RECOLLECTIONS OF A THREE YEARS' RESIDENCE IN CHINA. RECOLLECTIONS A THREE YEARS' RESIDENCE IN CHINA; INCLUDING PEREGRINATIONS IN SPAIN, MOROCCO, EGYPT, INDIA, AUSTRALIA, AND NEW ZEALAND. BY W. TYRONE POWER, D.A.C.G., AUTHOR 0? "NEW ZEALAND 8KF.TCIIES.' 1 LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. $ublifjcr in ^rtoiuarji to $er fftnjratg, MDCCCLIII. PREFACE. READERS to be or not to be I should barely be justified in allowing your attention to be engaged in the perusal of the following pages, which a specious title or a love of travel may have aroused, without referring to the circumstances under which they were written, and giving some explanation why they are sent " into this world scarce half made up, and that so lamely." They ought, and were intended, to be finished sketches taken from the rough draught of my Journal. Owing, however, to a characteristic feature b vi PREFACE. in my penmanship illegibility I have been obliged to depend mainly on my memory, which the din and turmoil of savage warfare in the wilds of Kaffraria (whence I now write) has somewhat unsettled, and where no cyclopaedias or books of reference can be invited to its support. The Holy Writ, Shakspere, Cervantes, and Milton are the only specimens of type I have seen this many a month, and as the countries I chiefly treat of barely belong to the world of their days, it will be readily understood that their assistance has been of a restricted nature. I may add, that my leisure moments have been few and uncertain, and my tent, my only study, is pitched in a scene more wild and uncouth than any- thing I have yet described. Some omissions have been rendered necessary for lack of an atlas to correct or to recall places imperfectly remembered ; and I should hesitate to send forth these lucubrations, were it not for the reflection, that perchance that which has occupied me during many PREFACE. Vll a weary hour, may also help to while away pleasingly, and not unprofitably, the leisure time of some of those " lucky dogs " who live at home, yet love to cruise dreamily in their arm-chairs to the far corners of the earth. To such the rough scraps of a traveller's portfolio often have more interest than the finished paintings of a master. W. TYRONE POWER Buffalo Mouth, British Kaffraria, 31st December, 1851. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. "A darned hot location" "Natchy" and Gibraltar The Black Levanter Mosquitos and the consequences El Meneo Temptations to travel El Occidente, and its consequences Sailing craft and steam tugs The Monopolist : his antecedents and his prospects A pilgrimage to Mecca by steam CHAPTER II. Tangier A wary traveller Shops and streets Simi Benoliel Marriage a la mode de Barbarie The Hebrew maidens Bou Salem Ben Ali Bar el Berode Moorish soldiery An equivocal compliment The Soc Santons -------12 CHAPTER III. Christian disabilities The city gates The Douars Hamet the Henchman The Castra station Rift' robbers The Fondak A defile in the Atlas Tetuan The Riff tribe A wild country The clans Ex- clusiveness - - 23 63 CONTENTS. Page CHAPTEE IV. The gates of Tetuan Christian docility The city Jewish population Martyne and its fortress Moorish gardens The Caid Hash-Hash Financial experiments Return to Tangier The Mosque The Courier boat The Straits A Spanish Leander Simi's souvenir ------- 32 CHAPTER V. " The Rock" Streets and market-place Various popu- lation Contrabandistas English travellers Value of the fortress Picturesque and romantic views The neighbouring country Smugglers and smuggling Roads - 44 CHAPTER VI. Los Paisanos The Bolero and Seguidilla Spanish character The bull fights Abajo la lente La Funcion Que Toro ! An effective charge Se villa and Montes Los Banderilleros El Matador " Un P de Vaca" Driving the bulls from the mountains Good quarters - 56 CHAPTER VII. The Oriental steamers and their passengers Algiers The north coast of Africa Valetta The fleet The priests and churches Alexandria Donkey rides in search of the antiques Atyeh ; its architecture Oriental discipline The Nile - - 68 CHAPTER VIH. Boulak Cairo The pyramids of Gizeh " Bucksheesh" The valley of the Nile A hot day's work Guinness's " Portare " Arab steeds Taste for cheap literature A scene in the Desert Cold and heat Suez Aden - 77 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTEE IX. Bombay Government schools Education of the native population Fakir village Devotees Superstition and licentiousness Duty of the rulers of India Remarkable contrasts Change of the monsoons The Straits of Malacca A shark and turtle fight Singa- pore The archipelago - - 85 CHAPTER X. The Lymung Passage The Bay of Hong-Kong First impressions Heat and damp Mortality *' Que diable faisions nous dans cette galdre 1 " A Chinese Alsatia Pylangs and their tricks Pirates Appear- ance of the Chinamen - 95 CHAPTER XI. Leave Hong-Kong An energetic botanist Signs of a coming storm The typhoon A sailor's aversion to whistling Namoa Opium clippers The opium trade Intruders in the market The war junks and the clipper The fate of the junks - - 105 CHAPTER XII. Fishing population The coast Fishing craft The Bay of Am oy Junks and commerce Chinese seamanship Propitiation of the deities John Chinaman's valour Profits and risks in junk ventures - - 119 CHAPTER XIII. Koo Lung Soo Appearance of the island Extraordinary sickness Death a household god Causes of un- healthiness Beauty of the scenery Economy of soil The rainy season - 127 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. Subsistence of the people Chang Choo Foo Trade of Amoy The tea trade The people of Fokien Nervous terror of the Fanquis Village misogynists Sooya Remarkable instance of truculence A fine old Chinese gentleman An unlucky shot Habits and appearance of the people of Fokien - - 134 CHAPTER XV. Bhuddist religion English tombs Religion of the pro- vince Confucius Christian Chinese Spanish padres Soldiers of the Cross Chinese persecution Padre Zea A missionary on his travels Toleration Pro- testant missionaries The pirates and the magician Chinese superstition Bhuddism - 149 CHAPTER XVI. Koo Lung Soo Theatricals Entertainments to the mandarins The Hai-Quan The Tartar admiral The Taoutai A burnt tongue A Chinese entertainment 162' CHAPTER XVII. Scenery in the environs of Amoy Bhuddist shrines The mandarin and the citizen The farmer The wives and daughters Fanqui hideousness The tombs Chinese " Truands " Their king Organization Temple of the Tien-How The Queen of Heaven Priests and ascetics Gardens He-ang-Ho So- Tching- Kong Chinese Esthetics Bhudda - - 173 CHAPTER XVIII. The city of Amoy The anchor Streets and population Punch The Drama Plays and play actors Music The suburbs The Citadel Chinese bureaucrats A mandarin's court Punishments Private war The Triad Society Conspiracy - - - 187 CONTENTS. Xlll Page CHAPTER XIX. Festival of the New Year Festival of Ancestors Kite flying Chinese characteristics Gambling and intem- perance Opium, its uses and abuses Heu-Nat-Se's " Counterblast" English and Chinese philanthropy - 200 CHAPTER XX. Evacuation of Koo Lung Soo Chinese soldiery Suffer- ings of the garrison A Hindoo suicide Hong Kong again Improvements Trade Requirements of the trade Anecdote of opium speculation English flun- keyism War with China - - 209 CHAPTER XXI. 'Cuteness of Chinese diplomatists Fast boats The scenery Fortifications and batteries Canton river boats Fast crabs and scrambling dragons The flower-boats River population Canton Hog lane and its frequenters Customs obstructions Citadel of Canton - 223 CHAPTER XXII. Turkish opium All aback Cricket under difficulties Bay of Chin-Choo Chusan Archipelago Scenery of Chusan Soil and farming Productions Land and rents Taxes Population Ting-Hae Excursions Luxurious sporting Making oneself at home - - 239 CHAPTER XXHI. Cantonment Chinese fortifications Popularity of the red devils The Brigadier-General The climate of Chusan The French ambassador Garrison theatricals The two Figaros An actor of all work Figaro in "an awful fix" _____ _ 255 XIV CONTENTS. Pge CHAPTER XXIV. Hell's gate Tching-Hae The Tsee-Kee Inland navi- gation Ice-houses Ningpo The Consulate The city The streets and walls The green tea trade Chusan, an English settlement Trade of Ning-po Mr. Thorn, the Consul - - 265 CHAPTER XXV. Party to Tien-tung The canal boat Journey in a chair The monastery The temples Punch again Mid- night mass Bhuddist ceremonials and idolatry The lakes A rebellion The Tartars caught at Ningpo - 278 CHAPTER XXVI. Pooto temples and shrines An order to move Leave Chusan The Mui river Foo Chow Foo Chinese Musselmans Small-footed women Trade - - 291 CHAPTER XXVII. Formosa Cannibalism Quilon and Chusan Koo Lung Soo again The new Consulate Farewell to China - 300 CHAPTER XXVIII. Wretched accommodation Straits of Banca Straits of Sunda Aujer Point Love birds Intercourse with the Indian Archipelago Piratical fleet Trade Go- vernment countenance Straits government The Southern Cross Bass's Straits Fogs and gales Settlers in the Straits Aborigines Port Jackson - 305 CHAPTER XXIX. The capital of the Southern hemisphere The wool trade Captain MacArthur Minute of the Privy Coun- cil Obstacles to colonial progress Sheep farming Transportation Emigration - - 318 CONTENTS. XV Page CHAPTER XXX. Wealth of nations Colonial connections Value of colo- nial trade Australian and American trade compared Boiling down Trade with China Wine growing Want of labour abroad Excess at home Waste and want- - - 328 CHAPTER XXXI. Intercolonial trade Grazing grounds Financial embar- rassments Peculiar advantages of New Zealand Homelike aspect Mountains, plains, and rivers Animal life The seal hunters Birds The Kaka His eccentricities Depraved tastes Forest trees The Parasite - - 338 CHAPTER XXXII. The natives The Maorie girls Internal 'government of the tribes Liberty and equality Maorie historical traditions Religion Taipo The Tamiva The pranks of Taipo Witchcraft The " Tapu "Sacred character of the chiefs Refinement, and moral cha- racter - - 351 CHAPTER XXXIII. Causes of Cannibalism Effects of famine on character- Decrease of the native population Representative institutions Conflicting interests Native docility Commerce of the Pacific Selection of emigrants Prospects of success Waiters upon Providence " It is content that makes a man rich" - 364 PEREGRINATIONS, &c. &c. CHAPTER I. GIBEALTAE AND BARBAEY. " A DARNED HOT LOCATION " " NATCHY " AND GIBRALTAR THE BLACK LEVANTER MOSQUITOS AND THE CONSEQUENCES EL MENEO TEMPTATIONS TO TRAVEL EL OCCIDENTS, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES SAILING CRAFT AND STEAM TUGS THE MONOPOLIST : HIS ANTECEDENTS AND HIS PROSPECTS A PIL- GRIMAGE TO MECCA BY STEAM. " TALK of heat, straunger ! guess you were never at Natchy under the hill ? now that is a darned hot location. Bile down all creation and you won't make a hotter, / calkilate ! Why in the dog-day weather you'd be sweated down finer than the small eend of nauthin wittled off/' So spake a lank Mississippian to me, one day when I was grumbling at the intensity of the July heat on the " Father of Rivers," but, " I guess" that, if he had been at Gibraltar in the dog- days, he might have acknowledged to an atmosphere 2 THE BLACK LEVANTER. even more oppressive than that of the notorious " Natchy ;" that is, supposing that my acquaintance, who was one of those " yaller flowers of the forest," who describe themselves as brought up " to live in the Government purchase, eat raw bar and buffalo, and drink out of the Mississippi," could be induced to admit that any climate could be hotter, colder, wetter, drier, healthier, finer, or compare in any other respect with that of the country " which beats all creation." The Gibraltar summer weather is indeed swelter- ing, caused, not so much by the sun's rays, as by their reverberation from the bare rock, which becomes almost scorching, and radiates an oven- like heat which is quite stifling. This is rendered still more oppressive when an east wind, or " Black Levanter," prevails, blowing against the back of the rock, capping it with dense clouds, and leaving the unfortunate sojourners on the west side quite becalmed and gasping for dear life, like fish out of water. Then there are the mosquitos : these little winged, stinging, singing pests are the plague of one's life. Over- come by the heat, one scarcely gets languidly seated with a book, when " whiz, whiz,' a tiny fellow seats himself on your nose ; you aim a slap at him, that almost blackens your eye, and with the only satisfac- tion of hearing the execrable little torment go piping MOSQUITOS. 3 off undamaged. After a few groans in the spirit and the flesh, you reseat yourself, and with a determina- tion to suffer stoically, you get through a couple of pages, and are deeply interested, when Oh, deuce take it ! you jump up, and slash right and left, like the " Knight of La Mancha" among the pig -skins ; two of the tormentors are phlebotomising your ears, there are three bites on your wrists swollen up like miniature molehills, and half a dozen of the small villains have inserted themselves above your socks and are pasturing away on your ankles with ravenously depraved appetites. This explosion effervesces like the last, and you settle down for the third time, with martyr-like resig- nation : scratching only makes the irritation greater, resistance insures you more hurt than the enemy, while, for every one killed, a hundred rise triumph- ant, and blow their shrill bugles to the charge ; a sound more dread than the answering horn of the spectre knight to Marmion, or Tancred's warrior blast in Armida's enchanted garden, or any other un- pleasant sound that was ever imagined or described. The greatest human endurance has its limit, patience will not last for ever, and the philosophy of all the Stoics would not enable one to hold out long against the attacks of these multitudinous assailants ; so the book is thrown down, and you rush out of the house as if pursued by fiends, and not imaginary ones. Ay, B2 4 TEMPTATIONS TO TRAVEL. Dios mio ! it is fortunate there is some consolation in the midst of one's afflictions. There are the dear little Spanish girls ! What eyes ! what tournure ! what expression ! the grace of Juno, and the walk ! But who can describe the walk of an Andaluza ? " Vera incessu patuit Dea" (Pater Eneas had an eye in his head). Venus herself, in the groves of Cythera, walked not with more voluptuous grace than these dark-eyed ninas, as they sail along (andar meneando), flirting the fan, coquettishly arranging the mantilla in changing and ever-graceful drapery, nor losing the opportunity to dart an " ojeado," a lightning glance to a favoured admirer. By this preface, or prelude, or peroration, I beg to make my readers aware that the scene is laid at Gibraltar ; the time of year, July ; the weather screechingly hot, and that owing to this and the mos- quitos, and sundry causes of ennui, a change of scene and habits was, for a time, highly desirable, not to say necessary. The opposite coast of Barbary, with its rugged mountains, losing themselves dimly and darkly in the distance, seemed to promise more coolness and greater variety at this season than the brown and arid sierras of Andalucia ; so thither I determined to bend my steps, though Africa might naturally be supposed to be the very last place one would select for a pleasant tour in the dog-days. TEMPTATIONS TO TRAVEL. 5 My light baggage was soon packed, leave of absence obtained, and everything ready to sail, when round went the wind to the westward ; and I had nothing left for it but to wait patiently, prophesy every evening that the wind would change before morning, and on the morrow find that I had been slightly out in my calculation. But who at Gibraltar could complain of a west wind ? It comes fresh and pure from the Atlantic, and quickens the lately -stagnant waters of the bay into brightly-glancing wavelets, waking it into life with fishing-boats in pursuit of mackarel or bonito, and trim yachts dancing in and out among the varied shipping, from the smug coaster to the huge three-decked leviathan. Latticed windows, too, and jalousies are thrown open to admit the refreshing breeze, affording glimpses of fair neighbours, or permitting telescopic flirtations with more distant ones. ' The rattling castanet, soft tinkling lute, and distant sound of song, borne on the wings of the balm-breath- ing gale, made night most lovely : now sounding gaily from the terraces and gardens in the upper part of the town, then swelling gradually up in echoing cadences from the feluccas in the bay, or the more remote orange-grove. At such a time I have often listened and gazed by the hour at the tall mass of rock, looming black and heavy against the star-lit sky, with here and there a twinkling light on its dark 6 SAILING CRAFT surface, and I have wondered where, on its precipitous sides, it harboured all that harmony of sound, of song and mirth, so pleasantly contrasting with its pic- turesque ruggedness. The mind, imbued with the foreign and romantic aspect of the scene, is startled by the familiar Saxon sounds " All's well," from the sentries, taken up from post to post, and accompanied by the tinkling bells on board the men-of-war, or the clash of arms of relieving guards. The "black Levanter" soon returned, and released the fleet of vessels that a week of westerly winds had prevented from getting through the Straits. There were curiously-rigged Greek misticos and polacres from the Morea and Asia Minor, lumbering corn-laden Russians from Odessa and Taganrog, graceful lateen- sailed feluccas with Catalan wine from Barcelona, to be cooked into " claret" at Bordeaux, or with wines from Malaga, to be converted into " Nutty Sherries " at Cadiz ; English fruit-clippers from Zante and Corfu, and smart Yankees from all parts of the inland sea ; but what one did not see, and which was much wanted there, was a grimy, stout little tug-boat panting and wheezing and hauling the wind-bound vessels through the Straits in spite of wind or current. I cannot comprehend why a speculation, so evidently good in both a public and private point of view, has never been adopted. In the narrow Straits they would be in constant demand, as there are almost always vessels AND STEAM-TUGS. 7 detained either at Cadiz or Gibraltar, and some of them with perishable cargoes of fruit, which will not bear delay, or of grain, which by such detention is deteriorated, and may lose its market In company with this large fleet I set off in a Sar- dinian felucca bound for Tangier and Salee, the scene of Robinson Crusoe's captivity, and which one can scarcely fancy, even now, other than the retreat of long-bearded, large-turbaned corsairs. We careered through the harbour with a fine breeze, which abandoned us off Cabrita Point, where we lay rolling about in the hot sun, for five or six mortal hours. Where was the steam-tug then ? a puff from her steam-pipe would have relieved the anxieties of many a skipper, who found himself drifting back into the bay, or towards the rocky point which has been the destroyer of many a stout ship. I killed the time in munching Muscatel grapes and water-melons, in reading the rascalities of that illus- trious picaro " Guzman de Alfarache," and in con- fabulating with a rich old Moor, who, with his son and secretary, was returning from a business trip " to the Rock." The son, a remarkably handsome boy, of about twelve years of age, appeared to be got up for a fancy dress ball, in his little turban and showy robes. Not less remarkable was the secretary, a large power- fully-built fellow, with hard features and immense black beard. In colour, feature, and limb he resem- 8 " THE MONOPOLIST." bled a bronze model of " Roustan," the Moslem Hercules. The old Moor, who, from having the sole right to export cattle from Morocco, was called " the Mono- polist," was a curious instance of the sudden rise in the world, which not unfrequently occurs under the capricious and despotic favouritism of Oriental rulers. A few years previously he had been a penniless cattle- driver ; now he had amassed a considerable fortune by purchasing cattle in Barbary at about four dollars a- head, and exporting them for the use of the garrison and inhabitants at Gibraltar, at about four times the cost price. The inevitable consequence will be, a little sooner or later, that he will be shortened by the head, and his property confiscated by the Emperor, a ready and simple expedient for supplying de- ficiencies in the Budget, very much in vogue in Eastern Cabinets, though not tolerated by our own political economists. In the meantime the Monopolist goes on enjoying himself, undismayed by similar financial experiments made on his predecessors, and with a simplicity and dignity in his manners, which by no means betray the recent lowliness of his origin. This is one of the happy effects of a good strict despotism. There is but one chief, and all the rest are on a level ; a dead level one may call it ; for if, by chance, a head is raised above the rest, it is quickly lopped off. A PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA. 9 Governors and governed, pashas and peasants, rajahs and ryots, are on a par as regards education, refine- ment, and manners, and they change places with won- derful facility, so that, at first, one almost fancies Nature has given a special gift to Oriental barbers, fishermen, and butchers, to fill high places with propriety. Towards evening the wind freshened, and we scudded rapidly through the Straits till close to the celebrated old town of Tarifa, when we tacked across from the coast of Spain to the Barbary shore, and in a couple of hours had weathered Cape Malabat, and dropped our anchor in the bay of Tangier. The gates of the city close at sunset ; so it being too late to land when we arrived, we were transferred to a fine Genoese barque, which was waiting in the bay to receive a cargo of three hundred " hadjis/' or pilgrims, bound for Alexandria, on their way to Mecca. The precepts of the Mahometan religion require that every Moslem should, once at least in his life, make the pilgrimage either in person or by proxy to the holy city, to taste of the waters of Zem-Zem, kiss the Caaba, and count his beads in the consecrated mosque. Some make the pilgrimage several times, actuated either by religious zeal or mercantile enter prise, for Mecca, during the stay of the pilgrims, is one of the largest fairs in the world. B 3 10 A PILGRIMAGE TO The captain, who had had several similar cargoes in previous years, told me that if two-thirds of those who embarked at Tangier returned to it again from Mecca, it would be more than the usual average. The rest are victims of disease, privation, and the numerous accidents and dangers to which they are exposed in so long and so perilous a journey. Still how infinitely greater must have been the perils of their pilgrimage before ships and steamers lent their aid to assist the great body of the embryo hadjis in reaching their destination ! when the whole of Northern Africa had to be toiled through when months were spent in accomplishing that portion of the journey which is now easily traversed in a few days by sea. These pilgrimages, like the crusades in Europe, tended to keep alive a military spirit among the Moslems, and which will now be considerably abated by the decreased risks, and the absence of any neces- sity for personal prowess in the pilgrim. A railroad from Cairo to Suez, and from thence to Mecca, or steamers to Djidda, would probably be a profitable investment for money, and would at any rate save the pilgrims from all risk of Bedouins, and rob their enterprise of all its military character. To the orthodox Oriental potentates, the pashas of one or many tails, and other influential true believers, I MECCA BY STEAM. 11 recommend this undertaking as a propitiatory offering likely to be highly palatable to " the Prophet," more especially if proper attention be paid to the comforts of the hadjis by the issue of return tickets to and from Mecca at reduced prices, &c. . 1 2 TANGIER. CHAPTER II. TANGIER A WARY TRAVELLER SHOPS AND STREETS SIMI BENOLIEL MARRIAGE A LA MODE DE BARBARIE THE HEBREW MAIDENS BOU SALEM BEN ALI BAR EL BERODE MOORISH SOLDIERY AN EQUIVOCAL COMPLIMENT THE SOC SANTONS. NEXT morning I was up by daylight, and was very much pleased with the first view of Tangier and its neighbouring hills, on the slope of which it is pic- turesquely situated, flanked by two castles, and sur- rounded by high embattled walls. Numbers of trees springing up from the courts of the houses have a lively and pleasant effect, while high above all rises the graceful minaret of the principal mosque. I left my luggage under charge of the " capitan del puerto " till the " administrador " could pass it, and then, under guidance of a yellow-slippered, bare- legged Moor, I took my way to the " Fonda " of Solomo i Benoliel, where, for a consideration, hospi- tality is dispensed to Christian travellers. The old rogue was delighted to welcome me to Bar- bary, and after introducing me to his pretty wife and prettier daughter, conducted me to a room on the ter- A WARY TRAVELLER 13 race of the house. This being an elevated and com- manding situation, I immediately began to take advantage of it, to ascertain what objects of curiosity the neighbouring houses and terraces might present, but to the infinite dismay of my host, who explained that it was contrary to etiquette for men to look over the terrace walls, for fear their profane glances should light on any of the women unveiled. I promised to behave with great circumspection, but with the full intention of not losing a chance of seeing the gazelle- eyed daughters of Barbary ; in fact, with the foresight of an experienced traveller, I had provided myself with an excellent telescope for the very purpose of introducing myself, a la distance, into private society, and, unseen myself, to be a spectator of all that was going on within half a mile. The town is not very extensive, and one is soon satisfied with a survey of most of its narrow streets and windowless houses, the only opening outside being a door about four feet high, making the street resemble a long row of tombs, square, solid, and dismal. The principal street is tolerably broad and paved ; it contains all the shops, the fountains, mosques, and most of the consuls' mansions. The shops, not unlike large pigeon-holes, are mere boxes from four to six feet square, let into the outside wall of the houses and unconnected with the interiors. They are fitted up with shelves, on which are placed 14 SHOPS AND STREETS. the goods within reach of the cross-legged merchant, as he sits smoking on his carpet, or gossiping with his customers, who stand in the street. When the mer- chant wishes to exhibit great courtesy and attention, the customer is permitted to sit on the ledge of the shop. In this way the ladies in the Arabian Nights were received, and by turning their backs to the street they might converse, or even raise their veils without any risk of being perceived by any one but the favoured merchant. The women, by the way, look like ghosts as they waddle about, swathed from head to foot in white drapery, with no portion of their persons visible but one eye. It is sometimes quite startling to come suddenly on one of these one-eyed masses of drapery, waddling and shuffling along, with a peculiar gait that rather suggests the idea of an animated clothes-bag than of the movements which should be all majesty and grace. After perambulating the town I returned to break- fast at Benoliel's, where I remained during my stay at Tangier. This, however, is no impeachment of the hospitality of the place, for I had numerous invita- tions from both Jew and Gentile ; and if I did return to Benoliel's establishment, redolent of oil and garlic, it was from my own proper choice. I don't think I should have declined such hospitable offers if I had not already begun to experience the influence of SIMI BENOLIEL. 16 Simi Benoliers black eyes : in fact there could be no resisting such eyes, such lips, the most beautiful and luxuriant hair, the prettiest little figure, a tiny foot in an embroidered slipper, little hands, with henna- stained fingers, and, before I had been in the house an hour, the coquettish little houri had adorned her pretty ankles with a pair of silver bangles, and put a fresh touch of "kohl" to her long eye-lashes, com- pleting the killing brilliancy of her eyes. It was no use resisting ; I gave in at once, and, in less than a couple of hours, I was desperately in love, and told her so. She only laughed, put her finger on her lips, bade me " calla la boca," and told me I was "muy embustero," which, not being complimentary, I leave my readers to put into English. The mother was a remarkably handsome woman for her age, which was twenty-eight, while Simi, her eldest born, was fourteen, and was to be married in a few weeks. I asked Simi if she liked her "novio," and what kind of monster he was. She told me that she had never seen him, that her father had arranged the match, and that she must do as she was bid ; ex- hibiting a cool indifference on the subject that was highly edifying. I suggested that he might be ugly or deformed. She shrugged her shoulders, "Que importa ! " What's the odds ! " he would still be a husband." The fact is, with marriage begins the liberty of a Jewish woman in Barbary. She can wear 16 HEBREW MAIDENS. jewels, visit her neighbours, and do pretty much as she likes, till the cares of a family reduce her again to subjection. Before marriage, a Jewish girl is rarely permitted to cross the threshold of her father's house, and fre- quently never sees her husband till she is taken to his home a bride. It is rare that either party have any hand in making a match. When a man has a daughter to marry, he looks about for some one who has a son in the like predicament ; if they can agree about the dowry the matter is settled, and the day named for the ceremony to take place, with the most perfect indifference to the wishes or tastl^of the par- ties principally concerned. The Jewish girls are generally good-looking, and are frequently remarkably beautiful ; but they are flowers that bloom in premature luxuriance and as rapidly decay. At six or seven and twenty they have completely faded ; and, at a later period, sometimes become so exceedingly ugly as to forcibly remind one that it is only of angels devils can be made. The women are rarely taught to read or write, and they only speak Spanish and the Mogrebbin dialect of Arabic ; a knowledge of Hebrew being confined to the men. The men, strongly contrasting in appearance with the women, are generally slovenly, dirty, and mean- looking ; they are servile and cringing in their man- BOU SALEM BEN ALL 17 ner, as is naturally to be expected in a race, that, for ages, has had to meet oppression with cunning, who have from day to day to struggle against poverty, to bear contumely and even blows with meek patience. Oppressed, robbed, and insulted, they are without hope, aim, or ambition but to amass wealth ; with the risk, at any moment, of having it wrung from them by force. This one constant care has stamped its ex- pression strongly on their features an indelible record of ages of oppression and degradation. They still retain the original customs of their nation, and profess to be guided solely by the pre- cepts of theMosaic Law, which, however ancient and respectable, seems to be little adapted to favour the march of intellect. The new governor of Tangier, Bou Salem Ben Ali, had just arrived from Fez, and there was, conse- quently, a continual uproar with guns, cymbals, drums, and other excruciating proofs of joy and welcome. It was lucky for me as a sight-seer, for the town was filled with well-mounted soldiers and Arabs, and a short distance from the town there was an encamp- ment of nearly a thousand of the "children of the desert." On the hard sand on the sea-beach, and close to some old Roman ruins, there were continual exhi- bitions of the " Bar el Berode " (firing of powder), which is one of the favourite pastimes of the Moors, 18 MOORISH SOLDIERY. and it shows off their fine clothes, arms, horses, and horsemanship, to the best advantage. It is certainly a picturesque sight, and carries one's imagination back to the jousts on the Vega of Granada, only that the long gun has taken the place of lance and djerid. When I first saw them there was a group of about two hundred picturesque-looking fellows, mounted on fine fiery-looking Barbs, gaily set off with em- broidered trappings, velvet-covered saddles, and large silver or plated stirrups. The dress of the riders consisted generally of a white turban, or red "tar- bouche," a large grey bournous hanging round them in graceful folds, and setting off rather than con- cealing the coloured robes worn underneath. From out of the group a dozen of them dashed forward as hard as they could gallop, shrieking a war- cry, while both hands were employed in unslinging and brandishing their long guns. Suddenly they took aim and fired, at the same time throwing their horses on their haunches by a pull at the severe bit, and wheeling and retiring as rapidly as they ad- vanced. While the first party retreated to reload, a second squadron dashed forward, and party suc- ceeded party with extraordinary rapidity, and with an excitement that is indescribable. Nothing could be more gallant or inspiriting than the whole scene some retreating and some advancing, their garments AN EQUIVOCAL COMPLIMENT. 19 floating behind them in the headlong race, their features excited, the whole body animated as they brandished their guns high in the air, and urged their horses to furious speed with their wild cries and the sharp stroke of the rattling stirrup. One can fancy the Egyptian Mamaluke to have been similar in app'earance and arms, dashing in the same incoherent, frantic way at the squares of French infantry, till, themselves and horses both exhausted, they ascertained the futility of such detached efforts against the serried mass. They charged with the same brilliant courage with which their predecessors under Saladin had shaken the steel-clad chivalry of Europe. But now the arms were too unequal. The bristling rampart of living men could not be broken without the aid of artillery, or unless opposed to a similar wall of steel. Down went steed and horse- man before the withering fire, without having for one moment made the columns waver, and without pro- ducing any impression on the foe but admiration for their constancy and misdirected valour. About half-a-dozen of us " Kaffirs " (infidels, a term by which Christians and asses are usually addressed in the East) were standing together rather conspicuously among the crowd of turbans and haiks, when a party of the soldiers, instead of continuing their course, suddenly wheeled round within ten yards of us, and fired their guns in our faces. The 20 AN EQUIVOCAL COMPLIMENT. rest took up the cue, and all of them, as they gal- loped up, made us the target, at which their aim was directed. This is considered a great compliment, but which we would have willingly excused, as a coarse grain of powder might have spoiled one's beauty, to say nothing of the possibility of a zealous Moslem dropping a ball into his gun by mistake a contingency not to be scouted, for only a few days previously, a party of these very fellows had fired a volley into a French frigate's boat without the least provocation. A few days later, we had the satisfaction of seeing the bastinado soundly applied to the offenders, one of whom was a " sheriffe," or descendant of the Prophet, and who distinguished himself by howling ten times louder than any of the rest ; probably from suffering mental as well as bodily anguish, that so illustrious a Moslem should suffer at the instigation of the Kaffirs." I spent most of my mornings in shooting on the hills in the neighbourhood of the city, and had tolerable sport among the red-legged partridges and hares. Hyaenas, wild boars, and porcupines are nu- merous; but they are hunted in the winter season with a strong array of beaters, and all the mongrel curs that can be collected. Making love to Simi occupied much of my time ; and I began to be very uncomfortable at the idea of THE SOC. 21 having shortly to bid adieu to Tangier, and leave her behind. To be sure old Benoliel showed some 'com- punction for my feelings. He offered to sell the pretty Simi for a thousand dollars : she was well worth the money, but I had not got it. Early in the morning, the " Soc, " or market- place, just outside the gates, was always a busy and an amusing scene. There were large groups of horses picketed, snaky-headed, long-fanged camels, growlingly waiting for their burthens ; country- women squatted on the ground before heaps of grass, corn, butter, eggs, fruit, and vegetables from the neighbouring " douars :" grave and haughty-looking soldiers, ferocious half-naked Riffs, the light-limbed Arab, grinning niggers from Timbuctoo in servile finery, and mean-looking Jews in scullcaps and gabardine, sneaking respectfully along, in a manner contrasting strongly with that of the " Santons" or saints, who stride through the throng over the eggs and butter, and into the vegetables and grass, heedless of the damage, or maliciously causing it, while all make way for them with respect or fear. Besides being generally a set of arrant impostors, these saints are the most disgusting, squalid-looking ragamuffins imaginable ; bare-headed and nearly naked, un- kempt hair covering their sensual faces, and with a long untrimmed beard, they are the most loathsome specimens of humanity it is possible to conceive. 22 SANTONS. The more they brutalise themselves, the more sacred they are considered ; and some of them, by their impostures and effrontery, make large sums of money, and are so reverenced as to become objects of public veneration. Their ravings are looked upon as oracular, and pilgrimages are not unfrequently made to ask their advice and implore their blessing. There is, however, in Tangier, a Santon who is really an object of compassion. The unfortunate, in the course of a week, lost, by a prevailing epidemic, father, mother, wife, and children. Bereft so sud- denly of all his ties, "too much sorrow made him mad/' and he now wandered about, continually shrieking, in the most unearthly tones, " Allah, Allah ! where are my friends, my wife, my children, where are they ? Allah, give me my friends, give me my children !" The unhappy wretch seemed to be constantly in search of them, sometimes rushing through the streets with frantic haste, examining the crowd in the market-place, or stopping, exhausted and bewildered, only to recommence his lamentation with renewed violence ; while his fiery bloodshot eyes and con- tracted features were the very types of incurable anguish and insanity. CHRISTIAN DISABILITIES. 23 CHAPTER III. CHRISTIAN DISABILITIES THE CITY GATES THE DOUAES HAMET THE HENCHMAN THE CASTBA STATION EIFF KOBBEBS THE FONDAK A DEFILE IN THE ATLAS TETtJAN THE KIFF TEIBE A WILD COUNTRY THE CLANS EXCLUSIVE- NESS. AFTEE a stay of little more than a week at Tangier, I joined a party which had been made up to ride overland to Tetuan. An application was made to the Caid (governor) for an escort, and presently we were waited on by a magnificent-looking fellow, who might have sat for the picture of a Zegri or Abencerrage. He announced himself as brother of the Lieutenant- Governor, and informed us that he would have the honour of commanding our escort on the morrow, for the consideration of four dollars Spanish. Mr. Drum- mond Hay, the Consul-General, gave us some good advice, and an injunction not to allow the Moors, on any account, to make us dismount at the gates of Tetuan, as they had been in the habit of compelling all Christians to do. A few years previously, Christians and Jews had 24 THE CITY GATES. been treated with like ignominy, were restricted to a particular quarter in the towns, and were not allowed to keep horses or ride even a mule or donkey within the walls of the towns. These and many other dis- abilities have been removed from the Christians, principally through the energetic remonstrances of our late excellent Consul-General, Mr. Hay ; but the unlucky Hebrews still continue to be objects of scorn and indignity. The following morning we were at the city gates at sunrise, and found ourselves in company with several mounted travellers waiting patiently to get out, and a number of country people with donkey- loads of wood, charcoal, and vegetables, waiting with equal patience to get in. As there seemed little hurry on the part of the faineant janitor to answer our calls, we assaulted the shutters of the barbican with volleys of stones, which quickly dislodged him, though not without some objurgations against the unreasonable impatience of the Nazarenes. The huge bolts were withdrawn, and the crowd from with- out poured into the city to wake it from slumber, while we, exhilarated by the fresh morning air, gave our horses a breathing gallop to try their mettle. Our party consisted of about half-a-dozen Christians, Hamet, the Vice -Consul's henchman, and a sheriff, who having performed the pilgrimage to Mecca was dignified with the cognomen of Hadge, or Hadji. THE " DOUARS." 25 There was no sign of our lazy escort, so we pushed forward without it, a proceeding in which Hamet very reluctantly joined, and casting many a longing look behind, he declared that if any accident hap- pened to us he would inevitably be bastinadoed to death. For the first ten or twelve miles our road lay through gardens and corn-fields, with abundance of Indian corn, pumpkins, and water melons, growing in great luxuriance. As we approached the lower range of the Atlas, a spur of which we had to cross, the ground became rugged and precipitous, and from its proximity to the ferocious Riff tribes, and other vaga- bonds who take to the mountains, it is but little culti- vated and sparsely inhabited. Even close up to the walls of Tangier, the " douars," or villages, and farm-houses are strongly fenced about ; several families usually living together, and with numerous savage watch-dogs for protection against marauders. These groups of rustic-looking dwellings surrounded by fruit trees and gardens, and with lofty dovecotes, have a picturesque appearance in the otherwise unbroken surface of the champaign country horses treading out grain, cattle turning a water- wheel, women pounding grain in a quern, turning a hand-mill, or separating the semola with a fine sieve for making the favourite kouskousow, girls carrying on their heads classically-shaped vases of c 26 HAMET THE HENCHMAN. porous earth with water from the spring, and calling to one another in merry tones, give animation to the scene, and call to mind many of the most peculiar characteristics of Oriental scenery. As we approached the mountains, Hamet and the Hadge began to look anxiously for our soldiers ; and we had only to gallop on a short distance to put the former into a fever of excitement, for which the sumpter-mule on which he was mounted had to endure many a hearty thwack to make him keep pace with our fleet-footed Barbs. We accordingly rode quietly to relieve his professed anxiety for our safety, and in consideration for the mule, which he belaboured without mercy, at the same time calling our attention to the heaps of stones by the road-side, and which he averred were the records of murder by robbers and assassins. If true, there must have been a murder to nearly every rood of the road from Tangier to Tetuan ; and if ever the Emperor should take it into his august head to mac- adamize, he has, in these cairns, abundance of material ready collected to his hand. Our first halt was at a well, called " Behr al Boonian" the well of the building ; which building is the remains of a Roman " castra stativa," of which the whole plan can even at this day be distinctly traced out, and like the " Kiam of Kinprunes," one can trace "a praetorian here and praetorian there," with agger, vallum and intervallum, as perfect as if EIFF BOBBERS. 27 it had been but lately abandoned by the Imperial cohorta The water was completely dried up in the broad, rocky beds of several streams which we crossed, and whose course might be traced for miles by the long lines of bright foliage and gay flowers of the oleander, which grew in a continuous grove in the dry water- course. At a fountain surrounded by fig-trees we halted to await the arrival of our tardy escort. While picketing our horses in the shade, we were startled by loud cries from Hamet, and on going to his as- sistance, we found him on his back, half throttled by a ferocious-looking Riff; some half dozen truculent- looking rascals had got possession of the sumpter- mule, from whose back poor Hamet had been un- ceremoniously precipitated, with the view of ascertain- ing more commodiously what might be the contents of our well-filled hamper. On our appearance, with swords and pistols, the rascals decamped, though not till the one who had been taking liberties with Hamet's weesand had got a tap on the bare skull with the but-end of a pistol which must have made his ears ring for a week after. Our escort soon joined us, and we told them how we had been nearly robbed, killed and eaten by a band of " Forty Thieves," to all of which Hamet asserted that he could make oath. They regretted that we had not made "the sons of burnt fathers eat dirt." c2 28 PEFILE IN THE ATLAS. by shooting two or three of them, while our hench- man, waxing valorous, actually proposed a raid on the nearest village as an example " pour de*courager les autres." Our road now winded through a wild, rocky defile, shaded by trees, till we reached the " Fondak," at the summit of the pass. This is the only public building on the road, and it is kept up at government expense, as a place of accommodation for travellers. It is the same description of building which further east is called a Khan or Caravanserai, and would easily accommodate within its walls a thousand horses or camels, with their owners. A guard of soldiers is kept in it ; and it is strong enough to resist an attack from the neighbouring tribes, who are all robbers, and in frequent rebellion against the Emperor. From this we had two hours' scrambling descent over rocky and precipitous roads, passing several trains of camels, laden principally with bales of Man- chester goods, and groaning piteously as they toiled over ground so unsuited to their figure and to their soft flat feet. The first sight of Tetuan is very pretty, its white walls and houses closing up the glen at the distance of ten miles. The scenery is remarkably beautiful, and the mountains on the southern side of the valley have a very picturesque boldness of outline, with THE RIFF TRIBES. 29 villages perched at a great height, and in spots that from below appear to be scarcely accessible to the mountain goat These mountains, inhabited by a bold and primitive race of mountaineers, who glory in the rude indepen- dence of their existence, furnish nearly all the wants of their unsophisticated tastes. Goat's milk, kottskousow, and an occasional pillau of kid or mutton, is their usual fare. Coarse clothing woven in the natural colour, from coarse wool or goat's hair, is the universal costume. A few sheltered spots enable them to harvest an ample stock of wheat and barley for winter use, and which is pounded into flour by their women ; so that they are independent of the cities and plains for all the necessaries of life, and only occasionally descend from their mountain fastnesses to purchase a supply of coffee, tobacco, gun- powder, arms, and a few articles of simple finery for their wives and daughters. In the towns they may be easily recognised by their haughty, independent bearing, their dark com- plexions, and the " noli-me-tangere " air with which they stride through the crowd, armed to the teeth, and ready at any moment to strike a deadly blow, and fly to their strongholds, where they can afford to laugh at the impotent menaces of the authorities. In their appearance and habits they closely re- semble the Kabyles of Algeria, and are doubtless of 50 THE RIFF TRIBES. the same family ; descendants probably of the fierce warriors who beat back Akbah and Zobeir, the Lieu- tenants of Othman, in the first inroads of the Moslems into Barbary. They are now zealous Moslems in their own rude way, and I should be sorry for either Christian or Jew who might fall into their hands, unless under the safeguard of one of their sheikhs. Such oppor- tunities of intercourse must be rare, as they would be little likely to volunteer an invitation. A physician would have the best chance of gaining admission into their country, and observing their habits, as, like aH savages, or semi -savages, they are fond of being dosed whether ill or well. A box of lucifer matches and a few ounces of Seidlitz powders would be an ex- cellent pharmacopeia, except in serious cases, which I should recommend any practitioner piously to leave to the care of Allah, as his stay might be rendered very- unpleasant if the patient were to die under his hands. Like most mountain tribes, they are divided into small clans, continually at war with one another. The " vendetta " is maintained with wonderful pa- tience and pertinacity, till an opportunity offers in fair or market-place, or public road. The avenger, after taking the life of his victim, flies to the mountains, to be in turn pursued, till, at some unguarded moment, he too falls, leaving the legacy of revenge to his children. THE RIFF TRIBES. 31 This is a relic of that excellent old Mosaic law which demands " an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth/' so different from our mild, forgiving Christian dispen- sation, which bids us forgive that we may be forgiven. While we profess the latter faith, we still permit the victim to be pursued by legal vengeance, to be hunted down, caught, and in the light of day, before the gloating eyes of delighted thousands, to be cold- bloodedly formally cut off from existence : " sent to his account with all his imperfections on his head." We can see the mote in our brother's eye, but not the beam in our own, and while we pursue the culprit to death with legal "vendetta," we can claim no right to condemn those who, with their own strong arms, seek their vengeance at their proper risk ; it is but a wilder, a more manly justice. 32 THE GATES OF TETUAN. CHAPTER IV. THE GATES OF TETUAN CHRISTIAN DOCILITY THE CITY JEWISH POPULATION MARTYNE AND ITS FORTRESS MOORISH GARDENS THE CAID HASH-HASH FINANCIAL EXPERIMENTS RETURN TO TANGIER THE MOSQUE THE COURIER BOAT THE STRAITS A SPANISH LEANDER SIMl's SOUVENIR. WE readied Tetuan at sunset, having been fifteen hours en route, and were both tired and hungry when we reached the gates of the city, and were informed that we must halt till permission had been obtained from the Caid to allow us to enter. Conceiving this to be a preliminary to making us dismount, and im- patient at being stayed so near the end of our journey, we stoutly refused to comply, and after a storm of words we peremptorily ordered our attendants to advance and clear the way. They were disinclined to force the guard, and our indignation becoming momen- tarily hotter, we at last struck spurs to our horses and charged through the gate and up the street. The guard scampered right and left, and in one moment there was nothing to be seen of the blustering varlets, but their haiks flying in the wind, as they THE CITY. 33 bolted round a corner, or the stern-sheets of a runa- gate diving through the first open doorway, like a rabbit into a burrow. It turned out after all that we were in the wrong, and a complaint preceded us to Tangier, of which, however, we heard nothing further, while the energy of our proceedings seemed to have a good effect on the spot, as we received, within an hour of our arrival, a complimentary message from the Caid, and an invi- tation to visit his and the Emperor's gardens ; besides other polite attentions not usually vouchsafed to strangers, unless for a consideration. Tetuan is an excellent specimen of a Moorish city, and it has scarcely any communication with Europeans ; and the march of innovation has not yet reached it. The streets are narrow, and generally filthily dirty, and crowded with pedestrians, asses, horses, and camels. The houses are much larger and better than at Tangier, and generally enclose a " patio," or court- yard of good size. The English consular agent and his family are the only Europeans residing in the place ; but it is nevertheless one of the most import- ant manufacturing towns in Barbary ; and exports guns, cloths, silks, leather, and a variety of other articles. There are from forty to fifty thousand inhabitants, nearly one-half of whom are Jews ; who live in a part of the town by themselves, and sepa- rated from their Moslem neighbours by gates, which c3 34 JEWISH POPULATION. are closed at night. The streets in the Jewish quarter surpass any of the rest in filth and squalor ; and most of the houses are ruinous and miserable looking, concealing, in some instances, a sufficiently luxurious interior. The Jewish women dress gorgeously, far outdoing their Tangier neighbours in this respect. The jellica, or bodice, of fine purple velvet, has in front almost a cuirass of gold embroidery and jewels, the saya, or skirt, of dark-green cloth, striped with gold lace, a gorgeously-coloured shawl of raw silk round the waist, a jewelled tiara on the head, large hoop ear-rings, massive rings on the fingers, and embroidered slippers on the naked feet, complete a remarkably gorgeous but not a graceful costume. Here, as in Tangier, many of the young girls are very beautiful, and there is occasionally one who seems to have dropped from the seventh heaven to give an idea of what her sister houris are. The extremely youthful age at which they marry, and the severe punishment prescribed by the Mosaic laws, compel a certain amount of virtue among these fair Hebrews, but their temperament is not of the most frigid, and fame reports that there are few of them who would not play Jessica with sufficient temptation. We made several excursions in the neighbourhood of the city, and to Hartyne, a small place at the mouth of the river, about five miles from Tetuan, MOORISH GARDENS. 35 where there are a few warehouses, and an old square tower, which distinguished itself by defeating the boats of an Austrian squadron that attempted to force the entrance of the river with the intention of mulcting Tetuan for some delinquency committed by the Riffs on the coast. On approaching the tower, we were greatly amused to see a negro race down to the door, which was about fifteen feet from the ground, and haul up a rope ladder, the only way of communication with mother earth ; having accom- plished which, he looked down with a complacent smile, as if he had defeated a trick of the enemy to set foot within the stronghold. In the course of one of my rambles I came across a bevy of Moorish women unveiled. They made signs to me to go, which I did not understand till I had stayed long enough to perceive that one of them was remarkably pretty ; and, strange to say, she was the only one who showed any vexation at the impudence of the Giaour. The Emperor's and the Caid's gardens were well laid out, with summer-houses, shaded walks, foun- tains, and vine-covered trellises, large bunches of rich fruit hanging within reach. The gardeners brought us baskets of the most beautiful muscatel grapes, figs, plums, and pomegranates. The grapes appeared to grow in great variety and luxuriance, and would doubtless make as good wine as is manufactured on 36 THE CAID HASH-HASH. the opposite shores of Spain, if it were not for the Mahometan total abstinence principles. Good wine has been made by Mr. Hay, and scandal says that the Caid, " Hash-Hash " himself, has made some experi- ments of the same kind. Outside the town are some potteries, where water- jars of porous earthenware are made, the shapes of which are most classical and elegant. Here we came upon one of the sons of Hash-Hash, squatted, like a sitting-hen, under a wall, and apparently thinking of nothing at all. His grandfather was a man of the lowest origin, but by dint of determined energy he rose to be Caid of Tetuan, one of the first offices in the state. He was by no means scrupulous in his mode of acquiring wealth, and regularly " squeezed " every individual under his government. One inge- nious plan of extorting a loan from an unwilling capitalist was to tie his hands together, and introduce a couple of wild cats into the wide seat of his inex- pressibles. This was a way of bringing them to the scratch which never failed, and by degrees this excel- lent ruler grew to be enormously rich. The Emperor, thinking at last that his sponge must be full, sent for him to Fez, to have a grand squeeze. The wretched old victim was thrown into prison and soundly bastinadoed, a process which relieved him of some of his too plethoric wealth. Strips of cotton, dipped in turpentine, were tied round his FINANCIAL EXPERIMENTS. 37 fingers and toes and lighted, which produced a grand haul. The wild cats continued for half an hour to produce revelations of fresh hoards. A knight-tem- plar or a Norman king could scarcely have been more ingenious in their financial experiments on a miserable Jew. Renewed tortures produced further discoveries of treasure, till the old man's last doubloon and last breath were yielded up together. Not the least remarkable part of the story is, that his son Hash-Hash was immediately appointed to succeed to his father's government, for which he made a present of 50,000 dollars ; and his brother was appointed Caid of Mogador, having exhibited the same golden proofs of his abilities. Hash-Hash has now been Caid for an unusually long period, and is said to be the richest man in Barbary a reputation that will probably tend to shorten the term of his natural existence, unless he should be smothered in his own fat, which is said to be prodigious. I did not see him, for he expects a doubloon from every visitor, as the old rogue says that he does not care to see strangers, and if they want to see him they must pay for it not a bad idea for some of our London lions to adopt. The views from the flat house-tops at Tetuan are very beautiful, not only from the fine bold outline of the surrounding mountains, but also from the great number of luxuriant gardens which surround the city, and which are a constant source of recreation 38 RETURN TO TANGIER. and delight to the inhabitants. After seeing the pains they bestow upon their gardens, and the con- stant delight they take in them, one can easily imagine the rage and grief of the Moors of Granada, so well depicted by Irving, when the ruthless Chris- tians devastated the teeming gardens and groves of the Vega. This wanton destruction brought no blessing to the conquerors. Throughout Andalucia one may constantly see the sites of Moorish palaces and gardens, and the ruins of splendid aqueducts, which irrigated and rendered fertile the now unpro- fitable wastes. The palaces and aqueducts are in ruins, or at best their massive walls serve but to shelter the rude hut of a shepherd, while the gardens and valleys are mostly deserts. In all that beautiful country, what public works have the Spaniards raised to compensate for the mad waste of their saturnalia of triumph and bigotry ? Where are the roads, the bridges, the canals, the improved habits, and educa- tion that bespeak the progress of civilization ? Where* indeed ! On the morning of the sixth day we left Tetuan, on our return to Tangier, and rode the whole distance, without a halt, except for one hour, at a beautiful spring near the foot of the mountains, commanding an almost boundless view over the surrounding country. Here were congregated, under the shade of huge cork-trees, motley groups of soldiers, Jews, and THE COURIER BOAT. 39 merchants, the owners or guards of the heavily-laden camels, which the drivers were leading in turn to drink. Scattered under the broad shade were horses, flocks of sheep and goats, shepherds and peasants, resting after the descent from the mountain, or re- cruiting their strength before making the ascent. Two or three hours' hard galloping, at the swift pace of our plucky little Barbs, brought us, without accident or adventure, to the gates of Tangier, which we entered just as the muezzin was calling the faithful to evening prayer. "Allah il Allah, Mohammed resoul Allah I" resounded hoarsely from the lofty minar, and at the warning the pious Moslems closed their shops, and left their gossip, trooping quickly to the mosque, within whose gate we could see them at their ablutions, or making the requisite prostrations while telling their beads. The courier boat was to sail for Gibraltar the same evening, and as my fortnight's leave had expired, I was not sorry to find myself on board just as she was getting under weigh. "Ahora, todos juntos, vira vira y hala!" cried our red-capped skipper as he took the helm, and at his word up went the tall, graceful lateen sail. The anchor was quickly tripped, and in a few minutes we were scudding past Cape Malabat, with a silvery moon glistening on the dancing waves. I wrapped myself in my " bournous," and lay down on deck 40 THE STRAITS. watching our rapid approach to the coast of Spain. In less than two hours we were off Tarifa, and lost the wind under the high land, but gradually floated with the ever-flowing tide towards Gibraltar, looming darkly in the distance. What a life of risk the Spanish peasant must have lived in the olden time, who in- habited this coast ! when the Moorish corsair or renegado might pounce upon him at any moment and drag him away into hopeless slavery. Atalayas, or watch-towers, at frequent intervals along the coast, still exist ; where beacon-fires were always in readiness to give warning of approaching danger, attesting how little security there was for life and property in Spain, even in the height of her prosperity and power. The principal enemy was then without now, more deadly, it is within, feeding on the strength of the land, de- stroying its very vitals, and without any friendly beacon-light to point to the sources of corruption, malversation, and civil crime, which fetter the people and keep them in a state of Oriental inanity and hopelessness of improvement. The reveries regarding the Moorish corsairs were perhaps suggested by the pilot, who sang, with the true seguidilla drawl, an old ballad of interminable length, relating how a Spanish slave stood at sunset on the African shore, wearying his eyes with gazing on the hills of Spain, the rocks and trees, the smoke from the peasant's hut, and even Gibraltar in the A SPANISH LEANDER. 4 1 distance, all distinct to the eye, but with a hopeless barrier between. He determines at last to trust himself to the waves, vowing that, if they will waft him to the opposite shore, he will never again plough their bosom either as traveller or merchant. With lusty arms he casts aside the sea, he struggles, plunges, rises o'er the waves ; but I may as well substitute English doggrel for the Spanish : He leaps into the sea, And battles with the waves, And so, right gallantly, For freedom, death he braves. At midnight, far from land, His strength begins to faint, To die on yonder strand Is still his only plaint. The winds propitious hear him, The billows sink to rest, And fav'ring tides bear him O'er the sea's calm breast. At eve a hopeless man He stood on Afric's shore : At morn, on Spanish land He kneels, a slave no more. I am rather particular in quoting this, as it records a better swim even than Leander's, and with a far better motive, as there is every reason to believe our Spanish friend had only a smoky hut in view with perhaps a shrewish Maritornes to welcome him, 42 THE RIFFS. instead of a gay young priestess of indifferent cha- racter. The distance from shore to shore is fifteen miles, and with a current as strong as the Hellespont, which is only three miles broad ; so that I hold my Spaniard to be a better swimmer and a better man than the immortalized Leander. Fifteen miles of water is all that divides Europe from Africa Spain from Barbary scarcely one- fourth of the distance that separates the nearest point of England from Ireland, and even that small space is almost bridged across by the hundreds of vessels which join nations together with a bond of civilized communion. Small as the distance is, it separates the extreme of civilization and of bar- barism. On one side is Europe with all its wealth, commerce, and enlightenment, on the other the " Riffs," or " Reefes," a population scarcely known by name, but inhabiting the greater portion of the southern side of the Straits, and who are, without exception, the most unmitigated savages now infest- ing the face of the globe. It is strange, but true, that one might search in vain the most remote wilds of America, Africa, or the Pacific, to discover a race so inhospitable, rude, blood- thirsty, and indomitable, as exists within sight of Gibraltar, and bordering one of the oldest and greatest highways of commerce. It is, I believe, upwards of twenty years since any European vessel has attempted SIMl'S SOUVENIR. 