A striking feature in the garden is this beautiful water-rose, or lotus-flower (nymphæa nelumbo), which was originally a native of China. The Chinese admire this flower so much, that they have ponds dug in their gardens expressly for it. It is about six inches in diameter, and generally white—very rarely pale red. The seeds resemble in size and taste those of the hazel; and the roots, when cooked, are said to taste like artichokes.
There are more than a hundred bonzes who reside in the temple of Honan. In their ordinary dress, they differ nothing from the common Chinamen, the only means of recognising them being by their heads, which are entirely shaved. Neither these nor any other priests can boast, as I was told, of being in the least respected by the people.
Our second excursion was to the Half-way Pagoda, so called by the English from its lying half way between Canton and Whampoa. We went up the Pearl stream to it. It stands upon a small eminence near a village, in the midst of immense fields of rice, and is composed of nine stories, 170 feet high. Its circumference is not very considerable, but nearly the same all the way up, which gives it the look of a tower. I was informed that this pagoda was formerly one of the most celebrated in China, but it has long ceased to be used. The interior was completely empty; there were neither statues nor any other ornaments; nor were there any floors to prevent the eye from seeing to the very top. On the outside, small balconies without railings surround each story, to which access is gained by steep and narrow flights of stairs. These projecting balconies produce a very fine effect, being built of coloured bricks, very artistically laid, and faced with variegated tiles. The bricks are placed in rows, with their points jutting obliquely outwards, so that the points project about four inches over one another. At a distance, the work seems as if it were half pierced through, and from the beautiful colours and fineness of the tiles, a person might easily mistake the entire mass for porcelain.
While we were viewing the pagoda, the whole population of the village had assembled round about us, and as they behaved with tolerable quietness, we determined on paying a visit to the village itself. The houses, or rather huts, were small and built of brick, and with the exception of their flat roofs, presented nothing peculiar. The rooms did not possess a ceiling of their own, but were simply covered by the roof; the floor was formed of earth closely pressed together, and the internal walls consisted partly of bamboo-mats. What little furniture there was, was exceedingly dirty. About the middle of the village was a small temple, with a few lamps burning dimly before the principal divinity.
What struck me most was the quantity of poultry, both in and out of the huts, and we had to take the greatest care to avoid treading on some of the young brood. The chickens are hatched, as they are in Egypt, by artificial heat.
On our return from the village to the pagoda, we saw two schampans run in shore, and a number of swarthy, half-naked, and mostly armed men jump out, and hasten through the fields of rice directly to where we were. We set them down as pirates, and awaited the upshot with a considerable degree of uneasiness. We knew that, if we were right in our supposition, we were lost without hope; for, at the distance we were from Canton, and entirely surrounded by Chinese, who would have been but too ready to lend them assistance, it would have been doubly easy for pirates to dispatch us. All idea of escape or rescue was out of the question.
While these thoughts were flashing across our minds, the men kept approaching us, and at length their leader introduced himself as the captain of a Siamese man-of-war. He informed us, in broken English, that he had not long arrived with the Governor of Bangkok, who was proceeding for the rest of the way to Pekin by land. Our fears were gradually dispelled, and we even accepted the friendly invitation of the captain to run alongside his ship and view it, on our return. He came in the boat with us, and took us on board, where he showed us everything himself: the sight, however, was not a particularly attractive one. The crew looked very rough and wild; they were all dressed in a most slovenly and dirty manner, so that it was utterly impossible to distinguish the officers from the common men. The vessel mounted twelve guns and sixty-eight hands.
The captain set before us Portuguese wine and English beer, and the evening was far advanced before we reached home.
The longest trip that can be made from Canton is one twenty miles up the Pearl stream, and Mr. Agassiz was kind enough to procure me this pleasure. He hired a good boat, which he furnished abundantly with eatables and drinkables, and invited a missionary, who had made the trip several times, Herr von Carlowitz, and myself. The company of a missionary is as yet by far the safest escort in China. These gentlemen speak the language; they become gradually acquainted with the people, and travel about, with hardly any obstacle to speak of, all round the vicinity of Canton.
About a week before we had decided on going, a few young gentlemen had endeavoured to make the same excursion, but had been fired upon from one of the fortresses that lie on the banks of the river, and compelled to turn back half-way. When we approached the fortress in question, the crew of our boat refused to proceed any further, until we had almost employed violence to make them do so. We also were fired into, but fortunately not until we were more than half past the fortress. Having escaped the danger, we pursued our course without further interruption, landed at several hamlets, visited the so-called Herren Pagoda, and took a good view of everything that was to be seen. The scenery all round was charming, and displayed to our view large plains with rice, sugar, and tea-plantations, picturesque clumps of trees, lovely hills, and more elevated mountain ranges rising in the distance. On the declivities of the hills, we beheld a number of graves, which were marked by single, upright stones.