Chapter XVII: The Coral Island of Sikayana (17)

[126] Compare Gutzlaff's "History of the Chinese Empire," published by K. Neumann; Stuttgart and Tuebingen, 1847.

[127] The copper cash is the sole currency in use, and consists of a mixture of copper, iron, and tin. Its value, reckoned by the string of 100, is variable, and is calculated according to the proportional traffic in foreign merchandise. On the average, from 1250-1300 cash are about equal to $1.00 American, or 4_s._ 2_d._ English.

[128] In Shanghai the medium of exchange in common use is not as at Hong-kong reckoned in dollars, but in taels, an imaginary currency of the value of about $1.33, so that 100 taels = $133-1/3, or about L27 15_s._ Most accounts are rendered in taels, whence they are reduced into Mexican dollars, the only foreign silver that is current. When European merchants first came in contact with the children of the Flowery Land, the latter used to pay a sort of premium for American dollars, while for those bearing the effigies of Charles III. (known as the Karolus dollar), quite a special price was paid. Gradually, however, the value sank till, as already mentioned, 75 taels=$100. What has so often been reported of a special Shanghai dollar coinage is quite erroneous. There are neither gold nor silver coins struck in China, but solely of copper, and in some provinces of iron. The term Shanghai dollar is equivalent to tael, which, as already remarked, is, like the guinea in England, unknown to commerce. 1 tael=5_s._ 7_d._ English, but in trade it is taken as 6_s._ It occasionally rises as high as 6_s._ 6_d._, when the proportion between the dollar and the tael is as 100 to 72.

[129] An English translation of one of these reports will be found in the 1845 number of Morrison's admirably edited, but now rather rarely met with, monthly periodical, "The Chinese Repository."

[130] We occasionally saw the Queen of Heaven (Kwan-Yin) represented with a child in her arms, and have in our possession a piece of carved work representing such a group, which we purchased in a shop at Shanghai. This elegant figure seems to be a favourite deity with the Chinese, as it frequently adorns their little domestic altars, and is especially reverenced by the women who are desirous of the honours of maternity. The striking similarity between this exhibition and that of the Holy Virgin, as we see her represented in Catholic Churches, with the infant Jesus in her arms, must involuntarily suggest the idea that there has been an infusion of Catholicism intermingled here with the rites of Buddha. If the resemblance between the two is not accidental, it may readily be assumed that the same thing has occurred here as in the case of certain Christian legends, which the traveller encounters among various races, on whom the beams of Christian civilization have never been shed.

[131] The price of each meal is as follows:--

1 bowl of rice, 12 cash (1/2 _d._)
1 " vegetables, " " (1/2 _d._)
1 cup of tea, 6 " (1/4 _d._)
Breakfast, consisting usually of rice,
vegetables, and tea, 30 " (1-1/4 _d._)
Bed, fire, and attendance, 20 " (7/8 _d._)

[132] This sacrificial paper, coloured and written upon, is usually called "Joss" or "Sycee"-paper in Canton-English, because the prayers addressed to the Divinity are usually for riches and silver ingots (_Sycee_), which the suppliants hope to obtain by entreaty.

[133] Properly spelt _Kong-fu-tseu_, from which the Europeans have constructed the Latinized name Confucius. _Kong-fu-tseu_ (sometimes also written _Kong-tse_) was born 550 B.C. in the city of Kio-siu-bien, in the modern province of Shantung.

[134] Lao-tse (Lao-tseu), born B.C. 504, in the village of Knio-schin, in the kingdom of Thsu, held the post of keeper of the archives of the palace under the Tscheu dynasty. In his Book of Philosophy (Tao-te-king) the following remarkable words occur: "The rule of antiquity has been, not to shed light on the people, but to keep them in ignorance. A people that comprehends is difficult to govern. On this subject men say, Whoso governs a kingdom in knowledge, the same is the destroyer of that kingdom; whoso governs a kingdom assigning no reason, the same maintains that kingdom. In the family, in the school, children are brought up among idols. When they enter school in the morning they are taught to do honour to the image of Kong-tse. This custom must be forthwith dispensed with." (Compare J. R. Kaeuffer's History of Eastern Asia, for "Friends of the History of Mankind," Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1859, vol. ii. p. 64, and K. F. Neumann's Eastern Asiatic History, Leipzig, W. Engilmann, 1861, p. 129.)

[135] Copper coins, struck by a ruler with whose reign any memorable occurrences are associated, command a high price as health-giving amulets. Some of these, those, for instance, of the Ming and Sing dynasties, have very special healing virtues attributed to them. The currency of Tsching-ta (1506-1522) are unfailing preservatives against the perils of pregnancy, and the illnesses consequent thereon. Others are held in great honour as prophylactics. The mode of application consists in the invalid dragging them by a cord over various parts of his body in a certain prescribed order.

[136] The Chinese attribute the most marvellous healing powers to water, and accordingly apply it in a variety of forms, in numbers of maladies of the most dissimilar character. Water, cold, tepid, warm, and hot, as also snow and iced-water, figure among the list of medicaments, as do also rain-water, well and river-water, brackish water, dew, water from any eddy or whirlpool, or a stream, boiling water, and steam.

[137] The Chinese women are for this reason anxious to keep their children at the breast for two or three years and even longer, partly by way of speculating upon their having a constant breast of milk, and in this singular manner make up for any deficiency of cow's milk, between the market demand and the actual supply. A Chinese who possesses five or six concubines in addition to his legitimate spouse, may thus boast of a regular dairy farm. As sailors on arriving in port are usually excessively fond of milk, which they drink in large quantities, we were not a little amazed on learning from a physician at Hong-kong the source whence in all probability had been derived the milk that was so plentifully supplied!