43 to communicate with the tribes in the neighbourhood of Ape's Hill (Mons Abyla), the last attempt having resulted in the massacre of the boat's crew. Before leaving Tangier, Simi stained my little finger with henna, saying that it would remind me of her when I was far away. The stain lasted just a week, which, I suppose, was as long as she calculated the impression she had made would last in my memory. 44 GIBRALTAR. CHAPTER V. SPAIN. "THE ROCK" STREETS AND MARKET PLACE VARIOUS POPULA- TION CONTRABANDISTAS ENGLISH TRAVELLERS VALUE OF THE FORTRESS PICTURESQUE AND ROMANTIC VIEWS THE NEIGHBOURING COUNTRY SMUGGLERS AND SMUGGLING ROADS. GIBRALTAR is one of the pleasantest and most interesting quarters a man can have the luck to sojourn in, and service in such a spot is widely dif- ferent from that passed beneath the tropical suns of India or China, the sickly swamps of Demerara, or" the wild solitudes of Southern Africa. The rock itself, so hoary and picturesque, is a never-failing object of interest. Girdled with antique galleries, mined with mysterious caverns of unfathom- able depth, and standing up a huge fortress between Europe and Africa, it domineers with lion-like ma- jesty over both. The houses of various colours, among which pink, green, and blue predominate, are piled in grotesque and fantastic groups, independent of all architectural STREETS AND MARKET-PLACE. 45 rule, yet not without some pretension to picturesque- ness. The side streets are narrow and dark, reeking with odours of fish, garlic, and oil, and crowded with motley groups of Spaniards, Moors, Jews, Genoese, Greeks, and graceful Andaluzas, with their black eyes glancing through the richly-laced mantilla or under the more modest toque. The main street and the market-place are thronged with busy groups that are both characteristic and picturesque. There may be seen gay young fellows, with their nut-brown sweethearts mounted "en croupe," and gaily dressed in the picturesque costume of Andalucia. Sturdy farmers with many hearty thwacks urge forward stout " burros," on which are mounted their wives in the midst of strings of garlic, screeching fowls, and other delicacies, the produce of the "Cortijo." Sober "arrieros,'' armed with stout " cachi-porras," drive strings of mules, or miserable horses, which are so artistically buried under a mass of fodder that nothing is seen of them but the nose and feet. With loud shouts and unsparing cudgels donkey boys thread the crowd at a gallop, their kegs of water, from the Neutral Ground, keeping up a rattling accom- paniment to the " arre, borrico," "con licencia, caval- leros " get along, jackass ; by your leave, cavaliers with which they ceremoniously bump and tramp through the crowd. There, too, are red-capped and 46 VARIOUS POPULATION. red-girdled Catalan fishermen carrying huge baskets of fish, all alive ; among them the sardine, red -mullet, john dory, jolly-looking bonitos, soles, and mackarel in immense quantities, and all exceedingly cheap, for the especial benefit of orthodox Catholics. Turbaned Moors, and Jews in time-honoured ga- berdine, vend stale eggs and emaciated fowls from Barbary, and in the neighbouring stalls are heaped delicious muscatel grapes, luscious figs with the morning dew upon them, fragrant pomegranates, with heaps of tomatas, egg-plants, water-melons, and calabasas. Youths of both sexes in groups wend their way to the manufactories, where " genuine Havana cigars " are manufactured for the Spanish market out of Virginian and South- American tobacco. Red-cloaked Genoese women and veiled " beatas," followed by their duenna, hasten to the first mass, and soldiers, Highlanders, and men-of-war's men bustle about with an energy that contrasts strongly with the sedate bearing of most of the throng. The landing-place is crowded with lateen-sailed boats, and the bay with merchant-ships and men-of- war of all nations, the English ones frequently prac- tising with their heavy guns at targets, or executing nautical manosuvres for their own benefit or for the edification of the foreigner. Not the least remarkable, and certainly the least creditable, sight is the long line of rakish-looking smuggling feluccas, some of ENGLISH TRAVELLERS. 47 them well armed, while a little farther off the equally rakish Spanish guarda-costas watch and wait to pounce on the smugglers when they venture beyond the reach of the English guns. In the summer season pleasure yachts are constantly arriving with an accession of gay visitors, and twice a month at least the Oriental steamers disgorge crowds of passengers who overrun the place in their few hours'' stay, rushing to the summit of the Rock, peram- bulating the Moorish galleries, insisting on seeing the famous monkeys, and ransacking the shops in an incredibly short space of time. In the afternoon the saluting battery and the pretty gardens of the Alameda attract the inhabitants and the officers of the garrison ; the music of the mili- tary bands frequently enlivens the scene, which is gay with costumes and uniforms of various form and colour. In the winter, too, there are the various military sights, the guard-mountings, parades, and drill on the Alameda, reviews and field-days on the Neutral Ground, and artillery practice from the bat- teries. A martial air pervades the place : wherever one looks, a cannon or mortar catches the eye. Every spot is commanded by some battery, and every nook is fortified or scarped, or made in some way subservient to the military character of the place. With all its natural and acquired strength there is no over con- fidence : working parties are constantly constructing 48 VALUE OF THE FORTRESS. new batteries, scarping in fresh places, mounting heavier guns and repairing or altering the old works, ao as to keep pace with the improved military science of the present day and the more formidable arms. Sleepless vigilance only can guard a spot of which we are envied the possession by almost every European nation. It is an outpost of the English empire, the loss of which would affect both our military and naval prestige more strongly than that of any other pos- session over which our flag waves. The summit of the Rock commands an infinite variety of picturesque and romantic views over the Mediterranean and the coast of Spain, with the richly- coloured mountains of the Sierra Bermeja, or across the Bay and Straits, alive with ships and lateen-sailed feluccas, to where the green island and town of Alge- siras are cradled in the lap of a dark mountain, which is seamed with ravines and gullies. Northward the eye ranges far away into Spain a wild, rude-looking landscape, bounded by the jagged summits of the Serrania de Ronda, with the abrupt peak of Gaucin andUtrera standing boldly out in front like buttresses ; ruined fortresses, and walled villages, with vestiges of many a feudal keep and tower,] crown the summits of the most conspicuous hills. To the southward are the mountains of the Atlas, snow-covered for a con- siderable period of the year ; Ape's Hill, one of the pillars of Hercules, and the bold, precipitous coast PICTURESQUE VIEWS. '49 line, inhabited by the savage Riffs, where green corn- fields may be seen to patch the dark surface of the soil. For many miles round Gibraltar I knew the country well, could find my way through every forest glade of the " Selva de Almoraina," the cork-wood, and con- stantly visited the villages and Moorish ruins for many a mile round. The conquest of the country appears to have been barren of any good result to the Spaniard or to the world. Where once were palaces and lordly castles, as at Castellar and Gaucin, there are now hovels and ruined walls. On the site of the flourishing town there is now a paltry village, inhabited by a meagre race Vho trust in Providence rather than in them- selves for subsistence ; " pan y aceitunas," bread and olives, form the main portion of their food, varied with a cold mess of tomatas and red pepper in the season ; this and a change or two of clothes in the course of their lives suffice for their wants. The only strongholds are the farms, which situated on an eminence, difficult of approach, owing to the precipitous roads, and surrounded by lofty walls, have rather the air of robbers' holds than of anything honest ; an impression strengthened by the sight of the huge mastiffs who fiercely challenge the visitors. Where once the Moorish Cavalgada rode in all its glory of lance and pennon, flashing arms and D 50 SMUGGLERS AND SMUGGLING. bounding steed, it is now "a rare sight to see any mounted man, but the arriero on his donkey heading a string of the same respectable quadrupeds, whose labours he enlivens by howling a long-drawn ditty as he winds not unpicturesquely down the rough path of the steep mountain side. The aristocracy are the priest and the barber, and the only dashing, well-mounted man is the " contra- bandista/' He is a fine, showy, swashbuckler fellow, free with his money and loud in talk, the envy of the men and the admiration of the women. But it is the fine clothes that make the man ; an unlucky chance will find him wailing like a woman or howling like a maniac. With his ready money and his gaudy jacket goes all the dashing manner, and he becomes as low- spirited and unhappy a dog as one could wish to see. There is not at best much occasion for his fanfarronade, as there is more trickery and collusion in his trade than of daring and cleverness. I remember one moon- light night, on the beach near the Orange Grove, seeing a smuggling felucca land its cargo, which was loaded on about twenty pack-horses. There was a " guarda-costa" hauled up on the beach close at hand, and the officer commanding the troops stood looking on, receiving a doubloon for each horse-load. " Adios senor, y mil gracias," said the contrabandista, as the last horse moved off, and he dropped the last golden doubloon in the Captain's hand " Vaya Vmd con SMUGGLEKS AND SMUGGLING. 51 Dios, amigo," answered the officer, as he politely took his cigar from his mouth, and waved his hand to the departing smuggler. Then yawning lazily he took his way to his quarters to sleep well after a satis- factory and profitable job. Even the common sol- diers do a little private business of their own, and I have frequently seen the sentries receive a few " cuartos" for not looking too closely at a poor devil's bundle, who was profitably employed in smuggling salt by the handful. This practice is so well known at head-quarters that it was no uncommon thing, where the pay of a regiment was much in arrears, to send it to " the lines," as a full acquittance of the debt. On one occasion, a regiment, which had only been a short time in these profitable quarters, was on an emergency suddenly ordered to Ceuta ; but it refused to budge, on the plea that it had not had time to make up its deficiencies. Through the whole of this large tract of country there are no roads, except the fragments of old Roman causeways, conspicuous, as if to shame a modern government for its tardiness in appreciating the first elements of civilization. There are, of course, no wheel-carriages, and the whole transport of the country is performed on asses. The limited encouragement afforded to production of any kind is sufficiently evi- dent from this, and it is still more painfully exemplified in the wide tracts of uncultivated country, the sparse D2 52 ROADS. population, and the unproductive valleys which would bloom like the rose, if they were approached by roads, and irrigated with some of the water which washes down the rich soil from the hills, and escapes in useless or mischievous torrents. One can scarcely conceive these uncultivated, rude, and almost unin- habited spots to be the same wliich are celebrated in song and story, in the fine old ballads which Lockhart has made popular, and the heart-stirring tales which the graceful pen of Irving has invested with a world- wide interest. Every pass is celebrated for the wild foray and t the rescue, the triumphant return of the cavalcade with the spoil, or the hurried retreat of the detected forayers. Every hill-top has the ruins of fortress or village which, taken and retaken scores of times, were so frequently the scenes of romantic per- sonal daring and graceful chivalry. Bigotry, despotism, and faction have tended to produce an insecurity of property, which, in the course of time, has had its natural effect in in- creasing the "far niente" love of ease congenial to a southern nation. Indolence has been, canker- like, growing for ages has been handed down, as an inheritance, from father to son till it has become a national vice. It has made the rulers mercenary and corrupt : the people mean and grasping, pre- ferring dependence, chance, or ill-gotten gains, to honourable wages earned by the sweat of the brow. STATE OF SOCIETY. 53 It is this which makes men seize every excuse to procrastinate duties, and to abandon labour ; which makes each saint's-day and fast- day a feast-day and holiday; and which crowds every fair and market with those who go neither to buy nor to sell. It is this which furnishes thousands and tens of thousands to swell the ranks of civil discord and revolution, and which attracts the multitudes of hungry dupes who, named Carlist, Socialist, Chartist, Democrat, Jacobin, or Red Republican, are the audience of the designing revolutionist or mistaken philanthropist, and who, listening agape to the catalogue of their wrongs, jump eagerly at the prospects of advantages to be gained by the aid of their " sweet voices," not by labour, their daily curse. In proportion as a community is debased is this party strong ; but when it is virtuous and industrious, it need have no fear of the Bonapartes and Mehemet Alis it pityingly sees inflicted on another for its sins. Corruption and rottenness engender odious reptiles, repulsive but useful, as they consume and destroy the very elements which bring them forth. The hydra, engendered in corruption to devastate a nation, was civil war bred on civil crime. The songs and ballads handed down from the remotest ages, and gleams of old history, clad in metaphorical garb, teach that this has ever been the case. To cut off a member, 54 STATE OF SOCIETY. scotched, not killed the snake : it defied such puny efforts, till godlike energy and vigour mercilessly grasped the hundred heads, and at once exterminated the monster evil. The legend of St George, too, and his dragon, may not inaptly typify cruel and sordid superstition gnawing the vitals of a nation till laid low by the exertions of the champion of true religion and Christian virtue. In a population such as I have described there can be no true prosperity, for there is no stability ; there can be no real wealth, for there is no industry, with its natural allies, credit, unanimity, and public spirit ; there can be no mutual confidence or esteem for others, for there is no self-respect Law and order are equally despised by high and low, for all are secretly or overtly evading or defying it. The man in power is mercenary and oppressive ; whilst partaking in the general corruption, he knows himself to be an object of envy and hate to all below him. For a people like this, a judgment seems necessary to work out their redemption ; no mere patch here, or plaister there, will cure a disease that has hold of the very vitals of the body politic. To regenerate it there must be one of those great and inscrutable acts of Providence which, by "visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children," saves a people at the cost of one generation. Famine, plague, and war's in- human offspring have, from the remotest times, been STATE OF SOCIETY. 55 the agents for effecting these revolutions ; upheaving the whole surface of society, scattering its broken parts, and permitting free admission to a wholesome stream of innovation and improvement. Purified by patience and long-suffering, disciplined to order and obedience by a powerful despotism, forced to industry by famine, these virtues will, at length, become habitual, and purified by them, the people will work out their political rights with the arms furnished by their moral regeneration. 56 LOS PAISANOS. CHAPTER VI. LOS PAIBANOS THE BOLERO AND SEGUIDILLA SPANISH CHA- RACTER THE BULL FIGHTS ABAJO LA LENTE LA FUNCION QUE TORO ! AN EFFECTIVE CHARGE 8EVILLA AND MONTES LOS BANDERILLEROS EL MATADOR " UN P DE VACA " DRIVING THE BULLS FROM THE MOUNTAINS GOOD QUARTERS. THE paisanos, or country people, are a wild, bold, independent race, full of picturesqueness of costume and manner, hearty and frank in bearing, and with a jaunty, braggadocio air and talk characteristic of the province. The women are remarkably handsome, possessing in the highest degree the virtues and vices of their race, full of animation and mobility, prompt in passion, uneducated, but full of natural politeness and talent ; it is far pleasanter to make love to, than to quarrel with them, though perhaps the wisest course is to do neither. This is the country of the " bolero" and the "segui- dilla," the dance alternately bold and voluptuous, and the song full of plaintive monotony. I was very fond of mixing with the country people in these wild places, and of observing and joining in their festivities. A SPANISH CHARACTER. 57 civil salutation was always responded to by an invi- tation to join the party ; the offer of a few cigars and a "cana" or two of " vino tinto" or " aguadiente" opened all hearts, while to be able to take the guitar in turn was at once to be admitted, as of right, to complete fraternity, and not a man in the party but would respond to the " brindis," while the prettiest girls would accord their sunniest smiles to a " mocito tan guapo." The Spaniards, ordinarily grave, almost sombre in their manner, give way, in their moments of relaxa- tion, to a degree of gaiety and hilariousness that makes them very pleasant companions. Their natural excitability is nowhere more conspicuous than at their bull-fights, where the thousands of spectators move through the whole gamut of the passions with wonderful rapidity and facility. I had witnessed bull-fights in Cuba and in the smaller towns of Spain, and had more than once seen a " novillo/' a young bull, let loose in the streets " para la diversion publica," to the outrageous delight of the populace. These, however, had given me a very faint idea of the real magnificence of the "Funcion," in the larger cities, and in the hands of such professed masters as Sevilla, Trigo, and Montes. At Malaga I was on one occasion one often thousand spectators who " assisted " at one of these of more than ordinary splendour. For an hour before the real business was to com- D 3 58 THE BULL-FIGHT. mence, the asientos and the places on the sunny side, which are let cheap, were all filled with a noisy crowd dressed in all their Andalusian finery, among them numbers of the petite, thorough-bred looking Malaguenas, " tan Halaguenas," the most bewitching, perhaps, of all the beauties, even of Andalucia ; jests and jibes flew thickly and loudly through the crowd, and refrains, gitana slang, and doggrel rhymes were bandied about with quick repartee, producing roars of laughing applause. No one was safe from their merry ribaldry, and among them my companion, who wore an eye-glass, came in for a share of popular at- tention. " Mira el Ingles que gasta lente," look at the Englishman who sports a glass ! " Abajo la lente, afuera la lente/' down with the glass ! Ahi, look at the man who doesn't believe his own eyes ! " Que heretico ! " and the cry, " Abajo el lente," was taken up by the multitude. My companion, who had kept the glass in his eye till the uproar became tremen- dous, at last took it down, made the public a low bow, and then replaced it with a humorous grimace. " Vivan los Ingleses ! " shouted the mob, " es buena gente ! " and then turned to badger some new victim, not always sparing the Frenchified dandies who, with many a fair dona, began to fill the " palcos." The " Funcion " opened by a procession of all the personages to be employed in the fight. The picadores with long lances, their right legs encased in iron, THE BULL-FIGHT. 59 covered with leather ; the light-limbed and elegantly costumed chulos, and banderille'ros with the graceful Montes, the primera Espada, at their head ; the gaily caparisoned mules and the negro-driver, who remove the carcases, and lastly, the " alguazil," in court-dress, who requested permission of the Corregidor to be allowed to commence the Funcion, which was acceded to by that authority, throwing him the key of the "vomitorium," upon which the alguazil retires with frequent obeisances, and is hailed with innumerable time-honoured sarcasms by the " picaros" in the " Sol.' The loud murmur subsided as the picadores and chulos took their places, and there was a dead silence of anxious expectation as the gate leading to the den was thrown open. Presently forth rushed a magni- ficent dun-coloured bull, springing all four feet into the air, and with the roar of a lion as he felt the sharp prick of a small dart, which fastened a gay bunch of ribbons, "the colours of the breeder," to his shoulders. He paused for a moment, blowing up the dust with his nostrils, his tail lashing his sides, his fiery eye bespeaking his savage nature. Suddenly he rushed at a bull's eye painted on the barrier op- posite, and resting on his hind legs he struck savagely but ineffectually at it. Turning from this, he, for the first time, caught sight of the picadores and chulos, and without a moment's pause rushed head- long at the former, tail on end. It seemed as if man 60 THE BULL-FIGHT. and horse must have gone down before the frantic rush ; but, with cool and practised hand, Sevilla planted his lance on the wither, and, with a skilful lunge, turned him off, and, wheeling his horse, escaped ; the bull charged on at the second and then at the third, and was cleverly turned by both. An anxious sob of expectation was the only sound heard from the vast multitude, except a smothered shriek from one or two of the palcos, where some unsophisticated girl hid her face in her mantilla, fearing to see the mischief of that terrible rush. But when the bull was so adroitly defeated there arose a shout that seemed to shake the sky, a sound such as is made by a gale of wind among the trees of a pine forest, as all applauded with word and hand. Man and beast had done their best. For a moment the bull stood confounded, the blood trickling from his lacerated shoulders, every muscle quivering with ex- citement, and short bellowing cries expressing his furious rage : it was but for a moment, and then with a roar of pain and fury he returned to the charge, and almost before the eye could comprehend his movements, the three horses and their riders were overthrown, and rolling in the arena. Shouts and cries from the aficionados directed the fallen horse- men and the chulos what to do. " Bravo toro I" well done bull ! shouted others ; women sobbed and shrieked, and everywhere there was the wildest ex- THE BULL-FIGHT. 61 citement and confusion. But Montes was there a moment before lie had been leaning carelessly against the barrier, apparently an unconcerned spectator of the fight, but scarcely had the last rider touched the ground, when a cloak was drawn across the bull's eyes, and his attention distracted from the fallen men. The bull fiercely turned on his new opponent, and pursued him till he reached the barrier, over which he bounded with a suddenness and ease which left the bull, who had aimed at pinning him to the planks, looking as bothered and bewildered on the other side as does pantaloon when he sees harlequin disappear from his grasp through the face of a clock, or other impracticable article of furniture. Robbed of his vengeance here, he turned on the fallen horses and spitefully gored and threw them over and over. One of them he pitched fairly up on his legs, and the unfortunate beast, which had been lying apparently dead, took advantage of the opportunity, and, loudly applauded by the multitude, made off across the arena, where a door was opened for his escape. The bull was not long allowed to have the field to himself ; he was presently beset by a swarm of chulos, crossing, meeting, teasing, and avoiding him with a skill and intrepidity quite wonderful. Wherever any one was hard pressed, there was Montes, and at last taking the bull to himself, he sustained several charges with scarcely a change of 62 THE BULL-FIGHT. posture, and repaying the bull for each by a kick or a cuff, or a tug at the tail ; till he fairly stood still and gazed steadily at his tormentor, as if to be assured he was not the victim of an optical delusion. After a scrutinizing look at his impassible foe, the poor bull seemed to make up his mind that it was no use, and that he would fight no more ; but it was now the turn of the toreros to attack. Arming themselves with banderillas (barbed sticks covered with ribbons), they rushed boldly at him and planted pair after pair in his shoulders, avoiding his horns by leaping on one side or over his head. Montes now advanced to the Corregidor's palco with a long straight sword in his left hand, partially concealed by the crimson " Muleta ;" bending on one knee, and with his little embroidered montera in his right hand, he begged in heroic dumb action to be permitted to engage the bull single handed, "hasta la muerte," in mortal combat. The permission being graciously accorded by the indulgent Corregidor, Montes bowed his thanks, threw down his montera, and clutching his Toledo blade in his right hand, made straight for where the bull stood surrounded by the chulos, whose particoloured cloaks he had been vainly charging. The infuriated animal suddenly found himself con- fronted by a single man, whose calm immobility of attitude seemed to awe him. He pawed the ground two or three times, as if in doubt, then lowering his THE BULL-FIGHT. 63 horns, the mighty bull rushed with dauntless spirit at his adversary, to meet the harmless opposition of the glaring muleta ; back again he charged, and again, and again with blind fury, Montes following him with unblenching eye and quick foot till he saw his oppor- tunity; just when the bull's horns were at his foot, he lunged with unerring hand and buried the sword to the hilt between the shoulder blades. The bull staggered forward a few yards with the impetus of his charge, stood for a moment swaying backwards and forwards, pitched on his knees, and rolled over on his side dead. Montes wiped his sword in the flag, returned oppo- site the Corregidor's palco, picked up his hat, and, bowing gracefully, retired : while the spectators shouted their applause and threw their sombreros into the arena ; a proceeding that kept up the excitement till the next fight, as when the hats were returned, there was considerable difficulty in adjusting the claims of the owners. The sports proceeded with varied interest till eight bulls, the number mentioned in the programme, were killed, by which time it was nearly dark, but the voices from the " Sol " still clamoured for more blood, and another bull was granted to them a boon that cost the life of one of the chulos, who, missing his leap in the dusk, was gored and was carried away to 64 THE BULL-FIGHT. die, while the shouting mob watched the sequel of the fight with unabated avidity. The bull that afforded most amusement to myself and my English companions was a thorough craven. Seven times he cleared the barriers in sporting style, floundering into the " coulisses," to the infinite dis- may of the guard of soldiers, and the admiring friends of the chulos, who assemble there to acquire the reputation of "aficionados." At the first jump the bull tumbled headlong into the midst of a group of this sort, and before he could get on his legs, soldiers and amateurs were vaulting and scrambling over the barrier into the arena, their hats, swords, and muskets flying about in all directions. An aguadero, who, encumbered with his water-keg, could not readily jump over the barrier, with instinctive presence of mind threw open a door into the arena, as he fled. Through this the bull returned and found himself in the midst of the fugitives again. Never was such a scurry seen, such frantic efforts to escape, as they tumbled over and obstructed one another. I laughed at their plight till the tears ran down my face, and my companions were in convulsions, to the infinite disgust of the Spaniards, who looked upon the conduct of the bull as too disgraceful to be compensated for by any amount of mere farce. They screamed with rage, and showered every epithet of abuse they could EL MATADOR. 65 invent on the recreant beast, " P de vaca," " d old cow," was the mildest term of reproach ; and we were nearly coming in for a share of public indig- nation for being so much amused. The banderillas when stuck in this bull caused fireworks to explode, making the beast jump and roar with pain and fright, diffusing around an odour of roast beef, which appeared highly relished by the lower orders in the " SoL" The unfortunate beast was doomed to be an object of public execration to the last, for in trying to kill him the matador missed his aim, and the sword, wrenched out of his hand, was hurled high into the air. Epithets of abuse were quickly transferred to the unlucky matador, among which the Spanish equivalent for " butter-fingers " was liberally used ; and when the cachetero, with a short dagger, put an end to the poor beast's agonies by a single blow on the spine, he was fiercely entreated by a hundred voices to serve the matador in tlie same way. An Englishman can scarcely conceive the interest Spaniards take in this barbarous and demoralising sport The age, owner, pedigree, and country of each bull are stated hi the programme ; and there is much speculation on the probable pluck of particular breeds and colours. The most famous bulls of Anda- lucia are bred in the mountains of Ronda and Gaucin, where they scarcely see any man except the half- 66 ' DRIVING THE BULLS. savage herdsmen, who, with their huge mastiffs, keep guard upon them. They are as fierce and unmanage- able as wild beasts ; and it is a work of considerable risk and some management to select the bulls required to fight and to drive them from the mountains. The usual practice is to drive cattle trained for the purpose into the wild herd, and when they are all mixed together a number of horsemen dash in among them with loud shouts. The tame cattle immediately take the lead, and make off in the direction of their home, and are followed pell-mell by the wild ones, and, as opportunity serves, the riders single out, and, with the persuasion of heavy stones from their slings, turn back such as they do not want In riding along an unfrequented path, the traveller is sometimes startled with the cry of, " Los toros Cuidado cavallero, por su vida los toros ! " " The bulls, the bulls ; for God's sake take heed ; the bulls are coming ; " and, on galloping to the right or left, there may be seen two or three wild riders sweeping along as if pursued by the herd of bulls, which are closely followed by a party of horsemen, armed with lances and slings, with which and with loud shouts they urge them on. They are highly picturesque as they dash rapidly past, their fajas and horse-tails streaming in the wind, resembling a hard-pressed " cavalgada," hastening with their spoil, to the shelter of some friendly keep. CHANGE IN QUARTERS. 67 I was happy as the day was long at Gibraltar, till by the intervention of some unlucky sprite, just as I was setting off on a week's leave to the " Semana Santa " at Seville, I received orders to sail at a few days' notice by the Oriental steamer to Alexandria? en route for Bombay and China. This was a change indeed ! But with the charac- teristic love of adventure common to all Englishmen, I was delighted at the time at the prospect of such distant travel with the chance of seeing much that was strange in the almost mystic land of the Celes- tials ; for all I knew I might be at the storming of Pekin and assist in ransacking the adyta of the imperial palace, for the treaty of peace had not yet been ratified. Instead of the excitement of " glorious war " which I had looked forward to, I found myself doomed to the monotonous life of sickly garrisons and, in the intervals of fever, I had ample time to have regretted, if regret could have availed, the change which took me from scenes full of romantic interest, to others where I had to make acquaintance with many of the stern realities of existence, and to learn " in what place soe'er" to " Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain, Through labour and endurance " * a lesson I have since had abundant practice in. * Milton. 68 THE ORIENTAL STEAMERS. CHAPTER VII. THE OVERLAND EOUTE. THE ORIENTAL STEAMERS AND THEIR PASSENGERS ALGIERS THE NORTH COAST OF AFRICA VALETTA THE FLEET THE PRIESTS AND CHURCHES ALEXANDRIA DONKEY RIDES IN SEARCH OF THE ANTIQUES ATYEH ; ITS ARCHITECTURE ORIENTAL DISCIPLINE THE NILE. IN a few days I found myself a passenger on board one 'of the Oriental Company's splendid steamers, and gazing wistfully at the hoary mountain, fast sink- ing astern. Any sentimental pangs were soon lulled by the enjoyment of present luxury, and by the con- tagious hilarity of numbers of young cadets, writers, and subs, making their first start in the world, and painting the prospect with the " couleur de rose " of their unsophisticated imaginations. There were young and pretty women, too, contributing to the gaiety of the deck and of the saloon ; and many older and more experienced travellers, whose stores of anecdote and travel added much to the amusement and instruction of such a voyage. The variety of society, the rapidity and comfort with which one is wafted from port to ALGIERS. 69 port, the spacious decks and saloons, make a voyage in one of these vessels, when not overcrowded, very pleasant and instructive, while one may travel in them almost all over the world at an expense not exceeding that of living at a respectable hotel. In fact, if facilities and improvements continue as they have done for the last few years, it will soon be much cheaper to travel than to stay at home. Two days after we had left the rugged shores of Spain we found ourselves off the coast of Algiers, and, to gratify the passengers, the vessel was run close into the harbour, affording us an excellent view of the picturesque town, where the houses are piled one above another on the steep hill side, till they re- semble a huge pyramid of architectural impossibilities. The surrounding hills were covered with vegetation, with gardens and villas, formerly the habitations of luxuriant Turks and domineering corsairs, now the abode of the once-despised Frank. It is a pity that the whole of the north coast of Africa, once the granary of Rome, cannot be reduced to European subjection, if it could be done at a more reasonable cost than Algiers, which for twenty years has demanded so lavish an expenditure of blood and gold. This would not suit England ; but to France it is a matter almost of necessity, as such an immense army must be found in work, in prize-money, and promotion ; and it may be esteemed a lucky chance 70 NORTH COAST OF AFRICA. when a distant province offers all these at a cheaper rate than domestic war or aggression on her neigh- bours. England, with her shopkeeping notions of profit and loss, might, perhaps, have managed to keep hold of all that was worth having on the coast, with- out provoking war with the poor and fierce mountain tribes of the interior. We held Tangier for many years without much expense or trouble, and we might even now have been possessors of that valuable position but for the " blessed restoration," with all its attendant disgrace and trouble, both foreign and domestic. Tangier was abandoned, and Bombay would have been sold if a purchaser had offered. Fortunately the latter re- mained to us till its value was ascertained ; but who can tell what might have been the value of the for- mer ? Strong in position, possessing a fine harbour the only one in the Straits the natural emporium of European trade with Morocco, the more distant Tafilet and even Timbuctoo, it would also have been a valuable support and reinforcement to Gibraltar, and the natural source of its supplies of food. With Algiers in the hands of the French, and Morocco and Egypt under the sway of England, there might still be a hope of the regeneration of the southern side of the Mediterranean, and its restoration to the civilizing influence of Christianity, learning, and the arts, of all of which it was one of the most distin- VALETTA. 71 guished seats. Any strong foreign influence exercised in either of these countries would be most hostile to the interests of Great Britain ; and it must not be forgotten how nearly Russia and Russian influence approach the Red Sea, and that France and French influence rival us in Turkey and Egypt, while their bayonets have more than once gleamed across the frontiers of Morocco, and their fleets thundered in Tangier and Mogadore. Our course for some distance lay along the Barbary shore, allowing us glimpses of the rugged mountains of Tunis and of the land where Carthage once stood At Malta we remained for two days, visiting, in our short sojourn, almost everything of note the small island affords. Yaletta is one of the most pleasing and original little cities I ever saw. It has an air of aristocratic grandeur and repose, owing to the numerous massive palaces, the splendid churches and dwelling-houses with their ornate balustrades and large balconies, and windows and doors of hand- somely carved stone, which have been made univer- sally familiar by the graphic pencil of Prout. In the splendid harbour there are comparatively few mer- chantmen, but in their place are stately men-of-war and huge steamers, all as neat as paint and scrubbing can make them, and rigged with a precision that reminds one that this is the first of our naval stations abroad, and where the fleet is seen to greater advan- 72 ALEXANDRIA. tage than any other place, not even excepting our great ports at home. There are few things strike a stranger more than the number and splendour of the churches, unless it be the throng in the principal streets of well-fed cure's and priggish-looking clerical students, whose excellent condition and supercilious air remind one that they do not suffer much persecution at the hands of the heretical islanders who rule here. In little more than three days after leaving Yaletta we anchored in the port of Alexandria, and completed the first act of our long journey. On landing we were beset by donkey-boys, who surrounded us on all sides> each backing his long-eared steed against us till we were compelled to mount or be trampled on. Vault- ing into the crupper of the nearest, we scrambled into the seat of our high-peaked saddles, and set off as hard as we could gallop, pursued by our respective drivers. The arrival of the Oriental steamers creates a won- derful bustle in the usually quiet streets of the city. All at once a crowd of youngsters are let loose, who make the streets and bazaars ring with their laughter and shouts as they gallop about, reckless of the integrity of their own bones, or of the toes of the true believers, who are obliged to scuttle out of the way with a speed highly inconvenient in their loose slippers. Every donkey-boy knows Cleopatra's Needle and DONKEY RIDES. 73 Pompey's Pillar, and to these they at once drive the strangers ; but I fear these venerable antiques are scarcely regarded in any other light than as well- known goals of innumerable donkey-races. There the " giaours " may be seen rushing frantically along, legs, hands, and voice all exerted to the utmost. One by one they literally fall off; the race is be- tween two of the best mounted : the excitement is tremendous. Neck and neck they go along. Cleo- patra's Needle is close at hand, when the little brown donkey, missing the ground altogether with his feet, takes a dive with his head, sending his driver spinning on to his chimney-pot castor, out of which he has some difficulty in extricating his head. The winner has it all his own way, shouts a cry of vic- tory, waves his hat in exultation, and, before he knows what has happened, finds himself sliding along the sand on hands and knees half-a-dozen yards ahead of his donkey, who, having safely accomplished his fall, gets leisurely on his legs again. A short pause to enable the stragglers to come up admits of time for a select few with antiquarian tastes to decipher hieroglyphics significative of Smith, Brown, and Jones, with other and more aristocratic but not worthier patronymics, which stand in friendly propinquity to the Rameses and Ptolemies, who had the original lease of the granite. From the Needle to the Pillar the incidents are E 74 MEHEMET ALL very similar, and the results much the same. There is little left to interest that belongs to the antique, while all that is modern has a smug parvenu air, a bastard cross between orientalism and occidentalism, a mixture of shop and bazaar, a compromise between hat and turban, and a priggish pretension to civiliza- tion, the claim to which one is scarcely prepared to admit.* Twelve hours' steaming in the canal, which I will be original enough not to execrate, and the history of * A subsequent visit to Egypt gave the writer an oppor- tunity of seeing it under better auspices, and when many changes and improvements, only just instituted, had been fairly tried and tested. The discrimination between a war with England and a petty opposition to her communication with India, and to the conve- nience of English passengers, manifested in Mehemet Ali a truly noble and most unoriental liberality of sentiment. While we were crushing his fondest hopes, destroying his fine army, driving him back from the field of victory he had so hardly won, and reducing him from a conquering dictator to a humble vassal of the effete Turk, he was protecting English commerce, trans- mitting English despatches, and turning marauding Bedouins into safeguards for English travellers. His Alexandrian canal, and his project for barring the Nile below Boulak, are designs worthy of the greatest benefactors of their country. The latter scheme is of gigantic proportions, truly Egyptian, and is expected to do more for the .land than has been accomplished since the Pharaohs reigned. Mehemet All's faults were those of his country and of his education his virtues were all his own ; and in spite of his iron rule he has placed Egypt in a position superior to any she has held under Mahometan sway, and which has raised her to the fellowship of civilized nations. ATYEH ; ITS AKCHITECTCTRE. 75 which I will not allude to, brought us to Atyeh, one of the most remarkable towns I ever saw. It was a mere mound of earth and mud, burrowed in all direc- tions as if by Brobdignagian water-rats, these burrows being the residences of the population. It was quite startling, on stumbling over a heap of sun-cracked mud, to hear voices wrangling beneath the surface, and to witness the apparition of a shaven poll fol- lowed by a gaunt body, from under one's feet, or to see sundry female Troglodytes scuttle to earth on catching sight of the " Kaffir's " white face. The communication with the Nile was not at this time complete, but our luggage was quickly trans- ferred by hand and on camels from the small canal- boats to the more roomy steamers, in which we were to ascend the sacred stream. The transfer was not effected without a scene sufficiently Oriental in its de- tails. An unlucky young " rais," or commander of a river boat, did not move out of the way with sufficient rapidity to satisfy the impatience of the pacha's officers, so he was at once seized, and before he knew what was going to happen, he was on his back and the soles of his feet in the air, and in another minute the bamboo would have been effectually applied. He was a fine handsome lad, and his dilatormess had been caused rather by surprise at seeing the stranger than from insubordination, so we interceded, and he got off for the fright. E 2 76 THE NILE. Our course was slow, and owing to the shallowness of the water at this time of the year, we frequently stuck fast This did not grieve us much, as it gave more time to see the palm-covered islands with their graceful minarets, and the mud-built villages of the unlucky " ryots," who, between droughts and floods, poverty and despotism, have an uneasy time of it in this world, and require at least, to make their burthen tolerable, that they should have a Maho- metan's faith in the infinite ease and luxury of the next. The river is crowded with boats, exceeding in picturesque beauty any I ever saw, with their pure white lateen sails and high-pooped, sharp-prowed hulls. At every village they are in numbers, the sails hanging loose from the lofty tapering yards ; some beat up against the wind in ever-changing groups, and others, the most beautiful of all, with their pointed sails expanded on each side, resemble huge sea-gulls skimming lightly and airily along the surface of the stream. BOULAK CAIRO. 77 CHAPTER VII. BOULAK CAIBO THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH " BUCKSHEESH"- THE VALLEY OF THE NILE A HOT DAY'S WOEK GUINNESS'S "PORTARE "ARAB STEEDS TASTE FOR CHEAP LITERATURE A SCENE IN THE DESERT COLD AND HEAT SUEZ ADEN. JUST as day was breaking we landed at Boulak, the pyramids on the opposite side of the river standing darkly up against the sky, beginning to reflect the first light of morning. The distance to Cairo was only two miles, so I went there on foot, enjoying the bracing morning air which sighed among the palm- trees and gardens on either side of the road. At the hotel I found several of my fellow-passengers mount- ing to set off to the pyramids, whom I joined ; and I can certainly say, that for the rest of that day I fagged at the sights with an assiduity rarely surpassed, even on the overland route. I visited the Pyramids, and ascended to the summit of that of Cheops, in spite of the aid of the Arabs, who got in the way and shouted " bucksheesh," at every step, occasionally giving one a shove behind that risked one's knees against the sharp stones. I mildly expostulated with a big 78 THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH. fellow, who several times volunteered a supplementary shove as I made my spring from stone to stone, and I explained to him as well as I could that it would be a comparatively easy process to kick him from the top of the venerable structure to the bottom. He evi- dently thought I was not safe, but he had a duty to perform, so keeping at arm's length he watched his opportunity to rush in and give an occasional shove behind, shouting like a fiend at the same time for " bucksheesh." I saw active resistance was useless, so I sat patiently down and gazed placidly into the valley of the Nile, heedless of the black rascal's yells, till he, thinking he had got a bad customer, and per- ceiving a rather corpulent gentleman who submitted patiently to being shoved and lugged, he made a furious charge at him, and hoisted him bodily on to the next stone, repeating his war-cry of " bucksheesh " with renewed vigour. The view from the summit of the pyramid is very extensive, stretching on one side over an illimitable extent of desert, dotted by numerous pyramids, among which those of Sahara are the most con- siderable. On the other side winds the Nile, fer- tilising a rich tract of country on each side, which lies between the deserts like a green riband. With the aid of science the river's influence might be greatly extended, and vast tracts of desert rendered fruitful : that it was so at one time is evident from the vast A HOT DAY'S WORK. 79 structures now almost buried in the drifting sand, but which once must have stood in the midst of a popu- lous country. We crawled on hands and knees through the gallery into the inner chamber of the pyramid, but from which we were glad to escape, half suffocated with the heat and the smell of the candles carried by the Arabs, and having seen nothing for our pains but bare walls. Our time only admitted of a glance at the rifled tombs of the city of the dead, and a hasty sketch of the melancholy sphinx, who appears to con- template with anguish the day when the waves of sand now reaching her bosom will roll above her head. My donkey, a wonderful little beast, carried me back to the Nile at a gallop, where I saw the pacha's camels, about six hundred in number, driven down to drink Crossing in a ferry-boat I visited the two slave-markets, and saw a number of hideous negresses covered with tallow, and some Abyssinian girls, gentle looking and rather pretty, but who only fetch from sixty to eighty dollars. I managed to visit Sultan Hassan's mosque, and the splendid new one con- structing by Mehemet Ali, and went over the citadel, visited Joseph's well, said to have been constructed by Saladin, and saw the live lions, and, I believe, almost every other lion in Cairo. This was accom- plished by five o'clock in the evening, during the 80 ARAB STEEDS. prevalence of a " Khamsin," or hot wind, which blew scorching from the desert. I had had nothing to eat the whole day ; my tongue was as dry and nearly as hard as leather, and my blood seemed to be in a state approaching combustion ; when, instead of rest and dinner, I found the vans ready to set off with us across the desert. A waiter, seeing my exhausted condition, suggested " portare," and really produced a bottle of veritable Guinness. Never till then did I know the value of thirst, the satisfaction with which the inward fire is slaked and cooled, and finishing the bottle at a draught, and without the intervention of a tumbler, I was a strong man again. This was, I believe, the first, or nearly the first, occasion on which vans had been used to cross the desert ; and never was there such a scene of kicking, plunging, and rearing as was performed by the un- broken steeds for our edification, and to astonish crowds of the Faithful, who waited and watched patiently in hopes of seeing the unbelievers' necks broken. But even among them there were signs of the times, in the frequent adopting of a part or the whole of the European dress, but with a red tarboosh, in place of the 'Frankish chimney-pot, with which we insist on adorning our head-pieces. There were hawkers, also, selling "Windsor soap and pamphlets, sore innovations in a spot where sand was the usual detergent, and not far from the city where CHEAP LITERATURE. 81 the Moslem chief " Amru ibn al Aas " destroyed the splendid library of the Ptolemies, because all that did not agree with the Koran was damnable, and all that did was supererogatory, and consequently useless. I purchased two of the pamphlets, and found one to be an Arabic translation of a tract, the other an abridged Arabic grammar, both published by a London Society. It is creditable to the zeal for knowledge among these enlightened Moslems, that both tracts were stolen from me within ten minutes after they came into my possession. A few years previously one's pocket might have been picked, or one's throat cut, but I feel satisfied the pamphlets might have been paraded in every bazaar in Cairo without attracting a covetous glance. After many " hair-breadth 'scapes " in our fierce career, through the narrow streets, we at length emerged into the desert, where our horses had ample room for their wild pranks, which were only re- strained at all within bounds by the activity of the " cavasses " who ran at their sides. In spite of the hard day's work I had had, I did not feel the least fatigued ; and tempted by the stilly solitude of the desert, and refreshed by the coolness of the night air, on arriving at the first station I strolled away about half a mile, and sat down on the top of an elevation which rose slightly above the undulating E 3 82 SCENE IN THE DESERT. plain. The moon, just past the full, was still below the horizon, but its rays, with long pencils of light, silvered the edges of the fleecy clouds in the blue vault of heaven, in which, at immeasurable height, shone myriads of stars, with a brilliant and distinct light I had never seen elsewhere. By this darkness visible I perceived at about fifty yards distant, a large party of Arabs sleeping on the ground among their camels, not a sound proceeding from their encamp- ment. Presently the yellow moon showed at the edge of the desert and bowled quickly up into the sky, bathing the whole scene in a flood of silvery light. Silently, yet as if by preconcerted signal, the Arabs rose, and, without a word, readjusted the bur- thens on their camels, collected their arms and " burnouses ; " some mounting and others leading their beasts, they departed towards the city, so quietly and noiselessly that not a footfall was heard, and they seemed to fade away and disappear more like the beings of imagination than of reality. The silence was presently rudely broken by the jingle and crash of arriving vans, announcing that the second caravan had reached the station, and that supper would be served. As we continued our journey, the night became bitterly cold, owing to a light impalpable breeze which, moaning across the desert, absolutely benumbed our limbs in spite of great coats and wrappers SUEZ. 83 If the night did ice us, however, we had ample time to thaw down on the following day, when the heat was intense, the dust suffocating, and a blinding mirage rippled the surface of the desert on all sides. The aerial deception was perfect, and the very stones and bushes were refracted on the surface ; but the glare seemed to sear one's eyes as if by gazing on a sea of fire, and it is scarcely credible how refresh- ing it was, on catching sight of the Red Sea, to cool one's eyes in the deep blue of its welcome waters. At the station nearest to Suez, we met a party which must have felt the heat and fatigue severely ; it con- sisted principally of wounded officers from Scinde } some of them carried in litters. They were in excel- lent spirits at the prospect of so soon reaching a comfortable climate, and of getting quickly home. At Suez, I was, with sundry others, put up at the wretched inn, and in the very room which had been inhabited by Buonaparte, but which I gladly vacated in favour of a tolerably clean room in the house of an Arab merchant, the walls of which were placarded with advertisements of " Dublin Stout and Edinburgh Ale." The heat on the Red Sea was almost unbearable, and the atmosphere so surcharged with moisture that no evaporation could take place, so that we existed in a kind of vapour bath that was indescribably enervat- ing. When we met our quondam fellow-passengers 84 ADEN. at Adeo, who had gone on with the Calcutta steamer, they had lost all traces of English freshness and bloom, while some of them had acquired a sallow, bilious tinge that augured ill for their sojourn in India. As it was about the season when the monsoon might be expected to change, a powerful steam-frigate had been sent for us, to which we were transferred at Aden, and which took us to Bombay in seven days, with a mail of only twenty-eight days from England, the quickest that had ever been received. BOMBAY. 85 CHAPTER IX. BOMBAY GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS EDUCATION OF THE NATIVE POPULATION FAKIR VILLAGE DEVOTEES SUPERSTITION AND LICENTIOUSNESS DUTY OF THE RULERS OF INDIA REMARKABLE CONTRASTS CHANGE OF THE MONSOONS THE STRAITS OF MALACCA A SHARK AND TURTLE FIGHT SINGA- PORE THE ARCHIPELAGO. IN Bombay, or rather at Mazagaum, we stayed for three weeks, which afforded ample time to permit us to visit Elephanta, and to see most of the sights and customs of the place, which have been so graphi- cally described by Basil Hall, that it is a work of superfluity in any later writer to do more than allude to them. There was nothing struck me so forcibly, or furnished such food for reflection as the schools instituted by the Government, for the instruction of the natives of all religions, colours, and conditions. By the side of the handsome, bright eye'd Parsee- boy, the son of a rich merchant, might be seen the almost naked, dark child of a groom or grass-cutter. The lad with the mark of high caste on his forehead 86 EDUCATION OF THE NATIVES. frequently stood below the offspring of the despised pariah. Roman Catholic half-castes, Mahometans, and Arabs tinctured with the Wahabite heresy, all mixed without jarring or dislike. There was a degree of docility and intelligence very remarkable, and an anxiety apparent, even in chil- dren, to acquire that information which will raise them to an intellectual position far superior to that of their forefathers, and which will enable them to see and to shun the enervating superstitions and grovel- ling idolatry in which they were blindly nurtured. This liberal and unexclusive system of education will eventually destroy that intolerant bigotry of creed and caste, and they will unconsciously imbibe a liberality of sentiment founded on such early experi- ence of the natural good qualities and capabilities of their fellow students. I had the pleasure of being acquainted with the chief professor, and was much struck by the benignity of his manner, which seemed to have thoroughly won the confidence and affection of his numerous and various pupils. The assistants and tutors were natives jf India, and belonging to most of the castes and religions, and teaching in most of the spoken languages of India, as well as English. Many of the pupils were sufficiently fluent in the latter to be able to repeat passages from the best poets. Their school-books are, most of them, translations FAKIR VILLAGE. 87 of those in common use in English schools, and from approved abridgments of Ancient and Modern His- tory, Philosophy, and the Modern Classics ; a study of which can scarcely fail to sap native prejudices, and exhibit to them the true causes of national prosperity and power ; based, as it ever must be, on the personal worth and intelligence of the people. It was a strange contrast, after visiting this college, to ride over to the Fakir village, at Malabar Point, where superstition in its grossest and most material form offends the eye and the sense. There, at all hours of the day, might be seen loath- some objects, covered with filth and vermin, their hair and beard unkempt, and their limbs distorted into strange and unnatural postures. Some had sat with their arms extended till the joints had stiffened, and they could not be bent again to their original shape, so as to be dependent on their neighbours for assist- ance of every kind, and which, with true priestcraft, is denominated religious virtue meriting a future re- ward. A wealthy Hindoo considers it, or affects to consider it, an act of religious duty to descend from his well-appointed English chariot to remove the dust, or drive the flies from the face of the venerated devotee. Some stood balancing on one leg, like con- templative storks ; some held an arm straight up- wards, several had sat cross-legged for years, and could not unbend their lower limbs, so that they 88 SUPERSTITION AND LICENTIOUSNESS. were lifted about by the arms. One miserable object had clenched his fists till the nails had grown through the back of his hands, and all placed their merit in an abuse of the benevolent gifts of God. If this were the worst, it would merely excite pity or contempt ; but to this horror is added when we know that the temples around are devoted to satur- nalia of gross licentiousness ; that the fakir and priest, and every inhabitant of this polluted spot, are the panders of every description of abominable vice ; that here sensuality is systematized and wedded to reli- gion, and that rites are performed too unholy to meet the light of day, or to be witnessed except by the initiated. When we consider that the wealthiest and the highest of the creed are equally polluted with the ignoble and depraved, one can appreciate the utter moral degradation of the people, and comprehend the holy mission of a Christian nation to instruct and enlighten them, by that means dispersing the mists of sophistry, and exposing the vile system of priest- craft which has enthralled their moral and physical energy. It is most fortunate that the priests, thinking them- selves sure of their hold, or sick of the moral degrada- tion which has alike involved them and the people, do not offer active opposition to the instruction of the native youth ; and it is to be hoped that before another EEMAEKABLE CONTRASTS. 89 generation has expired, the good work may produce fruit which will tend more to the glory of Britain than the most brilliant feat of arms or the highest illustra- tion in arts. I was in Bombay in the period between the cessa- tion of the south-west and the setting in of the north- east monsoon, the hottest part of the hot season, when every one who can make a holiday flies to the Maha- buleshwar Hills, or other spot where the atmosphere is a few degrees lighter and cooler than in the low- lands. As the heat did not affect me, and I felt more interest in the natives than in their white lords, I did not much regret the absence of those who are supposed to make society gay by their presence. There were, too, enough of the princely merchants of India residing in their bungalows at Malabar Point, and other pretty spots, to afford some society, and to assist, by their advice and experience, a griffin in procuring an insight into the ways and peculiarities of the multitudes of mixed races which peaceably throng this very remark- able and interesting island. A stranger may indeed be fairly puzzled to dis- tinguish between the Hindoo and the Mahometan, the Parsee, Arab, Malay, Portuguese, besides indivi- duals of many other races, and many of them widely differing in sect and caste even from their own people, and with a corresponding difference in costume and personal appearance. 90 REMARKABLE CONTRASTS. It is a striking contrast, too, to observe the wide difference in habits and appearance between people born and bred for generations in the same country, and subject to so many of the same influences. One may see a Parsee buck, in his national costume, driv- ing, at a slapping pace, a well-appointed horse in an English tilbury ; beside him trots along a respectable old Mahometan, with a handsome team of diminutive Brahminee cattle, in his clumsy hackery, which screeches and jolts along, innocent of grease and springs, and not at all conscious of its inferiority to the handsome britska in which a party of respectable native merchants are whirled rapidly home from their offices in the fort. A close carriage, like a hearse, impervious to glances from without, conveys a Parsee or Mahometan lady and her daughters for an airing, while Hindoo girls, with naked legs and arms, adorned with bangles, and the finely flowing outline of their forms revealed by their brightly-coloured garments which swathe them tightly, chatter gaily at the tanks while drawing water, or in groups walk homewards to their vine-covered huts, their bodies swaying with swan-like elegance as they walk with the brightly shining brazen vases poised on their heads. "Wan, languid, 'and indifferent, there rides among them the white ruler of all, scarcely seeming to equal in energy, or even intelligence, the bright- eyed children of the soil, who revel joyously in that CHANGE OF THE MONSOONS. 