Chapter VIII: China (2)

We here saw an opium-eater, lying stretched out upon a mat on the floor. At his side was a cup of tea, with some fruit and a little lamp, besides several pipes, with bowls that were smaller than a thimble. On our entrance, he was just inhaling the intoxicating smoke from one of them. It is said that some of the Chinese opium smokers consume from twenty to thirty grains a-day. As he was not altogether unconscious of our presence, he managed to raise himself, laid by his pipe, and dragged himself to a chair. His eyes were fixed and staring, and his face deadly pale, presenting altogether a most pitiable and wretched spectacle.

Last of all, we were conducted to the garden, where the bonzes, at their death, are burnt--a particular mark of distinction, as all other people are interred. A simple mausoleum, about thirty feet square, and a few small private monuments, were all that was to be seen. None of them had any pretensions to elegance, being built of the simplest masonry. In the former of these edifices are preserved the bones of the persons who have been burnt, and among them are also buried the rich Chinese, whose heirs pay pretty handsomely to obtain such an honour for them. At a little distance stands a small tower, eight feet in diameter and eighteen in height, with a small pit, where a fire can be kindled, in the floor. Over this pit is an armchair, to which the deceased bonze is fastened in full costume. Logs and dry brushwood are disposed all round, and the whole is set fire to, and the doors closed. In an hour they are again opened, the ashes strewed around the tower, and the bones preserved until the period for opening the mausoleum, which is only once every year.

A striking feature in the garden is this beautiful water-rose, or lotus-flower (nymphaea 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.

The Herren Pagoda has three stories, with a pointed roof, and is distinguished for its external sculpture. It has no balconies outside, but, instead of this, a triple wreath of leaves round each story. In the first and second story, to which access is gained by more than usually narrow stairs, are some small altars with carved idols. We were not allowed to go into the third story, under the excuse that there was nothing to be seen there.

The villages we visited, resembled more or less, that we had seen near the Half-way Pagoda.

During this journey I was an eye-witness of the manner in which the missionaries dispose of their religious tracts. The missionary who had been kind enough to accompany us, took this opportunity of distributing among the natives some seeds that should bring forth good fruit. He had 500 tracts on board our boat, and every time that another boat approached us, a circumstance that was of frequent occurrence, he stretched himself as far as possible over the side with half a dozen tracts in his hand, and made signs to the people to approach and take them. If people did not obey his summons, we rowed up to them, and the missionary gratified them with his tracts in dozens, and went his way rejoicing, in anticipation of the good which he did not doubt they would effect.

Whenever we arrived at a village, however, matters reached even a higher pitch. The servant was obliged to carry whole packs of tracts, which in a moment were distributed among the crowd of curious who had quickly gathered round us.

Every one took what was offered to him, as it cost nothing, and if he could not read it--the tracts were in Chinese--he had at least got so much paper. The missionary returned home delighted; he had disposed of his 500 copies. What glorious news for the Missionary Society, and what a brilliant article for his religious paper, he no doubt transmitted to Europe!

Six young Englishmen made this same excursion up the Pearl stream six months later, stopping at one of the villages and mixing with the people. Unhappily, however, they all fell victims to the fanaticism of the Chinese: they were most barbarously murdered.

There was now no trip of any distance left but one round the walls of the town of Canton, {108} properly so called. This, too, I was shortly enabled to undertake through the kindness of our good friend the missionary, who offered to come as guide to Herr von Carlowitz and myself, under the condition, however, that I should put on male attire. No woman had ever yet ventured to make this trip, and he thought that I ought not to venture in my own dress; I complied with his wish, therefore, and one fine morning early we set out.

For some distance our road lay through narrow streets or alleys paved with large flags. In a small niche somewhere in the front of every house, we saw little altars from one to three feet high, before which, as it was yet early, the night lamps were still burning. An immense quantity of oil is unnecessarily consumed in keeping up this religious custom. The shops now began to be opened. They resemble neat entrance halls, having no front wall. The goods were exposed for sale either in large open boxes or on tables, behind which the shopkeepers sit and work. In one corner of the shop, a narrow staircase leads up into the dwelling-house above.

