Every thing living or dead, organic or inorganic, is sold by weight in this celestial country, whether it be fruit or ballast stones, oil or vegetables, living dogs or pigs, cats or poultry, they are all purchased by the catty. The dogs and pussies are highly esteemed by the Chinese, who convert them into delicious (according to their organs of taste) bow-wow soup, and rich pussy broth. A Chinese does not appear to have any idea of measurement, for one was asked whether we should have much wind—“Yes, plenty catties of wind, by, by, come;” and when some gentlemen were taking observations of the sun, the Chinese observed upon them, that “they were weighing the sun.” Eating shops are very numerous in the suburbs of Canton, containing an immense number of made dishes, and decorated also with enormous fat pigs, varnished over, and pendent from different parts of the shops, together with varnished ducks and geese; the latter birds are also dried and pressed, and then have a curious appearance.
One evening I visited the celebrated Fa, tee gardens, which are situated a short distance up the river, and on the opposite side to that upon which Canton is situated. On visiting these nursery gardens I certainly expected to have seen a splendid collection of Chinese plants and flowers, but I was sadly disappointed; the worst nursery garden in any of the provincial towns in Great Britain, was far, very far beyond any of these, both in size, extent, display of flowering plants and shrubs, even of the boasted flowers of China themselves. In how many of the greenhouses at home are not the Azaleas, Cammelias, Chrysanthemum, Hibiscus, &c. seen in large and beautiful varieties, flourishing in the highest state of perfection? Yes, and equal to (except in a few novel varieties, which have not yet survived the voyage home) the boasted display in these wretched places, called “flower gardens.”
A board at the entrance of one of them has the following attractive notice painted upon it in English:—“Aching has for sale, fruit trees, flowering plants, and seeds of all kinds: Fa, tee gardens, No. 2.” The gardens merely contained some varieties of the Chrysanthemum, small trees of the Finger Citron, with that curious fruit tied upon them to look as if they were growing from the tree; and a number of dwarf orange trees of different varieties, laden with green and ripe fruit.
The Chinese procure the dwarf orange trees, laden with fruit, by selecting a branch of a larger tree upon which there may be a good supply of fruit: the cuticle being detached from one part of the branch, is plastered over with a mixture of clay and straw, until roots are given out, when the branch is cut off, planted in a pot, and thus forms a dwarf tree laden with fruit. Other means are adopted to give the trunk and bark an appearance of age, and these, with the dwarf bamboos and other trees, must certainly be regarded as the principal Chinese vegetable curiosities. As far as gardening, or laying out a garden is concerned, these people possess any thing but the idea of beauty or true taste, neither being in the least degree attended to in the arrangement of their gardens; every thing bears the semblance of being stiff, awkward, and perfectly unnatural. To distort nature a Chinese seems to consider the attainment of perfection.
At these gardens the different species and varieties of the tea shrub, both in seeds and young plants, can be procured. According to Chinese botany there exist many varieties as well as species of the tea shrub. The quality of the tea does not only depend upon the mode in which it is prepared, but also upon the soil where it is cultivated. They make a very minute distinction about the hills where the tea is grown, in the same manner as we do in regard to the vine. The Kwang Keun, fang pao, a work on Chinese botany, in forty volumes, treats largely upon the subject, and mentions every hill where good tea grows. Fokien province is the richest tea territory; but it grows more or less in all the provinces, except the northern ones. There are many species mentioned, which had never come under the notice of Europeans, and their flavour is highly extolled. The writer of this work largely expatiates upon the wonderful qualities possessed by some trees, with all the vanity of a Chinese. He treats upon the modes in which the tea shrub is cultivated, and the crop gathered; but he possesses too much learning to be a good botanist, and quotes continually verses and the sayings of the ancients to embellish the subject. There is certainly, in the whole, more learning than good sense. He also treats upon how the seed is to be sown, how the leaves of the tea shrub ought to be prepared, and in what manner the shrub is to be pruned in order that it should produce luxuriant foliage. He also enters upon minute details, how the tea leaf is to be plucked, and afterwards dried and packed. Though the subject is trivial, it would require some study to make this work intelligible to Europeans.