91 heat-laden atmosphere, which avenges them on the conqueror; but in spite of his enervated look and pallid cheek, he has still in his veins the blood of the ancient sea-kings, of the chivalrous Norman, and the patient, enduring Saxon ; and, above all, he has a sense of duty and moral responsibility, which, in the hour of doubt and danger, give him that directness of purpose and decision which must make all rivalry hopeless till a moral regeneration takes place in the people, and they can abandon sinister objects and selfish views in favour of the general happiness and the commonweal. The basis of English power in the East is the con- sciousness the people possess of their own unworthi- ness, and that a change from English to native rule would be but displacing the shepherd to make room for the wolf. They may' not love their white lords, but they fear their own people more, and in that fear English empire in India has its surest safeguard. We left Bombay in the midst of storm and dark- ness, the change of the monsoon setting in with its accustomed fury. The flood-gates of heaven were loosed, the pent-up winds battled in fierce contest, while a shadowy darkness covered the sky, seamed at frequent intervals by the vivid glare of lightning, fol- lowed by peals of crashing thunder. The tempest scarcely abated till we had weathered Ceylon, when we found ourselves careering swiftly 92 SHARK AND TURTLE FIGHT. over the bright waters of the Bay of Bengal. We soon sighted the lofty highlands of Sumatra, and entered the Straits of Malacca, where we found abun- dant objects of interest in the numerous islets, and the woody shores of this river-like arm of the sea. One day, while lying at anchor, and whistling for a breeze, the steward rushed in with the strange an- nouncement that a shark and a turtle were engaged in a fight alongside. Doubtful and amazed at the account of so unusual and so unequal a combat, we all rushed on deck, and there, sure enough, we saw an immense shark and a turtle of venerable antiquity, if one might judge by his size and the profusion of barnacles and other para- sites with which he was decorated. Without respect for his age and Quaker-like habits, the shark made furious charges at poor turtle, who opposed the dangerous jaws of the enemy with the full front of his back, on which no impression could be made. On one occasion the turtle did not turn quite sharply enough, which cost him the greater part of one un- lucky nipper. Indignant at the perversion of such an aldermanic banquet to the voracious and indiscrimi- nating appetite of a shark, our skipper intervened with a harpoon, but with such ill-judged aim, that it fell butt-end foremost instead of on the point, where- upon, in our disappointment, we would gladly have pitched him after it. It, however, answered the pur- SINGAPORE. 93 pose of scaring away the shark for a few moments which the turtle made the most of to scuttle off to the bottom, where he was safe from the attacks of his ravenous admirer; We were nearly a fortnight in the Straits, rarely getting under way, unless when a violent squall, called a Sumatra, was seen brewing over one of the mountain tops astern, and which came up with light- ning and thunder, deluging our decks with rain ; and after threatening to burst our sails, or carry away the topmasts, generally left us, after a few miles' rapid career, without a breath of air to lift the wet canvas. At Singapore we remained for a few days, and were astonished at the vast concourse of vessels con- tinually arriving and departing. Scarcely a ship going to, or coming from, China fails to call at this port for news or supplies, or to see what the other ships are doing in this general place of rendezvous. Numbers of native boats and prahus bring the pro- duce of the Straits and of the neighbouring islands> and Chinese junks arrive with crowds of immigrants, bringing an abundance of willing labour to retrieve the vast wildernesses of jungle which everywhere in these islands cumber the rich alluvial soil, and poison the atmosphere with the decay of their rank vege- tation. The teeming soil, the rivers rich with gems, and the mountains veined with mineral ores, have never 94 THE ARCHIPELAGO. yielded their wealth to the tiger-like Malay or the piratical Arab, whose career has been in rapine and blood. The cheerful husbandman and the patient miner will draw from these once unprofitable sources an amount of wealth undreamed of by those who have held it to so little purpose. The stream of Chinese immigration is rapidly finding its way into every island, and in a few years, if protected and encouraged, the new-comers will so outnumber the former sparse possessors of the soil as to materially alter the whole aspect of the country, and create in these scarcely known islands a commerce sufficiently valuable to become an object of rivalry among the western nations. As yet we have done little or nothing to improve our relations with the people of these seas ; while the Dutch, with a selfish and mis- taken but systematic policy, use the whole of their great influence to repress the exertions of the natives, and to cut them off as much as possible from all com- munication or intercourse with other European nations. THE LYMTJNG PASSAGE. CHAPTER X. CHINA HONG-KONG. " For hot, cold, moist and dry, four champions fierce, Strive here for mastery." Milton. THE LTMUNG PASSAGE THE BAY OF HONG KONG FIRST IMPRES- SIONSHEAT AND DAMP MORTALITY " QTJE DIABLE FAISIONS NOUS DANS CETTE GALERE ?" A CHINESE ALSATIA PYLANGS AND THEIR TRICKS PIRATES APPEARANCE OF THE CHINA- MEN. FROM Singapore our course lay up the China Sea, till, after a fortnight's sailing, we sighted the rugged island and promontories which boldly guard the estuary against the heavy roll of the sea. It was about the season when typhoons might be looked for ; and, though we did not encounter " the winged scourge of the ocean," there was a murky horror in the lowering sky, and a malignant bitterness in the gusts of wind which surged up from the south- west, which seemed to presage the dark fury of the storm when loosed from its cavern at the ends of the earth. For three or four days we continued to hang about 96 BAY OF HONG KONG. the Leema., sometimes at anchor, and at others attempting, to little purpose, to beat up the channel against a foul wind and a strong tide. The captain, at last, after grave consultation with the long-tailed pilot, announced his intention to run for the " Lymung Passage," and at once carried it into effect by squaring the yards, and steering the ship at what appeared to be a solid wall of rock and moun- tain, which stretched apparently in an unbroken line along one side of the estuary. When close to the shore an indentation became visible, into which we ran, and were presently pursuing a devious course through a smooth, land-locked natural canal, not half a mile wide. An hour's pleasant sail through this brought us into the broad lake-like expanse of the beautiful bay of Hong-Kong. Surrounded by green and hilly shores, and dotted with islands, it had to the eye all the appearance of an extensive lake. The water was thickly studded with huge men-of-war ships, rakish opium-clippers, grimy -looking steamers, gallant Indiamen, and craft of all sorts and sizes, among which hundreds of grotesque-looking tanka boats and small native craft were most conspicuous. Our first and most anxious looks were directed towards Hong-Kong, where mountainous peaks, en- veloped in heavy masses of cloud, and covered with dank unwholesome vegetation, lowered grimly over the scene, and gave a saddened aspect to the scattered HEAT AND DAMP. 97 dwellings of the new settlement. The large, dark, rude-looking mountain descended almost precipitously to the water's edge. A few houses, shelved into its side, or close to the shore, were scattered at intervals along a line nearly two miles in length, and which was unpleasantly diversified by large patches of wet, yellow, graveyard-looking earth, where spaces were being excavated for new buildings. On the whole the place had an uninviting, chilling look, quite in character with the bad reputation it bore, and which had anything but a cheering effect on the spirits of one who might anticipate being a sojourner for any length of time on its dark shores. Bain at intervals poured in cataracts, rather than torrents ; floods rushed down the precipitous ravines, and the atmosphere was so laden with moisture as to check evaporation, rendering the heat intolerably enervating and depressing. This damp, combined with the intense heat of the sun, when it shone through the masses of storm-laden clouds and watery vapour, which ordinarily covered the mountain side, was a fertile cause of the malaria which was daily carrying off numbers of victims. Earth and air appeared to teem with deadly exhalations, the hill-sides were covered with rank vegetation, and the very granite rocks, disintegrated and honey -combed as a sponge, reeked with moisture. There were almost daily two or three frightfully F 98 MORTALITY. violent squalls which ploughed up the waters of the bay, and in their fierce career threatened to tear the very houses from their foundations. The close, massive, leadeny atmosphere thus set in motion, struck ague chills into the debilitated frame, sud- denly checking the perspiration and causing invo- luntary shudders, the first fatal symptoms of fever. One regiment, almost decimated, had abandoned the barracks, for quarters on board a transport, where it was hoped that the change of air might diminish the frightful mortality. Every morning and evening funeral boats leaving the ship's side with a heavy freight for Shark's Bay, seemed to indicate little change for the better. On shore fever and death were rife among the in- habitants, both civil and military, and many valuable lives were lost. In our small party of five, one fell a victim in the first three weeks, after only a few hours' illness. The deaths of most frequent occurrence, and of which little note was taken, were among strangers and sailors, who landed, walked about in the sun and rain, indulged perhaps in a jollification to celebrate their arrival, and were the next day dead, and buried with scant ceremony. After a fortnight's sojourn in the place, I found my- self asking " Que diable faisions nous dans cette galere ? " What, unhappy men that we are, has brought us into such a place? Gloomy, unhealthy, A CHINESE ALSATIA. 99 unsafe, without convenience for roads or settlements, indefensible in a military point of view, it seemed strange that this place, the pis-aller of the much- abused Elliott, should have been the object of delibe- rate choice by the sagacious Pottinger. If selected as an entrepot of trade, it had signally failed. Not a solitary junk had visited the port to buy or sell, and, with one exception, not a single re- spectable Chinaman of any importance had taken up his abode there : he, unfortunately, died almost im- mediately after, and no other seems to be likely to take his place. The junks which formerly watered here and proceeded to sea by the Lymung passage, now avoid it, as if it were infected, preferring a cir- cuitous, and more exposed route, to that which is desecrated by our unhallowed presence. Hong Kong had become a sort of Chinese Alsatia, where congregated the pirate hordes of the Canton River, the smugglers, vagabonds, and outcasts of all descriptions from the main land. Lorchas, fast boats, and freight boats, were attacked in the bay itself, almost under the guns of the men- of-war, and murders and piracies were committed with almost perfect impunity. Escaping through the intricate channels among the neighbouring islands, the pirates mix themselves up with the population on shore, or among the innumer- able fishing-boats afloat, where they defy the scrutiny F 2 100 CHINESE THIEVES. of the " Fan-qui," who, from his ignorance of the language, habits, and manners of the people, is alto- gether unqualified to cope with such astute rascals, and will continue to be so for some years to come. In Hong Kong robberies were of daily, or rather of nightly occurrence. With the aid of a long light bamboo the thieves could ascend into the windows of the upper stories of the houses, which they seldom failed in gutting of everything worth carrying off. This was so frequently done, and with such impunity, that it was commonly believed by the residents that the thieves preceded their operations by burning pastilles of opium, to deaden the faculties of the sleepers. An officer and his wife waking one morn- ing, found that the bedstead, and the sheet which covered them, were the only portable articles remain- ing in their establishment. Some persons lost the very pistols from under their pillows ; and others on waking found that the whole of their wardrobe had unaccountably disappeared. Now and then an unlucky rascal paid the penalty for the rest, and one of them was run through the body by a very wide-awake captain of the 98th, who pinned him in the act of escaping with a few stray valuables. The rascals had all sorts of dodges to secure them- selves against capture. They were usually nearly naked, and their tails, by which they were liable to CHINESE PIRATES. 101 be caught and held, were either tightly secured round the head, or stuck full of knife-blades, or fish-hooks. The tail was sometimes " postiche," and being easily detached was left in the hands of the disappointed captor. Sometimes, when closely pursued, they would drop a paper full of combustibles, which exploding so dazzled and startled the pursuer as to give them time to escape. The pirates sometimes exhibited a degree of hardi- hood and daring one scarcely looked for in Chinamen, and which can only be accounted for by the truth of the supposition that the river population is of Malay extraction. A party of them one night landed from their boats and broke into the house of a quondam London Alderman, close to the mess-room of one of the native regiments. The screams of the ladies quickly brought the officers and a Sepoy guard to their assistance, with whom the robbers maintained a conflict till they suc- ceeded in securing a quantity of plate which they had come in search of. Soon afterwards a sergeant and a guard of the 98th "Regiment were going in a boat to the barracks at Chuck-Chor, with about 2,OOOZ. for the regiment. When in sight of the barracks they were run into by a pirate boat, and were all killed, except the sergeant, who was wounded and thrown overboard at the first rush, but contrived to swim on shore. 102 CHINESE PIRATES. In this instance, the pirate, as usual, had all the appearance of being an honest fishing-boat engaged in its ordinary avocation. He managed, as if clumsily and accidentally, to run foul of the boat, and while the soldiers on board were busy disengaging their own vessel, the pirates leaped suddenly on board and speared them before they could make any resistance. Any fishing-boat may be a pirate, and it is probable that they all take a turn at the trade when opportu- nity serves. Among the thousands of boats all alike, it is quite impossible to hit on the one which is the offender. Cruisers to search boats for arms, pitching upon them indiscriminately, might answer the pur- pose ; but then what right of search and interruption have we over the thousands of boats daily going out from the multitude of islands, towns, villages, and hamlets, which everywhere stud this extraordinary estuary ? To keep order among such throngs would require very extensive and very arbitrary power, and as we did not possess this, and were trying to coax the Chinese out of their sulks, it did not seem likely that anything would be done ; so John Chinaman continued to rob, plunder, and murder, gradually making up in detail for the wholesale killing and plundering of Canton and Ningpo. As a safe, pleasant, convenient, or salubrious place of abode, Hong Kong will never find an advocate. APPEARANCE OF THE CHINAMEN. 103 Previous to the temporary seizure of Hong Kong by Elliott, as a place of retreat for the merchants and shipping when expelled from Canton and Whampoa, it had only been inhabited by a few fishermen, and it was deserted by them in the autumn, so fatal was the climate even to these, the natives of the soil. At the time of which I write, there was a very extensive and very anomalous native population, numbering by some accounts as many as twenty thousand. I do not think it will be considered invidious by those who knew the place, if I were to surmise that not above one half were there for honest purposes, or pursued honest avocations. Most of them spoke a sort of English jargon, the most extraordinary perversion of the language ever heard, but in which they are remarkably fluent, and which, strange to say, is not unfrequently encouraged and imitated by their European masters. The appearance of the Chinamen, particularly of the better classes, is, at first, irresistibly ludicrous. It is scarcely possible to look at them, and not to laugh. Their extraordinary cracked, whining, nasal voices, the peculiar twanging, guttural sound of the language, their effeminate dress, exaggerated polite- ness, long tails, meagre beards, fans, beads, and em- broidery, have at first the effect of making one believe that they belong to some different race of beings, and that, like Gulliver, one has by some odd accident 104 APPEARANCE OF THE CHINAMEN. tumbled into a different sphere where all one's old notions are confounded. Before I got accustomed to them, I used to look at their antediluvian appearance, the gravity of their demeanour, and the solemn, con- scious dignity of their simious physiognomies as if I were in a dream, or the spectator of a pantomime ; and I had a sort of indistinct notion that the scene would change, and that the grave pantaloons, kicking up their heels and casting off their finery, would sud- denly assume their own natural characters. DEPARTURE FROM HONG KONG. CHAPTER XI. CHINA. What change from that bright southern clime Where, ever at eve, the jocund castanet, Soft, tinkling lute, and distant sound of song, Made night most lovely ! Here night is wrapp'd In cloak of baleful air, pestiferous and dread. Instead of woman's voice, and dance, and mirth, The toad and raven croak their song of death ; And young and old, alike, in unknown graves, . Unwept, uncared for, mix with foreign earth : For none so selfish as the banished man, Who, far from country, home and kindred dear, Shuts up his heart, and centres all in self : And little recks he, if the man, with whom He meets each morn to break his daily bread, Is plague- struck ere the night and carried forth To his last home, where scarce a thought, no tears, Or blessings, fall on his untimely bier. Such fate perhaps mine ! LEAVE HONG KONG AN ENERGETIC BOTANIST SIGNS OF A COMING STORM THE TYPHOON A SAILOR'S AVERSION To WHISTLING NAMOA OPIUM CLIPPERS THE OPIUM TRADE INTRUDERS IN THE MARKET THE WAR JUNKS AND THE CLIP- PER THE FATE OF THE JUNKS. I FOUND that I was not destined to remain long in Hong Kong, but was to be sent off by the first oppor- F3 106 AN ENERGETIC BOTAXIST. tunity to Koo Lung Soo, to relieve an officer there, who, by the last report, was dying of cholera. A fine opium-clipper barque soon offered for the port I was bound to, and in a little more than a fort- night after landing I found myself under-way again, and well satisfied to see the shores receding as we ran out by the western passage with a fine view of the bold and rugged coast. My fellow-passenger was a Mr. Fortune, agent of the London Horticultural Society, who found a new and rich field for his researches in the north of China. He certainly deserved success, for there never was any one more indefatigable in the pursuit of an object ; neither heat or rain, r the boggy valleys or the rugged mountain were any obstacle to him, and in the fiercest mid-day heat and all day long he might be seen scaling the steep sides of Hong Kong in pur- suit of new and curious plants and shrubs. " Neque mare, neque ignes, nee ferrum, nil obstat " so that if he can retain his health under such risk he will be sure to achieve success. Off Mendoza's Island, on the following day, the wind headed us, much to our disappointment, as we had every reason to anticipate finding the south-west monsoon still prevailing. The change of wind, together with a fall in the barometer and other portents, as, for instance, a full moon in perigee and the equinox coinciding on the SIGNS OF A COMING STORM. 107 same day, were big with fate according to our skipper's opinion, who quoted from Horsburgh that the chances were forty to one in favour of a typhoon, or a violent gale, at least. To us these portents sounded like old women's tales. In our eyes the weather seemed fine enough, and the cool, pleasant north-east breeze braced and animated our relaxed and enervated frames. Byler Bay was under our lee, and into this our skipper ran and found a snug berth for himself to leeward of an island called Woong Mew. The Chinese fishing-boats, soon after, alarmed, perhaps, by some portents of their own, for to all appearance the weather was settled and fine, came flocking in in hundreds upon hundreds, getting into all sorts of safe nooks and corners in this extensive and beautiful inland sea. In some places they crowded together in such numbers as to resemble a wood of pine-trees denuded of the leaves and branches. All night we lay quietly, but the morning broke darkly with heavy rain and occasional violent squalls, and we now really congratulated ourselves that we were, as the skipper said, holding on by the ring of the anchor instead of by the topsail sheets. The lascar crew was busy stripping the ship of her gear, getting the yards on deck, and lowering the topmasts to the caps ; and not before it was time, for at eight o'clock the squall began to increase in fury and violence, and soon, in spite of the small quantity of top- 108 THE TYPHOON. hamper, the vessel was carried over, nearly on to her broadside, and had several feet of water on the lee side. Squall succeeded squall with inconceivable rapidity and fury, hissing, screaming, and yelling like ten thousand fiends. The sea was churned into a yeasty foam and beaten quite flat, or if, in a momentary lull, a wave ventured to lift its head, it was carried off bodily to leeward by the next squall. Fishing stakes, forty feet in length, and anchored firmly in the ground, were torn up by the fury of the wind, and driven madly along the waters, affrighting our skipper, lest one of them in mid-career should run into us and let in daylight and death between the stout ribs of our vessel.* We had two anchors out with ninety fathoms of chain on each, and a stream anchor and cable, but we drove with them all, sometimes in one direction, * It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader that the monsoon is a species of trade wind which prevails in the Indian ocean and the China sea. It blows one half the year from the north-east, edged with the wintry blasts from the frozen regions ; and during the other half of the year it blows from the south-west, bringing the sultry heats of the equator, and the abundant moisture collected over the broad surface of -the 1'adi'c. There is usually a month or two of variable weather be- tween the monsoons, when it does not appear to be quite settled which wind shall prevail. At other times the monsoons appear to meet, and to contend in fierce battle for the mastery of the ocean. Then occur the typhoons which some- times devastate the coasts, and which are, perhaps, the most destructive hurricanes that can be encountered. SAILORS' SUPERSTITIONS. 109 sometimes in another. The Bay was completely land- locked, but fortunately we had plenty of room, though at one time we threatened to run down the island of Woongmow. The barometer fell from 29*73 to 29'30, and there stuck for some time, gradually rising again till four o'clock P.M., by which time the strength of the gale had abated, and it died gradually away in the squall ; the wind moaning in a peculiarly melancholy manner. It was now we felt the great advantage of our land-locked berth in escaping the fearful sea that sets up after a typhoon, and which is often more destructive than the gale itself. I was greatly amused during the height of the gale by an incident which exhibited one of the supersti- tions peculiar to sailors. Tired of watching the wind and the rain, I had made myself snug on the top of a chest of drawers in the skipper's cabin the only dry placs I could find my own berth being under water. After trying a variety of "distractions" to wile away the time, I at last unconsciously fell into whist- ling " Kathleen Mavourneen ;" I was trilling my addios, " Con molto espressione," when the skipper, who all the time was stumping uneasily backwards and forwards, could stand it no longer, and pulling up in his walk, he asked, with a mixture of anger and annoyance in his look, " whether I did not think it was blowing quite hard enough, without my kicking 110 NAMOA. up that d d whistling." I was the more amused because he was generally most mild and courteous in his bearing. The only accident that occurred on board, was to an unfortunate Chinese carpenter, who in a momen- tary lull in the gale, ventured into the forecastle, and was there caught by one of the squalls, which whirled him like one of his own shavings into the lee-scuppers on the main deck ; our chips lay for several hours as if he were dead, and although he fell on his head it was some days before he recovered the shock and the bruises. It took two days to repair damages and get our masts and rigging set up again, during which time Mr. Fortune and myself paid a botanising visit to Woongmow, that is to say, he botanised and 1 went with him. With our rigging all taut again, and all our canvas bellying to a pleasant breeze, we curtsied our way out of our safe harbour and anchored in the Straits of Namoa, under a salute of three guns from the opium depot ships. Three days after we left the friendly shelter of Byler Bay. On the following morning, we found that we were anchored in a fine bay surrounded by high land, bold, rugged and barren, like most of the Chinese coasts. Nearest were two opium depot ships, belonging to the great houses of Dent & Co., and Jardine and Matheson, who, in couples, are to be found at all the OPIUM CLIPPERS. Ill principal points from the mouth of the Yang-tse-kiang to the Canton river. These are splendid vessels, handsomely fitted up, and commanded by a class of men very superior to the general run of merchant skippers. They are fine, active, go-a-head young fellows, and push their vessels along the coast in all weathers, in a very dashing manner. To attract men of this kind, the emolu- ments are of course very handsome, and they, like all the other employe's of these merchant princes, are able to retire with a handsome competence, before time has blunted their capacity for enjoying it. Besides the depot ships maintained at the most favourable points, there is a regular fleet of clippers, constantly plying from Whampoa and Hong Kong, up and down the coast, and from India to China, bringing constant relays of the precious drug, or receiving the proceeds in sycee silver as it is collected at the depots. These vessels are generally from one hundred to two hundred tons. And among them are some of the most beautiful specimens of naval architecture afloat, from the ship-yards of Baltimore and of White of Cowes. Immense prices are paid for a crack clipper and they are kept up in the very best style. The crews are generally Lascars or Manilla men, wbo are found to be much better behaved and far 1 1 2 THE OPIUM TRADE. more manageable than Europeans ; being totally exempt from drunkenness, their besetting vice. The only Europeans are the captain and the mate, who command and navigate the vessels, rarely interfering with the men, except through their own officers, the tindal and serang, who hold the same position on board as boatswains and petty officers ; and who rule very despotically, not sparing the rope's-end when its administration is likely to be beneficial. To these men are entrusted cargoes of immense value ; and they battle their way vigorously against the monsoons in all weathers. It is very rare indeed that they attempt to betray their trust, or that they fail in energy in the wearying struggle, when sometimes five hundred miles of coast have to be beaten up against the bitterest gales. In some instances, too, when they have been attacked by Chinese pirates, or by war-junks, a distinction with but little difference, they have fought with great bravery. We had a few cases of opium for one of the depot vessels, to which it was quickly transferred. Each of the cases, rather larger than a tea-chest, was worth about 2507. The opium was packed into it in balls about the size, and of very much the appearance of Dutch cheeses ; each ball in a little compartment by itself. In its crude state the opium is, I believe, worth nearly its weight in silver ; but when purified and refined for use it is almost worth its weight INTRUDERS IN THE MARKET. 113 in gold. The purified contents of one of the balls would hardly fill half a tumbler, and is about the consistency of bird-lime. It is nevertheless within the reach of all classes, as a very small quantity suffices ; as much as can be taken up on the point of a bodkin will make a pipe of opium, of which moderate men rarely indulge in more than one at a time. . Soon after sun-rise several smugglers were along- side, bargaining for the drug a matter soon settled, as both houses fix the priqe and charge alike, and they each have their regular customers with whom the other never interferes. An interloper from another house is looked upon as a common enemy, and both combine to undersell and drive him from the market, by every possible device. On a subsequent occasion I was witness of a contest of this sort, when boats from the combined force, rowed guard night and day round the intruder, to note down any smugglers daring to purchase, and warning them that the enemy was only a temporary visitor, and that if they purchased from him, they would never be allowed to purchase again from the depot vessels ; on which only they could depend for a regular and constant supply. The contest was kept up pertinaciously, but without any personal illwill, for six weeks, when the intruding clipper, not having made any sales, thought it advi- sable to retire from the field. Depot ships are established by other houses at 114 THE OPIUM TRADE. some of the bays on the coast, and when this is the case, amicable arrangements are usually made, and an alliance is preferred to a suicidal opposition. An extensive establishment, a large capital, and the necessity of being known to the smugglers, contribute to favour the old houses, and keep the monopoly in the hands of comparatively few indivi- duals. Great precautions are taken by the smugglers in purchasing from strangers, to be certain that the drug is not adulterated,, or garbled, but this is dis- pensed with in the case of the two large houses ; the smugglers knowing that they can depend upon the whole being of the quality of the sample, which they test by melting and refining a small quantity with a spirit-lamp. Payment is made in sycee silver, or in chop-dollars, both of which are taken by weight. The ingots of the former are generally worth about 75 dollars, or 151.-, but they are occasionally of various sizes. Small ingots of gold are also occasionally bought ; the metals in both instances being without base alloy of any kind Some ingots were shown me in which pieces of iron and tutenag had been very ingeniously inserted ; this, however, is rarely attempted, and never by the regular smugglers : there being a wholesome but arbitrary rule in force, that any person offering counterfeit metal, has his whole stock forfeited ; and he would be lucky to escape without THE OPIUM TRADE. 115 having his tail docked, and a taste of the lash into the bargain, by way of quickening his sense of honour. In the evening 1 went on shore to a house the skippers had got, perched upon a rock, and affording a good look-out over the coast and bay. They had plenty of ponies, active, hardy, vicious little brutes, that carried one at a gallop up and down the surrounding hills and declivities with untiring energy. A road had been made, too, for about three miles along the hill side, that exhibited some skill in engineering, as well as a very commendable public spirit ; setting a good example to the Chinese. The skippers and their crews seem to live on excel- lent terms with the country people and fishermen, who thickly inhabit the coast and bay. Even the mandarins in the neighbouring towns and villages seemed to look upon them with a complacency quite incompatible with the character of wholesale poisoners, smugglers, freebooters, and the other pleasant names with which they are qualified by our good-natured Samaritans at home. It is quite surprising how much more they feel for the oppressed, than the oppressed do for themselves. One of the depot vessels, the " Falcon," was once the yacht of Lord Yarborough, and was the largest vessel, and the flag-ship of the squadron. In the two 1 1 6 THE WAR JUNKS or three days we lay here, several beautiful clippers arrived from up or down the coast. One of these, a schooner of about a hundred tons, had an engagement with five Chinese war-junks in this bay at the begin- ning of last war, in which, perhaps, was displayed as much bravery as in any sea-fight on record. On the morning of the fight the schooner was standing through the Straits of Namoa, with a light breeze, when she found herself entangled in some large nets planted between the fishing-stakes, which are very numerous here. While the captain and crew, unsus- pecting any intentional trap, were busy clearing away the nets which hampered the rudder, five war-junks bore down, and were close alongside before they were even suspected of a hostile intention. Two of them ranged close alongside, their bulwarks nearly as high as the schooner's tops. From this vantage ground the Chinamen poured down a volley of gingall and matchlock balls, arrows, and stink-pots,* besides a variety of other unpleasant missiles. The first shot struck the captain in the face, and blinded one eye, * A stink-pot resembles the carcases formerly used in European sea-fights. It is composed of nitre, sulphur, assa- foetida, and other articles, and, when ignited, emits volumes of stifling smoke and odours of the most abominable descrip- tion. Their chief use is to make the hold of a vessel altogether unbearable ; and, when the unfortunate crew flies to the deck, it is quickly exterminated by the spears, partisans, and matchlocks of the enemy. AND THE CLIPPER. 117 but it deprived him of none of his presence of mind and courage. His first act was to secure the two junks on each side with grappling-irons, to cover him from the fire of the three others. This done, at the head of a portion of the crew, he carried one of the junks, sword in hand, quickly driving the amazed Chinamen overboard. The same fate befel the other ; and by this time the rudder was cleared of the nets, by unscrupulously cutting them ; the two junks were set on fire and cast adrift ; the other three junks had kept up a resolute tomtomming with their gongs till they saw the two junks so rapidly evacuated by their crews, upon which they valorously took to flight from their pigmy enemy, leaving their friends to sink or swim as they best might ; -they could not. however, get away fast enough to escape the messen- gers sent after them by a long brass eighteen-pounder the schooner had amidships, and which quickly sunk one of them, and drove the other two ashore, where they were abandoned, after being so thoroughly riddled as to be rendered quite unfit for further ser- vice in the celestial navy. The captain and the mate were the only two Englishmen on board, the rest of the crew were all Manilla men and Malays. They were all more or less severely hit, the captain having something more than twenty wounds to his own share. It need 118 RESULT OF THE ATTACK. hardly be said that the whole of them were rewarded in a princely manner by their owners, for they had not only saved a valuable vessel and cargo, but had also established a " prestige " for the clippers that rendered it very unlikely that they would be meddled with again by the Long-tails. FISHING POPULATION. 119 CHAPTER XII. FISHING POPULATION THE COAST FISHING CRAFT THE BAY OF AMOY JUNKS AND COMMERCE CHINESE SEAMANSHIP PRO- PITIATION OF THE DEITIES JOHN CHINAMAN'S VALOUR PROFITS AND RISKS IN JUNK VENTURES. FROM Namoa we ran through the Straits close under the land, and reached our destination on the follow- ing day. The coast was everywhere bold and rugged, pierced with deep bays, and frequently guarded by barren rocky islets. On every vantage-ground were pitched huts and villages, which send forth the myriads of fishing-boats that crowd the shores. A vast population must be supported by the ever- teeming sea ; and one hesitates which to admire most, the bounteous provision nature has made, or the aptitude with which the people have taken advantage of the natural resources. In the summer, hundreds of thousands of families seem to live entirely in the boats, which, in pairs, cruise up and down the rivers, seek the offing, or find shelter under the innumerable headlands, islands, and bays which indent the coast from end to end. 1 20 FISHING CRAFT. From the Yang-tse-Kiang to the very southern verge of the Chinese coasts, there are a succession of bays and harbours, scarcely in any instance twenty miles apart, while the intervals are frequently abundantly sheltered by islands. Sunken rocks, reefs, and hidden dangers are remarkably rare, and it would be a most blind and Chinese-like devotion to things as they are, to make us believe, in these go-ahead days, that such splendid harbours were destined by nature to be the refuge of mere fishing-boats, and that the enterprise of the nation can be always kept down to the lowest level The boats are generally admirable models, original, but picturesque in appearance, with round sterns, low pointed prows, and lofty broad sails of bamboo. The whole of the materials are of native manufac- ture. There is no Swedish iron, no Russian flax, American drill, or English duck. It is all Chinese, from the bamboo sails and yards to the rude but efficient wooden anchor that protrudes from the bows. Notwithstanding all the risk these fishermen are exposed to, and all the skill, hardihood, and enter- prise they display, they are merely able to supply themselves with the actual necessaries of life, consist- ing of fish, dried, salted, or fresh, and a little rice or salted cabbage, which they obtain by barter. Each boat, or each pair of boats, usually contains a whole THE BAY OF AMOY. 121 family ; and were it not for this patriarchal mode of living, the fishermen in their old age, when incapable of severe labour, would die of starvation, as where a mere daily subsistence is procured, nothing can be laid by. It was about daylight in the morning, when bearing up from the open coast, we headed in towards the shore, where seven islands guarded the entrance to the splendid bay between the Island of Amoy and the mainland. Bold crags and dark picturesque mountains, pin- nacled with pagodas, overhung the lake-like expanse of water, and numerous fishing villages, sending forth their miniature marine, gave an almost fairy-like animation to a scene lighted by the brilliant morning rays of a tropical sun. The strength of the breeze gradually lessened and died away as we ran inland, and we were soon tiding it along, the sails flapping lazily against the yards. Koo-Lung-Soo, green as an emerald, and piled with huge fantastic masses of granite, soon grew distinctly into sight, looking at a distance cool and picturesque, the very beau-ideal of a pleasant islet in the waters. At first sight one would never guess how rank the vegetation, how malarious the atmosphere, or what scorching heat was reflected from those granite rocks ! This I had all to learn, and, unfortunately, with too ample time to correct my first favourable impressions. G 122 CHINESE SEAMANSHIP. Opposite Koo-Lung-Soo, was the city of Amoy, conspicuous for its forests of tall masts ; hundreds on hundreds of huge junks crowded the harbour, re- splendent in bright colours and waving flags, standards and pendants. Amoy is probably the greatest mart in China for commerce carried on in native craft. There are junks from Singapore, from Borneo, Japan, Formosa, and all the Indian Archipelago, bringing valuable cargoes of spices, dye-woods, ivory, and a thousand other articles of foreign produce, in exchange for the indi- genous productions of the country. The junks usually make the voyage with one monsoon, and return with the other, securing a fair wind both ways, and enabling them to hug the harbour-indented shores, and a run into a snug anchorage for shelter when the shrewd wind blows too keenly. The voyage out and home usually occupies a year, and requires a vast deal of anxious preparation and consideration before it is undertaken. Besides the real and the exaggerated terrors of the deep, there are to be encountered also the fantastic demons, malignant sprites, and mischievous influences of Bhud- dist mythology. More extraordinary risks are on the cards than befel the adventurous Sindbad, and the dangers of being cast away on enchanted isles, or of falling into the hands of old men of the sea, are all to be canvassed. The gods are propitiated, and ques- PROPITIATION OF THE DEITIES. 123 tioned, and coaxed, and not even Louis XL promised a fairer share of his spoils to Notre Dame de Cle'ry than does a fat Chinese adventurer to some par- ticular god of his idolatry, if he be only allowed to return safe to fulfil it Bhudda's olfactories are attacked with odour of roast pork, his ears are charmed with the loud clanging of gongs, the banging of innumerable crackers, money by the handful is burned -paper money, by the way, manufactured for the purpose, at a vast discount, an imposition little complimentary to the god's financial acuteness the priests are well paid in hard cash, or sound chop dollars, or unquestionable ingots of sycee, and the whole party sit down to consume the luxuries the gods have only had a sniff at ; then the favourable day is named, and the prospect of good fortune announced in oracular and mysterious maxims, which, like those of Delphos or Dodona, are apt to be inter- preted rather by the wish than the sense of the postulant. In such craft and with the very incorrect notion of nautical science of the long-tailed crew, the sea risk is really very great, besides the danger of pirates, of which there are plenty throughout the voyage, from their own countrymen at the outset to the blood- thirsty vermin-like Malay, ready to intercept them when close to their port, in the Indian seas. To meet these risks the junks are armed with a variety G2 124 JOHN CHINAMAN'S VALOUR. of funny looking guns, wall pieces, matchlocks, stink- pots and other offensive weapons, with which from the vantage-ground of their lofty sides they ought to be able to make a good defence. I am afraid, how- ever, the Chinaman is an easy prey : the good honest man is so puzzled among the multiplicity of weapons, which to use, and is in such a state of nervous agitation when attacked for fear of hurting somebody or being hurt himself, that he is beaten and captured before his bewildered senses have returned to his assistance. In such craft and with such companions I should think a long time myself before I undertook a voyage to Singapore, or still worse, across the wide waste of waters to Japan. There is no insurance to cover risks, so that considerable ventures are rarely trusted to a single bottom. The vessel is usually divided into numerous compartments or chambers, each of which are rented separately, and the merchant or his supercargo accompanies the vessel, frequently living in his own compartment. On arriving at its destination the junk usually remains for some months, and is converted into a floating bazaar, where the goods imported are sold by the merchants who have brought them, and who again fill up their share of the vessel with a return freight. The profits of such a trade must of course be considerable, to cover the risks and a man who has made several voyages, is like Sindbad, set up for life ; now-a-days, however, all PROFITS OF JUNK VENTURES. 125 this is rapidly changing ships manned by the " Red devils" (Englishmen to wit), make half a dozen voyages in the year instead of one. They are manned with one tenth of the crew, and can afford to laugh at flesh-and-blood pirates, while the imaginary phantoms never enter at all into their calculations. They bring camphor, spices, dye-woods, bird-nests, beche de mer, cocoa, sharks' fins, and the thousand and one delicacies and luxuries of Chinese taste, and can afford to under- sell the Chinaman in his own market, when he has returned to it in safety. Thousands too and tens of thousands of their own countrymen are yearly emi- grating to the islands of the Indian Archipelago, who assist the Fanqui in providing materials for trade to the home market. Wending our way slowly through numbers of these junks, we at last anchor in the river-like channel which separates Koo Lung Soo from Amoy. The view from the anchorage is highly picturesque, but it would be difficult, even with Turner's power of depicting light and heat, to convey to the eye the tropical glare that seemed to envelope the whole landscape. I landed in the evening, and on inquiring for the officer I had come to relieve, I found that he had recovered from the attack of cholera, but was shaking in every limb with ague and fever. It seemed im- possible he could survive his complicated maladies, 126 SICKNESS AT KOO LUNG SOO. but he was got quickly out of the island and subse- quently recovered In the next house two officers were lying with fever who died next day, and on the succeeding day we attended the funeral of another who was carried off by cholera in two hours. Only two others died before the setting in of the north-east monsoon, but every officer in the European cantonment but myself and two others had one or more attacks of fever. For many days at the mess of the 18th Regiment, only myself and two others could attend, and when the rest gradually joined they had anything but a jovial appearance with their shaven heads, pallid complexions, and lank figures. A large transport was moored off the end of the island to receive convalescents, and the change of air was of great assistance in aiding their recovery. In spite, however, of every care there were generally two-thirds of the force on the sick list, deaths occurred daily, and the sickness continued without any abatement till the cool breezes of the north-east monsoon re -invigorated the feverish frames of the sufferers. To some of them, however, it brought but slight relief, every cooler breeze than usual making them shake with ague. It is time, however, to say something about the place itself the scene of so much sickness and misery. SICKNESS AT KOO LUNG SOO. 127 CHAPTER XIII. KOO LUNG SOO. KOO LUNG SOO APPEARANCE OF THE ISLAND EXTRAORDINARY SICKNESS DEATH A HOUSEHOLD GOD CAUSES OF UNHEALTHI- NE8S BEAUTY OF THE SCENERY ECONOMY OF SOIL THE RAINY SEASON. Koo LUNG Soo is about two degrees north of the tropic the length from one extremity to the other is about a mile and a quarter, and it is about half a mile in breadth. In this small space seemed to be pent up all the diseases of the various quarters of the globe. Its unhealthiness, from its first occupation to the time of its evacuation, has scarcely a parallel on the deadly shores of Western Africa almost every tropical disease raged there with a virulence scarcely known elsewhere. Cholera, yellow fever, dysentery* bilious remittent and intermittent fevers were almost universal from the beginning of July to the middle of November, and during the rest of the year scarcely any one escaped frequent attacks of fever and ague. At all times the effects of the malarious atmosphere produced debility, languor, and disarrangement of the spleen and liver. All classes appeared to suffer alike 128 DEATH A HOUSEHOLD GOD. men, women, and children, officers and soldiers ; English, Indians, and Chinese suffered with scarcely any distinction. No course of life or system appeared to make the slightest difference. At one time the fever would appear most virulent among the sober, then among those who lived most freely. At one tune the adults, at another the women and children were the victims. It was difficult even to get Chinese servants to stay with us, and two of mine died of fever, very shortly after my arrival in the previous summer. Out of one hundred and thirty men and eight officers of the 18th Regiment, seventy men and four officers were buried in the island, and of the rest it is difficult to say how many of them had their constitutions ruined for life. It was, certainly, not pleasant to find one's self imprisoned in this small place with death and disease for next door neighbours, particularly as there was no amusement or variety of any kind to divert the mind. The morning and evening ride and walk were the only amusements and exercise the place afforded, and then we usually met a funeral party at every turn ; habit, however, in such matters is everything, death was, as it were, one of the household gods, and like the spectre at an Egyptian feast, soon became so common- place as to be scarcely noticed. Notwithstanding the sickness, I do not think that the place ought to be called hopelessly unhealthy, or CAUSES OF UNHEALTHINESS. 129 quite unfit for the habitation of Europeans. Before it was taken by the troops it was a favourite place of residence with the wealthy families of Amoy. After we abandoned it they returned to it again in crowds, delighted to regain possession of their ancient seats. In the first two months after their return six hun- dred Chinamen perished of the diseases that had so molested us, and the island was a second time aban- doned by them under the impression that the " Fanquis " had left behind an evil demon to render it uninhabitable. The causes of these epidemics may be found in the fact that when the island was first taken possession of by the English, the whole of the native population fled to Amoy ; the consequence was that the rice cultivation was stopped, and the numerous small deep glens being no longer cultivated became malarious swamps. The cantonment also was badly situated, and the officers and soldiers were quartered in miserable, damp, low Chinese houses, quite unfit for Europeans. The Chinamen generally build their houses in the lowest situations, and close to rocks and trees, for the purpose of being near the cultivated lands, and to be out of reach of the keen winter breezes. The consequence is, that they were generally close unwholesome dens, and the walls, which were built of mud and sea-sand, G 3 130 CAUSES OF UNHEALTHINESa were like sponges, and kept the atmosphere inside the house surcharged with moisture, which at night was damp and chilling, and was drawn out by day in thick heavy vapours. It would have been impossible to contrive houses so ill adapted for habitation of the troops who, particularly in a warm climate, require to consume a vast quantity of good oxygen. The cantonment, besides being situated on the edge of a muddy swamp, was on the wrong side of the island and overhung by a precipitous granite hill, six hundred feet in height, which refracted a suffocating heat, and completely excluded the breezes of the south- east monsoon, the only wind which prevailed in the summer season. I feel quite satisfied that with good houses built on the western side of the island, the troops would have enjoyed as good health as in any part of China. In a financial point of view an outlay for proper accommodation would have been an im- mense saving in the end, for, besides the expense of hospital attendance, comforts, medicine, &c., it may be estimated that every soldier landed in China cost the Government upwards of 100?. The death of some hundreds of such costly individuals was well worthy of consideration, more especially as the Government could only enjoy the life interest of the investment. The subject is interesting also from the fact that Koo Lung Soo is a very fine position both in a military and a mercantile light, and it is a pity that it should BEAUTY OF THE SCENEEY. 131 be prejudiced by the unfavourable circumstances under which we knew it The appearance of the island is remarkable, and it is frequently highly picturesque, affording, in a very limited space, a great variety of scenery. There are lofty, precipitous hills, and deep dark glens, green fields of rice and of the luxuriant sweet potato, shady valleys, and, at the western side, groves of magnificent trees, stretching their umbrageous limbs over nume- rous joss-houses and mandarins' villas. There is scarcely a spot in the island that would not afford a study to the painter, while there are some charming views on its green studded bay, across the crowded channel to Amoy, or far away up the estuary- like Khenee, guarded by pagoda-covered islands and mountains, to the still farther distance, where an arm of the sea divides Amoy from the mainland, and is alive with craft of infinite variety, all lighted up with the indescribable gorgeousness of tropical light and colour. Much as I suffered at Koo Lung Soo from sickness and isolation and hope deferred, I can never forget how richly nature was arrayed, how temptingly and Circe-like she donned her most bewitching robes, making one sometimes forget that every air which rippled the lake-like water and impelled the fleet of boats in ever-changing groups, was infected and poisonous. 132 ECONOMY OF THE SOIL. When the Chinese held the island the valleys were all carefully cultivated, and even the hills were ter- raced into flat steps to admit of irrigation, and which thus yielded rich crops of rice. Any soil out of reach of irrigation was planted with sweet potato and millet, and even the broken ground under, or among the rocks, was not allowed to lie waste, but was occupied by family sepulchres, thousands of which ornamented the rocky glens and hill sides of the island. Thickly scattered over the sides and tops of the hills were numerous granite rocks and boulders in many places, fantastically piled and poised. Some of them of enormous size were scarped, and inscribed with legends in large grotesque-looking coloured letters, which had a very necromantic look. They very innocently, however, describe the civic feats of some bygone alderman, or other functionary, in laudatory phrase, and in character so large, that not only those who run, but also those who sail may read. When the rainy season came on, the whole island was covered with a perfect jungle of vegetation, which sprung up with inconceivable rapidity, and to the subsequent decay of which may probably be ascribed much of the malaria prevailing at that period. The abundant uncultivated space in our time rendered this more deadly, as the growth was composed of rank weeds and coarse grass, which was left to rot on the ground instead of being removed before decay THE RAINY SEASON. 1 33 took place, as would have been the case with the regular crops. I have seen a parched, barren-looking piece of ground covered, after the rains commenced, with vegetation, which, in the course of a month, was six feet in height, and which almost as rapidly decayed, and ultimately disappeared. During the rest of the year the aspect of much of the island and of the surrounding scenery was inde- scribably sombre and desolate. The sameness of the brown arid-looking soil was only relieved by the black masses of rock, which, at a distance, had the appearance of volcanic scoria ; in fact, the whole of the surrounding hills looked as if they had been subjected to the desolating ravages of fire, except where a village might be seen embosomed in magnifi- cent trees, or where irrigation had turned the parched soil to the brightest and coolest green. 134 SUBSISTENCE OF THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER XIV. SUBSISTENCE OF THE PEOPLE CHANG CHOO POO TRADE OP AMOY THE TEA. TRADE THE PEOPLE OF FOKIEN NERVOUS TERROR OF THE FANQUI8 VILLAGE MISOGYNISTS SOOYA REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF TRUCULENCE A FINE OLD CHINESE GENTLEMAN AN UNLUCKY SHOT HABITS AND APPEARANCE OF THE PEOPLE OF FOKIEN. THE productions of Koo Lung Soo, and of nearly all the country for many miles round, are rice and sweet potatoes. The neighbouring country is generally so mountainous and rocky, that agriculture does not supply one-half the necessities of the inhabitants. Tens of thousands of families subsist by fishing, and on no part of the coast of China are the fishermen more expert or more successful. The bays and inlets abound with their prey, generally, however, of indif- ferent quality. They, nevertheless, suit the Chinamen, who will eat almost anything, and who do not even reject the cuttle-fish, or blubber-fish, or even the various star-fish and rays, some of which are inde- scribably hideous. The only river falling into the Bay of Amoy is the Khenee, which is navigable for good- sized junks as far as Chang Choo Foo, the capital city of the province of Fokien, and a place of very CHANG CHOO FOO. 135 considerable wealth and importance. Amoy is the mere shipping port of Chang Choo Foo, and has very little importance except through its connection with the great provincial city. It is the Leith to Edin- burgh, or Havre to Paris, and its traders are the mere brokers or agents of the wealthy capitalists of the me- tropolis. Chang Choo Foo, about forty miles up the Khenee, is in the midst of a fertile and beautiful country, the garden of the province of Fokien. The surrounding country produces large quantities of sugar, paddy, fruit, and vegetables. The famous Amoy pomelo, or shaddock, is grown there, as well as oranges, plantains, berries, mangoes, and most tro- pical fruits of very superior quality. To the climate and soil may be ascribed the whole credit of this, for in horticulture the Chinese appear to have done but little to assist nature. Chang Choo is also an important manufacturing city, and exports vast quantities of grass cloths, silk gauzes, paper, coarse porcelain, sugar and sugar candy, incense sticks used in great quantities by the Bhud- dists, besides many other articles to Japan, For- mosa, Cochin China, Cambodia, and throughout the southern seas. Most of these articles are shipped at Amoy in Chinese and Siamese vessels. There is also a direct trade with Manilla in Spanish colonial vessels, which sail under the dignified cognomen of the " Ma- rina Sutil," and whose skippers, rejoicing in a super- 136 TRADE OF AMOY. abundance of gold lace and epaulettes, produce as dignified an appearance in Chinese eyes as if they were bona-fide post-captains. The English trade as yet has been very incon- siderable, and has been confined to the importation of small quantities of Manchester goods, of cotton from India, or rice from Sunbok or BallL A con- siderable quantity of opium is sold at the depot vessel at the Seven Islands ; but as this and the other English cargoes are usually sold for cash, the trade does not flourish. It shows how difficult it is to remove trade from its old channels, and that it is not at any rate to be done by the stroke of a pen from the diplomatist, or even by the sword of the soldier. In the course of time no doubt there will be a consider- able trade carried on here, for situated as it is out of reach of the typhoons, with a harbour perfectly secure and easily found, in the midst of an immense popu- lation, the most enterprising in China, and the most inclined for change, there cannot fail to be a mutually advantageous commerce when confidence is esta- blished, and the proper description of goods have found their way into the market. The distance of Amoy from Foo Choo Foo, the principal port and capital of the black tea district, is only one hundred miles, and it may easily be reached either by land or by the numerous junks and lorchas which trade between the two places. The expense THE TEA TRADE. 137 of the carriage of the tea would not be one-tenth of what it costs to send it to Canton, and there would be a new and fairer market than there ever will be at the latter place, where the merchants are influenced by such strong prejudices, and have been so many years in the habit of combining to fix any price they please on their goods. These tricks are not practised to the same extent at the eastern and northern ports, where a better and far more liberal feeling exists. Amoy ought naturally to be the depot for the teas of Foo Choo, and were English goods exported to purchase them, there might soon be a prospect of trade. At present the Chinese merchant cannot afford to buy English goods with money, and the Englishman cannot risk sending a cargo to exchange for teas, which, when brought to the market, may not be of the quality or description required by the trade. The preparation of the tea for market is a trade by itself, and is, at present, entirely in the hands of the Canton dealers, who select, classify, mix, and adul- terate to suit the market, just as an Oporto or Cadiz merchant treats port or sherry, and it is as impossible for the foreign dealer to drive a direct trade in tea, as it is for the London wine merchant to purchase and import his wines direct from the grower. He may import a superior, a more wholesome, and an un- adulterated article, but not possessing the conven- tional flavour, the taste of old leather, of burnt sugar, 138 THE PEOPLE OF FOKIEN. or logwood, it is rejected as by no means "the thing." To make a new market for an article of established use is a very serious undertaking, and will not succeed till many old prejudices are broken down and many acquired tastes reformed. The character of the people of Fokien is extremely open, frank, and good-natured. They are uniformly civil and obliging, and on many occasions, in passing through villages in the mainland, I have been invited to enter the houses of the most respectable inha- bitants, and to partake of refreshment. Frequently when I have rested under the shade of a magnificent tree in one of the villages, I have been surrounded by the greater part of the inhabitants, men, women, and children, but I do not remember a single instance of intentional rudeness or incivility. The general feeling appeared to be that of friendliness and good-will, mixed with rather a ludicrous terror of either the malignity or the power of the " FanquL" A brusque movement, or a sudden grimace, was often sufficient to set a portion of the crowd tumbling over one another in their haste to get out of their way, to the outrageous delight of the other portion of the assembly, who, a minute after, would disperse in the same manner. I have on more than one occasion amused myself, like Tappertit, by "eyeing over" some grinning individual. The grin would be quickly replaced by a look of inquiring fear, accompanied by TERROR OF THE FANQUIS. 