# Illustrations of China and Its People/Volume 2

ILLUSTRATIONS OF
CHINA AND ITS PEOPLE.
VOL. II.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHINA AND ITS PEOPLE.
A SERIES OF TWO HUNDRED PHOTOGRAPHS, WITH
LETTERPRESS DESCRIPTIVE OF THE PLACES
AND PEOPLE REPRESENTED.
BY J. THOMSON, F. R. G. S.
"Of Sericana, where Chineses drive
With sails and wind their cany waggons light."
Milton, Paradise Lost, Book III.
IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOLUME II.
LONDON:
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW, AND SEARLE,
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET.
1873
[All Rights Reserved.]
CHISWICK PRESS :—PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKINS,
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Plate I. 1 Bamboos at Baksa, Formosa.
Plate II. 2 Pepohoan Female Head.
3 Pepohoan Female Head.
4 Pepohoan Female Head.
5 Pepohoan Female Head.
6 Pepohoan Male Head.
7 Pepohoan Male Head.
Plate III. 8 A Pepohoan Dwelling.
Plate IV. 9 Pepohoan Women.
10 Mode of carrying Child.
11 Costume of Baksa Women.
12 Lakoli.
Plate V. 13 A Country Road near Taiwanfu.
14 A Catamaran.
15 Chain Pumps.
16 Rock Inscription, Amoy.
Plate VI. 17 Swatow.
Plate VII. 18 A Pagoda near Chao-chowfu.
Plate VIII. 19 Chao-chow-fu Bridge.
Plate IX. 20 Cantonese Boy.
21 Cantonese Merchant.
22 Mongolian Male Head.
23 A Venerable Head.
24 A Labourer.
25 Mongolian Male Head.
Plate X. 26 Headdress of Cantonese Girl.
27 Winter Headdress.
28 Coiffure of Swatow Woman.
29 Coiffure of Swatow Woman.
30 Coiffure of Ningpo Woman.
31 Coiffure of Shanghai Woman. ​
Plate XI. 32 Actors, Ancient Marriage Costume.
33 Actors, Ancient Marriage Costume.
34 & 35 Ancient Costumes.
Plate XII. 36 Island of Kulangsu.
Plate XIII. 37 Amoy Harbour.
Plate XIV. 38 Amoy Women.
39 The Small Foot of a Chinese Lady.
40 Amoy Men.
41 Male and Female Costume, Amoy.
Plate XV. 42 Foochow Arsenal.
Plate XVI. 43 Foochow Foreign Settlement.
Plate XVII. 44 Yuenfu Monastery.
Plate XVIII. 45 The Abbot and Monks of Kushan.
Plate XIX. 46 Old Junks.
Plate XX. 47 Part of Foochow Foreign Settlement.
48 Terracing Hills.
49 Foochow Field Women.
50 A Memorial Arch.
Plate XXI. 51 Foochow Coolies.
52 A Foochow Detective.
53 The Chief of the Thieves.
54 Beggars living in a Tomb.
Plate XXII. 55 The Sedan.
56 A Military Officer.
57 The Plough.
58 A North China Pony.
Plate XXIII. 59 Fruit.
Plate XXIV. 60 The Tea Plant.
61 The Tea Plant.
62 Yenping Rapids.
63 A small Rapid Boat.
Note. — The numbers corresponding with the above list will be found marked in the lower left comer of each subject. ​
BAMBOOS OF BAKSA.
THE bamboo is one of the most serviceable plants of Southern China, for which reason I have assigned it an important place in this work. But its uses are not confined solely to the south, where it grows in greatest perfection. It figures extensively in the social economy of the people throughout the length and breadth of the Empire. Were every other means of support withdrawn, except bamboos and rice, these two plants would supply the necessaries for clothing, habitation, and food, indeed, the bamboo alone, as I propose to show, would bear the lion's share of the burden. No tending is needed for this hardy-natured plant, nor is it dainty in the choice of its locality, for it grows with equal vigour on the thin soil of rocky hill-sides, and in the well-tilled fields or gardens of the valleys below. It towers a stately clump of giant grass, one hundred feet or more in height, spreading out its leafy tops in graceful plumage and forming a thick, strong fence with its straight tough stems beneath, while its pale green foliage casts a grateful shade over the dwellings which it hedges around. The traveller, if he takes notice of the habitations of the Chinese, cannot fail to discover that both in the style of construction and ornamentation much has originally been derived from the bamboo, as well as from the tent of nomadic life. Thus, in the rude homes of the villagers, the stout stems of the plant are still used for the main supports and frame-work. The slender stalks are split into laths, and the leaves furnish a covering for the walls and roof. In dwellings of greater pretensions, and in temples where brick and mortar have been employed, the painted and gilded hardwood beams have been fashioned to imitate the bamboo stems. The waterways along the roof partake of the same type, and the white plastered panels are embellished with spirited drawings of the much-loved bamboo. I will now glance at the duties which this plant is made to discharge in the domestic economy of the dwelling. Within, hanging from the rafters, are a number of hooks of prickly bamboo, and these support pieces of dried pork and such-like provision. There are rats about, but the prickles threaten with their cJtevaux de /rise, and recall the motto of Scotland to the mind— "Nemo me impune lacessit." In one corner are a waterproof coat and hat, each wrought out of leaves of bamboo which overlap like the plumage of a bird. Elsewhere we see agricultural implements, principally fashioned out of bamboo, and Indeed, except the deal top of the table, the furniture of this simple abode is all of the same material. The fishing-net, the baskets of diverse shapes, the paper and pens (never absent, even from the humblest houses), the grain- measures, the wine-cups, the waterladles, the chop-sticks, and finally the tobacco-pipes, all are of bamboo. The man who dwells there is feasting on the tender shoots of the plant, and if you ask him, he will tell you that his earliest impressions came to him through the basket-work of his bamboo cradle, and that his latest hope will be to lie beneath some bamboo brake on a cool hill-side. The plant is also extensively used in the sacred offices of the Buddhist temples. Strangely contorted bits of bamboo root are set up in the shrine. The most ancient Buddhist classics were cut on strips of bamboo. The divination sticks, and the case which contains them, are manufactured out of its stem, while the courts outside the temple are fanned and sheltered by its nodding plumes.
It is impossible, in a volume such as this, to enumerate all the varied uses to which the bamboo is applied, or to form an estimate of its value to the inhabitants of China. Thus much, however, I may unhesitatingly affirm, that so multifarious are the duties which the bamboo is made to discharge, and so wide-spread are the benefits which it confers upon the Chinese, as to render it beyond all others the most useful plant in
THE NATIVES OF FORMOSA.
