CHAPTER XIX.
Hong Kong and Canton—Stone-polishing Establishments at Canton— Political Relations in an English Colony—Treatment of the Natives— Voyage to Labuan—Coal Mines there—Excursion to the shore of Borneo—Malay Villages—Singapore—Voyage to Ceylon—Point de Galle—The Gem Mines at Ratnapoora—Visit to a Temple—Purchase of Manuscripts—The Population of Ceylon—Dr. Almquist's Excursion to the Interior of the Island.
Some days after our arrival at Yokohama the Vega was removed to the dock at Yokosuka, there to be protected by coppering against the boring mussels of the warm seas, so injurious to the vessel's hull; the opportunity being also taken advantage of by me to subject the vessel to some trifling repairs and alterations in the fitting up, which were desirable because during the remainder of our voyage we were to sail not in a cold but in a tropical climate. The work took somewhat longer time than was reckoned on, so that it was not until the 21st September that the Vega could leave the dock and return to Yokohama. It had originally been my intention to remain in Japan only so long as was necessary for the finishing of this work, during which time opportunity could be given to the officers and crew of the Vega to rest after the labours and sufferings of the long winter, to receive and answer letters from home, and to gather from the newspapers the most important occurrences that had taken place during our fourteen months' absence from the regions which are affected by what takes place in the world. But as appears from the foregoing narrative, the delay was longer than had been intended. This indeed was caused in some degree by the difficulty of tearing ourselves away after only a few days' stay from a people so remarkable, so lovable, and so hospitable as the Japanese, and from a land so magnificently endowed by nature. Besides, when the Vega was again ready for sea, it was so near the time for the change of the monsoon, that it was not advisable, and would not have been attended with any saving of time, to sail immediately. For at that season furious storms are wont to rage in these seas, and the wind then prevailing is so unfavourable for sailing from Japan to the southward, that a vessel with the weak steam-power of the Vega cruising between Japan and Hong Kong in a head-wind might readily have lost the days saved by an earner departure. On the other hand, in the end of October and the beginning of November we could, during our passage to Hong Kong, count on a fresh and always favourable breeze. This took place too, so that, leaving Nagasaki on the 27th October, we were able to anchor in the harbour of Hong Kong as early as the 2nd November.
There was of course no prospect of being able to accomplish anything for the benefit of science during a few days' stay in a region which had been examined by naturalists innumerable times before, but I at all events touched at this harbour that I might meet the expressed wish of one of the members of the expedition not to leave eastern Asia without having, during the voyage of the Vega, seen something of the so much talked of "heavenly kingdom" so different from all other lands.
For this purpose, however, Hong Kong is an unsuitable place. This rich and flourishing commercial town, which has been created by England's Chinese politics and opium trade, is a British colony with a European stamp, which has little to show of the original Chinese folk-life, although the principal part of its population consists of Chinese. But at the distance of a few hours by steamer from Hong Kong lies the large old commercial city of Canton, which, though it has long been open to Europeans, is still purely Chinese, with its peatstack-like architecture, its countless population, its temples, prisons, flower-junks, mandarins, pig-tailed street-boys, &c. Most of the members of the expedition made an excursion thither, and were rewarded with innumerable indescribable impressions from Chinese city life. We were everywhere received by the natives in a friendly way,[385] and short as our visit was, it was yet sufficient to dissipate the erroneous impressions which a number of European authors have been pleased to give of the most populous nation. One soon saw that he has to do with an earnest and industrious people, who, indeed, apprehend much—virtue and vice, joy and sorrow—in quite a different way from us, but towards whom we, on that account, by no means have the right to assume the position of superiority which the European is so ready to claim towards coloured races.
The greater portion of my short stay in Canton I employed in wandering about, carried in a sedan-chair—horses cannot be used in the city itself—through the streets, which are partly covered and are lined with open shops, forming, undoubtedly, the most remarkable of the many remarkable things that are to be seen here. The recollection I have of these hours forms, as often happens when one sees much that is new at once, a variegated confusion in which I can now only with difficulty distinguish a connected picture or two. But even if the impressions were clearer and sharper it would be out of the question to occupy space with a statement of my own superficial observations. If any one wishes to acquire a knowledge of Chinese manners and customs, he will not want for books on the country, his studies will rather be impeded by their enormous number, and often enough by the inferior nature of their contents. Here I shall only touch upon a single subject, because it especially interested me as a mineralogist, namely, the stone-polishing works of Canton.
It is natural that in a country so populous and rich as China, in which home and home life play so great a rôle, much money should be spent on ornaments. We might therefore have expected that precious stones cut and polished would be used here on a great scale, but from what I saw at Canton, the Chinese appear to set much less value on them than either the Hindoo or the European. It appears besides as if the Chinese still set greater value on stones with old "oriental polishing," i.e. with polished rounded surfaces, than on stones formed according to the mode of polishing now common in Europe with plane facets. Instead the Chinese have a great liking for peculiar, often very well executed, carvings in a great number of different kinds of stones, among which they set the greatest value on nephrite, or, as they themselves call it, "Yii." It is made into rings, bracelets, ornaments of all kinds, vases, small vessels for the table, &c. In Canton there are numerous lapidaries and merchants, whose main business is to make and sell ornaments of this species of stone, which is often valued higher than true precious stones. It was long so important an article of commerce that the place where it was found formed the goal of special caravan roads which entered China by the Yii gate. Amber also appears to have a high value put upon it, especially pieces which inclose insects. Amber is not found in China, but is brought from Europe, is often fictitious, and contains large Chinese beetles with marks of the needles on which they have been impaled. Other less valuable minerals, native or foreign, are also used, among others, compact varieties of talc or soap-stone and of pyrophyllite. But works executed in these minerals do not fetch a price at all comparable to that of nephrite. In the same shop in which I purchased pieces of nephrite carefully placed in separate boxes, I found at the bottom of a dusty chest, along with pieces of quartz and old refuse of various kinds, large crystals, some of which were exceedingly well formed, of translucent topaz. They were sold as quartz for a trifle. I bought besides two pieces of carved topaz, one of which was a large and very fine natural crystal, with a Chinese inscription engraved on its terminal surface, which when translated runs thus: "Literary studies confer honour and distinction and render a man suitable for the court." The other was a somewhat bluish inch-long crystal, at one end of which a human figure, perhaps some Buddhist saint, was sculptured. The polishing of stones is carried on as a home industry, principally in a special part of the town. The workshop is commonly at the side of a small sale counter, in a room on the ground-floor, open to the street. The cutting and polishing of the stones is done, as at home, with metal discs and emery or comminuted corundum, which is said to be found in large quantities in the neighbourhood of Canton.
Large, commodious, well fitted up, but in their exterior very unwieldy river steamers, built after American designs, now run between Hong Kong and Canton. They are commanded by Europeans. The dietary on board is European, and exceedingly good. There are separate saloons for Europeans and Chinese. All over the poop and the after-saloon weapons are hung up so as to be at hand, in case the vessel should be attacked by pirates, or, as happened some years ago, a number of them should mix themselves up with the Chinese passengers with the intention of plundering the vessel.