Sight the island of Puynipet in the Caroline Archipelago.
Shanghai, or Shanghai-Hein (the city near the sea), is divided into the Chinese city proper, enclosed within walls
twenty-four feet in height, and the foreign quarter, which has been laid out beyond the walls since the year 1843, and is as much distinguished by elegance as by comfort. Old Shanghai, only accessible by three of the six gates with which it is furnished, contains 250,000 inhabitants in a superficial area of nine Li, or about two and one-third English miles, and, including the population of neighbouring towns, who are constantly flocking to and fro, about 400,000. The streets are filthy and singularly narrow, so much so that occasionally it is difficult for two men to pass each other, the small cross streets vividly recalling Venice, or the "lanes" of London. It is with difficulty, and only by a constant succession of cries and hearty buffets, that the bearers of merchandise can force their way through these intricate passages, and find their way to their destination. The houses, for the most part one and two storeys in height, usually consist of shops on the ground-floor, each with a flaming superscription in gigantic characters, which, the better to arrest the curiosity of the passers-by, is generally hung diagonally across the narrow street. The living throng, which throughout the entire day surges to and fro here, is so immense and so various that it leaves upon a stranger an impression even deeper than that made by the crowds and bustle of Piccadilly or Regent Street, on a fine day in the height of "the season." The grotesqueness and filth of almost everything that meets the eye rather adds to the singularity of the spectacle, and while the visitor on the one
hand speedily finds ample justification for extricating himself from the din and confusion, he nevertheless encounters at every step some new object of attraction and absorbing interest.
Entering the city through the east gate, on whose walls, by way of example to the multitude, are suspended in sacks and wicker-work numerous skulls of rebels and murderers, on whom justice has been done, we find ourselves in China street, one of the principal streets of Shanghai, and in which are most of the best class of native shops. It is however no wider or cleaner than the other streets of the city, and might be termed a "lane" with far more propriety than a street. We were conveyed within the lofty, gloomy "enceinte" of the walls in the sedan-chair of the country, after which, under the guidance of Mr. Muirhead, an English missionary, who in the kindest manner had offered to be our cicerone, we proceeded to stroll through the town.
Close to the east gate we entered a book-stall, in which were heaped up immense piles of stitched books. A number of Chinese in white nankeen jackets, their foreheads smooth shaved, and each with a "tail" behind dependent to the heels, started forward to inquire the strangers' wants, and minister to them. Our inquiries however were by no means merely dictated by the desire to gratify a silly curiosity. A learned countryman, Dr. Pfizmaier, one of the profoundest of Chinese scholars, had intrusted us with a list of fourteen rare Chinese books, the purchase of which seemed to us specially
desirable, and we accordingly made every exertion, with the assistance of our companion, himself well acquainted with Chinese, to crown our search with success. With one exception we succeeded in purchasing the entire catalogue, and therewith gladly brought to an end our wearisome stay of upwards of an hour in the close steaming book-shop, exposed the while to a more than tropical temperature.
Chinese authors are, it must be allowed, terribly prolix in the treatment of their subjects, and instances are by no means uncommon in China of works, especially those of an historical nature, extending to from forty to fifty volumes! Thus, for example, the "Seventeen Historical classics" consists of 337 parts:—"Mingschintschuen" (History of the most renowned ministers and statesmen), of thirty volumes:—"Singpu" (Lives of remarkable persons), of 122 parts:—the "Encyclopedia of Matuanlin," with its additions, even reaches the immense number of six hundred volumes!![126] Books are generally far from expensive in China; for a few dollars, comparatively, one may, owing to the cheapness of labour and of cost of production, purchase quite a large supply of ordinary literature.
Adjoining this book-shop is a public bath establishment, where for 16 copper cash[127] (rather less than 1d. sterling), one
may get a vapour bath, while six cash more are paid for keeping custody of the habiliments. The bath is far from being elegant or comfortable, but when one reflects on such extraordinary cheapness, it seems as though the very utmost had been attained. It consists of a large apartment, filled with steam, which is from time to time renewed, by dashing hot water upon stones, maintained at a high temperature, while ranged in readiness all round are a number of tubs of cold water for cooling the bather. In one of these establishments about thirty persons may bathe at once, and as John Chinaman, despite his filthy manners, is passably clean about the body, as testified by the pains he is at with his head and hands, these places are as extensively patronized as they are greatly needed.
Our next stoppage was at a pawnbroker's, an institution which, to all appearance, has been far longer in vogue in China than in Europe, and is made great use of by the wealthy as well as the poorer classes. In the Celestial Kingdom, the same custom prevails as with us of pawning the winter habiliments in summer, and summer apparel in winter; and this not so much for the sake of the money borrowed upon them, as to have them kept in safety and carefully preserved, especially in the case of costly furs. In China the usual advance is of one half the value, upon a very low computation of the article pledged, for which the monthly charge is ten cash per 500, or twenty-four per cent. per annum. Whatever has not been redeemed at the end of three years,
or of which the interest has not been paid, is put up to auction and knocked down to the highest bidder, the proceeds going to the benefit of the establishment. The utmost per-centage allowed by law is three per cent. a month; but it must not exceed two per cent. in winter, in order that the poor may be enabled to redeem the articles pledged. The broker gives a ticket for the articles pledged, which have a definite value, and may be sold in the street. Thieves find these establishments very handy for disposing of their plunder, as they deface or destroy the pawn-ticket so as to prevent the rightful owner from regaining possession of the stolen articles. When a pawnbroker sustains any loss through theft, or the outbreak of fire on his premises, he must make good to his customers the value of the destroyed articles that had been left with him as pledges. If, however, the fire has broken out in the house of a neighbour, he is only bound to pay one half of the loss he may sustain. The establishment is managed by fifty individuals, whom the concourse of people flocking in to pledge or redeem property keeps in constant activity.
Considering the notorious and openly avowed indifference everywhere manifested throughout China for the poor, the sick, and the unfortunate, the number of charitable institutions to be found in all parts of China is very surprising, all which, as has lately been proved, do not owe their origin to the introduction of Christianity, but had been in a flourishing condition for a long time previously. Thus in several of
the streets of Shanghai, we came upon hospitals for children and foundlings (
), of the latter of which the one we visited was founded by voluntary contribution so far back as 1710. This humane institution has a landed property of about 30 acres, by the produce of which, as well as frequent public collections, it is supported. In 1783, this orphan hospital was amalgamated with an asylum for old and decrepit persons, and others incapacitated for labour, and one wealthy Chinese gentleman provided 3000 taels[128] for this praiseworthy object, but somewhat later this joint plan was abandoned, and the Orphan Asylum remains to this day self-supporting, while the poor, the sick, and the aged are relieved every month at the Custom-house out of funds specially set apart.
At the period of our visit we found thirty infants in the building, who had been deposited by their mothers in a
basket suspended in a recess at the entrance. After the new-born child has been deposited, a signal is given with a bamboo-stick, after which the receptacle is turned inwards and the innocent without delay taken charge of. Each child has its own wet-nurse or attendant.
The building is lofty, roomy, and passably clean, but the children, one and all without exception, have a sickly appearance, and seem to suffer much from eruptions and affections of the eye. There was not one child above two years of age. It is worth recording that every one of these children was of the female sex; their male offspring, even when illegitimate, the mothers seem much less disposed to part from. It frequently happens, moreover, owing to the low considerations in which the female sex are held, that even legitimate children of that sex are occasionally committed to the silent receptacle of the foundling's basket.
We inquired of one of the overseers what was the destiny of these unhappy children when they grew up, but could get no satisfactory reply. We were informed that they were occasionally adopted as children by those who had no family. But more extended inquiries leave us rather inclined to believe that these poor waifs of humanity constitute a not inconsiderable contingent to that unhappy class of beings who, carefully brought up, clothed, and fed by speculative foster-mothers, are at a suitable age sold for concubines to the well-to-do Chinese.
One very remarkable charitable institution, for which there
is no parallel in Europe, is the Tûng-jin-tang (
) or Hall of United Benevolence, founded by a number of philanthropists in 1804, for the interment of the poor. This establishment, through its legacies, donations, and voluntary contributions, speedily became so wealthy that it has been enabled to take up, in addition to its original business, other objects of a not less humane nature. It pensions poor widows of respectable families with 700 cash (about £1 8s.) per month; it presents persons above 60 years of age, if sickly and unable to work, with 600 cash (about £1 4s.) a month, and provides, free of charge, wooden coffins, as also digging implements, for those who are too poor to inter their dead relatives. Another humane occupation of the society is the interment of coffins containing dead bodies, which used to be exposed on the bare ground in various parts of the city. Finally, it was the intention of the founder of this charitable institution, so soon as the money should permit, to erect schools for the poor, to provide warm clothing in winter for the helpless, as also to buy up animals destined for the slaughter-house, and set them at liberty again.
The proceedings connected with the direction of the institution are transacted in public, and the managers for the time being are bound to furnish for each year a detailed report[129] of the management. This humane institution has
since its foundation undergone many reforms, and at the period of our visit was confining its sphere of usefulness to three main objects: 1st, The pensioning aged and broken-down persons of both sexes, with 600 cash a month. These however were not supplied with the money, but were for the most part taken into the house itself, or at least supported through it. 2nd, The dispensing free of charge of various so-called universal medicines, for headache, stomach-complaints, fever, diarrhœa, spasms during the unhealthy season (June to October). On the 3rd, 8th, 13th, 18th, 23rd, and 28th of each month (that is, on every date ending with a 3 or an 8), during the continuance of the sultry, damp, unhealthy season there was also provided for the sick and poor, gratis, advice from Chinese physicians in the great hall. 3rd, The furnishing coffins for the interment of those who died without means, or on payment in part by families not altogether penniless. In one of these extensive magazines we saw a coffin bearing the number 1084, which was just coming into requisition. During 36 months 1000 coffins and upwards had been supplied to poor families for the interment of their dead! As we were leaving the building, we remarked in the principal apartment a large quantity of paper, partly written upon, partly in shreds, all heaped up. On inquiry as to the object of this collection, we were informed that it was for no industrial purpose, but solely to be ascribed to the profound respect the Chinese have for every sort of writing. They regard written leaves as positively holy, and are particularly
careful that no written paper shall chance to fall into improper hands, that might make a wrong use of it. For this reason the society pays for every pound of old waste paper which the poor of Shanghai pick up in the street and bring to the Institution three copper cash, and when the pile has attained a sufficient height it is set on fire at a particular season.
Built in close proximity to this "Hall of United Benevolence" is the sanctuary of the medical profession, or, as Mr. Muirhead translated for our benefit the gigantic Chinese inscription over the portal, "the sacrificial hall of the medical faculty." This is a temple erected at the expense of the nation to a celebrated Chinese physician, whose stature, in an easy, erect attitude, cut in wood the size of life and richly gilt, is erected upon a platform somewhat resembling an altar. Part of the drapery consists of gigantic leaves, while his folded hands clasp a lotos-flower. In front of the image is placed the inscription: "The shrine of the spirit of the King of Medicine." Above the idol are the following words in Chinese, cut in the stone and gilt, "The divine husbandman and sacred ruler!" and thereafter, "For all ages the instructive teacher."
This renowned physician had, it seems, instituted many experiments on himself with new healing remedies, and according to popular belief had attained to an exact knowledge of all that was going on in the human frame, so that he could point out the seat of the malady by simply placing a
piece of common window-glass upon the pit of the patient's stomach, and looking into it!
Adjoining this College of Health is the city prison, or Tschi-hin, in which, when we saw it, were confined about 100 prisoners in the various wards. In that set apart for the worst class of criminals, we saw about 40, heavily shackled and manacled. Three of these were confined in low wooden cages, about three feet in height and width, and four feet in length, and fastened to each other by iron chains running through. These men also wore iron rings on their feet. One of these unfortunates was sentenced to 70, and each of the other two to 60, days of such durance, without being suffered for one moment to come out from the cage, which was placed on the ground, and like a hen-roost, was provided with perches running through it, so as to interfere still further with freedom of movement. Their food consisted of rice and vegetables. According to their own showing, these three were sentenced to this terrible punishment in consequence of some affray, but we had reason to believe that some more serious matter was the real cause of their having this penalty inflicted on them. We gave the unhappy wretches a few pieces of silver. Each hastily secured the donation in a corner of his cage, and seemed in his forlorn condition doubly sensible of the value of a metal whose influence, especially in China, is so powerful, so all-pervading, and so infallible.
One very peculiar institution is the Wei-kwan, a sort of Council Chamber, situated on the N.E. side of the city between
the walls and the river, in which all matters in dispute between mercantile men are adjusted, and in conjunction with which is a temple in honour of the goddess of the seas (Tien-Mú). In the centre of the council-room is a large elegantly-shaped iron pan (Schang-Lú), in which the merchants and seamen frequenting the hall burn slips of paper, on which are written the wishes of those making their offerings. Also money, fruit, &c., are here sacrificed, and Chinese mariners, whose "junks" have come unscathed through a storm, or have been preserved, make their thank-offerings in the shape of elegant little models of their ships, which are placed in various parts of the building. This hall was founded in 1270 by the Sung dynasty, on a site where certain Chinese believed they had observed that the tumultuous tide of the Whampoa river gradually lost its violence, as it approached the spot, a phenomenon which to them seemed of marvellous significance. Under the Yuen and Múi dynasties the temple was repeatedly plundered and burnt to the ground, but was rebuilt through the influence of a Tao-priest. In 1735, an imperial edict ordered the observance of certain religious ceremonies from time to time, an example which has been followed to the present day.
Directly facing the goddess of the sea (called also Kwan-Yin, Queen of Heaven),[130] who is represented by a life-size
figure placed at the bottom of the apartment, a large stage is erected, on which Chinese dramas are represented for their entertainment from 10 o'clock in the morning till nightfall.
In one part of the immense pile of buildings there are also provided dwellings for such Chinese merchants as visit Shanghai from the interior of the kingdom, and have neither friends nor relatives in the city with whom they can take up their residence, for public taverns are in China only frequented by the very lowest classes. We entered one of these Chinese hotels, which we had come upon during our ramble, and inspected the eating-rooms and bed-rooms, which are usually situated on the first floor. The usual charge is from 100 to 140 cash a day for board (4d. to 6d.), and from 20 to 40 cash for lodging (1d. to 2d.). The gloomy, filthy, cavernous aspect of each room makes even a moment's stay intolerable. The victuals supplied consist chiefly of rice, vegetables, and fish. In the interior, board and lodging in these taverns is very much cheaper, and the well-known and highly meritorious English missionary Dr. Medhurst, who, in 1845, traversed, in the dress of a Chinese, a large portion of the silk and tea
districts, relates that the customary charge for supper, bed, and breakfast next morning altogether amounted to 80 cash only, or about 3 3⁄8d.![131] In the streets of Shanghai, the eating-houses are greatly out-numbered by the tea-houses, where one gets a cup of tea for 6 cash (1⁄4d.). These, like our own cafés, are laid out with little tables, stools, and benches. As soon as a guest enters and takes his seat, a Chinese attendant brings a cup, throws into it the proper quantity of tea-leaves, and pours boiling water upon it. After the lapse of a few minutes the hot light yellow liquid is hastily swallowed, but avoiding the leaves which are swimming on the surface, and usually serve for a second or even a third infusion. These tea-houses are crowded with visitors throughout the day, who sometimes transact business here over a cup of tea and a pipe of oiled tobacco, sometimes resort hither to wile the time listlessly away.
The chief place of amusement, however, of the native population of Shanghai is the Tea-Garden (Tschin-Huang-Mian), or temple of the Emperor, which contains numerous gardens laid out in Chinese fashion, and booths of all sorts, besides the attractions of jugglers, singers, actors, soothsayers, musicians, and mountebanks, all driving their respective avocations. The whole scene is eminently characteristic of the grotesqueness
of Chinese taste. Artificial canals and tanks filled with green stagnant water, redolent of miasmatic effluvia, amid which the Lotos opens its lovely white blossoms, quantities of zig-zag bridges with beautifully carved balustrades, islands with artificially constructed rocks and grottoes, subterranean passages, flags of all shapes and sizes, bearing the most bombastic inscriptions—such are the chief attractions of a Chinese People's Garden, every large town boasting one such, erected at the expense of the State, in which from early morning till late in the evening a vast crowd of human beings is incessantly surging to and fro, intent on pleasure, dissipation, or profit. The rabble, however, have not access to every part of the Tea-Garden, a certain portion being set apart for the recreation of the chief officials of the city (Táu-Tái). This portion, shut off by a lofty wall, is elegantly laid out, and is made attractive with all manner of dwarf trees nursed with great care and expense, besides the usual grottoes, artificial hills and precipices, pavilions, &c. Hither the head magistrate occasionally resorts to pass the warmest hours of the day, and dozes away undisturbed by the cares of his onerous responsibilities. All the public gardens of China present almost the identical features of the one we visited; a park without artificial islands and wooden bridges, without canals (in lieu of paths), without pools of stagnant water thickly covered with the broad leaves of the Nelumbium, would, in the eyes of a Chinese, be deprived of its chief pleasure and its greatest attraction.
Close to the Tea-Garden is the largest Buddhist Temple within the city walls, in which throughout the day the over-credulous Chinese kneel before their idols, and with many reverences murmur their set formulas of prayers. Like everything else in China, even religious observances are regarded from the most practical point of view. They think they have done enough when they have gone through a certain round of outward ceremonies. The condition of most of the temples, the utter neglect of some, and the various employments of others, indicate that the Chinese either has no sense of the sanctity attaching to such places of devotion, or else attaches but little value to the act itself. The men rarely enter the temples. It is only the women who, to satisfy the cravings of the heart, have recourse to invoking the Deity. Frequently one sees a worshipper approach the attendant sitting in the porch of the temple, in order to get their horoscope calculated by him for a few cash. For this purpose she shakes with eager devotion a box of bamboo-cane filled with thin wands, until one of these wands springs out. The words inscribed on each wand furnish the oracle-expounder with an infallible sign, by which, after consulting one of the books of Chinese wisdom spread out before him, he is enabled to pronounce the answer of the divinity to the prayers preferred by the poor dupe. The most prolific source of revenue of the temple and its ministrants, consists, however, in the sale of the gold and silver tissue paper,[132]
which plays so important a part in the worship of the Chinese, and owing to their zealous and frequent use are heaped up in immense piles, for consumption by fire in a gigantic furnace.