THOUGH the whole island of Formosa forms part of the Fukien province of China, the aborigines there still occupy, as independent territory, the mountain ranges that cover the central portion of the island, from its northern extremity to its southernmost point, as well as the spurs of their main chain, which, jutting in bold, rocky headlands into the sea, to the east present a wild, rugged coastline, where neither harbour nor anchorage ground, as is alleged, can be discovered. Thus, while the savage tribes are effectually shut in, their more civilized neighbours, who have driven them from the fertile plains on the west to seek shelter in their mountain fastnesses and forests, have never yet succeeded in their furtive efforts to advance. There are still, however, several aboriginal tribes, who dwell in what we may properly term Chinese ground, who are controlled to a certain extent by Chinese jurisdiction, and who are known to the natives of Amoy as Pepohoan, or "foreigners of the plain." The settlements of these Pepohoan are scattered throughout the inland valleys and low hill-ranges at the western base of the central chain. The subjects of the illustration are taken from the Pepohoan of Baksa, a village about thirty miles inland from the capital, Taiwanfu, and they may be regarded as the most advanced types of those semi-civilized aborigines, who conform so far to Chinese customs as to have adopted the Amoy dialect, the language in use among the colonists from China. The men of Baksa wear the badge of Tartar conquest, the shaven head and the plaited queue, attributes of modern Chinese all over the world. The women, however, show a more independent spirit, and adhere to their ancestral attire, one that closely resembles in its style the dress of the Laos women whom I have seen in different parts of Cambodia and Siam. It will be readily perceived by those who have lived in China and in the Malayan Archipelago, that the features of the types here presented display a configuration more nearly akin to that of the Malay races who inhabit Borneo, the Straits settlements, and the islands of the Pacific, than to that of the Mongolian, and Tartar tribes of China. This affinity of race is indicated still further by the form and colour of the eyes, the costume, and by the aboriginal dialects of the people of Formosa. I am not aware that there is throughout the island any trace of the woolly-headed negro tribes found in the Philippines, on the mainland of Cochin China, in New Guinea, and elsewhere, and supposed by some to be the remnant of the stock from which the original inhabitants sprang. The Spanish traveller De Mas asserts that the negroes and the fairer races of the Polynesian Islands speak a common language, and that the Malays are the joint descendants of a pale-faced tribe, which at an early period overran the islands, drove the darker and weaker race to the hills, and retained the women for themselves. This theory would apply to all those islands where negro races exist; but there are many like Formosa, on which no trace of the negro can be found, and where the language affords clear proof of a Malayan origin. As already noticed, I have been much struck with the points of similarity between the Laos, the Pepohoan, and the Malays, as well as by the resemblance which all these races bear in common to the Miautse of China. My own observations on the last point find confirmation in illustrated Chinese books, and other evidence derived from Chinese sources. The Rev. Mr. Edkins is of opinion that the Burmese, the Laos, and the Shans are allied to the Lo Lo of China, as well as to the Li of Hainan. I believe that the Li are related to the Formosa aborigines, and the language of the latter leaves no doubt of their Malayan origin. Traces of the Malay language may be found extending over seventy degrees of latitude and 200 of longitude. In the table subjoined, I have contrasted the Formosa numerals with one or two examples taken from ​ the languages spoken in the islands of the South Pacific, and I may add, that a more extended comparison of the vocabularies of Formosa and the Pacific Islands only tends to prove the common origin of the whole of the races who people them. The relationship of these islanders to the hill-tribes of Eastern Asia would seem to point to that part of the world as the early home of the fair, straight-haired races who inhabit the islands from Formosa to New Zealand, and from Madagascar to Easter Islands. This theory would account for the total extinction of the negro race in the islands nearest the coast of China, as well as for the circumstance that they are still found in abundance in the remoter islands, such as New Guinea, where the negroes have been enabled to hold their own against such small numbers of pale invaders as would have been able to reach their shores. In the intermediate islands the blacks have been driven to the mountains and forests, and in the north they have disappeared entirely, and given place to the fairer and stronger race. The illustrations Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 are female, while Nos. 6 and 7 are male heads of Pepohoan.
NUMERALS OF FORMOSA, MAGINDANO, AND ISLANDS OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN.
| English. | Malay. | Samobi Tribe, Formosa. | Banga Tribe, Formosa. | New Zealand.2 | Papous de Waigiou.3 | Philippines. Bisaya.4 | Magindano.5 |
| One | satu | itsa | lenga | tahi | sai | usa | isa |
| Two | dua | lusa1 | noosa | rua | doui | duha | daua |
| Three | tigga | toroo | toro | toru | kioro | tolo | tulu |
| Four | ampat | sipat | pa’tu | wa | fiak | upat | apat |
| Five | lima | lima | lima | rima | rim | limk | lima |
| Six | anam | unam | neuma | ono | onem | uniem | anom |
| Seven | tugu | pito | pito | wtu | fik | pito | petoo |
| Eight | d’lapan | aloo | nevaroo | waru | war | ualo | walu |
| Nine | sambilan | siva | bangato | iwa | siou | siam | seaow |
| Ten | sa’pulo | poro | porooko | ngahuru | samfour | na’pulu | sampoolu |
1 In this example, lusa signifies " two," while in Malay the same word means " the second day." Throughout the above examples the numeral "five" is, with two exceptions, represented by lima. Tbe late Mr. Crawfurd has, in one of It is Essays, drawn attention to the faet that lima, in some African dialects, signifies "hand."
a Gaussin, " Du Dialecte de Tahiti," &c. 3 "South Sea Vocabularies," D'Urville.
A PEPOHOAN DWELLING.
THE houses of the Pepohoans are tolerably clean, well-arranged, and comfortable, and present a striking uniformity of design in the different settlements throughout the island. The entire dwelling makes up three sides of a square, of which the portion in the rear is occupied by the family, while the two wings are invariably used for sheltering cattle, pigs, and poultry. In No. VIII. the rear and right wing of one of these Pepohoan village dwellings are shown, the left wing being exactly a counterpart of that on the right. The plot of ground thus enclosed Is divided into two parts, the outer one, flanked with rough bamboo cattle-sheds, being employed for storing their simple farm implements, and for drying produce, while the inner one forms a raised clay platform for family use. On this space of hard level clay the most valuable produce is dried and prepared for the market. Here, also, the villagers meet in council or celebrate their festivals, and drink in company when the night has closed in. Whenever it has been decided to hold a feast, the firstborn son of the household, dressed in something like a bath towel, and tiara of fern-leaves, is sent to announce to the hamlet that his parents are to be at " home." Then merry guests troop in, the old and infirm to squat and cackle round the blazing logs that redden the coppercoloured group, crowning the sombre palms with golden crests, and shedding a weird reflection on the bamboo foliage around. The elders pile on reeds and wood, and the young men and women dance in the firelight to the time of a wild song, until the night is far advanced. The inner raised platform serves, however, for other purposes than these, and one of the most important is to keep the house dry during the wet season, when the surrounding fields are flooded. A number of domestic shrubs and trees are planted about the enclosure, as, for example, the papaya, shown in the right of the picture. This plant yields abundant fruit, is easily grown, and, like the cocoa-palm, reaches greater perfection, and affords more food, as well as ampler shelter, when near a dwelling, than if cultivated with the greatest care, in the centre of some pleasure-garden apart. The low, broad-leaved shrub growing against the house, above the two small baskets, is tobacco, and this they dry for smoking themselves. Their pipes, I may add, are also cut out of the roots and stems of their own bamboo. This tobacco is of a fine quality, but they frequently use it when still rather green. Another shrub, indigenous, I believe, to the island, is a description of trailing vine, known to the natives by the name of " Oigou." This yields an abundant supply of small seeds, which, when soaked in cold water, produce a firm, delicious, amber-coloured jell)".
The apartments in the rear, where the family dwell, are approached by means of a passage. This passage is protected from the heat of the sun by a walled screen of small bamboo. The entire structure, indeed, may be said to be built of the same material, for this plant nowhere grows in greater perfection than in the south of the island. A strong framework of bamboo supports the bamboo lath-work of the walls, the beams are of bamboo and so also are the rafters, while leaves of bamboo supply the thatch which covers the roof outside. The walls when completed are plastered over with mud, and sometimes also are lime-washed. The floor, as I have already explained, is formed out of hard-beaten clay. The furniture consists of a few bamboo articles of Chinese workmanship, supplemented with rough billets of wood for sitting on. One or two matchlocks, some bows, arrows, spears and fishing-nets, garnish the rafters, and depending from these, as I have noticed elsewhere, are jagged hooks of bamboo used to protect provisions from the large species of rat that ​infests the Pepohoan dwellings. These rats are cleverly caught in a simple and ingenious bamboo-trap, which was to me the most attractive article the houses of this simple people had to show. It is, indeed, a most effective instrument, and as a plump rat is esteemed a choice delicacy, it must have been the reward promised by successful captures, that awoke a spark of genius in the mind of its inventor. Pity to think that he rested on his laurels ever after, a contented rat-catching, rat-eating Pepohoan! Many of the articles in use among the aborigines, such as matchlocks, spear-heads, gunpowder, and cloth, are of Chinese manufacture. The natives have no regular trades. To till the soil, and to prepare its produce for the Chinese market, are the only
occupations which they know. ​
TYPES OF THE PEPOHOAN.
SMOKING is a favourite pastime among the Pepohoan of Formosa, men, women, and children all smoke alike. Their pipes they cut out of the nearest bamboo brake, carving and ornamenting them to suit their respective tastes. The pipe is their solace when labouring in the fields, and the companion which beguiles them when at rest. A pipe is among them as acceptable a love token as a jewelled ring would be with us. My readers therefore, looking at No. 9, will all allow that the pipe in the lady's mouth, which might, but for this explanation, appear a violation of good taste, is a characteristic as essential to her as a sunshade in summer to an English beauty. The two figures represent an old and a young woman of Baksa. The face of the younger is well formed and lit up with a mild and kindly expression, common to her race. Time deals hardly with the old women of Baksa; they soon become haggard with toil and exposure, and lose all trace of the comeliness which graces their early years; but there are many who, like the crone in the illustration, tight a stubborn battle against fate, dressing always with neatness and care, and gathering their jet black and glossy hair beneath their smooth blue turban folds. All honour to these matrons of Baksa. Theirs is a good honest struggle in the open field against the ravaging inroads of time. The most battered veteran of the tribe would scorn to shield her weakness and infirmities from the enemy behind the earthworks of paint and powder, false fronts, or dye. The bronzed and furrowed cheek, and the grey locks of old age meet everywhere with respect, and would even command a safe passport through the territory of a hostile tribe. The short blue or white jackets with their bright coloured borders are alike in both figures. The custom is to bring the flap of the jacket over the left breast and to fasten it. Whereas their Chinese neighbours bring the upper fold of the jacket over to the right and then button it. The lower robe or covering of the Pepohoan women resembles the Laos longuti, and the sarong of the Malays. The material is a dark blue cotton cloth. It struck me that in dress, in general appearance, and in many other points, the aborigines of Formosa bear a remarkable resemblance to the Laos tribes of Cambodia and Siam.