139 a nervous inclination to back away from the front rank, and which was generally followed by a pre<- cipitate bolt whenever an opening offered for escape. The discomfiture of one individual was generally the signal for the greatest merriment among the rest. In the city of Amoy we were frequently incom- moded by the crowd which thronged the narrow streets to see us come out of the shops, and it was sometimes necessary to use our canes on their shins to remind them not to press too closely upon us contact with the Celestials not being always desirable. Such admonitions on our part were always taken in good spirit by the majority who escaped. In fact, during the whole time I was in the northern parts of China I only heard of two or three instances of Chinamen offering the least resistance. One was at Amoy soon after the Consulate was first established there, when the Consul and his wife, and a friend went out for the first time for a ride in the neighbourhood. Near a large village a crowd collected, who, never having seen a European lady before, and never any female on horseback, were quite astonished and shocked at such an unheard of exhibition. Some stones at last were thrown, probably by some of the fast young China- men as a lark, or not impossibly by some staunch old Conservative, intolerant of the " nouveau regime." The two gentlemen, without entering into the merits of the case, charged into the thick of the mob, 140 VILLAGE MISOGYNISTS. upsetting certain of the " patres conscripti," and putting to flight all the rest, except two unhappy rascals who were captured, and who were brought, tied tail to tail, prisoners into the city, and handed over to the tender mercies of the Hai-Quan, the chief municipal officer. The Celestial dignitary had the trembling stone-propellers up before him, and while they bumped their foreheads on the floor with innu- merable kotows, he generously offered the offended " Fanqui " to inflict any punishment they pleased upon the culprits, from docking their tails to simple bambooing to death. How the poor wretches wished the stones had been red-hot when they meddled with them ! and how imploringly they looked at the red devils, hoping that their decision would be merely a few hundred strokes of the bamboo, or a few months' confinement in the " kang/' or moveable pillory, in which they can neither stand, sit, or lie down, except in the most painful attitudes. The " Fanquis," however, were placable men, and would have let them off for the fright and the warning not to do so any more ; but they had some difficulty in bending the mandarin to the same lenient view of the case. They were finally dismissed, and a small fine imposed on the village. It is but fair to state that the " Fanquis" never met with any moles- tation afterwards, and when the villagers got used to seeing the lady ride about, and had an opportunity of INSTANCE OF TRUCULENCE. 141 making use of their eyes, she was known among them by the name of " Sooya," or beautiful, an epithet that did credit to their discrimination. The second instance of truculence I heard of was at Foo Choo Foo, just after the port was first opened to English trade. The city is a very large one, and being situated about sixty miles up the river Mici, it had probably never within the memory of man been openly visited by Europeans. The. population had consequently the most exaggerated notion of the personal appearance and habits of the red devils. Even a year afterwards, when I visited it, there were the most extraordinary pictures and images of us it is possible to conceive. To return to my story ; -just after the port was opened there landed at the city one of these bar- barians, whose appearance scarcely belied their most exaggerated notions. Of Herculean proportions, the skipper also possessed a thatch of hair of the most violent red. His complexion, naturally sanguine, was deepened in tint by the hot sun and exercise. Immense crowds gathered round and followed him, at last obstructing his way so much, that, although the most good-natured man in the world, he found it necessary to pitch upon the biggest fellow in the mob, and give him a taste of discipline for the benefit of the rest. To his immense surprise the Chinaman showed fight, and our red friend found it necessary to 14-2 A FINE OLD put in a tap or two, right and left, sufficiently per- suasive to lay him on his back. Nothing daunted, the Chinaman came to the scratch again, full of game, but without a notion of science. The same result followed with somewhat severer punishment. A third time the Chinaman squared up, when our skipper thinking it no longer advisable to play with him, put in a straight hit, with a force that would have felled an ox. This time the poor long-tail was completely shut up, and could not come to time. The skipper pitying the plight his ignorance had brought him into, and approving such an unusual exhibition of pluck, where it was so little to be looked for, threw him a dollar, and continued his way to the Consulate, without any further molestation from the mob, who, with a very creditable respect for fair play, had not attempted to interfere. The third instance occurred at Chusan. One day, myself and two others were taking a stroll into the country, when we came across the body of an exceed- ingly corpulent, but well-dressed and respectable- looking Chinaman his heels on the road, and his body inclining down the bank of a paddy-field, into the mud and water of which his head was all but immersed. Conceiving that he had been attacked by apoplexy, we reversed the position of the body, and threw water into his face, while one of the three, a Scotch assistant-surgeon, busied himself in unfastening CHINESE GENTLEMAN. 143 the various garments from round his neck. The old gentleman gradually opened his eyes, fixing on the surgeon a glance and a fish-like stare, that apparently had no speculation in it. Gradually he slipped his hand down to his feet, and taking off his shoe, he, with a suddenness and vigour one would have as soon expected from an apoplectic turtle, fetched the surgeon a whack on the forehead that laid him sprawling on his back, and very nearly into the paddy-field. I shall never forget the passive stolid look with which the Chinaman calmly contemplated the fall of his imaginary foe, or the furious astonishment and rage of the latter at being so uncourteously inter- rupted in his benevolent labours. We had great difficulty in saving the Chinaman from being demo- lished by the irascible Scot, while our fat friend looked on at the struggle with the air of indifferent, benevolent good-nature of an elderly gentleman, who likes to see the young people amuse themselves. The fact was, the old fellow had evidently been at an early dinner party, and overcome by the heat of the sun, and the strength of the Sam-tsin,* he was * Sam-t*-sien, or Sam-schoo, a spirituous liquor distilled from millet, somewhat resembling whiskey, but more fiery. Great quantities of it are consumed, particularly in the large towns, where it is regularly retailed. It is frequently much adulterated, so as to be almost poisonous in its effects, as too many of our soldiers found to their cost. 144 AN UNLUCKY GENTLEMAN. now in a beastly state of intoxication. We got some Coolies from a neighbouring field to take charge of the old fellow, to see him safely to his home in the village close by, where I hope he is still living to tell his grandchildren how valiantly he defended himself from the nefarious attack of the red deviL The reasonableness and placability of the natives were, on one occasion, evinced in rather a remarkable manner at Chusan, while I was there. An English- man had come across some wild-ducks in the canal inside the city, at which he fired with ball, all his shot having been previously expended. The bullet missed the birds and, glancing from the water, killed an old Chinaman who was sitting at his own door enjoying his pipe. The unfortunate sportsman, horrified at the result of his silly thoughtlessness, hurried away to take counsel with his friends, who recommended him to try to settle the matter with the relatives of the deceased, to prevent their complaint from being laid formally before the authorities, who would be obliged to award a heavy punishment for such reckless care- lessness. With this view one of his friends was dispatched to visit the family, to condole with them for their loss, and to explain how thoroughly it was the result of accident. He deplored the unhappy circumstance which had deprived the family of so valuable and so respectable a member, and pointed AN UNLUCKY SHOT. 145 out the cheering fact that he was very old, and, in the natural course of things, could not have been expected to live much longer, and that pecuniary recompense should be made to consolethe family for the few months' society they might have anticipated enjoying with him. They admitted that he was old, very old, and as he could not have lived long, they mentioned a hundred dollars (201.} as a sum likely to have a good effect in assuaging the bitterness of their affliction. The am- bassador, delighted at hearing a demand so much more reasonable than he had anticipated, but con- cealing his satisfaction, pointed out that the deceased was so old that he could hardly have estimated his short remnant of existence at such a large sum ; that he had died a very quiet and easy death, and that very likely he was wanted in the other world, so that the unlucky bullet might be esteemed a messenger despatched by the gods. He thought, therefore, that fifty dollars, to make a feast and burn plenty of joss- stick and paper money, would be sufficiently satis- factory to the spirit of their departed ancestor. The matter was finally settled to the satisfaction of all parties by the payment of seventy-five dollars (15.) ; and I question whether one might not have shot two- thirds of the old boys of Ting-hae at the same reason- able rate, notwithstanding the veneration in which age is held. On the following day I was on my way through the H 14-6 HABITS AND APPEARANCE OF city with a gun on my arm, when I heard the loud discord of Chinese music in one of the houses, the front of which was gaily decorated. I looked in and saw tables laid out as if for a grand feast, and I learnt that this was a sort of wake for the gentleman who had been shot, and whose coffin was laid out on a catafalque in the same room. The eldest son offered me a glass of cherry brandy, and, pointing to my gun, suggested that I should take care not to shoot old men, for that it was a description of sport that in- volved a great deal of expense and trouble. The men of Fokien are physically a very much finer race than the inhabitants of Canton and the neighbourhood. They are more manly, have more frankness of manner, and are a much better-looking race, with far less of the exaggerated, monkeyfied fea- tures, so remarkable in the more southern Chinese. In the neighbourhood of Amoy the men all wear a small blue turban, which greatly improves their ap- pearance, and which they have probably learned the use of in their intercourse with the islands of the Indian Archipelago. There is nothing among them more characteristic than their universal good-nature and good humour, and they seem to be blessed with a never failing flow of animal spirits. They are a remarkably hard- working race of people. Two dollars, about 8s. 6d., a month is considered good wages for a labourer and THE PEOPLE OF FOKIEN. 147 Coolie, and for which they work contentedly from sunrise to sunset, satisfied if they can earn sufficient to supply themselves with a good meal of rice, flavoured with a mere morsel of dried fish, a couple of prawns, or a small piece of salted cabbage. This, and a single pipe of opium, as a solace after the day's labour, enables them to seek their humble pallets, happy and contented, and ready to go through the same course day after day, only asking from the gods health to continue their labours, and a son to keep their old age from misery and want, and their graves from neglect. As fishermen they are remarkably expert and daring, and their little boats may be seen far out at sea in almost all weathers. Some of them make voyages in the summer to the Chusan Archipelago, returning with a winter supply of dried fish, part of which is bartered for rice or clothing. Thousands who cannot get employment otherwise, make a scanty subsistence by gathering limpets, mussels, and other coarse and common shell-fish from the mud and rocks at low water. It is surprising to see them wading and toiling for hours, when a mere handful of such wretched food is all that repays them for their labour ; and one would pity their misery were it not that their merry faces and joyful laugh at the slightest incident show that they are content ; and that what appears to an European a bare and H 2 148 FOOD OF THE PEOPLE. wretched subsistence, is to them quite a suffi- ciency. The principal and almost the only food of the lower classes is rice, to which, at most, is added a half- farthing's worth of salted vegetables or dried fish. Now and then, on a gala-day or family anniversary, an offering of pork, fruits, or vegetables, is made to propitiate or reward some divinity ; but as his godship is satisfied with the odour, the giver of the feast, after a due number of prostrations and a portentous gong- banging, invites his friends and the priest to demolish the more substantial part of the feast. BHUDDIST RELIGION. 149 CHAPTER XV. AMOY. BHUDDIST RELIGION ENGLISH TOMBS RELIGION OF THE PRO- VINCE CONFUCIUS CHRISTIAN CHINESE SPANISH PADRES SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS CHINESE PERSECUTION PADRE ZEA A MISSIONARY ON HIS TRAVELS TOLERATION PRO- TESTANT MISSIONARIES THE PIRATES AND THE MAGICIAN CHINESE SUPERSTITION BHUDDISM. THE religion of Fokien is principally that of Bhudda, one of the incarnations of Vishnu, and num- bering among its votaries a proportion of the human race much larger than belongs to any other religion. There are several large monasteries and temples in the neighbourhood of Amoy, full of images of Bhudda and the attendant divinities and disciples, some of them truculent-looking fellows enough. Some of the fresco paintings in the small chapels on the mainland are remarkably curious, illustrating passages in their mythology and history. Among the latter, are nume- rous sketches of European ships, soldiers, sailors, &c., English, Dutch, and Spanish, of about Charles the First and Second's time, when there was an English 150 RELIGION OF THE PROVINCE. factory at Amoy, and a considerable trade carried on. Some of the English who died at Amoy were buried at Koo Lung Soo, and there are tomb-stones in excel- lent preservation with names and dates as far back as 1640. Besides the Bhuddists, there are a few M ahometans, but this sect musters strongest at Fow Chow Foo, where they are. exceedingly numerous, and where the Koran is read in Arabic. The religion probably came from the Straits with the turbans, so universal through- out the province. Confucius also musters some disciples ; but his stronghold is farther north. In this province there appears to be a warmth of character and imagination, prone enough to superstition, but superior to the cold scepticism and the materialist doctrines of the pre- decessor of the Encyclopaedists, and the doctrines of Confucius which are mere morals without religion. They appeal entirely to the head and not at all to the heart or the imagination. They are a chaos re- duced to order, but without light or life. Christianity still keeps a hold in this province, among a remnant of those whose forefathers adopted it when it was the prosperous, the fashionable, the Court religion. It has ceased to be any of these, its followers have been exposed to proscription ; torture and death have been the lot of its supporters, but it still holds fast among the poor and the wretched. SPANISH PADRES. 151 Fallen among the lowliest, it has found a congenial soil where it cannot be extirpated, and whence, it is to be hoped, it will spring up with renewed vigour, overspreading the land with its wholesome influences, and removing the mists of error, and foolish, childish prejudice, which alone prevents this great people from playing important parts in the world's drama. At Koo Lung Soo, I had an excellent opportunity of acquiring some information regarding the Christian population, from two of the missionaries having been sent there, to remain while the 18th Royal Irish were in the island, nearly the whole regiment being Roman Catholics. The worthy fathers Zea and Aguilar were both quite young men, but in devotion to their duty, in true Christian charity, benevolence, and strong reli- gious faith, they appeared to me to surpass any men I ever met with. At the hospital they relieved one another regularly ; and night or day one or the other was always at the bedside of some poor -wretch, com- forting his soul at the moment of its departure, or alleviating his bodily sufferings by kind sympathy and assistance. They rather resembled the cure' of Lamartine's fervid imagination ; they were so for- getful of self, and so full of pity and compassion for others. . They had left Spain young, and had passed through a long and severe initiation at Macao, to learn the 152 SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS. language and fit themselves for the task they had un- dertaken. Their hearts often yearned for their country with a Spaniard's longing for their home in Andalucia, the beautiful and the voluptuous, and for the large-eyed, graceful, warm-hearted sisters they were never to see more. The whole world was nothing to them now ; they had broken with it, sacri- ficed it with all its pleasures, hopes, and pains. Society, affection, love, had no claim in them, except that uni- versal, religious brotherhood of love, that has in it nothing of self. They had enlisted as soldiers of the cross, and were prepared to fight the good fight with heart and soul, careless of all suffering and sacrifice, and full of hope of future reward. The unpaid and unwearying assiduity of these excellent men was what first attracted attention to them ; and, from speaking Spanish, I soon made their acquaintance, and learnt many of the details of mis- sionary life in the interior of China. Since the expulsion of the Jesuits from the country and the proscription of their religion, it has been their object and their dearest ambition to keep alive among the people the sacred fire so nearly extin- guished by their own headstrong folly and ambition. Their later course seems almost to have been a remorse- ful expiation for their previous folly ; and certainly if persevering devotion deserves success, no men merit it more. In spite of proscription and persecution, the CHINESE PERSECUTION. ' 153 Romish Propaganda and the Jesuits' College, at Macao, train up youths to send continually into the empire at all points, by the aid of disciples and emissaries, to be placed in charge of their more experienced brethren till they can be safely allowed to work by themselves. Numbers of them at different times have been taken and exposed to every indignity and torture, till death has put an end to their sufferings. On one or two occasions, these persecutions have been sustained with such activity and vigour, that the greater number of the missionaries and many of their dis- ciples have perished. Still, some few remained, and fresh soldiers were sent on the forlorn hope. The sufferings were frequently very great, and the escapes sometimes extraordinary enough. On one occasion, the Mandarins had information of three missionaries being concealed in a village. They sur- rounded it with soldiers, and searched it for a whole day without success. The unfortunate men were con- cealed in one of the houses between the tiles and the boarding of the roof. When withdrawn from their retreat, two were dead and the third was completely deranged from exposure in such a situation to the torrid heat of a long summer's day. Many similar instances might be cited, were it necessary, to show what a battle they have had with bitter adversity, and how dearly they have paid for H 3 154 PADRE ZEA. the headstrong pride of their more prosperous days. It is a pity that, under different circumstances, men should be so utterly dissimilar in character ; that pro- fessing the same faith, pursuing the same object, they should at one period be the objects of our deepest aversion, and, at another, so truly worthy of esteem. When the 18th left Koo Lung Soo, Padre Aguilar put on his Chinese garb, plaited the long tail into which his hair had been allowed to grow, looking so much like a Chinaman that I could hardly believe m y eyes, when he came to bid me adieu. He was bound for a distant province, and never expected to see an European again, except perhaps a brother missionary, at intervals of years. He set off that night under the guidance of some Christian Chinese, but he did not long survive after arriving at his destination. Padre Zea remained a short time longer, and then he too came to wish me " good-bye." His noble fore- head and fine features were far harder to disguise, and even with the aid of spectacles, and after shaving off his eyebrows, he bore less resemblance to a Chinese than to one of the knights who, animated by religion and honour, hardily fought their way into that Anda- lucia from which he was self-banished. His parish included Amoy, and a radius of about sixty miles on the mainland, so that I had several opportunities of seeing him again, and was grieved to perceive how A MISSIONARY ON HIS TRAVELS. 155 each absence of a few months left strong traces on his face and figure, till at the end of a year his hair was plentifully mixed with grey, and at twenty-eight he looked nearly fifty. To give an idea of the life he had to lead, it will be sufficient to describe his mode of travelling. He left Amoy in an open sailing-packet for Chang Choo, a voyage of from one to three days as the wind served. In the day time, with the assistance of the captain, he was hidden between the planks and the bottom of the boat, so as not to be seen by the other passengers, and at night he was extricated from his hiding-place and allowed to breathe the fresh air. On arriving at Chang Choo, he was smuggled off to a miserable hovel in the suburbs. By day he was hidden away in remote corners, and under the friendly mantle of night administered the rites of his religion, his sole consolation. As opportunities offered, he was carried from village to village, carefully concealed by day, and always among the poorest and most miserable of the population, living on their rude fare, dwelling in their miserable hovels, and only escaping the debasing in- fluence of habitual inferior association, by the purify- ing nature of his holy mission. He calculated that there were 30,000 Christians in Fokien, but these were all " old Christians," among whom it was his business to maintain the faith, for he considered the proselytizing of the Chinese 156 TOLERATION. under the present circumstances as utterly hopeless ; in fact, he always stated that he did not know of an instance of a sincere convert having been made. In- stances had occurred of young men pretending to have a great anxiety to be converted, but the cloven- foot peeped out in a short time, and it was found that their object was generally, under colour of Christia- nity, to get recommended for profitable employment among the Europeans at one of the forts, or to obtain information that might fetch a price from the mandarins. Since the opening of the ports, and the establish- ment of immunities for the Europeans, the mission- aries no longer fear death or torture, but they are obliged, when in the interior, to hide themselves for the sake of their flocks, and to prevent the mandarins from sending them out of the country. Since the war, many of the mandarins, wisely foreseeing that the time for change has arrived, wink at the proceed- ings of the missionaries if not too openly carried on. When an information is laid, they are obliged to notice it, for fear of being reported to higher autho- rity, and so being made to suffer themselves for their leniency. I heard of one village in Hainan where there was a chapel, in which the Church service was regularly performed, all the inhabitants being either Christians or well disposed towards the religion. An informa- PEOTESTANT MISSIONARIES. 157 tion, however, was laid before a mandarin, who proceeded to the place, but so slowly, as to allow ample notice of his coming to precede him, so that when he arrived at the village all traces of the pur- pose of the chapel had been removed, and no one had ever heard of the priest at all. The mandarin was not very pertinacious in his inquiries, but turn- ing on the informer, he ordered him to be well bas- tinadoed, and banished him from the province, for defaming respectable people. In the free ports all the forms of the Protestant and of the Roman Ca- tholic religions are openly practised without any impediment, and this will gradually have its influence throughout the provinces. Since the conclusion of the peace numbers of Pro- testant missionaries, principally Americans, have come to all the ports for the purpose of making converts. They are not of a character generally to have much success. They settle themselves down at the ports, surround themselves with comforts, and confine their labours to the distribution of boxes full of tracts, written generally in very bad Chinese. The China- man sees one man devoting all his energies to the one purpose, and that an unselfish one, sacrificing comfort, health, society all that can make life desir- able ; the other comes when he can do so with perfect safety, bringing a wife and family, squabbling for the 158 THE PIRATES AND best houses, higgling for wares, and provoking con- tempt by a lazy life, and a slovenly slip-shod appear- ance. A very different class of men will be required before any good is done. Examples of morality and virtue will have more effect than preaching mere argument is of no use. Not possessing any faith or fixed principle for a basis, a Chinaman boldly dis- putes points that we do not allow to be questioned ; we demand faith, the Chinaman asks for proofs and facts. An amusing incident in his travels was related to me by Padre Zea shortly after it occurred. He was journeying in a covered boat along the Khenee River, where it passes through a mountainous and almost uninhabited district, when the boatmen were hailed by robbers from the shore and ordered to come to. The trembling boatmen obeyed, and the robbers, boarding the boat, were somewhat surprised to find themselves face to face with the austere and noble- looking priest, who, without any of the fear or cringing of a Chinaman, requested them to take his goods and go without delaying him on his holy errand. Not quite at their ease, they proceeded to help themselves to his scanty baggage, when, one of them taking up a silver-clasped breviary, opened it, and was dismayed at the black-letter type and red capi- tals, which to their eyes savoured vastly of necro- THE MAGICIAN. 159 mancy. At that moment Padre Zea, seeing his book in their hands, and that it had excited their supersti- tious fears, rushed towards them, and seizing the book, held it open, crying out, at the same time, " Begone, ye miscreants ! have ye dared to touch the sacred book ? Begone, it shall be worse for ye !" Satisfied they had to deal with a magician, they waited for no further demonstration of his power, but jumping overboard at once, made then- best way to the shore, where the one who had opened the book humbled himself with innumerable kowtows as long as the boat was in sight, in hopes of appeasing the mighty sorcerer, who might, he believed, with one word have converted him to a fish or a frog, or have enclosed him in a living tomb in the face of the cliff, or thrown him to be devoured by some familiar ghoul. The extent to which superstition is carried by so matter-of-fact a people as the Chinese is very remark- able, mixing itself up in all the business of their life. Sickness, ill-luck, casualties, and mischances, are all attributed to the intervention of malicious sprites, magicians, and demons. To meet these persecutions, priests are consulted who have the reputation of being skilled in magic lore, and who undertake to exorcise the demon, or to avert the pestilence, frequently com- pelling their unfortunate clients to undertake pilgrim- ages, to institute processions, to perform penances 160 CHINESE SUPERSTITION. and invariably to expend a considerable portion of their wealth in gratuities to the priest or the temple and in offerings to the gods. While we were in possession of Koo Lung Soo it was a common practice for the bonzes to tell their bewitched clients that their ill-luck was caused by the discontent of an ancestor's spirit, which was disturbed by the uncongenial propinquity of the Fanqui. We used constantly, therefore, to see the tombs opened, and mouldering relics borne away in great state to avert the ill-starred omen of our vicinity, and the earthly remnants were removed to some spot pointed out by the bonze, and where it is to be hoped they rested to the satisfaction of the perturbed spirit. Bhuddism is supposed to have been introduced into China about 1,200 years before the birth of our Saviour. The Chinese name of Bhudda is a corrup- tion of the original one, after having been reduced, by the monosyllabic writing of the Chinese, to Bhod or Bho. He is supposed to be an incarnation of Vishnu, and there is no doubt that the worship was introduced from India, probably by way of Thibet, where the head of the religion, the Dalai-Lama, the Bhuddist Pope, holds both religious and temporal sway. The old Brahminical lore is utterly extinct in China ; none of the priests are acquainted with the BHUDDISM. 161 Vedas or even with the language in which they are written. The prayers, recited in a dialect of the Sanscrit, are not comprehended by either the priests or the people who use them, and who blindly be- lieve in the value of words unaccompanied with ideas, and with a ceremonial of which the tradition is lost, and which is now utterly without meaning. 162 SITUATION OF KOO LUNG SOO. CHAPTER XVI. KOO LUNG SOO THEATRICALS ENTERTAINMENTS TO THE MAN- DARINS THE HAI-QUAN THE TARTAR ADMIRAL THE TAOU- TAI A BUBNT TONGUE A CHINESE ENTERTAINMENT. As a military position Koo Lung Soo has every- thing that can be desired except a wholesome climate ; and even in that respect I think it might be very much ameliorated. In case there should ever be another fleet or army sent to overcome the Celestials, it would be one of the very best localities on the coast for a depot, from its central situation, its splendid harbour, which can be entered and is secure in all weathers. It is com- pletely out of the influence of the typhoons which ravage the southern coast, and which sometimes occur farther north. A considerable gale of wind in the neighbourhood of Amoy is of very rare occurrence, and during the time I was there I cannot call to mind a single one. The island itself is small, and possesses so many natural defences that it could be held by a very small MALIGNANT INFLUENCE OF ITS CLIMATE. 163 force against anything the Chinese could bring against it. As a naval station, from its central position on the coast and its fine harbour, it has great advantages. There is a rise and fall of tide of eighteen feet, offering every facility for careening vessels, and there is abun- dance of fresh water of excellent quality. I remained for eighteen months in this island without leaving it on any occasion, except for a walk on the mainland or for a sail in the neighbouring bays. In this way I visited most of the islands and the mainland for some miles round. Trips of this sort were the only resources we had, for there was no shooting or sporting of any kind. Of society there could be little or none where the few inhabitants were either constantly ill, or too enervated by debi- lity and languor to make any exertion. After the European troops were withdrawn I was frequently days together without an opportunity of exchanging a word except with my own servants. I followed to the grave many of those with whom I had associated, and many more were invalided, and with jealous eye I saw them leaving the place hi search of renewed health in a more wholesome climate. Frequently I have envied them their superior debility and their ruined constitutions that rendered such a change im- perative. For a whole year I struggled against the malignant influences of the climate, and without my constitution apparently suffering from it. At the end 164 AMOUNT OF SICKNESS. of that time circumstances over which I had no control compelled me to expose myself a great deal to the sun by day and to the night dews, and an attack of remit- tent fever at last laid me on my back. At this time nearly every soul in the island, including the doctors, were in the same predicament, and so I lay with scarcely any assistance for many days, till the strength of my constitution gradually overcame the fever. I was a long time, however, in recovering from the enervating languor and debility that followed it, and I continued for some time to be subject to constant attacks of intermittent fever. At this time our garrison consisted entirely of Sepoys, who had replaced the Europeans, under the impression that they would stand the climate better. So far from this being the case, nearly every man was attacked by fever, and in a short time there was not a sufficient number to mount guard, and Chinese watchmen had actually to be hired to protect the stores and public property. In the month of August a reinforcement of upwards of a hundred men were sent, and on the first day of the following month only one officer and about ten men paraded for muster, all the rest were on the sick list. Every quarter and every barrack was a hospital ; and at one time it was calculated that, allowing only two minutes to each patient, it would take the medical officers twelve hours in each day to visit them. In the following THEATRICALS. 165 spring the Government, fearful that by the end of another summer there would be no garrison left at all, determined to evacuate the island, and in the month of May the " Sapphire " troop ship arrived to remove the miserable remnant of our force. While the 18th Royal Irish remained in the place some life was kept up in spite of the influence of the climate. There was an excellent mess ; a band, when sufficient of the bandsmen could be got from the hos- pital ; and when the torrid heat of the summer was passed we got up races, steeple-chases, drag-hunts, and all manner of sports, though with ponies scarcely larger than those of Shetland, Connemara, and North Wales, but full of pluck and vice. Theatricals, how- ever, were our grand resource. I was manager, and the scene of action was a joss-house, from which the gods had been long before expelled. What with scene-painting, decorating, rehearsing, and all kinds of preparation, we managed to kill a great deal of time for which we had no better employment. The great difficulty was to get an audience, as nearly the whole of our community was connected with the esta- blishment, and the best that could be done was to make the corps dramatique audience at one period of the entertainment and actors at another. To be sure there were five ladies in the island, belonging to the regiments and the consulate, but for various reasons it was rarely possible or politic to assemble more than 166 ENTERTAINMENTS TO THE MANDARINS. two of them at a time. In fact, at one period so strong was the spirit of partizanship among our fair neighbours that they divided the whole community into hostile clans, who nick-named, squibbed, and lampooned one another in a spirit that, to compare great things with small, reminded one of similar wordy wars described by Hamilton and Grammont Among the most original of our entertainments, however, were dinner parties given to or by the man- darins of Amoy. When they came to a dinner party at Koo Lung Soo they were generally plainly dressed, but accompanied by an immense following of very dirty retainers. Some of them were jolly-looking fel- lows, and entered into the spirit of the entertain- ments, trying all the dishes, wines, beer, &c., and recommending to their more suspicious friends the various edibles that most took their fancy, occasion- ally in rather a practical manner, by poking the chop- sticks, loaded with a savoury morsel, between their teeth, a compliment the rules of etiquette would not allow them to decline, while we ourselves had sometimes a difficulty in escaping from such practical evidence of good- will. The Hai Quan, who always came with them, was a fine-looking young fellow, with an amiable gentlemanly air and manner that were very pleasing, and made him a great favourite. He evidently belonged to the Young China school, and, on more than one occasion, THE TARTAR ADMIRAL. 167 admitted his regret that the customs of his country would not permit a greater degree of friendliness and social intercourse. The Chinese admiral, an old Tartar, who did not know the stem from the stern of his junk, was a very great man a peacock feather and married to one of the imperial family. No pride or prejudice ever pre- vented his enjoying himself. He admitted he liked champagne ; he doated on cherry brandy ; while for maraschino he fairly owned that he would give us Koo Lung Soo, Chusan, or anything else we might be disposed to ask for. These were in his gayest moments, however, for when the admiral's flag was unfurled, his double sword girded on, and all his gongs banging at once, he was a very terrible fellow, and used to send us over messages not to be afraid, for that he was only going out to chastise the pirates, and bring back their heads strung together like onions. The wind, however, always failed, or the tide turned, or some inauspicious event occurred, after get- ting about a mile on his way, when he usually landed and returned home in his sedan chair. The fleet came back at its leisure. The pirates, on the strength of this, occasionally sent him challenges to come out and fight, all of which he treated with proper contempt, merely reporting to Pekin what voyages he had made, or what seas he had swept, and what astounding acts of valour he had performed ; and he would have 1 68 A BURNT TONGUE. liked to have seen the man who would have con- tradicted it. There was another mandarin the High Commis- sioner of Customs and Trade who was a very jolly companion ; he might have sat for a picture of Jack Falstaff, he was so round and so oily, so thoroughly at home everywhere, and so full of jokes at his more sober companions, some of whom were evidently sus- picious of both entertainers and entertainment, and approved of one as little as the other. I remember one day one of these latter, who had scarcely touched a morsel of anything, and was evidently in a very uneasy state of mind, was at last tempted by some tamarind chetnah, which was handed round with the curry. He evidently mistook it for some kind of sweetmeat, and before the error could be corrected _^^^^^^^^B09 he had swallowed ngarb^uj^0MMMlPVHM^ never forget the scream of agony with which the poor wretch jumped up and danced about the room, tearing at his mouth and tongue, which doubtless felt as if they were on fire. The other mandarins at the first moment were rather terrified ; but fortunately a case-hardened subaltern of an Indian regiment who was seated close by, took up the remainder of the chetnah and swallowed it, restoring confidence at once to the guests, who seemed afterwards to take a malicious pleasure in the torture of the unfortunate old wretch. The High Commissioner, in particular, A CHINESE ENTERTAINMENT. 169 lost no opportunity of poking his fun at him, offering him a variety of dishes, which were declined with shuddering terror. It was with difficulty even that we could induce him to take some cooling things to assuage the burning heat of his palate. I need hardly say that we never saw him again. Soon after my arrival at Koo Lung Soo I attended one of the grand dinners given by the mandarins in honour of the arrival of the Consular officer. We were carried through the suburbs of the town into the city, or citadel rather, to the house of the admiral, where we found assembled most of the chief man- darins attired in their robes of state, splendid with embroidery and with all the panoply of buttons, beads, peacock feathers, and fans. After shaking hands with some of the more friendly, and chin-chinning to the rest, a number of small tables were brought in with tea and sweetmeats, at which some of our party looked rather blank, supposing the dinner would turn out a mere tea fight after all. Presently, however, larger tables were brought in, at each of which one mandarin presided with three or four guests, so that we were divided mto several small groups, which made it easier to attend upon us ; it probably also marked the distinction of the different ranks more easily than if they had all been seated at the same table, and for purpose of conviviality and conversation was infinitely better. The tables were I 170 A CHINESE ENTERTAINMENT. spread with numerous little saucers, containing a variety of hors cTceuvres, and whets for the appetite, consisting of salted fish, pickles, salted snails and worms, and eggs salted and hard boiled, and which were anything but savoury, being a year or two old at least. These latter, by the way, are prepared and stored in large quantities for the use of the troops. After due attention to these dishes, the real feast began. It consisted of a centre dish of roast, boiled, or stewed meats, fish, or fowl, and soups, which was removed and replaced by others in infinite variety for a couple of hours, during which time probably fifty dishes were placed on the table, of some of which we had horrible suspicions. In the course of the enter- tainment we had an opportunity of trying most of the Chinese dainties, such as beche-de-mer, shark-fins, stewed quack-quack and bow-wow, and many other dishes of the composition of which we fortunately knew little. The mandarins did ample justice to the good cheer themselves, while hospitably pressing it upon us. All their blandishments, however, could not supply us with the inexhaustible appetite with which nature had endowed them, and we were obliged to cry, ' Hold, enough," while they were still in full vigour ; of course we managed to shirk_ many dishes, of which we had grave doubts, and I scarcely ventured to look a canine mother in the face with equanimity for some A CHINESE ENTERTAINMENT. 1?1 days afterwards. The various dishes were washed down with tea, a pleasant cool extract from, almonds, and a strong, rather acid, wine, which was drunk warm, and in which the old admiral pledged us so frequently, that before the feast was concluded he was, in a metaphorical sense, half seas over an event that in reality was little likely to happen, from his apparent aversion to water either salt or fresh. It was amusing to see the old gentleman clinking his glass so gaily while pledging one or other of his guests, drinking the contents off in a draught, and then turning up the cup to show that he had left no heel- tap. I fancy that, if we would have kept pace with him, the entertainment, as the evening drew on, would have waxed fast and furious, but, as we declined his frequent challenges or shirked the bumper, he evidently set us down for milk- sops, and he probably finished the night in more congenial company after we had taken our departure. The fact was, we were all too debilitated and had too little stamina left for our digestive organs to stand so serious a test, otherwise it might have been worth while to try whether the Saxon or the Chinese head was the better stuff.* * This was fairly tried at a later period in Hong Kong, when the Imperial High Commissioner (Keying) and his suite paid the Plenipotentiary a visit, and when there occurred some Bacchanalian revelries, more resembling the saturnalia of the latter end of the last century, as described by Barring - I 2 172 A CHINESE ENTERTAINMENT. ton, than anything to be seen in our own sober tea-drinking times. To sustain the revel, there were a variety of ingenious devices, one of which consisted in throwing an artificial rose from one to the other, when the recipient had to improvise, or to recite without hesitation, an appropriate verse under the penalty of a bumper. The High Commissioner favoured the company with a Tartar love ditty, calling upon the Plenipo- tentiary to respond with something sentimental in English, and not in vain. Later in the evening, scandal says that the mirth became uproarious, and a high judicial functionary, remarkable for his lengthy leanness, might have been seen whirling an obese Tartar in an attempted waltz ; unfortunately the polka was not then invented, or he might have initiated the foreigners into the mysteries of that fascinating dance. The High Commissioner and his suite, it must be observed, were Tartars ; the Chinamen would have turned up the nose of superciliousness at such indecorous unbending from Celes- tial dignity. ENVIKONS OF AMOY. 173 CHAPTER XVIII AMOY. SCENERY IN THE ENVIRONS OF AMOY BHUDDIST SHRINES THE MANDARIN AND THE CITIZEN THE FARMER THE WIVES AND DAUGHTERS FANQUI HIDEOUSNESS THE TOMBS CHINESE " TRUANDS" THEIR KING ORGANISATION TEMPLE OF THE TIEN-HOW THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN PRIESTS AND ASCETICS GARDENS HE-ANG-HO SO-TCHING-KONG CHINESE ESTHE- TICS BHUDDA. THE immediate environs of Amoy are mountainous ; rocky and gloomy ravines and deep clefts in the mountains abound on all sides. The dull granite rocks have almost the appearance of scoria ; with the sole exception of Aden, I have seldom seen a more volcanic-looking, fire-scathed spot. A sombre, witch-like, romantic interest so pervaded the scenery, that it led me to wander on almost in expectation of meeting some supernatural being a ghoul glimmering wildly from one of the thousands of lettered tombs among the rocks, a sorceress seeking for noxious herbs, or a magician, like Aladdin's uncle, issuing from a cavern in the dark sides of the mountain. 1 74- BHUDDIST SHRINES. A yellow clad bonze, or an occasional mourner at a grave, dressed in white sackcloth, were the only beings I ever met, and I have no reason to believe that they were engaged in any other than their obvious pursuits. There were spots, however, which seemed almost to have been created by enchantment, so lovely were they in their green freshness, in the beauty of the shrubs and flowers, and the curious, fantastic, and, in such situations, picturesque archi- tecture of the Bhuddist monastic chapels. Of these there were several in the hills round Amoy, all re- markable for their charming verdure and freshness in the midst of the surrounding wilderness of moun- tains, rocks, and graves. The position of some of them was exquisitely beautiful. Hidden from the eye till discovered beneath the wanderer's feet, they frequently com- manded grand and extensive views, which were en- hanced from the spectator feeling himself removed and lifted up from the world ; of it, yet scarcely in it. In these spots, although apparently built to accommodate many priests, I rarely encountered any one. At most a single bonze would occasionally be seen gliding along one of the precipitous paths, or absorbed in his devotions at some small shrine. The selection of such sites exhibits an aesthetic sensoriousness in the Chinese character, we would hardly give so sensual and material an animal credit THE MANDARIN AND THE CITIZEN. 175 for. It proves, however, how near the springs of poetic feeling for nature are to those of religion, for it is invariably the monastery or shrine the chapel or temple that is seen in such spots. The mandarin and the citizen build their houses on the lowest levels, and wall them up, so that nothing can be seen but a gilded roof of nice painted gable. Within the small circuit of the walls is bounded all the owner's aspirations. For him there is nothing above it or outside it. Wrapped up in his own petty, selfish, worldly pursuits and pleasures, he dwarfs everything to the miserable stature of his own paltry mind. He deforms his wives and daughters, brings bis sons up in his own wretched likeness, teaching that all aspiration for improvement is a crime, that religion is folly, and self the only God. The very trees are dwarfed into wretched parodies on their grand and giant prototypes ; and the mind, in like manner, is cramped into conventional formality that utterly prevents its expanding into genius, or even into usefulness, except to furnish the small amount of cunning and of quibbling ingenuity that enables the possessor to crawl his way through the world with his fellow vermin. On the farmer, the influence of the country and a patriarchal mode of life has given a simplicity and certain amount of manly dignity of character rarely 176 FARMERS' WIVES AND DAUGHTERS. found in the towns or among the mandarins and literati, who all, or nearly all, are townsmen. The wife and daughter of the Chinese farmer walk about the world with such feet as it has pleased God to give them, and very pretty feet and ankles they generally are. In fact, whatever want of beauty of feature there may be among the Chinese women, no one can deny them the merit of remarkably beautiful feet, ankles, hands, and arms. Of the rest of the figure one can judge but indifferently from their peculiar though not ungraceful costumes. In the country villages the young girls and matrons may be seen at their doors, or grouped together beneath the trees, or in the yard attached to the house, engaged in household or farm occupation, laughing the while in merry chorus to their work. I have often, from the back of my horse, looked over the low walls at such a group, but the result was rarely complimentary ; for on some coy damsel suddenly catching sight of my Saxon face, she would scream an alarm to the rest, who retreated to the house with a general screech. On reaching the threshold, how- ever, they would generally stop to giggle at the object of their fears, on finding him not pursuing with savage intent, or sometimes the respectable bearded patriarch would take them by the shoulders ; and in spite of their affected resistance, push them all out again into the yard, calling jokingly to me at the FANQUI HIDEOUSNESS. 177 same time, in some incomprehensible gibberish, probably, " to eat them up." I flatter myself, how- ever, that I was not sufficiently frightful to alarm them very much, with a stout wall between, and the whole village within call ; far different, however, was the case when "the foreign devil " happened to come upon one solitary matron pursuing her way from one village or farm to the other. Her fears were really terrible, and she fled as fast as her legs could carry her; if, however, the unprotected female happened to be of the small-footed kind, she staggered off with the aid of her bamboo, till an unlucky trip would usually leave her sprawling on the path, or not impossibly into the mud- and water of a paddy- field. To rush to her assistance was the natural impulse, but the approach of the monster was a signal for the most tremendous shrieking, and one could only persevere at the risk of throwing the distressed matron into hysterics. It was a disagree- able dilemma, but it invariably ended in my walking on and leaving the lady to scramble out of the mud in her own way. If I had a Chinese attendant with me, I usually sent him on to conduct any fair one I might meet into a secure Jbye-path, or to assure her of the harmlessness of my general character and habits. To return, however, to my rocks and tombs : one suburb of Amoy appears to be crowded with hun- dreds of thousands of graves the rocky barren soil i 3 178 THE TOMBS. rendering it unnecessary for the bones of the tenants to be taken out and potted, as is usually the case where the land is of value. Among the myriads of tombs were two or three that were very curious, and apparently of very great antiquity. One of , them was surrounded with colossal figures on foot and on horseback, repre- senting a mandarin of rank with his cortege of attendants. Some of the tombs had yielded up their dead tenants in favour of the mendicants, where they live at free quarters. There is a curious practice existing among them of selecting a king or emperor, who, like our quondam king of the Gipsies and duke of Alsatia, lord it in great state over the lame, the halt, and the blind, or those who, for their own purposes^ affect any of these ailments. The Chinese " gueux," however, have reduced their mendicant government to a regular system, which is a great advance on any that existed in Europe. With them the king is his own lord treasurer, and receives the whole of the collections of his subjects and clients ; in return for which he maintains order, governs like a bounteous prince, and secures to every one a daily mess of rice in sickness or in health, whether he comes with full pockets or empty-handed. Such, I have been informed, is the system pursued ; but I own that I accept it with some doubt, as I think the Chinamen CHINESE BATTERY. 179 are generally by far too great rogues to share equitably in any common distribution of goods. A short distance beyond the City of Tombs is the three-mile battery, a magnificent work in stone, which was run up with extraordinary rapidity during the war. It wanted, however, the stout hearts behind the strong granite, for when Captain Hall, of the " Nemesis," stormed it in his barge, racing in before the boats of the squadron, the gunners fled without striking a blow. The men of Fokien are, nevertheless, considered to be the boldest and most energetic in China ; and when our successes at Canton were talked of, the Chinamen only shrugged their shoulders, and said, " Wait till you go to Fokien ; you will pay for. it there." Previous to the appearance of the English fleet at Amoy there was great preparation and fortifi- cation, drilling and firing of guns. Men were called out in the different villages, and the most absurd proclamations were published. One stated that the English had no knee-joints, and that the soldiers, consequently, were to confine their attention to trip- ping as many of them up as possible, as they could afterwards cut their throats at their leisure. In a village just opposite Amoy a party of the villagers, forming a sort of militia, had a small cannon, of which they made great parade, and with which they were to annihilate the " outer barbarians." 1 80 BHUDDIST TEMPLE The day after the taking of Amoy the captain of the band was met by a French missionary, who had been a spectator of their boastings, who inquired concerning their gun. The Chinaman shook his head, and stated his belief the Fanquis really were devils; and as for the gun, that had been carefully buried for fear the barbarians should get hold of it. From this place I sometimes extended my walk to a large Bhuddist temple and monastery. I there spent an hour or two in examining the various idols, or in walking up and down the cool cloisters. This temple, like most others that I had seen, appeared to be much neglected. On the occasions when I visited it there were very few priests residing in it, though, from the numerous cells, it was evidently intended there should be a considerable number of acolytes. Some of the orders are mendicant, and at particular seasons they travel through the country, making col- lections for their establishment. Some, also, obtain leave to stay with their families during a portion of the year to assist in the agricultural operations. There are also many students who travel in search of celebrated adepts, from whom to acquire an additional stock of traditional or magical lore. Many are asce- tics, who, during a portion of the year, lead a solitary life in small chapels or caves in the hills, where they are supposed to devote themselves to prayer and fast- ing, and penitential discipline, or to seek, by habitual AND MONASTERY. 181 reverie and contemplation, a power of withdrawing the mind and the senses from all sublunary attraction, fitting it for absorption into the divine essence of Bhudda. They are all celibatarians, and they are bound to observe poverty, to mortify the flesh, and by constant practice to be able to exercise sufficient power over the spirit to hold it in perfect abstraction or suspension, as it were, within the body. Chinese satirists, however, do not spare these recluses any more than their European " collaborateurs " did " the monks of old ;" and in tale, song, and picture, male and female bonzes are exhibited who are secretly indemnifying themselves for the austerity affected in public. The gardens, as in most large Bhuddist institutions, are laid out with considerable care, and often with a degree of good taste that would delight even our own landscape gardeners. Rocks, trees, shrubs, and falls of water, streams, bridges, and terraces, are arranged in the most picturesque manner, with hanging gardens and pleasant shady grottoes, that invite the most inveterate worldling to reflection, and which must possess great attractions to the reverend fathers to withdraw their minds from the bustle of the outside world. In these gardens parterres full of flowers and bulbs were hedged in by rose-trees of infinite variety ; numbers of beautiful flowering shrubs and evergreens were grouped hi verdant masses, among which were 182 HE-ANG-HO THE BHUDDIST APOLLO. many varieties of the cool-looking, wax-like camellia, which in our own gardens and hot-houses would be priceless. One tree, with a mass of delicate blossom resembling pale pink coral, was the most beautiful flowering shrub I ever saw in my life. There were, however, shrubs of so many kinds, most of which were new to me, that it would require the horticul- tural knowledge of my fellow-traveller, Mr. Fortune, to name and classify them. At the entrance porch of the temple are four colossal figures, two on each side, painted and gilded in a most gorgeous and extravagant style. One of them, with a most amiable expression, is playing a guitar. This is the Apollo of Bhuddist mythology (He-ang-ho). His place in heaven, like St. Peter, is at the gate ; for which reason he is placed in the same position in the temple. He is the director of celestial harmony, and his duty is to reward and encourage good deeds on earth. He is one of the attendant deities ; the other one is So-Tching-Kong, the avenging spirit. His duty is to punish all evil doers ; to cause plague, pestilence, war, and famine to rage at the command of the superior deities. He is gorgeously coloured and gilded. His face is black, and is distorted with fierce passion, in character with the uplifted arm, brandishing a sword in menace. In large temples there are usually two other figures of these gods at the opposite side of the porch, where CHINESE ESTHETICS. 1 83 He-ang-ho is usually represented with a pagoda on his outstretched palm, typifying the world and its cities in the hands of the gods. So-Tching-Kong, seated next to him, has an expression of calm dignity and repose, in striking contrast to the awful fury depicted in the face of the opposite figure. These figures are from twenty to thirty feet in height, and at their base are pigmy models of clay of men and women in the ordinary costumes, and which are in- tended, by their comparative insignificance, to convey an idea of the vast grandeur and power of the prin- cipal figures. The Chinese have not yet got beyond the rudiments of art, and can only express strength and power by size and extravagance. The exquisite Grecian sense of art, expressed by symmetry of form and majesty of expression, would convey no idea to their perverted minds; and a Yenus without distorted legs, or an Apollo less than twenty feet high, would be looked on with scorn. They have no aesthetic notions of art; nothing that speaks to the soul, and awakens emotions of religious awe, of admiration, and of love. In painting, sculpture, architecture, music, all is alike artificial and conventional, extravagant, or ludicrous ; and a deity with a black face, flat nose, and hugely disproportioned mouth, is as consonant to their ideas of propriety as it was to our grandfathers to admire without criticism a Tarquin in bag- wig and red-heeled 184 THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN. shoes declaiming to a Lucretia in a hoop and toupe'e, " O major tandem parcas," &c. The reigning Bhudda occupies the principal place in the centre of the temple, and is gilded from head to foot, with the exception of the lips, eyes, and turban, which are usually coloured. He is always represented in a pensive attitude, with a very con- tented and well-fed look, and is supposed to be me- ditating on his near approach to annihilation, the supreme object of Bhuddist beatification. On his right is placed the coming Bhudda, and on his left the one that has passed away (a Bhuddist trinity). At his back is the Queen of Heaven, with a child in her arms, and the sacred lotus in the right hand. The last figure has more of natural grace and beauty than any Chinese work of art I ever saw, and it strongly resembles the somewhat stiff and angular but nevertheless pleasing figures of the Virgin and Child one sees in old stained glass, in mediaeval illu- minations, and in the works of Giotto and the prae- Raphaelite Italian school. This is not the only in- stance of a remarkable coincidence between the Bhuddist and Roman Catholic religion. There are processions before the altar, genuflexions and prostra- tions. Mass is chanted in a strange tongue (Pah). Midnight masses, penitential sacrifices, seclusion, celi- bacy, monastic discipline, the intercession of the minor deities and of the disciples of Bhudda, and, .above all, HER TEMPLE AT AMOY. 185 of the Queen of Heaven, are all strong points of resemblance, which leads one to believe that Bhud- dism has engrafted some of the forms of the Roman Catholic religion on the old brahminical stock. The temple at Amoy is dedicated to the Queen of Heaven, and in the centre of the inner court, raised on an octagonal platform approached by a flight of steps, is a beautiful chapel dedicated to her, with a shrine, over which she presides, and which is protected from the vulgar eye by gauze curtains of an imperial yellow, which the priests readily withdrew for us. Round a large quadrangle were about twenty novices, each with a presiding deity, and a legend in Chinese characters above the altar. These, like saints, are supposed to have particular classes of men and particular districts under their direction, just as St. Crispin patronised the cobbler, or St. Antony does Padua, or St. George for merry England ; and with true military subordination each class or district ad- dresses the higher powers through its patron, not venturing to make their appeals direct. Like everything else, however, saints and gods have to bow to fashion, and some are neglected while others exhibit the light of their countenances at the expense of half a chandler's shop ; or, like the Bhud- dists, with piles of ashes of consumed and consuming incense sticks, besides occasional bowls of rice and savoury dishes of pork. 186 CHINESE DESECRATION. The first time I visited the temple a military man- darin of rank on his tour of inspection had taken up his quarters in it ; several of the chapels were piled up, and the gods buried under heaps of fodder for the cavalry escort, while on the other side the deities had been summarily expelled to make room for the horses. CITY OF AMOY. 187 CHAPTER XVIII. THE CITY OF AMOY THE ANCHOR STREETS AND POPULATION PUNCH THE DRAMA PLAYS AND PLAY-ACTORS MUSIC THE SUBURBS THE CITADEL CHINESE BUREAUCRATS A MAN- DARIN'S COURT PUNISHMENTS PRIVATE WAR THE TRIAD SOCIETY CONSPIRACY. THE city of Amoy is built on a peninsula, and fronts the water on two sides, overlooking the long rows of junks, boats, and vessels of various build, enlivening it with their flags and brilliant colours, and with the unceasing din which characterizes every Chinese city. If the Chinamen had adopted the Greek Par- thenon, they would certainly have added to the vast catalogue a god of uproar and confusion, and who would have boasted more votaries and more grateful attention than all the other deities put together. As seen from the sea, it is not without a certain pictu- resqueness and originality of appearance. Numbers of the houses are two-storied, projecting over the water, and with massive exterior balconies and balus- trades, and large and various-shaped windows, where old men, women, and children may generally be seen 188 " ANCHOR OF AMOY." enjoying a view of the bustling scene on the water while engaged in smoking, reading, or in anxiously watching the gyrations of a bird-shaped kite flying from their own or a neighbouring balcony. There are numerous broad and convenient, but not over cleanly landing-places, with their attendant crowds of boats plying for hire. At one of the largest of these is a curiously piled heap of stones, called the " Anchor of Amoy," on the fall of which, it is said, the island will be conquered by barbarians. There is a pile of the same kind on the opposite island of Koo Lung Soo with a similar legend, and they were both the objects of great attention and anxiety when the arrival of the English fleet was anticipated. The anchors, however, have remained unshaken in spite of the city and island having been taken, much to the surprise of the more credulous of the long-tailed gos- sips. Some more knowing ones, however, still shake their sagacious heads and predict that a foe will come who will not be satisfied to beat, merely to treat with them ; that then, when they are conquered as well as beaten, the piles will fall with a mighty crash. The streets are crowded to excess with porters, pedlers, barbers, and itinerant musicians, besides numbers of merchants, soldiers, and idlers ; mandarins and ladies are borne rapidly through the crowd in sedan-chairs on the shoulders of two or four bearers, and with a long tail of attendants carrying red um- STREETS AND POPULATION. 