[138] In German _Bruch-porzellan_, in French _porcelaine-craquelee_.

[139] _Description generale de la Chine._

[140] Not alone this oil-cake, but ground horns and bones, hair from the beard, and nail-parings, rust, ashes, and even human excrement are used as manure. And it is a singular fact that the price of the latter varies according to the race of men by whom it has been evacuated. The succulently nourished flesh-eating English and Americans are in this respect in far greater demand than the more sparely-fed cross-breeds; while the Chinese, subsisting almost exclusively upon fish and vegetables, are in respect to the value of their _faeces_ as manure, behind every other race inhabiting the country. The price of this manure varies with the quality from one dollar to three dollars the _picul_. This custom of collecting and disposing of human excrement for manure is much more extensively observed in the interior of the Empire than in the provinces along the coast. "If," writes M. Huc, the well-known missionary,--"if we were not aware to what perfection the denizens of the Celestial Empire have carried the art of manuring, one would be at a loss how to reconcile the fondness of John Chinaman for making money with the conveniences free of all charge which the proprietors of the soil everywhere erect for the comfort of travellers. There is not a city nor a village in which this is not universally the case. In the most crowded streets, or the most out-of-the-way abandoned spot, one frequently marvels to find these "cabinets" in cane-work, earth, or even masonry. One is almost tempted to believe he is in a country where the care to provide plenty of public latrines is pushed to the extreme. Utilization, however, furnishes a sufficient explanation of all these edifices."

[141] In every part of this extensive empire, travellers encounter these national tributes to the memory of distinguished women, and Dr. Medhurst, as also Fortune and other authorities upon China, relate numerous instances of these remarkable memorials. One of these, an archway of stone, is spoken of by Medhurst as of singular beauty. It is half a mile from the city of Kwang-Tib, and was erected by the community of that region, with the approval of the Emperor, in honour of a lady of that city, of singular piety and benevolence. Over the portico are inscribed the words "Kin-sin-tsae-tschung" (a golden and perfect heart precisely in the middle).

[142] In the hospital, in what is called the western suburb of Canton, which was under the charge of Dr. Hobson from 1848 to 1858, the annual number of patients of both sexes under treatment averaged upwards of 20,000. During the most unhealthy season (May and June) the number imploring assistance frequently amounted to from 3000 to 3400. In the dispensary there were, moreover, from 200 to 250 patients, who received medical advice three times a week, and were supplied with medicaments gratuitously.

[143] We saw this huge work in the private library of the chief of the medical staff at Hong-kong, Dr. W. A. Harland, who had conceived the idea of publishing a more important work upon Chinese drugs, when death struck down this distinguished and most industrious gentleman while in the active discharge of his duties.

[144] In the Leper village near Canton, which is under the superintendence of a Chinese physician, there are about 100 lepers of both sexes, each of whom receives about 20 cash (not quite one penny) daily for his support. The superintendents stated to Dr. Hobson, who repeatedly visited the village, as the result of their many years' experience and observations, that leprosy is not in every case transmitted from parents to children; that several wives of leprous persons have no trace whatever of the disease, but that these women in all probability belong to those of the third and fourth generation, who wholly escape. The Chinese overseers and attendants, however, can have had as little opportunity for remarking upon the breaking out of leprosy among the children of those whose parents were entirely exempt from it as they had of informing themselves with accuracy as to the various forms and rapid diffusion of the disease in the case of the one, or its mild type and gradual disappearance in the other. Perspiration or suppuration in the diseased parts are never remarked in these patients.

[145] At the Refuge for the Destitute (_Monegu choultry_) at Madras, where Dr. Mudge was at the same time instituting experiments lasting over two years, exhibiting these same remedies in every form and shape of elephantiasis, to which cases a special ward had been set apart, rarely entertaining fewer than 100 patients, that gentleman found it to be perfectly inoperative, and he accordingly entirely ceased prescribing it. In lieu of the Tscharul Mugra, the Hindoos in cases of leprosy make use of what are known as the "Asiatic pills," consisting of arsenic, pepper, and the root of the _Asclepia gigantea_.

[146] In an old Chinese medical work occurs the following remarks upon the plant: "Tae-fung-tzi. Taste, acrid and burning: imported from the South (this obviously alludes to the Straits of Malacca). Acts as an alterative on the blood, and is accordingly useful in cases of leprosy, when the blood is corrupted. The oil pressed from the seeds is also used as a remedy in ulcers, eruptions, and psoriasis, and for killing worms. This drug must be exhibited in the form of pills."

[147] Geography, Statistics, and Natural History of the Chinese Empire--New York, 1847; Tonic Dictionary of the Chinese language--Canton, 1856; Chinese Commercial Guide. Fourth edition--Canton, 1856.

[148] In the figures of the Chinese original, which represents the Lo-hau-miau or Buddhist aboriginal, Buddha is represented in a cavity of a rock. Two burning lamps are standing beside him, one on each side, and in front are two worshippers in devotional attitudes, while at a short distance one perceives a woman with a little child, who is approaching the divinity. The men wear fox-tails as ornaments to the head, and their long locks hang loose and dishevelled, far below the shoulders. Every year on the third day of the third moon, our Chinese traveller goes on to state, old and young, man, woman, and child, bring offerings of fruit to Buddha, and for that and the three next succeeding days, they sing and dance, and at the same time make offerings of all manner of _cooked_ food. From their custom of wearing a fox-tail on their heads, which was also common among the ancestors of the present Mantchoos, and that these wild tribes reverence the image of Buddha, Dr. Bridgman is disposed to class them amongst foreign nations.