Unlike the Chinese, the marriage ceremony of the Pepohoan is a very simple rite, indeed, the woman seems most decidedly (in places where Dr. Maxwell's mission labours are unknown) to carry off the better half of the transaction. She it is who selects a husband to suit her own fancy. If provident she will choose a man noticed for his health and industry, as it will be his task to till the ground and to make himself generally useful in her father's household. Should he fail to come up to her expectations, she may divorce him at any moment and marry anew.
As to their religion, the fetish worship anciently practised is fast giving place before the zeal of one or two devoted Protestant missionaries, who have made many converts. According to their original faith the world has existed from eternity and will endure without end. They also believe in the immortality of the soul, and that the wicked will be punished, and the good rewarded, after death. Their chief idols are supposed to represent a male and a female spirit. The only example of their idois which I was allowed to view were in a house at Konganah, and were exposed to our vulgar gaze with the greatest possible reluctance. These images were standing against the wall of a dimly-lighted chamber, alive with spiders and festooned with cobwebs. The female idol looked like a stunted may-pole, with the skull of a deer fixed by the antlers to the top. The ​stem of the pole was wreathed with withered flowers. The male idol reminded me of a child's bamboo chair, it too supported a skull, as well as one or two wine-cups used in making offerings. The house in which I saw these idols was close to a Christian chapel which the natives were erecting for themselves. There are now over i.ooo native Protestants in the south of the island, and they build their own chapels, and make them as nearly as possible self-supporting.
These aborigines possess no musical instruments, but they sing simple and plaintive native airs full of minor passages. Such melodies indeed as one would expect to find among the captive or oppressed.
No. 10 shows the mode of carrying children, and the coiffure adopted by Pepohoan women of the more inland tribes, and among the purely savage mountaineers.
No. 11 is a full-length type of a Baksa girl, and No. i 2 represents part of the village of Lalung, where we had hoped to fall in with a party of savages from the mountains. The son of our host, having lost his wife, had gone off" to the neighbouring mountains to secure another bride. He was hourly expected to return escorted by a party of her savage kinsmen whom the lady would command as an escort. Here, as indeed at most of the
places visited, we were hospitably entertained. ​
A COUNTRY ROAD NEAR TAIWANFU.
BEFORE I quit Formosa I must afford a glimpse of the sylvan groves round Taiwanfu, the capital, as shown in No. 13. In the old forts Zelandia and Provincia, and in the noble parks within the city walls, traces of the early Dutch settlers may still be discovered. A tragic history attaches to Taiwanfu. It witnessed that fierce struggle which closed with the final expulsion of the Dutch in the year 166 1, and then on the 1 ith day of August, 1842, the parade ground beyond the northern gate was reddened with the blood of 197 of our countrymen who had been cast ashore upon the island; but before this massacre was over a fearful storm burst upon the scene, and raged without ceasing for more than three days, swelling the rivers and flooding the land, and destroying nearly 2,000 lives. An aged Chinaman remarked to my friend Dr. Maxwell, in allusion to the incident, "It was a black day for Formosa, that nth of August." Many other events, no less calamitous, and of still more recent date, might be recorded of this city, which happened about the time of the storming of Anping, when our late and much-esteemed consul, Mr. Gibson, by his prompt and vigorous action, saved the lives and property of the foreign residents at the port. As we stroll through the parks or outer lanes of Taiwanfu, we shall discover nothing in their still and peaceful environs to remind us of the fierce conflicts that have raged within the city. The whole vicinage now wears an aspect of quiet repose, disturbed only by the drowsy hum of the produce-laden cart as it wends its way to market, or by the merry voices of children at play. The carts I have referred to are peculiar to the island, and I will therefore endeavour to describe one. The distant sound of a cart as it traverses the dry road on its drier axles, recalls, strange as it may appear, the full mellow tones of an organ. The whole contrivance is made of wood bound together with ratan. It is carried on two wheels, each a solid wooden disc of about four feet span. These vehicles are drawn by the huge Water buffalo, a brute alike remarkable for its sleepy aspect, its great working power, and for its docility among friends. But it is distrustful of strangers, and fierce, destructive and uncontrollable when its fury has been aroused. Then its giant horns become the most formidable and deadly weapons. Yet I have seen these unwieldy animals rolling in the shade with a group of children hanging about their horns, peering into their mouths and nostrils, or catching flies on their black, india-rubber-looking backs.
The lanes of Taiwanfu are commonly between two cactus hedges gay with the major convolvulus, the fuchsia and many other wild flowers. Their blossoms show out brilliantly against the background of green, while overhead the bamboo rears its stately plumes and branches to form a pointed arch of shade above the path. The slender stems nod to every passing breeze, and fitful gleams of sunshine light up the flowers and foliage beneath. A scene more bright and beautiful could rarely be found.
No. 14, the catamaran of Formosa, is an ingeniously constructed raft for landing in rough weather on the western coast. At Taiwanfu, there are several miles of shallow water to be encountered before we reach the shore, and the sea breaks with great violence there during, at least, four months of the year. The raft is made of bamboos which have been bent by heating them, so that they form a slightly hollow vessel. The poles are lashed together with ratan, and a space, or interval, is left between each for the free passage of the water. In the centre of the raft a block is fixed, and in this the mast is secured. Passengers are accommodated in a tub placed to the rear of the mast. This tub is merely laid on the raft, without any fastening whatever; it is therefore ​not uncommon for the tub with its occupant to be carried off the raft and washed ashore. My own experience of the catamaran leads me to believe that it would be dangerous, and at times impossible, to land without it.
No. 15 was taken on the left bank of the Han river above Swatow. The banks of this, in common with the other streams of China, are high above the water during the dry season, and at those times chain pumps are employed for irrigation. A pump of this sort is simple and ingenious; it consists of a long square wooden tube into which an endless chain is fitted, carrying a series of wooden diaphragms separated about six inches from each other. The diaphragms descend over guiding rods above the tube, and return again with a rapidity sufficient to raise the water in a continuous stream. At its upper end the chain traverses a wheel having a series of spokes, or treadles, outside, and it is by working these with the foot that the chain is made to revolve.
Bold rocks abound in and around the harbour of Amoy; inscriptions are to be seen on their most prominent surfaces. Plate No. 16 gives a specimen of these rock inscriptions, which usually relate to incidents of local
history or tradition. ​
SWATOW.
THE Chinese town which foreigners know as Swatow was first made an open port in the year 1858. It is built at the mouth of the Han river, on its eastern bank. The Han flows through a very populous and fertile section of the Kwangtung province, and affords at its entrance a spacious harbour where the largest vessels may anchor. Hence the great commercial importance of this place, which in 1842, for the first time, attracted the notice of foreign traders, and has, since that date, risen to be of considerable importance. But the progress of trade, as well as the development generally of this part of the province, has always been retarded by the lawlessness of the resident population. Of late years, as I have already noticed, the district has been reduced to comparative order by the vigorous administration of Juilin. The natives of Swatow speak a dialect which differs from that in use among the Cantonese, and, like the Hakkas, they appear to have sprung out of some stock originally distinct from the Puntis of Kwangtung, with whom they are continually at variance. Taken altogether, the people of this province, which is about as large as Great Britain, have probably been more difficult to govern than any other community throughout the vast empire of China. Moreover, this part of the country has ever been the favourite resort of robbers and rebel bands; constantly torn by internal strife and commotion, or overcome by foreign invaders. At one period a kind of republic was set up, at another it has constituted an independent kingdom, the nucleus of a southern empire which did not tender its full submission to the empire of the north till about the middle of the 10th century.