The Rev. C. Gutzlaff, having looked over this botanical work in the Chinese language, favoured me with the above brief opinion on it.
The Cycas revoluta (Fung, maee, cho, of the Chinese) was planted in pots, and from being so generally seen about the dwellings of the people, I should consider was a favourite with them; a number of dwarf elms, bamboos, and other trees, with a number of varieties of Hibiscus, Althæa, were Malva, were all these celebrated gardens contained.
The principal topics of conversation, as the space in front of the factories is traversed over and over again by the foreigners, are opium, Areka-nut, (erroneously called betel-nut,) pepper, rattans, and cotton. The different reports that have been set in motion, (gaining as they proceed from mouth to mouth during the day,) are discussed early in the morning: true, or untrue, is immaterial; every body credits them, and they serve pour passer le temps. If one person meets another, a cool bow of acknowledgment is made, and he passes on his way; or he may be doomed to run the gauntlet, if any important event has been started, with every one he meets, at the corner of every hong, at the risk of being scorched by the sun, or, if taken under shelter, exposed to a chilling blast: as the day advances, he will find the tale increased to such an extent, that the person who heard it in the morning would hardly recognize the bantling by the evening: the three black crows is a mere trifle to some of their inventions: one relates mutinies happening on board an Indiaman, of the existence of which even the commander was ignorant: a slight illness of a lady at Macao, by the time it reaches her husband at Canton, by passing from individual to individual, becomes a dangerous state, if not her actual decease; and at the time the intelligence is communicated to her afflicted husband, she is probably attending one of the gay evening conversational parties at Macao, in which one derives exceeding enjoyment, hearing the ladies “discourse most eloquent music,” and mildly pass over the personal defects or mental faults of each other. One may very naturally therefore ask, “if anything has been invented this morning?” and if accuracy is requisite, how the news arrived, whose authority, &c.
One person happened to say casually, of a long-missing ship, “Perhaps she has been dismasted, and put into Manilla, and that may account for her detention:” in the evening, a report was in circulation, and believed, that accounts had that day been received of the missing ship having safely arrived at Manilla, but that she had lost all her masts. It is therefore dangerous to make an observation; for should it not at first be deemed sufficiently important, it will soon be increased, both in intricacy and consequence, as it passes the daily course. Any person, then, who may visit China, will show his wisdom by preserving silence as much as possible, and he will be lauded by some for the space of a few days; then he will rise in importance, and every body will buzz and talk the most extraordinary things about him; he will be a mystery, and all the residents will be delighted with him, for he will listen tranquilly, and in much of the conversation he will hear far more than he will in any way be inclined to believe. The trifling or casual passing observations are usually—“What news?” “None.” “Fine weather?”—“Yes.” “Warm?” “Yes, exceedingly sultry.” “Is opium getting up?”—“Have not heard. No arrivals?” “None! Good morning.”
Taking rambles over the narrow streets of the suburbs of Canton, filled with elegant shops, strictly Chinese, with the various gilded signs, I witnessed a very novel and agreeable sight to a stranger: every thing assumed a different appearance to that seen in any other country: the narrow and crowded streets, hardly afford a passage for two persons abreast, and the constant passing and repassing of porters with their burdens, bawling out to clear the way, is annoying to passengers. The shops are fitted up in an elegant style, and are, in many of the streets, exceedingly spacious: the shoemakers’ shops are filled with shoes, from those of the small-footed woman decorated in a most tasteful and fanciful manner, to the larger ones of the long-footed race. The shops of tailors, sign-painters, apothecaries, book and paper sellers, glass-blowers, &c. are numerous; and eating-shops, filled with all kinds of birds and beasts, cooked in their peculiar manner, and afterwards varnished; and poulterers’ shops, with living and dead poultry of all descriptions, were in some of the streets very abundant.