[149] Among these there were, besides a small quantity of Sorghum, several species of vegetables, which are suited for cultivation in temperate climates, such, for example, as Poussen, Pa-tse, Pon-ta-tse, with which since our return experiments have been instituted in various parts of the Austrian Empire. M. de Montigny has also since our return sent, quite lately, a large quantity of Chinese seeds by way of souvenir, and despite illness, is so much interested in forwarding the objects of the Imperial Expedition, that he was a short time ago decorated with an Austrian order.

[150] We are however in a position to furnish an extract from the note-book of an English sailor, left in charge of the yacht of an English merchant at Shanghai, who accompanied the expedition of Lord Elgin to the Pei-ho as coxswain. Notwithstanding the occasional _naive_ expressions made use of, it is a valuable narrative, such as may call up many strange reflections in the mind of the reader:--

"1858. May 30th.--The river Pei-ho is about 150 yards wide at its mouth, and at dead low water varies from 1-1/2 to 4-1/2 fathoms in depth. On the bar, which is two miles wide, the difference between the ebb and the flood is from 9 to 10 feet. Easterly winds cause the highest tides. In the interior, near Tien-Tsin, the river is from 3 to 6 fathoms deep, and from 50 to 100 fathoms wide. Countless villages stud the banks. The houses are built of clay or straw. The boys run about naked to an age of eight years. It is a very wretched population. The coolies plunge into the water after the empty bottles which are swimming about. They seem exceedingly willing to be serviceable to foreigners. At Tien-Tsin, ten and a half hours from the mouth of the river, the thermometer marks 89 deg. Fahr. in the shade. Lord Elgin is living in a private house on shore. The interpreters live in a passenger-junk. Provisions are on the whole cheaper than at Shanghai. An immense number of natives keep crowding open-mouthed round the "barbarians" and their ship during the entire day, hundreds following us at every step. Almost all the shops are shut, through dread of the barbarians."

"4th June.--Thermometer 95 deg. The people very willing to supply the strangers with water, tea, &c. The natives are on the average from five to five feet three and well-proportioned. Some of them are "tremendously" fat, with huge heads. Among the entire lot I could not see one single woman. The streets are narrow, filthy, and uneven. Saw several hand-carts, which were used to convey water from the river to the village. On each barrow there could be from six to eight buckets of water. There were also plenty of mules and donkeys, but very few horses."

"June 18.--This day the Russian minister concluded his treaty. A Russian courier starts to-morrow for St. Petersburg with dispatches."

"June 26th.--At 6 P.M. to-day the treaty with England was signed. Went in procession to the town. All the shipping dressed with flags, and manned yards. The festivities went off in the Yamun. Lord Elgin sat at the middle table, with a Mandarin on each side of him. I hear their names were Wa-schu-nau and Kwei-liang. The first-named is a strong, corpulent man of about 45; the latter is much older, and seemed very much dejected; he has however just recovered from sickness, which may account for it. After the ceremonies of signing and sealing had been gone through, they all partook of refreshments provided by the Mandarin. Lord Elgin proposed a toast to the health of the Emperor of China, and to the future friendship of the two nations, which was responded to by the Mandarins. Shortly after the assembly broke up, and we all marched home to the excellent music of the flag-ship's band and the bugles of the marines. The whole affair lasted about three hours and a half. It was full moon, and a splendid night.

"June 27th.--This afternoon the treaty with the French was signed. Returned to their ships by torch-light, port-fires, &c. &c. Ki-ying, the Mandarin who assisted in bringing about the treaty, was sentenced to be decapitated, as he was blamed for opening the door to the barbarians, but he has since been pardoned."

"July 3rd.--News came from Pekin that Ki-ying has committed suicide by cutting his throat."

"July 4th.--Thermometer 96 deg. on board, despite awnings and sprinkling the roof of the wheel-house with water!"

"July 6th.--Left Tien-Tsin. After a long, tedious, and tiresome passage of 15 days we reached Shanghai once more on 21st July, all well.

"Price of provisions at Tien-Tsin, as contracted for on 28th May, for the supply of the English fleet:--

Oxen (average weight 4 piculs, or 533 lbs.), the carcase $10
Sheep, " 2
Hens, per dozen 1
Geese and ducks, " 2
Eggs, per thousand 3
Vegetables, picul=133-1/2 lbs. 1.50
Rice, " 5
Sugar, " 6
Yams, per dozen 1
Pears, per hundred 1
Apples, " 1.50
Ice, per lb. 16

"All articles to be delivered of the best quality. The prices are reckoned in American dollars. Every morning a boat was sent off to the _Coromandel_, on board which the purchases took place."

[151] The Tau-Tai, whose authority extends over the three prefectures of Soo-Chow, Sung-Kiang, and Tai-tsing in the north-east of the province of Kiang-ti, is under the governor of Soo-chow, and has resided at Shanghai ever since that port was thrown open to trade. His salary by law is only 4000 _taels_ (L1445), but the various perquisites and emolument attached to it make his actual income about 365,000 _taels_ or L105,000 per annum; out of which he has, however, to defray all expenses of subordinates, &c.; so that the net annual income of this post is estimated at from 25,000 to 30,000 _taels_ (L7000 to L8700). Besides the Tau-Tai there is only the Tschi-hien, a sort of magistrate who lives in Shanghai, and trades with the foreigners.