It is to the Munchus, the present rulers of China, and to the close contact of Western civilization, that the province owes its greatest prosperity. Between the years 1842 and 185 1 an unrecognized foreign community had established itself on Double Island, four miles, or thereabouts, below the present settlement of Swatow. The latter place was commenced in 1862 by the consent of the Chinese government, on a site opposite the native town and underneath the Kah-chio hills. No. 17 gives a view of the present state of the settlement just referred to, and was taken from the heights above the residence of Messrs. Richardson and Co. The hills of the locality are nothing more by nature than barren granite rocks. This granite is sometimes in a state of decomposition, but much of it also consists of solid boulders, bare and exposed, and resting like monuments on the tops and sides of the hills. In spite of these disadvantages, the rich soil of the plain has been imported, and round the foreign houses the sterile slopes and valleys have been transformed into flower gardens and close cropped lawns. As might have been anticipated, a thriving village has sprung up in the neighbourhood to supply the wants of the foreigners.
The European houses are chiefly built of a native concrete made of the felspar clay which abounds in that vicinity, mixed with shell lime. This concrete hardens in process of time into a stony substance. Within, these houses are adorned with a profusion of finely moulded cornices and panel-work in the ceilings. These are made by native modellers, who have carried their own branch of art to a high pitch of perfection, and have made it a speciality in Swatow. Birds and animals, flowers and fruit, are formed by these craftsmen with artistic skill, and in free and graceful designs. The artizans are paid but poorly for their labour,— so poorly that their condition is little above that of the ordinary coolie. I was much interested in watching these needy men at their work; ​they do everything by hand with the help of one or two small trowels, the thumb and fingers coming in for the most delicate touches of the design.
The fan-painters of Swatow enjoy a wide-spread reputation. There are, however, only two or three shops where the highest class of fan-painting is practised. The pictures on the fans of this sort are remarkable for the delicacy and beauty of their colouring, as well as for the variety of their designs, and for the grace and accuracy with which the drawings have been executed. I found the artists who engage in this work seated in small apartments, each one on his opium couch, and it is while under the exhilarating influence of the drug that the finest pictures are produced. The Swatow fans are not only greatly sought after by foreigners, but find a good and ready market in all parts of the empire.
The annual value of the trade of Swatow has been nearly tripled since i860. In this part of the Kwangtung province sugar and rice are extensively grown. The cultivation of sugar-cane and the manufacture of sugar are industries modest in their aspect, and making but little outward show, as indeed is the case with most of those other pursuits which produce such great results in China. The total area of land under cane cultivation is great, but the farms are small. Each small owner tends his fields for himself, and has a small sugar-mill of his own in the midst of his farm. The crushing-stones of this mill are set in motion by buffaloes, and about one picul of raw sugar per day is the average yield of each mill. Thus, it requires many mills and many owners to furnish an annual supply of something like 800,000 piculs of sugar to the market.
Paper, china ware, pottery, grass-cloth and sugar, these form the chief articles of exportation from Swatow, while opium and piece goods are the principal merchandize imported. In 1870 the total value of the imports and exports at this town was about two and a-half millions sterling.
Every year sees an increase in the number of emigrants who leave this part of the province to work on the plantations of Cochin China, Siam, and the Straits of Malacca. More than 20,000 such persons are computed to have left the port in 1870, and we may be sure that the price of labour in China is at a very low ebb when we find that wages from two to three dollars a month are all the inducement held out to emigrants, and that such a sum as this is esteemed by the toiling poor sufficient to enable them to save money to invest in farming on their return to their own country. Chinese labour is much esteemed in the Straits, and I know from personal
observation that coolies from China work much better on a plantation than do natives of India or Malays. ​
A PAGODA IN SOUTHERN CHINA.
THIS picture presents a type of the numberless pagodas which are scattered over the south of China. The one shown here stands on the right bank of the Han river, near Chao-chow-fu, and, like all the best examples of such edifices, the whole ground structure up to the first story is composed of stone. Within, a winding staircase gives access to the seven stories of which, as may be noticed, the tower is made up, and at each story there is an inner flooring or platform to correspond with the terraces outside. These terraces were originally surrounded by massive stone balustrading, resting on solid ornamental brackets of the same material. The balustrades have in many places been broken away, but what still remains is sufficient to show the beauty and skill with which the stone slabs are dove-tailed into the uprights of the balustrade. It may be computed from the figures shown in the upper terrace that the height of the structure is about 200 feet. This pagoda of course commands an extensive view of the river and the country around, suggesting the idea that such edifices were originally intended as watch-towers, whence the advance of an enemy could be readily discerned. This theory is corroborated by the circumstance that pagodas are much more numerous in those parts of Southern China which have been subject to invasion, and whose history, from the earliest times, is a record of warfare and strife. The positions in which these pagodas were built also seem to indicate that they were intended to serve as beacons and watch-towers, for they almost invariably are found to occupy some commanding height close to the banks of a stream. They are on all hands admitted to have been reared as monuments during the early history of Buddhism in China, and I contend that the promoters of the new faith must have profited by their hard experiences when driven out of India, and shown determination to guard their faith and the relics of Gotama from surprise in a new country. Pagodas appear to be confined solely
to China. I have seen nothing like them in Cambodia, Siam, or in any other country where Buddhism prevails. ​
CHAO-CHOW-FU BRIDGE.
CHAO-CHOW-FU, the prefectural city to which Swatow forms the port, stands on the Han river, thirty-five miles above its mouth. The surrounding country is highly fertile and productive. When Swatow was thrown open to foreign trade, a British official was appointed to reside at Chao-chow-fu, as it is the seat of the local government. The attempt was made on several
occasions to establish a consulate within the city walls, but the consul was repeatedly attacked by the turbulent mobs for which the place is notorious, and the project was ultimately given up. This tendency of the city roughs and villagers to attack foreigners met with a temporary check in January, 1869. A boat from H. M. S. "Cockchafer" had proceeded up the Han to Otingpoi for the purpose of exercising the crew. The villagers assembled, many of them " in puris naturalibus," and commenced chaffing and pelting the sailors. Efforts made to seize the ringleader were vigorously resisted, and as the villagers, armed with guns, spears, and other weapons, began to assemble in great force, our crew were at last obliged to take to the boat, where they were fired upon and eleven of their number wounded. In this disaster the Chinese mob had greatly the advantage of our men, as they could fire in security from the shelter of the high banks of the stream. This outrage was promptly redressed by our government, who dispatched a party of 500 men to storm the offending village. The result of this strong measure presents itself in the ruined houses and in the cringing civility of the natives about six miles round the spot. This part of the Kwangtung province has always given great trouble to its rulers; indeed, they have been obliged at times to leave their subjects to settle their own disputes by a system of clan and village warfare. As a rule the population in the rural districts are, when fairly treated, of a peaceful and inoffensive character. Under the strong hand of Juilin, governor-general of the two Kwang provinces, disturbances and riot have been summarily suppressed. These clan fights have done not a little to promote the China coolie traffic in its most revolting type, in supplying emigrants.
Chao-chow-fu is a walled city of considerable size and great commercial importance, as one may gather from its extensive warehouses, the busy traffic of its streets, the number of native craft that throng the river on which it stands. The bridge over the river is, perhaps, one of the most remarkable in China. Like old London Bridge, with its shops and places of business, the bridge at Chao-chow-fu affords space for one of the city markets. It will be seen from No. XIX. that the houses on it are built of light material, in a very primitive style, and are supported in such a way as to allow a maximum of market space on the causeway; while from a purely sanitary point of view, the house projecting as it does over the water, offers many advantages. The mode of supporting these structures displays considerable ingenuity. The only brickwork employed rests upon the bridge, and by its weight gives stability to the double brackets that project to support the lighter portion of the houses. I shall have an opportunity in another part of the work, of showing examples of the ingenious and beautiful modes, by which the Chinese support the roofs of their temples and palaces. Although these bridge- dwellings possess few attractions apart from their breakneck style of architecture, it is pleasing to notice some evidence of refinement in the flowers that adorn the verandahs, and that are to be found, indeed, in the humblest dwellings in China. If unexplained, it would be puzzling to find out the use of the two wooden frames which hang suspended from the bridge. They form a kind of moral or mythological drawbridge, ​which, when let down, is supposed to prevent the passage of boats and evil spirits beneath the bridge till darkness gives place to sunrise.
During my visit, the only foreigner in the city was the British vice-consul. When taking the illustration, I endeavoured to avoid the crowd by starting to work at daylight, but the people were astir, and seeing my strange instrument pointed cannonwise towards their shaky dwellings, they at once decided that I was practising some outlandish witchcraft against the old bridge and its inhabitants. 1 he market stalls were abandoned, and for aught I know the shops were shut, that the barbarian who had come to brew mischief for them all might be properly pelted. The roughs and market people came heart and soul to the task, armed with mud and missiles, which were soon flying in a shower about my head. I made a plunge for the boat, which was fortunately close at hand, and, once on board, it told to my advantage when 1 charged a ruffian with the pointed tripod as he attempted to stop my progress. My camera lost its cap, and received a black eye of mud in exchange. For myself I sustained but little damage, while it may be fairly said that the bridge was taken at the point of the tripod. ​
MALE HEADS, CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN.