Here, as in Turkish towns, the same regulation is observed of each trade or calling having its especial street, so that in one nothing but crockery and glass, in another silks, and so on, is to be seen. In the physician's street are situated all the apothecaries' shops as well, as the two professions are united in one and the same person. The provisions, which are very tastily arranged, have also their separate streets. Between the houses are frequently small temples, not differing the least, however, in style from the surrounding buildings: the gods, too, merely occupy the ground floor, the upper stories being inhabited by simple mortals.

The bustle in the streets was astonishing, especially in those set apart for the sale of provisions. Women and girls of the lower classes went about making their purchases, just as in Europe. They were all unveiled, and some of them waddled like geese, in consequence of their crippled feet, which, as I before observed, extends to all ranks. The crowd was considerably increased by the number of porters, with large baskets of provisions on their shoulders, running along, and praising in a loud voice their stock in trade, or warning the people to make way for them. At other times, the whole breadth of the street would be taken up, and the busy stream of human beings completely stopped by the litter of some rich or noble personage proceeding to his place of business. But worse than all were the numerous porters we met at every step we took, carrying large baskets of unsavoury matter.

It is a well known fact, that there is perhaps no nation on the face of the earth equal to the Chinese in diligence and industry, or that profits by, and cultivates, as they do, every available inch of ground. As, however, they have not much cattle, and consequently but little manure, they endeavour to supply the want of it by other means, and hence their great care of anything that can serve as a substitute.

All their small streets are built against the city walls, so that we had been going round them for some time before we were aware of the fact. Mean-looking gates or wickets, which all foreigners are strictly prohibited from passing, and which are shut in the evening, lead into the interior of the town.

I was told that it has often happened for sailors, or other strangers, during their walks, to penetrate through one of these entrances into the interior of the town, and not discover their mistake until the stones began flying about their ears.

After threading our way for at least two miles through a succession of narrow streets, we at length emerged into the open space, where we obtained a full view of the city walls, and from the summit of a small hill which was situated near them, a tolerably extensive one over the town itself. The city walls are about sixty feet high, and, for the most part, so overgrown with grass, creeping plants, and underwood, that they resemble a magnificent mass of living vegetation. The town resembles a chaos of small houses, with now and then a solitary tree, but we saw neither fine streets nor squares, nor any remarkable buildings, temples, or pagodas. A single pagoda, five stories high, reminded us of the peculiar character of Chinese architecture.

Our road now lay over fertile eminences, varied with fields and meadows in a high state of cultivation. Many of the hills are used as cemeteries, and are dotted over with small mounds of earth, walled in with stone flags, or rough hewn stones two feet high, frequently covered with inscriptions. Family tombs were also to be seen, dug in the hill, and enclosed with stone walls of the shape of a horse-shoe. All the entrances were built up with stone.

The Chinese do not, however, bury all their dead: they have a remarkable way of preserving them in small stone chambers, consisting of two stone walls and a roof, while the two other sides are left open. In these places, there are never more than from two to four coffins, which are placed upon wooden benches two feet high: the coffins themselves consist of massive trunks of trees hollowed out.

The villages through which we passed presented an animated appearance, but appeared poor and dirty. We were often obliged to hold our noses in passing through the lanes and squares, and very frequently would fain have closed our eyes as well, to avoid the disgusting sight of people covered with eruptions of the skin, tumours, and boils.

In all the villages I saw poultry and swine in great numbers, but not more than three horses and a buffalo-cow; both the horses and the cow were of an extremely small breed.

When we had nearly reached the end of our excursion, we met a funeral. A horrible kind of music gave us warning that something extraordinary was approaching, and we had hardly time to look up and step on one side, before the procession came flying past us at full speed. First came the worthy musicians, followed by a few Chinese, next two empty litters carried by porters, and then the hollow trunk of a tree, representing the coffin, hanging to a long pole, and carried in a similar manner: last of all, were some priests and a crowd of people.

The chief priest wore a kind of white {110} fool's cap, with three points; the other persons, who consisted of men alone, had a kind of white cloth bound round their head or arm.