Much more edifying than the interior of the great Buddhist temple with its troops of swag-bellied idols in their parti-coloured apparel, some with a good-humoured leer, others sulkily scowling on the beholder, is the appearance of the temple of Confucius[133] in a remote quarter of the city. In this extensive building, at once elegant and simple, and with numerous halls and corridors, the scholars undergo their examination for the service of the state; here the Government officials at stated seasons perform certain religious ceremonies, and here all the literati assemble for the discussion of grave questions of debate. The main hall has its red-tinted walls covered with Chinese and Tartar inscriptions, all of which refer to Confucius, his doctrines and his wisdom. At intervals, a number of tablets let into the wall inform the visitor that this edifice is devoted to the instruction of the virtuous, and the cultivation of the endowments. At the same time every person who passes this in a sedan-chair or on horseback,
whether an official or one of the people, is compelled to quit his vehicle and traverse the consecrated space on foot. Over the entrance to the right is written: "His virtue is comparable to Heaven and Earth;" and above the door to the left we read, "His teachings comprise all the wisdom of ancient and modern days." Behind the temple is a smaller edifice, dedicated to the five progenitors of Confucius. The temple itself is similarly surrounded with various apartments, all, as their bombastic inscriptions announce, devoted to the honour and advancement of knowledge. One of these chambers is dedicated to the god of Literature, another to the guardian spirit of Science. The latter is curiously represented as a figure holding in one hand a stylus, in the other a lump of silver, emblematic, we presume, of "man through wisdom attaining unto riches."
In every city throughout China there is, as well as a tea-garden, a temple in honour of the great teacher Kong-fu-tse, whose knowledge and whose moral system, 2400 years after his mortal pilgrimage, instruct and gladden not merely his own countrymen, but all admirers throughout the world of what is noble and virtuous.
Among the various monasteries of the city, we visited one of the Taouists, called the Du-Kung or Great Mirror (probably of Virtue), where strangers provided with introductions are received and entertained at 150 cash (6d. per diem). This cloister, whose sole inhabitants are some five or six Chinese
monks, is situated close to the wall, and forms one of the best points whence to obtain a view of the entire city.
The Taouists, who follow the Tao, the "way of knowledge," and arrogate to themselves a more profound insight into the mysterious powers of nature, as well as more special acquaintance with and definite powers over good and evil spirits, are disciples of the doctrines of Lao-tse,[134] and are extensively scattered throughout the country, although at present, in consequence of their losing themselves deeper and deeper in a slothful, sensual mode of existence, their proselytism is proceeding at a much slower ratio than formerly. It is purely accidental that there is immediately adjoining the Taoui monastery a convent known as that of the "White nuns," a small one-storey building, kept however singularly neat and clean. Here we saw six Buddhist nuns, with close-shaven heads and in long white dresses, which gave them quite a masculine aspect. They received us with much courtesy,
and escorted us round the various apartments with considerable empressement. They were mostly widows, who pass their lives here in calm retrospective contemplation, and occupy themselves with preparing little articles for the Buddhist ritual, such as censers, tapers, printed sacrificial papers, &c., with which apparently they contrive to support themselves. These associations (Ni-koo) were usually founded by legacies and donations by pious Chinese, and are exceedingly useful as providing an asylum for poor, helpless women, weary of life. Many widows withdraw into these abodes of peace, there to pass the rest of their lives, free from the tumult of the world, in the exercise of devotion and of works of neighbourly love and charity. Nevertheless, if we are to believe common report, works of piety are not the only objects occasionally pursued in these Buddhist convents, and the web of intrigue and amorous adventure, of which they have frequently been the scene, has not a little tended to lower the estimate in which these religious societies are held, and even threatens to cut short their existence. A people of such a materialistic mode of life, and such ant-like industry, as the Chinese, who rarely know what it is to have one holiday in the entire year, must involuntarily look with argus-like eye on all religious communities, which pass their time in luxurious ease and exemption from care, without in any way advancing the well-being of their fellow-creatures by either mental or physical labour.
In the course of our peregrinations through the streets of Shanghai we also came upon the shop of a Chinese apothecary (Yak-Tien), which externally bears a considerable resemblance to a similar establishment in Europe, but widely differs in respect of details. The Chinese Materia Medica is especially abundant in patent medicines, the use and application of which, it must be allowed, is frequently of the most extraordinary nature.
According to the latest researches of Dr. Hobson, of whose important services in the diffusion of European medical science in China we shall have much to say in a future page, we are acquainted with 442 drugs from among the three great kingdoms of Nature, which must be kept in every well-stocked Chinese drug-store, of which 314 belong to the botanical, 78 to the animal, and 50 to the mineral world. We shall, however, in this place only indicate those of which Chinese physicians avail themselves most frequently in the preparation of their medicines, such, for example, as birds' nests, dried red-spotted lizard, the fresh tips of stags' antlers, the shell of the tortoise, dogs' flesh, bones of animals, preparations from various parts of the human body, whale-bone, oyster-shells, skins of snakes, shark's maw and fin, tendons of deer and buffalo, dried silk-worms, their larvæ and excrement, bamboo shavings, the bear's gall, preparations from human fæces, scraped rhinoceros and antelope horn, rabbit dung, cuttle-fish bone, dried varnish, dried leeches and earthworms, red marble, refuse of ivory, preparations from
toads, petrifactions, old copper money,[135] snow-water,[136] human milk,[137] &c. &c.
These pharmaceutics are brought from various parts of China, as well as from Japan, Siam, and the Straits of Malacca, and constitute an important and profitable branch of commerce. Many of them are sold at the druggist's in the raw state, when they are used as sympathetic remedies, amulets, or generally for external use. The Chinese druggists sell their medicaments for the most part in the form of powders or pills. These latter are usually made up in a capsule of bees-wax for greater facility of administration, so
that the dose as it comes from the shop resembles those small wax-cakes used by house-wives for waxing their thread. One such cake contains four or six pills, called Tzi-páu-tan, or very costly pills, which are used as a sort of universal specific against fevers, affections of the digestive organs, headaches, &c. &c.
The most valuable and costly article in the Chinese pharmacopœia is, however, the Ginseng (Panax Ginseng, or Panax Quinquefolia), which is chiefly found in Mantchooria and the deserts to the north of the peninsula of Corea. The circumstance that the Ginseng is still a monopoly of the Chinese Government, only a few privileged individuals being annually permitted to purchase a certain quantity for its weight in pure gold, has much more to do with its efficacy as a panacea than the benefits conferred by its curative powers. The roots are about the size and thickness of a man's little finger, and break short off when bent. When cleaned they are transparent, and of a dark amber colour.
Of the Ginseng there are three qualities sold in the Chinese drug-stores. One leang or ounce of the best (the largest and finest) costs 50 dollars, of the medium quality five dollars, and of the most inferior quality one dollar. The Ginseng root is also found in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Canada, and is thence exported to China, but the Chinese prefer that of their native forests, even though these are very much dearer, and there is hardly any difference to remark between
them. As the plant is only found in the wild state, and obstinately resists all attempts to cultivate it, its collection among the forests of North America is attended with great hardship and expense, and whereas in former years the profit realized on this article of commerce by English and American merchantmen amounted to from 500 to 600 per cent., it is now reduced to a very moderate proportion.
A more general subject of interest is presented by the shops where is sold the porcelain-ware, the manufacture of which dates from a very remote period of Chinese history, and was already a flourishing trade at the commencement of our historic epoch. Indeed we may reasonably assume, notwithstanding the beautiful specimens of the art which from time to time are brought to light, that this special branch of industry is at present in a state of decline, while of many kinds of porcelain manufacture no examples can now be shown, as the secret of their manipulation has perished. What usually interests Europeans in these shops is what is known as "crackle" porcelain,[138] the upper surface of which everywhere presents broken lines, so that the entire vessel appears as though it consisted of numbers of small pieces cemented to each other, the whole having very much the appearance of Mosaic. But this description also is no longer manufactured of the first quality in the present day. Antique porcelain is of extraordinary value, but specimens of modern manufacture,
such as small figures, mannikins, &c., are very cheap, and are much the same as those imported to Europe.
One marked partiality of the Chinese is their fondness for suspending grasshoppers in small elegant baskets of bamboo strips, or twisted wire, in which, whatever the season or the weather, these little captives keep up a constant pleasant chirping. This custom is of great antiquity, and while one even now finds among the populace of the present day some of these chirpers thus carefully tended, there once was a time when the grasshopper was the object of universal adoration, and enjoyed all the honours of Fashion. They were indebted for this singular good fortune, according to the abbé Grosier,[139] to a poor scholar under the Thang dynasty, in the 7th century of our era, who to relieve his poverty fell upon the singular expedient of trading in these insects. He went into the country, selected the most beautiful insects he could find, constructed elegant little cages for them, and returning to the city offered them for sale in the most frequented streets of Tschang-gan. The idea was novel, and the wealthy upper classes speedily found a charm in having the music of the fields thus transplanted into their houses. The Empress, the Queens, the ladies of the Palace, in a word, every one was eager to possess these songsters of the meadow. There was actually an enactment passed for the supply of the Imperial Palace with the requisite number of these insects. The fashion rose to a perfect mania—the little Zirperu was encountered
at every corner—it was taken out whenever a call was paid—the whole city resounded with its shrill cry. The fine arts, and every branch of industry, felt its impulse. There was no textile fabric, no embroidery, no design, no vessel, on which it did not conspicuously figure. It was represented in metal and in jewellery, and no handsome lady thought her toilette complete, unless she sported a grasshopper among her hair. This mania has died out in China, but the buzz of the insect still continues to furnish matter of amusement for the populace and children of all classes, and they are still caught in large quantities, and exposed for sale in the streets. Singular to say, all ancient and modern writers, if we are to judge by their delineations, describe these insects as cicadæ, whereas it was shown and proved by the researches of one of the zoologists of the Expedition, that the insect is no cicada, but a species of grasshopper (Decticus), which, so far as appears, has never hitherto been described. Very probably the circumstance that the noise made by each of these insects is very similar, gave circulation to this error of upwards of a thousand years' standing, whence people would without further examination take it for granted that the insect confined in the cage belonged to that species whose place in natural history, and whose special musical qualifications, mankind had so long been familiar with. One of these grasshoppers was kept for months in such a cage on board our ship, and chirped away lustily, fair weather or foul, even when confined in a
close cupboard. On the other hand, some cicadæ, with which similar experiments were made, lived only two or three days in captivity. None sang, unless when teased, or when a number more were introduced into the vessel, thereby incommoding them, and none took nourishment. It was obvious that the cicadæ possessed none of those characteristics which would enable them to be kept in captivity as pets, whereas, on the other hand, the grasshoppers and crickets were especially adapted for that purpose.
We were anxious to visit a variety of other interesting places, ere quitting the sultry, gloomy Chinese city on our return to the more genial European quarter. But evening was already setting in, and after sunset the gates of the city are closed, and neither Chinese nor European can after that hour obtain access to the city. Whoever is belated must find shelter for the night in the house of some hospitable friend, until with the first break of morning the gates are re-opened, communication is restored with the foreign quarter, and the previous day's scene of bustle is renewed.
The next object which excited our interest was a Chinese school. Ascending a wooden staircase, we enter a room, quite empty but for a table and stools, in which a haggard woe-begone Chinese, with long tail and rod in hand, is walking to and fro, while at a table some dozen of boys of from eight to twelve are engaged in reading. Their loud accents may be heard down in the street outside. The cost of the
schools for the people is chiefly defrayed by voluntary subscriptions, foundations, &c. &c. The children of the middle classes pay for nine months' instruction, three Spanish dollars. Many teachers have more than a hundred scholars, and thus earn about 1000 dollars per annum. These, it is true, are exceptions, but teaching as a profession seems on the whole to be fully better remunerated in China than in European countries. There it is in much higher estimation, and receives better recompense. The wealthy Chinese usually engage private tutors for their children, who, as among ourselves, usually form part of the family. Elementary education is almost universal throughout China. There are but few Chinese who are not at least able to read and write. One very gratifying instance of the prevailing religious toleration, well worthy of example in the Christian states of Europe, is the presence of Protestant and Catholic places of worship in the midst of Buddhist temples, and other edifices dedicated to heathen worship. The American Episcopal church, erected in 1850, at the expense of a wealthy merchant and ship-owner of Boston named Appleton, at a cost of 6000 dollars, already numbers eighty converts. It is an extremely simple yet neat-looking place of worship, quite in the style of the chapels in the Western portion of the American Union, and has in connection with it a school numbering about forty native scholars. Every Sunday morning at ten, a sermon is preached, which is attended by most of the foreign community. Far grander and more imposing in plan and fittings
is the Catholic cathedral of Tong-Kadú, confessedly the finest place of Christian worship throughout China. The construction of this building was commenced by voluntary subscription in 1846, and completed in 1852, the total cost amounting to 230,000 leangs, or about £65,000. Within there is a large organ, constructed by one of the lay brothers of bamboo pipes, whose saddening yet inspiring notes, heard in the festivals of the Church, invite the Christian community far and wide to devotion and instruction. At present this cathedral is under the charge of a bishop of the Order of the Jesuits.
Our road from the Chinese city to the European quarter led us past an establishment which bore interesting testimony to the industrial activity of the Chinese. It is an oil factory worked exclusively by natives, and giving employment to about 400 workmen, besides 80 draught oxen. The oil is extracted from indigenous beans, and is so copious, that 1400 catties (1750 lbs.) of oil are procured daily, which is worth 74 cash per catty (about 3 3⁄4d. per lb.), and is used both for cooking and for light. The residuary oil-cake, after expression of the oily matter, is used as manure.[140] A workman may earn at this description of labour from 100 to 200 cash a day (4d. to 8d.).
As we left the manufactory, and were bending our stops towards the little Eastern gate, our gaze was suddenly attracted by a spacious and elegant mansion, evidently the property of a well-to-do Chinese. This, as we were informed by our companion, proved to be the residence of the Wuong family, which ranks among the five oldest and most distinguished families in Shanghai. There is to be seen in the neighbourhood a small stone memorial shaped like a mausoleum, which, with the Emperor's permission, was erected by the inhabitants of the district in which she lived, to commemorate the benevolence and philanthropic exertions of the mother of Wuong. The custom of honouring ladies distinguished by their virtues and benevolence, by the erection of temples, cenotaphs, &c., is by no means unusual in China, and is in marvellous contrast to the almost slavish treatment which the female sex usually meets with. Nevertheless, in the city and environs of Shanghai alone there are ninety such triumphal arches and memorials
to as many exemplary and philanthropic ladies. The majority of these were married, and some had attained a very great age, one having died at 104 years, and another at 115 years of age![141]
In the house of Wuong, who stands in high repute among the Europeans as a merchant and ship-owner, we were received with the most gratifying hospitality. As soon as we entered the house, an attendant immediately presented tea in small cups, which, in conformity with the usages of the country, had to be swallowed in all its native bitterness without admixture of sugar or milk. Immediately after an old nurse made her appearance, and struck up with our excellent conductor, Mr. Syles, who seemed to be everywhere welcomed by the Chinese, and was well acquainted with the family, a long conversation upon the most diverse subjects. At length the master of the house himself made his appearance, a dignified, stately man, arrayed in a light elegant grey silk frock, but in deportment and externals not differing in the very least from his Chinese attendants, and himself conducted us round the house. He seemed to feel pleasure in the opportunity of baring to the view of a stranger the very penetralia
of his beautiful abode. We wandered through numerous apartments simply yet elegantly furnished, with various antechambers and corridors, among which were interspersed little plots laid out with dwarf plantations, artistically-designed grottoes, and "rookeries." In one of the rooms was a "punkah," an article of furniture rarely met with in a Chinese household. On reaching the library or study, our host bade us be seated, while he again ordered tea to be served. This small but pretty apartment was covered all round with inscriptions in Chinese (chiefly maxims from Confucius), which, written on rolls of white paper, were suspended on the walls. While sipping our tea, and engrossed in conversation, an attendant appeared with somewhat thick cloths, steeped in hot water, with which to wipe our faces and hands. The evaporation of the moisture lowers the temperature of the skin, and has so refreshing an effect, that one cannot but feel surprised that this custom is not more extensively patronized in hot countries, or put in practice by ourselves during our hot sultry summers.
With respect to ourselves, what appeared most to interest our Chinese host in his silken attire was our apparel. He felt over and over again the black alpaca coat, which was worn by one of the members of our Expedition, and remarked, "these Western races are truly marvellous people; they wear far more clothes than we do, yet they perspire less." And thereupon Wuong mopped his face twice with the towel, which in the mean time the attendant had again
dipped in the hot water, and thoroughly wrung out. As we were taking our departure, our courteous host accompanied us to the threshold.
In the portico were a number of wooden tables lacquered with red varnish, on which were inscribed in large golden letters of the Chinese character the titles of honour of the family of Wuong, which on festive occasions were drawn in front of the head of the family as he sat on his sofa.
After this ramble through the Chinese town, we returned to the "Strangers' Quarter," where we came upon a widely different mode of life. Here everything is arranged upon the European model, and the attention is only diverted by those minor accessories, in which the climatic conditions have necessitated some variation. The houses are universally lofty, roomy, and agreeable, usually surrounded by a garden, and many of them present an almost palace-like aspect. More even than to the merchants in Broadway is the designation of "merchant princes" applicable to the foreign merchants of China and the East Indies, for it is among them beyond any other class on the globe, that there prevails a luxury almost princely in its magnificence. In such a place as Shanghai, which can present to the educated foreigner such a meagre equivalent for his numerous intellectual privations, each man endeavours in the readiest possible way to render his material existence as comfortable and agreeable as he possibly can. This leading principle one sees illustrated and carried out in practice in the splendid designs
of their residences, and the exquisite refinement and comfort of their internal arrangements, as well as in the scrupulous attention paid to the cellar and the "cuisine."