THE subjects of this plate are types of the male heads of China and Mongolia, No. 20 being that of a boy of the upper or most highly educated class, the son of a distinguished civil officer of Canton. He is a fine, attractive-looking little fellow, his full hazel eyes beaming with kindliness and intelligence. The almond form and oblique setting of the eye, so peculiar to the natives of the south, is well brought out in this picture. The face is altogether a pleasing one, but, as is common among children in China, it will gradually lose its attractions as it grows to maturity. The softness of the eye is then frequently replaced by a cold, , calculating expression, the result of their peculiar training, and the countenance assumes an air of apathetic indifference which is so necessary to veil the inner feelings of a polished Chinese gentleman. No. 21 will convey an idea of what this bright little fellow may in time become. It shows the head of a full-grown Chinaman, though of a somewhat lower grade in the social scale — a man whose natural shrewdness and capacity for business have helped him on to a successful mercantile career. The cap he wears is that common in the south during the summer months. Nos. 22 and 25 give the profile and full face of a Mongol. This type belongs to the north of the empire, and the features here are heavier than those of the pure Chinese; indeed, the face, taken as a whole, approaches more closely to that of the European cast. The Mongols wear the head wholly shaven, and in this practice they differ from the Chinese, who invariably carry a plaited queue. No. 24 presents the head of an ordinary Chinese coolie, a fine specimen of the lower orders in China. A man of this sort has enjoyed no opportunities of taking on the polish which is acquired by study and by the high experiences of official life. He is, as a rule, a kindlydisposed person, quite alive to his own interests, and endowed by nature with a profound contempt and compassion for all barbarians who dwell without the pale of Chinese civilization. This will account for the expression he is casting upon me as I am about to hand him down to posterity to be a type of his class. He is thoroughly honest and sincere in his views, wishing in his heart, when kindly treated by a foreigner, that his benefactor had enjoyed the exalted privilege of being born a Chinaman, and that he may yet, in after periods of transmigration, luckily attain to that dignity of birth in some future state. No. 23 is a very old man, with the number of his years, one might almost fancy, registered in the furrows of his brow. He is a labourer, and, although over eighty, still earns a living as a porter; his white hairs and woefully curtailed queue gain him much
respect and consideration among his neighbours. ​
CHINESE FEMALE COIFFURE.
THE hair of the Chinese is uniformly black, or very dark brown, which colour is clearly seen when a single hair is viewed beneath the microscope by strong transmitted light. Their hair, too, is uniformly straight, and the men all wear the queue, while the women dress their tresses into a diversity of artistic forms to suit the prevailing fashion of the locality in which they reside. Thus No. 26 shows a young Cantonese girl of the middle class wearing a head-dress which consists of an embroidered belt of satin, ornamented with artificial Bowers, and kingfishers' feathers, and fringed with fine black silk depending from it in front to match the hair, which is cut straight across the forehead. It is a comely face, but before many years are over the natural peach bloom of her young cheeks will be replaced by the fashionable patches of vermilion which conceal the careworn features of married serfdom in China.
No. 27 shows the covering worn by the women of Southern China during the winter months. It consists of a square embroidered handkerchief of cotton or silk, folded diagonally and tied by two of the ends beneath the chin. No. 28, a young Swatow girl, exhibits one style of coiffure adopted in that part of the province; while No. 29 is another fashion belonging to the women of the same place, but of a different clan. The facial type presented in this picture is one peculiar to certain of the natives of Swatow. The nose is prominent, well-formed, and straight, the upper lip short, the teeth white and regular, and the chin well cut. As will be observed, the chignons are each of them different, and all alike deserve careful study by the ladies of Western lands. The dressing of the hair into fantastic forms is naturally a difficult task, and one which, most probably, would shut out spurious imitators in our own country, for few could throw their whole mind and energy into the work. In China, with these women, the hair is only done once or twice a week, necessity requiring the wearer to economize time. With a view to avoid injuring the elaborate coiffure during sleep, the lady supports the nape of her neck upon a pillar of earthenware or wood, high enough to protect the design from being damaged. In our land this device would imply a sacrifice of comfort, and here and there a case of strangulation would ensue; but no very grave objections could be raised to the novel chignon and its midnight scaffolding, when the interests of fashion are at stake. No. 30 is the chignon par excellence. The lady who wears it is of Ningpo extraction, and by profession a barber, who also makes wigs and chignons for sale. No. 31 gives the quaint mode of dressing the hair jn vogue among the women of Shanghai; these conceal their raven tresses beneath a black
velvet snood edged with white or pale blue, and remarkable for its quiet simplicity. ​
CHINESE ACTORS.
THE theatre and dramatic performances are highly esteemed in China as a means of entertainment during festive seasons.
The attraction of a play will draw business men away from their occupations for days together — a circumstance which proves that the well-regulated Chinaman, however actively he may be engaged, whether in the affairs of the State, or as a hewer of wood and drawer of water, has, after all, leisure at his command for enjoyment which, nowadays, in countries of Europe more enlightened than his, is unknown to more than a few. It has been incorrectly stated that there are no buildings expressly constructed for theatrical performances to be found in China. There are, indeed, none in the majority of Chinese towns; but in Peking, and in some other cities which I visited, edifices designed and solely used for dramatic performances do exist. Hongkong, for example, contains two large and imposing theatres, built by Chinamen and devoted exclusively to the representation of Chinese plays.
In style these two playhouses present a compromise between the plan of a European theatre and that of a native one. There is the pillared portico outside; the business-like check-taker planted behind a small window within; and there are one or two officers to keep order. The interior contains rows of private boxes, curtained and elegantly fitted, where gentlemen can enjoy privacy with their wives and families, and where tables, bedecked with fresh flowers in pots, are used for tea-drinking purposes. The arena is filled with benches; and, besides this, there are upper and side galleries, where cheap accommodation may be secured, and where vendors of cake, fruit, and tea, drive a flourishing business when the house is full. The stage, as in Europe, is illuminated by footlights; but no scenery of any kind is employed, — indeed, scene-painting and scene-shifting are arts unknown to the Chinese. The musicians sit upon the stage behind the actors; and the latter enter or make their exit by two curtained doorways through an ornamental partition which divides the stage from the green-room behind.
There are numerous bands of strolling players, and they may be hired to perform in private dwellings, in temples, or even in sheds erected in the public streets on the occasion of entertainments given by the wealthy to the poor of their neighbourhood. The duty of providing dramatic performances is also at times imposed by way of a fine upon some member of a guild for a violation of its laws. I remember witnessing the close of an open-air performance which had been given by a merchant on the river-bank at Hankow.
An audience of the unwashed and unperfumed had gathered in thousands on the bank of the stream, and were so closely packed together that the bare shaven heads reeking beneath the hot sun looked like a pile of wet turnips, each dotted with its point of bright sunlight. It was near nightfall, and the crowd had been collected there throughout the day. When it dispersed, old men were to be seen limping to their long-neglected duties, Women were bawling for their lost children, dogs that had been shut up in the throng, howled in the joy of freedom. Lewd fellows mocked the obscene gestures of the comedian, and of this motley crowd nothing in a few seconds remained. The scaffolding of the temporary' stage was left to await a continuation of the play on the succeeding day.
Chinese actors, if popular, are well paid. They must, however, be men of considerable ability, and gifted with retentive memories, for when they are called on to perform at a feast, it is usual for some favoured guest to select one out of a score or two of plays to be then and there enacted; and many of these actors may have to sustain half a dozen different parts. Although well paid they enjoy few privileges, and are not even allowed to compete at the literary examinations. ​
The female characters are, as a rule, played by young men or boys, although on one or two occasions I have seen them enacted by women. The dresses usually worn are costumes belonging to the ancient Chinese dynasties, and the garb of the conquering mandarin is studiously avoided.
Nos. 32 and 33 represent actors attired, one as bride and the other as bridegroom, in the costume attributed to the period of the Mings.
Plates 34 and 35 exhibit dresses of the same epoch.
The dramatic parts assigned to females are sung in a shrill piping voice, while the tone of the male is pitched to suit the character represented. This peculiarity has obtained for Chinese theatricals the pigeon English name of " sing-song."
To the uncultivated foreign" ear the effect of the band is extremely discordant, as each performer appears to confine himself to his own ideas of tune and time, irrespective of the efforts of his neighbours, some of whom appear to be making frantic efforts to blow their brains out through the brazen instruments. There are, however, occasional solo parts not devoid of a certain quaint charm to the European ear.