[152] As another example of an interview with the highest class of Chinese officials, we must briefly describe one enjoyed by some of our Expedition with a Mandarin named Li-hoi-wan. He received them in a chamber of his house, in which were a few small tables and chairs, while at the other end was an elevated cushioned seat on which sate Li-hoi-wan, a large stout man. He wore a Mandarin hat, with a blue button, and a greyish blue coat reaching to the ground. He saluted the foreigners by folding his palms across his breast, invited them to be seated on the dais beside him, and ordered cigars and tea to be brought. Afterwards sweetmeats of every description, confectionery, and fruit were served, as also Chinese wines, the latter, to judge by their flavour and their fragrance, seeming as though they must have hailed from a perfumery store rather than a wine cellar. Two days after the Chinese, with delicate courtesy, returned the visit at their quarters in the residence of M. Probst, the Consul for Oldenburg. Punctually at the appointed hour three far-resounding taps of the gong were heard, a foot-soldier of police presented a flaming red "_carte de viste_," bearing the name and titles of Li-hoi-wan, who forthwith was received by the travellers at the threshold, in compliance with Chinese customs. He was attired in heavy silk clothes, his fan in an elegantly worked sheath, a gold lever watch in his girdle, and was in excellent spirits. The hospitable host had, according to the custom of the country, prepared a chow-chow, or collation, at which, however, instead of Samschoo, champagne was the prevailing beverage. A few days later the Mandarin visited his newly acquired friends on board the frigate, and begged their acceptance of a variety of presents, such as silks, nuts, tea, dried fruits, and Chinese maxims and proverbs, written on long rolls of paper, that, as he naively expressed it, we might think of him "as a brother."

[153] Mr. Hogg has since left that firm, and with his brother, Mr. Edward J. Hogg, has established the firm of Hogg Brothers, in Shanghai.

[154] Under the Emperor Yang-ti of the Tsin dynasty, which filled the throne during the 6th century, more than 1600 miles of canals were partly constructed, partly rebuilt and repaired, the immense works being distributed among the soldiery and the inhabitants of the cities and villages. Each family was bound to furnish one man, between the ages of 15 and 20, whom the Government only found in provisions. The soldiers, on whom devolved the heaviest portion of the work, received higher pay. Some of these canals, which were the making of the commerce of the interior, and thus were of the utmost service to the welfare of the Empire, were forty feet wide, and were planted on either bank with elms and willows.

[155] These lanterns, often beautifully carved and otherwise adorned, are among the most characteristic furniture of a Chinese room. Into their manufacture enter not alone glass, horn, silk, paper, &c., but also the glutinous matter derived from a species of sea-tangle (_Gigartina tenax_--called by the Malays _Agar-Agar_), with which the paper employed in covering the sides of the lantern is fastened on. In the silk and paper manufactures too this omnipresent Agar-Agar paste plays so important a part, that above 500 piculs at $2 a picul, are annually imported from the Indian Archipelago.

[156] Vide Huc's Chinese Empire, Vol. I.

[157] The Chinese find it not less inexplicable that we use such murderous-looking instruments to divide and convey our food to our mouths, with which they think we must every moment be in danger of wounding our lips or putting our eyes out, than that we should remove the bones from the flesh, or crack the shells of nuts and almonds, both which operations seem to them excessively absurd. In fact, it is no mere bon-mot which represents a Chinese gazing in astonishment at Europeans playing billiards, or nine-pins, waltzing, or "polking," and remarking, with an ill-concealed assumption of superiority, that wealthy people ought to leave such fatiguing things to be done by their servants!!

[158] Since the well-known minister and envoy to Japan.

[159] Since sacked by the Tai-ping rebels.

[160] Abandoned after a large part of the course of the Yang-tse had been explored. Lieutenant-Colonel Sarel published lately a most interesting and valuable pamphlet on this expedition, of which he was the leader, under the title, "Notes on the River Yang-tse-kiang from Hankow to Ping-Shan. Hong-kong, Printed at Noronka's office."

[161] Report of the deputation, appointed by the British Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, on the commercial capabilities of ports and places on the Yang-tse-kiang visited by the expedition under Vice-Admiral Sir James Hope, K.C.B., in February and March, 1861. Supplement to the China Overland Trade Report of 28th Feb. and 27th May, 1861, and Supplement to the Overland China Mail, No. 237 of 12th June, 1861.

[162] According to Dr. W. H. Medhurst's translation of this rare work, for a copy of which, rescued from the last great conflagration at Canton, we are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Wylie, the portion especially referring to this runs as follows: "The mulberry ground having been supplied with silk-worms, the people descended from the hills and dwelt in the plains," (p. 91,) and further on, "their tribute baskets were filled with black silks and checkered sarsenets" (p. 96). See Ancient China, [Chinese character(s)] The Shookin, or the Historical Classic. Being the most ancient authentic Records of the Annals of the Chinese Empire. Illustrated by later commentators. Translated by Dr. W. H. Medhurst, Sen. Shanghai, 1846.

[163] Thus Yuen-tschin in the third month (April of our calendar), Chay and Yuen in the fourth month (May), Gae-tschin in the fifth month (June), Sai in the sixth month (July), Han-tschin in the seventh month (August), Sze-tschan in the ninth month (October), and Hau in the tenth month (November).

[164] The value of a tael, as already stated, varies from 6_s._ to 6_s._ 6_d._ It is estimated that a bale of silk, until it is shipped at Shanghai for England, has cost from L80 to L100 sterling.

[165] The word _Cha_ is, however, used by the Chinese to designate not the tea plant alone, but every description of _Camelia_.