I was lucky enough to be enabled to visit some of the summer palaces and gardens of the nobility.

The finest of all was certainly that belonging to the Mandarin Howqua. The house itself was tolerably spacious, one story high, with very wide, splendid terraces. The windows looked into the inner courts, and the roof was like those in European buildings, only much flatter. The sloping roofs, with their multitude of points and pinnacles, with their little bells and variegated tiles, are only to be found in the temples and country-houses, but never in the usual residences. At the entrance there were two painted gods: these, according to the belief of the Chinese, keep off evil spirits.

The front part of the house consisted of several reception rooms, without front walls, and immediately adjoining them, on the ground floor, elegant parterres; and on the first floor magnificent terraces, which were also decorated with flowers, and afforded a most splendid view over the animated scene on the river, the enchanting scenery around, and the mass of houses in the villages situated about the walls of Canton.

Neat little cabinets surrounded these rooms, from which they were only separated by walls that in many cases were adorned with the most artistic paintings, and through which the eye could easily penetrate. The most remarkable of these walls were those composed of bamboos, which were as delicate as a veil, and plentifully ornamented with painted flowers, or beautifully written proverbs.

A numberless quantity of chairs and a great many sofas were ranged along the walls, from which I inferred that the Chinese are as much accustomed to large assemblages as ourselves. I observed some arm- chairs most skilfully cut out of a single piece of wood; others with seats of beautiful marble-slabs; and others again of fine coloured tiles or porcelain. Among various objects of European furniture, we saw some handsome mirrors, clocks, vases, and tables of Florentine mosaic, or variegated marble. There was also a most extraordinary collection of lamps and lanterns hanging from the ceilings, and consisting of glass, transparent horn, and coloured gauze or paper, ornamented with glass beads, fringe, and tassels. Nor was there any scarcity of lamps on the walls, so that when the apartments are entirely lighted up, they must present a fairy-like appearance.

As we had been fortunate enough to reach this house without being stoned, we were emboldened to visit the Mandarin Howqua's large pleasure-garden, situated on a branch of the Pearl stream, about three-quarters of a mile from the house. We had, however, hardly entered the branch of the river, before the crew wanted to turn back, having observed a mandarin's junk, with all its flags hoisted, a signal that the owner himself was on board. They were unwilling to venture on conveying us Europeans past the vessel, for fear they should be punished, or stoned to death, along with ourselves, by the people. We obliged them to proceed, passed close by the junk, and then landed, and continued our excursion on foot. A large crowd of people soon collected in our rear, and began pushing the children up against us, in order to excite our rage; but arming ourselves with patience, we moved quietly on, and reached, without any accident, the garden gates, which we instantly closed behind us.

The garden was in a perfect state of cultivation, but without the least pretension to taste in its arrangement. On every side were summer-houses, kiosks, and bridges, and all the paths and open spots were lined with large and small flower-pots, in which were flowers and dwarfed fruit-trees of every description.

The Chinese are certainly adepts in the art of diminishing the size of, or rather crippling their trees, many of which very often scarcely attain a height of three feet. These dwarf trees are very prevalent in their gardens, and preferred to the most magnificent and shady trees of a natural size. These lilliputian alleys can hardly be considered in good taste, but it is most remarkable with what a large quantity of beautiful fruit the tiny branches are laden.

Besides these toys we also observed figures of all descriptions, representing ships, birds, fish, pagodas, etc., cut out of foliage. In the heads of the animals were stuck eggs, with a black star painted on them to represent the eyes.

There was also no scarcity of rocks, both single and in groups, ornamented with flower-pots, as well as little figures of men and animals, which can be removed at pleasure, so as to form new combinations, a kind of amusement of which the Chinese ladies are said to be very fond. Another source of entertainment, no less popular, as well among the ladies as the gentlemen, consists in kite-flying, and they will sit for hours looking at their paper monsters in the air. There is a large open spot set apart for this purpose in the garden of every Chinese nobleman. We noticed an abundance of running water and ponds, but we did not observe any fountains.