189 brellas, and other insignia of rank. In every open spot into which the crowded streets disgorge them- selves, there is a collection of beggars, stalls of fruit, fish, and cheap cakes and provision. Under the portico of the temple, or in a nook out of the stream of passengers, is the table of the public scribe, who, with spectacled nose, and shaded from the sun by a large umbrella of oiled silk or cotton, patiently smokes his pipe in the absence of a customer. A few yards of blank wall is immediately seized on by an artist, who depicts the detestable Fanquis in all the colours of the rainbow, and in the most ridiculous costume and attitude. Here, too, are exhibited trucu- lent full lengths of an infinite variety of gods, demons, and dragons at the lowest possible prices. The land- scapes are not the least remarkable productions, in which may be seen ships sailing up the sides of mountains and water, buffaloes feeding in lakes impaled on the pinnacles of temples. Besides these more innocent perversions of nature, there are subjects which must tend to the perversion of morals, and which publicly exhibited does not do much credit to their most paternal of governments. Wherever the artist and scribe can find a place, there too is usually to be found the quack doctor, who has a variety of nostrums spread out before him, together with anatomical drawings of the human figure, which exhibit astounding variations on the received doctrine 190 PUNCH IN CHINA. as understood in Europe. Conjurors, jugglers, and fortune-tellers have each their clients, and Punch himself too-tootles away in a manner that excites all one's youthful enthusiasm. Here was a subject for research ; to find Punch domesticated among these antediluvians is a subject to theorise upon to any extent, the more so as all traces of his travels from the East to the West, or from the West to the East, are lost. After leaving the more civilized portion of Europe there is no sign of his existence, or of his ever having existed, till he suddenly pops up in this the most exclusive of nations, where they would have turned up their pug-noses even at Punch if he had arrived in the country as a foreigner, or an outer barbarian. Punch, therefore, must have been antediluvian, and the tradition of his existence has been preserved in the remote civilization of the Eastern and of the Western world. Or possibly the Chinese may have had a junk of their own at the time of the Flood, in which Punch was preserved. I am rather inclined to the latter theory as I find it too hard to believe that they are descendants of Noah. Dramatic representations of more pretension, but of scarcely more merit than Punch, or of better morals, often attract a crowd, to admire the mouthing and antics of the boy actor who, in tawdry finery, rants about the stage, or indulge the not overscrupulous CHINESE DRAMA. 191 public with a farce that would shock even the audience of the "Theatre Montansier." The drama in China is at a very low ebb. It is still in the strolling state : such as might have been when Thespis and his company declaimed from a waggon, or rather, such as it was in the middle ages, when mysteries were performed in the open streets and squares for popular edification. A wealthy citizen, or sometimes the parish or municipality, hire a company of strollers, who erect their stage across a thoroughfare, with little respect for the public right of way. The entertainer and his friends occupy seats in front of the stage, and the tag-rag and bobtail stand in the rear. The actors are mere boys, who are dressed in robes of silk and satin, rich with embroidery, but much tarnished and rumpled. The subject of the play is usually taken from the life of some hero of mythology or history of China, and the plot is constructed with an attention to the unities of the drama that would have charmed a critic of the French school. The narrative begins with the earliest events of the hero's existence, carrying them on in uninterrupted dulness to his apotheosis. The play usually takes some hours, and some of them, I have been informed, some days. The spouting and posturing are varied by recitative singing in a shrill contralto key ; and 192 CHINESE MUSIC. every scene begins and ends with banging of gongs and squealing of pipes, occasionally varied by tJie explosion of crackers, when the interest becomes thrilling, and some great event is enveloped in the noise and smoke, being left, in other respects, to the imagination of the audience. There are some dramas which treat of the loves of the heroes, in which little is left to the imagination, although the dialogue is carried on in a lofty rant which never descends to comedy, much less to farce- With such taste, it is not surprising that this species of amusement is not in much repute, and that its professors should be classed with the mountebanks and vagabonds, to whose ranks they properly belong. There are no moral lessons to be learnt from the Chinese drama : it inculcates no good principles, nor does it hold the mirror up to nature. Buffoonery, coarse ribaldry, and exaggerated passion, are its chief characteristics ; one cannot wonder at the low esteem in which it is held. Music is not more advanced. All the singing is in an unnatural falsetto key, pitched as high as pos- sible, so that anything more hideous and ludicrous than the sounds produced can scarcely be imagined. A torn cat caterwauling on the pantiles is the nearest approach I know to the vocal music of this refined nation. They frequently accompany the voice with a kind of violin, the scraping of which is sufficient to AND POETRY. 193 put one's teeth on edge. A lute with wire strings and a very wiry tone is sometimes used for the same purpose. The instrument, however, that is to be heard on all occasions, is a sort of pipe, very much resembling the bagpipe in tone. The songs I have heard were all of very similar character, and were sung in short cadences, alter- nating with the symphony, reminding me very much of the Spanish seguidilla, as it is heard screeched by the muleteers in the mountain-paths of Andalucia : only that while the muleteer screeches, the Chinaman howls in a way that would excite the sympathy of a whole kennel of hounds, compelling them to join in an obligato chorus. Chinese poetry is on a par with the music. It either delights in namby-pamby sentimentality, or puerile conceits. Graceful metaphor, subtle allegory, warmth of sentiment, a picturesque feeling for the beauties of nature, are all utterly unknown ; while plays-upon- words, and a studied arrangement of phrases, delight the most fastidious critics, and satisfy their tastes. It is in the suburbs of Amoy that the most con- siderable portion of the population, and the whole of the trade, is to be found. The city, as is the case, I believe, throughout China, is merely a citadel, con- taining the arsenal, barracks, government offices, and the residences of the principal mandarins. As this is also the case at Canton, there can be little object in K 194 THE CITADEL. compelling the mandarins to permit a free entrance into it, except as a point of honour, and as a corrective to their impertinent pretensions. The city, or citadel, is surrounded by lofty em- battled walls, with broad ramparts, approached by large gates with barbicans. The streets are broad and tolerably paved, and there is an air of quiet repose in strong contrast to the bustle of the throngs in the narrow crowded streets of the suburbs. In the citadel, Coolies slink about as if they were on dangerous ground. Greasy-looking, ragged, long- booted soldiers, lounge about the gates or guard- houses, or carry expresses at the peril of their lives, at a speed of three miles an hour, and mounted on huge saddles, which seem to extinguish the diminutive ponies they ride. In fact, a more melancholy and hopeless state of inefficiency than is exhibited by a Chinese dragoon, it is difficult to imagine, unless it be a mandarin, some of -whom I have seen with one attendant to lead the horse at a slow walk, and with two others holding on by the rider's legs to prevent him from falling off on either side. Long-robed clerks, with huge spectacles on the tips of their bridgeless noses, move along with an air of solemn dignity and importance, shading their well-cropped heads with a broad fan. There is no class which exhibits a more quaker-like but fastidious dandyism of costume and manner than this. Their tones are CHINESE BUREAUCRATS. 195 the most oily and mellifluous, their expressions a string of compliments, and they display a diplomatic abnegation of self that is quite delightful to contem- plate. Stern conservatives, they hate all change or innovation ; and they would behead mandarins, deso- late provinces, and maintain perpetual war against the barbarians, rather than concede one iota either of their soil or their dignity. It is from this class that emanates the menacing placards which may be fre- quently seen in the consular cities, denouncing the foreign devils with a furious bigotry of hate, and a strength of expression, one would hardly expect from so smug, punctilious, and well-mannered a class. Our interpreters had a sad job with them during the war, and their strategy of the pen, quibble of expres- sion, and sly phrases of disparagement gave great embarrassment to our diplomatists. They would contrive to make use of some offensive epithet, obso- lete, perhaps, or obscure, but affording them intense satisfaction. They would put the Queen's name under the Emperor's, or give the Emperor a column to himself, while the Queen's was huddled into a column, where she was hedged about, above and below, with insignificant words, in a very undignified manner. In such solemn trifles of ingenuity their triumph consisted, and the whole country was satisfied to applaud their childish paper victories. The most peculiar and interesting sight is the court K2 196 PUNISHMENTS. of a magisterial mandarin, where miserable wretches on hands and knees bump their foreheads on the earth in an ecstacy of humiliation, and where the whole business of the law is carried out from accusation to execution. The common punishments are beating with the bamboo and confinement in the kang. In the former punishment the culprit is stretched out on his face with his arms and legs extended, and a long, light pole of bamboo is applied to his posteriors with a vigour that renders sitting down a rather painful mode of relaxa- tion for some time afterwards. The " kang " is a sort of moveable stocks or pillory, into which the offender's head and sometimes his hands also are inserted and confined. This is inconvenient and uncomfortable, particularly if the kang be large and heavy, as the patient cannot defend his face from dust or insects, or even feed himself, or sit, or lie down, except at great personal discomfort. This, however, is nothing compared to being confined in a kang calculated to afford accommodation to two or three other culprits, particularly if not of correspond- ing height and gait. Beheading, strangling, and mutilating, are among the punishments inflicted for high crimes and misdemeanors, but the most peculiar of all is the punishment sometimes awarded to man- darins of rank, who receive an order to commit suicide. PUNISHMENTS. 197 The latter also are punished by degradation and banishment to the cold regions of Tartary. Some- times a whole family is punished or extirpated for the crime of one of its members, and, in extreme in- stances of guilt, the village, town, or district, have a fine or other punishment levied on it for the crime of having produced and nurtured so great a criminal. The punishments inflicted by the mandarins are generally of a light description, and their jurisdiction is in practice almost confined to the towns. The country villages are ruled, almost without interference, by the elders, who are quite competent to control and direct so simple and hard-working a race. China, notwithstanding that it is the centre of the universe, the flowery nation, and ruled like a family with parental benignity, is, nevertheless, not entirely happy. It is rare that floods, epidemics, or famine, are not one or all at work in some portion of their extensive empire, causing an immense amount of suffering and mortality, but of which little is generally known in a country cut up into a vast number of small isolated communities, microcosms that have little intercourse or intercommunication, and which are callous and indifferent to everything which takes place outside the circle of their own narrow sym- pathies. Pirates greatly infest the coasts and rivers, numbers of robbers and plunderers obstruct the roads, and 198 PRIVATE WAR. swindlers of unparalleled ingenuity and effrontery find abundant occupation in the towns. Private war is frequently waged between neighbouring vil- lages and districts, which last uninterruptedly for years in a quiet sort of a Chinese way, in which they frighten and obstruct oftener than they hurt one another. On one occasion I had the community of a village near Amoy fined eighty dollars for firing into a boat and wounding a retainer of mine, who was supposed to belong to the enemy. There are also secret societies of various kinds for political and fraudulent purposes. The principal of these, the Triad Society, pervades the whole Chinese empire, and extends even to the Indian Archipelago, and to our own settlements in the Straits. Tn the Straits it binds the extensive enterprising Chinese population into one organised society, ready at all times to aid and abet their members, whether their pursuits be honest or criminal. Such a combination is even now a great inconvenience and an obstacle to good govern- ment, and it will, unless promptly checked, lead, at some future time, to extensive and troublesome con- spiracies. The origin of the society was political, it was a kind of Chinese carbonarism to expel the Tartar intruders from the country, and to establish a native dynasty. But, in China, as in Europe, plotting and secrecy soon led its members into the society of dis- CONSPIRACY. 199 reputable companions, to whom specious, sneaking conspiracy is a congenial trade, and into whose hands the direction of the society soon falls, and what origi- nally had a semblance of good in it is quickly per- verted to the basest uses. Conspiracy never yet mended the abuses of a state, or averted tyranny ; but it has ever served to strengthen the hands of despots, and to furnish an excuse for the most arbitrary outrages on public and personal liberty. It is not by dark and midnight deeds that a people can be moved. Nothing less than a deep sense of injury and the general indignation of the oppressed will produce an upheaving of the mighty mass, whose inert weight, when set in motion, is enough to crush all ordinary opposition. Even in case of failure such a mighty effort produces an impression of respect and terror that must certainly lead to the amelioration of their condition and ultimately to their independence. 200 FESTIVAL OF THE NEW YEAR. CHAPTER XIX. FESTIVAL OP THE NEW YEAR FESTIVAL OF ANCESTORS KITE FLYING CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS GAMBLING AND INTEM- PERANCE OPIUM, ITS USES AND ABUSES HEU-NAT-SE's " COUNTERBLAST " ENGLISH AND CHINESE PHILANTHROPY. THE Chinese have a variety of festivals which are observed throughout the empire, with general mirth and hilarity. These are seasons of Saturnalian licence, when the grave citizen compensates himself for the dull, uniform sobriety of his life during the rest of the year. The Festival of the New Year is the one most generally observed ; when the whole population appear to give way to a frenzy of mirthfulness, and which exhibits itself in all kinds of excruciatingly noisy ways gongs, drums, crackers and fireworks are in universal requisition. Processions parade about the roads with monstrous dragons, and accompanied with banners and music and an uproarious train of followers. Some of these dragons are a hundred feet in length, and are moved by the agency of porters who trotting along, partially hidden under the body, make it resemble a huge centipeda Theatres and FESTIVAL OF ANCESTORS 201 stages are erected across the streets, or by the gates of the city, where grand heroic dramas and mytho- logical mysteries are performed. At night the revelry is kept up with feasting and music ; every house is illuminated, and almost every passenger in the streets has a lantern of brilliant colours, or of grotesque shape. At the Festival of Ancestors, the family tombs are visited and renovated, and huge piles of paper money are burnt. Piles of provisions are supplied, that the uneasy ghosts may snuff the odour, while the substance is devoured with a pic-nic appetite by the survivors. With a view to this annual ceremonial many of the tombs are provided with seats, while some which I have seen have tables also, which, no doubt, tend greatly to the satisfaction of then 1 spiritual proprietors when receiving the formal visits of their relations still in the flesh. In the summer season, respectable bearded old gentlemen may be seen sedately occupied in flying small paper kites, which they watch for hours with intense interest. The kites are very superior to their European namesakes. They are shaped like, dragons, birds, and fishes, which fly and sport and; dive through the air in a very entertaining and in- structive manner. These are the only public diversions and amuse- ments I noticed among the Chinese. I do not class fishing and shooting among their amusements, as I K 3 202 CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS. feel confident that their energies in these directions were exerted with the sole view to the pot In fact a more melancholy sight than one of these bobbing in a ditch for lizards, frogs, and bull -heads, can scarcely be imagined unless it be to see one of them shivering in the cold behind a rock waiting for a pot-shot at a curlew or a cormorant, with the odds against him, from his bad matchlock, and worse ammunition, that he will miss. The Chinaman is a luxurious, sensual, selfish dog, who finds little gratification in society. He loves to spend his time in the women's apartmeuts and gardens, where he has stored up all that interest or affect him, and all of which he keeps most religiously to himself. Besides the more innocent diversions, there are gambling-houses, grog-shops, and opium-shops in abundance in every city. In the former, dice and cards are used, but the favourite excitement is quail- fighting, and large sums are frequently won or lost on these pugnacious little birds. These amusements are forbidden by law, but from the open way in which the gaming-houses are conducted, I have no doubt that there is a good understanding with the authori- ties. The same may be said with regard to the opium- shops, which are publicly indicated, rather than con- cealed, by a screen placed across the door. In the shops frequented by the lower orders there are scarcely any conveniences beyond a small table OPIUM ITS USES AND ABUSES. 203 and a stool for the smoker, who rarely indulges in more than one pipe, costing considerably less than a farthing. To this class opium is the cheapest, and probably the least injurious stimulant they could in- dulge in. Among the lower orders it is rare to see an indivi- dual suffering from the abuse of opium ; its victims are almost exclusively among the wealthier classes, who can afford sufficient money and time for exces- sive indulgence, and who, failing opium, would pro- bably adopt some other mode of dissipation equally fatal in its effects, and probably far more discreditable in its operation. The man who intoxicates himself with ardent spirits, and the one who stupifies his faculties with opium, are both of them disreputable members of society, but the former is far more offen- sive and more dangerous to the community than the latter ; while, therefore, we deprecate the use of opium, it is hardly fair to ascribe to its influence the vices and sufferings of a considerable portion of those, who, prone to dissolute habits, find in opium a less mischievous solace than could be afforded by any other mode of intoxication, which, from their tem- perament and habits, they would fly to if this were removed. In the opium-houses for the richer classes there are couches and beds, with mattresses and pillows, and each customer is served with a small table, a spirit- 204 OPIUM ITS USES AND ABUSES. lamp, and a small saucer containing the demanded supply of the drug. With a kind of bodkin, the smoker, who reclines at full length, fills his pipe, which he applies to the spirit-lamp, drawing patiently till the opium dries and ignites, when he is rewarded by the inspiration of a cloud of light smoke, which he slowly respires. At short intervals a second and third pipe are indulged in, producing a state of hazy reverie a lazy, muddled, lethargic dulness, or in the last stage a sort of inebriate stupor, in which consists the supreme bliss ; a sort of foretaste of the annihilation the Bhuddists aspire to in a future state. Tobacco, when used to excess, is almost as injurious to the constitution, and its effects are somewhat analogous to those of opium, as a sedative to the excitability of many temperaments. Used to a moderate extent it is not injurious, and to some constitutions it is beneficial : even to those who indulge in it considerably it acts but as a very slow poison, although its effects are evident in the rapid emaciation of the frame. I have seen some individuals so attenuated that they might have served for studies to the anatomist, and I doubt whether the celebrated " Living Skeleton " could have been more thoroughly destitute of flesh. These men, nevertheless, retain their faculties, and are apparently as capable of attending to their trade as if in sound health, while those who intoxicate themselves with ardent HEU-NAT-SE'S " COUNTERBLAST/' 205 spirits, like the victims of our own gin-palaces, are as utter wrecks in body, and are far more injuriously affected in mind and estate. Heu-Nat-Se, a stern hater of opium and foreigners, in his ' Counterblast/ states, that " when any one is long habituated to inhaling opium, it becomes neces- sary to resort to it at regular intervals, and the habit of using it being inveterate, is destructive of time, ruinous to property, and yet dear to one even as life. Of those who use it to great excess the breath becomes feeble, the body wasted, the face sallow, the teeth black, the individuals themselves clearly see the per- nicious effects, yet cannot refrain from it." " It will be found on examination, that the smokers of opium are idle lazy vagrants, having no useful purpose before them, and are unworthy of regard or even of contempt, and though there are instances of smokers who have overstepped the threshold of age, yet they do not attain the long life of other men." Heu-Nat-Se, like most violent partisans, overstates his case in the first paragraph, the value of which he destroys in the second ; for if the smokers of opium are idle lazy vagrants, it can matter very little that it should be " destructive of time or ruinous to pro- perty," property and time being the two things of least value to that class of the community. The vice, however, was most incurable among the richer classes, who smoke in the recesses of their own esta- 206 HEU-NAT-SE'S " COUNTERBLAST." blishments ; and it is said the first opposition to the use of the drug in recent years arose from the preva- lent abuse of it in the Imperial Palace. Heu-Nat-Se cannot comprehend the perverseness of the Celestial nature, which, in spite of repeated de- nunciation and increased penalties, clings with greater fondness to the cherished vice. He says, " In the first year of Kea-King (1799) those found guilty of smoking opium were punished with the pillory (kang) and the bamboo. Now they have become liable to the severest penalties, banishment in various degrees and death ; yet the smokers of the drug have in- creased in number, and the practice has spread throughout almost the whole empire." Heu-Nat-Se somewhat resembles our own moral reformers, who, while denouncing the practice of a prevailing vice, offer no suggestion but punishment for its suppression. Men driven to the use of intoxi- cating spirits and drugs ought more frequently to be the objects of the pity of the moral reformer than of his scorn ; in that, only, more liberal than Heu-Nat-Sf>, who will not even bestow his contempt so unworthily. Such men are usually diseased in temperament, de- based by want of education, sufferers from cold, want, wretchedness ; or, oftener still, by the absence of any intellectual or moral stimulant to satisfy the restless craving of the mind. The fat mandarin and the well-fed philanthropist HEU-NAT-SE'S " COUNTERBLAST/' 207 are equally bad judges of the wants of the hard- labouring coal-porter and the Coolie. With a com- fortable home, and abundance of stimulating food, they are still less able to appreciate the wants of the weary wretch exposed to the pitiless storm ; and pursy and well-contented with themselves, they can afford to despise those, who, exhausted in their struggles with the world, seek in stimulants a temporary relief, though to be repaid with subsequent usury of in- creased depression. Heu-Nat-Se pretends, however, to no particular philanthropy ; he opines that the losses by premature death will be replaced by new births, which daily augment the population ; but he says, "that always, in times past, a tael of pure silver exchanged for about 1,000 coined, but of late years it has been worth 1,200 or 1,300 cash !" " Hinc illae lachrymae !" here is the cause of the mandarin's indignation. The opium runs away with the sycee ; it is emptying the imperial coffers, and the celestial age of silver threatens to be transmuted to one of debased copper, and he would, therefore, have the Emperor's lieges pilloried, scourged, banished, and beheaded, as a simple financial measure. It remains for those who cry out so vehemently against the sins of the opium trade to pull down its palatial emporia at Hong Kong, to declare the clipper fleet pirates, and to suppress the cultivation of the 208 ENGLISH AND CHINESE PHILANTHROPY. drug at Patna and Malwa. The Chinese would then be thrown on the small supply grown in their own province of Kang-nan, and the price of this and other home- produced stimulants would be enhanced ; still I am afraid that Heu-Nat-Se's financial views would not be realised, and that he would find silver continue to bear a much higher premium than in the days when the foreign import trade of China was comparatively trifling. His next financial revelation would probably be that Manchester goods are as per- nicious to the healthy state of the revenue and to the moral welfare of the empire as was the last bug-bear, opium. Would our worthy philanthropists support the new financial views of the Chinese statesman, or would they denounce him as an ignorant and be- nighted Protectionist ? EVACUATION OF KOO LUNG SOO. 209 CHAPTER XX. HONG KONG AND CANTON. EVACUATION OF KOO LUNG BOO CHINESE SOLDIERY SUFFERINGS OP THE GARRISON A HINDOO SUICIDE HONG KONG AGAIN IMPROYEMENTS TRADE REQUIREMENTS OF THE TRADE ANECDOTE OF OPIUM SPECULATION ENGLISH FLUNKEYISM WAR WITH CHINA. THE " Sapphire" troop-ship, to remove the garrison from Koo Lung Soo, arrived at last, and we were plunged into all the bustle of preparation for imme- diately evacuating the island. There seemed to be quite a regeneration in our gar- rison. Instead of the languid, listless beings we had been for months, nothing now was to be seen but joy- ous faces, bustle and excitement. Guns, ammunition, and stores were embarked, or surveyed to be sold or destroyed. The hospital, for the first time, a happy omen, was cleared of its sick, and its crowded wards deserted, or were left to the ghouls and demons of dis- ease, who were supposed by the Chinamen to in- fest it. 210 CHINESE SOLDIERY. Our preparations were soon completed, and all the men embarked except some Madras artillery, a guard of honour, and the officers who remained to attend at the formal cession of the island. On the day appointed there was a great rejoicing and uproar on the Amoy side, crackers exploding, gongs clanging, and colours flying on board the junks, and at all the joss-houses and public buildings, till at length the mandarins embarked with a great tail of soldiers, and tag-rag and bobtail of all degrees. The soldiers, the elite of Amoy, were the oddest- looking fellows imaginable, armed with matchlocks, spears, bows, and double swords, and with huge basket-work shields, painted with grotesque and ex- travagant faces, to strike terror into the enemy by the truculence of their aspect. They wear a sort of uniform consisting of a conical shaped hat of basket- work, fastening under the chin with a string ; a loose kind of gaberdine, wadded with cotton, with a badge on the breast and back the former relating to the service, the latter to the personal qualities of the individual ; which may, in some measure, account for the universal anxiety they exhibit to turn their backs on the enemy. Loose cotton drawers and leggings, and shoes with felt soles, from one to two inches thick, completed the costume. The ammunition of the matchlock men was contained in* two bags, worn round the waist, one bag filled with very coarse, weak SUFFERINGS OF THE GARRISON. 211 powder, the other with small hammered iron bullets, not much larger than swan shot. A lunch was given to the mandarins, with a plen- tiful supply of cherry brandy and champagne, in which we pledged one another, and exchanged com- plimentary toasts and speeches. As a finale to the proceedings, the English flag was saluted from a war- junk, with three guns, and then hauled down ; and the compliment was returned by our saluting the Chinese flag, when it was unfurled over the island which we so gladly resigned to them, and of which we sincerely wished them joy. Next morning we got under way, after, for the last time, seeing the body of a soldier committed to the grave ; an appropriate conclusion of our acquaint- ance with a place associated in our minds with little else but sickness and death. No one can conceive the privations and suffering we endured, and our satisfaction at escaping can only be compared to that of a condemned prisoner, who, when utterly hopeless and resigned, receives his reprieve, and is told that the world is once more before him. We had a long and weary passage to Hong Kong, losing on the way three of the miserable relics of the garrison, who were completely worn out by fever and debility. As we were slowly entering the Lymung Passage, one poor wretch, a Hindoo, committed 212 HINDOO SUICIDE. suicide. He leaped overboard suddenly from the forecastle deck, and as he passed the chains, the lead's-man skilfully threw his lead-line round him ; disengaging himself from this, he struck out strongly astern, swimming close by the ship, and pushing aside the numerous ropes thrown to him. When about fifty yards astern, he turned round and swam a few yards back, then stopped, and floating quietly on the water looked calmly at us. The vessel was scarcely moving at the time, and a boat was quickly lowered and approached him. When he saw it coming, he put his face under water, keeping it resolutely down- His turban still remained above water but gradually sunk, so slowly as to be distinctly seen sinking deeper and deeper, till, just as the boat got over the spot, it disappeared. Poor wretch ! after so much misery, he should have tried a little longer if there might not still be some- thing in the world worth living for. Perhaps the excitement and joy at the prospect of returning to his country was too much for his brain, and, in a moment of insanity, he sought in death an anodyne for the restless and anxious impatience he could not control. * * * * On landing at Hong Kong, I found the city of Victoria wonderfully improved, enlarged and embel- lished. Palatial residences, pillared and arched with broad verandahs and terraces, had replaced the neat HONG KONG. 213 bungalows which had previously furnished quarters to a considerable portion of the population. There was far greater style and more comfort in the place, and the merchants exercised a princely hospitality in keeping with their residences. With all these im- provements, Hong Kong was still anything but a pleasant or a healthy place, nor is it likely ever to be- come so till the huge mountain can be rolled away which overshadows it, collecting the malarious vapours, and excluding the cool sea-breeze. Roads were in process of being made at vast ex- pense, along the precipitous sides of the mountain, and across deep chasms and ravines, where torrents constantly swept away the work, and which, when finished, only led to Chuck- Choo and Sarivan, two pestilent and insignificant spots, since officially known as Stanley and Aberdeen. Among the improvements in the place, I saw. little or nothing that had not been effected by the vast outlay of capital invested by the Government and the merchants. I looked in vain for the junks and coast- ing traders that were to have filled the harbour, or for any of the signs of thriving commerce. An opium clipper or two, some men-of-war and an occasional ship that had taken a cut through the Lymung Pas- sage on its way to Cap-sing-mung or Whampoa, were the only vessels that appeared to visit the harbour. Trade had not yet, at any rate, been diverted from its 214 REQUIREMENTS OF THE TRADE. old course, nor had the Chinaman yet been persuaded to go to Hong Kong for goods he could get brought to his own door, and on which he could pretty nearly place his own price. Piracies continued to be of con- stant occurrence, and in the very harbour itself, with almost invariable impunity. The General's two sons were captured in sight of the men-of-war, while sailing for their amusement about the bay. They were, of course, robbed of every- thing, and the Pylangs got safely away with their booty. Robberies in Victoria appeared scarcely to have received a check, although a regular blue police has been established, under the direction of a London Commissioner. On the whole, Hong Kong appeared to be an utter failure. All that we required on this part of the coast, a naval dock-yard and a depot for merchandize, might have found ample space in one of the islands in the Bay. and which would have been easily de- fended by a small steamer and a company of marines, from any enemy likely to attack it How much more satisfactory this would have been than the possession of this uncomfortable mountain, for the defence and improvement of which, there is a fleet, and an army and a government expenditure of something more than half a million per annum ! The merchants have bitterly regretted the infatu- ation that led them to invest money in such a spot, OPIUM SPECULATION. 215 and many of them have returned to establish them- selves in Canton, notwithstanding the vast outlay they had made. The only persons likely to remain are those who are engaged in the opium trade ; who find it a safe and convenient head-quarters for their money and cargo. The bay, however, and a steamer or battery to protect their depot ships, is all that they need have cared to have. The great houses are established in magnificent style, and from here they despatch their numerous clippers to India and to all parts of the coast of China. An anecdote is told of the two leading houses which strongly exhibits the character of the traffic. The active partner in one of them immediately after the seizure of the opium by the mandarins, and when war was impending, sent orders to his agents in Bombay , to take advantage of the fall in the market price of the drug, to buy up all that could be obtained. At such a time when all the speculators were para- lysed by the sudden vigour exhibited by the Chinese viceroy, the greater part of the opium in the market was secured at a remarkably low rate. As ill-luck would have it, one of the heads of the house arrived overland at Bombay on his way to China to be at hand at such a momentous period. When informed of the considerable purchases that had been made for the house, he was amazed and 216 ENGLISH FLUNKEYISM. terrified at the audacity of his junior partner, and he directed that the whole of the opium should be re- sold. By this time the rival firm was in the market, looking in vain for a supply, when this chance offered, which they eagerly seized, purchasing at a very depreciated rate. It turned out as was anticipated by the junior partner, that the severity of the Chinese was a mere temporary and local ebullition, that had no influence on the general character of the trade. It must have been truly vexatious for him to see his rivals reaping all the benefit of his foresight, while a princely for- tune was transferred from his coffers to theirs. I found on arriving at Hong Kong that I was to have no rest, but was to proceed at once to Chusan. Fortunately there was no prospect of a ship for that port for a month, so that I had an opportunity of running up to Canton, the old seat of our trade, the spot where, for gain, we have put up with more insolence and oppression than was ever offered to Englishmen before, and for submitting to which, at Japan, we affect to despise the Dutch. The tameness with which for years the English bore the flouts and scorn of the Chinese officials, and the buffets and bullying of the Chinese mob, is inconceivable, when, with a single small steamer, or a frigate's broadside, the whole city might have been reduced to submission- They absolutely owed their existence to the forbear- WAR WITH CHINA. 217 ance of the foreigners they pretended to despise, and who might at any moment have crushed them. The war on China has been much deprecated, the cause of it ascribed to the designs of the opium merchants, and the Chinese sympathised with as very harmless, much sinned-against mortals. Harmless they proved, in truth, or nearly so, but if they had had the power, as they had the will, we should have suffered badly enough at their hands. A war with China is simply ridiculous ; it is the war of an experienced boxer against a short-winded, very irascible old alderman. They had not the ghost of a chance, and even the little " Nemesis " was found more than a match for their whole fleet, and capable single-handed to cope with the heaviest batteries. Bows and arrows, gongs and hideously-painted shields to strike terror, are their natural weapons, and if these do not have their effect, they have nothing to do for it but to run, and which, from all accounts, they always did with such alacrity, that unless well in the van, and blessed with strong legs and good wind, a man had often little chance of seeing the enemy at all. Their matchlocks, jingalls, and cannon, might be formidable if properly constructed, and if they knew how to use them, but as the former are so fixed that they can only fire at one spot, they are not very destructive, and the latter are so clumsy, the ammu- nition bad, and the gunners so much afraid of them, L 218 WAR WITH CHINA. that they are not often effective. The powder is of the coarsest and worst description, and is usually carried in a small bag tied to the waist, the conse- quence of which used to be, that when an unfortunate Chinaman was wounded, if he fell on his match, it set fire to his cotton garments, which ignited the powder; and it was no uncommon sight after an action to see the unfortunate wretches smouldering and exploding one after the other, in all direc- tions. A curious instance of the utter incapacity of the Chinese to cope with Europeans occurred at Chapor, where the principal mandarin fled at the very first shot, and never stopped till he reached home, an example followed by the whole of the troops with the greatest alacrity. When he reached home it may be supposed that the gallant mandarin packed up his plate and jewels, and betook himself with his family to the safest spot in the country. He sent for his wives, and strung them up to the beam of his house, his children he strangled, and threw into a well, and then heaping up all his valuables about his chair of state, he surrounded it with combustibles, and setting fire to the pile, perished hi the flames. His fate would have been worthy of an old Roman, or a hero of Norman times, if he had fought to the last gasp, and adopted such an end to show his contempt for the enemy when all else was lost. But to abandon WAR WITH CHINA. 219 the field of battle for such a purpose, without striking a blow to fly from one kind of death on purpose to seek another so inconceivably worse shows how inca- pable we are of appreciating the motives of a people whose idiosyncrasy is so entirely different from our own.* Among the women this fearlessness of death was very remarkable. On the taking of a city they * Chinese history furnishes numerous instances of emperors and generals who have adopted suicide as a short cut out of the difficulties and dangers which hedged them about in this world. The best proof, perhaps, that it is pusillanimity which induces suicide, is the fact that it should be so general among a people so destitute of courage as the Chinese. When the army of the Emperor Teping (the last of the Soong dynasty), consisting of 200,000 men, were utterly routed by 20,000 Moguls (1280), he fled to the fleet, which was equally unsuccessful ; and when he was in danger of falling into the hands of the enemy, he was taken on the shoxilders of one of his officers, who leaped into the sea, where they were both drowned. Most of the mandarins followed his example, as did also the Empress, the Prime Minister, and all the Ladies of Honour, and multitudes of others, so that 100,000 persons are said to have perished on that day. Wai-tsoong, the last Emperor of the Ming dynasty (1644), when surrounded by the rebel forces and deserted by his troops, retired into his private garden, with his Empress and her daughter. Unable from grief to utter a word, the Empress, nevertheless, understood his meaning, and, after a silent embrace, suspended herself from a tree, with a silken cord. The Emperor delayed only to write on the border of his robe, " I have been basely deserted by my subjects, do what you will with me, but spare my subjects." He then beheaded the Princess with one blow of his sword, and hanged himself on a neighbouring tree. His Prime Minister, queens, and eunuchs followed his example. L 2 220 WAR WITH CHINA. committed suicide by scores. The wells in some places were absolutely choked with their bodies. Of their extraordinary determination to seek death a curious instance was told me by an officer of the 18th. On the taking of Chou-kiang-Foo, numbers of women destroyed themselves in this way, and he had exerted himself to save several, to little purpose how- ever. When overcome by the frightful heat which had that day killed thirteen of the 98th Regiment, then just landed, he lay down to recover himself, when at some distance below him he saw an old woman walk deliberately into a small stream and lie down on her face. The water was so shallow as not to cover the back of her head, but with extraordinary determination she maintained her position till the stream rolled her away a corpse. The horrors of such a war are indescribable. In every engagement hundreds perished from absolutely running into the danger they were trying to avoid ; while the massacre at Ting-hae, and in the night attack at Ningpo, would, if fairly recorded, fill every civilised breast with horror. In such a war it could not be otherwise ; immense masses opposed them- selves to the troops in places where they could neither fight or fly, and where in their terror they trampled on and destroyed one another, or leaped into the sea, and were drowned in immense numbers. They could WAR WITH CHINA, 221 not fight, yet, when hemmed in, they could not be made to understand that they should throw down their arms, and their faint resistance often brought on them the most murderous volleys. That the Chinese deserved a severe lesson is an un- questionable fact, but that that lesson should have taken the serious form of a war, was a most unne- cessary and unjustifiable proceeding. The punish- ment, too, was inflicted, not in Canton, the scene of all the indignities the English suffered, but on the northern cities and ports. The devastation of war, fire, and sword fell with dreadful weight upon them, utterly pillaged and devastated as they were, while Canton was let off with a trumpery fine. If it were necessary to give a lesson Canton should have suffered ; and if securities were required for future good behaviour, there was nothing to prevent our helping ourselves to Hong Kong, Chusan, or Koo Lung Soo. The merchant ships took the first, a man-of-war steamer and a regiment would have sufficed for the second and third, and a regiment in one, and a few companies in the other, with a ten-gun brig or a small steamer, would have held them against all the force the Chinese would ever have sent against them. Humanity, economy, policy, everything that should direct the councils of a Government should have made this our course in preference to that which proved so wasteful of life and treasure. The climate 222 WAR WITH CHINA. revenged well the loss of the Chinese, and I should be very sorry indeed to take the twenty-five million dollars of ransom money as a cheque for the real expenses of the war. We fooled ourselves from be- ginning to end. We fought the Chinese instead of punishing them, and we have got Hong Kong for our pains ! " Most impotent conclusion ! " CHINESE DIPLOMACY. 223 CHAPTER XXI. 'CUTENESS OP CHINESE DIPLOMATISTS PAST BOATS THE SCENERY FORTIFICATIONS AND BATTERIES CANTON RIVER BOATS FAST CRABS AND SCRAMBLING DRAGONS THE FLOWER BOATS RIVER POPULATION CANTON HOG LANE AND ITS FRE- QUENTERS CUSTOMS OBSTRUCTIONS CITADEL OP CANTON. IN company with two Hong-Kong merchants bound to Canton on business, I set out for the provincial city, to which the tea trade is almost as exclusively confined as ever. The produce is brought by inland carriage all the way from the neighbourhood of Ningpo and Foo Chow Foo, and by the time it reaches Canton is burthened with all the additional tolls, imposts, and expenses that have accumulated on the way. The Chinese, however much they have been over- matched in the field, outwitted us in the cabinet, and we derive little more benefit from our right to trade to the five ports than if we were still confined to Can- ton. At three of the ports, Ningpo, Foo Chow Foo, and Amoy, the right might be relinquished without any present detriment to the trade, and in other '2'2 I FAST BOATS. respects to our advantage by the reduction of the expensive consular establishments. The fast boats, one of which we had chartered for the voyage, are adapted either for sailing or rowing. They are exceedingly comfortable and roomy, being fitted up with a large flat-roofed cabin, on deck, about eight feet in height, and surrounded with green jalousies to admit the cool breeze and afford a view of the scenery. With our own attendants, bedding, and easy chairs we were as well lodged as if on shore, and with the additional comfort of breathing a cooler and purer atmosphere. The Hong Kong merchants are con- stantly obliged to make these voyages, which probably tends to the superior health they enjoy when con- trasted with the military. Greater comforts and con- stant occupation, with comparatively little exposure to the heat of the sun, and to the unwholesome night-damp, have also a share in producing so marked a difference in the mortality. The voyage to Canton, about eighty miles, is usually accomplished in about thirty-six hours, so that there was a capital opening for steam-boats, which would carry our energetic, restless countrymen to their desti- nation with more speed, though with far less comfort A steam-boat would guarantee its passengers against the attacks of pirates, by no means an uncommon contingency in the fast boats, in which it is necessary SCENERY. 225 to be prepared with gun and pistol against the sudden and dangerous onslaught. We threaded our way safely through the maze of islands which separates the spacious bay of Hong Kong from the main channel of the estuary, into which we found ourselves entering at daylight from a land-locked inlet surrounded by high mountains. In front of us was Cap-Sing-Moon, where, at all times, is to be seen a large fleet of opium-clippers and ships preparing to go to sea, or just arrived and awaiting orders from their consignees to fix upon their destina- tion. Here, formerly, commenced the series of exactions and insults through which the traders had to run the gauntlet before reaching Canton. The scenery, as far as the Bocca Tigris, is, like that of the coast, bold, mountainous, and barren-looking, presenting a parched brown surface to the sea, seamed with granite ridges and with huge boulders scattered over the declivities. At the Bocca Tigris, the vast, sea-like estuary suddenly contracts, and the river may be said to commence. Two promontories stretch across from each side as if to meet one another, and the island of Anmmghoy standing sternly up in the middle appears to forbid all passage. The Chinese have covered the island and promon- tories with innumerable cannon in strong stone bat- L3 226 FORTIFICATIONS AND BATTERIES. teries at every elevation, from the raking fire " a fleur d'eau," to those elevated a couple of hundred feet> and which could plump their balls into a vessel's hold. As we were passing, the forts were being inspected by some mandarins of high rank, who were saluted in every direction above, below, and on all sides, in a way that might frighten any invading force into a hasty retreat if noise could effect it. Immediately beyond the shore batteries, in a deep bay, but com- manding the channel, was a considerable fleet of war- junks also saluting and gonging away for bare life. Some of them, which had been European vessels, purchased ready armed and equipped, looked in miserable plight, with their rigging all slack, their masts rocking at every angle, and with a sad, rusty look for want of the accustomed paint and tar. They had compromised their extraordinary innovation on the architecture of the celestial dock-yards by hoisting up a huge Chinese poop over the stern, while the bows were embellished with a pair of huge goggle eyes ; for, as the Chinaman logically prove, " If not got eye, how can see ? If no can see, how can go ? Ah ! too muchee fools, you ! " In the hands of men, the least worthy to be reckoned as soldiers, such natural fortifications, im- proved as they are by art, ought to be able to defy the strongest fleet to force a passage into the river. CANTON RIVER BOATS. They have, however, since been attacked and taken by General D'Aguilar, without the loss of a single man from his small force. From the Bocca Tigris the number of vessels, boats, and junks begin to increase. Large, gaily-dressed mandarin and revenue boats are seen swiftly sailing, or rowing along the river on the look out for pirates or smugglers, or keeping order among the immense river population ; no easy matter when it is considered that it has frequently been strong and bold enough to sweep the river of all the government boats, and even to attack and pillage Canton itself. Crowds of boats are moored at the landing-places of the numerous small towns and villages, each with its custom-house and joss-house, a small barracks with a guard of Chinese soldiers armed with long partisans and match- locks, and with a small grass-hopper gun conspicu- ously planted in front to scare away pirates and smugglers. Notwithstanding the abundant use of brilliant colours, many-tinted pennons, and rows of painted shields, exhibiting faces of portentous grotesqueness, the mandarin boats are exceedingly light and elegantly proportioned, sweeping along the stream with a speed and grace one would hardly expect from the abundance of gingerbread work. Clumsy, slow, and ugly as are the junks and larger vessels, there are nowhere to be seen finer fishing- boats, 228 PIRATES AND SMUGGLERS. or river craft better adapted for work, or of greater variety of build. The pirates and smugglers are a bold, desperate set of dogs, who snap their fingers at soldiers, man- darins, and custom-house authorities. Their boats are fast and strong, and they make the best use of sail and oar ; only fighting when they are driven to it, which probably is not often, unless the odds are very greatly in favour of the authorities, whose efforts are directed not so much against smuggling as against the insolence of those who dare to smuggle without first buying immunity by paying a handsome instalment on the expected profits. Heu Nat Se, in his " Counterblast to Opium," de- nounces the whole system with great energy : " There are carrying boats plying up and down the river, vulgarly called 'fast crabs/ and 'scrambling dragons ;' they are well armed with guns and other weapons, and are manned with some scores of despe- radoes, who ply their oars as if they were wings to fly with. All the custom-houses and military posts which tLey pass are largely bribed. If they happen to encounter any of the armed cruising boats, they are so audacious as to resist, and slaughter and carnage ensue." At Whanipoa the river widens out again into - a lake-like expanse, with numerous tree-covered islands, where villages and pagodas look out through the FLOWER BOATS. 229 verdant foliage. It is remarkably picturesque, and its interest is heightened by the number of large ships and men-of-war at anchor, or arriving and departing, forming ever-changing groups, among which glide innumerable small boats, both native and European. From Whampoa to Canton the river is like a crowded highway, on which junks, ships, and boats jostle one another like 'busses and cabs in a London street, managing with similar dexterity to avoid collision. Among the vessels were numerous junks from Cochin China, Cambodia, and Siam, and a variety of curious boats. The most remarkable and highly ornamented were the flower-boats, which resembled floating bird-cages, splendid with coloured lanterns, carved ornaments, gilded cornices, silken flags, and vases of shrubs and flowers. To these come all the rich rakes and fast men of Canton, to dissipate and indulge in orgies and revelries that are secure here from the public eye. The mandarin, or the rich merchant's son, in a covered boat, and by the silent highway of the river, is safe from supervision or intrusion when once on board one of these floating parterres. The most fragrant tobacco, and the choicest opium, foreign wines and luscious liqueurs music, song, dance, and mirth all lend their aid to influence the imagination of the willing victim, and render him an easy prey to 230 FLOWER BOATS. the bright-glancing houris, who fascinate to destroy. No European has yet penetrated the mysteries of these gorgeous water-palaces, and it would be quite useless to attempt to obtain admission. Mr. Thorn, the late Consul at Ningpo, trusting to his knowledge of the language, attempted to gratify his curiosity, and introduced himself in a Chinese garb, but he was detected and captured. He was stripped and carried on a pole through the suburbs of Canton, exposed to all the insults of the crowd. The ill-usage he met with nearly cost him his life, and quite cured him of any desire to peer too closely into the ways of his neighbours. An Englishman could not be exposed to such treatment now ; but it would, nevertheless, be very unsafe to attempt to visit one of the flower- boats in disguise, while openly it would be impossible to gain admission except by force. Scarcely less beautiful than the flower-boats are some belonging to the mandarins, in which they spend much of their time with their families in the summer season. There, too, are family boats and duck-boats, fast-boats and cargo-boats in greater variety of shape, colour, and purpose than is to be found in the whole world besides. Near to Canton these are arranged, in regular streets, with high-roads for the larger vessels, and bye-ways for boats and small crafts, and with lanes and alleys, through which, with dexterous management of their oars, the boat- RIVER POPULATION. 231 men thread their way rapidly and safely. Such noise and din, as arises from their aquatic population, is scarcely to be imagined. Every boatman on the move shouts to every other boatman to make way for him. Every one of the thousand venders of cats, rats, and vegetables, stewed into soups, baked in pies, or " au naturel/' hammer a small gong and vociferate a description of his viands. Aquatic barbers scull their boats through the throng, and at the same time clatter away on a small piece of flat metal. Every old woman in every boat is abusing every other old female in every other boat, occa- sionally varying the amusement by shrieking to her husband, or inflicting public chastisement on one of the half-dozen children which are squealing and crawling about the decks tied to gourds, as life-buoys, in case they tumble overboard. Still louder are heard above the din the clang of gongs and explosion of petards from junks celebrating their arrival or departure ; or the shrill sound of a kind of bagpipe which is always skirling somewhere in a Chinese city from sunrise to sunset. To a person who has seen other large Chinese cities, Canton is less remarkable on shore than afloat. From the insolence of the population, all foreigners are confined to the close-packed hongs, to a small piece of ground laid out as a garden, and to the river, where the younger men amuse themselves of an 232 HOG LANE. evening by pulling wager-boats, cutters, and wherries imported from London, or built on English models by Chinese carpenters. It would probably surprise some of our builders to know that their best boate are frequently only used for models ; the Chinese imitating the build exactly, and making their own boats lighter than the ones they copy from, so that they are invariably preferred. The Canton regatta is the one great event of the year : and I saw several very beautiful boats being built for it of extra- ordinarily light make, and finished like cabinet work. The well-known Hog Lane, at the back of the factories, is a narrow street lined on each side with shops, which trade principally in the vices of the European sailors who frequent the place, and who keep it in a continual uproar with their drunken frays and frolics. All kinds of crimes are committed here, and it has frequently been the scene of deter- mined fights and robberies, and has more than once been burnt down. The Chinese seem to look upon it as a sort of Alsatia, with which they will not interfere, no matter what may occur ; and it has, it con- sequence, been more than once necessary for English men-of-war to land armed parties to quell riots, or put a stop to outrages. If the Chinese judge of Europeans by the scenes of daily occurrence in this locality, they are certainly justified in setting them down as the most brutalised CUSTOMS OBSTRUCTIONS. 233 of barbarians, and in restraining all intercourse and connexion with them as much as possible. Old and new China streets are broad and well- paved, and are filled with shops of dealers in ivory and tortoise-shell carvings, lacquered ware, porcelain, embroidered silks, painted fans, vases, toys, and the infinite variety of articles which are manufactured for the European market, and which are generally more remarkable for the elaborate workmanship than for elegance or durability. There is so much that is grotesque and original, that fe\v people could resist spending a great deal of money, were it not for the recollection of the trouble and expense attending the rescue of the goods from the custom-house on their arrival in London. In this instance I purchased a quantity of things ; and thinking to save my friends in England a great deal of trouble and vexation, I had the prices verified at the consulate. Notwith- standing this, the packages were broken open in London, and an arbitrary valuation put upon the articles, that in the case of some vases exceeded thirty times the original cost, and was ten times higher than that of some others of exactly the same material and price, but of less elegant design. Such a system naturally excludes everything but trumpery, and at the same time defeats its own end by pre- venting larger consignments of articles of taste, from the anticipated trouble and extortion. 234- CUSTOMS OBSTRUCTIONS. A German in Canton made a very good business by speculating in this propensity in the custom-house. He made shipments in several vessels of Canton curiosities, which were valued for duty by the con- signee at about ten per cent, above the cost price. The officials declared the value to be underrated, and accordingly seized them on paying the price at which they were valued for the duty. Succeeding ship- ments arrived, and were bought in and paid for at a handsome profit to the consigner, who, as long as the thing lasted, was well satisfied to make his remittance in goods at ten per cent, profit instead of bills, which would have cost him five per cent, for the premium. The custom-house has in this way been frequently victimised by its arbitrary valuations, and this acts as a protection to traders ; but to private individuals, who are vnlling to pay any price for curiosities col- lected abroad, or for the presents of friends, it is par- ticularly vexatious and unjust. Thronged, and bustling, and noisy as are the streets in London, they cannot compare in these respects with the streets of the large Chinese cities, where there is a perpetual mob, and an incessant jostling and squeezing from morning till night. Numerous professions, occupations, and amusements go on in the Chinese streets that in Europe would be confined to the interior of the houses and theatres. All the shop fronts are open to the streets, and with the wares STREETS IN CANTON. 