[166] Arabian travellers who visited China in the 9th century, A.D. 850, speak thus early of tea, as of a beverage in universal use. According to Kaempfer tea was introduced from China into Japan about A.D. 519, by a native prince named Daeme, who, during his residence in China, had learned its invaluable properties. The Japanese, however, do not drink their tea as an infusion, but grind the leaves into powder, pour hot water upon them, and stir them with a bamboo-stick till they are thoroughly mingled together, when they swallow the decoction and the powder together, as is done with coffee in some parts of Asia.

[167] The term "Bohea" is in fact only a corruption of the Chinese Wu-yi, which again is derived from Wu-i-kien, a well-known Chinese divinity.

[168] In Java, where the tea plant has been cultivated for a series of years, the mountain region from 4000 to 5000 feet above the sea, and with an average temperature of from 58 deg.1 to 73 deg.7, Fahr., has been found best adapted for the growth of the plant.

[169] The first scientific arrangement of the tea plant according to dried specimens was made in 1753 by Linnaeus, who in his _Species Plantarum_ included among these one species, which he called _Thea Sinensis_. But by the time the second edition of his renowned work made its appearance in 1762, Linnaeus found himself compelled to make two species of it, and to assign them the names by which they are known to the present day. The first living tea plant was brought to Europe in October, 1763, by a ship captain named Ekeberg, and planted in the Botanic Garden of Upsala.

[170] According to Fortune ("A Residence among the Chinese." London, 1857. Murray), the various sorts of tea have added to them from two to four spoonfuls of a mixture in which the plant _ma-ki-holy_ largely enters, as also indigo and pulverized _gypsum_, in order to increase the green tinge of the leaves.

[171] A picul, 133-1/3 lbs., of these leaves costs on the average 15 to 18 dollars, though it occasionally ranges as high as 30 dollars.

[172] In the year 1859, the exports into England were 30,988,598 lbs. (viz. 22,292,702 lbs. black, and 8,695,896 lbs. green), out of a total export of 55,328,731 lbs. Within the same period 19,952,147 lbs. went to the United States, 1,879,584 lbs. to Australia; to Hong-kong, and other ports along the coast of China, 1,261,347 lbs.; to Montreal, 510,600 lbs., and to the entire continent of Europe 736,455 lbs.

[173] Some experiments on a small scale were made with the _Sorgho_ at Aquileia near Goerz, by M. Karl Ritter, a well-known merchant and sugar refiner, of Trieste. We were shown samples of refined sugar, extracted from the _Sorgho_, which promised the best results. A large quantity of seeds which were sent a year ago to one of the members of the _Novara_ Expedition by M. de Montigny, had been made use of to institute a series of experiments in cultivation, in those parts of the Empire, the climatic conditions of which promised to be most favourable for the growth of the _Sorgho_.

[174] During our stay at Shanghai we also made inquiries as to an alleged new species of potato, concerning which there have been current for years such contradictory accounts in the European and American journals, that the foreign community of Shanghai was beset with inquiries from all parts of the world, begging for more accurate information as to this newly discovered tuber, which promised to supply a much-needed substitute for the apparently effete, worn-out, disease-smitten potato of Peru. No one, however, could furnish us with the slightest information on the subject, and ultimately it became apparent that the rumours hitherto current were founded on an erroneous impression. It would seem, according to the opinion of Mr. Fortune, that the rumour first arose from mistaking for a new sort of potato, the _Calladium esculentum_, which is quite commonly exposed for sale in the streets of Shanghai, and the small tubers of which, both in flavour and external appearance, resemble those of the potato, when, without taking the slightest further trouble to inquire into the matter, the pretended new discovery, fraught with such important results for the poorer classes, was duly trumpeted to the entire world. In no part of China hitherto accessible was there at the time of our visit any other description of potato in use than the common Peruvian. Officers of the English and American navies, who at the time of the first Peace of Tien-Tsin were eating potatoes in the Gulf of Petcheli, assured us that they were precisely identical with those that have so long been acclimatized in Europe. Of edible tubers there are at Shanghai, besides potatoes, the yam (_Dioscorea_ sp.) and the Yucca (_Jatropha_ sp.).

[175] The following is the process as we observed it: the bamboo strips are first soaked for a considerable period in water, after which they are peeled, and again saturated with lime-water, until they are perfectly flexible. After this, they are converted, according to the method in use at that special locality, either by water power or hand labour, into a fluid of a pap-like viscosity, after which it is boiled till it has attained the requisite fineness and consistency for conversion into paper.

[176] These consist chiefly of cotton and woollen goods of every description, steel cutlery, iron-ware, glass, clocks, watches, musical clocks, tin-ware, &c.

[177] The quantity of home-grown opium, chiefly produced in the province of Yun-nan, cannot be accurately ascertained, as the returns are not made at certain points; but the quantity must fall far short of the amount imported from India.

[178] According to MacCulloch's Commercial Dictionary, opium had been introduced into China and India by the commencement of the 16th century by Mahometan merchants, and it sounds like an apology when the learned and patriotic author, in treating of the part taken by England in the much-to-be-lamented traffic in this noxious drug, adds by way of palliation--"A century and a half before the English had _anything_ whatever to do with its _cultivation_."--(Latest edition, p. 939.)

[179] Only a certain number (originally twelve) of wealthy Chinese merchants, "Hong," were permitted by law to trade with foreigners at Canton. They had not only to account to Government for all duties and taxes, but were likewise responsible for the good behaviour of the strangers!