As everything had passed off so well, Herr von Carlowitz proposed that we should go and see the garden of the Mandarin Puntiqua, which I was very anxious to do, as the mandarin had ordered a steam-boat to be built there by a Chinese, who had resided thirteen years in North America, where he had studied.

The vessel was so far advanced that it was to be launched in a few weeks. The artist showed us his work with great satisfaction, and was evidently very much pleased at the praise we bestowed upon him for it. He attached great importance to his knowledge of the English language, for when Herr von Carlowitz addressed him in Chinese, he answered in English, and requested us to continue the conversation in that idiom. The machinery struck us as not being constructed with the usual degree of neatness for which the Chinese are famous, and also appeared far too large for the small vessel for which it was intended. Neither I nor my companion would have had the courage to have gone in her on her experimental trip.

The mandarin who had the vessel built, had gone to Pekin to obtain a "button" as his reward for being the first person to launch a steamer in the Chinese empire. The builder himself will, in all probability, be obliged to rest contented with the consciousness of his talent.

From the ship-yard we proceeded to the garden, which was very large but greatly neglected. There were neither alleys nor fruit trees, rocks nor figures; but, to make up for these, an insufferable quantity of summer-houses, bridges, galleries, little temples, and pagodas.

The dwelling-house consisted of a large hall and a number of small chambers. The walls were ornamented, both inside and out, with carved wood-work, and the roof abundantly decorated with points and pinnacles.

In the large halls plays and other entertainments are sometimes enacted for the amusement of the ladies, who are universally confined to their houses and gardens, which can only be visited by strangers in their absence. {112}

A number of peacocks, silver-pheasants, mandarin-ducks, and deer are preserved in their gardens. In one corner was a small, gloomy bamboo plantation, in which were some family graves; and not far off a small earthen mound had been raised, with a wooden tablet, on which was a long poetical inscription in honour of the favourite snake of the mandarin, which was buried there.

After duly inspecting everything, we set off on our road home, and reached there in safety.

I was not so fortunate a few days later on visiting a tea-factory. The proprietor conducted me himself over the workshops, which consisted of large halls, in which six hundred people, including a great many old women and children, were at work. My entrance occasioned a perfect revolt. Old and young rose from work, the elder portion lifting up the younger members of the community in their arms and pointing at me with their fingers. The whole mass then pressed close upon me and raised so horrible a cry that I began to be alarmed. The proprietor and his overseer had a difficult task to keep off the crowd, and begged me to content myself with a hasty glance at the different objects, and then to quit the building as soon as possible.

In consequence of this I could only manage to observe that the leaves of the plant are thrown for a few seconds into boiling water, and then placed in flat iron pans, fixed slantingly in stone-work, where they are slightly roasted by a gentle heat, during which process they are continually stirred by hand. As soon as they begin to curl a little, they are thrown upon large planks, and each single leaf is rolled together. This is effected with such rapidity, that it requires a person's undivided attention to perceive that no more than one leaf is rolled up at a time. After this, all the leaves are placed once more in the pan. Black tea takes some time to roast, and the green is frequently coloured with Prussian blue, an exceedingly small quantity of which is added during the second roasting. Last of all the tea is once more shaken out upon the large boards, in order that it may be carefully inspected, and the leaves that are not entirely closed are rolled over again.

Before I left, the proprietor conducted me into his house, and treated me to a cup of tea prepared after the fashion in which it is usually drunk by rich and noble Chinese. A small quantity was placed in a China cup, boiling water poured upon it, and the cup then closed with a tightly-fitting cover. In a few seconds the tea is then drank and the leaves left at the bottom. The Chinese take neither sugar, rum, nor milk with their tea; they say that anything added to it, and even the stirring of it, causes it to lose its aroma; in my cup, however, a little sugar was put.