On the ground-floors are the counting-house and stores, on the first floor the drawing-room, the dining-room, and the sleeping-apartments. All these various chambers are decorated with as much attention to comfort as good taste, and almost every single article bears on it the solid, unmistakeable impress of its English origin. Even into the most minute details all the genuine comfort of an English drawing-room is introduced, increased even, if that be possible, by the adoption of a few customs peculiar to the peoples of Asia, such as mats of fragrant materials placed before the doors and windows, Punkahs, which, kept in motion by Chinese servants, keep up a constant current of fresh air, while through the verandah, or the open glass casement, where the family sit swinging to and fro in an American rocking-chair, a delicious cool breeze blows in the mornings and evenings. A well-appointed numerous household is constantly hovering around, eagerly intent to anticipate the slightest wish of their employers. Probably in no part of the world are there more intelligent or punctual servants than the Chinese. They get through the utmost variety of work with consummate tact, method, and facility. Everything is done rapidly and noiselessly, and one is served with the utmost regularity, without being pestered with too much attention.
The members of the Novara Expedition experienced in
Shanghai the most hearty hospitality. Even the presence of the various embassies, and the momentous nature of the operations of which the Gulf of Petcheli was the scene, proved no barrier to a most flattering reception being accorded to this the first maritime Expedition of a German power. Foreigners of the most widely divergent races and standing,—consuls, missionaries, merchants, naturalists, journalists,—each in his own way vied with the rest in ministering to our comfort, and in aiding us in the prosecution of our objects.
One of the most distinguished of the physicians and missionaries of the London Missionary Society, Dr. B. Hobson, who since 1838 has resided at Canton in the honourable capacity of a "medical missionary,"[142] and who, a few months before our arrival, had, in consequence of the outbreak of hostilities, removed to Shanghai, was so kind as to furnish us, out of his own rich treasures of Chinese lore, with much valuable information, and acquainted us with the various objects aimed at by the praiseworthy activity of the London Board of Missions. This body by no means confines its operations to the diffusion of tracts and works relating to Christianity published in the Chinese language, but combines simultaneously with that sphere of action the excellent
idea of ministering to the physical necessities of the poor and sick Chinese, and of helping them in their need. While able, eloquent Dr. Muirhead presides over the missionary schools, and the not less zealous Mr. Wylie superintends the printing of the books, our highly-educated friend Dr. Hobson takes charge of the hospital, the cost of which is defrayed partly by the Missionary Society, partly by the European community.
The building itself is rather small and unpretending, and can at most accommodate only thirty patients. But it was erected chiefly for those cases which in England it is customary to classify in the general category of "accidents," injuries, that is, sustained unexpectedly, or in a riot, &c. &c. Every day between twelve and one o'clock a consultation is held, and treatment provided gratuitously. Hither flock hundreds of invalids, to avail themselves of this benevolent arrangement, and while Dr. Hobson is busy giving orders and dispensing drugs in his small apartment, a native convert in the waiting-room is preaching the Living Word to those who come for advice.
We passed an entire hour in the dispensary, not merely for the purpose of witnessing the various descriptions of cases, mostly of a surgical nature, but also to catch many an instructive remark from the lips of Dr. Hobson. Thus he remarked, as the result of a medical practice of more than sixteen years, that the Chinese are uncommonly soon affected by the use of mercury and quinine. A very small dose of
either of these drugs very speedily shows a marked effect. Oddly enough, quinine, as a tonic and febrifuge, is unknown in the Chinese pharmacopœia, and is almost exclusively prescribed for the cure of the opium-smoking form of mania.
In China, a physician is treated with great distinction, and is usually designated as szí-yaý (the honourable teacher). Of late years cholera (tschan-kan-tschúi, literally "the contracting of the tendons") and small-pox had committed fearful ravages among the populace, and the appalling havoc committed by the latter-named disease gave occasion for the publication by the English missionaries of a short treatise translated into Chinese, on the importance of vaccination. Among children especially the mortality caused by this fell scourge was very great, and the instances of leucoma and loss of sight resulting from the disease appear to have been very numerous.
Dr. Hobson, who in 1851 had published a volume of Physiology in the Canton dialect, has also completed a handbook of Practical Surgery, with 400 woodcuts, and, like the preceding, had had it printed by native workmen. Even the drawings were drawn on the wood and cut by native artists after English originals. Many of the scientific phrases contained in these works must have required to be entirely reconstructed, or else expressed by a circumlocution. Dr. Hobson intended to follow up these two splendid undertakings with a fresh work upon Pharmacology, as also a treatise upon the diseases of women and children, both, like their predecessors, to be in the Canton dialect, as that most universally used.
The Chinese, however, possess themselves a pretty comprehensive medical literature, whence we may infer that from the earliest times they paid special attention to the science of medicine. According to a Chinese tradition, the Emperor Schi-nung, 3200 years before our era, collected a "Materia Medica," and 570 years later, the Emperor Hwang-té is said to have written a work with the title "Sonwán" (open questions in medicine). The celebrated work, "the Doctrine of the Pulse," by Wang-shu-fo, was written in the reign of Tsche-Hwang-té (the book-burner), about 510 B.C. A second edition of this work was published in the reign of Kang-he, in the year 1693 of our era. About A.D. 229 the Chinese physician Tschang-kae-pin wrote the first Chinese work which, in addition to the theory of medicine, also contained prescriptions. The great "Materia Medica" of China was compiled by Li-tschi-kan, and was published by his son during the reign of Wan-Leih, about A.D. 1600. The most important medical work in Chinese is the E-tsang-kin-ksen, or "the Golden Mirror of Medical Authors," collated by Imperial authority from the best works of earlier native authors, especially from the "Nan-king," and the writings of Dr. Tschang-kae-pin. This was published in 1743 (the seventh year of the reign of Keen-lung), and consists of thirty-two volumes 8vo, with upwards of 400 woodcuts.[143]
The information furnished us by Dr. Hobson with reference to the terrible forms of leprosy in China are of so much interest, general as well as special, that we believe we shall not transcend the scope of this work, if we give in these pages the valuable data upon the subject in all their completeness.
The Chinese consider leprosy as the most appalling of diseases, since, while resisting all means of cure itself, it attacks others, and they accordingly avoid in the greatest terror all those who are smitten with it. Like the people whom Moses brought out, the Chinese regard leprosy as a direct consequence of impiety, an expiation for sin committed. For this reason those afflicted with leprosy are rarely regarded with pity. No hand of sympathy is stretched forth to give aid, no heart feels itself impelled to alleviate their hopeless condition, and thus the most wretched of all are in the eyes of the masses simply objects of disgust and of horror. Leprosy is called Lae in Chinese. In the Imperial dictionary of Kang-he Lae, is described as a very evil kind of disease, which breaks out upon the skin in the form of blotches and pustules. Gutzlaff and others acquainted with Chinese make use however of the words Ma-fung to express leprosy, which is also used by native writers to indicate the disease.
The Chinese physicians consider leprosy as a subtle, penetrating, poisonous effluvium which has infected the blood. They profess to recognize 36 different kinds of leprosy, among which they enumerate every form and variety of
Lichen, Scabies, Psoriasis, and Syphilis. Common as the disease is in Southern China, it is unknown in the North; its area of manifestation seems to be confined within the tropics. It is, however, related of many Chinese in good circumstances, that when attacked by leprosy they have removed to Pekin, where after a two years' residence they have lost all trace of the infection, which, however, broke out anew immediately on their return to the South.
Leprosy does not seem by its physical effects to shorten life. There are in China numbers of aged people attacked with this disease, and in the Lazar-house at Canton there is still living an old leper upwards of eighty, who has long found an asylum in that hospital as an incurable. Suicide is not uncommon among those thus sorely smitten, when they usually poison themselves with an over-dose of opium, hang themselves, or drown themselves, for death, they say, makes them once more clean. Although the Chinese believe in the hereditary transmission of leprosy, they nevertheless think that the disease becomes of a milder type in the third generation, and entirely disappears in the fourth. Marriages never take place with the offspring of leprous parents or grand-parents, but on the other hand the lepers and their children intermarry among themselves. A leper however of the fourth generation would only ally himself with a girl of the same degree of exemption. The children of such a union would be considered sound and free from leprosy, and would no longer be excluded in any way from social rights.
But the Chinese believe leprosy not alone hereditary, but also infectious through the very slightest contact. Hence the father abandons his own child; the children flee from their parents: they will not eat and drink with them, will not sit in their company, will not use the chairs which have been sat upon by the leper, until at least the surrounding atmosphere has been fumigated with a torch. Even the law declares leprosy to be a contagious disease. A wealthy leper durst not venture to leave his own room, where he is excluded from all communication with the outer world, without exposing himself to the danger of being arrested by the police, and mulcted in a heavy fine, or else sent to what is called the Leper village near Canton, an abode of human woe and misery, which even the leprous regard with horror.[144]
As the Chinese physicians regard leprosy as a taint of the blood, and in their treatment adopt Hahnemann's principle of similia similibus curantur, they prescribe by way of
remedies the most repulsive and disgusting substances which they can select from their Materia Medica, such as the saliva of the toad, beetles, snakes, worms, scorpions, centipedes, &c. &c.
Dr. Hobson considers leprosy, when once fully developed, to be incurable. Such remedies as arsenic, salts, acids, in short alteratives, occasionally prove efficacious at an early stage of the malady, as also Iodine baths, and mercurial friction. External remedies however are usually found to be unavailing in reaching the root of the disorder, its seat lying deeper than an ordinary affection of the skin.
Of late years the seeds of the Tschaul or Tscharul Mugra (one of the order of Flacourtiaceæ), have been administered for leprosy by several English physicians in India, and certainly, in some instances, with such results that the most sanguine hopes were entertained of its efficacy in all cases of leprosy. Dr. Hobson informed us that Dr. Mouatt, of the Medical College, Calcutta, who was the first to discover the remarkable properties of this plant, sent him, when he was at Canton, a considerable quantity of these seeds for the purpose of experimenting with them.[145] They were ground into a coarse powder,
and in that state administered twice a day at considerable intervals in doses of about 60 grains, the external sores being at the same time rubbed with the oil pressed out of the seeds. The cure must be persevered in without interruption for six months, and must be from time to time aided by saline purgatives. The first symptom of improvement shows itself in an abatement of the prominence and redness of the eruption, and the appearance of white scales all round it. This remedy has long been known to the Chinese, but those who are acquainted with the active curative principle contained in the seeds of the Tscharul Mugra, keep the secret to themselves in their own interest.[146] Dr. Hobson assured us that he had cured two cases of leprosy taken early, and in a very mild form, by the administration of these seeds, and had seen several greatly improved by their use; but this experienced physician is, like others, distrustful of the efficacy of the seeds of Tscharul Mugra in cases of fully developed leprosy, which, according to his view, is pre-eminently a taint of the blood,—a poison which can never again be eradicated from the system. In cases of scrofula, these seeds have been found serviceable.
Like their brethren of the London Missionary Association, the various missions of the United States of North America
display the most praiseworthy zeal and activity of co-operation upon every question.
That eminent philanthropist, Dr. Bridgman, who had, for more than a quarter of a century, been an active and highly esteemed missionary, was in 1858 at the head of the American Episcopal Mission, and was one of the oldest, as also among the most highly respected, denizens of the little foreign settlement. This meritorious citizen died at Shanghai, on the 29th of November, 1861, after having spent upwards of thirty years in China in the promotion of the Christian faith and the advancement of knowledge, deeply lamented by foreigners, as well as by the Chinese, who always found him their true and confident friend. This gentleman had the kindness to assemble under his simple but kindly roof the various members of his mission, who are no less useful in increasing our acquaintance with the Chinese language and literature than in diffusing the blessings of the gospel, thus furnishing the members of the Novara Expedition with an opportunity of personal intercourse with these gentlemen. We here became acquainted with Mr. Wells Williams, so highly esteemed and so widely known for his profound historical and philological works[147] respecting China, as also with Messrs. Syle, Aichison, Macy, Jones, and Blodgett, missionaries distinguished for their extensive acquirements in Chinese; and in the course of this
agreeable and interesting intercourse were so fortunate as to obtain information respecting a variety of topics, many of them suggested by Dr. Pfitzmaier, and recommended by him to our investigation. On most of these topics accurate intelligence was in the course of our voyage transmitted to the Imperial Academy of Sciences; of the remainder elaborate and comprehensive particulars are reserved for the scientific publications of the Expedition.
We may, however, more closely investigate here one topic of universal interest, namely, the latest researches respecting the very remarkable, little known, half-savage tribe, known as the Miáu-Tze.
These extraordinary human beings are usually encountered in the provinces of Kwei-chan, Yun-nán, Szechuen, Húnán, Kwang-si, and the western part of Kwang-tung. The wild tribes of the island of Formosa belong, on the contrary, to an entirely different race. In the Imperial Dictionary of Kang-hi, the sign
, miáu (a compound of the words "flower" and "meadow"), signifies "germinating seeds," "blades of grass springing from the seed-vessels." The sign
, tsz, on the other hand, is that usually employed to express son, or descendant. In accordance with this explanation, the Chinese also seem to consider the Miáu-tze as children of the soil, as aborigines, or indigenous inhabitants of the country. In their descriptions of this singular people they divide them into "Sang" and "Schuh." Sang, ordinarily used when speaking of fruit, signifies "green, unripe,"—schuh again means "ripe," or, when
speaking of food, the former signifies "raw," the latter "thoroughly cooked." By these means they discriminate them into the savage independent "green" Miáu-tze, and the subjugated more civilized "ripe" Miáu-tze. The subjection and civilization of these latter are however as yet very problematical. As in days long gone by, so up to the present hour, the Miáu-tze are restless and troublesome neighbours to the Chinese. Dr. Bridgman has lately translated into English the sketches made by a Chinese scholar upon the Miáu-tze, during his travels in the province of Kwei-chan, by which he has added greatly to our stock of information respecting those "children of the soil;" the work consists of two volumes in 8vo, containing about 82 sketches or delineations. Each of these fills one page, the handwriting being condensed or expanded according to the amount of the contents, while that opposite contains an illustration elucidatory of the text. This very rare work divides the Miáu-tze into 82 tribes according to their customs, more or less savage, very few of whom possess any trace of a written language, recording the most important events simply by certain marks on a stick, or by what are called "tallies," and subsisting upon wild fruit, fish, and the flesh of wild animals. They usually go about barefooted, are very scantily clad, lead a life full of privation and hardship, and in all their troubles have recourse to the invocation of the evil spirits. Only very few of their race follow agriculture, or any branch of industry, or worship
Buddha in their festivals.[148] Some of these however seem to be more or less crossed with Chinese blood, as, for example, the Tsche-Tsai-Miáu, in the district of Kutschan, whither the rebel Má-sán-pái formerly fled with 600 of his followers, when his attempt, under his feudal leader, Mu-san-Kwei, to overthrow the reigning dynasty, failed of success. Many of these fugitives formed connections with the native women, and their descendants are now known by the name of the six hundred savage Miáu families.
Adjoining Dr. Bridgman's residence, is a school maintained at the expense of the mission, in which twenty-four Chinese girls are during five years instructed in reading and writing their mother tongue, in arithmetic, and in the rudiments of Christianity, after which they are provided with a small portion and married to Chinese Christians of good character. Selected under the idea that very favourable results may be anticipated, if the various subjects in which the scholars are
instructed are imparted to them in their native language, English is entirely omitted. Interesting and extraordinary, however, as it is to hear American ladies imparting instruction in the Chinese language, this method of teaching has many drawbacks, and the mission itself and society in general would derive far more advantage, if these poor females should be instructed in English, thus widening the horizon of their knowledge.
In the boys' school, also supported by the mission, another method of teaching is in use. The children learn an epistle first in Chinese, afterwards in English, when they are called upon to translate the Chinese into English. Thus we heard one lad rehearse the Book of Ruth, first in Chinese, and then in English. He was then examined in English upon the meaning of certain passages, when he replied with great accuracy in the same language. Education in these schools is mainly intrusted to ladies. Two of these, Miss Jones and Miss Conover, displayed remarkable attainments in Chinese, besides their really marvellous store of information. None of the teachers are married, while none of the wives of the missionaries interfere with the school, but employ themselves in superintending the education of their own children. We found forty Chinese boys receiving their education at the expense of the mission, whose parents have to sign a written engagement that they will not withdraw their children from the institution for a period of ten years, in fact, till the completion of their education. This precaution is absolutely
necessary, owing to the fickle nature of the Chinese, else it would be a by no means rare occurrence for the parents to insist on the child returning home, possibly just at the critical moment when the beneficent influence of Christian culture is beginning to spring up in the soul. On the whole, this mission has splendid results to show. We saw one scholar, who at present forms one of the staff of teachers, and speaks and writes English absolutely better than his native language. Another young Chinese, sent out at the expense of the mission, spent eight years at Yale College in Massachusetts, and at present earns his maintenance by translating English documents into Chinese and vice versâ, for the mercantile houses of the place.
Dr. Bridgman is at once founder and president of the first scientific association in Shanghai, the "North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society," including among its members almost all the foreigners resident in Shanghai, who assemble regularly every winter for intellectual and literary recreation, and publish from time to time in a periodical of their own, details of the efforts, adventures, and experiences of their colleagues in promoting the objects of the association.
An extraordinary meeting was held in honour of the Novara voyagers, at which about forty persons were present. The President, Dr. Bridgman, welcomed our commander and his subordinates with a few cordial remarks, which was responded to by Commodore Wüllerstorff, after which the writer of these lines had the honour to deliver in English a
brief address, touching on the chief aims of the Expedition and its scientific objects, stating that its chief purpose was less the promotion of purely scientific knowledge, than by ample, long-continued practice to provide material of suitable quality for our youthful budding navy, to unfurl the standard of Austria in localities where it had never before been seen, to effect treaties of commerce with foreign nations, to knit the various capitals which we should visit in our cruise by the tie of science, to open correspondence with their various institutes, and to make collections, chiefly of those objects of natural history, the acquisition of which, owing to their great value or the difficulty of transport, is almost impossible to the single traveller. The hearty reception which had been accorded the Expedition in Shanghai rendered it doubly incumbent on us to explain the various purposes we had in view, and the original points of inquiry to which we were restricted by the track definitely assigned to us, as also to account for the shortness of our stay in each port, and the fact that our prescribed route led us sometimes to visit places either politically or nautically well known.