235 exposed, without the protection of glass windows, but under the vigilant eye of the shopman. The streets are narrow, and the eaves of the houses nearly meet overhead, so that they have somewhat the appearance of an oriental bazaar. The different streets are devoted to particular trades, which greatly facilitates business, and renders it easy to procure the best articles at the fairest price. It resembles a market in this respect, and affords the same opportunities of comparing or selecting what goods may be required. Among any other people but the Chinese, such a system would stimulate and improve, from the incitements to emulation and the opportunity of comparison ; but everything among them, from a shoe to a coffin, has its prescribed patterns, on which no enterprising genius must dare innovate either in pattern or material. It is amusing to wander through these various communities to compare their wares, and to remark the different shades of character and manner pro- duced by different occupations, and which are the more easily noticed from their being so distinctly separated. The streets inhabited by silkmercers, porcelain-dealers, and booksellers, are brilliant with gaily-painted sign-boards, with huge letters in gold and colours, declaring the superiority of each esta- blishment, or indulging in some quaint conceit or apposite quotation to attract custom. Smiths of 236 CITADEL OF CANTON. various kinds inhabit streets that are dingy as their trades ; and scarcely less so are the thoroughfares where carpenters and coffin-makers ply a lucrative trade, keeping on hand a stock of coffins of all sizes, which are cheapened and haggled for just as eagerly as the gold-embroidered caps and shoes in the next street. The gates of the city of Canton are still closed against foreigners, notwithstanding the express stipu- lation in the treaty that this privilege should be con- ceded. The mandarins pretend that they cannot control the mob, which would be outrageous at such an unheard-of intrusion on the part of those whom they have been taught to look upon with hatred and contempt. A Chinese mandarin can lie with a grace that quite surpasses the clumsy prevarications of European diplomatists ; and in this instance it is probable that fear of the mob is only an alleged excuse, the real objection being that such a concession would lower their own importance in a place where for so many years they have haughtily tyrannised over the foreign community. The mandarins still give out that the foreigners trade in and inhabit the country on sufferance ; and if it were generally known that they now claim as a right those privileges they formerly earned at the cost of so much humiliation, a very different estimate of the power of foreign nations would be circulated CITADEL OF CANTON. 237 through the country by the innumerable travellers and traders who are constantly passing to and fro to the interior of the country. The other ports have only a local influence, and the presence of foreigners has only a local effect ; but Canton, with its vast interior trade, and its con- stant communication with the provinces by the Grand Canal, is able to sustain throughout the empire the depreciatory estimate of foreigners which is there established. For this reason, also, it is a great pity that the severe punishment which fell on the northern cities had not fallen to the lot of Canton. It was spared by a mistaken policy ; and the blunder has been made the most of to keep a considerable portion of the people in a state of ignorance, which leads them to despise and hate instead of fearing and re- specting us. The mandarins should be compelled to perform the provisions of the treaty, or give an equivalent. The occupation of Quilon in Formosa, with its abundant coal-fields, would answer our purpose better than the concession of a right which would now lead to no practical good ; while to the mandarins the cession of so distant and unimportant a spot would be in- finitely less galling than to relinquish a point they have so long avoided. Something is due, also, to Englishmen as a repara- tion for the insults they have endured since the con- 238 CITADEL OF CANTON. elusion of the treaty. Several have been stoned and beaten ; and on one occasion two young Englishmen were murdered in open day, in a thickly-populated village close to the city. It would be folly to go to war with the Chinese for this, or for any other cause, as reparation is always within our reach. From all accounts Canton is similar to that of the other large cities to which we have access a mere walled citadel, containing the public buildings, bar- racks, and the residences of the principal mandarins. European merchants could have no occasion to enter the city, except to vindicate a right, and which our " nation boutiquiere " might forego in favour of some solid advantage. Quilon or Chusan, one or both, ought to be ours. Will our politicians or diplomatists ever appreciate the value of either ? TTJEKISH OPIUM. 239 CHAPTER XXII. CHUSAN. TURKISH OPIUM ALL ABACK CRICKET UNDER DIFFICULTIES BAT OF CHIN-CHOO CHUSAN ARCHIPELAGO SCENERY OF CHUSAN SOIL AND FARMING PRODUCTIONS LAND AND RENTS TAXES POPULATION TING-HAE EXCURSIONS LUXURIOUS SPORTING MAKING ONESELF AT HOME. Ox the 28th April I sailed from Hong Kong, for Chusan, in a smart little brig employed in the opium trade between Bombay and Hong Kong, but now despatched up the coast with a special cargo for the depot ships. This vessel had recently returned from Suez, where it had been sent to ascertain if Turkish or Egyptian opium could be obtained of good quality in sufficient quantity, and at prices to enable it to compete with the opium of the Indian monopoly. The speculation, I believe, was not found to answer, or it might have made the directors tremble for the large revenues derived from the cultivation of this drug. We sailed with a fair wind and smooth sea ; every- thing promising a favourable voyage. We were soon 240 MISHAPS ON SHIPBOARD. past Pedro Branca, and were gliding rapidly along with our royals set and studding-sails above and aloft on both sides, when, without a moment's warn- ing, we were taken aback by a tremendous squall from the north-east. The ship reeled like a drunken man. The gurgling of the dead-water under the stern could be distinctly heard, as we were pressed down- wards and backwards into it ; for a moment the only question seemed to be whether our masts would go by the board or the ship go bodily down, when, pro- videntially, there was a momentary lull, and the ship righted ; the helm was put down and wearing round, we scudded away before the gale at the rate of twelve knots, with the studding-sail, booms, and light gear smashing and crashing in all directions, till the main- mast and yards were covered with a complete wreck of broken booms, and canvass hanging in ribbons. Besides the light gear, we lost the main course, fore- top sail, top-gallant and royal yards ; the commence- ment of a series of mishaps, which, before we reached Chusan, scarcely left us a sound stick in the ship, and not a single anchor to bring up with. The squall turned into a north-east gale, blowing right in- our teeth, at which we hammered incessantly for three days, our little vessel pitching and driving like a porpoise head first into the sea, and taking water right over her from stem and stern. She was a clipper though, and partly over, partly under water she BAY OF CHIN CHOO. 241 worked steadily to windward in spite of wind and sea. On the seventh day we nearly got ashore at Quemoy in a thick mist, shaving it so narrowly, that we were obliged to bear up, and had no choice but to go to leeward or run into the bay of Amoy. As the weather still looked dirty, the skipper chose the latter course, and running in through the seven islands, our prison isle, Koo Lung Soo, was once more in sight I soon jumped on board one of the passing fishermen's boats, and in an hour was scrambling my way over the well-known path to our worthy and hospitable Consul's house, where I received a hearty welcome. I saw but little change in the island, except that the race-course and parade ground were ploughed up and planted with rice. In my old house I found a family of Chinese, who were refitting it with rockeries, grottoes, dwarf-trees, and all sorts of fresco- paintings and gingerbread work, which I fear in my time had been allowed to go sadly to decay. The English residents are unmolested ; but very few Chinese have returned to reside in the island, fearful of doing so while any of the dreaded Fanquis con- tinued to be its denizens. After a refit we got under way from Amoy, and on the following day reached the spacious Bay of Chin Choo, up which we ran several miles, and came to anchor alongside the opium depot ships. 24-2 CRICKET UNDER DIFFICULTIES. The skippers were on shore playing at cricket when we joined them not quite in the style seen at Lord's, but nevertheless with sufficient vigour to serve for exercise. The bowling-ground was manufactured of chunam ; and the Lascars, who acted as " field/' treated the ball as if it were a hot potato, never at- tempting to stop it, but running respectfully behind it till it had done rolling, when it was reverentially picked up and returned to the bowler. We remained in the Bay two or three days, which I spent in walking about the country with my gun, in company with one of the skippers. We did not shoot much, but we saw something of the country and of the people, who were, as I have invariably found them in the north, exceedingly civil, not treat- ing us at all as if we were " outer barbarians and' foreign devils." I got sight also of the vast bridge with a hundred and eighty arches, and which is one of the wonders of China. I was to have gone to see it next day, when the skipper, instigated, I believe, by the devil, took it into his head that we were going to have fine weather and a fair wind. When, however, we got outside, we found the same old gale, which battered us about most furiously. As I lay rolling about, wet, bruised, and miserable enough, I had intense satisfaction in hearing the daily account of casualties, of sails lost, and spars sprung, so that by the end of the gale we CHUSAN ARCHIPELAGO. 243 had carried away nearly a complete suit of sails, and sprung another top-mast and top-gallant yard. Our voyage continued much the same to the end. Once we got into the Chusan Archipelago, and anchored inside the group of the Quecan Islands, but were driven out again with the loss of our best bower anchor, eighty fathoms of chain, and our third top- gallant yard. It took another week to recover the ground thus lost, and we at last got safely in among the intricate channels of the Archipelago. We ran ashore at the Buffalo's Nose, off Kele Point, and at a variety of other places ; but the bottom was soft, and we rested peaceably in the mud till the tide rose. At last, when we had only one anchor left, we managed to lose that in trying to bring up near a narrow strait, known by the cacophonous title of " Hell's Gate," where there is a tide of ten knots, rushing like a sluice. Through this we went at racing pace into the harbour of Chusan, where the skipper picked out a tolerably soft-looking place, and we brought up and finished our voyage by running quietly aground. There are few islands in the world more picturesque and containing more varied features in a compara- tively small space than Chusan. The mountains are bold, abrupt, and lofty, and the valleys rich, well watered, and highly cultivated, and with abundance of wood on the hill sides, and fine trees sheltering the M 2 244 CHUSAN SOIL AND FARMING. hamlets and farms in the valleys. The views from the mountain-tops are very beautiful, and almost boundless in their extent, stretching over hill and valley, the hundred isles of the surrounding archi- pelago, and the more distant wooded mountains of the mainland. Numerous villages and a comfortable, cheerful-looking peasantry attest the excellence of the soil, which amply repays their labour, and the lightness of the foreign yoke, which, for a time, pro- tects, without coercing them or meddling in their patriarchal mode of government. The soil appears rarely to be allowed to lie fallow : it is planted in the spring with rice, which is cut in October. A crop of clover is then got off the land before the time of planting in the following spring : much of this, however, is ploughed into the soil and serves as manure. Successive crops are taken in thi s way, occasionally resting the soil by a change of crop to millet, buckwheat, or sweet potatoes. The farming implements consist of little else but a plough and a hoe of the roughest description, which are in constant requisition, and the land is ploughed and broken over and over again till it is completely pul- verised. A great deal of manure is used, and it is collected and economised with the greatest care, and generally applied in the liquid form. In the cultivation of rice, irrigation is indispensable, and a variety of ingenious instruments are used for PRODUCTIONS. 245 raising water to different levels. Every field, too, must, in consequence, be levelled, which at the same time economises space and manure, and keeps an even temperature throughout. For the purposes of irrigation, canals are led through all the valleys to supply water, forming at the same time an excellent highway for the conveyance of crops, manure, &c., and making the people independent, to a great extent, of the naiTow paved footways which intersect the island in all directions, and are the only roads. The hills, or rather mountains, are numerous, rising abruptly out of the valleys to a considerable height ; the lower part covered with firs and other trees for fuel, and the upper part rocky and covered with coarse grass, where one would wish to see good flocks of moun- tain sheep, and where they would thrive admirably. The productions of the islands are principally rice, vegetables, and tea the latter of a coarse description, and generally seen in scattered bushes, or as hedges to the fields. There is, nevertheless, an annual export of it to the amount of about thirty thousand dollars, which, with the exception of salt and dried fish, was the only export from the island previously to our taking possession of it. Since then it has become quite an entrepot for the surrounding islands, and does an extensive trade with Ningpo to supply the wants of Europeans and also for export Formerly there was scarcely anything exported or 246 LAND AND RENTS. imported, and little or no capital or trade of any kind. The inhabitants of the island were nearly all farmers and peasants, who supplied the whole of their wants from their own land. Their food, the cotton of which their garments are made, the sheep-skins for their winter coats, were all home produce ; and the fur- niture, usually constructed by their own hands, was manufactured from the useful clumps of bamboos sheltering the cottage. The towns supported themselves by supplying the numerous junks constantly passing, and in dealing for salt fish and similar articles with the numerous fishing-boats that resort to this neighbourhood in the summer, at which season it is estimated that there are not less than 35,000, averaging five persons in each ; so that the floating population depending on this and the neighbouring islands for supplies may be estimated at 175,000. A large proportion of these boats come from the provinces of Chekiang, Keaing-Soo, and even Fokien, returning to their homes in the winter. Land in Chusan is the property of a few large pro- prietors, said to be not more than thirty or forty ; they receive their rent in kind from the tenants the general practice being for the latter to give one-half the rice and oil produced on the property ; the other half and any other crop they can raise are the sole property of the tenant. TAXES POPULATION. 247 The only tax the Chinese farmer pays is on his land, which is tariffed according to its situation and fertility : that near the sea, or on mountain slopes, pays a comparative trifle, whilst round the cities and in the inland valleys it pays the highest rate. The average tax is one catty of rice, and from ten to twenty cash for every acre. Nothing whatever has been demanded by the English, who, except in oc- cupying two points in the island, and compelling a certain regard to cleanliness in Ting-hae and order in the bazaars, have not interfered in the slightest degree in the internal arrangements ; leaving the govern- ment to the care of the authorities who were found at our coming, and who, as is the case throughout the country parts of China, observed a system of the most simple patriarchal government. An imperial man- darin once came over from Ningpo to demand pay- ment of the taxes, but he was politely showed out of the island. It is supposed, however, that most of the inhabitants have continued to remit the amount of their taxes to Ningpo, fearful that a day of reckoning may arrive when the island is evacuated by the bar- barians. The population of Chusan is variously stated at from 200,000 to 350,000. The city of Ting-hae alone is variously estimated at from 25,000 to 35,000; and on the opposite side of the island the town of Tatseen is said to be equally populous. The other large towns 248 TING-HAE. are Sin-king and Sincamoon, which are entirely sup- ported by the intercourse of junks and fishing-boats. There is no means of obtaining a correct census, as no account of the population is taken ; and the revenue, being principally derived from the land and the customs, affords no index. In the town, where a poll- tax is paid, an approximation might be arrived at, but from the chicanery of every individual, from the person taxed up to the principal revenue officer, even this would afford only an approximate estimate. The population in this part of China does not appear to me to be nearly so dense as in Fokien, where, at least on the sea-board, the country is almost covered with large towns and villages. It may be also inferred from the fact, that the population here subsist almost entirely by agriculture, while, in Fokien, there are vast numbers who live by com- merce in addition to those supported by the soil. Ting-hae is a walled city, and, though the principal place in Chusan, has no manufactures or trade of its own. It is mainly supported by the number of junks that rendezvous at its harbour for mutual protection before venturing through the Archipelago ; a custom not unlike that of the Orientals, who, before crossing the desert, unite in forming caravans sufficiently strong in numbers to scare away the Bedouins or other land pirates. It might be made a place of the utmost importance to any European power, as it is TING-HAE. 249 the key of the coasting commerce of China, cutting off all communication between the important cities of the north, and the Yang-tse-kiang, with the south. It is within twenty miles of the mouth of the Tse- kee, an important river, on which Ningpo is placed, and about one hundred from the mouth of the Yang- tse-kiang, the great river highway of China, by which is commanded all the commerce of Shang-hae, Soo- Choo-Foo, Nankin, and a hundred other cities, which are supplied by this route. Every junk or ship going north or south passes within sight of the island ; and it would be perfectly easy from this point at any time to put a stop to the coasting trade of China, and cause sufficient inconvenience to the Chinese govern- ment to bring it to its senses without going to war, whenever there might be a difference of opinion. On the other hand, it could be easily defended either by sea or land, and abundance of supplies might be raised in the island for its subsistence and to supply vessels of all kinds advantages that Hong Kong can never possess. It is admirably adapted as an entrep6t for English goods for the markets of Ningpo and Shang-hae where merchants J afe often compelled to dispose of their goods at great sacrifice, because they cannot land them without paying a heavy duty, and they cannot detain their vessels for an improvement in the market except by incurring a heavy expense for demurrage. M 3 250 EXCURSIONS. The religion of the inhabitants is principally Bhuddism, and there is a fine large temple at Ting- hae, besides many smaller ones. There are a few Roman Catholics, with a chapel and school ; the latter managed by a Chinaman who had spent some years in Paris, and who spoke French with great fluency. I had frequent opportunities while at Chusan to make excursions through the surrounding islands and to the mainland, of which I frequently availed myself, though not to the extent I could wish ; for, enervated as I was by "fever and by so long sojourn at Koo Lung Soo, I had lost much of my natural energy and enterprise, and could not enter into such excursions with the spirit I otherwise should have done. One of uiy greatest pleasures was sailing through the multitude of verdant islands which lay scattered in every direction, and which, being well wooded and rich with game, presented abundant attractions. This Archipelago during the autumn and winter may be looked upon as a sort of sportsman's para- dise. Game exists in such infinite variety that it will not permit the sportsman to become satiated. The bays and rivers abound with wild swans, wild geese, ducks, widgeons, and teal. The wild geese are declared by epicures to be unequalled in any part of the world, and some of the wild ducks can only be surpassed by their canvas-back congener of the Dela- LUXURIOUS SPORTING. 251 ware. On shore, snipe, quail, partridges, hares, wood- cocks, pheasants, rail, bittern, and deer, abound ; the solitary snipe, the woodcock, and the pheasant, sur- passing the European varieties in size and richness of plumage. In the winter, excursions were made by some of the keener sportsmen to a very celebrated locality, yclept ' ' Nimrod's Soun d." A covered boat, about seventy feet long, was fitted up with draperies and hangings, and divided^into a sleeping apartment and sitting-room, the latter furnished with arm-chairs, tables, stove, and all the appurtenances of a bachelor's snuggery. A second boat was fitted up to accommodate the ser- vants, and as a kitchen, following astern, except at meal-times, when it was ranged alongside, and a small hatchway being opened, the hot dishes were handed out of the kitchen into the dining-room. The meal done, the hatch was closed, the boat dropped astern into its place, leaving the sportsmen to enjoy their cigars as exclusively as if in a London coffee-room, the only attendant remaining being a bearded, turbaned Bengalee, who stood like a statue at the end of the room, and who moved noiselessly about the performance of his duties to replenish the fires or supply the sahib's wants. There is no place, except perhaps in India, where excursions can be made so luxuriously and with such comfort, labour being so cheap that a trifle enables 252 MAKING ONESELF AT HOME. the sportsman to surround himself in the field with all the luxuries he would have at home. A companion of mine and an excellent shot, whom I frequently accompanied, was remarkable for the systematic way in which he went to work. Besides palanquins, he would have several attendants carrying a complete breakfast service, several changes of cloth- ing, towels, sponges, and all the apparatus of the bath, and writing materials and books, with which, if ne- cessary, to while away the hot hours of mid-day. Set- ting off before sunrise, he would reach his shooting- ground soon after daylight, and sending on his at- tendants would commence operations. A goodly bag of snipe, teal, a few ducks, wild pigeons, and a quail or two would be made by the time we reached the temple where the servants had established them- selves. Here we would find a portion of the temple carefully swept, good fires burning, water boiling, and all the toilet apparatus, with a bath ready, behind curtains, brought for the purpose. While we bathed and dressed, a recherche* break- fast of game and curry would be prepared by the cooks, and everything served with the same care and propriety as if in regular course, the only variety being the appearance of an aged priest or two to chin-chin the mandarins, and bid them welcome ; at the same time liberally supplying the servants with wood and water. Sometimes such excursions were MAKING OXESELF AT HOME. 253 made to a distance, and would occupy several days, in which case one's mat, pillows, and musquito cur- tains were taken. In the East, where most men sleep on a mat, and with hard pillows, his bed is easily made to accompany him' in his excursions. The first time I was out on a lengthened tour, I was surprised to find that our servants had quartered themselves in one of the largest and finest houses in a village in the midst of a beautiful valley, every inch of which was cultivated with paddy, and which abounded with snipe and wild fowl. I conceived that we were intruding in a most unjustifiable way on a private family ; but my companion assured me that the family would be quite flattered by our having se- lected their mansion for our quarters. I do not know whether this was exactly the case, but, certainly, as far as politeness went, nothing could exceed the at- tention of our host, a venerable-looking old man. We of course only spunged upon him for shelter, and when we left gave a handsome gratuity to his servants which, probably, made us highly popular with them. The only anxiety appeared to be to keep the daughter out of our way rather a difficult task, as all the rooms opened into one central court-yard ; and the young lady, who, in spite of her distorted feet, was really a very fine handsome girl, seemed to have no notion of being, shut up, and at every opportunity gave us a chance of admiring her charms, though 254- MAKING ONESELF AT HOME. generally for a very short time, for as soon as she was perceived, she was summarily caught by the shoulder and pushed out of sight. This leads me to imagine that we should not be quite so odious to the Chinese fair, if they had the opportunity of discovering that we are not quite such devils as we are painted by their cock-eyed brother slaves. CANTONMENT. 255 CHAPTER XXIII. CANTONMENT CHINESE FORTIFICATIONS POPULARITY OF THE RED DEVILS THE BRIGADIER-GENERAL THE CLIMATE OF CHUSAN THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR GARRISON THEATRICALS THE TWO FIGAROS AN ACTOR OF ALL WORK FIGARO IN " AN AWFUL FIX." THE European cantonment was situated close to the harbour, and at a distance of about half a mile from the metropolitan city of Ting-hae, which communi- cated with the sea by a canal. We were 'quartered partly on a strong position called Joss-House Hill, and which had been a sort of citadel, and partly be- hind a large bund or battery, about twelve feet high and thirty feet broad, which stretched along the sea- front for two miles on each side of Joss-House Hill, till it rested against a lofty, steep hill on each flank, and which the Chinese, with commendable sagacity, had fortified. These fortifications, which were strong and calculated to oppose a large force, were so built as to command the roads up the hills on each side, under the impression that the barbarians would inevitably ascend the beaten road to attack 256 CHINESE FORTIFICATIONS. them. The Celestial engineers must have been ter- ribly disgusted to see them, contrary to all reasonable expectation, charging up the hill sides utterly regard- less of road or path, and soon commanding and out- flanking the very flanking batteries, and able to rake the whole of the inside of the bund that had been built at such expense and in so incredibly short a time. Besides these batteries, many of which were con- structed, it was found on the second expedition to the North that many and ingenious devices had been adopted by which the barbarians might be met on equal terms, and which exhibited ^innovations quite inconsistent with the inflexibility of Chinese customs. One of these consisted in fitting up boats with paddle- wheels, which were worked with a crank by men inside, and which, it was conceived, would cope suc- cessfully with our steamers. Guns were found, too, which had been cast in imitation of a gun taken from an English vessel wrecked on the coast. They had elevating screws and tangent scales, but they were cast solid with the gun so as to be completely immove- able, and consequently useless. It would be an endless task, however, to relate all the anecdotes of the mar- tial imbecility of these petticoated warriors, who, at best, would be no match for the kilted female body- guard of the potentate of Dahomey. In Chusan the English appeared to be very popular, ENGLISH POPULARITY. 257 and there did not seem to be any anxiety in the inha- bitants for our departure. The advantages derived from our protection, the justice with which they were treated, and the great improvement in their com- merce rendered them desirous that we should continue to hold the island. It would have been difficult to find a population among whom fewer crimes or mis- demeanours were committed, and the few Chinese watchmen who guarded the city at night had almost sinecure appointments, unless when some fast subaltern undertook to carry off a lantern and staff, an experi- ment not always successful. Officers could ride, walk, or shoot in the remotest part of the island, or of the neighbouring archipelago, without the slightest risk of interruption or insult ; but the Saxon restlessness and energy which prompted such exercises were frequent themes of discussion among the worthy thanes and farmers, who could not conceive why officers, who could be carried about in sedan chairs, do little or nothing, and grow sleek and portly, should be constantly galloping over the rough roads and fields at the risk of their necks, wading through mud and water for a few paltry birds not worth the expense of powder and shot, or sailing boats with a chance of being drowned. They admitted that to ride well, to bring down birds on the wing, and to be able cheerfully to undergo fatigue and ex- posure, were all useful and even wonderful things in 258 THE BRIGADIER-GKNERAL. a soldier ; yet, as war was by no means a desirable state of things, so this spirit, which fits the English- man for it, was rather worthy of reprobation as exhi- biting a restless, dissatisfied, dangerous state of mind, especially to be avoided. They hold, with Caesar, your lean man in abhorrence, and would willingly feed, swaddle, and feather-bed humanity into an alder- manic, plethoric incapacity for any emotion more brisk than sensuality. Your lean, sallow Yankee, with dyspepsia gnawing at his vitals, and ever keeping him lank and irritable, would even be more uncongenial than his sleeker English cousin. They used to regard with untiring wonder, the activity of the Brigadier-General, our excellent commandant, particularly when the keen breezes of winter began to render severe exercise ab- solutely necessary. Then, with the troops, he might be seen on a field-day taking and retaking plantations, charging into villages with the bayonet, skirmishing up the sides of the mountains or crossing the canal, and escalading the city walls. Such running, racing, and jumping, a Chinaman could not conceive, unless under the compulsion of personal terror, and with an enemy in the rear. Their own martial exercises are conducted with a degree of solemn decorum, in strong contrast to our indecent haste and bustle. The mandarins arrive in their chairs and safely CLIMATE OF CHUSAN. 259 ensconce themselves in a convenient building, or, in extreme cases, under the shelter of huge red umbrellas. A few petards are fired, some bad shots are made with the bow, and the cavalry move about in a gingerly manner, and with a creditable economy of their horses' strength. The climate of Chusan reminded me very much of that of North America ; the summer being exceed- ingly hot and the winter bitterly cold. I have seen the (thermometer as high as 98 and as low as 1 ; but the latter gives but an indifferent notion of the intense cold, which is caused by a keen wind with a Siberian edge to it, very similar to a Canadian " vent poudre." It was quite a new and delightful sensation in China to be braced up by the cold, to see the whole country covered with snow, and the canals frozen over. The Chinese, as the winter advanced, added coat to coat, some of sheep-skins and other heavy furs, till they assumed quite portentous dimensions, somewhat resembling polar bears in disguise. The sepoys at first were quite paralysed, but observing the modes used by the English soldier to keep his blood in active circulation, and encouraged by their officers, they imitated them with great pluck ; so that in a short time they did not appear to suffer at all from the cold, and there was no sickness whatever among them. The East India Company, with the praiseworthy care 260 THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR. they always exhibit for their soldiers, had taken care to provide them with plenty of warm clothing. The coast, rivers, and woods, each with their pecu- liar class of game, furnished us with strong induce- ments to take exercise during the day ; and in the evening we collected in the hospitable mess-room of the 98th regiment, where four large fires, double doors, and cloth hangings round the walls did not suffice to prevent us from shivering in our chairs till the jug of mulled port went round and restored a genial warmth to our frames. Much of our time at Chusan was enlivened by the presence of Mons. de Lagrene'e, the French Ambas- sador, with his family and suite, and the officers of the French frigate " Cleopatre," commanded by Admiral Cecille, who we all declared ought to have been an Englishman. It was impossible for men to have fraternised better than we did with our French visitors. We rode, walked, shot, and dined together daily, making excursions to all parts of the island, so that it was with the greatest regret we saw them leave the harbour, after a prolonged stay. Our French friends laughed outright at the idea of our giving up the island, declaring that if we were so silly as to do so they would take it themselves. I believe nego- tiations were attempted with that view. Among our various amusements were amateur theatricals, which we could indulge in with great GARRISON THEATRICALS. 261 satisfaction, owing to the abundant materials for dresses, and the number of buildings suitable for the purpose the two prime objects in the eyes of all genuine amateurs. Our theatre was a large joss- house, which we fitted up very neatly and prettily, so much so as to excite great commendation from our French friends.* From my experience at Koo-Lung-Soo I was elected manager soon after my arrival at Chusan, and, thanks to a nervous, excitable temperament, which prevented me from playing myself, I was able to dis- tribute the different parts without any of the jealousy and opposition which is generally the bane of this species of amusement, and which is usually caused by the manager only selecting such parts and such plays as may best tend to his own personal illustration. On a great occasion we had got up the " Two Figaros " and the " Sentinel " with great care, and as there were some really good actors in our little * It was hired from the priests at a very low rate, and with merely a stipulation that we should not damage the gods more than we could help. They were accordingly removed to the back of the stage, and concealed from the audience by a drop scene, behind which they glowered in the dubious light in a way that might have discomposed the nerves of a superstitious scene- shifter. They would have been invaluable necessaries in a piece of "diablerie," and I was thinking of introducing them into something of the kind when I was removed from Chusan. 1 am not certain whether the priests would have approved of their appearance in such characters. 262 THE TWO FIGAROS. " troupe," we counted on obtaining great e'clat The playbills were printed, tickets sold and paid for, the decorations had all been refurbished, and the scenery retouched. The band had learnt the music, the actors rehearsed their parts till they were quite per- fect, and everything promised a most triumphant exhibition, when the very day before the dress re- hearsal, Figaro the first, who is on the scene during the whole piece, was taken suddenly ill. Hamlet, with the part of Hamlet omitted, would be a trifle compared with the Two Figaros with Figaro the first absent on the sick list Never did green-room present such a collection of blank phy- siognomies, as when the news was first announced. Every available actor was already in the piece, and it was moreover a long part to learn at short notice. What could be done ? Full of enthusiasm for the cause, and undaunted by the recollection that I had never attempted a part in my life, and that I had not nerve enough, I volunteered without hesitation to undertake it Manager and actor in one I had not time to reflect or to become nervous. Carpenters, scene-shifters, painters, and decorators were all to be overlooked, parts were again and again rehearsed, dresses were made, changed, and altered, and advice and informa- tion to be furnished to the nervous and inex- perienced. AN ACTOK OF ALL WORK. 2G3 Up to the last moment I had scarcely a moment even to think of my own part, or to admire the beau- tiful and correct majo dresses in which Chinese silks, satins, and velvets enabled us to dress. The house for the dress rehearsal was crammed from footlights to ceiling with soldiers and their wives, and it was not till the curtain drew up, and I found myself on the stage, that I was dismayed with the rashness of the act which brought me there. The mass of faces seemed to be instinct with eyes, and the murmur of applause as the curtain rose sounded like the roar of waters in which I was vainly struggling as if under the oppressive weight of nightmare. I had something very commonplace to say to a gar- dener, to prepare for the reception of the Countess Alma viva, but while my imagination was all on fire, my memory was clean gone, and I gabbled about everything in the play in the most fluent manner, except what I really ought to have said. I could see the prompter turning rapidly over the leaves of the book to find where I had got to, and I knew that he was prompting me what to say, but I could not collect my attention sufficiently to hear what he said. My brother actors behind the scenes were throwing up their- hands and eyes with dismay as I became more incoherent, and I was on the point of rushing off the scene in a perfect frenzy of nervous excitement. Fortunately the pit was delighted at my fluency, only wondering why the stupid gardener, instead of 264 "AN AWFUL FIX." answering, stood staring with open-mouthed amaze- ment. At last some absurdity of mine, or the ludicrously-bothered look of the unlucky gardener so delighted the discriminating audience that they burst out into three hearty rounds of applause, which gave me a little time to recover my breath and my senses. If Zamiel at that moment had beckoned me through the trap-door, I should have jumped joyfully into his clutches in spite of blue flame or Bengal fire- A melodramatic imp might have had me a cheap bargain, for I would have signed any compact that would have enabled me 1o escape from the infinite eyes which glared at me with a want of individuality absolutely appalling. A sense that there was no escape that I must go on with the task I had under- taken assisted in dispelling some of the panic terror which oppressed me, and I was able to collect my thoughts sufficiently to proceed with my part, though it was with a sickening sense that this was only the dress rehearsal, and that the worst was yet to come. It was fortunate that Chusan was an island, and remote from any place I could conveniently fly to, or I should certainly have been missing, and I should have hailed with delight a good attack of cholera or fever. It was not to be, however, and I had to go through with my task to the end, nerved by despe- ration, and with the conviction strong upon me that I should never again be found contending for histrionic honours. HELL'S GATE. 265 CHAPTER XXIV. NINGPO AND SIEN-TUNG. HELL'S GATE TCHING-HAE THE TSE-KEE INLAND NAVIGA- TION ICE-HOUSES NINGPO THE CONSULATE THE CITY- THE STREETS AND WALLS THE GREEN-TEA TRADE CHUSAN, AN ENGLISH SETTLEMENT TRADE OF NINGPO ME. THOM, THE CONSUL. ONE of the earliest excursions I made was to Ningpo, at a distance of about forty miles from Chusan. Our way lay through a passage called Hell's Gate, where a tide of from eight to ten knots rushes through the narrow channel between the islands. The opium clippers and Chinese boats manage to get through at almost all times of the tide, by taking advantage of the eddies close to the shore, not much caring if they do run aground, as the bottom is soft mud, off which they are sure to float on the next tide. A delightful voyage, as through a lake, brought us in four hours to the mouth of the Tse-kee river. Bold promontories, topped with fortifications, here close in the river, and protect the N 266 TCHING-HAE. important town of Tching-hae, or rather affect to protect it, for in the war they only served as a trap for the unfortunate wretches, who, hemmed in on all sides and not comprehending that on throwing down their arms they would be allowed quarter, kept up a desultory fire, which was answered by withering vol- leys, causing the massacre of thousands. Immense crowds perished by drowning, in attempting to swim across the river. Mr. Thorn, our late excellent consul at Ningpo, was on the spot, and endeavoured to explain to the frantic crowd, who were driven into a tongue of land, where they were not only open to the fire of the troops and artillery, but also to the squadron, that on throwing down their arms they would be allowed quarter. As fast as some of them did so, other unfortunate wretches, actuated by terror or despair, would fire their matchlocks, drawing down on them the renewed fire of the troops. It was long, and only by the extraordinary exertions of Mr. Thorn and some of the officers, that this frightful massacre at length ceased. Tching-hae, with its foreground of abrupt promon- tories, fortifications, and the numerous shipping in the waters, and a background of the river, with undulating woods and cultivated hills sloping to the shore, would form a fine subject for the painter. The whole, how- ever, of this wonderful country abounds with the picturesque, and will some day reward the pains of a THE TSE-KEE. 267 zealous artist by the celebrity the beauty and ori- ginality of his subjects must obtain for him. None of the published works that I have seen do justice to the beauty and grandeur of the scenery; few even have caught its peculiar and romantic character ; while many are so absurdly unlike China, that one can scarcely believe that the artists have ever taken the trouble to extend their researches and their travels as far as the junk at Blackwall, or the Chinese Exhibition at Hyde Park Corner, where, at any rate, some inkling might have been obtained of the cos- tumes, houses, and vessels. The Tse-kee, a noble stream, runs through a very beautiful tract of country cultivated in the most careful manner, and abounding in rich crops, among which paddy is by far the most conspicuous ; its rich, luxuriant green pervading the whole landscape. Nu- merous villages and farms dot the surface of the country, giving a park- like air to the green expanse, surrounded as they are by large trees and clumps of the elegant bamboo. Numbers of canals intersect the farms in every direction, furnishing abundance of water for irrigation, and offering the most convenient high road to the farmer, who thus is enabled, to carry his produce to market, and return with manure and other bulky articles, with a less expenditure of capital and labour than would produce the same results in any other way : there are no horses to be fed, no N2 268 ICE-HOUSES. expensive waggons to be provided, which constantly require repair. One or two boats, built principally of wood grown in the neighbourhood, the masts and sails of bamboo, home grown and manufactured, is all that is required for transport. These boats, gliding through the rich valleys, or lying idle beside a woody village, their bright yellow masts and sails flapping in the breeze, add greatly to the picturesqueness and originality of the scenery. The bridges, too, often elegantly pro- portioned, and with an extraordinarily lofty pitch, re- minding one of some of the Moorish structures in Andalucia, are a pleasing feature in the landscape. A fine breeze carried us gallantly up the stream, past many a deeply laden junk, slowly curtsying its way through the rippling waves ; our boatmen at the same time shouting and chattering to the crews of the vessels and boats which we constantly met. What struck us more particularly than anything else were the great number and size of the ice-houses, which were built at short intervals along the bank of the river. Hot as it is in summer, the cold is very intense in winter, owing to the biting north-east wind, which comes straight down from Kamstchatka without touching anywhere in the way to take the edge off. In the winter, ice is collected in very great quantities, so that it can be sold in the summer for a mere trifle. It is used exclusively for preserving fish, every fishing- NINGPO THE CONSULATE. 269 boat going out with a supply on board. Cold fruit and drinks, so refreshing to the European, are un- known luxuries to the Chinaman, who, throughout the summer, sticks to his warm tea and equally warm tsam-sin. At Chusan we got over several junk-loads of ice from Ningpo, which, with all the increased expenses, stood us, I think, in something less than a halfpenny a pound . As we approached Ningpo the breadth of the river greatly increased, and divided into three branches, up one of which, opposite to the city, we took our course, through a multitude of vessels ; and just as the sun set anchored opposite the English Consulate, where we were welcomed by Mr. Thorn, the celebrated Chinese scholar, who had just been appointed Consul. The consulate itself, which Mr. Thorn assured me was not a remarkable specimen of a mandarin's house, was of immense extent, covering, I should think, several acres of ground, and with room enough to accommodate two or three regiments. There seemed to be several establishments one within another, with separate court-yards, gardens, and offices. These, probably, were for the different branches of the family, for, though the married sons frequently reside with their parents, it is good policy to allow them some place of their own, even beneath the paternal roof an arrangement that such an establishment as this would easily permit of. 270 CITY OF NINGPO. Some of the rooms were handsomely proportioned, and with frescoes that were not wanting in a certain degree of grace. In most of the rooms also were richly-varnished tablets, emblazoned with huge gilded letters, expressing some moral precepts, and which in the Chinese character are highly ornamental as well as instructive. I have seen something of the same kind at Schaffhausen and other German towns. Some of our own old establishments at home have quaint mottoes and apophthegms, a description of ornamental device it would be pleasant to see more frequently in vogue. The elegant and intricate designs with which the walls of the Alhambra are imprinted are formed almost entirely from precepts from the Koran. Ningpo was by far the finest city I saw in China. The streets were comparatively broad, clean, and well paved ; the houses large and handsome, with numbers of good shops and warehouses. The people were exceedingly civil and good-natured, and seemed a more respectable, orderly, citizen-like community than the noisy, crowded populations of Amoy and Canton. The quarter of the city burnt down during the war had been rebuilt on a far superior scale to the old part of the city, the streets much broader and ex- ceedingly well paved, the shops larger, and the whole quarter more European in appearance than anything in China. The citizens of Ningpo have certainly in CITY OF NIXGPO. 271 this instance ventured to improve on the model left them by their forefathers. As in most Chinese cities, there are many curious temples and monuments. The one that struck me most was a lofty pagoda, said to have been built in the twelfth century, and now inhabited by immense colonies of mecias, a pleasant, merry, mischievous chatter-box tribe, a sort of cross between a jay and a starling, and which abound throughout the country, enlivening every village clump of trees with their love-making, quarrelling, and arguments, all of which are carried on at the highest pitch of their voice, and for the benefit of the whole public. The temples are- much the same in their appoint- ments, style, ornaments, and idols as in all other parts of China, the only variety being in size or rich- ness and profusion of ornament. In Ningpo the most remarkable is the Fokien Temple, erected by a subscription of the Fokien merchants, great numbers of whom trade to this port, and which in gorgeousness of idols, gilding, fresco paintings, and draperies, far surpassed anything I had previously seen. The whole of the city of Ningpo is enclosed within walls, and is said to contain 500,000 inhabitants : this, however, I imagine is a mere matter of conjec- ture. The views from the ramparts, or, better still, from the top of the old pagoda, are very splendid, 272 CITY OF NINGPO. extending for an immense distance over the city and environs. The city itself covers a considerable space, a great deal of which is taken up by gardens, which must add greatly to its salubrity, and it is, I believe, consi- dered one of the healthiest places on the coast of China. The gardens, besides producing a stock of fruit and flowers, have generally some half-dozen coffins ranged out in the cold open air, waiting till the tenants shall have mouldered into dust, when a small earthen jar is large enough to contain the de'bris, and the coffin is converted into fuel. In this way a family is able to pack away whole generations of ancestors at far less cost and with less lumber than some of our own nobility require for the family pictures, and with much less doubt regarding the authenticity. There is a pleasant walk of six or seven miles round the ramparts, which afford beautiful views of the sur- rounding country, which has the appearance of a large garden, through which the river winds its way, and numberless canals, like silver threads, intersect it in every direction. Ningpo is the capital of the green-tea district, and is at a distance of nearly a hundred miles from the most considerable tract where it is produced : much, however, is grown in the immediate vicinity, though not of the finest quality. On the conclusion of the GREEN-TEA TRADE. 273 treaty, it was expected that there would at once have been a large demand at Ningpo for this article, leave to trade to these ports direct having been one of the stipulations most earnestly contended for ; there has, however, been no trade whatever, and, in this instance, the backwardness is attributable to the English mer- chants. The Chinese dealers, as soon as the treaty was concluded, purchased a large store, and prepared a considerable quantity of tea for the expected de- mand. To their great surprise, the English, after sticking out so resolutely for the opening of these ports, and after sending out an exceedingly expensive con- sular establishment, did not send a ship or a single trader, and they were ultimately obliged to repack their teas and send them off by the old route to the Canton markets, after having suffered a very heavy loss and great inconvenience by the delay. Finding their first speculation turn out so ill, the Ningpo mer- chants have wisely determined to wait till there is a certain demand before they again bring their produce to a new market This, on the other hand, does not suit the English merchant, who, immediately on arriving, expects a sale for his goods to enable him to purchase, and finding neither merchants nor mer- chandise, cannot afford to wait, owing to the heavy expense accumulating for wages, freight, &c. There is also much uncertainty regarding the sale of English goods, the market being entirely new ; N3 274 ADVANTAGES OF CHUSAN unless, too, the buyer is accompanied by a tea-taster, he is uncertain of the quality of tea which he sees for the first time, and which, though probably far better, does not resemble the garbled stuff offered in the Canton market. This will continue till there are some merchants of capital permanently settled at Ningpo, who can afford to make their bargains in anticipation of the arrival of a cargo, and who would be able to form connections with the native mer- chants founded on mutual confidence and esteem. "When this desirable consummation will take place it is hard to say. At the time that I was at Ningpo, a few American missionaries were, with the exception of the consular establishment, the only foreigners : two or three ships had called and made a short stay, but without effecting any trade. Far different might have been the case if we could have retained Chusan. In that healthy and beautiful island numbers of Europeans would have gladly settled, and who, by the aid of small vessels, with Lascar crews, would, at the cheapest and best rate, have collected the produce of the neighbouring country, Chusan being actually nearer the tea district than Ningpo itself. Here, too, the large European ships, finding a safe and easy port, would bring their cargoes, which might be landed and left till a fair demand enabled the merchants to distribute it profitably from their depot. Trade would then be AS AN ENGLISH SETTLEMENT. 275 in its right channel, and would be rapidly developed : as it is, we expect, in China, trade to act on prin- ciples that would effectually destroy it at home. Compel, for instance, all Indian and American ships to remain hi the Thames and the Mersey till their cargo is sold, remove all the bonded stores, all facili- ties, all information, and then see what will become of the trade, although based on known mutual inte- rests, and with competent brokers to settle all ques- tions regarding quality. It may be truly said that it is the business of the Chinese to foster the trade of their own ports, but they say, and are stupid enough to believe, that they do not want us or our trade. So "as the mountain will not go to Mahomet, Ma- homet must go to the mountain ;" and as the Chinese will not, and could hardly be expected to grant us the, necessary facilities, we should have provided them for ourselves. Chusan would have made us independent on that score ; it would have afforded us a splendid head-quarters for our trade, and the most command- ing position on the coast of China. It is what Gibraltar is to the Mediterranean, or Aden to the Bed Sea ; but instead we have got Hong Kong, and the Chinese have got their revenge ! Oh, John Bull ! John Bull ! after beating the Chinaman into civility, after performing feats of seamanship, of stratagem, and daring the world might wonder at, you are bam- boozled, outwitted, fooled by the half-witted China- 276 TRADE OF NIKGPO. man you despised. He gave you carte-blanche, and, with a legerdemain worthy of Katterfelto, left you Hong Kong between your clumsy paws. He has sold you a bargain dear, very dear, at 25,000,000 dollars . l Count, John, the expenditure in China in war and peace since 1837, and find what balance of the in- demnity remains and there is still Hong Kong ! The trade at Ningpo is principally coastwise with Fokien for grass-cloth, paper, sugar, &c. ; with Chapoo for Japanese wares, with Shang-hae for English goods, and with Chusan for opium. The exports are green tea, fine porcelain, em- broidered silks and satins, inlaid furniture, and an abundance of minor manufactured articles, orna- ments, jewellery, &c. The furniture shops of Ningpo are well worth a visit: they are of great size, and contain immense quantities of all kinds of Chinese furniture, tables, chairs, beds, bedsteads, &c., many of which are perfect wonders of carving and inlaying. The bedsteads of the best description are great cu- riosities, and are generally beautifully carved, painted, and inlaid. Besides a sleeping-place, they usually contain a chest of drawers, a table, a couple of chairs, and various other conveniences, all beneath the same canopy, and enclosed within the curtains. Mr. Thorn, the Consul, by his attention and kind- ness, made our stay in Ningpo very agreeable. He MB. THOM THE CONSUL. 277 gave us, too, much information regarding the country people, which he was, perhaps, better capable of doing than any other Englishman in China both from his long residence in the country, and from his varied acquirements in languages. Besides several European languages, he could speak the Mandarin and the common dialect of the Chinese, and was also a proficient in the Mantchou Tartar. He had married a Chinese lady, it was whispered rather for the sake of the language, and for the con- nexion it gave him with the people, into the philo- sophy of whose ways he was desirous of throwing / light. After many years of deep study and anxious research he had at last become weary with his task, and declared their literature to be barren, stale, and unprofitable then: notions of science as bigoted as they were crude and imperfect, and their religion and philosophy a chaotic darkness without one ray of light. 278 PARTY TO TIEN-TUNG. CHAPTER XXV. PARTY TO TIEN-TUNG THE CANAL-BOAT JOURNEY IN A CHAIR THE MONASTERY THE TEMPLES PUNCH AGAIN MIDNIGHT MASS BHUDDIST CEREMONIALS AND IDOLATRY THE LAKES A REBELLION THE TARTARS CAUGHT AT NLNGPO. IN company with the doctor of the Consulate, myself and my companion, we set out to visit the monastery of Tien-tung, a Bhuddist shrine of great note throughout the empire. The heat was so intense that we commenced our journey in the evening. Entering a large basin from the Tse-kee river, we found ourselves, in company with a great number of canal boats, waiting for the tide to rise sufficiently high for the opening of the locks. Lighting our cigars, we landed and fraternised with the boatmen, who were civil and obliging, as I have invariably found them in the north a remarkable contrast in this respect to the people in the neigh- bourhood of Canton. The gates were shortly opened, and we passed on, and soon found ourselves rapidly threading our way through the boats on a fine large THE CANAL-BOAT. 279 canal, from which innumerable smaller ones branched off to different farms and villages. Gradually our fleet thinned off, as these side canals took one or more boats each till we had the large canal almost to our- selves, and all the mosquitoes who attacked us in myriads. We were driven by these pests to the top of the cabin, where, with the aid of our cigars, and the current of air produced by the movement of the boat, we were comparatively free from them. It was a lovely moonlight night, and as we glided rapidly and silently on we forgot almost that it was the time of rest, and from midnight till day-dawn we smoked and sung all the English, Spanish, and Italian songs we had picked up at home or abroad, to the infinite wonder, no doubt, of the dwellers on the banks of the stream, whose exclamations we could frequently hear. Their own music, sung in the most hideously shrieking falsetto, must have unfitted their ear to appreciate European strains, even if sung by the most accom- plished musician ; so that I do not flatter myself that their remarks were expressive of admiration, but rather of wonderment at the unwonted sounds, ascending in the night from the familiar stream. Soon after daylight we arrived at the termination of the canal, at a large village at the foot of a range of steep hills : there we found the chairs and bearers awaiting us, whom we had sent on from Ningpo the day before ; and, after getting a cup of tea at a shop 280 JOURNEY IN A CHAIR. where a number of Coolies were breakfasting, we proceeded on our chairs at the rate of at least four miles an hour to the hills, which were ascended by a steep path, up which we walked, and on reaching the summit had beautiful views each side of the range. Here we found a small chapel, under the shade of which, and fanned by the cool breeze, we halted, and, whilst waiting for our guides, enjoyed a delicious hour's sleep, as some compensation for the loss of our night's rest We passed on the road numbers of Coolies carrying immense weights of tea in bags made of strips of bamboo, and carried across the shoulder on a bamboo pole. A journey of about three hours through a wooded and very picturesque country brought us in sight of a fine avenue of pine trees, of venerable age, through which our road lay to the monastery, which is built in the lap of the hills, and surrounded by woods of beech, pine and bamboo, abounding with game. Tanks, running streams, and waterfalls diver- sify the scene, and render this a charming spot, more especially when the thermometer is at 96, which it was at this time at Ningpo and Chusan. We went with our servants and baggage to the house of the sub-prior, where we were hospitably received ; but finding the quarter hot, and not scru- pulously clean, we look possession of the upper temple, a building about sixty feet high, and two THE MONASTERY. 281 hundred and fifty feet in length, where we had ample room, and no lack of fresh air. After breakfast and a delicious bath in a deep pool under a waterfall, we went through the temples and chapels, and were much struck by the extent of the place, with the immense size and number of the idols, and the enor- mous gongs and drums with which the gods are awakened. The heat was intense outside, but in the immense apartment of the temple it was delightfully cool. My two companions, finding a convenient berth on an altar, at the foot of a gigantic idol, were soon asleep. At first I amused myself with sketching, which seemed greatly to delight the priests, but growing tired of this I got a volume of "Tom Burke of Ours," and lay down for a comfortable perusal. I could not help pondering on the curious change that was beginning to operate in this strange, exclusive country, as I gazed on my two companions sleeping quietly in such a place, the huge idols, bedizened in barbarous gold and paint, glowering fiercely above them, the strangely quaint -looking priests gliding noiselessly from one chapel to the other, or among the columns, or stopping for a moment to peer stealthily and fearfully at the pale, sleeping intruders, who appeared to be laid out for sacrifice to the huge monster, at whose feet they reclined ; yet, withal 282 THE MIDNIGHT MASS. there was something very commonplace in the matter- of-fact occupation of turning over the leaves of the last new novel, while half-a-dozen priests on the steps below me had got hold of a volume of " Punch," and whispered their comments, their eyes rounded with wonderment at the strange figures and caricatures with which the volume abounded. At midnight I was awoke by the deep booming of the large drum, like subterranean thunder, arid knowing there was a midnight mass, I put on my slippers and followed the sound, which proceeded from the lower temple. Entering by one of the side doors, I took my place in the background, where, unseen, I could perceive the ceremonial by the dim light of the altar, which just allowed one or two of the nearest idols to be visible, and cast pencils of light into the broad shadow of the temple, most parts of which were buried in gloom. The deep, hollow, but not loud roll of the huge drum, was answered by a gong from a distant part of the temple the strange clanging serving at the same time to awake the attention of the gods, and to call together the worshippers. There was the very essence of melodrama in the tone of the instruments, the gloom of the build- ing, and the imperfectly-seen monsters who lowered over the scene. Silently as spectres, from the dark aisles the yellow-robed priests glided in, some THE MIDNIGHT MASS. 283 prostrating themselves, others standing with statue- like immobility with clasped hands, and eyes bent to the ground. There was a silvery tinkle from a bell, and a chant ascended from all parts of the building, two or three hundred priests at the same time ap- proaching the altar, and standing in an attitude of reverence. The chant swelled and subsided as the drum and gong monotonously tolled, and two hollow- sounding wooden instruments, shaped like the human cranium, were struck with sticks to mark time. The chant ceased or varied at intervals, the priests rising and prostrating themselves, advancing to the altar in parallel lines, or in procession, till the service was completed. A more awe-inspiring scene I have seldom witnessed, and I should scarcely at the time have been surprised to hear the god answer in thunders, like an ancient oracle, to the fervent b,ut fantastic appeal of his adorers. It is a great misfortune that we have so little information regarding the motives of the priests and worshippers, their habits and mode of thought, the meaning of their peculiar ceremonies, and the attri- butes of their numerous deities. I have vainly endeavoured to obtain information; most of the Europeans I have met with seemed to be as ignorant on the subject as myself. The Chinese themselves are incapable generally, from their ignorance, and most of the priests know as 28i BHUDDIST CEREMONIALS little as the laymen, reciting prayers mechanically in Pali, a dialect of the Sanscrit, a language of which they do not understand one word going through ceremonies with a punctilious devotion, without com- prehending their object, and spending a whole life in mortification and penance for they know not what. Great magical powers are ascribed to the adepts in Bhuddism by the vulgar, and many of the priests have a reputation for necromancy, for the knowledge that could compel the services of invisible spirits, and for the power of ubiquity. This, however, is pretty much confined to the vulgar ; the priests having no power in the State, and but little moral influence of any kind. Their religion, in fact, appears to be only used for superstitious purposes, and for worldly objects. No Chinaman addresses a god for any purpose but the good of his body, to propitiate any mischievous intention regarding his property, to avert sickness, and to protect him from magic and all un- known or unseen dangers. They appear to me to be rather Deists or Mate- alists than Idolaters, and from all I have seen I feel assured their worship is not addressed to the idols. They have no respect for the idol per se ; they will do nothing to protect it from injury or insult, or if they do so, it is merely as so much property, so much f urniture. If the idol be irreparably injured, a new one is ordered, and the old one is kicked out as so AND IDOLATRY. 