[180] It is a coincidence worthy of notice, that simultaneously with the rise of the opium trade with China, the importation of slaves into America began to increase, and that European commerce in these two infamous traffics seemed to be ever increasing and gaining ground in Eastern Asia and in America! At the end of last century the number of slaves in the Southern States of the Union was little greater than that of opium-smokers in China: at present the number of the former is about 4,000,000, and the latter may be put at about the same figure; the latter, slaves of their own intemperate passions,--the former, of the covetousness and cold calculating selfishness of their masters. The opium question and the slave question--these two seem destined to be solved simultaneously!

[181] A very similar result is arrived at by MacCulloch, who calculates that the Company cleared 7_s._ 6_d._ per lb. on opium, which they bought by their agents from the Bengal ryots at 3_s._ 6_d._ per pound, and retailed at 11_s._ per pound.

[182] There are indeed smokers who smoke their two, four, five, and even eight drachms per diem, but these are solitary instances, while the very costliness of the article forbids the use of the narcotic to the great mass of the population, except in the very smallest quantities.

[183] One poem of the Chinese Imperial Pretender, which is not included in Dr. Medhurst's collection of the writings published by the insurgent press at Nankin, and for a copy of which we have to thank Mr. Meadows, Government interpreter at Shanghai, has lately been translated by our learned countryman, Dr. Pfitzmaier. The splendidly got up binding of this little book is of a golden yellow on the title page, and red on the reverse; the river Yang-tse-kiang appears to pay homage to the Tai-ping, whose residence it surrounds. The title printed on the exterior of the wrapper runs as follows: "Imperial announcements in theses upon the words of the Heavenly Father, the Most High Ruler." The title within is: "Ten poems upon Supreme Felicity," although these so-called poems are simply strophes, never exceeding four verses of seven feet. The writing bears date the number _Kuei-hao_ (50), corresponding to A.D. 1853, the third year of the reign of the Heavenly King, Tai-ping. The whole production is, if that be possible, yet more bombastic, unintelligible, and stupid than Chinese poems usually are to Western readers.

[184] Between February and September, 1855, there were executed in Canton 70,000 persons all told. Many of the rebel leaders were, in conformity with the _penal laws_, hewed in numerous pieces while yet living; a certain Kausin in 108! See K. F. Neumann's History of Eastern Asia, from the first Chinese war to the Treaty of Pekin, 1840-1860. Leipzig, Engelmann, 1861.

[185] We extract from the _London and China Telegraph_ of 31st March, 1862, the following severe but just criticism on this gentleman, whose letter, which we also quote, shows him to be a person of but limited education:--"Even the Rev. J. Roberts, who, as our readers are aware, has lived with the rebels at Nankin, and has to his discredit defended their conduct in the strongest possible manner, has at length discovered that they are nothing better than robbers and murderers. This change of opinion in a man who on all occasions so confidently urged the claims of the Tai-pings, arose from a very simple cause:--he at length suffered, personally, from their barbarity. A servant to whom he was attached was killed before his eyes; and considering his life in danger, he fled to Shanghai, and wrote the following letter, dated 22nd January, 1862, reprobating the conduct of his former friends:--'From having been the religious teacher of Hung Sow-chuen in 1847, and hoping that good--religious, commercial, and political--would result to the nation from his elevation, I have hitherto been a friend to his revolutionary movement, sustaining it by word and deed, as far as a missionary consistently could, without vitiating his higher character as an ambassador of Christ. But after living among them fifteen months, and closely observing their proceedings--political, commercial, and religious--I have turned over entirely a new leaf, and am now as much opposed to them, for good reasons, I think, as I was ever in favour of them. Not that I have aught personally against Hung Sow-chuen, he has been exceedingly kind to me. But I believe him to be a crazy man, entirely unfit to rule, without any organized government, nor is he, with his coolie-kings, capable of organizing a government of equal benefit to the people of even the old Imperial Government. He is violent in his temper, and lets his wrath fall heavily upon his people, making a man or woman 'an offender for a word,' and ordering such instantly to be murdered without 'judge or jury.' He is opposed to commerce, having had more than a dozen of his own people murdered since I have been here, for no other crime than trading in the city, and has promptly repelled every foreign effort to establish lawful commerce here among them, whether inside of the city or out. His religious toleration and multiplicity of chapels turn out to be a farce, of no avail in the spread of Christianity, worse than useless. It only amounts to a machinery for the promotion and spread of his own political religion, making himself equal with Jesus Christ, who, with God the Father, himself, and his own son constitute one Lord over all! Nor is any missionary, who will not believe in his divine appointment to this high equality, and promulgate his political religion accordingly, safe among these rebels, in life, servants, or property. He told me soon after I arrived that if I did not believe in him, I would perish, like the Jews did for not believing in the Saviour. But little did I then think that I should ever come so near it, by the sword of one of his own miscreants, in his own capital, as I did the other day. Kan-Wang, moved by his elder brother (literally a coolie at Hong-kong) and the devil, without the fear of God before his eyes, did, on Monday the 13th inst., come into the house in which I was living, then and there most wilfully, maliciously, and with malice aforethought, murder one of my servants with a large sword in his own hand in my presence, without a moment's warning or any just cause. And after having slain my poor harmless, helpless boy, he jumped on his head most fiend-like and stamped it with his foot; notwithstanding I besought him most entreatingly from the commencement of his murderous attack to spare my poor boy's life. And not only so, but he insulted me myself in every possible way he could think of, to provoke me to do or say something which would give him an apology, as I then thought and I think yet, to kill me, as well as my dear boy, whom I loved like a son. He stormed at me, seized the bench on which I sat with the violence of a madman, threw the dregs of a cup of tea in my face, seized hold of me personally, and shook me violently, struck me on my right cheek with his open hand; then, according to the instruction of my King for whom I am ambassador, I turned the other, and he struck me quite a sounder blow on my left cheek with his right hand, making my ear ring again; and then perceiving that he could not provoke me to offend him in word or deed, he seemed to get the more outrageous, and stormed at me like a dog, to be gone out of his presence. 'If they will do these things in a green tree, what will they do in the dry?'--to a favourite of Teen Wang's, who can trust himself among them, either as a missionary or a merchant? I then despaired of missionary success among them, or any good coming out of the movement--religious, commercial, or political--and determined to leave them, which I did on Monday, Jan. 20th, 1862.' Mr. Roberts adds that Kan-Wang had refused to give up his clothes, books, and journals, and that he had been left in a state of destitution. Most persons will agree that he fully deserves any amount of suffering that may be inflicted on him. Mr. Roberts has done his utmost to delude Europeans as to the true character of the Tai-pings; he has kept back some facts, has falsified others, and has acted throughout in a manner utterly inconsistent with his assumed character of a Christian missionary. On such conduct no comment can be too severe."