After the close of this short lecture, several of those present rose to speak, amongst others the United States Plenipotentiary, Mr. Reed, who expressed his sincere pleasure at having been privileged during his stay in China to meet with the commander of an Austrian frigate engaged with his gallant companions in so grand a mission.
Mr. Reed spoke in high terms of the scientific exertions
being made by Germany, and recalled in animated terms the splendid services of A. von Humboldt, whom the news of the death of Washington (14th Dec. 1799) found already occupied in scientific research in the primeval forests of South America, and who still (August, 1858) continued to display such marvellous intellectual activity.
Besides Mr. Reed, we also made the personal acquaintance of the French Plenipotentiary, Baron Gros; the ambassadors of England and Russia were already gone, the former to Japan, the latter to the Amur. We were introduced to Baron Gros at the house of M. de Montigny, the French Consul, who during a residence of many years in China has occupied himself not alone with upholding the prestige and influence of "la grande nation," but has also rendered conspicuous services to science and agriculture. To him is due the credit of having in 1847 dispatched to Europe the first seeds of what is called the Chinese sugar-cane (Sorghum saccharatum), and of having introduced to agriculturists that remarkable species of grass, with which, in consequence of its many useful qualities, hundreds of thousands of acres have since that period been planted in various parts of the globe. M. de Montigny distinguished the members of our Expedition in every way, and presented them with numerous specimens of seeds from Northern China.[149]
The visit paid to Baron Gros by two of the naturalists left by no means an agreeable impression. The French ambassador is a tall, commanding, powerfully-built man, about fifty years of age, with a full, round, beardless face covered with freckles, and hair of a light colour. He seemed pleased to speak of himself and his connections, and repeatedly proclaimed himself an admirer of German men of science, who was in correspondence with M. von Humboldt. "You know," quoth the Baron, apparently desirous of explaining his meaning, "he that wrote the Kosmos." The two members of our Expedition coloured up; to pronounce the name of Humboldt to German men of science, and deem it necessary to state his literary claims, was sufficiently embarrassing. One of them endeavoured to turn the conversation to the gulf of Petchi-li, whence Baron Gros had just returned after the ratification of the treaty of peace. He showed them a hasty sketch of a portion of the great wall of China, to which he had paid a visit when in the gulf of Petchi-li, and had made the sketch on the spot. The natives with whom he came in contact during his stay in the North he described as destitute and poor to an extraordinary degree, but anything but hostile to foreigners. They asked for with eagerness and seized with avidity the entrails of animals which the sailors were about to throw away; on empty bottles being thrown
overboard, they swam a considerable distance to rescue them. With respect to the political events in the Pei-ho and Tien-Tsin, his Excellency, whether out of diplomatic reserve or for other reasons we do not know, preserved profound silence.[150]
A variety of circumstances, however, may have contributed to make the Baron less susceptible to every other thing than his everlasting "I." Baron Gros had in fact been subjected
to the very great inconvenience of the Propellor Audacieuse, which had been brought from France, having suddenly become unseaworthy, so that he had to abandon her. She was making from 100 to 140 tons of water per diem, and there was nothing for it but to have the vessel taken with all speed to the docks at Whampoa for repairs, while the envoy had to return to Europe by another opportunity. Moreover, the Baron had been attacked by a disorder of common occurrence in hot countries, namely, a furuncle, which is exceedingly painful, and obstinately resists every remedy. Whoever is of a constitution liable to such attacks is never free from them till he gains a colder climate. In the case of the unfortunate Baron, these went on continually increasing, and on one of his compatriots being asked in society what was the cause of the absence of the French ambassador, replied with an arch look, "le pauvre baron a quatre-vingt cloux." In fact, the annoyance caused by this malady is redoubled by the little sympathy accorded to those afflicted with it, who are only rallied or laughed at.
Another personage who, at the period of our stay in Shanghai, attained a rather unenviable notoriety by his strange conduct, and did but little to raise the reputation of France in these latitudes, was the Marquis de Chassiron. By his marriage with one of the Princesses Murat (since dead), he was allied to the Emperor of the French, whom he occasionally spoke of in an off-hand way as "mon neveu, l'Empereur." Meagre, wizen, spindle-shanked, and ringletted,
in coloured check pantaloons, blue frock, open-work cravat of Gros de Naples, and dancing-master's pumps, resembling much more a second-rate Paris dandy than a diplomatist, it seemed as though he must have been dispatched to this out-of-the-way part of the world for quite other than a diplomatic object, although he took great pains to spread the report that he had been appointed the successor of Baron Gros in the Embassy.
One day the Commodore and some members of the Expedition received an invitation from the kind and hospitable English Consul, Mr. Brook Robertson, to be present at a reception at the Consulate of the Táu-Tái, or highest Chinese official of the city.[151]
We the more readily congratulated ourselves on this invitation, as, owing to the sudden departure of the Táu-Tái, we missed the opportunity of paying him a visit in his own palace in the city. Punctually at the appointed hour, 2 P.M., a formal procession was seen approaching the buildings of the English Consulate. In front were carried numerous titles and insignia, then the Táu-Tái in a large and handsome sedan-chair,
and finally a noisy "following," in the shape of a rabble of servants. Mr. Robertson received the Táu-Tái at the threshold of his house, and greeted him with the customary Tschin-Tschin, moving the hands closely folded a few times over the breast.
All present kept the head covered, making in like manner a few Tschin-tschins, and then accompanied the visitor to the reception-room, in which were five stools, the seat of honour being on the left. As soon as the Táu-Tái was seated, the rest took their seats, and a proposition was made in consequence of the truly tropical heat, contrary to Chinese notions of courtesy, to divest one's self of one's head-gear. The Mandarin, at all events, seemed as little loth to lay aside his funnel-shaped straw-cap, with its blue button and peacock's feather, as the Europeans present to doff their uniform caps.
The presentation of the commander and the author of this narrative by Mr. Meadows, who acted as interpreter, gave the Táu-Tái an opportunity of inquiring of the English Consul whether our frigate had been at the gulf of Petcheli. Mr. Robertson replied that the Novara was the first war-ship of a German power which had ever visited the Yang-tse-Kiang and Wusung rivers, and that the frigate was bound on a voyage of scientific discovery. This led to a running fire of questions and answers, during the course of which two attendants were engaged alternately in filling a small pipe with tobacco, which they handed to the Táu-Tái. The latter drew a few puffs, permitted the smoke to escape through his
nostrils, after which his pipe was again replenished with a small supply of tobacco.
We next had an example of the custom, already mentioned, of wiping the face with a hot damp towel, one of the attendants dipping a rather thick piece of linen cloth in a tub of hot water, which was then wrung out, when the cloth was presented to the Mandarin, who, without in any way interrupting the conversation, from time to time wiped the perspiration from his brow.
The Táu-Tái had a well-made, handsome figure, pleasing, rather intelligent, features, a round, smooth, delicate face, without any trace of beard, eyes as usual drawn up at the outer corner, small elegant hands, and beautifully tapered fingers, with very long nails. His dress was very simple; he wore, for the sake of coolness, a shirt made of thin bamboo shoots, with a long, yellowish, loose surcoat, white drawers, and, instead of the usual Chinese shoe with its high cork soles, or white thick gaiters, he wore light shoes of European make. His head was covered with a cone-shaped straw-hat of very fine texture, with a red tassel and blue knot in the midst, and a dark green peacock's feather, extending horizontally backwards.
Business over, a table was covered, and the Táu-Tái invited to partake. According to the Chinese custom, only confectionery, preserves, and fruit were handed round. The liquids consisted of sherry, liqueurs, Chinese wine or Samschoo (made from rice and imbibed from cups in lieu of glasses), and green
and almond tea. The Mandarin drank to all present, and seemed to take more to sherry and Maraschino than to his own native drinks. The slim liqueur bottle, with its neat gilt label and the thick cork stopper, seemed especially to attract his attention.
After a few commonplace observations, the Táu-Tái once more turned the conversation upon Austria, and remarked he had never before heard of that power. Mr. Meadows endeavoured to prompt the memory of the Chinese official, produced Muirhead's universal geography translated into Chinese, turned up therein the section relating to Austria, and handed the book to the Táu-Tái, who had the entire passage read to him by one of his attendants, that he might "get up" the country from which the strangers had come who were seated on his left and right hands.
The inquisitiveness of every Chinese now displayed itself in a series of inquiries as to the principal products and articles of export of the Empire, and he expressed a hope he should ere long see more of the "Austrian Mandarins" in Shanghai. The Novara travellers on their side with a patriotic pride, readily pardonable under the circumstances, endeavoured through the medium of the Government interpreter to leave the best possible impression of their native country upon the mind of the Táu-Tái, by giving a glowing description of the Austrian Empire, its natural advantages, and its people. Of numbers the worthy man seemed to have no definite idea, for the remark that the Empire contained (1st August, 1858)
very nearly 40,000,000 inhabitants seemed greatly to astonish him, although this is probably barely one-tenth of the population of the Chinese Empire.[152]
Just as the Táu-Tái was preparing to set out on his return, a tremendous tumult was suddenly heard in the street. It seemed like a popular insurrection, and servants were forthwith sent out to ascertain the cause of this unexpected shindy, who came back presently with the intelligence that an English sailor had struck a coolie of the suite a blow on the face with his fist, so violent that he was seriously injured, and was bleeding profusely. The Táu-Tái made his appearance
on the portico. As soon as the injured man saw his master approaching, he flung himself before him imploring aid, and exhibiting his face streaming with blood, and the wound gaping open. The Táu-Tái ordered the man to rise, and delivered him to the Chinese police. Occasionally when a Chinese receives a wound in a quarrel of this nature he will abstain from wiping off the blood-stains from his face for weeks together, finding, it should seem, some satisfaction in being able to exhibit them. This done, the procession resumed its march. In front strode a man who from time to time administered a sounding thwack to the gong, after which he rushed through the streets bawling like a Stentor, that the people might crowd on one side and leave the Táu-Tái space to pass unobstructed. The rear was brought up with police, catch-poles with long bamboo poles, and the executioner with his axe—the never-failing attendant on such occasions,—who accompanies it, however, only as a sort of allegorical personage, to impress upon the yelling crowds around the consequences of disobedience, and of rebellion against constituted authority.
The only important excursion we made from Shanghai was to the Jesuit Mission of Sikkawéi, twelve miles distant. Our excellent host, Mr. James Hogg, of the well-known firm of Lindsay and Co.,[153] and Consul for the Hanse towns, to whose great kindness we are deeply indebted, was so kind as
to order his pretty little yacht Flirt to be got ready for our accommodation, and we set off, accompanied by the heroic Mr. Gray, of the American house of Russell and Co., who lost one foot while fighting against the Tai-ping rebels before the very gates of Shanghai. As the Europeans are in the habit of using these pleasure-boats as residences during their visit to the interior, so as not to be dependent upon the somewhat uncertain hospitality of the Chinese, they are provided with every accessory to comfort, being fitted with a neat cabin, a small library, boudoir, berth-cabin, &c. They usually carry an immense spread of canvas, and during calms are propelled like the native boats with one big oar from the stern, which serves at the same time as a rudder. The sail up the Wusung, in which upwards of a hundred sail of merchantmen, and above a thousand junks, were lying at anchor, was very interesting. Many of the junks lying off the Catholic cathedral of Tonka-dú displayed a flag with a white cross on a black ground, in token of the religious faith of the crew. Here also we saw for the first time some Siamese ships, built in Siam, for the most part on European models. Of these we counted eleven. By way of ensign, they had an elephant rather nicely drawn, sometimes on a red, sometimes on a blue field, according to the fancy or the taste of the owner. These vessels have Siamese crews and English captains, and are armed with ten or twelve cannon, so that his Siamese Majesty can at a moment's notice use his little fleet of merchantmen for warlike purposes.
The channel, 200 or 300 fathoms wide, which unites the Wusung with the internal network of small rivers, is called the Wuang-Po, a designation which some authorities assume to be the name of its constructor, while others maintain that it is derived from wong, yellow, and applies to the colour of the water, just as Whampoa, near Canton, signifies the yellow anchorage. Nothing has so much contributed to that immense activity of commerce, which we marvel at among the Chinese, as their vast canal system, the introduction of which was pursued with such energy in the 7th century.[154] The innumerable artificial canals, with which the whole north of China is intersected, and which by their admirably planned system of arrangement unite all the lakes and navigable rivers of the Empire with each other, make it possible to voyage through every province of the Empire without having once to leave the boat. They atone for the great want of good roads, and even make the absence of railroads less perceptible in a country where the value of labour is so unprecedentedly low.
As soon as we leave Shanghai behind, with its immense
commercial fleet, the scenery beyond becomes tame. The banks on either side are low, and far as the eye can reach not a single hill is to be seen, not even a rising slope—nothing but a flat alluvial soil, every inch of which seems diligently tilled, or otherwise made useful.
After we had sailed several miles in the Flirt we came to a branch of the great canal, where we shifted into a smaller but not less elegant boat, the property of Mr. Gray, which drew less water, and in which we were to reach the Jesuit mission. At this season, however, owing to the lowness of the water, navigation was only continued with great difficulty, and notwithstanding the astonishing dexterity with which our worthy Lau-tú (the old chief) conned our craft through the sharp bends of the river, we were at last compelled to halt, and perform the rest of the distance, about two miles, on foot.
We now found ourselves strolling through fields planted with rice and cotton, through cabbage and vegetable gardens, occasionally even over graves, which rose in mounds here and there along our path. Sometimes in the distance we could descry small villages and solitary farm-houses.
In Sikkawéi we found about twenty Jesuits, French and Italians, all of genuine Chinese appearance, with heads half-shaved, long queues stretching to the ground, loose yellow clothes, and velvet shoes with thick cork soles. This had a striking, almost theatrical effect. We were ushered into the reception-room, and there offered refreshment. The conversation
soon became brisk, which added to the singularity of the scene, as the seeming Chinese, sitting in a circle round the table, and smoking perfumed tobacco out of small long-stemmed pipes, began, in fluent French or liquid Italian, to discuss Paris, Naples, Vienna, or politics and art.
This Mission is supported by the Propaganda of Rome, as also by voluntary contributions. About 80 pupils, chiefly children of poor parents, are instructed in the Chinese language and literature, in reading, writing, arithmetic, and drawing, and in the tenets of the Roman Catholic faith; on the other hand, little anxiety is manifested for their instruction in French or English, or in providing them with any practical mechanical instruction. In this mode of education the main object seems to be to enable the students more readily to reach the highest offices in the state by imparting to them a thorough grounding in Chinese literature, and by these means to ensure for them religious influence and protection. Accordingly, strenuous efforts are made to increase the number of scholars, and in order to facilitate this aim, as in the case of the Indians of Central and Southern America, their observance of various heathen rites is connived at, as, for example, the worship of their ancestors, the ceremonies at the death of a relation, &c. &c.
One branch of art, in which some of the scholars have, owing to their having naturally a turn for it, attained considerable proficiency, is wood-engraving. In the church attached to the Mission are shown a number of altar-ornaments,
chiefly figures very beautifully carved in wood, the work of a Jesuit of Spanish extraction, whose talent and enthusiasm seem to have laid the foundation of this school of image-carvers. In what is called the model-room are numbers of figures and busts designed by the practised hand of the brother alluded to. Here too are some heads of the Saviour, very beautifully executed in clay by the Chinese scholars, as also Madonnas, busts of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and the Emperor Napoleon III. These are doubly extraordinary, when we remember the slight instruction and very scanty assistance bestowed on them while in course of execution; their actual value however is small, for at present, as none of the Jesuits in the Mission have any very decided taste for the art, instruction in it has almost entirely ceased.
The achievements of the present members of the Society of Jesus, in China, suffer greatly, measured by the standard of what was accomplished by their renowned brethren in previous centuries; one looks in vain for the high attainments, the self-sacrificing zeal, the practical talents of other times, and Sikkawéi, with its present spiritual occupants, cannot leave a very pleasing impression on any unprejudiced Catholic. There is an utter lack of all those qualities which once formed the renown and the title to admiration of the Jesuits in China. One looks for, but fails to find, a library corresponding to the dignity of the Mission, or mathematical or medical instruments, or a chemical laboratory: in lieu of these there seem to prevail a deficiency of Christian toleration for these unmistakeable
adjuncts of true education and enlightenment. At all events, we judged as much from a remark made by the brother who accompanied us round the building, who spoke some words in Chinese to the gaping crowd of long-tailed scholars, who kept pressing upon us, and then turning to us, observed in French,—"I have informed our pupils that our present guests are Roman Catholics, and therefore true Christians, because we occasionally have English visitors at the Mission, and they are heretics." Apparently the intolerant padre was reckoning without his host, for there were several Protestants among the party!
Throughout the province of Kaing-su there are at present 80,000 Chinese Catholics, that is to say, who profess Catholicism, though having but a very superficial idea of its spirit and its reality.
In returning to our boat we availed ourselves of the mode of conveyance in most common use in China, the sedan-chair, or couch. The ordinary sedan-chair differs little in exterior form and interior arrangement from those still occasionally used in some of the out-of-the-way, old-fashioned towns, both of Germany and England. Owing to the extreme cheapness of labour, the least well-to-do classes of Chinese are able to avail themselves of these convenient conveyances, the use of which is doubly agreeable in such a hot climate. Indeed, long journeys are very frequently made by this mode of transport. As a rule, the sedan-bearers get over from twenty to twenty-five miles per diem, charging for that distance one dollar, in
addition to their food, consisting of tea, rice, vegetables, and cakes. Baggage and merchandise of all sorts are conveyed by coolies, each carrying with ease 110 catties, equal to 146 lbs. With such a burthen he will trudge over lofty mountain passes, and without much effort will cover thirteen miles a day. If special dispatch is required, the burthen must be reduced one-half, when the coolie, keeping at the trot, will get over double the distance in one day; what is gained in speed being lost in power.
