Among the various subjects discussed at this meeting were several of great interest, which sufficiently evidenced what a thorough disposition to mental activity the English show, even in a place where material interests are necessarily the main objects of attention, and where they, moreover, are continually exposed to great personal danger.
One of the communications received by the Society was a memoir by Mr. W. Alabaster, who had accompanied ex-governor Yeh to Calcutta as interpreter, treating of the Chinese population there, and its influence on the state of society.
The memoir contained the very remarkable statement that the Chinese colony in Calcutta, which in 1858 counted little more than 500 souls, had not alone monopolized several employments, such as shoemakers, tailors, &c., but had, even when thousands of miles distant from home, jealously maintained several of their customs and rites intact. This Chinese community, so inconsiderable in point of mere numbers, already possesses its own temple, its own priests, and its own teachers, who guard any Chinese immigrants from the perils of proselytism; it has founded a special association, whose object it is to transmit to their native land the bodies of such as die abroad, while their luxury is beginning to develope itself to the extent of ordering from China at considerable expense troops of actors, so as even at this distance to provide themselves with the national amusement of a genuine Sing-Song. This peculiarity is of great importance, inasmuch as the emigration from China is ever assuming more extended dimensions, and already embraces several portions of the world. We find Chinese scattered throughout Eastern Asia, in Australia, in California, in Peru, in Brazil, in the West Indies, and, what is very astonishing they thrive and prosper at most places they visit, despite the not very humane treatment they receive, and the wretched, desolate state in which they leave their homes. This enormous emigration of the sons of the Flowery Land seems destined to be of immense importance, and to be fraught with momentous influence upon the future of the other Asiatic populations, whom the Chinese greatly
excel in capacity for work, mechanical dexterity, and dogged perseverance. Even the religious movement gives the Chinese certain advantages over all other nations of the Asiatic type of civilization. The Hindoo, like the Catholic, has numbers of festivals, which greatly diminish the number of his actual working days; the daily ceremonies prescribed by Brahminism further curtail the most precious hours of labour; his exclusively vegetarian food not alone prevents the proper development of his muscular power, but also by its ostentatiously morbid delicacy, brings him constantly into collision with the social order of a Christian household. The Chinese, on the other hand, keeps but one holiday-time, the beginning of the new year, which he celebrates for fourteen days without intermission. But the remaining 11 1⁄2 months of the year are for him but one long day of work. Moreover, the Chinese has no fastidious notions about his food. He eats pork, and drinks wine, and prefers fat meat to meagre fruit diet, thoroughly unrestrained by any considerations as to whether such a mode of life accords with the institutes of Brahma and Menu, or the teaching of Confucius. Their sobriety, their capacity, their industry, their frugal mode of life, and their numbers, all seem to indicate the Chinese as destined to play an important part, not alone in the development of the Oriental nations, but also in the history of mankind. They are, as a German philosopher has profoundly remarked, the Greeks and Romans of Eastern Asia, and they will, if once hurried onwards by the great tide of Christian
civilization, perform such feats as to fill even the nations of the old world with wonder and amazement.
Another communication, made during the same meeting of this meritorious branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in Hong-kong, related to that singular plant, which has within the last few years excited so much attention in industrial circles throughout Europe under the name of "Green dye," or "Vert Chinois." Notwithstanding the experiments hitherto made with this valuable dye, and the excellent use which has been made of it, more especially by the Chamber of Commerce at Lyons, the first in Europe to make application of the new colour, there was yet much to be learned respecting the mode of raising and manufacturing it, in order to render its employment entirely practicable. The elegant pamphlet of the Lyons Chamber of Commerce[116] had just arrived from Europe, and led to a variety of interesting investigations. Nothing was known in Hong-kong respecting the plant beyond what was already contained in Robert Fortune's excellent work and Rondot's treatise. Somewhat later, we were furnished with more accurate and circumstantial information respecting the Lu-Kao, the well-known "Green dye" of the English (a species of Rhamnus or buckthorn), which we shall here transcribe pretty fully.[117]
Lu-Kao is grown chiefly in the northern provinces, extensive plantations of this valuable plant existing in the country around Foo-Chow and the environs of the city of Haening. The valuable green dye matter is obtained, however, from the rind, not of one but of two species Rhamnus, of which the "yellow" grows on the flats, the "white" on the high-grounds in a wild state. The preparation of the substance, which does not differ much in appearance from common indigo, is exceedingly primitive. Both plants are boiled for a considerable time in iron kettles, the yellow deposit or residuum being suffered to remain undisturbed for several days. Transferred thence into earthen vessels, a piece of cotton cloth is steeped into it five or six times, after which the adherent dye is wrung out, and exposed a second time to the process of boiling in iron pans. The next step in the manipulation consists in permitting the dye stuff, which now has much more consistence, to be soaked up by some pieces of cotton, when it is once more washed, sprinkled upon thin paper, and, lastly, exposed for some time to the sun.
The Chinese have as yet only used the dye for colouring cloths of coarse texture; all attempts hitherto to apply it to silks, &c., have proved fruitless. But the great development of chemical science in Europe justifies us in expecting that a method will ere long be devised for fixing this beautiful, durable light green tint, which does not alter even in candlelight, upon fabrics of fine smooth texture, and thus greatly enhance its value in the industrial arts. The Lu-Kao has
from time immemorial been used by the Chinese in watercolour paintings, but its use in industrial processes only dates from about 20 years back. The very price charged for the small quantities hitherto brought from China, is by no means natural, but seems to have been artificially forced up by speculation, apparently in consequence of an unusual demand. In Foo-Chow the price of one Catti, about 1 3⁄4 lbs., is 20 Taels, or about £6 10s. Were the production of this dye stuff really so expensive, we may be sure it would not be made use of by the Chinese for their ordinary stuffs, nor could these be sold as cheap as they are. We have found our opinion confirmed by competent observers in various parts of China, that this valuable product is susceptible of being acclimatized in Europe, and of being cultivated with profit, especially in those places where, together with favourable conditions of temperature and soil, the wages of labour are not too high.