285 much plaster, sawdust, and rotten wood, and no one cares for the relics. It is, I know, the common excuse of the heads of every faith which sets up graven images, that the image is only intended to awaken that attention which would not be accorded to an abstract notion. The original intention in such cases may have been harm- less, however injudicious ; but the consequences, as in Greece and India, have too often led to the substitution of the visible graven image for that of^the unseen, true, and only God. I believe that the Chinese fully comprehend the difference between the idol and the abstract notion of a divinity ; and whether they fall in adoration before the idol or before a scroll describing one of his attri- butes, they are still in their mind addressing an absent and abstract idea. To Chinese chronology the period is comparatively short since we, who criticise, offered bribes to " our Lady of Loretto," bent the knee to St. lago of Com- postella, or at the Holy Sepulchre, or laid out our spare pence, and often pence hardly spared, in the purchase of " Reliques, beads, Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls," for purposes as worldly as those which cause the self- seeking Chinaman to humble his forehead in the dust 286 A REBELLION. of the temple, and to yield to the priests a portion of his much-loved hoard. How many in both instances disbelieve in, yet fear to neglect the rites of their religion ! The constant muttering of the still, small voice, overcomes in practice the loud vaunt of the braggadocio reason. On the second day we set off to visit some lakes at the distance of about fifteen miles. We were carried in chairs made of bamboo, not weighing more than fifteen pounds, so that our bearers were able to travel at a great rate. We passed through several small towns and villages, and through a picturesque country, which had high cultivation, and its variety of wooded knolls, brooks, and plantations, had quite an English aspect. We put up at a joss-house, where we found our breakfast awaiting us, and then set off in boats to explore the lakes, which have little merit beyond being fine pieces of water, surrounded by a country that had an air of great rural comfort and plenty. A fortnight afterwards the population of this immediate district was in open rebellion, and defeated two bodies of military sent against them, making the chief man- darin prisoner. It lasted some weeks, and was finally concluded by the fears of the Viceroy, who granted the demands of the insurgents, on learning that they were about to attack the city of Ningpo. The peasants, who were in the right, succeeded in vindicating their privileges in their full integrity. A REBELLION. 287 It appears that the Emperor, with truly paternal consideration, remitted the taxes of this district in consequence of the severe losses and sufferings of the people, at the time of the occupation of Ningpo by the English. The Viceroy, like a true Chinese man- darin, determined to cheat both Emperor and people by continuing to levy the taxes, pocketing the pro- ceeds himself. The people, however, who had become acquainted with the imperial order, were not nearly so manageable as was anticipated, and the tax-gatherers got nothing but broken heads for their pains. The troops which were sent to punish this outrage were equally well beaten, and fled disgracefully to Ningpo, and finally the Viceroy was compelled to give up the intention of levying the obnoxious impost. Previously to taking the law into their own hands, the peasantry sent a deputation of their most aged men to point out the injustice of the demand, and to dissuade the Viceroy from his scheme. To resist such an appeal is in China a very dangerous proceeding, and, had it reached the knowledge of the Court, it might have been the cause of the utter degradation of the mandarin. In a country so completely centralised and bureau- craticised as China, it is next to impossible for any- thing to reach the higher powers except through the mandarins, who, as long as they can keep up appear- ances, are utterly regardless of the truth. Thus, during 288 SLAUGHTER OF THE the war, the Emperor was persuaded almost up to the last moment that his armies and fleets were conquering the miserable barbarians. In the end it is probable that half their defeats would never have reached his ears, but for the necessity of paying the 25,000,000 dollars of indemnity, which the imperial officers could not conveniently raise themselves. At the very last it was declared that the Chusan we had possession of was a place a long way removed from the coast. In the same way the victories of our old friend the admiral of Amoy over the pirates used to be duly chronicled, and their valour and zeal extolled, at the very time we knew him not to have had a foot on board ship. Ningpo suffered greatly during the war, having been attacked, plundered, and ravaged by both English and Chinese. It was also the scene of the night attack of the Tartars, in which they suffered such fearful loss. "Warning had been given several times, that an attempt would be made to retake the city, and the troops had been held in readiness to repel it. The cry of " wolf," however, had been heard so often that the troops were allowed, the first time for several nights, to retire quietly to their beds, and there was no one on duty but the regular guards. On this night the attack was made, and the Chinese and Tartar army came streaming in thousands through one of the TARTARS AT NINGPO. 289 gates, in the barbican of which the guard of the 18th found refuge, and from whence they did their best to annoy the column, but to little purpose. By the time the alarm became general the column, led by a man- darin on a white horse, had reached the centre of the city, and was marching on in a serried mass, when the head of the advance was saluted by the point blank discharge of grape and canister, which hurled it down in one mangled mass of dead and dying ; discharge followed discharge ; mass fell upon mass ; the troops at the head of the column, unable to recoil, and without courage to charge, struggled and fought with one another, and multitudes were trampled to death before the way in the rear was free. In the mean time every shot told, those which did not strike point blank ricochetted off the walls on each side into the mass, heaping the dead to such a height that the guns had several times to be removed to where the ramparts of corpses could not intercept the fire. By this time the enemy was in full retreat, pursued, slaughtered, falling on all sides ; the main body reached the gate through which the city had been entered ; here numbers were slain by the guard rolling down upon them the stones composing the battlements, and those who escaped had a story of slaughter to tell, such as has been une- qualled in modern warfare, unless perhaps at Tchung- Hae. o 290 DESTRUCTION OF NINGPO. I have often thought that the Chinamen in the north must be very forgiving animals, when I re- member their frightful sufferings, and compare it with their present good nature. The taking of Ningpo, besides the fearful destruction of life, entailed the loss of the greater part of his property to nearly every citizen in it, as, after the city was abandoned by the troops and the followers of the army, it was com- pletely pillaged by bands of Chinese thieves, who systematically gutted it of all that was portable, and who either intentionally or through carelessness burnt down nearly a whole quarter of the city. POOTO TEMPLES AND SHRINES. 29 I CHAPTER XXVI. INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO AND BASS'S STRAITS. POOTO TEMPLES AND SHRINES AN ORDER TO MOVE LEAVE CHtJSAN THE MUI RIVER FOO-CHOW-FOO CHINESE MUSSEL- MANS SMALL-FOOTED WOMEN TRADE. AT the distance of about thirty miles from Chusan, and a delightful sail on a summer's day, is the island of Pooto, which is, or, rather, which was, one of the largest and most celebrated Bhuddist establishments in China. It was resorted to by pilgrims from all parts of the empire, whose contributions mainly sup- ported its shrines and monasteries and its numerous priests. The Emperor himself had deigned to honour it by a present of tiles of imperial yellow, that had once adorned the winter palace at Nankin, which now glitter with golden refulgence from the roof of the largest temple. Of late, either from the pro- faning neighbourhood of the Fanquis, or from some other more favoured spot having become fashionable the number of pilgrims have fallen off, the effects of which are evident in the squalid appearance of the 2 POOTO TEMPLES bonzes and the seediness of the gods, most of whom are suffering from dilapidated noses, broken arms, contused legs, and wofully-faded complexions. The principal group of temples in a valley at the foot of a precipitous hill, covered with huge granite boulders, is surrounded by tanks and pagodas, and approached by various bridges ; lovely flowering shrubs break up the architectural uniformity, and, as in most Bhuddist establishments, give great charm to the place. In the tanks the sacred lotus grows to a large size, and with a luxuriance I never saw else- where. As I was sitting in one of the temples overhanging a bay, which at some distance below reflected the deep azure tint of the sky, I noticed a large junk, deeply laden, making its way in close to the shore, till, finding a miniature harbour under the lee of a point just below the temple, the huge wooden anchor was hove overboard, and the sails lowered. Presently a boat put off, and landed the captain and one or two of the principal passengers at the foot of the steep hill, or rather precipice, up which rude stone steps conducted them to the temple, which it was evidently their object to visit. They presently entered, accom- panied by an aged priest, who conducted them to the shrine of the Tien-how, the Queen of Heaven, where they performed their prostrations and burnt incense. After a few minutes the priest produced a box, con- AND SHKINES. 293 taining a number of sticks, painted with various in- scriptions and cabalistic characters, which he rattled and threw out like dice, repeating at the same time various invocations to the Queen of Heaven to exhibit happy omens to the travellers. The answers drawn from the sticks were apparently propitious, for the captain and his suite departed evidently well pleased, and immediately embarked on board the junk. The yards, with the immense bamboo sails, were swayed up, and the junk got under way, while the captain and others were firing crackers, banging gongs, kow- towing, and making all sorts of promises to a jolly red-faced, pot-bellied little Bhudda, which looked down from the break of the poop with the air of a Silenus who has dined well and liked his wine. The whole of the island belongs to the temple, and part of it is cultivated for the use of the priests. The work is performed by hired labourers, as, I presume, such vulgar employment would interfere with the beatific reveries in which the fathers love to indulge. There are plenty of trees and groves, while some parts of the island are left in all the rude vigorous beauty of its primeval state ; and rocks, trees, and waters, are untouched by the hand of man, except, perhaps, where a little Bhudda leers unpleasantly from the bole of an aged tree, or from a fissure in the face of the cliff. I visited the is^nd twice subsequently in H. M. S. 294- AN ORDER TO MOVE. " Plover," and afterwards in H. M. S. " Vixen," when the admiral endeavoured, but without success, to pur- chase a set of antique bronze josses, about three feet high. There were about twelve of them, and they were the best specimens of Chinese art in statuary I had seen. They would have been a rare present to the British Museum. I had reason to suppose that on the evacuation of Chusan I should have an opportunity of returning to England, and I felt great satisfaction as the winter advanced, and the time rapidly approached for our escape. All our hopes, however, were disappointed by my receiving a general order, directing me to hold myself in readiness to proceed by the first vessel to Hong Kong and Sydney, en route for New Zealand , war with the natives having broken out in the latter country. An order so unexpected, and which, at a time when all my aspirations tended homewards, sent me, for an indefinite period, half across the world to a place the farthest removed from home, was scarcely palatable; but there was no help for it, so I packed up my traps, comforting myself with the reflection that I should see a considerable portion more of this sublunary sphere, and at any rate escape from the heat, languor, and sickness which pervaded China. On the 3rd January, 1846,. I sailed in H. M. S. " Vixen," touching at Pooto for a few hours. In LEAVE CHUSAN. 29 o forty-eight hours after leaving Pooto we anchored under the island of San-tse-shan, at the mouth of the Mui River. At daylight in the morning we got under way, and ran up the river, which is celebrated for the grandeur of its scenery. The mountains, seamed with picturesque and woody glens, which ran boldly down to the water's edge, old forts, batteries, and villages peeping out from clumps of fine trees, gave variety and life to the scene, an d the frequent windings and narrows of the river broke it up into a succession of lake-like expanses, in which small islands were dotted, and numbers of craft of various size and rig floated gaily down with the tide. We anchored off Pagoda Island, about twelve miles from Foo-Chow-Foo, where we found the " Wolverine " and " Espiegle " brigs-of-war. In company with some of the officers I went up to Foo-Chow-Foo, and enjoyed for a couple of days the society of our hospitable Consul and his family, whose house on such occasions is full of guests. Scarcely any European had yet been seen in Foo- Chow-Foo ; and it was considered necessary to send a soldier to accompany us in our wanderings through the city. We met with no annoyance, however, although great crowds collected to look at us. In many of the shops we saw the most ludicrous pictures and images of the English, which had been sent from Amoy as good liknesses. Flaming-red hair was 296 CHINESE MUSSELMANS. the universal characteristic, while the complexion of the various faces embraced all the prismatic hues. Like most of the Chinese cities, the streets were crowded with people, not remarkable for their cleanli- ness, or the sweetness of the odours they dispensed from their thick woollen garments. There was a good sprinkling of beggars, with scarcely a rag to protect them from the cold ; poor wretches, too, in the kang exposed in the most public places. In appearance Foo-Chow-Foo, though considered a more important place, is not nearly so civilized as Ningpo, and there appears to be far more poverty and misery. It is more thoroughly Chinese than any city I had seen, and one constantly meets mandarins and military officers with their following of ragged and filthy officials. Among the inhabitants of Foo-Chow-Foo are a great number of Mahometans, who have several mosques. The Koran is read in Arabic, of which, however, scarcely one of the priests has even a smattering, and in all pro- bability, in a few years, it will be as incomprehensible to them as Pali is to the Bhuddist, or Latin to a large proportion of those who attend mass. One of the most remarkable monuments at Foo- Chow-Foo is a stone bridge without arches, of con- siderable length, which cr sses the river, and on which numbers of shops and houses are built. There are immense storehouses of grain, which is FOO-CHOW-FOO. 297 laid up annually by the Government to meet times of scarcity, and prevent the prices rising beyond trie means of the mass of the people. The charge of this is considered an office of great responsibility ; and not without reason, in a country which pretends to depend on its own resources, and which prefers laying by a surplus of produce rather than a surplus of capital. With so dense a population, dependent almost exclu- sively on agriculture, a scarcity of food is by no means an uncommon occurrence. At such periods these granaries afford a seasonable relief, and the abundant internal water-communication renders it comparatively easy to disperse the supplies to the district requiring aid. From the Indian Archipelago, Formosa, Corea, and other places, enormous supplies of rice might be obtained in seasons of dearth, but the restrictions on commerce have prevented any considerable relief from being obtained from exterior sources. It is pro- bable now, however, that this may soon be found a lucrative branch of trade to the English, and of sufficient benefit to the Chinese to lead them to appreciate the advantages that arise from unrestricted commercial intercourse, whose principal end and aim is to supply what is deficient in one country from the superabundance of another. In the neighbourhood of Foo-Chow-Foo the peasant women appeared to be more actively engaged in 3 298 SMALL-FOOTED WOMEN. farming operations and marketing than I had seen elsewhere, and we met them constantly in the roads between the different villages. They were altogether handsomer and more prepossessing in their appear- ance than any women I had seen in the country ; this I ascribe principally to their feet being allowed to grow to their natural size ; as I feel sure that the sickly aspect, drawn features, and nervous irrita- bility, so frequently to be remarked in the Chinese women, is caused by the unceasing agony they suffer from their feet being unnaturally cramped. The pain, which at first is hardly endurable, never entirely ceases, and it is inconceivable how so truly barbarous a practice could have been so extensively accepted. Foo-Chow-Foo is the capital of the black -tea district, and is one of the five ports for which we stipulated at the treaty of Nankin, and from which it was expected that great results would immediately flow. Up to this time there has been no trade what- ever, and I think it improbable that for some years there will be any. Besides the reasons which exist at Ningpo to retard the establishment of trade, Foo- Chow-Foo has disadvantages peculiar to itself, which will take a longer period and more capital to over- come. The mouth of the river is obstructed by a bar, arid is very much exposed and unsafe. When inside, a vessel has to make its way for forty miles against a strong current and through eddies and mud- TKADE. 299 banks which are very likely to detain it more than once. When all these difficulties are overcome, the vessel, unless a very light draught, would have to anchor at a distance of ten miles from the city, owing to the shallowness of the water. Under these circum- stances, Amoy would unquestionably be the proper port, if communication over-land were allowed, or if small steamers were established to convey the pro- duce from Foo-Chow-Foo to be shipped at Amoy. There was hi the middle of the seventeenth century an English factory at Amoy for the sake of this trade ; from which we might have learnt the superior ad- vantages of its position, The distance by land between the two ports is very trifling ; but it is of course not the interest of the Chinese to encourage the trade, and no help in the matter can be expected from them. 300 FORMOSA. CHAPTER XXVII. FORMOSA CANNIBALISM QUILOX AND CHUSAN KOO-I.UNG-SOO AGAIN THE NEW CONSULATE FARKWELL TO CHINA. FROM the Mui River, the " Vixen " steamed across to Quilon, at the northernmost point of Formosa, to see the coal fields which had been favourably reported upon by Captain Collinson, R.N., and where he obtained coals alongside his vessel at 10s. a ton, at the time when Newcastle coals were selling for il. at Hong Kong. The coal was found to be most abundant, cropping out of the surface in the hill side, close to the Bay. It had been very little worked, and only in pits or small excavations, as far as they could be carried without supports. A stream running down to the sea seemed to invite a scientific hand to convert it into a canal, by which at every tide ample supplies might be sent for shipment into the Bay, either for the consumption of our steamers, or to add to the comfort of our merchants at Shang-hae, who would gladly welcome such provision. The people were not at all troublesome, seeming rather glad to QUILON AND CHUSAN. 301 see us. The principal man, a very corpulent subject, explained that the inhabitants were not all agreeable people like himself and his neighbours ; but that there were cannibals in the interior who would eat even him. The old gentleman alluded with horror to such an atrocious propensity, while we laughed at the idea of a mandarin of his girth being barbecued. The country was green and pleasant looking, and gave us the impression of being a far cooler and healthier climate than the mainland. I am surprised that during the war so little was done to improve our acquaintance with this island, of the topography and productions of which next to nothing is known. Had we been aware of the existence of the coal-fields of Quilon, the possession of them, or even the right to visit the locality to trade, would have been an inva- luable addition to the items of the treaty. Such a cession would probably have been readily granted in preference to allowing us to retain armed possession of Koo-Lung-Soo and Chusan, which they were in- credulous that we would ever give up, as were our French and Yankee neighbours, who sneered as they predicted that our honour would not be strong enough to restrain our cupidity, and who have since sneered to find we could be fools enough to be honest. Honesty is the best policy among nations or among individuals, and we shall, in some future negotiation, reap the advantage our good faith must have gained 302 KOO-LUNG-SOO. us in the eye of the Chinamen, who could never have compelled the performance of our agreement If ever opportunity should serve again, Quilon and Chusan are places we should have. The commanding position of both of them render them of the first importance, and they have, besides, special commercial advantages which, would be most beneficial to our trade in China. From Quilon, twelve hours' sail brought us to Amoy, and we anchored between the city and the familiar island of Koo-Lung-Soo. The latter appeared inex- pressibly desolate, and is entirely uninhabited. Our old quarters had gone to ruin. The mandarins' Bouses which we had preserved were deserted, and the rain, pouring in at many a neglected hole or cranny, was rapidly destroying them. It appeared that on our leaving the island, the Chinese had returned to it in great numbers, but the mortality among them was so extraordinary, that they fled from it in terror, believing that we had left behind some demon to afflict them. In the former, splendid two and three story build- ings have been erected just outside the gates, in which the consular establishment in now quartered. The site is a very lively one. Crowds are con- stantly flocking in and out of the city from the country. Processions of mandarins march out, some distance from the walls, to receive, with becoming FAREWELL TO CHINA. 303 reverence, an imperial letter. Wedding and funeral parties are constantly succeeding one another. At the Festival of the Dragon huge dragons and serpents walk about by the aid of coolies who are concealed inside, and who are attended by numbers of priests and masquers in all kinds of colours and costume, some of them gorgeously embroidered, and bearing flags and banners equally splendid. As all these processions are accompanied by a band of gongs, and instruments of auricular torture like bagpipes, and enlivened by the frequent firing of crackers, it may be easily conceived what a bustling place the city gates are, and what a perpetual din is kept up. After a short delay we proceeded to Hong Kong, where my voyages on the China coast terminated, and where, about a fortnight afterwards, I felt anything but sorrow in taking my final leave of the "Central Flowery Region," fervently hoping that I might never again be called upon to set foot on its shores, or breathe its tainted atmosphere. The greatest pleasure I had experienced for nearly three years was when I stood on the deck of the little schooner, watching the shores gradually sinking astern. My prospects might not be very pleasant, or my des- tination the most desirable, but the change itself was delightful for its own sake, and any change could scarcely fail to be for the better. During this lengthened sojourn in China I had 304 FAREWELL TO CHINA. f Hind little that had really contributed to my hap- piness. The people rarely excited one's interest, or even sympathy, there being barely any point of common feeling where an European could meet them. There was no fellowship, no interchange of thought or information, and little to be learnt by the passer- by, who is ever held by the natives under a species of "taboo/' My long stay in Koo-Lung-Soo had been an imprisonment in a pestilential spot where I had little opportunity of acquiring information, and the same period passed in the Venetian pozzi could scarcely have left an impression of more utter isola- tion, or have been a more barren and unprofitable waste of existence. WRETCHED ACCOMMODATION. 305 CHAPTER XXVIII. WRETCHED ACCOMMODATION STRAITS OF BANCA STRAITS OF LUND A AUJER POINT LOVE-BIRDS INTERCOURSE WITH THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO PIRATICAL FLEETS TRADE GOVERN- MENT COUNTENANCE STRAITS GOVERNMENT THE SOUTHERN CROSS BASb's bTRAlTS FOGS AND GALES SETTLERS IN THE STRAITS ABORIGINES PORT JACKSON. THE craft in which my passage had been engaged was a miserable ill-found colonial schooner, of one hundred and twenty tons, alive with cock-roaches, and so crammed with cargo that the water, ship's stores, provisions, and even the passengers' baggage, had to be stowed on deck, so that we should have been badly off indeed, if we had had our decks swept hi a gale of wind. Fortunately my only fellow- passenger was an exceedingly agreeable, well-informed, gentle- manly man. It would have been too much to have been shut up with a disagreeable person in the rabbit- hutch of a cabin, where, when the captain and our two selves had managed to squeeze into places, there was no room for the steward, who handed the dishes on to the table through the scuttle. 306 AUJER POINT. We had a fine run down the China sea with the wind right aft ; but our vessel was not a clipper, and could not be persuaded to perform more than five or six knots an hour. Fair winds continually urging us on brought us to Aujer Point, Java, in less than a fortnight. The town looked pretty and comfortable in the lap of the green hills which surrounded it, and which were covered with groves of tamarind and cocoa-nut trees. Our only mishap had been in getting aground on the Sumatra side of the Straits of Banca, but we luckily got oft again with the next tide. We should have been a capital prize for any piratical prahu that chanced that way. At one time we anticipated an attack from the shore, where there was evidently a great bustle about something; and we could no wand then perceive canoes full of men peeping out of the mouth of a creek abreast of us, and disappearing again rapidly or darting across the alleys among the mangroves. I am afraid we should have made but a bad fight of it, as our only arms were a honey -combed three- pounder guii, and some half-dozen rusty muskets, which were all minus either stock, lock, or barrel, or were otherwise incapacitated for active service. My own armoury of guns and pistols and the mate's harpoon were the only efficient weapons on board. Our valour luckily was not put to the proof, as, just at sunset, a Dutch brig-of-war ran down close to us STRAITS OF SUNDA. 307 and anchored, upon which all the bustle on shore ceased, and shortly afterwards we floated quietly off the bank into deep water. The Straits of Sunda and of Banca, unlike most of the arms of the sea in this Archipelago, have very little interest. The shores are low, and covered with a thick impenetrable wall of jungle, and the man- groves grow far out into the shallow sea, gradually converting it into a muddy flat. There were few islands, no hills, not even an ele- vation of the swampy shores, which appeared only suited to be the lair of wild beasts, and a prolific breeding -place of vermin and reptiles. We were lucky enough to cross the Java sea with- out any bad weather, except one tremendous thunder- storm, when Heaven's heaviest artillery seemed to be brought into play, and numbers of bolts or balls of electric fire traversed the air, a perfect volley of them sometimes succeeding the crash of the thunder, and hustling through the air with awful sounds. The lightning struck our fore top-mast, cutting pieces out of it in an extraordinary manner till it reached the deck, where it struck down the captain and two nlten, blinding them for the time, but without doing further injury. The Straits of Sunda are somewhat less uninterest- ing than those of Banca, and that is nearly all that can be said in their favour till we approached Aujer, 308 LOVE-BIRDS. where wood-crowiied hills and cultivated laud plea- santly replaced the swampy jungle. Here we took several native boats in tow loaded with cocoa-nuts, maugosteens, plantains, and other pleasant fruits, of which we laid in a stock, bartering old clothes, empty bottles, and cigars for them. Among other things, I became the possessor of quite a flock of Java spar- rows and love-birds, which a day or two afterwards managed to escape from their cages, but did not attempt to leave the ship, flying from yard to yard, or hopping about the decks, apparently as well satis- fied and as much at home among the tarry ropes as if in the groves of orange and palm-trees among which they had been bred. One evening, however, off Cape Leuwin, in New Holland, they all disappeared, and I hope found their way safely to the shore, and received a hospitable welcome from the feathered aborigines. On the day after leaving Aujer we passed Java Head, and were once more in the open sea, with ample room, instead of threading our way through narrow straits, sand-banks, coral reefs, and islets. As a landsman, my tastes leaned to the latter description of sailing, but our skipper seemed infinitely relieved when he had a boundless waste of blue water to roll in. Between Aujer and Java Head we passed upwards of twenty large square-rigged vessels, English and American, and all bound for Singapore or China. At home people have a very faint idea of what highways PIRATICAL FLEETS. 309 of commerce lie through these Straits, and of how little has been done to improve either the trade or the navigation. Still less is known of the numerous byways which lie to the right and left among the myriads of islands forming this vast archipelago, so remarkable for the wonderful luxuriance of the soil, the extraordinary and varied productions, and the natural advantages of position and climate, which seem to invite the world to foster and cultivate them. Till within this few years the whole trade of these islands was carried on in native bottoms, or in direct trade with the Chinese and Siamese junks which annually found their way into these calm latitudes. The defencelessness of the native craft, manned prin- cipally by the agriculturists who loaded them, invited aggression, and probably encouraged the formation of those piratical fleets, which, setting out from Sulu, Borneo, and other groups of islands, ravaged the whole coast, seizing all the property they could carry off, and burning what remained, while the unhappy owners were massacred or led into captivity. Piracy and slavery have thus for years been checking pro - duction, preventing accumulation, and thinning the population. What the pirates seized or burned was the least part of the mischief the worst was the de- struction of all confidence in those who would have been producers, and who, fearing to become the vic- tims of rapacity, either deserted the coast for the 310 TRADE WITH THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. inland parts of the islands, or, if of Malay origin, they abandoned all industrious pursuits and became in turn robbers themselves, finding they had more voca- tion for that than for being robbed. The Dutch and English cruisers have in some measure checked the wholesale extirpatory raids of the larger fleets of pirates, but have been entirely inefficient to suppress the smaller hordes which infest the mouths of rivers, or lie concealed in small prahus, waiting to dart on their prey from their lairs in the secret channels of the mangrove swamps. European vessels, with their lofty bulwarks, are tolerably safe from attacks from these petty marauders. The greatest stimulant to production would be to carry the various articles of European commerce to the different islands, and establish among them em- poria of trade. The security with which the natives could barter their goods on the spot would be a great incitement to exertion, and would exercise in every way a beneficial effect on the cultivators. That such a trade is worth fostering is proved by the abundance and the rare excellence of the products, and the high value they bear in different parts of the world. Spices, sandal-wood, gutta-percha, camphor, and various me- dicinal plants, oils, barks, and dye-wood are produced spontaneously in the dense forests. Copper-ore, tin, manganese, antimony, gold, and precious stones, have been drawn from the islands in considerable quanti- GOVERNMENT COUNTENANCE. 311 ties, though without any system to encourage efficient production ; beche de mer, birds' nests, fish, rice, and numerous other articles, might realise a good profit in the Chinese markets, to which our merchants are often puzzled to find a cargo that will simply pay the freight A few enterprising Englishmen have occasionally established themselves in these islands, some of them realising large sums in a very short time ; others, however, and the greatest number, have been de- terred, and have been driven away by the obstructions systematically thrown in their way by the Dutch authorities, by the exactions of the rajahs and native chiefs, and by fear of the pirates. Government protection and countenance might be afforded them, to put a stop to the unjustifiable lengths to which the Dutch carry their opposition to the deal ings of our English traders, and the dogged persever- ance with which they persist in keeping up a monopoly which they have founded on the sufferance of England. If residents or consuls were appointed to some of the larger islands, a new system of trade would soon be established, and the present exactions done away with. Several small steamers might be required for a few years to run constantly through the Straits, visiting and conciliating the native chiefs, and im- pressing them with their power and ubiquity. With the present Straits Government, administered by an 312 THE STRAITS GOVERNMENT. old Madras Colonel and a bilious civilian, this in- fluence is not likely to be obtained. The unenergetic un-English policy pursued is ill adapted to cope with the Dutch, whose system of exclusion, however mis- taken and discreditable, is, nevertheless, carried on with sustained vigour. Sir Stamford Raffles, when he foresaw all the ad- vantages to be derived from our getting a footing in the archipelago, could hardly have anticipated that we should have rendered his exertions almost nugatory, by allowing these highways to our settlement at Singapore to be blockaded by pirates, or that our opposition to Dutch monopoly should have been confined to the plantation of a few nutmegs at Singapore and Penang. Our course now lay to the south along the whole length of New Holland. We soon lost sight of the North Star and the Great Bear, and most of the constellations of our own hemisphere. With these mystic monitors all affinity with one's home was severed, and it was not without a pang we parted with the stars which had been so familiar to us from our childhood. They had been old and useful compa- nions in many peregrinations in strange lands ; and in gazing on them I had often felt satisfaction in the trite but pleasing fancy that in a few hours their light would shine on my distant home. The " Southern Cross" alone awoke some of the same sympathetic THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 31'3 feeling in my bosom. It had formed so striking an episode in the romantic story of the great adventurers who gave a new world less to Castille and Leon than to Europe. It had inspirited them on, cheered their fainting hopes, had served to excite their reli- gious fervour with the belief that the emblem of their faith was leading them, like the pillar in the wilder- ness, on their trackless way. It was the sign to them of the approval of Heaven on their course. I have stood in the cathedral in Havana, before the urn which contains the ashes of " the discoverer/' and have mused over the strange destinies in which this constellation played so important a part ; and when I now beheld it again it brought to my mind not only these romantic associations, but also the re- collection of those lovely islands where the progress of the Europeans has been marked by such a fearful course of crime, and where one would rather suppose them to have been urged on by the powers of dark- ness than by the Christian emblem of peace and good-will among men. This is no place, however, to drag up such far-fetched subjects of discussion. Favourable winds carried us quickly out of the trade latitudes into a cool, pleasant climate, till, as we approached Bass's Straits at the southern extremity of New South Wales, we arrived at the latitude of gales of wind and icebergs. Numbers of albatrosses and large gulls followed our track ; and Mother p 314" FOGS AND GALES. Carey's chicks, in constant attendance, danced un- tiring reels under the stern. We descried the south- eastern cape of New Holland under close-reefed top- sails, staggering along with as much wind aft as we could bear. In this way we scudded through Bass's Straits at a rate that our barkie had never accom- plished before, and which greatly surprised the skipper. Rain and thick fog accompanied the gale, the curtain occasionally lifting to give us a glimpse of the high rocky islands we were rapidly passing, or allowing a headland to loom darkly out, as if to warn us off. Most of the islands in the Straits are uninhabited, although, from all accounts, they are pleasant places enough, with good soil, abundance of water, and plenty of fish. The few scattered denizens are retired whalers, sealers, or escaped convicts, who choose a small island, where they lord it in solitary grandeur, or at best with a companion of the softer, not always of the fairer sex, and who are generally purchased or ravished from the mainland. One of the islands possesses a melancholy interest as the abiding place of the last remnant of the abori- ginal population of Van Diemen's Land. The last were removed there to be out of the way of mischief to others and to themselves. Well fed, clothed, and supplied with tobacco, they bask in the sun, utterly regardless of the fallen destinies of their race, and of the prospects of its early and certain extinction, in- ABORIGINES. 315 terested only in the dram of spirits they receive and the quality of their tobacco. Yet a few years more, and the scanty relics of the population of New Hol- land will be drawn together in a similar manner, and allowed to expire in the midst of that peace and plenty their former days had never known. Though one may sympathise with their fate, yet we can scarcely regret that a useless and unornamental branch has been severed from the human family, especially when we consider that the places of these unmitigated savages have been filled by industrious and Christian men, through whose exertion this vast wilderness will eventually administer to the support of the millions multiplying under the fostering nur- ture of Christian civilization, instead of being left a howling waste to furnish a scanty subsistence to a wretched houseless race of cannibals, who neither can nor will make use of it. It were almost as reasonable to deplore that the wild beast of the forest must inevitably disappear before the domestic animals, that the sheep has usurped the cairn of the wolf, and that the kid dis- ports itself on the eyrie of the eagle. Savages such as these, possessing at heart the fiercest and most indomitable passions, are rarely to be aroused from their natural indolence and listlessness, except by hunger or animal instinct. Every means should be resorted to to attract them into the fold of civiliza- P2 3J6 PORT JACKSON. tion, and those who enter it should be tended and fostered ; but that those who remain without must perish, is a law of inevitable necessity, which every new experiment only renders more evident On the 1 st of April, just nine weeks since we had left Hong Kong, the skipper called me to say that we were off the port. I found that we were lying-to in a very heavy sea, with a vast wall of rock before and apparently hang- ing over us, with a lighthouse on the summit, shining out brilliantly over the wild, lead-coloured waters. As day broke, the yards were hauled round, and we ran in towards the shore, toppling over huge waves, till we doubled the tall basaltic-looking headland, where we found ourselves at once in smooth water in a splendid bay. Several villas and a pretty village formed a strong contrast to the wild scene outside, and to the unbroken waste of waters we had been gazing on for weeks. A whale-boat with a pilot put off from the village ; the steer-oar was vigorously managed by a tall, athletic fellow, who proved to be a New Zealander, the first I had seen. A fresh breeze carried us rapidly up the harbour ; and, as we passed point after point, there opened out a succession of pretty views, greatly enhanced by the practically comfortable and civilised look of the nu- merous pretty country seats and mansions, with parks PORT JACKSON. 317 and well-shaven lawns sloping down to the water's edge. At last we came in sight of Sydney, and dropped anchor in the midst of a fleet of vessels, sur- rounded by headlands and promontories, crowned with gardens and shrubberies, the lordly mansion and park of the governor, the extensive demesne and botanical garden, and the picturesque villas and cot- tages of the north shore. A more charming spot to bring-up in, after a long voyage, I can scarcely imagine ; and though the im- pression of such a first sight might act disadvantage- ously on a more intimate acquaintance with the place, yet I can truly say that I have rarely been in any city which more pleasingly maintained the preposses- sion of a first favourable view than did the capital of the southern hemisphere. 318 SYDNEY. CHAPTER XXIX. NEW SOUTH WALES. " Man cannot subsist upon the indulgences of nature, but must be supported by ber common gifts ; they must feed upon bread, and be clothed with wool, and the nation that can furnish these universal commodities may have her ships welcomed at a thousand ports." Dr. Johnson. " Plenty of good land, and liberty to manage their own affairs their own way, seem to be the two great causes of prosperity of all new colonies." Adam Smith. THE CAPITAL OF THE SOUTHERN' HEMISPHERE THE WOOL TRADE CAPT. MACARTHUR MINUTE OF TEE PRIVY COUNCIL OB- STACLES TO COLONIAL PROGBE88 SHEEP FAJBMING TRANS- PORTATION EMIGRATION. SYDNEY, of all our colonial capitals, is the one which strikes the stranger with most surprise. Where lately, within the memory of our fathers, stood a few scat- tered sheds, the abodes of felon outcasts, now towers a splendid city, containing fifty thousand inhabitants, and, though seventeen thousand miles separate it from Europe, it abounds in all its comforts and luxuries. Every summit in the environs is occupied by neat villas and gardens, and pleasant rides and drives tra- verse districts which were recently disturbed but by THE WOOL TRADE. 319 the houseless savage ; whilst spacious roads ser- pentine away far into the interior the main arteries which nourish the city with the produce it owes its prosperity to, and which makes it of such vast import to the mother-country. I allude to the wool trade, which, like the cotton- wool trade of America, has been established in recent years, and has rapidly grown from scarcely perceptible beginnings into the staple production of immense extents of country, peopling savage wastes, employing a numerous marine, furnishing new investments for English labour and capital, and sending back in return the means of wealth and employment to mul- titudes who might otherwise have proved sources of embarrassment to the country which gave them birth. It is to the late Captain MacArthur that Great Britain and Australia are mainly indebted for the present flourishing trade. At his own expense he imported Merino sheep, and experimentalised exten- sively on the rearing and breeding of flocks the best adapted to the country. Having ascertained how beneficial a trade it might become for the land of his adoption, he visited Europe several times, to try and establish it on a proper footing; and to obtain from the Imperial Government the facilities and privileges to which the colony was entitled. 320 CAPTAIN MACARTHUR. So judicious were his arrangements, that to this day the Australian wool trade is conducted on the principles which he determined. It is little in favour of the grateful feeling of the colony that it should be without a public monument to its greatest benefactor ; but I hope yet to hear, or better still to see, that justice has been done to his memory. It is the more called for, too, that the sons have ably continued and added to the good work begun by their sire. To the present Mr. Mac Arthur, of Camden, and his brother Colonel MacArthur, the introduction and prosecution of vine-growing is mostly due. A slight sketch of the origin and progress of the wool trade may be found, if not entertaining, instruc- tive ; exhibiting the natural wealth of the colony, as in a mine, to which labour only has to be applied to withdraw rich and ample returns. On the 6th July, 1804, the Lords of the Privy Council took into consideration a proposition of Captain MacArthur's for encouraging the breed of fine-woolled sheep in New South Wales, and came to the following resolution : " That from the fleeces brought from the settlement in question, and from the description given of the climate, their Lordships entertain no doubt that it is well deserving the attention of his Majesty's Government ; that wool of such fine quality is much wanted and desired by the MINUTE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL. 321 manufacturers of cloth in England, it being mostly drawn at this time from a country (Spain) influenced if not dependent on France." * The Lords of the Council do not appear to have been actuated by any higher political or financial views than to benefit the home manufacturers at the expense of Spain and France. The colony has, however, profited by their pro- ceedings, and the wool trade has produced a com- mercial revolution little anticipated by the statesmen who gave it at its birth so cold and hesitating a support. In the year 1800 England imported from Spain 30,400 bales of wool ; in 1848 only 403 ; with the price reduced from 6s. 6d. per Ib. to Is. 6d. : so that we can now purchase a full suit of clothes for about the same price as our fathers paid for their breeches. The object of the Lords in Council has been fully attained for not only has Spain been driven out of the market, but the manufacturers are so benefited, that we learn in July, 1849, "that they are now crying out for more foreign wool, and the more foreign wool they obtain the more home-grown wool they consume." The annual amount of wool imported into England is estimated at 278,500 bales j of this, 110,000 are from Australia. The greater part of the balance, * Proceedings before the Privy Council, 4th July, 1804. P3 322 OBSTACLES TO COLONIAL PKOGRESS. 1 68,000 bales, comes from continental sources, princi- pally Germany. If, in a new land, with the smallest possible amount of public burthens, the most liberal policy (generally), and private enterprise unfettered, they cannot surpass the Spaniard and German, with their stereotyped individuality and effete social organization, they would deserve to be beaten, and all help and encou- ragement would be thrown away upon them. To Great Britain the competition ought to be most interesting for besides cheapening an important article of consumption, upwards of 1,000,OOOZ. ster- ling, she now pays to her worst customers, would be transferred to her best ; it might at the same time instil into the minds of our foreign neighbours the wholesomeness of reciprocity, and show them how little it tends to their ultimate advantage to exclude, by a system of prohibitory tariffs and customs' unions, the manufactured goods of a country willing to pur- chase so large a portion of their raw produce. The two evils most complained of by the colonists are the price of land and labour, which at present are very much one and the same thing. From the sale of land the fund is derived by which labour is im- ported ; any regulation, consequently, which prevents the purchases of land, checks at the same time the importation of labour. In Canada and the United States the upset price SHEEP FAEMING. 323 of land is from 3s. Qd. to 5s. an acre, whilst in New Zealand and Australia the lowest price is II. per acre, a sum for sheep-farming purposes quite preposterous. The money collected from the green arrivals who purchase land is mainly used to assist immigration, so that the landed proprietor has the satisfaction of knowing that if he has not made a good bargain for himself, he has, at any rate, benefited the community at large. On referring to statistical returns, we find that in the five years from 1836 to 1840, 833,2972. was invested in the purchase of lands, and made available for immigration and public works. In the five years from 1844 to 1848, 162,9762. was invested for the same purposes. In the former period the population numbered 100,825 souls, and purchased land at the average rate of 12. 13s. 7d. a-head; in the latter period the population numbered 195,424, having nearly doubled : and they purchased at the average rate of only 3s. 4d per head. In the former period land was sold at 5s. an acre, in the latter at 20s. The strongest evidence of the fallacy of the system is to be found in the fact, that the great body of the wealth and respectability of the colony are squatters, who prefer the doubtful tenure of a squatting licence rather than to purchase land at the present high prices. It is estimated that in New South Wales each 324 SHEEP FARMING. sheep requires, on an average, five acres pasturage. There are at present 11,660,819 sheep in the colony, who would thus require upwards of 58,000,000 acres of land. Horned cattle number about 1,752,852, and horses about 110,000. There would thus be required for grazing purposes alone an aggregate of some 70,000,000 acres ; a tract nearly equal to the whole area of Great Britain and Ireland. Is it possible to suppose that money could be raised to pay II. an acre for it ? It does not answer to keep less than 3000 to 4000 sheep, which may be purchased with a good run for about lOOOi. With 200J. more in hand, and proper energy and attention, a settler has excellent prospects of success. If, however, the same individual were to purchase the land, he would require, at the smallest estimate, a capital of 12,OOOZ., which would return him only the same amount of interest as the 1000Z. invested by the squatter. If such a system were compulsory, sheep-farming would have to be abandoned, and we should return to the original small Spanish supply and high prices. From 1787 to 1840, 60,700 convicts (of whom 25,000 were males) were landed, and assigned to indi- viduals or employed on public works. This species of labour, from its abundance at first, and its objec- tionable nature, had the effect of diverting the stream of emigration from this colony, so that when the TRANSPORTATION. 325 demand for labour rose, there was no supply to meet it. Labourers earned the most exorbitant wages, and must have spent them, too, according to Sir George Gipps, who on returning from one of his tours stated, " that the roads were actually strewn with champagne bottles which had formed a portion of draymen's supplies." Without materially benefiting the labouring-classes, such a state of affairs was fraught with ruin for the employers, and we read " that the exorbitant rate of wages tends to reverse the natural order of society ; the servant becomes the master, and the master may be said to be the slave." * To remedy these evils the colony expended in six years the sum of 1,000,000?. sterling, causing a mone- tary exhaustion, under which the colony is still suf- fering. The cessation of transportation, though at first much felt, will eventually prove highly beneficial, en- couraging and making room for a population of honest workmen in lieu of an outcast and degraded class. In 1846 there were but 10,850 convicts in the colony, of whom 7,580 held tickets of leave, or condi- tional pardons ; and that they appeared anxious to retrieve their position in society it is but fair to state, the average amount of crime being exceeding low. i * Report of Select Committee of Legislative Council on Emigration. 326 EMIGRATION. To England it is now a matter of grave calculation how this class is to be disposed of. Secondary pun- ishments may be introduced, but the best way is to diminish crime by striking at its roots poverty and ignorance. Emigration and education would do more to relieve the gaols than any mere measures of police. At present the Australians look to Great Britain and Ireland for the population which is to subdue the wild but magnificent tracts of country daily dis- covered. It is estimated that at least 50,000 immi- grants could annually be absorbed with advantage to the colony. The cost would be about 600,000?., not a tithe of the amount yearly expended to support that ruinous national institution, the poor-house, scarcely more than the sum annually remitted by Irishmen in America to aid their families and the friends they left behind to join them. Of this sum the colonists are willing to defray one- third ; a large sum would be contributed by the emi- grants themselves, and the balance might be fairly divided between the parishes, the landlords, and the imperial government. The benefits would be mutual, the exports from the colony would increase propor- tionally with its augmented resources, causing a larger demand for labour at home and consequent reduction of pauperism, and employing capital more largely by decreasing its burthens. EMIGKATION. 327 In co-operating with the colonists in so national a work it is to be remembered also, " there is a tide in the affairs of communities as well as men." The colonists, if disgusted at our supineness and indiffer- ence, or disappointed by our want of sympathy in their vital interests, may seek and readily find in other countries, and by other means, the aid we deny them, and by which, if accorded, we should be ridding ourselves of a grievous burthen to add to our weal ; be bestowing a gift which would bless him that gives and him that receives ; be removing at once our shame and our curse, relieving the cries of distress and the pangs of hunger, wretchedness, and want, which stand in awful and ghastly propinquity to our wealth and luxury. 328 WEALTH OF NATIONS. CHAPTER XXX. WEALTH OF NATIONS COLONIAL CONNECTIONS VALUE OF COLO- NIAL TRADE AUSTRALIAN AND AMERICAN TRADE COMPARED BOILING DOWN TRADE WITH CHINA WINE GROWING WANT OF LABOUR ABROAD EXCESS AT HOME WASTE AND WANT. CAPITAL flies from the land oppressed by pauperism. Pauperism itself begets indolence, and degrades a whole people. It is the parasite of society carrying ruin and destruction in its embrace. " The prosperity of a people is proportionate to the number of hands and minds usefully employed. To the community idleness is an atrophy. Whatever body and whatever society wastes more than it re- quires must gradually decay ; and every being that continues to be fed and ceases to labour, takes away something from the public stock."* In pondering over a Nineveh or Palmyra these words of a great man are not without interest, but how much more so when applying them to our own * Dr. Johnson. COLONIAL CONNECTIONS. 329 country ! In former times emporiums of trade and commerce have grown to power and renown, but ripening to profusion and luxury have rotted away to the very dust, leaving scarcely a vestige behind them. Should it be England's future thus to decay, she will at least have accomplished a mighty destiny. When silence shall have usurped the busy hum of millions, and wastes or marshes cover the sites of her palaces and gardens, her language will be spoken in all quarters of the globe, and the institutions which she planted there will flourish everlasting monu- ments of her indomitable energy and vigour. However, it is to be hoped, that unlike her great rivals in historic fame, England may learn to see and avert encroaching ills, and avoid their desolation. As when plants of value have risen so thick together as to mar each other's growth, the prudent gardener thins them to another bed ; so should England thin the superabundance of her population betimes, ere the fatal blight sets in, preferring rather to send to her colonies the blessings of honest labour, than to pollute them by the presence of criminals and out- casts. The colonies, if properly treated, would be as new lungs to their wheezing apoplectic parent, giving plenteous supply of wholesome oxygen to invigorate its pampered frame ; they should be the pillars of the state, not the " Cloaca maxima." Hitherto they have 330 VALUE OF COLONIAL TRADE. been considered as receptacles for criminals, and as fields for place or patronage. By the following statistical figures it may be seen at a glance the excellent customers they are : this alone ought to have ensured them the consideration of " la nation boutiquiere." Prussia and its population take at the rate of 6d. a-head of our manufactures ; Russia, Sd. ; France, Is. 6d. ; the United States, 15s. 8d. ; Canada, 35s. ; the West Indies, 57s. 6d. ; the Cape of Good Hope, 62s. ; Australia, from *Il. to 10/. per head. Thus we perceive that the United States is more valuable to us than any foreign country, but less so than any colony. That it is so, results from the great British element it contains in the population, and as this decreases, and it becomes more peculiar and national in its habits, a decreased average of our trade will ensue. Our colonies, if abandoned by the Imperial Govern- ment, must look to their own resources, and we should probably find Australia seeking its labour in China, Canada recruiting its population from France, and the Cape in like manner from Holland, obtaining, with changed habits, from other markets those articles of commerce which are now drawn exclusively from home. The Americans already repine at taking so much of our manufactures ; they are envious at seeing their COTTON PLANTING. 331 own materials a source of so much wealth to a rival nation ; and, dissatisfied with then: monopoly of the raw material, would compete with Manchester and Liverpool As the Americans threaten to become in- dependent of her manufactures, it behoves England to ascertain whether she cannot reciprocate the civility by making herself independent of their raw cotton. Experiments have been made in India, but without sufficient energy to obtain any very satisfactory result. Egypt is already in the market. The deltas of the rivers on the Spanish Main might furnish a large supply of good cotton. Jamaica, Cuba, and Hayti would not be tried in vain, and the alluvial flats in the province of Wellesley (Straits of Malacca) ought to rival the best districts of America. The northern and eastern shores of Australia, though somewhat distant, it is well ascertained afford great facilities for the growth of both cotton and indigo. A considerable reduction of price would be the inevitable consequence of English success in cotton planting, and would afford the most legitimate means of crushing slavery, by rendering slave labour, which is more expensive than any other, unprofitable. In the early period of Australian sheep-farming the profits were very great. The annual clip of wool paid all expenses, while the increase of the flocks augmented the capital in a geometrical ratio. 332 BOILING DOWN SHEEP. The management of these farms was no great mys- tery ; a few months' experience qualified any adven- turer to carry on so lucrative a trade. There conse- quently might be seen retired sea-captains and young subalterns, masters of arts, and medical students, farmers, haberdashers, and schoolmasters turning the whole of their energies to the production of wool. The demand for sheep by speculators and emi- grants for a long time kept up the price of stock in the colony, while the produce maintained a high rate in the home market, only imperceptibly declining with the increased supply. As the sheep became more numerous they had to be drafted off and driven to more distant pastures, till at length, the utmost limit was reached to which it would pay, under ex- isting circumstances, to send the produce to market. Amongst the new expedients which have been adopted, is " boiling down ;" a process by which the tallow is extracted from sheep and cattle. This is found to pay a minimum price, that is to say, a price at which the farmer can reduce his stock without absolute loss. The great advantage of this system is, that it enables a farmer to cull his flocks and keep their numbers within the limits for which he has suffi- cient pasturage and labour. Sheep for boiling down fetch 5. a-head, if sold fat to a butcher they would bring about 7s. At Melbourne, there is an establishment calculated to consume one thousand sheep per diem. TRADE WITH CHINA. 