On our return to Shanghai, we visited the celebrated six-storied Pagoda, Long-Sáh, which is traditionally said to have been erected about A.D. 250, during the period of the Three Empires. Of all the Pagodas hitherto known, not even excepting the well-known specimen at Canton, it is the best preserved, and forms one massive, wide quadrangular tower, about 150 feet high, arranged in six stories, one of which has running around it a richly carved balcony. The pyramidal roof has turned-up angles, to which are suspended bells, which when agitated by the wind give forth their music. From the highest story, to which access is obtained by a stone staircase, there is a rather agreeable, pretty extensive view over the country, and its cultivated surface, stretching away till, at 200 miles from Shanghai, to the north and north-west, rises a range of mountains, of which of course not a glimpse is to be seen hence, the prospect in this direction having no defined limit. This panoramic view gives an excellent idea of the characteristics of a Chinese landscape, the various methods of
cultivation, the situation of the valleys, and, above all, the ceaseless tide of traffic, as evidenced by the almost innumerable artificial water-channels which intersect the country in every direction. Quite close to the Pagoda is a Buddha temple, the well-known Lûng-hwó, erected A.D. 230. Of the seventy Buddhist and Taouist temples of the province this is the largest and most beautiful. The rear of the edifice is adorned with countless figures, sometimes of colossal dimensions, in wood, plaster, and porcelain, richly carved and gilt. There is also a female statue among these Chinese saints, the attitude strongly suggestive of a Madonna.
This temple is plainly in connection with the Pagoda, and the various small chambers behind it seem to have been destined for the accommodation of priests and devout pilgrims. According to an old Chinese tradition this temple owes its erection to the following circumstance:—a queen from the south, who had anchored her boat one night in the Whampoa Channel near Wusung, suddenly beheld a light shoot up amid the tall grass, and rise towards heaven, in consequence of which she gave orders for a temple to be built on the site.
One of the most interesting episodes of our stay at Shanghai consisted in a genuine Chinese banquet, given by a wealthy native merchant, named Ta-ki, a warm friend of all foreigners, in honour of the Austrian Expedition. The huge invitation cards, written, according to the usual practice of the country, in Chinese characters upon blood-red paper, and folded in envelopes of the same brilliant hue, were sent
round to the residences of the guests some days beforehand.
At 8 P.M. the feast began. Ta-ki's house, like those of all the wealthy Chinese, is surrounded by a massive wall, six or seven feet in height, and painted white. After passing through a narrow gateway, the visitor finds himself at once in the usual apartments. These were adorned for the occasion with large coloured lanterns, which despite their numbers shed a mild and most agreeable light.[155] Along the walls, which were richly gilt, hung quantities of sententious native maxims, written with Indian ink, sometimes in Chinese characters, sometimes in Tartar, on white or yellow rolls of paper. The greatest attention appeared to have been paid to the preparation of the reception-room, whose form was a rather narrow oblong, in which at the far end was erected a platform, where a strolling company acted Chinese theatricals. The musicians sat on the stage. The company belonged to one of those innumerable wandering troops which are engaged for a day or two now by the community, now by wealthy Mandarins, to give some theatrical representations, which it
seems must in China form the accompaniment of every important event, whether joyous or sorrowful.
At those performances which are given in public, the multitude is admitted gratis, and of this privilege they avail themselves to the utmost. Each man selects the best seat for himself, on the street, in a tree, or on a roof. Mandarins, however, and rich private individuals have their own little stage scenes in the interior of their usually spacious mansions, in which from time to time they have theatrical representations for the amusement of a small circle of friends. Some Mandarins even go the length of having their own players, who receive regular annual pay, and form part of the household.
Notwithstanding the very extensive collections of Chinese plays, with several of which the learned classes of Europe have been made acquainted by the valuable labours of Julien, Bazin, Remusat, and others, there are but a very few of true literary value. The plot of most of them is exceedingly simple, the actors themselves specify the characters they are to play; between each scene there is usually a lack of connection, and frequently the most telling scenes and situations are marred by the most arrant trash, or the coarsest jests. Only a very small number of these rise above the level of the buffoonery of former ages, and judging by the accounts given by travellers, who have been present at such entertainments in even the large cities, including Pekin itself, the dramatic art would as yet seem to be in
its infancy in China.[156] The company which was assembled in the hospitable mansion of Ta-ki, to do honour to the members of the Novara Expedition, was not calculated to impress them favourably with the scope of the Chinese drama. The piece appointed consisted of events in the ancient history of China, for which Chinese dramatic poets have a special predilection, owing to the abundance of material from which to choose, although the multitude seem to have but little sympathy with it. Even our host, who spoke the Canton-English, as it is called, could give us but little explanation or enlightenment as to the plot, and contented himself with repeatedly remarking that the piece related to "old, old times!"
Notwithstanding the universal custom, according to which women are not permitted to enter a theatre, so that even the female characters have to be played by men dressed to represent the part, the majority of the present troupe were girls of from 14 to 20 years of age, who, stained red or white, and elegantly arrayed, appeared mostly in Mandarin dresses on the stage. The most outrageously absurd of the scenes were those most in favour with the numerous domestics who, besides the invited guests, formed the audience. Thus, there was a roar of laughter when a nurse entered with a child in her arms, which had the face of an old soldier, with grey beard, whiskers, and moustachios. They sang a long, rather
melancholious ditty, and then retired, without there appearing to be the slightest connection between this and the following scene. We noted the evident predilection of the Chinese actors for a high-pitched falsetto tone of voice when speaking, which, by the way, must render their assumption of female parts much more easy, and on the present occasion they probably were desirous of giving us a specimen of their skill in this accomplishment. The music on such occasions is, if possible, even more discordant and monotonous than the delivery, and is not confined to merely accompanying the couplets, but continues to play during the intervals till the ear is utterly wearied.
At the close of each act a large board covered with a red cloth was brought on the stage and placed beneath the feet of the actors; on this the steward of the house placed a present for the troupe about four dollars' worth of copper cash, which was forthwith carried away. This was apparently the only intimation to most of the spectators that a piece was ended, and a fresh one about to begin.
After these theatrical representations had lasted about an hour and a half a long pause ensued. One longed to escape outside into the fresh air, to get rid of the wearying sensation of the performances, and the stifling heat which prevailed in the room. The guests were at liberty to walk without obstruction through the various apartments of the extensive residence, and accordingly stumbled upon rooms which are usually, as it were, hermetically sealed to a foreigner, viz.
the apartments of the women. Ta-ki carried his hospitality even this length, and presented us to his wives, as also to his grey-haired mother, seventy years old, for whom he showed the utmost love and respect. Ta-ki's wives, four or five in number, had "assisted" at the theatrical performances, each seated on elevated seats expressly prepared for them, and behaved with the greatest courtesy and ease of manner. They seemed not to have the slightest thought of showing off, or of tittering or joking with the strangers. All were attired in silk, and most tastefully decorated with jewels; all had the usual painfully distorted small feet, which greatly interfered with their powers of locomotion. They did not attend at the banquet, but had their food served in the private apartments.
For supper the quondam theatre was converted into a banqueting-hall. But there was no long wide table set out as in Europe, only small four-cornered tables covered with red cloth, at each of which three Europeans and one Chinese took their seats; the duty of the latter being to do the honours to his companions in the name of the host, who took his seat beside the Commodore, and to minister to their comfort.
As it was the object to give us the most accurate idea possible of a genuine Chinese repast, everything was eliminated which could in any way interfere with the design, and we had accordingly to begin with dessert and conclude with the soup, as also to convey the various descriptions of food to our
mouths with thin strips of ivory ("chop-sticks"), instead of knives and forks.
The peculiarity of Chinese usages, so directly opposed to those of Europe, became likewise strikingly apparent in the course of the meal. And as in China the mark of courtesy is to keep the head covered instead of removing the hat, so the place of honour is on the left hand; the ancestors are ennobled instead of the descendants (which is at once more sensible and more economical); the characters in writing run from right to left instead of the reverse; the mourning colour is white instead of black; the natives carefully extirpate every sign of a beard, instead of cherishing it as a symbol of mature, dignified manhood; thus also meals begin with the food with which we terminate ours, confectionery and fruit. When we were all seated, each table was forthwith covered with a profusion of the most varied dishes on beautiful plates of stained porcelain, and while we were still engaged in attempting to discover the mysterious ingredients of these, the Chinese who was doing the honours at our table was exerting himself to select and lay before us the most dainty morsels of each dish. In performing this part of his functions he thought only to act with more care and attention, in drawing each of the twain chop-sticks between his own lips and withdrawing them before he fished up a fresh piece and laid it on our plate! The dexterity with which all Chinese use these chop-sticks, which are usually made of
ivory, ebony, or bamboo, borders on the marvellous. In their hands, held between their fingers, they become like a pair of pincers, with which they can pick up the smallest objects, and can eat rice-grains, beans, or peas as easily as they can separate the flakes of a fish from its skin, or remove the shell of a hard-boiled egg.
As to the ingredients of the dishes presented, we must frankly avow that by far the greater number were utterly unknown to us, for the Chinese cuisine, oddly enough, sets great store on making the materials unrecognizable, and altering their natural flavour by various recipes and culinary mysteries. According to the inquiries which we made of our carver, our host seemed so anxious to fulfil to the letter his promise to give us a real Chinese repast, that he had resolved on not sparing us a single one of the rarer dainties of Chinese epicures. Thus we not only had swallows' nests, lapwings' eggs, and steamed frogs, but also roasted silk-worms, shark-fins, stag and buffalo tendons, biche-de-mar, bamboo roots, sea-weed, half-fledged chickens, and various other natural delicacies. The table was supplied at least three times with fresh delicacies, and we believe we do not exaggerate when we estimate the number of different dishes at not less than half a hundred. Meat of all sorts was at a discount, and was served up in small morsels ready carved;[157] on the other hand, rice and vegetables
were presented in every imaginable form. During the meal one young girl, who had played a part in the dramas, was incessantly occupied with filling for each guest a very small cup with a warm beverage distilled from millet, thus carrying out the code of Chinese civility, that the cup should never be suffered to be empty, and therefore, that however little has once been drunk it must forthwith be replenished. Of the juice of the grape the Chinese make no use, although there are many districts in the country which are eminently adapted to the growth of the vine. All the native drinks consist of nothing but poor-flavoured, highly-perfumed drinks, chiefly distilled from millet and rice, and known by the general name of Samshoo, although this name is solely applicable to that obtained from rice, which somewhat resembles arrack. After the meal is over there are no spirits presented, but only tea, usually the common green tea, or else a tea prepared from almonds. The Chinese are, on the whole, a very temperate people, and even their passion for smoking opium is rather a vice among the masses of the coast provinces and the large towns, than of the interior of the kingdom. During the banquet, as well as after it, there were further theatrical exhibitions, but the guests, who had been sufficiently wearied with the first of these, preferred to retire quietly to
their own residences, and, seated in a rocking-chair on the delicious verandah, to recall all the peculiarities of the entertainment at which they had been present.
The rites of hospitality to strangers were not, however, limited in fulfilment to Ta-ki, since the various consuls settled at Shanghai, as well as several of the English, American, and German merchants, invited the members of the Expedition to dinner-parties given in their honour, each vying with the rest in refined courtesy. An especially pleasant memory attaches to one indication of this feeling, the spontaneous offering of a number of Germans to our commander and his associates. We were sitting in the house of Mr. James Hogg, the Hanseatic Consul, when from the garden there suddenly arose a serenade of men's voices, singing German melodies. Surprised and deeply affected, the entire company rose from table and strolled into the garden, but the serenaders were concealed behind a group of trees, and as they withdrew, singing, the last cadence of a thrilling patriotic song was heard melting in the distance!
The Germans already constitute a by no means inconsiderable portion of the foreign community of China, and it is painful to observe what slender encouragement and support their energy and industry have as yet met with from the various governments of Germany. The number of Bremen ships which visited the harbour of Shanghai has of late years equalled that of the United States, and would be very greatly increased if the German mercantile community and the
home-shippers to the Chinese market could depend upon protection such as the English and French can rely upon. The German States, such, for instance, as the Hanseatic Towns, Prussia, Oldenburg, have indeed unsalaried Consuls here, but the shrewd, material Chinese people require something more than an empty intercession—they require to be convinced by an unmistakeable physical ability to back these representatives. Many a crying injustice, which the helpless German merchants and ship captains have to put up with without hope of redress in the various ports of China, would not and dare not occur if but a single German ship-of-war were stationed in Chinese waters. What the effect is, under similar circumstances, of even one single small boat was well illustrated by Mr. Alcock, formerly the English Consul at Shanghai,[158] who with a small English brig blocked the mouth of the Yang-tse-kiang, and did not suffer one single "junk" of the many hundreds stationed in the river to put to sea under threat of firing into them until the Chinese Government had paid attention to his demands, and surrendered for trial by an English tribunal the murderers of an English missionary. The bare menace of closing the river sufficed to secure the Consul in his rights, and he speedily saw his various demands complied with. Only a month or two later a Bremen captain sustained such severe losses through the wilful act of the Chinese Government that he had to sell his ship, the energetic protest of his Consul to the native authorities meeting no
other attention than an insulting chuckle over the powerlessness of the German empire.
In consequence of the Treaty of Pekin securing to Europeans the unobstructed navigation of all canals and rivers throughout the Celestial Empire, the trade with China is becoming so rapidly developed, that some remedy of this sort is imperatively needed,—if German commerce and industry would avoid receiving a serious check, if she would not be supplanted by other and more fortunate nations, in the endeavour to avail herself of the great alteration for the better in the facilities for trade in China.
The activity and energy of the English in opening up new outlets for their native manufactures were here astonishingly visible. Hardly are the ratifications of peace exchanged, opening the most important rivers and harbours of the Empire to free commerce with the subjects of England, ere the country has been surveyed and explored in every direction. A number of English merchants ascended the Yang-tse-kiang as far as Hang-kow[159] (mouth of trade), a city containing several millions of inhabitants, which, in consequence of its extraordinarily advantageous site, has already been described by Huc as the chief emporium of the 18 Provinces, and whence all the foreign trade radiates into the interior. Others undertook a land journey from Canton to Hang-kow; a third company ascended the Pei-ho and visited Tien-Tsin, while yet a fourth were contemplating the formidable undertaking of
boating it up the Yang-tse-kiang from Shanghai to Hang-kow, whence they thought of penetrating viâ Thibet into British India.[160] Already information has been obtained from a variety of these excursions, which were undertaken specially in the interests of commerce, such as justify the most glowing expectations as to the trade with the Yang-tse-kiang and the Pei-ho.[161] Hang-kow promises to be a most important depôt for the exportation of tea, while Tien-Tsin promises to be not less important as an entrepôt for the importation of manufactures of every description. By the opening of these two additional harbours, Shanghai and Canton will fall off in their ratio of increase hitherto, but general commerce will on the whole receive a new impulse.
To the merchant and shipper, the latest intelligence from China as to the enormous development of commerce and trade at numerous spots of the Central Empire, hitherto undisturbed by European civilization, must be positively astounding. It is a rich mine of the most valuable material, which the China Overland Trade Report and the North China Herald presents to its readers, rendered doubly valuable through
the influence of that Freedom of Speech, which makes every mercantile nation participate in the very latest information as to these experiments and their results. For, so far as concerns our present direct intercourse with China, a time must come, when more accurate notions will penetrate into even Austrian commercial circles as to the wants of a population, and the natural wealth of an empire, which embraces a superficial area of 3,000,000 square miles, with a population of 400,000,000 souls, and whose entire foreign commerce already amounts to £36,000,000, apart from the impulse which recent events must lend it.
Notwithstanding the immense variety of natural products of the Chinese Empire, the chief articles of export hitherto have been tea and silk, and we shall therefore confine our attention to a few important particulars as to those two articles.
The introduction of silk cultivation into China, one of the most ancient industrial pursuits of the Empire, is due, if we are to believe a native legend, to the consort of the Emperor Hwang-té, who reigned B.C. 2640. The first mention of the mulberry tree and of silk occurs in the Schoo-kiu,[162] "the
Book of exalted solid learning—the Book of Books," as it were, a collection of the most ancient historical annals of the Chinese Empire, which was compiled B.C. 484, by Confucius, from the memoranda of former writers of history, as well as from the information furnished by ancient monuments. Even empresses in those halcyon times did not deem it beneath their dignity to collect mulberry-leaves and feed the silk-worms, while various treatises were composed by imperial pens, respecting the cultivation of that most useful plant. The interest taken in silk-rearing by these the highest personages in the Empire, has remained unbroken to our own day, and quite recently a Chinese governor enriched the already copious literature upon this subject with a comprehensive work, written with the laudable object of stimulating the inhabitants of the silk-producing districts to a more extensive and improved system of silk cultivating.
The two best species of mulberry, those which are best adapted for the consumption of the worm, are: "Loo" (Morus alba), with long leaves, little fruit, and firm roots, which flourishes chiefly in North China, and "King" (Morus nigra), with narrow leaves, more abundant fruit, and altogether a hardier plant, which grows chiefly in the South.
According to old Chinese notions, there are eight different species of silk-worm, which spin their cocoons at various periods[163] of the year between April and November.
The chief silk districts lie in the northern part of the province of Tsche-Kiang, and the principal silk marts are the following cities: Hoo-chow-foo, Hang-chow-foo, Keahing-fu, Nantsin, and Shoo-hing, which lie in a sort of semi-circle about 150 miles from Shanghai.