The Chinese drama more nearly resembles the romantic plays of modern times than any of the classical models of Europe. It has no heed for the niceties and refinements so prized by Athenian ears; and its works are of a mixed character, in which tragedy and comedy alternate or combine. As was the case with Greece, some of their dramas are founded on mythology— the " Khan-tsieu-now," for example, where " la premiere scene du premier acte se passe dans le ciel, et la seconde sur la terre." ​
KULANGSU.
THE island of Kulangsu, in the Fukien province, forms part of the western boundary of Amoy Harbour, and presents a picturesque appearance when viewed from the granite heights of Amoy Island opposite. It was from these heights that the two photographs No. 36 were taken, but they lack the warm colouring and the green slopes which intersperse them. We miss, too, the bright patches of cultivated garden ground, and the belt of yellow sand which rims like a golden setting round this island gem. The girdle of the deep blue sea lends additional beauty to this charming spot, which owes so much to the effect of colour. Scattered over this small island is a native population of more than 3000 souls. Many of these are fishermen, and as Kulangsu is the place where the bulk of the Amoy foreigners reside, a considerable proportion of the local inhabitants are engaged in supplying the wants of the Europeans. Before the capture of Amoy by our forces on August 27th, 1841, this island, along with the others which surround the harbour, were strongly fortified with batteries, so as entirely to command the mouth of the harbour. Many of these defences had been thrown up only a fortnight previous to the time when they opened fire on our ships. The forts themselves could not be silenced until our men had disembarked and driven out their gallant defenders. The latter fought bravely enough, and it is recorded by Dr. Williams, that their heroic leader, Kiang-kiyun deliberately drowned himself in
the harbour to escape the disgrace of surviving his defeat. ​
AMOY HARBOUR.
AMOY was one of the earliest ports to which foreigners resorted. About thirty-six miles north of this place is Chin-chew, known to Marco Polo by the name of Taitun, and, about the beginning of the ninth century, the centre of the local export trade. Amoy harbour is one of the finest on the Chinese coast, and at the points from which plate No. 37 was taken, is more than 800 yards across, thus it offers abundance of anchorage-ground for vessels even of the largest size. There is a maximum difference between high and low water mark here of about eighteen feet. The action of the tide has corroded the basis of many of the bold rocks inside the harbour basin, and a notable instance of this is to be seen in the upright mass of granite which stands in the foreground of this picture, and which is known by Europeans as " Six-mile Rock," and by the Chinese as the "Sail Windlass Rock."
To this pinnacle of stone, popular superstition is attached, for the natives look upon it as a kind of guardian genius who has control over the fates of Amoy. When this rock falls (say the credulous) Amoy will fall too. So year by year additional props are planted beneath its gradually diminishing base. In 1544 the Portuguese attempted to establish a settlement on this part of the coast, but the authorities there, more fortunate than they have been since in Macao, made the place too hot to hold the intruders. In 1624 a second attempt to tap the commercial resources of the district was commenced by the Dutch, who endeavoured to establish themselves on Fisher's Island. This position they afterwards exchanged for Formosa, and from the latter they were finally driven in Koksinga's time. Amoy was thrown open to foreign trade by the treaty of Nanking. The chief exports from this part of Fukien are sugar and tea, a great part of the latter article being grown in the north of Formosa. The import trade is now very much in the hands ofc the Chinese merchants, who avail themselves of the coast steamers to run to Hongkong to buy their wares, and who, if persons of respectability and standing, find every facility afforded to them by the banks in carrying on their commercial undertakings, however small their own capital may be. The irregular, illegal system of inland transit dues is very damaging to foreign trade, and effectually excludes European wares from many of the marts of the interior. Goods on being transported inland, although they have paid the legitimate port dues, are subject to a system of irregular taxation or squeezing, the amounts which are levied fluctuating with the need of the local officials at different points along the route.
During the war, a tax called lc-kin was also imposed to meet the military expenditure. This tax is still levied on foreign merchandize at Amoy, while Swatow and the other ports on the coast, except Formosa, are none of them similarly burdened. Part of the carrying trade from this port to Formosa, Singapore and Batavia is still done in junks, for these, as I believe, are less heavily taxed than square-rigged ships.
The photograph shows that part of the native town of Amoy where the offices of foreign merchants have been
built, the town itself stands on the west of the island from which it takes its name. ​
AMOY WOMEN.
MANY are the old women whom I have seen, and many are the nationalities to which they have belonged; but, in justice to them all, I feel bound to admit that I have not found one who does not possess the little "tache" of nature which makes them akin — a predilection, that is, for sitting and talking about their neighbours' affairs, and for gossiping over the tittle-tattle of the place where they reside. The two old women of my illustration proved no exception to the rule. I fell in with them as they stood in confabulation, and suggested that they would find it easier if they were to sit down to their work. At the time I arrived the elder of the two — she with the black patch on her temple — was recounting the hours of suffering caused her by an acute headache, and how the physician had effected a cure by applying a small round piece of black plaister. This, when removed, she would stick dutifully upon the doctor's door, as a proof of its efficacy in alleviating pain. Her companion is employed by foreigners to nurse their children; she is a woman of a kindly nature, who does her own duty well, but carefully abstains from putting her hand to extraneous work, or drudgery of any kind. To her mistress she is cheerful, civil, and obedient; but her vocabulary to the children under her charge is not always the most select; indeed, she has a ready knack of showing her displeasure, by a free use of vile epithets which their fond mother is fortunately unable to understand. The pay of a good nurse in China is about ^24 a-year, out of which sum she has to find herself in food. See No. 38.
SMALL FEET OF CHINESE LADIES.
THIS picture, No. 39, shows us the compressed foot of a Chinese lady, and I regard it as one of the most interesting in my collection. Who the lady is, or where she came from, I cannot say. I had been assured by Chinamen that it would be impossible for me, by the offer of any sum of money, to get a Chinese woman to unbandage her foot, and yet gold and silver are arguments in favour of concessions which operate in the Celestial Empire with more than usual force. Accordingly, all my efforts failed until I reached Amoy, and there, with the aid of a liberal-minded Chinaman, I at last got this lady privately conveyed to me, in order that her foot might be photographed. She came escorted by an old woman, whom also I had to bribe handsomely before she would agree to countenance an act of such gross indecency as the unbandaging the foot of her charge. And yet, had I been able, I would rather have avoided the spectacle, for the compressed foot, which is figuratively supposed to represent a lily, has a very different appearance and odour from that most beautiful and sacred of flowers. Nothing would persuade the lady to raise her dress just high enough to show her ankles. The process of compressing the foot begins in early childhood; the bones of the instep being gradually bent down by continual bandages till they meet the heel in such a manner that the smaller toes almost disappear and become entirely useless. The cripple is thus reduced to supporting herself on the great toe and the ball of the heel. Dr. Dudgeon says, " The os calcis from being horizontal becomes vertical, and its posterior surface is brought to the ground. The bones of the instep are pushed out of their place and made to bulge, thus giving a great prominence, and an arched crescentic form, resembling the new moon, to that part." The points, then, upon which the foot rests, are the heel in its new position, the ball of the great toe, and the fourth and fifth toes, whose upper surfaces ​have now become parts of the sole. Grave doubts exist about the origin of this artistic deformity of golden lily feet;” some say it was a jealous husband, who, as already noticed, crippled his wife, that she might thus be more inclined to cultivate the pleasures of home. It is however related that his intentions were disappointed, for that the lady limped about upon her “golden lilies” and flirted abroad as before. The baneful practice is supposed to have come into fashion about the tenth century of our era. It is argued that it cannot have been of great antiquity, because Confucius and the early writers are silent on the subject. Tradition affirms that in 1122 B.C. an imperial lady had club feet, and that, in order to conceal her own defects from her lord, and keep him a stranger to the fair proportions of the feet of her maids, she ordered them to be bandaged. But, be the origin of the custom what it may, there can be no doubt, that it has been in vogue as a distinctive and peculiar institution among the Chinese for centuries past, and it is as much a mark of high breeding with their ladies, as vulture-claw nails are with their gentlemen. We despise so ridiculous a usage as this, but the following extract out of a native work will serve to show that the Chinese return us the compliment, and criticize us for deformities to which the inexorable requirements of fashion have given rise:“The Yin-keih-le, or English females before marriage, bind their waist, being desirous to look slender.”