[186] Nankin accordingly is usually called now-a-days the "City of the Coolie-Kings."

[187] Very similar are the reports made by the English who, in Dec. 1858, accompanied Lord Elgin on his voyage of discovery up the Kiang, and remained a considerable period among the Tai-ping. "The tenets of their religion," says Mr. Laurence Oliphant (vide Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, vol. ii. p. 463), "consist of a singular jumbling of Jewish ordinances, Christian theology, and Chinese philosophy. Like the Jews in the Old Testament they wage wars of extermination, they live like the worst professing Christians, and they believe like--Chinese."

[188] The charges forwarded by the owners of the little _Meteor_ for towing, and which are calculated according to the draught of water of the ship towed, was as follows:--

+--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+
|Itinerary or |15 feet |15 to |17 to |18 to |19 ft. & |
|vice versa. |and under.|17 feet. |18 feet. |19 feet. |all beyond.|
+--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+
| | | | | | |
|From Shanghai |300 taels,|350 taels,|450 taels,|450 taels,|500 taels, |
|to Gutzlaff's |or |or |or |or |or |
|Island. |L90. |L105. |L135. |L135. |L150. |
| | | | | | |
|Shanghai to |150 taels,|175 taels,|200 taels,|225 taels,|250 taels, |
|Wusung. |or |or |or |or |or |
| |L45. |L52 10_s._|L60. |L62 10_s._|L75. |
| | | | | | |
|From Wusung |225 taels,|250 taels,|275 taels,|300 taels,|350 taels, |
|to Gutzlaff's |or |or |or |or |or |
|Island. |L62 10_s._|L75. |L82 10_s._|L90. |L105. |
+--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+

[189] Typhoon, or _Tei-fun_, a strong wind. While some authors derive this word from the Arabic _Tufan_, a violent wind, others see in it the giant _Typhos_ of Greek mythology, who was begotten by Tartarus of Earth, and from whom proceeded all that was disastrous and destructive. Whoever has experienced a typhoon will most readily acquiesce in the latter derivation.

[190] During this storm, we made the not uninteresting observation in a physiological point of view, that when the gale was at its worst, even the least hard-a-weather of us seemed quite free from sea-sickness, apparently the result of extreme excitement. For similar reasons, men who have been bitten by a snake, and who have had raw spirits administered as an antidote, seem able to take four or five times the quantity which they can on ordinary occasions.

XVI.

The Island of Puynipet.

18th September, 1858.

Native boats in sight.--A pilot comes on board.--Communications
of a white settler.--Another pilot.--Fruitless attempts to tack
for the island.--Roankiddi Harbour.--Extreme difficulty in
effecting a landing with the boats.--Settlement of Rei.--Dr.
Cook.--Stroll through the forest.--Excursions up the Roankiddi
River.--American missionaries.--Visit from the king of the
Roankiddi tribe.--Kawa as a beverage.--Interior of the royal
abode.--The Queen.--Mode of living, habits and customs of the
natives.--Their religion and mode of worship.--Their festivals
and dances.--Ancient monumental records and their probable
origin.--Importance of these in both a historical and geological
point of view.--Return on board.--Suspicious conduct of the
white settler.--An asylum for contented delinquents.--Under
weigh for Australia.--Belt of calms.--Simpson Island.--"It must
be a ghost!"--Bradley Reef.--A Comet.--The Salmon Islands.--
Rencontre with the natives of Malayta.--In sight of Sikayana.

While yet, on 16th September, 1858, five or six knots distant from the island of Puynipet,[191] first discovered in 1828 by the Russian Admiral Luetke, and just as we found ourselves off what is called "Middle Harbour," we remarked a boat of European construction making for the frigate. Two hours later it came alongside, with four natives and a white man, the latter of whom came on deck and offered his services to the Commodore as pilot. He proved to be a Yankee named Alexander Tellet, who had lived 20 years on the island as smith and carpenter, to which he added the functions of pilot for the harbour in which he lived. Presently we were surrounded by a considerable number of natives in elegant canoes streaked with red, and formed of hollowed-out trunks of trees with outriggers, which have very peculiar scaffold-like supports, so that there is a kind of platform formed in the centre of the canoe, whereon the master usually seats himself, but which serves on occasion for festive meetings, and even for a small dance! The sails, made of mats, are triangular, the most acute angle being confined between two long bamboos, while a third serves as a mast, the whole capable of being shifted to either end of the boat by one of the crew, according to the direction of the wind. While some were doing what they could in their small boats to keep within the speed of the frigate, though we were going pretty fast, just as parasites make fast to the shark, others followed us a little distance, like dolphins, those faithful companions of ships, as far as the nearest harbour. With the exception of a short apron of cocoa-palm leaves, the natives were quite naked, and seemed pretty well made. On their heads they wore a sort of projecting pent-hat, also of palm-leaves, obviously intended to shield the eyes from the vertical rays of the sun, and in form most resembling those lamp shades which old men or youths with weak eyesight are with us in the habit of using to ward off the full glare of artificial light. Among the natives who favoured us with their escort, there were two who from their personal grace, their light colour of skin, and thoroughly European cast of features, especially attracted our attention. They were the sons of an Englishman named Hadley, who had been for many years resident on Mudock island, E. of Puynipet, where he supported himself by fishing and pilotage, and had married a native woman. Shortly before our arrival, Hadley had started with several hundred pounds of tortoise-shell for Hong-kong, whence he intended to sail for England. He had intrusted his two sons to the care of a European settler, who succeeded him as pilot on Mudock island. According to all appearance, however, Hadley had little intention of returning to this island, notwithstanding the family tie that should have bound him to it.