The silk is not grown in China by wealthy landed proprietors, and "thrown" in huge establishments, but by millions of husbandmen, each of whom calls but a small patch of land his own, and plants it with mulberry trees, thus, like the bee, contributing his own share towards increasing the universal stock. During the season specially devoted to the silk-worm, old and young, lofty and lowly, throughout the silk districts, are busily and earnestly engaged night and day in tending the worms and winding off the silk. When the crop is being gathered in, the chief merchants send their agents to all parts of the chief silk districts, in order to collect and buy up these small quantities (varying greatly in value, as may be readily imagined), and depositing them in regularly assigned warehouses, where they can be sorted according to quality. This done, the silk is packed in bales of 80 catties, or about 106 lbs. weight, and conveyed to Shanghai for sale, where it is once more subjected in each mercantile house to the examination of the special "silk Inspectors," or "Testers," after passing through whose hands, it is sorted according to quality for shipment to Europe.
Three distinct qualities of raw silk are known in commerce, viz. Tsatli
, Taysam
(the big worm), and Yuen-whá, or Yuen-fa
(the flower of the garden). These three leading descriptions are again subdivided into a great number of sorts, which are usually known by the name of the trader, or his "hong" (business).
The annual production of silk in China is estimated to amount to from 200,000 to 250,000 bales, or from 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 pounds' weight. This, however, is a very superficial estimate; that silk cultivation, however, must be enormously developed in China is obvious, not alone from the immense home consumption of the article, but also from the circumstance that, notwithstanding the immense increase in exports during the last ten years, the price of silk has not merely remained stationary, but is on an average absolutely less than at a period when barely one-fourth of the quantity now exported found its way to England and France. The price of silk is usually reckoned in Taels,[164] on the estimate of a bale averaging 100 lbs. English. Between Shanghai and London the bale loses on the average three per cent. in weight. There is also usually an allowance made of 15 per cent. for cost of transport and incidental charges from Shanghai to any English port.
On the average only one-fourth of the entire quantity of
silk produced in China, or about 6,000,000 lbs., is exported annually, of which by far the largest quantity, perhaps as much as nine-tenths, goes to England and France. In 1843-44, the total export from all China was only 5100 bales. In 1859, the export of raw silk from Shanghai alone was 75,652 bales!
Besides the raw silk there are annually exported from China a large quantity of silk-stuffs manufactured in China, crape shawls, &c. &c., to the value of from £400,000 to £500,000, the majority of which find a market in the United States.
The social condition of the Chinese silk-spinner is not less deplorable and poverty-stricken than that of the workmen of Europe, who are similarly engaged in the preparation of this costly article of luxury. As in Lyons, in Spitalfields, or among the Silesian Mountains, the Chinese silk-weaver lives and dies in the most abject misery, and the delicate and beautiful fabrics of his loom are produced in a wretched hut of such mean dimensions, that he is sometimes compelled to dig a hole in the soil in order to find room for the treadle. However, the Chinese weaver appears in so far better off than the same handicraftsman in Europe, that he has less to dread from the severity of the climate, and can purchase more food, even though his remuneration be smaller, than the weaver can possibly do in Europe, owing to the much higher price of even the commonest necessities of life.
The recent revolution in Chinese foreign relations will exercise
a permanent influence on the silk culture of China, and, considering the exceedingly low rate of wages in that country, the time cannot be far distant, when one may purchase Chinese silk in Europe more cheaply than home-grown silk, when manufacturers will find it more profitable to purchase this most important raw material in China, than in Italy or the South of France. Acute business men in Hong-kong and Shanghai assured us that it only needed an impulse from without to increase the silk manufacture of China tenfold, and supply the annual demand for silk of the entire globe, which, if we are to believe encyclopedias and such like authorities, amounts to from 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 lbs. What makes Chinese silk especially suitable for the European market is its possessing in great perfection the two chief qualities of substance and colour, while, on the other hand, it is inferior to that of Europe in the fineness and glossy feel of its fibre. In Europe the silk is wound off from a limited number of cocoons, whereas in China it is left to the discretion of the workman to spin it from few or many cocoons as he pleases. Hence results that inequality and unevenness in the texture of the thread, a defect which cannot possibly be remedied by after-manipulation, and which accordingly completely prevents its employment in the manufacture of the more costly fabrics. This drawback, which is the main reason why Chinese silk does not rule the European market, will however admit of being remedied without any difficulty, so soon as the silk districts become more easily accessible, by the
introduction of European labour and machinery, when this valuable and costly product will gain materially both in fineness and suitability.
Only a few years since German and Austrian merchants attached but a small value to Chinese silk as suited to our market, and it seemed to them a positive absurdity, when any one spoke, as we ourselves repeatedly have done from a profound conviction of its truth, of the future influence exercised over the silk markets of the world by the influence of this Chinese raw material. Now-a-days we hear that there is scarcely one single silk factory which can hold its ground, unless, in addition to French and Italian silk, it imports Chinese silk, while the demand for that material increases from year to year, and has very probably not yet attained the one-hundredth part of the development of which it is susceptible.
Tea (Châ[165]) ranks next to silk among the articles which have raised the trade with China to such an importance. The cultivation of the tea plant is of far later date than that of the mulberry tree, and its leaves, although used by the Chinese as a curative from the third century of our era, only came into general use, as providing a universal drink, towards the end of the sixth century.[166] Statesmen and poets sounded
the praises of the new beverage, and while the one employed this excellent and beneficial gift of nature to fill the treasury by the imposition of a tax, the others chanted the praise of the plant in their hymns and songs, and thus, probably without intending it, contributed to increase the revenue of the Government.
"Tea," writes one of the older Chinese authors, "soothes the spirit, softens the heart, dispels languor, restores from fatigue, stimulates the intellect, and arouses from indolence; it makes the body lighter and more brisk, and quickens the faculty of observation."
The tea plant first attracted the attention of Chinese naturalists in Wu-yi, or, as the English term it, the Bohea[167] district, which enjoys to this day a great reputation for the exquisite quality which grows on its hills.
At present the cultivation of the tea plant extends northward as far as Tang-tschao, in the province of Shantung, southward as far as Canton and Kuang-si, and westward as far as the province of Yun-nán. As, moreover, the tea plant likewise abounds in Japan, the Corea, and the Loo-Choo Islands, as also in Chusan, Tonquin, and Cochin China, we may assume that it flourishes over about 28° of latitude and
30° of longitude, within which it can be cultivated without being affected by severe alternations of temperature. That part of North China, however, which lies between 27° and 33° N., seems on the whole to furnish the finest sorts,[168] where the mean annual temperature ranges between 61°.7 and 68°, and in which fine weather with a rise of temperature follows upon a heavy rainfall; the latter being as necessary for the speedy and luxuriant growth of the leaves, as the former is for eliciting their fragrance and other valuable qualities.
To form an idea of the enormous amount of tea which is annually cultivated in China, it suffices to remark that, after deducting the immense quantity consumed, there are more than 70,000,000 lbs. exported annually.
It is not our intention to give a disquisition upon the cultivation and preparation of the tea, the drying (poey), roasting (tschóo), perfuming and colouring of the leaves, in short, the long tedious process to which this valuable article of commerce is subjected from its collection on the fertile green slopes of the bush-covered hills of Bohea, till its arrival at the port of shipment in a form suited for exportation. We prefer here to confine our attention to a consideration of those experiments which have recently been made in China with respect to tea cultivation.
There are of the tea plant an almost endless variety of
qualities, but only two species, viz. Thea viridis (green tea), and Thea Bohea,[169] and even these two have such few points of difference, that quite lately they were described by Fortune as one and the same species. Thus, too, it has been asserted in our own day that the green and black varieties of tea sold in Europe do not, as is universally supposed, belong to two different species of tea, but that the difference of colour, shape of leaf, flavour, &c., is exclusively due to varieties in the mode of preparing them for the market, and that the manufacturer is able to make from the leaves every description, black or green, which is required in commerce. Thus in the celebrated tea district of Ning-tschan, where in former days black tea was exclusively grown, there is now procured green tea from the same species of plant, apparently because its cultivation pays better, while the quality remains in its olden repute.
The black tea, which constitutes four-fifths of the entire export to England, is grown of a particularly fine quality in the district of Kien-ning-foo in the province of Fo-kien, and is known to commerce by a variety of names, chiefly derived from the localities in which it is grown, or those of their proprietors. On the other hand, the green sort selected for
exportation is chiefly met with on the slopes of the chain of hills between Che-kiang and Ngan-hwui. Besides those descriptions actually prepared on the spot where they grow, there are also an immense variety of teas manufactured in Canton from all sorts of black and green tea. The tea-growers of Canton are reputed to colour their green teas artificially, by sprinkling them with a mixture of Prussian blue and pulverized chalk, after which they subject them to a rolling motion for a considerable time in heated copper pans.[170]
One most important element in tea cultivation is the method adopted to impart a certain bloom, an artificial fragrance, which it does not possess in the natural state. This process of "scenting," as it is called, which is practised exclusively for the foreign market, is termed by the Chinese Hwa-hiang. The flowers which are used for imparting this fragrance, and the growth of which, like the invisible fields of odoriferous herbs near Cannes, in the South of France, forms a most important branch of cultivation near Canton, are chiefly Jasminum sambac, Jasminum paniculatum, Aglaia odorata, Olea fragrans, Sardenia florida, orange-blossom, and roses. The method of "scenting" consists simply in placing a definite quantity of the flower-blossoms, varying according to the strength or feebleness of the odour, in juxtaposition with about 100 lbs. of dried tea-leaves, where they are suffered to remain from 24
to 48 hours. Thus 40 lbs. of orange-blossom, 50 lbs. of Jasmin, 100 lbs. of Aglaia odorata, are reckoned the equivalent respectively of 100 lbs. of tea-leaves. The extraordinary costliness of these fragrant blossoms[171] has caused a very general suspicion to prevail, that the leaves thus "scented" are afterwards adulterated with large quantities of the common teas. And as it is an ascertained fact that 60 lbs. of such tea can impart a similar fragrance to 100 lbs. additional by merely mixing the two together, without any apparent diminution of fragrance, it seems more than probable that similar admixtures, very possibly in a still more profitable proportion, are being silently carried on every day in the warehouses of the tea districts.
Since the suppression of the East India Company's monopoly, and the opening of the Five Ports, tea has somewhat fallen in price, but has in consequence gained in far greater ratio in respect of quantity shipped. The value of a picul of tea is at present about 18 or 20 taels (£5 12s. 6d. to £6 5s.), so that the pound costs 1s. 1d. to 1s. 2d. Notwithstanding the unexampled cheapness of hand labour (60 to 70 cash, or 2 1⁄2d. to 3d., per diem), it is not possible to procure good tea below this limit, although the various descriptions vary extraordinarily in price according to their quality and the districts they come from. The lower classes in the tea districts purchase for themselves the raw unprepared leaves just as they
are plucked, for about 1d. per pound, and as it takes about 4 lbs. of the fresh leaves to make 1 lb. of dry leaves, it may be calculated that the tea, as drunk by this class, must cost from 4d. to 5d. per lb. Moreover, it is customary to add some of the less costly descriptions, more especially in districts at some little distance where the tea plant is cultivated.
The first historical document referring to the introduction into England of tea as a beverage, is an Act of Parliament in the year 1660 (the year of the Restoration). At that period China tea cost sixty shillings the pound, which of course limited its use to a very narrow circle. At present there are 30,000,000 lbs. imported into England[172] annually, or more than one half of the entire export from the Central Empire, the consumer in London paying about 3s. per pound on the average.
Of late years attempts have been made to cultivate the tea plant at the foot of the Himalayas, in Java, and in the United States. In Hindústan, whither only a few years ago that well-known and enlightened gentleman, Mr. Robert Fortune, dispatched 24,000 plants, selected from among the finest tea districts, the experiment has already proved successful, and even remunerative. The cost of growing is about 10 1⁄2d.
per lb. for one description, which fetches 2s. per lb. in the London market. That grown in Java has hitherto been viewed with disfavour in Europe, but in a few years more it must make its way. The result of the experiments in the United States we have yet to learn. Mr. Fortune, who was intrusted by the Patent Office at Washington with superintending the introduction of the tea cultivation into the Southern States, and who in virtue of many years' scientific researches in China may be regarded as an authority upon this subject, is of opinion that the possibility of cultivating tea in the United States does not admit of a doubt, since the plant not only successfully resists frosts, but even, in a measure, benefits by them, it being a well-known fact that it flourishes better in the northern than the southern climates of China. It is questionable, however, whether its cultivation can prove remunerative in a country where labour is still so exceptionally high. Will the tea plant repay the immense cost of cultivation, and compete successfully with the product of China? The next few years will settle this question, if it be not choked by this unholy fratricidal war, which is raging within the freest and most glorious confederacy of modern times.
We enjoyed the good "fortune" while at Shanghai of becoming personally acquainted with Mr. Fortune, and of gathering these valuable particulars from the very lips of that distinguished naturalist and traveller. While reserving for consideration elsewhere the subject of various little known, but most
important, articles of export from the vast Empire of China, we cannot refrain from indulging in a few remarks upon some useful products of that country, which seem to us of more than merely commercial importance. Among these we shall notice first one of the most valuable rewards bestowed by Nature on human industry, the so-called Chinese sugar-cane (Sorghum, or Holcus saccharatus), which deserves the earnest attention of all European proprietors of land, as it grows in its native country quite in the northern districts, in fact in latitudes where the ordinary cane (Saccharum officinale) no longer flourishes; because frost and cold are much more conducive to its growth than the opposite extreme, so that it would seem to be specially adapted for cultivation in Southern Europe.
The first attempt to cultivate this cane in Europe was made, if we are rightly informed, at the Hyères islands by Count David de Beauregard, from seeds which M. de Montigny had sent home to the Geographical Society of Paris, while other attempts were made at the same time in various parts of France by the Société d' Acclimatisation. The results surpassed the most sanguine expectations. From the stem there was obtained a juice from which sugar and alcohol, syrup and brandy, can be easily made. The abundant leaves, five or six feet long, furnished a considerable quantity of cattle with most nutritive food; the seeds were used as food for poultry, and were even substituted with advantage for barley in the provender supplied to horses, so that the experiment at once
repaid its cost, while in addition to the foregoing, the flour obtained from the seeds was found to furnish a highly nutritive, wholesome article of diet for man. Dr. Adrian Sicard, to whom the agricultural world is indebted for a very exhaustive analysis of the Chinese sugar-cane, has established, by conclusive researches, that its leaves are also specially adapted for the manufacture of paper, as well as for various colours or dye stuffs. As to the remunerative value of the Sorgho, it is more than 230 per cent. more productive than beet-root, which in France produces on the average 2160 kilogrammes per hectare, while the Sorgho makes a return of 5000 kilogrammes.
The mode of cultivating this useful plant differs in no respect, as we repeatedly had occasion to observe, from that of maize or Indian corn. The season for sowing varies with the temperature of the country, between the months April and July. The seed when sown in the beginning of April will be ripe about the middle of August, or in 135 days, while that sown in mid-July will not be ripe before the end of November, or about 140 days. In France the experiment has been made of bathing the seeds in tepid water for periods varying from 24 to 48 hours before sowing, which resulted in a much more speedy bringing forward of the plant. In like manner experiments were made of sowing the seeds with and without their husk, the result of which was that the former took 15 days, and the latter only 10 days to sprout. It is recommended
to plant the seeds in furrows sufficiently separated from each other according to the conditions of soil and irrigation, so far as is possible.
The period of germination of the Sorgho is rather long, but once that period is passed, the most favourable results are sure to follow, even should the most unusual alternations of temperature ensue, provided the thermometer does not descend below 27°.5 Fahr. The Sorgho requires about five months to attain its full ripeness, when it is usually of a pale-yellow colour, streaked with red. It is occasionally subject to different maladies, some of which attack the root, others the pith. In like manner the larvæ of certain noxious insects have been remarked on occasional specimens. But the origin of all these drawbacks has been as yet far too little inquired into, and they are of too rare occurrence to permit of any definite information respecting them being as yet available.
On the whole, the cultivation of the Sorgho may be regarded as eminently successful in the South of France, as well as in Pennsylvania, U. S. (which has a much severer climate than Venetia, Dalmatia, or the lower course of the Danube). Very probably we may also succeed in naturalizing the Sorgho in suitable parts of Austria, and introducing there the cultivation on a commensurate scale[173] of a plant,
which bids fair not merely to prove far more profitable in cultivation than any other member of the vegetable kingdom in any part of the earth, but at the same time seems destined at no distant period to be the means of supplying the civilized world with one of its most vitally necessary articles of food, by means of free white labour, without the assistance of slavery![174]
Another plant, which it seems likely might be advantageously introduced into the southern districts of Europe, is
the Mo-chok, one of the most graceful kinds of bamboo found in the forests of China, which grows in greatest luxuriance on the limestone slopes of the province of Tschi-Kiang, in a climate ranging between 90°.5 in summer, and 20°.3 (Fahr.) in winter. The erect, smooth, elegant stem shoots up to a height of from 60 to 80 feet. The lower part of the tree is usually free from branches, which usually begin to spring from the trunk about 20 feet from the ground, and are very delicately leaved. These and two other species, the Long-sin-chok and the Hu-chok, are used in the manufacture of sieves, baskets, furniture, &c., while the tender shoots form a most nutritious and delicately flavoured vegetable. The stem of the plant is moreover available for the manufacture of paper.[175]
Writing paper is manufactured from it as well as packing paper, and one very coarse quality is mingled with the mortar by the Chinese masons. Mr. Fortune has introduced the Mo-chok into China, where, especially in the north-west provinces, it promises to come on well upon the slopes of the Himalaya.
Of the other plants which grow in China, which are not indeed suited for transplanting to a colder climate, yet merit
attention on account of their produce, we shall briefly notice the varnish tree, the tallow tree, and the wax shrub.
The varnish tree (Vernix vernicia), a sort of sumach, which grows in greatest luxuriance in the provinces of Kiang-si, Chi-kiang, and Szechuen, furnishes that varnish which, partly in a semi-fluid, partly in a dry state, comes to market in whitish cakes, and is worth, according to quality and demand, from 40 to 100 dollars per picul of 133 lbs. In the preparation of this lacquer, the reputation of which has extended over the globe, 6 2⁄3 lbs. varnish, 13 1⁄2 lbs. water, 41 2⁄3 lbs. nut-oil, 16 2⁄3 lbs. of pigs' gall, and 33 1⁄3 lbs. of vinegar, are mixed together till the whole assumes the consistence and appearance of a shining black paste. The fact that many Chinese lacquered wares, especially those prepared in Foo-chow, vie with the renowned manufactures of Japan in beauty and lustre, leaves room to suspect that the Chinese workmen have received some instruction from their Japanese fellow-craftsmen.