The costume and general appearance of the men and women of Amoy are shown in Plates 40 and 41. The turbanned figure is an ordinary coolie, the type of the industrious labourer whose services are so highly rated in America and the other countries to which he emigrates. His habits of perseverance and economy gradually secure for him the reward of a modest competency, and if he resists the temptations of the opium pipe, and keeps aloof from the gaming tables, he will in a few years have amassed two or three hundred dollars, and with this he will embark as a farmer or a fisherman in his native land. Owing to the poverty of the people, in this part of Fukien, infanticide is still a common practice there, and it is of course the female children whom it is usual to sacrifice thus. In Amoy some of the wealthy Chinese do what they can to mitigate the evil by supporting a Foundling Hospital, where parents are paid a few cash, for bringing their children to be reared. ​
FOOCHOW ARSENAL.
THE site upon which Foochow Arsenal stands was formerly a piece of marshy ground. This spot, in 1867, when it was finally decided that an arsenal should be built, was raised a number of feet, so as to secure a solid and dry foundation. The work throughout was superintended by M. Giquel, a French gentleman who has shown his fitness for the duties committed to his charge in the undoubted success of the establishment which has been the result of his labours. This Chinese arsenal, or naval training school, as I might more correctly describe it, is to me a very great proof of modern progress in the empire, and marks the dawn of a new era in Chinese civilization. It is, indeed, a practical sign that some great change is at hand. Are we to suppose that the policy of exclusiveness remains unaltered, and that the arsenals at Foochow, Shanghai, Nanking, and Tien-tsin, are meant one day to provide for a great effort which shall drive the hated foreigners for ever from the Chinese shores ? or are they designed simply to furnish materials for the maintenance of order within the vast territories of China? Whatever the conclusion to which we come, the active work that is daily going on in such establishments clearly indicates that the Chinese have become aware that to study their ancient classical literature, or to con the maxims of their sages, is not the kind of education which will fit them to cope with their near neighbours, who are adopting the customs, arts, and sciences of the West. These arsenals are not the only signs that light is breaking in upon the long night in which the Chinese race seems to have been sleeping in the bony embrace of her dead philosophers, for this exclusive but sagacious people are not only educating their students in the foreign arts and sciences, but are sending them abroad to foreign universities, in the hope that they may bring back with them the secrets of Western power. The Foochow Arsenal is, as I have said, a school where students are taught theoretical and practical science, and where, under able European supervision, transports and gunboats are designed, built, and fitted with engines manufactured upon the premises. Here, also, students are taught to navigate these ships according to the rules of modern science, as well as to drill and discipline their officers and crews, just as is the practice in our navy.
I visited the arsenal in 1870, and was shown over the different departments. In front of the engineering shops there was a tramway and trucks to facilitate the transit of materials and work from one shop to another. These workshops were fitted with every modern appliance : great steam-hammers, planing and drilling machines, and lathes of every variety. I felt most interested in the optical department, where the men were engaged in constructing portions of chronometers, ships' compasses, and telescopes. Some were busy at brass work, and others at grinding and polishing lenses. They had not, however, got to the length of making the achromatic object-glasses used for telescopes; but, nevertheless, they were doing work which took me quite by surprise.
In front of the arsenal there was a patent slip for raising vessels broadside on to be repaired. This slip is capable of lifting ships of 3,000 tons.
The monthly expenditure at this arsenal is reported to be about £17,000.
This establishment does great credit to the Viceroy Tso, under whose rule it was built, as well as to M. Giquel, who has shown its uses by having already turned out several war steamers from the building
yards. ​
FOOCHOW FOREIGN SETTLEMENT.
FOOCHOW, the capital of the province of Fukien, is situate about half-way between Hong Kong and Shanghai, thirty-four miles inland on the river Min. The foreign settlement is built on the south bank of the stream, about sixteen miles above the outer anchorage. The residences of the foreigners are picturesquely situated on eminences which command extensive views of the country around. The site of the settlement was formerly an old Chinese burial-ground, and abundant disputes arose in consequence, when steps were taken to purchase it for building purposes, the natives being loth to see the dwellings of living "foreign devils" erected over the resting-places of their dead. So whenever it became necessary to disturb a grave, these objections had to be overcome by liberal payments to the proprietors. These homes of the dead are built of granite and native concrete, and are of the omega shape. One of the foreign merchants showed me a fine example of their tombs, which, much to the disgust of his servants, he had transformed into a highly ornamental and cool piggery.
The settlement boasts an excellent club, library, and racket court, while the climate for six or eight months of the year is favourable to outdoor amusements. Many varieties of European flowers and vegetables are grown here to great perfection by the Chinese gardeners. It is altogether a sort of place where foreigners may well be content to reside. Here, as also in Amoy, there are a number of Protestant and Roman Catholic missions in active operation. There is also a prettily built English church, opposite which the Chinese have erected a small shrine, where incense is burnt by devout Buddhists to counteract the influences of the Christian place of worship. Close to the church there is an English mortuary chapel and cemetery shaded with a group of tall, dark pines.
It is only since the year 1853 that Foochow has risen to importance. The chief business carried on there at present is the collection and exportation of the produce of the Bohea tea-fields and of other districts. In 1863 over fifty million pounds of tea were exported from Foochow.
In the foreground of the illustration No. 43, the roofs of a number of Chinese houses are shown surmounted by platforms of wood, on which the families enjoy the cool breezes of summer. There are also rows of water jars filled ready for use in case of fire. This is common in Canton and in many other Chinese cities, but it affords very little protection against conflagration. It will further be observed that the blocks of native houses are divided by substantially built brick walls, which are raised with the object of confining a fire within the limits of a single section of the town. During my visit to Foochow this portion of the native suburb was burned down, but the fire-wall saved the extensive premises of Messrs. Olyphant and Co.
The highest point shown in the hills of the background is " Kushan," or " Drum Mountain," beneath
which, in a finely wooded vale, there is one of the most celebrated Buddhist monasteries in China. ​
YUENFU MONASTERY.
THIS Buddhist monastery is remarkable rather for its romantic situation than for any historical associations. To reach it we must ascend that branch of the Min which falls into the main stream, on the south, nearly opposite the centre of the long island formed by the river dividing into two streams seven miles above Foochow, and re-uniting at Pagoda Anchorage.
The monastery is about thirty miles distant from Foochow in a very mountainous and richlywooded country, which reminded me of the scenery of the Trosachs. the bold rocky outlines of the hills and glens on both sides of the river being here toned down by a profusion of foliage. The sacred edifice rests in a cavern on the summit of a mountain, and is only reached after a tedious and precipitous ascent. To this place many pilgrims resort, and I can well fancy the weary devotee pausing as he climbs to rest beneath the shade, and to admire the sublimity of the scenery around. Sacred texts from the classics are everywhere sculptured on the rocks, and it is in a dark recess, resting on a ledge of solid stone, with a frowning precipice of great depth in front, that this remarkable shrine has been constructed. The cave has been formed by the fall of a great mass of rock into the ravine beneath, where it has been overgrown with trees probably centuries old. A natural tunnel under this rock affords a covered way to the monastery, and above it the path leads us through a rocky chasm, roofed over with gigantic ferns. The quaint establishment, propped upon the stony projection, presents a very temporary and insecure appearance; this only applies, however, to the front of the monastery, as all the inner buildings are supported on a solid rock basis. There are three monks permanently attached to the building; one of them was a mere boy and full of vivacity, the second was an able-bodied, good-natured youth, and the third was very old, infirm, and blind. These recluses appeared to be extremely strict in their ritualistic observances; waking me every morning at sunrise by the wailing of their chants, by ringing their bells, and beating their gongs. Their meals, according to the practice of their order, consisted wholly of vegetable food, and tobacco was a luxury in which they freely indulged. Nevertheless I strongly suspect the old man to have been an opium smoker.
The water supply was obtained by a hollow bamboo rope, which had one end inserted in a spring above the projecting cliff, over which this bamboo duct was suspended, as shown on the left of the photograph No. 44, while
the lower end communicated with a stone tank into which the water was allowed to flow. ​
THE ABBOT AND MONKS OF KUSHAN MONASTERY.
IT is interesting to note how closely the dress of the Buddhist monk resembles the monastic garb of ancient Europe. In both we see a robe long, simple, and ample, falling loosely to the feet; and both carry a cowl for the protection of the head in cold weather, as well as a rosary to aid the wearer in keeping his debtor and creditor account of good and bad thoughts, words, and works.
