In the meantime, the Nemesis was sent over to Chusan, stopping a day or two at Chinhae on the way, to procure fuel, and to overhaul a number of large junks which were at anchor a few miles from the mouth of the river. They were found to be laden principally with peas, rice, oil, walnuts, liquorice-root, &c.; and had they been met with a few months later, they would all have been detained, as were hundreds of a similar kind at Woosung; but at this time they were not molested. Opium was found in them all, in small quantities only, for the use of the people on board, but apparently not for sale.
The weather was now clear and bracing, and the sickness which had partially attacked our troops, on first taking possession of the town, had almost entirely disappeared.
On the occasion of a visit to the opposite side of the river, a singular circumstance occurred. Two Chinamen were seen at some little distance, hastening along with a large round basket carried between them, carefully covered up, but which at first attracted little notice. Some of the party had the curiosity to raise up the covering a little, when, to their great surprise and amusement, a very young and pretty-looking Chinese lady was found stowed in it, hoping, probably, by this device to escape detection. The poor thing was almost frightened to death; but she remained perfectly quiet until she was covered up again, when the men were allowed to trot away with her as fast as they could.
Shortly afterwards, a gay-looking sedan chair was seen passing near a village, probably belonging to some of the mandarins; but no sooner did the party run up to examine it, than its occupier jumped out and ran away for his life.
But the most singular thing of this kind was finding a Chinese lady stowed away in the locker of a boat, as if she were dead. Orders had been issued by the admiral to examine all junks leaving the city, in order to prevent them from carrying away plunder. One of these had just been examined, without finding anything of value on board, when it occurred that something might still be concealed in the after-locker, a sort of cupboard of moderate size. On opening this sanctum, it appeared to contain what looked like the dead body of a female, recently put into it, well dressed, and, judging from her handsome shoes and small feet, a person of some importance. This looked a very strange affair; but as no one could speak a word of the language, it was impossible to inquire into it. However, as it appeared to be a capital opportunity to examine the nature of a Chinese lady's foot, the men were ordered by Capt. Hall to lift the body out; and this appeared likely to be no easy matter, so closely did it seem to be jammed in. But the moment the Jacks laid hold of the shoulders, a tremendous scream issued forth, as if a ghost had suddenly been endowed with some unearthly voice. The poor thing had only shammed being dead, in order, as she thought, to escape detection. She was now very gently lifted out, and not without some difficulty, being literally half dead with the fright and confinement. In the bottom of the locker beneath her was found a bag of money, with which she had evidently attempted to escape. She was, of course, allowed to go away without further molestation, boat and all.
The question of infanticide has been already alluded to in a previous chapter. According to Barrow, it was considered part of the duty of the police at Pekin to collect every morning, in a cart sent round for the purpose, the dead bodies of infants which were thrown into the streets during the night. Sometimes they were found still alive, and these were commonly rescued by the Roman-catholic missionaries, who attended for the purpose, and subsequently brought them up in the Roman-catholic faith. Mr. Gutzlaff also alludes to this horrible practice, as being far from uncommon, and as being perpetrated without any feelings of remorse, but almost exclusively upon females. Among the immense population which live in boats, and upon the rivers of China, it is impossible to calculate how many are disposed of by being drowned. But, in Pekin, Barrow gives the average number destroyed, at twenty-four every day. Some allowance must, however, be made for those which die of disease during the earliest period of life in a country where medical science is at so low an ebb.
With the exception of some of the Tartar towns, such as Chapoo and Chin-keang-foo, where wholesale murder was committed by the men upon their wives and children immediately the places were captured, little evidence was obtained of the existence of the revolting practice of infanticide. We have seen that at Amoy the bodies of several infants were found sewed up in sacks; and it was also said that a cave was found at Chinhae, in which were a number of bodies of female infants, also tied up in bags. But it was an extremely rare thing to find an infant abandoned in the streets alive or dead. An instance, however, occurred at Ningpo one evening, when Captain Hall and a party from the Nemesis were returning towards their boats. They were just passing a joss-house, or temple, when something attracted attention lying upon the steps leading to the entrance. On examination, it proved to be a female infant (always females) recently abandoned, and though extremely cold, still living. The little thing was carried down to the boat by a marine, who was the orderly. Every attempt was made as soon as it was brought on board to revive it, but without success.
Infanticide undoubtedly does exist in China, but it may be suspected that the statements of its prevalence have been exaggerated, and certainly it is confined to the lower classes, among whom the means of subsistence press very heavily. The Chinese are generally remarkably fond of their children. A Chinaman's three great wishes and most cherished hopes are—length of days, plenty of male offspring, and literary honours. To be the patriarch of a long line of descendants is generally the aim of his proudest ambition.
After a delay of two or three days at Chinhae, the Nemesis was sent over to Chusan at the end of November, whither the admiral, and Sir Henry Pottinger, had already preceded her. Great changes and improvements were found to have taken place, even in this short space of time. The shops were now all open, and the streets filled with people, who were pursuing their ordinary avocations without any appearance of alarm or fear of interruption. In fact, they were settling down very quietly under our rule, much more so than on the former occasion when the town was in our occupation.