Vegetable tallow (Schulah, or Schu-káu, tree fat) is obtained from the Stillingia sebifera, the so-called tallow tree, and, judging by the experiments made with it, promises under an extended system of cultivation to become a tolerably profitable article of export. The tallow tree flourishes throughout the southern provinces, but is chiefly found in the island of Chusan and the coasts adjacent. The tallowy substance procured from the seeds, which externally resemble nuts, is sold in cakes of from 90 to 130 lbs. at from 7 to 12 dollars.
Vegetable or tree wax (peh-lah) is a waxy substance, which the coccus pela or flata limitata deposits, apparently as a protection to its eggs, on a sort of ash tree, on whose twigs and boughs it is deposited like snow-flakes. It is gathered after the first frost, and purified by melting it in a cloth held over hot water. Apparently the process is varied by dipping what has been collected in a silken sack into hot water. It melts at 81° Fahr., and in consequence of its unusual stiffness is much used for admixture with bees-wax and other descriptions of fats used in the manufacture of tapers. The candles hitherto made in England of this substance have commanded a large sale, and only the circumstance that as yet but a small quantity has found its way into commerce, prevents its being much more extensively cultivated. The price of Peh-lah is rather high, as it fetches about £11 10s. per 133 lbs.
Passing from the various natural products furnished for export by China to a consideration of those articles[176] of European industry, for which the Chinese market supplies an ample demand, we find that their number is considerable, while they represent a value of upwards of £5,000,000. In these pages, however, we propose to notice only that article which is the most profitable, and undoubtedly forms the chief staple of import in all the harbours opened to foreign commerce, viz. opium. Opium (á-pièn), the solidified sap of
Papaver somniferum, was, as every one knows, up to quite a recent period, a monopoly of the Anglo-Indian Government, by whom it was cultivated under the superintendence of agents in the various provinces of Hindostan, and sold to the trade by public auction in large quantities at a time in the markets of Calcutta and Bombay. It seems to fulfil among the Chinese the function of the various spirituous liquors of Europe; at least every attempt to introduce among the Chinese a taste for ale, whisky, sherry, port, champagne, and claret, has hitherto entirely failed. Indeed there is probably no country of the globe where, in proportion to population, there is so little spirituous liquor introduced as into China, what is imported being almost exclusively for the consumption of foreigners. The Chinese is emphatically a born "tea-totaller," or friend of abstemiousness, for the native drinks, substitutes for wine, which are obtained chiefly from rice and millet, are only used on special occasions, and then only in small quantities. During our entire stay in Chinese waters, we never saw one single Chinese drunk, and heard in every quarter that any such cases are rare and quite exceptional. On the other hand, the consumption of opium is continually increasing, and the quantity of solidified poppy-juice annually imported amounts to from 75,000 to 80,000 chests, which at current rates represent a value of from £7,500,000 to £10,000,000. There are four descriptions of opium that come to the Chinese market, viz. Benares (Ku-ni), Patna (Kung-ni), Malwa (Peh-pi), and Turkish (Kiu-ni
or golden dung). Of these the Patna and Benares are reckoned of finer quality, and consequently are more sought after, than that imported from Malwa, but both descriptions are preferred by the Chinese to the Turkish, and even to that produced at home.[177]
The custom of opium-smoking is of comparatively modern introduction among the Chinese. It was about the commencement of the 18th century,[178] that the practice of mingling opium with tobacco as an antidote against toothache, headache, and pains in the body first began to prevail. Chinese sailors and merchantmen, returning from the islands of the Bornese Archipelago, had learned from the natives to inhale it as an anæsthetic, which, depriving them of all activity, brought the most delightful visions before their eyes. It is unquestionably the prohibition of wine to the believers in the Koran which first directed their attention to this narcotic substance, which the Western Asiatics swallow in pills, the Hindoos chew, and the Chinese smoke. In 1750, there were imported into China from Turkey, Persia, and Bengal, chiefly by Portuguese merchants, some 200 to 250 chests according to official return (of 140 lbs. each), ostensibly for medical use.
Nothing could be more welcome to the entire Empire than a means of passing the intervals of relaxation from the hurry of business, in a state of absolute exemption from all anxiety, rocked in the most delightful slumbers! In 1773 the East India Company sent a small portion of opium to China by way of speculation. Seven years later they founded an Opium Dépôt in Larke's Bay. In 1781 the Company sent 2800 chests (of 140 lbs. each) at one single shipment to Canton, where it was purchased by a "Hong," or Association,[179] for trading purposes. The Company found itself compelled, however, to re-export a quantity, as at that period there was not in China a sufficient demand for such a supply. The first regular shipments began in 1798, when 4170 chests were sent to the account of the Association in China, and then sold at Rs. 415 (about £41 10s.) per chest.[180] Since that period the import and consumption have been steadily increasing at a geometric ratio, and a table now before
us, drawn up with great labour and industry by Dr. Medhurst, informs us that between 1798 and 1855 there were imported altogether 1,197,041 chests of opium from Bengal, which, after deducting all expenses of cultivation and shipment, represented a net gain to the East India Company of £67,851,853.[181]
Relying on the splendid profits secured to the East India Company, and its colleagues settled in China, by the opium traffic, no one troubled himself in the slightest with the many protests of the Chinese Government, any more than the anathemas launched at opium dealers and opium-smokers by English missionaries and philanthropists. The dealers, growing richer day by day, contented themselves with laconic replies to the more virulent of their antagonists, to the effect that they were but supplying a want originating in a national custom, and that it was as futile to attempt to prevent the Chinese from smoking as to restrain Europeans from the use of spirituous liquors. Both when abused are productive of much evil, and even then opium was productive of far less destructive ravages on the human organism, and was never followed by such appalling catastrophes as those resulting from alcohol. The dark side of the opium traffic has since been so fully exposed, that but little more remains to be said, and although even the most sanguine persons
have ceased to hope that the trade can ever be entirely suppressed, yet it is at least consolatory to know that, according to the best calculations, the number of opium smokers throughout China, in a population that is to say of 420,000,000, is not above 4,000,000 to 5,000,000, and that an ordinary smoker does not on an average consume more than one mace or about one drachm[182] of opium, worth about 90 cash, or 3 1⁄2d. The provisions of the new tariff, by which opium may be imported unrestrictedly on payment of a fixed duty of 30 taels (about £10) per chest when water-borne, and 20 taels (about £6 10s.) when imported by land, must materially effect the opium trade as hitherto carried on, and may very possibly alter the views at present entertained by the Chinese Government with reference to this important article of commerce, in proportion as its treasury begins to be replenished by such a high rate of duty.
Although for European readers the chief interest of China is to be found in its relations with foreign countries, we yet cannot take leave of it without a few remarks on the momentous political movement which has been on foot since 1849 in several provinces of China, and claims, in consequence of its peculiar religious nature, universal interest.
Hung-sin-Tsuen, the originator and head of this rebellion,
was born in 1813, in a village near Canton, and while yet in his early youth was, in consequence of his precocity, removed from tending his father's flocks to be a scholar in the village, where he pursued his studies with such zeal, that a year later he took several degrees as a teacher. On one of his visits to Canton, he made the acquaintance of a Protestant missionary, with whom he long corresponded, and from whom he received a variety of tracts translated into Chinese, and books, by way of presents. In the course of a serious illness with which he was assailed about this period, he had numerous visions, and is said in his delirium to have insisted on being hailed Emperor of China. Gradually Hung and his friend and zealous adherent Fung-Yun-San became, through erroneous or wilful misinterpretation of the works of various missionary societies, the founders of a new creed, a sort of free, semi-Christian sect, which, as it could not long subsist without coming into collision with the reigning Government, very speedily assumed a political character. It is an indubitable fact that at first the religious movement was supported by the Protestant missionaries, and the views of its founders forwarded by every means in their power, with the object of using it to prepare the soil for the promulgation of Christianity. When about entering his forty-first year, Hung formed an alliance with American missionaries stationed at Canton, studied their books, after which he returned to the province of Kuang-si, where he published writings descriptive of the alleged manifestations of the Deity, gave
himself forth as a poet,[183] and at the same time issued proclamations under the designation of the "Heavenly King." The severity with which the regular Government treated the insurgents, and all who consorted with them, only served to augment their ranks, to which the mysticism of their doctrine contributed in no small degree; for the credulous masses have in all lands the same love of the marvellous and unintelligible. Such a result only increased the courage, the energy, the arrogance of Hung. He no longer was content to announce himself as "the mouth through which God the Father, and Jesus the Elder Brother, declared their will;" he now proclaimed boldly the intention of himself and his followers to overthrow the unworthy Mantchoo dynasty, and raise to the throne a new native dynasty, that of the Tai-ping, or universal peace. Although stigmatized by the official Pekin Gazette as "local banditti," they were nevertheless strong enough in March, 1852, to storm even such a
populous city as Nankin, where they set up a provisional government, and have since fortified it as their head-quarters. At the time the Tai-ping rebellion first broke out, Yeh, the then Governor of Canton, thought he would readily be able to suppress it by the summary process of chopping off the heads of all who were supposed to be in correspondence with them, and thus had as many as 800 executed daily.[184] It was no longer quite safe for a native to show himself in the streets of Canton, unless provided with a paper of identification. For this purpose, four-cornered pieces of a sort of white cotton fabric were worn, on which was printed a sign in red. These cotton strips served as countersigns for those friendly to the reigning dynasty, and were worn concealed from view, but so as to admit of being at once shown in case of need. Dr. Pfitzmaier, who has examined this sign, is of opinion that it is simply a union of the three signs
which, so far as the two last are concerned, seem to have been compressed together and abbreviated, so that only the initiated could understand its significance. The learned sinologue is of opinion that this hieroglyphic, signifying "to offer hand and heart," or "to offer the original (own) heart," has nevertheless no meaning apart from the centre figure, which, however, is unusually distorted, so that
Kia-hoei, "to yield grace and benevolence," or may be applicable to him who wears it, "one who enjoys the all-embracing Imperial clemency."
The religious direction of the Tai-ping movement, coupled with its apparent Christian tendencies, its results, and, above all, the last hostile proclamation of the Pekin Government against foreigners, roused the sympathies of both Europeans and Americans in favour of the insurgents; and in the English papers of Hong-kong and Shanghai, the policy was vigorously and repeatedly advocated of turning the insurrection to their own advantage; while in a religious point of view it was recommended to avail themselves of the favour shown to the Scriptures by the Christian sect of the Tai-ping, which was also so amicably disposed to foreigners, who at all events were more likely to prove a bulwark and support to English Protestantism than the deceitful, promise-breaking, idol-worshipping Mantchoos. Letters and communications, which from time to time were published on the visit of Protestant missionaries in the insurgent camp, were apt to propound the most favourable ideas about the insurgents and their strivings after religious truth, and to attach to their victories and successes the most glorious hopes with respect to the spreading of Christianity in China. Fortunately the English Government did not suffer its policy to be affected thereby, but continued to observe the strictest neutrality. Only in those cases where, owing to the advance of the
rebels, the interests of British subjects or of universal commerce seemed to be endangered, communications were held with the "Heavenly King" or his ministers, or to protest against the injury and limitation of trade with the earnestness and depth of impression which Armstrong guns are apt to impart to diplomatic dispatches. Thus the insurgents were prohibited from approaching within 10 Li of the city of Hang-kow, by this measure protecting not alone their own property, but the entire city from pillage and destruction. During the last war the interests of the insurgents were kept entirely in the background, and during the stay of the Novara at Shanghai, which had likewise been repeatedly threatened by the insurgents, we could gain but little enlightenment as to the nature and direction of the movement.
However, since the Treaty of Pekin has thrown open the navigation of the most important rivers, and thus facilitated communication with the interior, there has been a better opportunity than hitherto for intercourse with the Tai-ping, as also for obtaining a clearer insight into its present condition, as well as the object and inevitable consequences of their tenets. People are beginning to consider it more calmly, and even the missionaries seem gradually abandoning the expectations they had formed, of finding in it a means of helping the cause of Christianity, albeit a former missionary, Rev. J. C. Roberts, who in 1847 had spent
several months with Hung, is at the present moment a sort of minister of foreign affairs in the insurgents' camp at Nankin. The latest information respecting the Tai-ping enters so fully into the character of the whole movement, and so clearly develops its tendency, that no apology is needed for laying before the readers of every class a brief sketch of the more important and significant dogmas.
The Tai-ping translations of the Old and New Testament, though in the whole tolerably correct, yet are in certain parts so imperfect that they implanted the most erroneous ideas in the head of the "Celestial King." He conceived his own visions and revelations as far more important, and of far higher authority, than those of Holy Writ. His mission, as he himself states it, is to be followed by a new revelation, accompanied by numerous miracles, and a third book will be given to the world, which is to supersede the Old and New Testaments, and be called the "True Testament." According to Hung, both God and Christ have appeared in the human form. Christ is not equal to the Father, that is solely God; he is also brought into connection with other redeemers, and has a wife and children in heaven.
The Celestial King and his son form with God and Christ a Quaternity in Unity. The corporeal presence of the Celestial King is that of the Godhead, and in the distempered imagination of the Tai-ping the government now existing in Nankin is assuredly that of heaven itself!
The Tai-ping suffer no one to preach against their creed, because that would be to diminish the authority of their chief, and damp the ardour of their hopes. In their various proclamations it is expressly declared that Hung-sin-Tsuen is the brother of the Saviour, the Son of God, without any other distinction than such as must exist between an elder and a younger brother. They maintain that there is a celestial mother as well as Father, a heavenly sister as well as a heavenly Brother, and that the recently defunct King of the West, Fung-yun-san, one of Hung's oldest adherents, is now married to the heavenly sister. They hold to the opinion that not one of such of their revelations as clash with the Old and New Testaments, can be decided by such ancient books of religion. Their revelations being the newest, are on that account the most entitled to belief.
In a letter of greeting addressed by Hung to Roberts[185] the
missionary, on the occasion of the arrival of the latter at Nankin, in October, 1860, Hung narrates his heavenly
journey in 1837, the repeated miraculous interference of the Father and the Son in his favour, as also the revelations made to the Eastern King. He professes to have seen the Father and Christ, the heavenly mother and the heavenly sister. He is himself "the Way, the Truth, and the Life," just as Christ is. He warns Roberts repeatedly, that implicit belief in this is of the highest importance, as otherwise he can neither be useful in this world nor blest in the next. After such an exposition, Christian missionaries will scarcely be suffered in the insurgent's camp if they dare to preach against such errors, not to say blasphemies.
There are but few religious ceremonies. The Tai-ping,
indeed, call one day of the week the day of prayer, and it happens more through oversight than intention to be fixed upon the Saturday, but so far as external sanctity goes there seems to be no special attention paid to it. They buy, and sell, and delve just as on other days. On the previous night about ten o'clock two or three cannon-shot are fired to announce the approach of the hour of prayer, and that the day of worship is at hand. Every family is engaged for an hour in devotion and praise. All strangers who have been in communication with the Tai-ping in Nankin state that, even in the capital where he has been resident for seven years past, that dignitary does not observe the Sabbath in any way, either by preaching, prayer, or expounding of the Scripture; there are no exhortations or pious admonitions; they have neither church nor temple; their sole divine service consists in each one reciting in his own house English hymns, and repeating a few prayers, while divers offerings are made, such as tea, rice, and the flesh of slain animals. They offer their prayers kneeling, after which they close the proceedings by singing a hymn standing. An English missionary, who arrived at Nankin with the conviction that the insurgents were genuine sincere Christians, made, after a short stay, the following severe but just remark concerning them: "I found to my regret no trace of Christianity, but a system of the grossest idolatry substituted for it, and arrogating its name. Their notion of God is so distorted,
that it is, if possible, still more erroneous than that entertained of the Supreme Being by other idol-worshipping Chinese. Their conception of the Redeemer, to whom they pay equal honours, is crude, and thoroughly material. Their prayers, far from giving the impression of a true reverence of God, have much more the appearance of an idolatrous mockery of sacred things!"
An English merchant, who accompanied Sir Hope Grant on his reconnoitring excursion up the Yang-tse-Kiang, and spent a week in what used to be called Nankin, now the celestial capital of the Tai-ping, gives the following characteristic sketch of them: "The insurgents take no interest in and do not encourage trade, except in muskets and ammunition. To our representations how unwise it was to lay waste towns and villages, and shut out commerce, they promised, after peace was concluded, to erect schools and other similar institutions, and professed their willingness to promote trade, but 'for the present,' they went on, 'we must, before anything else, make the hills and the rivers subject to our power.' On the whole I found the condition of the rebels far better than I had expected. They are comfortably clothed and well fed. The population of Nankin consists exclusively of officials. No one not connected with the administration of the army is admitted within the gates of the city. The majority of the inhabitants, who number about 20,000, are prisoners and slaves from every part of the empire. Although employed
in most arduous work, they get no pay, but are simply clothed and fed. I remarked an extraordinary number of beautiful young women in elegant silken stuffs from Sutschan. There were also prisoners of war from Sutschan and other places, who, however, were by no means inclined to lead a very Christian and moral life in the celestial capital. The city of Nankin, as well as its suburb, the beautiful ancient cemetery of the Ning dynasty, and the far-famed porcelain Pagoda, are all utterly destroyed; instead of the broad well-paved streets of former times the stranger has now to pick his steps through heaps of bricks and rubbish. The palaces of the kings of the Tai-ping dynasty are glaringly conspicuous among all these ruins. They must have been entirely rebuilt, for the old Yamuns and temples, like the whole of the Táu-Tái City, have been demolished utterly.
