inhabitants. Here the eye rests upon objects of the most bizarre shapes, which in material design and execution are totally unlike anything the European sees elsewhere; workmanship in wood and stone, that illustrates in a remarkable manner the extraordinary patience of the artisan, such as drinking-cups, barrels, frames, cut all in one piece, and beautifully carved, elegant fancy articles of horn, stone, mother-of-pearl, ivory, roots of trees, metal, or wood, vases and dishes, statuettes in copper and clay, woven portraits, embroidery, &c. &c.
Among all these various manufactures, one especially remarks those prepared from a leek-green, slimy-feeling stone (nephrite), which is in much request among the Chinese, and is highly valued. The Chinese name, Yo, from which in all probability is derived the French name Jade, does not indicate however a peculiar species, but is used for all sorts of carved stone-work and gems, while the most valuable one is called by the Chinese the "mutton-fat" stone. The articles prepared of what is named steatite, or soap-stone, are largely used in commerce, but are of very small value, and usually cut only in very clumsy figures.
But these manufactures make much less impression upon the stranger than the beautiful pictures of the Chinese artists upon rice-paper, a peculiar branch of art, cultivated by the Chinese alone, and which as yet has never been successfully imitated in any other country. The most exquisite specimens of these are sent to Canton, but among the Chinese in Hong-kong we
saw several beautiful works in this style of painting. The common designation of rice-paper has led to the erroneous idea that the substance of which these pictures are made is manufactured from the leaves of the rice-plant, whereas it is prepared from the pith of an entirely different plant (Aralia papyrifera), which grows in Funan and Tukun. The marrow is steeped for some time in water, after which it is split by means of very keen sharp knives into thin leaves, which are then subjected to gentle pressure. The largest are about a foot square, and are reserved almost exclusively for pictures, the shreds and inferior sorts alone being used for the manufacture of artificial flowers. We saw portraits of the Emperor and Empress, of the rebel leader, Tai-ping, of the notorious Yeh, ex-governor of Canton, and other well-known or conspicuous personages. Latterly there has sprung up a strong tendency among the Chinese artists to daguerreotypes and photographs in miniature upon ivory; and in the ateliers of Hong-kong a number of artists were engaged in this, at present the most profitable branch of Chinese artistic skill.
In all these shops the medium of trade is what is called Canton-English, less a dialect than a confused jargon of English and Chinese words, consisting of concessions made on either side to the grammar and idiom of the other, so as the more readily to comprehend each other. A few Spanish and Portuguese words have also crept in, recalling the former relations of these countries with China. All English words ending in e mute have in this gibberish an i attached to
them, as also all other words whatever. Thus they say timi, housi, pieci, coachi, cooki, &c. &c. There are certain Chinese, especially in Canton, who pick up a living by initiating young country folks, who are about entering service in English mercantile houses, in this singular language. Curious and unpleasant as this Chinese English dialect sounds in the ears of strangers, it is found greatly to facilitate intercourse with the Chinese, in consequence of the immense difficulties attending the study of Chinese, so that most Europeans find it far more comfortable to master this jargon, which is not without some influence on the spread of English in the chief commercial cities, than to occupy themselves with mastering Chinese. The language spoken by the sons of the "middle kingdom" consists of 450 monosyllabic sounds, which by various delicate differences in accentuation may increase to about 1600. The slight, and to unaccustomed ears almost inappreciable, shades of aspiration and accentuation, are the main difficulty in the way of foreigners desirous of learning the Chinese language.
To learn the written characters is equally arduous, and requires not less time and perseverance; for this does not consist of a number of letters, the varying arrangement of which constitutes words, but of 40,000 more or less complicated signs, each of which expresses a whole word. They are rude forms, representing most imperfectly ideas and material objects;[112] however, the knowledge of 4000 to 6000 such signs,
with their various significations, suffices to understand most of the common Chinese books. These singular hieroglyphics are not written horizontally but vertically. Moreover, the Chinese begin from the right side, so that, directly the reverse of the European custom, the title of a Chinese book is found on the first page, the leaf furthest to the right hand. Long ago, the Chinese, like most other Asiatic nations at the present day, wrote with metal styli upon split leaves of bamboo. Ever since the third century before Christ, however, when the art was invented of making paper from the rind of the mulberry tree and the bamboo-cane, and preparing pin-soot, glair, musk, glue, Indian ink[113] (méh), and other substances,
the pencil has taken the place of the graver. The hieroglyphics now made on paper are softer, more elegant, and in distinctness of outline admit greater varieties of form. Most of the Chinese whom we saw engaged in writing formed the most complicated characters with great celerity and ease upon the thin paper, and without the firm strokes losing anything of their neatness and clearness of outline.
Among the various scientific objects recommended as important objects of inquiry to the members of the Expedition, during their visit to China, by the renowned sinologue Dr. Pfitzmaier, was the obtaining of rare Chinese books, and the elucidation of certain ethnographic and linguistic questions. Whatever was achieved by us in throwing light upon these matters is due in great measure to the cordial reception with which we were received by men of science resident at Hong-kong. Especially we would name in this respect Dr. M. Lobscheid, a German by birth, a missionary and inspector of schools, who, thoroughly conversant with the Chinese language, exerted himself to the utmost in forwarding the objects of the scientific corps, besides assisting us in the purchase of a variety of the most valuable Chinese works, and giving us much interesting information respecting the country and the inhabitants. Dr. Lobscheid