A party of armed seamen and marines were now sent up towards a hill in the rear of the village, along which a number of men had been seen retiring, and amongst them a military mandarin, which made it probable that they were soldiers. The Chinese made a hasty retreat, but the mandarin was observed to try to hide himself behind a tombstone while he pulled off his warm jacket, and nearly all his clothes, and lastly his satin boots, and then giving them to a man who attended him, away he ran for his life down the hill on the opposite side, so that there was no chance of overtaking him.
The Phlegethon had been sent in an opposite direction; but on that side no fire-boats were discovered, notwithstanding the active exertions of Lieutenant M'Cleverty. Altogether not less than one hundred fire-boats were destroyed on these different occasions, besides those which had been previously destroyed by the Nemesis, and the boat of the Clio. How many Chinese lost their lives in the affair it is impossible to say; but many of them must have been drowned in attempting to escape on shore, after the fire-rafts burst into flames. In fact, in all the numerous little sheltered bays among those islands, fire-rafts were destroyed in greater or lesser numbers.
On one occasion, and without any warning, the Nemesis ran at full speed, and at high water, upon a dangerous conical-shaped rock, off the north-eastern extremity of Deer Island, near the southern coast of Chusan, although she had frequently been through the same passage before without having discovered the danger. The tide began to fall almost immediately she struck, so that she was left with her bows high and dry, and her stern deep in the water, while she had seven fathoms close alongside of her. It was a remarkable position for a vessel to be placed in; part of her bottom was completely clear of the rock and the water too, the vessel being only held by its extremities; and when the tide rose, every attempt to haul her off proved ineffectual. A large indentation, or hollow, was supposed to have been made where she rested upon the rock, which of course held her fast.
The only resource was to try to float her off, by fairly lifting her up, with the help of large casks and junks. The launch and pinnace of the Cornwallis having been sent to her assistance, eight large casks were got out, and boats were sent out to press half-a-dozen of the largest Chinese trading junks to assist in the operation. As soon as they were brought alongside, the vessel was lightened, strong hawsers were passed under her bottom, and were secured over the bows of three junks, placed on either side, and then carried aft round the junk's quarter, and thence led forward and secured round the mast. By these means, as the tide rose, the junks fairly lifted the head of the steamer off the rock, and she was launched into her own element without having sustained any material injury.
From what has been already stated, it will be readily inferred that the navigation of the Chusan islands is intricate, and not unattended with danger.
Perhaps the most curious and interesting of all these islands is the consecrated island of Pooto, situated very near the eastern end of Chusan, and only about sixteen miles distant from the town of Tinghai. It is a small rocky island, broken up into numerous picturesque valleys and romantic glens, the hollows of which are richly cultivated, and abounding in trees and aromatic shrubs; while from the steep and rugged heights a most beautiful prospect presents itself on every side, the waters around it being studded with almost innumerable islands as far as the eye can reach. But it is most celebrated for its numerous temples, of which there are said to be nearly four hundred, (but this number is probably exaggerated,) dedicated to the idolatrous worship of Foo, or Budha. The whole island is, in fact, a large monastery, divided into many brotherhoods. "All the sumptuous and extensive buildings of this island," says Medhurst, "are intended for no other purpose than to screen wooden images from the sun and rain; and all its inhabitants are employed in no other work than the recitation of unmeaning prayers, and the direction of useless contemplations towards stocks and stones; so that human science and human happiness would not be in the least diminished if the whole of Pooto, with its gaudy temples and lazy priests, were blotted out from the face of the creation." Each of the priests is furnished with a string of beads, which he keeps continually fingering; and as he counts them, he repeats the same dull monotonous exclamation, "O-me-to-Fuh." The solid rocks are engraven with Budhist titles, and the whole island is under the spell of the almost talismanic words, "O-me-to-Fuh."
Several of the temples are very extensive and highly ornamented, although they begin to bear the marks of falling greatness. At a distance they look very imposing; but on nearer inspection, some of them are found to be more or less tumbling to decay; in short, the priests are no longer wealthy, and the visits of superstitious votaries to the island are less numerous than formerly, and consequently the revenues have diminished. There are few places, however, better worth visiting by an inquiring traveller; and three or four days could be spent upon the island with great pleasure and some profit. The temples are gaudily ornamented, and sometimes elegantly planned. You are struck with the succession of shrines, one within the other, the huge gilded statues of Budha, and the monstrous images by which they are surrounded and attended. The temples are generally built in a hollow, or at the bottom of a valley, so that the different shrines or buildings of the principal monasteries rise one above the other, being built on the declivity of the mountain's side, which terminates in the valley. The yellow tiles of some of them indicate former imperial protection. The most picturesque sites have been chosen for them, and even caverns in the rocks have in some parts been turned into a succession of gilded temples.
There are good causeways leading to every part of the island; on every crag there is either a temple or a little image; the gardens are laid out with extreme care and neatness; and were you not startled by the gross idolatry which surrounds you, and repelled by the dull, vacant, half-idiotic look of ignorant superstition stamped upon the countenance of every man you meet, you might be almost tempted to believe that it is a rich and happy,—a favoured and contented spot. Some of the temples are very striking, and might be called beautiful. In one of them was a very large library for the use of the monks; but, as far as I could judge, the books appeared to have been little, if at all used.[62]
FOOTNOTE:
[62] There are three religions systems prevailing in China, and tolerated by the government—viz., those of Confucius, of Laoutze, and of Budha. The two former were contemporaries, and flourished about five hundred years before the Christian era. That of Budha was introduced from India, very soon after the beginning of our era, and gained such hold among the common people of China, that it is now the general superstition of all the lower classes, and its showy temples and gilded images abound throughout the land. Confucius, on the other hand, was simply a political and moral philosopher, and in his temples no images are found; but he was a politician, and was employed in the public service, long before he became a moralist.