I must apologize for thus digressing, and return to the chanting priests in the temple, who, with shaven crowns, and arrayed in the yellow robes of the priests of Buddha, appeared to go through the mummery with devotion. They had the lowering look of bigotry, which constant habit had at last legibly written upon their countenances. The priests were evidently, in characteristic features, a distinct race from the Chinese, and came at the introduction of the Boodha religion into China, from some other parts of Asia, probably the Birmah empire.
As soon as the mummery had ceased, the priests all flocked out of the temple, adjourned to their respective rooms, divested themselves of their official robes, and the senseless figures were left to themselves, with some lamps burning before them; and the silence of the temple was a type of that portentous spectre, superstition. Another large and handsomely-adorned temple was situated beyond this, as well as numerous others, of smaller size, within the inclosure, all kept in a very neat and clean state.
Being soon satiated with the sight of gilded gods, and fanatical priests, mingled with all the gaudy paraphernalia of superstition, we adjourned to view the fat pigs which saluted us by their effluvia some time before we attained their dwelling,—where we beheld them luxuriating in a bed of filth, having nothing to do but undergo the laborious occupations of eating, drinking, sleeping, and getting fat: before them were sacred buckets, which had been probably filled with food, but were now empty. They were enormously fat, and seven or eight in number. Some persons informed me that they were kept until they died suffocated with fat; but others said that they formed an annual sacrifice to the gods, during the grand festivals. These huge, filthy creatures, are so gross as to cause the mouths of the Chinese who behold them to water with delight, in anticipation of the splendid dishes their carcases would afford, to gratify their mortal appetites, exciting deep regret that they are to be devoted as ideal feasts only for immortals.
After wandering over this extensive inclosure, in which we met with no hindrance or molestation, I returned to Canton much gratified by the visit.
The hall of the factory of the Honorable East India Company, as well as the whole range of buildings, is very elegant. At one end of the large room in the building is a magnificent portrait of his late majesty George the Fourth, by Sir Thomas Lawrence; and opposite to it, an accurate full-length portrait of Lord Amherst, by the same artist. On ascending to the terrace, above the building, a beautiful panoramic view of the city of Canton is obtained. The winding river crowded with boats; numerous pagodas, as far as the eye could reach; a fine view of Whampoa, and some of the shipping; the number of paddy fields in the vicinity; interspersed with habitations and plantations, with hills in the distance,—formed a scene both novel and interesting. I afterwards visited, in company with my friend, Mr. Whiteman, the extensive tea hongs of Kingqua, and other of the hong merchants, which are well worthy the notice of a stranger.
Among the Chinese novelties to be seen in the vicinity of Canton, but more especially about Whampoa, are the duck-boats, used as residences for the owners and their families, as well as for their numerous feathered charge. The fledged bipeds inhabit the hold of the boat, and the human bipeds, or keepers, the upper accommodations of the vessel. These boats are most abundant about the rice-fields, near the river, soon after the harvest has been gathered in, as at that time the broad-billed animals glean the fields, and have a better prospect of a supply of food than at any other period. The owner of the boat moves it about from place to place, according to the opportunities that may be offered to him of feeding his flock.
On the arrival of the boat at the appointed spot, or one considered proper for feeding the quacking tribe, a signal of a whistle causes the flock to waddle in regular order from their domicile across the board placed for their accommodation, and then rambling about undergo the process of feeding. When it is considered by their keeper that they have gorged sufficiently, another signal is made for the return of the birds: immediately upon hearing it, they congregate and re-enter the boat. The first duck that enters is rewarded with some paddy, the last is whipped for being dilatory; so that it is ludicrous to see the last birds (knowing by sad experience the fate that awaits them) making efforts en masse to fly over the back of the others, to escape the chastisement inflicted upon the ultimate duck.
A large quantity of a kind of alabaster or gypsum is brought down from the northward in large junks to Canton; it is called in the Chinese language Shek, oo, and is used by them, as well as by Europeans, in a pulverized state, as a dentifrice: it is also employed and highly esteemed by the Chinese as a tisan, for the purpose of allaying the ardent thirst in fevers, and is considered by them nourishing as well as cooling. It is pulverized and used in the adulteration of powdered sugar-candy, to which it bears in appearance a very close resemblance; indeed, it is (except by the taste) not easy to distinguish one from the other.
Dr. Cox presented me with a specimen in spirits of a very venomous snake, which is not uncommon in China; this one had some time since bitten a Chinese servant in the Dutch Hong, and occasioned his death in a few hours. The head of the reptile in this specimen had been cut off by the Chinese who first arrived to the assistance of the wounded man, who having bruised it, had applied it as a poultice to the bitten part; from which a query may arise, whether the poison mingled with the mashed head, being applied to the bitten part, may not have served to hasten the fatal termination.
This venomous reptile is called white and black snake, from its colours; by the Chinese, Pak, y, hak, (pak signifying white, and hak, black). The largest size it has been seen to attain, has been three feet. The colour of the reptile is a bluish white, with black, circular, broad rings, around the body. The head (which I had an opportunity of examining in another and unmutilated specimen) was broad, flattened, with ten broad scales upon the upper and lateral parts; and around the body, from one extremity to the other, there were forty-nine circular rings. The length of my specimen is nearly three feet.