333 The first official notice of this article of Australian commerce was in 1835 ; in which year the export was valued at 9,6397. In 1849, the quantity ex- ported was valued at 140,000/. ; to produce which, 64,000,000 Ibs. weight of meat was consumed, at an average value of one half farthing per pound. In the same year it is reported that " corn was shed for want of reapers, wool injured for want of shearers, lambs knocked on the head for want of shepherds." Whilst on the subject of Australian wool, I would point out a field in which experiments might be made with tolerable certainty of success, viz., China, in which country woollen clothing is much used, par- ticularly in the northern and eastern parts where the winter is very severe. It forms a considerable por- tion of the costume of the upper classes, and it is only from the inadequate supply and expense, that it is not used by all ranks instead of the inefficient clumsy substitute of wadded cotton, sheep-skins, and other cheap furs. The cloth which monopolises the market is Russian, manufactured in and about Moscow. It is carried by a long and expensive over-land journey through Siberia and Tartary to Kiachta, on the Chinese frontier, where it is bartered for silks, furs, and teas. With such disadvantages of carriage and market it has an extensive sale, and I have frequently seen it in Amoy, Ningpo, and Chusan, where it was in far 334 WINE GROWING. greater demand than the flimsy English, German, and Dutch habit-cloths which inundated the market. Australia produces excellent wheat, and abundance of Indian corn Olives, raisins, and figs, have been successfully grown and prepared as experiments, but the high price of labour would render it impos- sible for the colonists at present to contend with European growers even in their own markets. The culture of the vine is looked to as a source of con- siderable future profit. In 1848, 925 acres of land produced 103,606 gallons of wine and 1,263 gallons of brandy. The red wine is not unlike the lighter Burgundy vintages, and the white resembles, and is quite equal to the ordinary Rhine wines. None of it has yet found its way into the home market, the duty being the same as on foreign produce. If the same advantages were enjoyed as are conceded to the wine-growers at the Cape of Good Hope, there would soon be a considerable exportation. Indigo, which grows wild in the northern districts, and cotton, could be successfully cultivated. However, before these trades can be fully carried out, a supply of labour is indispensable. Sir Thomas Mitchell, in his evidence before the House of Lords, in 1847, emphatically declared, " that his land was useless, his money had been invested in vain he had invested 4,2007. which had never made any return, because he had never been able to employ labour on it," and he added EXCESS OF LABOUR AT HOME. 335 " that if the colonists could not obtain labour from England they must look for it amongst the islands of the Southern Archipelago." Let pseudo-philanthropists who deprecate encou- ragement given to emigration, and those who pay the poor-rates, ponder over this. New Zealand and Australia ought to be regarded as a portion of home, of England itself, where the same language, habits, and laws exist, where our old traditions and customs are cherished and perpetuated, and where in peace and plenty the best traits of our countrymen are evinced. In a well-regulated ship, the passage passes over pleasantly, and not unpro- fitably, as in a few weeks the pauper is removed from one part of the empire, where his presence is an opprobrium, to another, where his advent is hailed with joy. In Europe, competition has degraded below its proper level the value of the labourer and the me- chanic, and of almost every class not secured by vested interests. It is evident that labour may be too cheap for the good of a community. In Ireland, the price has been reduced to the lowest verge on which suffering humanity can be made to subsist. It is there the evils of pauperism would be first grappled with. The whole labouring population would, I believe, abandon their land for America or Australia if they had the means. Emigration is their dream, 336 WASTE AND WANT. their future, the only thing in which they place hope or dependence. If a path were to open through the Atlantic, like that through the Red Sea, an exodus of the whole of the peasantry would take place. The discussion of such a subject has a dread sig- nificance in this place, when it is considered that 64,000,000 Ibs. of meat were being boiled down in one part of the empire ; whilst in another part gaunt famine was ravaging the land, and, with pes- tilence in its train, was almost decimating the popu- lation. At the very time subscription lists were going round Sydney to raise money in aid of the sufferers, thousands of them might have found em- ployment at 307. a-year with a house and abundant rations as labourers or shepherds, whilst as mechanics, instead of starving, they might themselves have been employers. NOTE. Since the above sketch was written, vague rumours which had reached me in the wilderness I now dwell in, have been confirmed, and I learn that in Australia a British Cali- fornia has been found, giving a sustained impetus to emigra- tion and individual enterprise. An exodus seems declared, which, promising rewards to those who join it, leaves elbow- room for honest labour to raise its head at home from the misery and suicidal competition over-population had debased it to. As there are no circulating libraries in the wilds of Kaffraria yet, Her Majesty's post-bags form the only channel for the diffusion of useful knowledge, and one, to my sorrow, which the rebel Hottentots and Kaffirs occasionally are very suc- cessful in interrupting so that it is but through rare peri- EMIGRATION. 337 odicals I have heard of the " fields of gold," their rich crops, and the untold reapers flocking to the harvest. Such is the magnetic attraction of gold the " auri sacra fames " that it may divert the farmer ard merchant from their ordinary pursuits, and will cause my slight strictures on the " old staples " to be eschewed for others on " the recent born." But the diversion will not last long ; it will soon be found that gold, with all its syren charms, is valuable but as an article of exchange, and that a bale of good wool, placed in the market scales, may outweigh the purest nugget. By those who have wives and families, and cherish them, such a state of society as the gold districts present will be avoided ; they will still prefer living in comfort on a quiet farm, with moderate but secure gains, to searching for nuggets amongst the diggings of Bendigo or the gorges of the Devil's Creek with a crew of reckless adventurers as associates. To such my notes may still be acceptable. 338 INTERCOLONIAL TRADE. CHAPTER XXXL NEW ZEALAND. " See ! where the Southern Cross is hung on high, That mystic symbol glitters in the sky ; And beckons men across the pathless sea Lighted by that resplendent galaxy. And not in vain ! I see a pilgrim host Go forth to seek New Zealand's island coast, And found an empire which perhaps will last When England's name and glory shall be past." Fides Laici. INTERCOLONIAL TRADE GRAZING GROUNDS FINANCIAL EMBAR- RASSMENTS PECULIAR ADVANTAGES OF NEW ZEALAND HOME-LIKE ASPECT MOUNTAINS, PLAINS, AND RIVERS ANIMAL LIFE THE SEAL-HUNTERS BIRDS THE KAKA HIS ECCEN- TRICITIES DEPRAVED TASTES FOREST TREES THE PARASITE. BETWEEN the principal ports of New Zealand and Sydney there is constant communication ; till recently a great proportion of the supplies were drawn from the older and more advanced colony. New Zealand, how- ever, is thanks to her fine soil and climate and con- venient harbours rapidly becoming independent, and the intercolonial trade is already carried on, on a foot- ing of reciprocity. GRAZING GROUNDS. 339 Among the articles shipped to Sydney, pigs and potatoes make an important figure, besides spars, flax, and cordage for packing wool bales ; the trade in all of which finds, with each successive year, a steady development. Wheat, barley, oats, flour, and beer, will be even- tually largely exported to every port of the Pacific ; for which it is the natural and most convenient em- porium. From New South Wales to New Zealand the ex- ports are principally cattle and sheep to stock its green plains with, and keep down, within bounds, the too luxuriant vegetation which, in an apparently open country, frequently o'ertops the traveller's head. The verdant aspect of New Zealand contrasts strongly with the pervading sombre brown colour of the soil, and the almost black green of the foliage in New South Wales. In the latter country the sweet light grass is soon closely cropped by the numerous flocks, or else scorched up by drought, or the destruc- tive winds which often occur ; -while, in the former, an abundant moisture and more temperate climate give a constant vigour and freshness to both grass and underwood. The annual increase of sheep is found to be larger and the fleece heavier than in New South Wales ; either owing to a less pure stock, or want of care and attention, the wool is of an inferior quality. Q 2 34fO FINANCIAL EMBARRASSMENTS. Cattle likewise thrive wonderfully,' and with scarce any trouble to their owners. On their first arrival they are apt to suffer from a surfeit of green food, and from a species of madness caused by eating the leaves and fruit of the " tutu shrub," which sends them reck- lessly galloping over the country till they usually end their career with their lives over some precipice. Farmers now defer giving unrestricted liberty to their newly-imported cattle until they have gradually accus- tomed themselves to the rich feeding, and are supposed to have initiated themselves in the botanic peculiari- ties of their new quarters, and to know "what to eat, drink, and avoid/' At the period when I arrived in the colony it was seen to the very worst advantage : its finances were involved in almost inextricable disorder, the tenure of nearly every acre of land was disputed, the settler was dispirited, and the natives were in open rebellion ; add to this, that it was mid-winter and one of the most inclement seasons ever known, gales of wind and rain succeeding each other with untiring fury. From these causes I acquired " first impressions " the re- verse of favourable, as may be readily conceived. A lengthened residence, however, gave me ample time to analyze my prejudices, and at last I came to esteem the colony so highly that I do not now think there is any other spot so admirably adapted by nature to receive the Anglo-Saxon race, and nourish in it the HOME-LIKE ASPECT. 341 same vigour as in the parent stock. The climate would resemble that of the best parts of England, if the four winter months were omitted the thermometer hardly ever falling below 45 or exceeding 75. From the absence of frosts, trees are nearly all evergreens, and plants which are in England annuals here become perennials ; such is the vitality, that barley has been known to spring for three successive years from the same root the grass increasing, but the ear becoming smaller each year. Potatoes, when once planted, are with difficulty eradicated. Cab- bages (introduced by Captain Cook) grow wild over the country. Radishes reach the size of beet-root, yet perfectly sweet and crisp, and almost every plant and tree which flourish at home seem here to find a still more congenial soiL In a snug valley, by the side of a brisk stream or babbling brook, may often be found a neat home-like cottage, its porch smothered in vines, roses, or honey- suckles, whilst in the spacious garden, amongst the indigenous plants and trees, may be recognised many familiar importations the hawthorn, the yellow broom, the fragrant whin, oaks, elms, and beeches still in youth, peach-trees which scorn supporting walls, and apple, pear, and plum trees, which pro- mise to supply the rosy-cheeked urchins romping about them with grateful and savoury mementos of the fatherland they left so early. 34-2 MOUNTAINS, PLAINS, AND RIVERS. The temperate humid climate is thoroughly con- genial to all our good old national prejudices ; we have no other colony so well adapted to keep in its inte- grity the " amor patriae." The same habits, the same dress, the same furni- ture and penates, and a very similar diet, all tend to maintain the home feeling. John Bull is here every inch of him as much John Bull as when tilling land in Zummerzetsher or gracing knife-boards on metro- politan busses. The only thing likely to abstract him, were he capable of such weakness, would be the scenery. There is a wild Ossianic grandeur about it approaching to the sublime ; plain stretches beyond plain, hill beyond hill, and mountain beyond mountain, to where in the far distance they veil their heads in rolling clouds, or reach an altitude whence eternal snow sends forth the perennial springs, which, guided by a boun- teous Providence, fertilise the whole surface. There is none of the oppressive solitude of the impracticable desert, the barren heath, or the lone sea-shore. With prophetic eye, one fills each plain with well-ordered fields and comfortable homes, the hill sides with flocks and herds, and the swift waters with glancing sails. Attractive as it is, from the occasional rumble of an earthquake one might be led to infer that Nature had not even yet perfectioned and completed this VOLCANOES. 343 piece of her handicraft. Such occurrences would tend, I conceive, to somewhat mar the harmony of my previous remarks, unless I noticed their non-destruc- tive character " Vox et preterea nihil " they are but as the " old bogies " of our infancy, which are always going to, but never do, really swallow us up, and which, ere we have reached our teens, we entirely disregard. The volcanic summits of Tongariro and Teranaki overlook districts which bear strong evidence of their former propensity to break the peace and misconduct themselves. An immense surface around their base is covered with dusky pumice, amidst which, here and there, may be traced river channels high and dry, from which, by some subsequent upheaving of the soil, the waters have been ejected ; forests lay buried be- neath lakes, and ancient trees project horizontally from cliffs, and bluffs with many feet of strata, principally basaltic, accumulated above them. White Island, off Tauranga, a rugged sulphurous mass, is the only " crater " with a drop of spirit in it : its slight attacks of " delirium tremens," however, barely suffice to disturb the nerves of the newest comers. One of the most striking peculiarities of New Zea- land, and one eminently interesting to the natural philosopher, is the absence of native quadrupeds, which were only introduced by the white settler. It is 344. ANIMAL LIFE. related of the aborigines, that on their first seeing a horse and its rider, they were seized, as were formerly the Peruvians, with a panic terror, as though the gen- tleman in black himself had come amongst them ; and this was still heightened on witnessing its progressive powers. To a similar incident may the mythological Centaur of the ancients owe its birth ; and the valorous combat of the princely Theseus with dread demigods becomes reduced to a duel between a man a-foot and a man a-horseback. One might reasonably expect an abundance of bipeds to compensate for the lack of quadrupeds ; but such is not the case : birds are very scarce, and those there are are mostly endowed with strange idiosyn- cracies. The kuoi {Apteryx} is one of the most con- spicuous originals. There are, besides, some night- birds, unfledged, scarcely half made-up creatures ; hybrids, neither bird nor beast, freaks of nature, which cut a most curious figure. The intruder man has already extirpated some of these " rarse aves ! " among them the moa, a member of the emu tribe, is most to be regretted ; it must have long reigned supreme over the vast solitudes ; standing some fifteen feet high, it was at once the most important and powerful of living animals. There are strong evidences that this monumental bird existed up to a very recent date. I was myself informed by a trustworthy trader, that he once, in the BIRDS THE KAKA. 345 Southern Island, came across some moa bones, to which tendons still adhered. The apteryx and its tribe will also soon be extinct, though fortunately not before their peculiarities of structure and habits have been scientifically investi- gated. Amongst these unsocial and uncommunicative species^ the " tui " is a strong contrast ; familiar and saucy, he is a perfect host in himself ; he gambols in the air with grotesque jerks and summersaults, making at the same time all kinds of strange noises and sounds, occasionally interrupting a beautiful cadence with a sneeze or a cough, or other buffoonery : he is the merry-andrew of the forest, the happiest and mer- riest of the winged tribe. The little paroquet, "the kaka-riki," with green jacket and red vest, is, too much of a dandy to make himself otherwise agreeable ; but this is compensated by the grave antics of a solemn-looking brother of the same breed, " the kaka," a large bird, of reddish-brown plumage, not without a certain Quaker-like pretension in its sombre colour. In our stockade at Wanganui there were many tuis, kaka-rikis, and kakas, the pets of the soldiers. The kakas were most familiar : they might be seen at all times of the day strutting in and out of the huts, coursing one another in circling flights about the stockade, often ending them by plumping with Q 3 346 THE KAKA HIS ECCENTRICITIES. rude familiarity on the shoulders or musket of a sentry. On one occasion I met one of our kakas about a quarter of a mile from home. He was crouched under a fern-bush in great tribulation, caused by the attentions of a large kite swooping over head. On seeing me he seemed quite relieved from a weight of mental anxiety, and preceded me to the stockade with short flights, and an apparent satisfaction at his escape, which probably resolved itself into an instinc- tive resolution never to be caught out so far on a spree again. Flocks of wild kakas would sometimes pass over, causing great chattering and fluttering amongst their civilized relatives, but I believe without ever seducing any of them away with their tales of the merry green wood. The fact is, I am ashamed to say, that our kakas were sadly dissipated, with few natural unsophisticated tastes, as I shall make appear in the sequel When the town was attacked by the Maories, it was supposed that the firing would soon drive them all away ; but far from this being the case, they never seemed to be more at home, or in a higher state of exhilaration or animal spirits. The bustle and excitement appeared to be fully shared by them ; and to hear one kaka on the top of the flag-staff screeching to another on the kitchen chimney, who conveyed the intelligence to a third swinging on the THE KARA HIS ECCENTRICITIES. 347 mess-room door, one would almost swear they were deriding the efforts of the enemy against our strong- hold, or ridiculing the ducking and diving consequent on a shower of cannister or the booming of a shell. Like most pets, however, they were doomed to un- timely ends. Some had quarrelled with the dogs for bones, and got the worst of it ; the cat had been the death of more than one ; till at last their number was reduced to two. These twin survivors daily fell into worse condition, their feathers got more and more ruffled, and their appearance more seedy; it was supposed they were pining away for their departed playmates ; which pro- duced much sympathy as well for their sensitive temperaments as their forlorn condition. About this time, owing to a great increase in the numbers of our mess, a sideboard on which the dirty glass used to be placed, was tnrned out of the mess- room. One morning the mess-waiter, getting up rather earlier than usual, found the two kakas on the sideboard, staggering about in a helpless state of in- toxication. It was evident they had made beasts of themselves by sipping the half-empty glasses. This penchant was no sooner discovered, than they had a short life and a merry one, becoming the most con- firmed tipplers. Whenever grog was going, or a bottle cracked, they were of the party ; and I regret to say they might have been seen at all hours of the day 348 DEPRAVED TASTES. quite incapable of taking care of themselves, and they ultimately died from the effects of drink, and very nearly as " implumis " as their fellow-bipeds. This is but one of many instances I have known that men are not the only beasts given to liquor. I remember seeing a sheep a-board ship ,whose inclina- tions were decidedly intemperate. I have heard of pigs with similar propensities ; and I once had a monkey in China who did not put his glory in mo- deration when strong drink fell in his way, although his wretched hipped look after a debauch might have served as a " shocking example " to the whole monkey race. The whales, for which these coasts were once so famous, have entirely abandoned them, most likely for some less -frequented ones, where they are less liable to our active pursuit. Even the seal is driven from his haunts on the Northern Island ; and it seems in the Middle and Southern Islands they are rapidly disappearing. At Nelson I met with two men, who had in a small boat occupied themselves many months in their capture. The scenery which their arduous chase had led them into they described as of a grand and almost awful character; in some places snow- covered mountains seemed to overhang them, as, rest- ing in their boat in some sheltered cove, they watched their prey. Along the many hundred miles of coast they had skirted, they had not encountered a human FOREST TREES. 349 being : the wild curlew and albatross had been their only companions ; yet, far from disgusted with so solitary a life, they were hastening the sale of their furs to buy a few necessaries to go back to it again. So catching is enthusiasm, that I verily believe, had I been a free agent, I should have proposed to go with them. As it was, I was obliged to content myself watching their lug-sail as it bore them rapidly away, where they would have no collisions with the world, and where they could have few sorrows or vexations but such as their stubborn energy and hardy natures would easily surmount. Amongst the natural products of New Zealand, the forest-trees hold a prominent position. In variety, in size, and for useful purposes, they cannot be excelled. Of pines there are a great many sorts, with the magni- ficent kauri at their head. The totara, a heavy, close- grained, almost imperishable wood, becomes harder under water, and is particularly valuable for posts, sleepers, and piles. Many of the rivers have their beds full of its trunks, and they are not unoften found under the surface of the ground, in a thoroughly sound state of preservation. The kalukatea and rimu, resembling red and white pines, make excellent planking. The mai and matai, though of light colour, are pretty furniture woods. The karaka, not unlike a bay-tree, bears in the autumn large coloured berries, which the natives use 350 THE PARASITE. as an article of food, a circumstance which did not fail each year to give rise to " berry bad " puns. It would be an endless, and indeed useless task to de- scribe, unless scientifically, the infinite variety in which the forests abound. The above are the best known, and are the ones commonly made use of for native wants or for export. The parasites which cover the trees are in many instances extremely beautiful. The " tana " is by far the most remarkable of them : it first assumes vitality in the body of a caterpillar, somewhat larger and thicker than a silkworm, into which it has probably found its way as food. The young sprout quickly absorbs the vital moisture of the insect's body, chang- ing it into a ligneous substance resembling in material a dried chestnut. In this state it forms a root to the plant, which curls its delicate tendrils round some forest tree, as the ivy round an oak. Rapid in growth, it becomes each day stronger and stronger, till crushing to death in its iron embrace the pillar which supported its youth, it stands alone one of the finest and most vigorous of the forest trees, and perhaps the most valuable, as the timber, which is hard, tough, and crooked, is the best suited for knees of ships and like purposes. THE NATIVES. 351 CHAPTER XXXII. THE NATIVES THE MAORIE GIRLS INTERNAL GOVERNMENT OF THE TRIBES LIBERTY AND EQUALITY MAORIE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS RELIGION TAIPO THE TAMIVA THE PRANKS OF TAIPO WITCHCRAFT THE " TAPU " SACRED CHARACTER OF THE CHIEFS REFINEMENT AND MORAL CHARACTER. OF the many subjects for reflection in connection with New Zealand, that relating to the " aborigines " is far the most engaging. Their past extending scarcely beyond their own memories, their present a state of wonderful transition, their future one of great doubt yet hope, afford materials for more inte- resting study and speculation than those of any other savage race. Here, at least, there is a promise that the child of the soil shall have fair play ; that civilization shall take the shape of education and amelioration, that the bent of his naturally good disposition shall be trained in the right direction. We see almost a whole people from the depths of Atheism adopt Christianity in its purest and most 352 THE MAORIE GIRLS. uncompromising form. We see them submitting to subordination after an early life of uncontrolled licen- tiousness and crime ; and conning over the alphabet together may be found the innocent child and the grey-bearded warrior, who, in the stormy, days of his youth, would have hailed the advent of the " Pakeha- mentor," with an eye to the flesh-pots, to satisfy any- thing but a literary appetite. The goose would have stood great chance of being cooked, and the golden eggs would have been disregarded. It is most ha.ppy that a mutual liking has taken root between the English settler and the Maorie : the latter respecting the superior acquirements of the former, and willing to serve him that he may learn ; the former pleased with the good-natured, impres- sionable, manly character of his dark-complexioned associate. The Maorie girls, merry and feminine, with their fine eyes, supple figures, silvery voices, and playful coquettish manners, ensnare many a settler's heart, and greatly assist in cementing the good will and kindly feeling between the two races. The mixed offspring are highly prized and much esteemed by the maternal relatives. I remember in a pah of the Ngatiawas remarking two fair-com- plexioned boys with blue eyes and gentle winning air that was quite attractive. On speaking to them I was surprised to find they did not understand a word INTERNATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 353 of English, and it was then explained to me that they were sons of a matron of the tribe, and that their father, an Englishman, was dead. They were evi- dently treated with the greatest care and affection, and their neat dresses, and the consideration in which the chiefs held them, bore a marked contrast to the inferior regard shown their own children, who they seemed to think required less careful tend- ing than the little Pakehas (strangers.) The internal government of the tribes of New Zealand, it would appear, savoured somewhat of the democratic, neither chief nor arika pretending to dis- pose of the person or property of any freeman. Hereditary respect was entertained for the descend- ants of great chiefs, but its intensity depended very much on their own qualities. The position a chief held was purely that due to his talents, bravery, or liberality ; failing in these, he would be almost as little considered as any freeman of the tribe, and would possess no more influence or authority. On the other hand, one of the most obscure birth often attained great renown and power by exhibiting proofs of his capacities. The social organization admitting but of small dis- tinctions amongst themselves, they sought compensa- tion by subjecting their war-prisoners to slavery, or, in default of these, by degrading their women to the most menial duties. 354 LIBERTY AND EQUALITY. As the wealth and much of the importance of a tribe depended on the number of their slaves, the acquisition of them became one of the principal incitements to war. The necessity of a labouring class, or else of work- ing themselves, was obvious; rather than do the latter they instituted a system condemning to unredeemable slavery all men, women, and children taken in war, and so strictly was it carried out by all the tribes, that if any of them subsequent to their capture escaped back to their old homes, they were not improbably returned. Where indeed shall we seek for Utopian equality when the unsophisticated savage will rather endure all the ills of war and rapine, and the risk of his own liberty than recognise it ? Where does it, or did it ever exist ? Not in the model republic of the United States, where Brother Jonathan, indignant at any pretension to superiority over himself, holds his black neighbour in bondage. Not even in the Northern States, where the Irish and German emigrants are the hewers of wood and the drawers of water. There, as in Europe, are distinctions of caste and class the superior and inferior master and servant ; the wealthy merchant in his coach, the menial groom and coachman ; the luxurious aristocrat and the ple- beian shopkeeper ; and if the serving classes are somewhat less studiously polite, it may rather be LIBERTY AND EQUALITY. 355 attributed to a lower state of refinement than to any serious pretensions to equality. Whilst demagogues and specious sophists are con- vulsing whole nations to the catching tune of " Liberte, Egalite, FraterniteY' nothing surely can be misplaced which tends to prove its want of harmony. Liberte' uncontrolled is licentiousness ; egalitd a pleasing illu- sion ; fraternite the minion of our material interests ^combined they form discord. If otherwise, why are they not found amongst those very savages, which, according to Rousseau and his brother sophists, " are beings with all their faculties perfect from the hand of God?" Without class distinctions we should want the most powerful lever of civilization : by creating ambition, they arouse man's best energies to raise himself in his own and his fellows' estimation. They are one of the greatest characteristics of mankind as opposed to the wolves of the forest and the lions of the desert, or others of the brute creation, which alone live on terms of equality. The Root-digger of America, the Bosjesman of South Africa, and the Botecooda of Brazil, approach- ing nearest the beast, most nearly realise the state which the modern French school of philosophy would lead us to believe is perfect bliss. The Maories have no history, no songs or ballads ? 356 MAORIE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. and scarcely even the semblance of a tradition to roughly shadow out the past. No Homer or Ossian has handed down in popular strains the name of warrior, sage, or poet. No Druids or priests have kept alive oral traditions ; and there is barely an individual in New Zealand whose anti- quarian lore ascends beyond his own times. Their solitary tradition is, that they are descended from Maui, who, with a canoe-load of companions, male and female, and a supply of provisions, came from " somewhere," and settled here for the sake of the climate and benefit to his health. One or two little Anacreontic anecdotes, preserved in the " waiatas," or love-songs, are recorded of the immi- grants, which do not redound to their credit, and with these all traditionary evidence ceases. Whether Maui is another name for Noah, his big canoe the ark, and the yachting party the result of the Deluge, I leave to be settled by more competent autho- rity* * That this tradition is the property of the Polynesian race generally, and not of the New Zealanders in particular, there can be no doubt. Captain Cook gives the same progenitor to the Tahitians. The name will be found in Cook's voyages spelt " Emawe," which is Maui with the article E prefixed, '' E Maui ;" the same mistake is frequently repeated in other words, as " Eppah," for " E Pah," the village ; " Eatua," for " E Atua," a god. KELIGION TAIPO. 357 From these uncertain data there is a sad hiatus in Maorie chronology, the next fact rewarding one's researches being the arrival of Captain Cook in the island. This was a most important epoch in its history, the introduction by him of many plants and animals greatly ameliorating the condition of the inhabitants ; his name is most deservedly popular amongst them, and some few chiefs are still living who pride themselves on having seen him during his last visit. The Maories do not appear to have had any settled form of religion : their faith seems to have been con- fined to the acknowledgment of an " Atua/' or good principle, and of an evil one called " Taipo." Of the "Atua" very little information is to be obtained ; like the Confucians, the Maories appear to think that, if there were any gods, the less they had to do with them the better. " Taipo," on the other hand, and his Mercury, a mischievous water-kelpie, called "Tamiva," are con- stantly mixing themselves up with the domestic arrangements of the natives. Any unexpected ail- ment or calamity originating ashore is ascribed to " Taipo," whilst " Tamiva " deals in wrecks, inunda- tions, and all kinds of destructive pranks in and about the sea, lakes, and rivers. Near Taupo Lake, a few years ago, " Te Heu Heu," a chief of great renown, was overwhelmed by a land- 358 PRANKS OF TAIPO. slip, and perished, with some forty of his followers This was, of course, the work of " Tamiva ;" and there were not wanting individuals to aver that they had actually seen the monster rise out of the lake and upset the hill with a lash of his fishy tail The catastrophe by a sceptic might have been ascribed to the loose soil having become detached by the previous rains ; but then the story would have become a commonplace incident, quite unbecoming the great chief concerned in it. During the visit of a war party to Wanganui, some of the natives entered a deserted house that had been the residence of a settler, to see if they could pick up anything : they found in their search a bottle of what they took to be salts. All savages are fond of quack- ing themselves, believing that physic once taken will lie in ambuscade ready to grapple with disease when- ever it may appear. With this impression they divided their prize into equal parts, and took them off without a wry face. Presently they were racked with intolerable pains, and it was the general conviction that " Taipo " had got hold of them ; an opinion that was confirmed beyond all doubt, when they shortly died in dreadful agony. A chemist would, I suspect, have soon ascer- tained that " Taipo " had visited them in the shape of corrosive sublimate, an article in extensive use among sheep-farmers, but in this case diverted from WITCHCRAFT. 359 its legitimate ends to add to the ill fame of that sad dog " Taipo." Superstition flourishes strongly even where there is no religion; and it is exemplified in the case of the Maories, who, besides their established land and water fiends, are afflicted with ephemeral witches, to the full as mischievous as any of those described by the credulous Cotton Mather as destroying the holy peace of the Puritans of Connecticut and Massachusetts, until they were finally tackled and expelled by the exorcising influence of the tar-barrel and horse-pond. The witches in New Zealand were subject to no such puritanical persecutions, but cast their spells with perfect impunity. A few years ago young persons constantly wasted away and died, when they had once taken it into their heads that they were under the influence of " Makatu," a spell. I remember a girl about thirteen years of age, who was the merriest little grig in the place, always pad- dling about a canoe or swimming in the river, or singing " waiatas " on its banks ; suddenly she be- came possessed of a sulky demon that would not be coaxed or comforted. It was " Makatu," the spell was on her she pined away, and in a few days the young girls, her companions, were weaving coronals of Kuoi feathers in token of her death. It is only green youth, I fancy, that is, or rather was, for it is out of fashion now, liable to " Makatu." 360 THE " TAPU." It would require a very powerful exercise of super- natural agency, I conceive, to delude a tough old chief from the flesh-pots, or to frighten or to persuade him "to shuffle off the mortal coil," without very substantial reasons for it. The only practice that bears 'any resemblance to a religious ceremony is the " tapu," an ancient custom, which, in its origin, may have had something spiritual in it, but is decidedly now of a very material and matter-of-fact character. Neither are its imposers " the Arikis," or priest-chiefs, esteemed of a very sacred calling. Its principal object, it would appear, was to protect property. The Draconian punishment of death was the lot of any one breaking " the tapu," whether wilfully or unintentionally. It was, of course, of no effect when the parties tres- passing were strong enough to defy the imposers of it. A chief would frequently reserve an eel-pond or a favourable piece of ground for his own use by getting it made "tapu." The same ceremony secured his crops, pigs, and granaries against pilfering or inter- ference ; even young girls were not un frequently " tapu'd " to become wives of the chiefs when arrived at maturity. It was not unlike (only more effective) our own " Spring-guns set here." " Beware of man-traps I" " Whosoever is found trespassing, &c., shall be prose- cuted with the extreme rigour of the law," &c. &c. THE "TAPU." 361 A road or path, or particular tract of sea-coast, was frequently made " tapu " to annoy a neighbouring tribe, especially if a weaker one. The last of this kind was on a path through the Pukerna Bush ; at that time the only road between Wellington and the coast, and which was put on by Rangihaeta and Rauperaha to annoy the settlers and troops. They were not long in breaking it, and it was the first path I travelled over ; even the natives did not hesitate to make use of it when they found the imposers were not in a position to vindicate their prerogatives. Rauperaha and his people travel by the road them- selves now, although the " tapu " has never been formally taken off; this shows a relinquishment of the right, for a time at any rate, and the rapid pro- gress of the natives in the arts of peace will prevent its renewal A few years ago the heads of all great chiefs were smoked and cured, and made " tapu," after which, to touch them, or even to speak of or allude to them in any way, would be held an unpardonable offence, not unoften atoned for by the offender's blood. Igno- rance of customs so peculiar, and of other native prejudices, were doubtless the causes of many of the early massacres and fights with Europeans, which gave such an evil reputation to these islanders, and such ominous names to some of the bays and harbours. 362 REFINEMENT AND One instance of native susceptibilty to the point occurred soon after the arrival of the present bishop in the colony, when, indignant at some of his auditory thinking more of tobacco than his sermon, he apos- trophised a chief, who was quietly filling his pipe, " that while he was about it he had better stuff his ears also with tobacco." This was taken so ill by the bystanders, that the worthy bishop's wig was knocked over his eyes, and % he might have met with rough usage if the aggrieved chief had not interfered to protect him. The great similarity of language, and the practice of " tapu," strongly identify the Maories with the inha- bitants of Tahiti, Marquesas, and the other groups of the Pacific ; one looks, however, in vain for the " Morales " (semi-druidical temples), or for any of the purely religious ceremonies practised in those islands. In New Zealand human sacrifice was never made as a propitiation to their " Atua," but merely as an Epicurean indulgence. This absence of theological dogmas of their own has rendered it comparatively easy for the missionaries to sow the seeds of true religion. They had no rank weeds of superstition to root out, but found a new and virgin soiL The eagerness and sincerity with which they have almost universally adopted Christianity is very remarkable, and has tended greatly to forward their progress in civilisation. The first business of a MOKAL CHARACTER. 363 baptized native is to learn to read and write, an ac- complishment they rapidly acquire ; this, by consti- tuting him a pupil, accustoms him to a certain amount of subordination, and has the immediate effect of ren- dering him docile and considerate. 364 CAUSES OF CANNIBALISM. CHAPTER XXXIII. CAUSES OP CANNIBALISM EFFECTS OF FAMINE ON CHARACTER DECREASE OF THE NATIVE POPULATION REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS CONFLICTING INTERESTS NATIVE DOCILITY COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC SELECTION OF EMIGRANTS PROSPECTS OF SUCCESS WAITERS UPON PROVIDENCE " IT IS CONTENT THAT MAKES A MAN RICH." THE New Zealanders, until recent date, must have had a severe struggle for existence in a country almost without animals, with few edible plants, and where the kumera, their staple food, was of uncertain growth. With their scanty knowledge of agricul- ture, they had no remedy for a failing crop, but were driven for supplies into a life of the wildest adventure one day battling on the iron-bound coast against the winds and waves in frail canoes, another engaged in some bloody foray on a neigh- bouring tribe, or in the transport of the " opima spolia," some roasting chiefs, women, or tender suck- lings, as their luck would have it. The necessity for much exertion and the bracing climate developed their physical energy and bodily EFFECTS OF FAMINE ON CHARACTER. 365 vigour to a remarkable degree ; they are quite models of animal man, and their self-confidence and in- dependent bearing is in strong contrast with that of other members of the same origin, in Tahiti and the Marquesas, who, influenced by their exotic climate and the abundant natural supplies of even the luxuries of life, have become the most indolent effeminate voluptuaries in the whole globe. This physical superiority, it is evident, is mainly due to the necessity of active exertion, and the rea- diness with which they have embraced civilization is much owing to the same cause. They were not long in perceiving that their own labours gave but a pre- carious existence, whilst, when guided by the science and knowledge of the white man, they not only re. turned them secure harvest, but gave them a surplus to exchange and barter with against warm clothing, guns, or tobacco. These were positive benefits which they quickly appreciated to their full value. Since pigs and cattle have become plentiful, the practice of cannibalism is nearly, if not quite, extinct ; indeed, so unfashionable has it become, that most chiefs, at the mere intimation of its existence, are quite indignant. I must own, from a "petite con- fidence," which an elaborately tattooed friend of mine once made me over a pipe of cavendish, I have reason to believe (unless he hoaxed me) that an occasional pic-nic is got up away from the settlements. 366 NATIONAL TASTE FOR CANNIBALISM. The subject alone excited my guest to such a de- gree, that his mouth quite watered as he dwelt on the tit-bits, such as the feet, hands, and heart : I posi- tively felt uneasy in his company, and was only relieved on hearing the contempt with which he spoke of a white-bake as compared with a native. It was a national superiority he seemed quite proud of. It would appear we are but as " mutton " to their "venison." He criticised us as the Frenchmen do, on our want of piquancy, and most likely with better reason. I did not discuss the question with him, but congratulated myself that he did not know the super- ficial sauce they make in France to pass for sterling flavour. I trembled to think of Maorie "Chefs," composing " un settler Anglais a la sauce piquante," or unsettling a British authority by stuffing him with truffles. I reassured myself on considering the infant state of the culinary art here ; that so long as they can eat their tender brothers, they will not vitiate then- tastes on us. It has been satisfactorily ascertained that this national taste for cannibalism originated, not from any strong attachment to each other, as is said to be the case when pigs and dogs eat up their young, nor from any peculiar antipathy, such as that of the Kilkenny cats, but rather from the vulgar gnawings of hunger and famine, which I am inclined to think they suffered from much more frequently than is DECEEASE OF THE NATIVE POPULATION. 367 generally supposed. The scant population in a country so eminently adapted for its increase, and the disappearance of entire tribes from the localities they once peopled, are strong evidence of it ; the Ngati- kai-tutai for instance, so called from the garbage they were forced to subsist on when driven by dearth from their lands. To make believe that they have eaten up each other would be attributing far too capacious a swallow both to the survivors and my reader. I even doubt if Baron Munchausen's favourite charger would take it in. The incentives to cannibalism, except as a whet to a delicate appetite, or a desire to perpetuate a na- tional custom a sort of roast-beef-of-old-England feeling can never exist again ; each successive year bringing increased plenty to the land. The fear of famine would, however, appear to be an innate portion of the native idiosyncrasy even in the present day ; their greatest efforts are directed towards guarding and doubly guarding themselves against such calamity, by the storing of grain, the building of mills, and the opening of fresh pastures for the increase of their flocks and herds. In pro- portion as they surround themselves with securities of this class, they become a peaceable hard-working people. A few years of good government to merit their confidence, whilst allowing their old habits to be forgotten, will make a complete metamorphose of 368 NATIVE CEREMONIES. them, and render them valuable members of so- ciety. The commercial intercourse with the settlers, in changing the bents of their minds and pursuits, pro- mises also to make sad inroads on all their social customs and ancestral fashions, some of which were peculiarly original. Indeed, we may expect, at no far distant period, to find Maories seated in their dressing- gowns and slippers over the morning newspapers, or leading some aboriginal belle through the figures of a quadrille. Already if a Maorie with the least pretension to education meets a friend, he outs with his fist and reciprocates a squeeze instead of "rubbing noses," which under the old regime was the correct thing. Strange as such an operation appears to us, it would probably not be more so to an impartial observer than the rubbing of lips, with a kissing accompani- ment, which we ourselves are prone to indulge in. Whilst away in the interior of the island I once saw two chiefs, who had been long separated from each other, "rub noses" for nearly a quarter of an hour, lubricating them with plenteous tears of joy. This forcibly called to my memory a very similar exchange of feeling, which on my first continental trip, somewhere in the road from Berlin to Dresden, I saw take place between, not savage New Zealanders, but two bearded warriors of his Majesty of Prussia's NATIVE CEREMONIES. 369 bodyguard. This souvenir checked my rising laugh, and ere I had satisfied myself whether the Maories' behaviour was that of educated men or the dragoons' that of wild savages, the rub was over. In mourning for their dead the same indifference to solemn suits of woe is shown as Hamlet himself would desire. Their grief is put to a less superficial test ; as they are expected to cut and slash their persons with knives or broken glass in direct pro- portion to the respect and honour they bore the de- funct. These phlebotomising laments are the funeral pile immolation of the old Hindoos in a milder form. One almost regrets that the defunct cannot open his eyes just for a moment to evidence these patent indexes of the affection he was held in by his neigh- bours and relicts. I am not sure that a gone member of our own society, especially if expected to cut up well, would gaze under like circumstances on such marked proofs of his inheritors' regrets. Whilst on native ceremonies, it would be barely excusable not to touch on one of such palpitating interest as marriage. Here " mariages de conve- nance " are rather the vogue than " love matches those fascinating unions .which our mammas at home so deprecate and our sisters so much approve : one is, therefore, prepared not to find " i promessi sposi " overwhelmed in sentiment, but to see them engaged in a tooth and nail set-to the very wedding R3 370 NATIVE CEREMONIES. morning an augury of domestic bliss which the most sanguine matchmaker could barely think auspi- cious. These " lovers' 'quarrels/' until recently, always ensued ; the young and interesting brides, so contrary to the gentle docile behaviour of their white sisters under similar trials, evincing the most formidable resistance to enter the holy bonds of matrimony. There was no coaxing, or soft-sawdering a Maorie Beatrice ; unless the intended could carry her off by main force, spite her scratches and screeches, he went without her ; the match was considered off, and the young lady, with untarnished reputation, returned under her parents' roof to rejoice over her successful jilt. This anti-connubial spirit is easily accounted for. In a Maorie household the grey mare is barely ever the best horse ; she invariably becomes the drudge of her liege lord, who not unoften indulges in polygamy to a sultanic excess, whilst the single dam- sels the spinsters do just as they please, with no stern censors to check their little impulses, or lynx- eyed duennas to intercept " billet-doux " or disturb assignations. " Beauty's tints you know are sold, They lack them not who buy with gold " though a poetic libel on those it was written at, is very applicable to most savages, who delight in paint- ing themselves. The South Sea islanders to these superficial decorations add tattooing of a most elabo- ANECDOTE OF QUEEN POMARE. 371 rate character. They are sometimes years in the hands of an artist, anxious to send out a "chef d'ceuvre" from his studio, and the possessor of a well-chiselled countenance is a subject of as great envy to his companions as is the most buckish Adonis of London or Paris. Whilst on this topic I cannot resist recounting an occurrence which took place in Tahiti when the French established the Protectorate. Extensive preparations had been made by them to infuse as much dignity as possible into the ceremonies with which the hoisting of the tricolor and the decla- ration of the Protectorate were to be inaugurated. The most important part of the programme was the reception of " Her Majesty Queen Pomare" on board the flag-ship, to which several of our navy officers had been invited. The marines were formed in lines from the gang- way to the quarter-deck, the blue-jackets were stand- ing to their guns, and the Admiral, surrounded by a brilliant staff was advancing hat in hand, as her Majesty, in the midst of a roaring broadside, stepped aboard from her barge. To this point all had gone well and had been most decorous and becoming the dignity of the two nations concerned, when, as ill-luck would have it, the brawny chest and arms of a tar who was sponging the gun he had just fired caught the imperial eye, or rather, I should say, the designs and 372 ANECDOTE OF QUEEN POMARE. fancies with which they were covered. With one spring, regardless both of court etiquette and bowing admirals and sea captains, she was by the gunner's side, embracing him and scrutinising him in the most familiar manner ; her elegant Parisian toilette, a present sent by her "cousin of France" expressly for this occasion, was sadly rumpled and deranged by this behaviour. The general dismay was, however, heightened to desperation when her Majesty, lifting her brocaded skirt to an unusual altitude, exposed to the vulgar gaze a series of tattooed designs, which it was to be hoped, for the sake of propriety, had been executed in the privacy of her boudoir. After this ' inconvenance," any attempt at dignity in the cere- monies was out of the question, the more so, as " Her Majesty" refused to budge unaccompanied by her Jack tar. At the moment, more especially from the presence of the British officers, the French were extremely annoyed at the original proceedings of their Polyne- sian ally ; but I dare say, ere this, they have had many a laugh at it. Had she been allowed to wear her na- tional dress (undress ?) instead of the European finery, she might have compared designs with every sailor aboard without much breach of decorum. The attempt to pass her off as a perfect specimen of civilization alone gave zest to the affair. For more than a century after the first discovery of TRANSITION STATE. 373 New Zealand there exist barely any reliable records of their having been visited by the white man ; in- deed it was not till long after Captain Cook's voyage that the world would credit anything favourable of its inhabitants. Sailors listened, as children to ghost- stories, to the yarns " of the cannibals that eat each other, the Anthropophagi, and men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders," and they shuddered at the very thought of them. The discovery of their great aptitude for civilization is a thing of very recent date ; that it was retarded by the occasional massacre of a crew or settlers there is not the least doubt, and it is no less certain that these acts of bloodshed were chiefly caused by our aggressions and reckless disregard of their most che- rished customs and prejudices. Their " dark ages " are now luckily passed, and we are in a position to fairly appreciate the many good qualities of our coloured brethren. Their keen sense of right and wrong, their application and aptitude for learning, and their ready adoption of reformed habits, lead us to hope they may form an exception to most other savages, and that a day may come when we shall speak of them not only as useful members, but as intelligent subjects of our Crown. There is, however, it would appear, some inscrutable law of nature which will not admit of two races so dissimilar to live in contact. Neither the cruel op- 374 REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS. pressions of the Spaniards on the gentle Peruvians and Mexicans, nor the exterminating wars on the active " Red men " of the North, have been much more mortal than our mere presence in New Zealand. The fatal blight cannot be ascribed, as in some other similar cases, to " Fire-water," or dissipation, but must be looked for rather in the civilized customs introduced by us, which have thrown the Maorie into a " transition state " between light and darkness. That the fate may be averted which seems common to so many aboriginal nations, is to be sincerely desired, otherwise our fostering spiritual and material cares will have served no end, and our kindness will have been to them fearfully killing indeed. A question of vital interest to the welfare of the colony has for some time been agitated, and seems to have caused much diversity of opinion amongst its well-wishers ; I allude to the introduction of repre- sentative institutions, the captivating theories of which have hoodblinded many as to the difficulties which their adoption and practice are likely to give rise to here. Any form of such Government which does not admit the natives to a share, would be justly looked on by them with suspicion and dislike, and any legis- lative enactments which they might deem detrimental to their interests would give rise to continual ruptures, and be fostering discord between the races, which for CONFLICTING INTERESTS. 375 the well-being of both it is most essential should be avoided. On the other hand, if the chiefs should have their voice in the councils, it is to be feared many are not yet sufficiently enlightened to understand that their own partial and individual interests must be laid aside and thwarted where they interfere with the general welfare. The good understanding at present existing is mainly based on the confidence the natives have, that they are being ruled by the same authority which con- trols the settlers. From the Governor they can obtain both advice and protection, and they are much more likely to be satisfied with the redress of their grievances by the " white chief," an executive after their own minds, than the decrees of a convention, the organisa- tion of which is totally opposed to their customs. That the colonists should aspire to be their own masters is natural, but our right of holding them in pupilage must be incontestable, so long as they are not strong enough to protect themselves, or rich enough to pay the consequences of their own acts. Whilst the mother-country has to fee the " piper in extraor- dinary," and supply the troops, she would be prudent in any constitution she may vouchsafe, to reserve for the Governor-General an absolute veto to any acts of the Legislature he may consider endangering the peace of the colony. 376 COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC. It is strong evidence in favour of the Aborigines, that the Northern Island, which alone possesses an important native population, should be the one immigrants have mostly settled on ; preferring the use of their strong arms as labourers, and to trade with them, rather than lord it in unopposed supre- macy amongst the scarce tribes of Middle Island, which abounds in natural advantages. In it are immense tracts of land having no claimant, which might be appropriated by squatters, or leased or sold by Government at a somewhat more reasonable figure than II. per acre. There are splendid har- bours, the shores of the Straits enjoy a more equable climate than any other part of New Zealand, and no collisions with the natives are to be apprehended. A flood of immigration must sooner or later set in here, and I should not be surprised to find it some day made the head-quarters of the Government. New markets are rapidly springing up in the Pacific, in South America and California, and in China and Continental India, which promise to become, at no distant period, sources of considerable profit for New Zealand produce. An era seems approaching in which these colonies are to fill a more important part than they have hitherto done, and which holds forth promise that we shall obtain ample returns for the trouble we have been at in rearing them. SELECTION OF EMIGKANTS. 377 It cannot be too often repeated, that almost every article used by the settler is of home manufacture, and that the richer he becomes, the greater will be his consumption. His clothing, furniture, saddlery, hardware, &c., all come from some of our smoky old cities, and where in England he would spend ten pounds in this way he is able to spend a hundred here. Who are the persons best fitted to emigrate to New Zealand ? is a question very commonly asked. The labourer, mechanic, and small farmer, with sobriety and industry, acquire a position of comfort and security they could scarcely hope for at home com- petence is certain no one need fear to starve in old age, or tremble in calculating the means of support for an increasing family. Professional men have little chance, unless they can do something more than give advice on law and physic ; their best field is in a good old vicious state of society. Persons who emigrate " to make fortunes " will invariably be disappointed. There are many impediments to success on " a large scale/' where the resources of the country are unde- veloped, where labour is scarce, and where a large capital cannot readily find employment. Instances of large fortunes being made except in old countries are rare. In the United States even they are seldom made, and one may count the Astors and Girards, and two or three other millionaires that 378 PROSPECTS OF SUCCESS. have resulted from all its vast commerce. The Ark- wrights, Rothschilds, and Barings must be looked for at home, where labour illimitable is at the beck of capital. There are a vast number of persons in England existing on small incomes, who would find themselves in a perfectly independent position in New Zealand. A house and patch of land are attainable at a low rate, the necessaries of life are far cheaper, and no portion of the small income would be mulcted to pay taxes to support a crowd of paupers, to contribute to maintain a standing army, and to pay up arrears of national debt. Small capitalists would find a good opening, for with decreased expenses they would find in small placements a far higher rate of interest for their money. Those dissatisfied with home, before abandoning it altogether, should learn beyond doubt that they do so with good grounds of future benefit and advancement, and not act altogether on impulse, or from disgust at then: actual positions. " That what we have, we prize not to the worth Whiles we enjoy it ; but being lack'd and lost, Why then we rack the value, then we find The virtue that possession would not show us Whilst it was ours."* One daily sees in the colonies discontented people, dissatisfied with the land of their birth, and the * Shakspere. WAITERS UPON PROVIDENCE. 379 country of their adoption. People who are always agape for some windfall ; true waiters upon Provi- dence, doing nothing for themselves ; wishing to be back at home, elsewhere, anywhere rather than where they are, appearing to think change of place will make change of fortune full of " Distempered, discontented thoughts, Vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate desires, Blown up with high conceits, engendering pride."* This class unhappily is found among those who can do most mischief, people who have received some education, and who, having failed in one or other of the professions, go abroad with exaggerated notions of their own importance, and of the facility with which they will attain that eminence withheld from them at home. Disappointed in these romantic notions, and incapable or unwilling to avail themselves of the real advantages within their grasp, they become confirmed railers against the authorities who do not give them place, they sneer at those who plod along the path over which they expected to fly, and find nothing good because not to their taste. There is another class of weak, poor creatures, in- capable of shaking off old habits, notions, and pre- judices, who find nothing good that is new. They pine for home for the sake of the morning paper, the accustomed beer, and the comforts they have letf * Milton. 380 CONTEXTMK.N't. behind them, incapable of appreciating the inde- pendence and improved position for which they have exchanged them. The latter should say to all tempters who would lure them from their old chimney-pieces in the words of dear Sancho Panza, " How much better off should I be if I remained at home with my wife and my children, to feed and bring them up on what God's Providence may be pleased to give me, instead of following your worship by roads where roads ihere are none, and by paths and byways that lead to nowhere, and with little that is good to drink and still less to eat."* * Cervantes. ' . LONl OX Printed by ScLulze and Co., is, Poland Street. 9