The tea-plant, which I saw in the plantations round about Canton, was at most six feet high; it is not allowed to grow any higher, and is consequently cut at intervals. Its leaves are used from the third to the eighth year; and the plant is then cut down, in order that it may send forth new shoots, or else it is rooted out. There are three gatherings in the year; the first in March, the second in April, and the third, which lasts for three months, in May. The leaves of the first gathering are so delicate and fine that they might easily be taken for the blossom, which has no doubt given rise to the error that the so-called "bloom or imperial tea" is supposed not to consist of the leaves but of the blossom itself. {114} This gathering is so hurtful to the plant that it often perishes.

I was informed that the tea which comes from the neighbourhood of Canton is the worst, and that from the provinces somewhat more to the north the best. The tea manufacturers of Canton are said to possess the art of giving tea that has been frequently used, or spoiled by rain, the appearance of good tea. They dry and roast the leaves, colour them yellow with powdered kurkumni, or light green with Prussian blue, and then roll them tightly up. The price of the tea sent to Europe varies from fifteen to sixty dollars (3 to 12 pounds) a pikul, of 134 lb. English weight. The kind at sixty dollars does not find a very ready market; the greater part of it is exported to England. The "bloom" is not met with in trade.

I must mention a sight which I accidentally saw, one evening, upon the Pearl stream. It was, as I afterwards heard, a thanksgiving festival in honour of the gods, by the owners of two junks that had made a somewhat long sea voyage without being pillaged by pirates, or overtaken by the dangerous typhoon.

Two of the largest flower boats, splendidly illuminated, were floating gently down the stream. Three rows of lamps were hung round the upper part of the vessels, forming perfect galleries of fire; all the cabins were full of chandeliers and lamps, and on the forecastle large fires were burning out of which rockets darted at intervals with a loud report, although they only attained the elevation of a few feet. On the foremost vessel there was a large mast erected, and hung with myriads of coloured paper lamps up to its very top, forming a beautiful pyramid. Two boats, abundantly furnished with torches and provided with boisterous music, preceded these two fiery masses. Slowly did they float through the darkness of the night, appearing like the work of fairy hands. Sometimes they stopped, when high flames, fed with holy perfumed paper, flickered upwards to the sky.

Perfumed paper, which must be bought from the priests, is burnt at every opportunity, and very frequently beforehand, after every prayer. From the trade in this paper the greater portion of the priests' income is derived.

On several occasions, accompanied by Herr von Carlowitz, I took short walks in the streets near the factory. I found the greater pleasure in examining the beautiful articles of Chinese manufacture, which I could here do at my leisure, as the shops were not so open as those I saw during my excursion round the walls of Canton, but had doors and windows like our own, so that I could walk in and be protected from the pressure of the crowd. The streets, also, in this quarter were somewhat broader, well paved, and protected with mats or planks to keep off the burning heat of the sun.

In the neighbourhood of the factory, namely in Fousch-an, where most of the manufactories are situated, a great many places may be reached by water, as the streets, like those in Venice, are intersected by canals. This quarter of Canton, however, is not the handsomest, because all the warehouses are erected on the sides of the canals, where the different workmen have also taken up their residence in miserable huts that, built half upon the ground and half upon worm-eaten piles, stretch far out over the water.

I had now been altogether, from July 13th to August 20th, five weeks in Canton. The season was the hottest in the whole year, and the heat was really insupportable. In the house, the glass rose as high as 94.5 degrees, and out of doors, in the shade, as high as 99 degrees. To render this state of things bearable, the inhabitants use, besides the punkas in the rooms, wicker-work made of bamboo. This wicker-work is placed before the windows and doors, or over those portions of the roofs under which the workshops are situated. Even whole walls are formed of it, standing about eight or ten feet from the real ones, and provided with entrances, window-openings, and roofs. The houses are most effectually disguised by it.

On my return to Hong-Kong, I again set out on board a junk, but not so fearlessly as the first time; the unhappy end of Monsieur Vauchee was still fresh in my memory. I took the precaution of packing up the few clothes and linen I had in the presence of the servants, that they might be convinced that any trouble the pirates might give themselves on my account would be thrown away.

On the evening of the 20th of August I bade Canton, and all my friends there, farewell; and at 9 o'clock I was once again floating down the Si-Kiang, or Pearl stream, famous for the deeds of horror perpetrated on it.