As we were coasting along the west side of the island about 1 to 17 miles from the reefs, Tellet was overwhelmed with questions on every hand and on every possible subject, and among other subjects of information we presently found that the chief intercourse of foreign ships was carried on with Roankiddi or Lee Harbour, some 15 or 20 miles distant, and Metetemai or Foul-weather Harbour, which lies six or seven miles E. of Roankiddi. During the N.E. trade (November to April), from 50 to 60 American whalers put in to Puynipet to take in wood and water, and fresh provisions, chiefly yams, taro, sweet potato, poultry, and pigs. Many ships, moreover, bound from Sydney for China prefer at that season the voyage through the Pacific to passing round the south of Australia, and thence through the Straits of Sunda, or the yet more dangerous passage through Torres Straits, and usually make a tolerably fast run. Thus the Swedish corvette _Eugenie_, on her voyage round the globe, performed in November, 1852, the astonishing feat of making the passage from Sydney to Hong-kong, 5000 miles, in the unprecedentedly short space of 37 days!

The number of aborigines on this island, which is about 60 miles in circumference, was estimated by Tellet at about 2000. Formerly it was as many as 5000,[192] but the small-pox had since then committed fearful ravages among the population. The circumstances under which this frightful scourge was first introduced into Puynipet, throw considerable light upon the history of the spread of that disease, as well as much useful information upon the question of vaccination.

In 1854, the English barque _Delta_ arrived at Roankiddi Harbour, with one of her crew ill with small-pox. The white settlers then on the island, who were well acquainted with the virulence of the disease, implored the native chief to forbid the captain's remaining, and insist on his putting to sea forthwith. The latter, however, seemed determined to leave the patient on the island. When he learned the hostile feeling of the population to himself and the crew, and found that they would neither take his sick man off his hands, nor supply himself and ship's company with provisions, he availed himself of the silence and obscurity of night to deposit the sick man on the shore with all his property, and at daybreak made off under full sail. Next morning the natives found the unfortunate wretch stretched suffering and utterly helpless on the strand, while the barque was no longer in sight. Hostility to the captain was now converted into sympathy with, and active compassion for, the sick man; a couch was prepared in an adjacent hut, and as much attention lavished on him as was possible under the circumstances; but his effects, consisting chiefly of linen and upper clothing, were speedily appropriated by the thievish natives. A few weeks later the small-pox broke out with frightful violence, and raged five months with undiminished severity all over the island. Almost every one of the natives was attacked, and of 5000 inhabitants 3000 succumbed to the virulence of the epidemic. The sailor, however, with whom first originated this terrible fatality, completely recovered. His clothing, scattered through every part of the island, had no doubt essentially contributed to the speedy diffusion of the malady. Of the thirty white settlers, who had all been inoculated, only one was attacked, and he soon got well again. In August, 1854, the destroyer disappeared almost as suddenly as he came, and has since then spared Puynipet a second visit, but wherever one goes the traces of the disease are visible in the faces and on the bodies of the natives.

While picking up this information, we were getting nearer and nearer to Roankiddi Harbour on the S.W. of the island, and Tellet now stated he could not undertake to conduct us further, as there resided a pilot in the harbour whom he was not unwilling to give a job to. Another boat was now approaching the frigate, which had on board the regular pilot of Roankiddi Harbour, a Virginia Negro, named Johnson. Our man Tellet now took his leave, and set out in his boat on his return to Middle Harbour. Many a longing glance did we cast at the spot, where for the first time we were to be privileged to examine the wonders of the coral beds of the South Sea. For Puynipet is one of the finest examples known of a lofty island of the great ocean regularly hemmed in by wall-like reefs, by far the majority of the other islands being mere low "atolls." Unfortunately the breeze was unsteady and very light; the sky looked so gloomy and threatening that we had to haul off again from the island, and steer to the S.E., so as not to approach the reef too closely during the night. In the morning we once more neared the island, under the influence of a gentle west wind, having run 15 miles out during the night. Gradually the small wooded or rocky islets hove in sight again, which, stretching northward from the great central mass, 2860 feet in height, surround the lofty island like a ring, inside of the wall-reef, which encompasses it at a distance of from one to two miles. We tacked about during the whole day with light variable winds from the west, and by evening had got sufficiently near our anchorage, that every one expected by a last tack to fetch it ere night set in, when the breeze suddenly shifted, died away, and once more compelled us to withdraw to a safe distance from the island, and pass the night under easy sail. At length, on 18th September, a fresh leading wind from the westward promised to carry us in without further delay.