"The rebel chief inhabits a large palace. His household consists of 300 female attendants. He also, in virtue of his rank, has 68 wives supported for him. No one but the kings (of whom there are 11 or 12, but only two are resident in Nankin) is permitted to approach his sacred person. Probably Hung is little more than a mere puppet in the hands of his ministers. It is he who mainly keeps the rebellion on foot. Discipline is far better maintained among the long-haired insurgents than the imperial troops, and many of the younger soldiers have pleasing manners.
"The kings or Wangs, on the other hand, seem exceedingly
lazy and vicious, and when they make their appearance, with a theatrical attempt at assuming a dignified deportment, clad in the yellow costume of a mountebank, and with a tinsel crown upon their heads, they present a most ludicrous aspect. Not one of these so-called kings understands the Mandarin dialect, so widely diffused among the educated classes;—not one, except Hung himself and Kan-wang, has a better education than one of his coolies.[186] They have linguists at their elbow, who do their reading and writing for them.
"The arms of the Tai-ping are very wretched, and the bare fact that they are able to make head against the Imperial troops, speak volumes for the utter helplessness and incapacity of the Imperial Government. I have not the slightest expectation that any advantage will accrue to civilization or Christianity from the religio-political movement of the Tai-ping. No Chinese will have anything to do with them. Their whole activity consists in burning, murdering, and devastating. They are universally detested by the people; even those inhabitants of the city who do not belong to the 'Brotherhood' detest them. For eight years their head-quarters have been at Nankin, which they destroyed, nor have they as yet made the slightest attempt to rebuild it. Trade and industry are forbidden. Their taxes are three times higher than those of the regular Government. They take no measures to staunch the wounds which they have
inflicted on the people, nor do they occupy it as though they had any permanent interest in the land. They take no pains to tap those slow but sure springs of revenue, or to increase the resources of the state. They lay themselves out to maintain themselves by plunder. Nothing in their organization gives hope for any amelioration of the present or consolidation of power in the future; there is nothing in the entire history of the Tai-ping to enlist sympathy or compel confidence in a movement which, under the mask of religious reform, conceals the most hateful self-interest and terrorism, and under the pretext of spreading peace amongst men, brandishes the scourge of destruction and desolation among the provinces through which it has passed."[187]
On the 11th of August the Novara quitted her anchorage off Shanghai, and with the steam-tug Meteor[188] fastened to her side availed herself of a spring-tide to make her way into the Yang-tse-Kiang. Off Wusung we awaited the arrival of the post,
after receiving which we were on 14th August towed as far as Gutzlaff's Island. Here we had once more to lay to, owing to calms and currents, till at last on the 15th August a fresh breeze sprang up from the S.E., and enabled us to make an offing.
The temperature had materially altered during the last few days. After a cycle of oppressive heat the weather had suddenly changed to severe squalls, with a marked fall in the barometric column. The thermometer, which while we were lying off Shanghai marked from 86° to 93°.2 Fahr., now indicated in the morning only 68° Fahr., and during the day never rose above 77° Fahr. The number of fever cases, which had reached the number of seventy, began gradually to fall off. Several cases of dysentery forthwith began to show symptoms of amendment.
Considering the latitude we were in, and the season of the year, the barometer stood unusually high (30°.100), and although this might be attributable to the constant prevalence of easterly winds, we nevertheless knew we were approaching the period when the monsoon changes, and little reliance was to be placed on the steadiness of that from the S.E. Accordingly on the 17th the wind shifted round to N.E. by E., while our course was due S.E. This however rendered it necessary to tack, if we wished to pass to the northward of the Loo-Choo group, whereas we could run free and with a fair wind through the southern channel. The sun set behind a bank of dense clouds on the horizon. The western sky was tinged a deep red, and the stars shone out with uncommon brilliancy,
but with a sort of trembling ray. The barometer fell slowly but steadily; the sea began to heave perceptibly. Our course was now changed to S.E. by S.
The following morning the breeze freshened, and drew somewhat further aft; the sky was covered with clouds massed together, those to the N.E. of a very dark, almost black, colour. Wind and sea were now rising, the sky became more and more obscure, the barometer kept falling—there was every indication of the approach of heavy weather.
The 18th August, the birthday of our Emperor, was duly celebrated far on the open ocean, in the middle of the China Sea. All was prepared for Divine worship, which was to be celebrated at 10 A.M. on the gun-deck, in presence of the staff and the entire crew. The Commodore had invited several gentlemen of the staff to dinner. On land no one thinks of consulting the elements, when such a festival is to be observed, nor do the guests waste many thoughts on wind, rain, and heavy seas, as they assemble in their comfortable chambers. At sea, on the other hand, the conditions are altered. Wind and weather are the masters here, whose behests the sea-farer must attend to. This was our case on this 18th of August.
First, Divine service had to be dispensed with, because the sea became too heavy, rendering it necessary to close the port-holes in the gun-deck, where, as already mentioned, the service was to be performed. As the hour for the festival drew nigh, the elements gave unmistakeable evidence of their determined hostility; there was no room any longer to
doubt that we were about to do battle with a regular Typhoon.[189] This species of storm, which is very customary at the change of the monsoons in August, September, and October, when the N.E. trade suddenly veers round and becomes the S.W. monsoon, is, like the tornado of the West Indies, the Pampero of the eastern coast of South America, and the hurricane of the Mauritius, a whirlwind of the most colossal proportions and most tremendous fury, by which the atmosphere is swept in a circle at an astonishing velocity around a central point more or less calm, which does not, however, remain stationary, but is continually progressing, and hence they are usually termed cyclones, or circular storms, to distinguish them from those other storms in which the wind moves in a straight line. It has been reserved for scientific investigation to explain the extraordinary regularity of the laws in obedience to which the masses of air, in the case of such storms occurring in the Southern hemisphere, move in the direction of the hands of a clock, whereas in the Northern hemisphere they are rotated in an opposite direction. In like manner, the direction of the centre round which the cyclone is raging has been definitely ascertained, so that, provided with these data, it is not merely possible for the navigator to hold aloof
from the dangerous central point of these circular storms, where the best and stoutest ship that ever floated must almost to a certainty be swallowed up, but even to avail himself of the wind to reach the edge of the cyclone (the breadth of whose path is from 300 to 1000 miles), and thus make a rapid and prosperous passage. By mid-day the wind had increased to such an extent that we had to take in most of our sails, and reef the rest. The sea now rose, and many of its waves came thundering upon our decks. The vessel was tossed to and fro with such violence that everything which had not been made fast, or was attached to the vessel, began to lurch from side to side. Nevertheless, the invited guests sat down to table, made the seats and the table fast, and, such at least whom the violent rocking did not make sea-sick, partook of a pleasant and joyous meal. But even these precautions did not prevent numerous unpleasant accidents. One tremendous lurch of the ship, which took us unawares, suddenly set adrift a number of our mess, who rolled over and over each other upon that unstable floor, amid a hideous chaos of tumblers, bottles, plates, and crockery. Chairs and fauteuils had their legs broken, everything breakable went into irretrievable smash, the convives escaping serious injury only by a marvel. Once more they took their seats at table, where only the bare cloth gave promise of security, and endeavoured to anchor themselves more firmly. When, at the conclusion of the meal, our Commodore gave the usual toast, and his guests
emptied their glasses to the health of the reigning monarch, the band attempted to strike up the National Anthem, and a hearty cheer resounded above the groaning of the ship, the howling of the wind, and the sullen roar of the ever-increasing waves, as they lashed against the ship's sides.
The sun went down behind clouds, as we went careering along under close-reefed main sail and storm stay-sail over a confused sea, running mountains high, and with huge heavy grey masses of cloud and mist close overhead; the barometer was still falling, and as night closed in the wind sung mournfully, yet with almost deafening noise, through the masts and rigging. The wind now shifted and sprung up from N.E. by N., which being an additional sign that the centre of the cyclone was receding, we felt assured that we were on the right side to keep clear of it. By midnight the wind came still further round, till it stood steadily at N.E., when it acquired fresh strength, and blew a most violent hurricane. The centre of the cyclone had once more altered its course, and begun to move in our direction.
Our position at noon (27° 25′ N. and 125° 23′ E.) was the most unfavourable possible. We had a N.E. wind, and were in the N.E. section of the typhoon, whose centre, as is customary in these storms, was moving in a N.W. or W. direction, and therefore threatened the more readily to overtake us, that our course lay S.E. through the wide channel, which leads from the Chinese Sea into the open ocean
between the Loo-Choo Islands and the Meiaco-sima group. There was now no other egress possible than by steering W. by S. to get away from the advancing centre of the whirlwind, on which course we would have to steer for the N. extremity of the Island of Formosa.
The night of 18th and 19th of August was, in the fullest sense of the word, a night of storms. Towards midnight we once more set double-reefed foresail in order to lie our course of west by south. Had we calculated aright the course of the centre of the cyclone, the wind as we advanced should have drawn ahead, as we were now keeping it on our larboard beam.
Daybreak of the 19th found us beneath a gloomy, angry-looking, cloudy grey canopy on every side, the clouds hanging quite low, till they seemed to brood upon the surface of the sea, now lashed into fury by the violence of the storm. The look-out could scarcely see a cable's length clear of the ship. Deluges of rain, lashes of spray, driven on board by the tremendous violence of the wind, enveloped us in a strange, half-mysterious obscurity. Towards the N.E. a compact bank of bluish grey clouds indicated the centre of the cyclone. The motion of the ship was so violent that one of her quarter-boats got filled with water, which at every lurch was washed upon the frigate's quarter-deck like a small cascade. Sometimes they became so full that they threatened to wrench the davits from their fastenings. The gun-deck was afloat with spray lashed on board with each pitch of the
ship, while the foam flew high up upon the mast. The waves crossed each other in every direction, huge conical masses rising suddenly to a height of 25 or 30 feet, as far as one might guess, and then as suddenly subsiding. It was the genuine pyramidal sea of the true cyclone, of which vessels caught in these furious circular storms are even more apprehensive than the fury and strength of the hurricane.
The wind, which now began to draw to the westward, indicated that thus far we had shaped a proper course, and that the course of the cyclone lay towards the N.W. Under these circumstances it was deemed most prudent to make the Marianne Islands, and to avail ourselves even of the hurricane in order to perform a rapid voyage. We accordingly now laid our course to steer S.E. by S., through the centre of the channel south of the Loo-Choo Islands. Considering the width, 120 nautical miles, of this channel, there was reason to hope that, despite the errors in reckoning which were to be expected amid so many manœuvres, and considering the impossibility of getting astronomical observations, and the influence of the sort of currents which those hurricanes usually set in motion for a short period, we might make our way through it in safety.
The wind remained steadily in the N.W., and at first was on our port quarter. Towards noon, however, it came round to N.W. by W., so that we were now running dead before it. We now set double-reefed foresail so as to make quicker progress. Towards 6 P.M. the hurricane woke up to its full
strength; squall followed squall, the universal covering of cloud in which the heavens seemed wrapped looked as though it reached to the very waters, and the air was quite filled with spray, till when standing at the ship's stern it was barely possible to distinguish the forecastle. The storm, sweeping along above the seething water, had a singular piercing, almost metallic, note, quite unlike the singing and whistling made among the sails and cordage. Staggering along under close-reefed fore and main sail, and double-reefed top-sail, the frigate pressed on through the thick night, going 14 miles an hour, through the strait between Loo-Choo and Meiaco-sima, out of the China Sea into the Pacific Ocean, whither she was being hurried along with such impetuous, irresistible violence by the wind, that not even the most experienced seaman could make head against it, but had, when passing from one part of the ship to the other, to warp himself along by means of a rope made fast fore and aft.[190] At 4 P.M. the barometer stood at its lowest (29°.302, the temperature at the same period being 66°.02 Fahr.), where it remained without sensible alteration for several hours. At last, towards 9 P.M., it began slowly to rise, the surest indication, and therefore most welcome one, that we were increasing our distance from the
central point of the storm. About 11 P.M. the clouds suddenly lifted on S.S.E., the horizon began to widen; there was no longer a doubt that the worst was over.
At dawn on the 20th the masts and cordage showed a thick incrustation of salt, thus giving unmistakable evidence of the great height to which the spray had been driven. The wind was now W.S.W., and the barometer had risen to 29°.5, so that we had now merely an ordinary gale to deal with, and might look upon the cyclone as expended. Science had indicated the method of evading the centre of the circular storm, and even of making the very hurricane subservient to our ends in driving us along our destined course!
At 8 A.M. the sun began to be visible by fits and starts, long enough, however, to permit us to make an occasional observation. According to this we were only one mile out of our position by dead-reckoning. During the 24 hours, inclusive of the period during which we lay to, we had run 218 miles in a general direction of S.E. by E. During the afternoon the sky cleared. The sea was still high, but the atmosphere gradually became clearer and more transparent, till by sundown even the large banks of clouds on the N.E. which continued to mark the centre of the cyclone had entirely disappeared. The Novara during this tremendous storm had proved herself a thorough sea-boat, nor was there any particular damage noticeable on the occasion of the careful inspection to which her sails, masts, and rigging were subjected, immediately that the weather became more favourable.
Her masts and sails, which in such a warfare of the elements she might so readily have had carried away, were all found to be uninjured, and only a few plates of her copper sheeting had been loosened by the fury of the waves, while those still clinging to the ship had been rolled up like so much paper, by the tremendous pitching of the good ship. The quarter gallery too, which when the frigate was running before the wind was exposed to considerable danger, had sustained but little damage. Such unfortunately was not the case with a small menagerie of rare birds and monkeys, which had been placed in cages carefully covered with linen in this, ordinarily the most sheltered, part of the vessel. The covering had been torn away by the hurricane, and the wind had so tossed the poor things about, that all their feathers were knocked off, and they presented a most pitiable appearance. The quadrupeds too, whose cries and lowings during the storm had already testified to their misery, were found to have suffered severely. Two oxen and several sheep died on the 19th. All the surviving animals lost flesh terribly during 48 hours, while those that had been the wildest and most untameable were now quite tame and docile.
An analysis of the phenomena observed during the continuation of the cyclone, shows that on the 18th it formed its vortex, being then about opposite the rather lofty and tolerable-sized island of Dkinawasmia of the Loo-Choo group, which must have occasioned an alteration in the direction of the wind. Owing in part to the influence of the N.E.
trade, which enters the northern part of the China Sea, and at this season is gradually veering round till it completely displaces the S.W. monsoon, as also during the S.W. monsoon itself, which blows from Formosa on the south, there appears to exist to the northward of the latter-named island, favoured probably by its natural configuration and physical features, a well-defined space within which the barometer is always depressed, and in which the atmosphere in immediate contact with these N.E. and S.W. winds is compelled to assume a sort of whirling motion, like that of the hands of a clock, thus forming the germ as it were of a cyclone.
So long as the S.W. wind was blowing strongly, the centre of the cyclone moved in an easterly direction, or in other words, in the direction of least resistance. But arrested in its advance by the various island groups, as also by the gradually increasing pressure of the S.E. and E. winds, the cyclone must, in consequence of the obstacles opposed to its path, have swung round with a sort of whirl, which once more impressed upon it a N.W. direction to the coasts of China, there to expend itself, apparently in consequence of the ever-increasing pressure of the surrounding atmosphere. During forty-eight hours, namely from 6 P.M. of the 18th to the same hour on the 20th, we were within the range of the typhoon itself, and on the 19th were at the nearest point to its vortex; nevertheless, judging by our lowest barometrical reading, we must have been at least 100 miles distant from the centre. It was the first typhoon that visited Chinese waters in 1858, and had
been predicted weeks before in the "North China Herald," while the Thousand Years Almanac of the Chinese calendar assigned its date for the 10th of August.
Our course was now shaped for the Marianne Archipelago. For several days after the typhoon, the weather remained unsettled, and the swell was both heavy and broken, when on 26th August we came in sight of the island of Guam or Guaham, the most southerly of the Marianne group. In twelve days we had run 1860 miles, with the aid of the typhoon it is true, but there was the fact, the distance had been accomplished, and as to the How? Jack gives himself little concern, so long as he reaches his goal swiftly and in safety.
On the morning of the 27th we stood into the Bay of Umáta, although it was very doubtful whether we should find a secure anchorage here, considering the S.W. wind that was blowing full into the roadstead, which is quite un-sheltered in that point of the compass. In fact, as we came nearer the land, we speedily became aware of the impracticability of anchoring here even in the best weather; while, on the other hand, it did not seem very advisable, owing to the difficulty of getting in, to make for the excellent harbour of San Louis de Apra, it being by no means easy, during the prevalence of the S.W. monsoons, for a large ship to beat out, so that they are occasionally detained there for several weeks. The order was accordingly given to luff up, so as to make tacks against the freshening west wind, out of this bay, studded as it is with numerous coral reefs. This proved
to be a work of much time and trouble, ere we succeeded, after many hours of anxious care, in weathering the reef.
The island of Guam, with its lofty green mountain-ridges, numberless valleys, and thickly-wooded glades, had a cheerful and friendly aspect, but seems but little cultivated. At Umáta, where we perceived a few houses, the Spanish flag was waving from a small fort adjoining the settlement, which had been hoisted on the approach of the frigate.
On 30th August, in 149° 53′ E., we reached the eastern limit of the S.W. monsoon, and—although not more than four days' sail from the object of our next visit, the island of Puynipet, had we met with favourable winds to waft us a little further—it was 15th September ere we came in sight of that lovely island, for, stormy and boisterous as the beginning of this section of our cruise had proved, not less annoying were the fickle calms, which kept us lying for weeks motionless, our sails idly flapping with the roll of the ship. It is a wretched depressing state of inactivity and discomfort, of which only those can form an idea who have been caught in a calm on the open ocean, on board of a sailing ship,—
"Wenn Welle ruht und jedes Luftgeflüster;
Wenn Meer und Himmel schweigend sich umschlingen,
Und fromm, fast wie zwei betende Geschwister."
Which may be freely translated as follows:
"When ocean smooths his wrinkled face,
And sea and sky in pray'rful silence bend,
As when, in mutual fond embrace,
Two loving sisters' vows on high ascend!"
The original is by Nicolas Lenau.