This account the Buddhist devotee must privately balance during his hours of meditation, and at the close of every day, until he has reached that supreme degree of sanctity when the principles of good and evil will have ceased to combat in his heart, when the lusts of the flesh will no longer have power to torment, and all the weaknesses of his mortal body are absorbed in that perfect state of comatose ecstasy which is termed in their scriptures "Nirvana." The similarity between the Buddhist faith and the Roman Catholic churches may be traced even more minutely than this. "Buddhists everywhere have their monasteries and nunneries, their baptism, celibacy and tonsure, their rosaries, chaplets, relics, and charms, their fast-days and processions, their confessions, mass, requiems, and litanies, and, especially in Thibet, even their cardinals, and their pope."
These resemblances are probably accidental, as this vital distinction still separates the two phases of faith, that Buddhism in its original purity is a practical atheism, to which the Christian doctrine of atonement is absolutely unknown. The Buddhists have ten chief commandments which their great teacher left behind for their guidance. One or two of these I have subjoined : —
Thou shalt not kill any living creature.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not drink strong liquors.
Thou shalt not eat after the appointed hours.
Thou shalt not have in thy private possession either a metal figure (an idol), or gold, or silver, or any valuable thing.
There are also a multitude of minor laws which have an important place in the regulations of the Buddhist priesthood. Thus at meal times : —
Every priest before he eats shall repeat five prayers for all the good things which have happened to him
up to that day.
His heart is to be far from all cupidity and lust.
He shall not speak about his dinner, be it good or bad.
He shall not smack in eating.
When cleansing his teeth he shall hold something before his mouth.
In section eleven it is commanded you shall not take any meat with dirty nails. These, and many more such as these, make up the maxims of Buddha, and except he strictly observes them all no mortal can attain to the bliss of final absorption into Nirvana. If this be indeed true, then the disciples of Sakyamuni in China at the present day
have, I fear, but slender prospects of happiness in a future state. See No. 45. ​
OLD JUNKS.
INTERESTING craft are the old weather-beaten junks which lie at anchor in the Canton river, waiting till the monsoon is favourable, to proceed upon their voyages. The usual destination of such junks is one of the ports on the China coast, or at furthest, Siam, Java, Borneo, or the Straits of Malacca. At their moorings, as represented in No. 46, these huge, clumsy vessels seem like mid-stream dwelling-places, fastened down by solid foundations to the river's bed, but when full rigged for sea, they look well, and even at times make good sailing before the wind; indeed, in every way they are more manageable than appearances would betoken. Yet the least favoured of our square-rigged ships will easily outsail the fastest of them. This is a fact which is making its way into the Chinese mind, but the process is slow and gentle, like that by which I have seen a pebble that had been caught in the hollow of a rock in the Upper Yangtsze, and that, with the action of the water and a few particles of sand, had drilled its way deep into the hard stone. Native builders have made a compromise between their old junks, and the foreign ship, and the new model, thus adopted, has been presented to the reader in Vol. I. junks and junk-rigged craft are not uncommonly charged with lighter dues at their ports of destination. This spurious advantage is, however, ignored by the higher class of native merchants who trade at the open ports, and who readily avail themselves of the speed and security afforded for the transportation of merchandise by # steamers and high-class sailing ships, many of which are jointly owned by foreigners and Chinese, and by companies in which Chinamen have subscribed for shares. The foregoing considerations will make it plain that the complete abolition of the ancient junk is nothing more than a question of time.
There are many evils in China which the governing class alone have power to redress, and which they will rapidly sweep away when it is their direct individual and collective interest to do so. One of these is the old tax, still levied in some quarters, on ships when they enter a harbour. This is a violation of treaty which is supposed to abolish all local dues on ships, yet at Takow and Taiwemfu, the district authorities collect one hundred and sixtyeight dollars on a ship, and one hundred and forty dollars on a barque, when arriving at port, taxing other vessels also according to a fixed scale.
The eyes of a junk, as has already been explained, are introduced to scare away deep-sea demons, and have nothing to do with the popular fiction, " No can see, no can walkee." The ports painted on her sides are blind, but there are a number of guns mounted on her deck, and these are kept in good fighting trim. Armaments of this sort arc still necessary in the China seas, although acts of piracy there are not so common as of old. The hold is divided into water-tight compartments, and almost her entire capacity is used for stowage of cargo, even her deck being piled with bales and cases. Part of the crew are accommodated in berths, and the remainder are packed away among the merchandise. Her sails are of matting strengthened by and stretched on transverse ribs of bamboo. The anchor is of a wood that sinks readily in water, while the huge unwieldy-looking rudder is
worked by a system of blocks and ropes which, at times, require the efforts of the entire crew of the junk. ​
PART OF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENT, FOOCHOW.
THIS view, No. 47, is taken from the upper end of the foreign settlement, looking across the broad surface of the Min.
The picture is valuable, as it shows the plan of a Chinese house, general among the lower middle classes. The street entrance is unfortunately concealed by a wall cutting off the left corner of the foreground of the picture. The outer brick wall of the dwelling is raised to the height of the roof, and encloses a nearly quadrangular space, the front half of this being an open court, with apartments to the right and left, while to the rear, within the wall, is the dwelling where the members of the family reside. The outer doorway is the only opening by which access to this walled enclosure can be obtained. Light and air are admitted by the doors and windows that open into the court inside. Thus, when the outer entrance has been barred for the night, the family is completely secluded from the gaze of the world outside. Indeed, it is impossible at any time to see from the street what is going on within the court, even when the door is left open, for at three or four feet distance from the entrance a wooden screen intervenes. This screen is devised to guard against the importunity and annoyance of the spirits of the dead, which are supposed only to be capable of travelling in straight lines. To obtain the most perfect degree of privacy and seclusion is the primary object in the construction of all Chinese houses of any pretensions.
In many of the abodes of the poor this object is, from necessity, lost sight of, although, when it is attainable, they environ their humble dwellings with high fences of prickly bamboo or cactus. The best class of Chinese houses have a stone foundation and walls of brick, and the roofs are supported by crossbeams, which rest either on the walls themselves, or on wooden pillars whose tops are concealed beneath the broad eaves, and for this reason, as we may suppose, are devoid of capitals. The rafters consist of slender strips of wood, strong enough to sustain the weight of the red earthenware tiles above them. In some instances these rafters are hidden by a ceiling of coarse cloth stretched on frames and whitewashed. The interiors of the houses are highly ornamented with elaborately carved wooden partitions, and the walls are adorned with cleverly painted landscapes, groups of flowers, or fruit. Coloured tiles stamped with ornamental patterns run along the ridge of the roof; carved brackets support the eaves, while the water-pipes are of glazed earthenware, frequently so fashioned as to imitate the stems of the bamboo. In the centre of the court a deep-sunk well is usually to be found, and this is crowned with a single block of stone, pierced to admit a bucket. This stone is kept carefully covered; the door-posts and lintel of the outer entrance arc also of stone, and a space on the wall above the doorway has some mythological design modelled in relief, and skilfully painted.
I shall endeavour to show, in a subsequent part of the work, the important position which the geomancer occupies in China — how his functions are called into request, alike in the cutting of roads, the building of houses
for the living, and digging graves for the dead. ​
TERRACING HILLS.
TERRACING is greatly resorted to in China for the irrigation and cultivation of what would be otherwise waste land. No. 48 represents such a terraced hill taken on the roadside in the neighbourhood of Foochow, near a place called “ The Plantation,” which all foreign residents know well. Many of the hills are by this means, and by the skill and industry of the small farmers, made to yield three crops a year, and the land thus taxed is never allowed to lie fallow. The sewage of the city of Foochow is carried out by labouring women to fertilize the country. The women employed in this and other field work are represented in No. 49. They are strong, healthy, and many of them attractive-looking. Their olive cheeks are warmed with a glow of colour, and their glossy black hair is decked with silver ornaments and fresh flowers. I heir dress is simple, and remarkable for its bright cleanliness. They never compress their feet, but rather draw the eye to their natural smallness by wearing prettily embroidered shoes.
THE PAILAU.
THIS is the nearest approach made in China to the triumphal arch of Europe. The Pailau or memorial arch *s always erected by special permission of the emperor, and not always as with us, in memory of the noble deeds and virtues of the dead. A man, if he has done anything remarkable, and has funds at his command, may during his lifetime erect a Pailau for himself. A widow who has led an exemplary life to the age, say, of fifty, and abstained from marrying a second husband, may erect an arch to commemorate her virtues, and in this she will be aided by a small grant from the imperial treasury. In general design these monuments are similar to the triple gateways in temples and in the mansions of the great. The words “ Shing-chi,” signifying “erected by imperial favour,” are inscribed over the central archway. The Pailau shown in No. 50 was erected to the memory of a virtuous widow. ​
FOOCHOW COOLIES.
PLATE 51 shows us that the Chinese coolies carry their burdens suspended from the two ends of a bamboo pole supported by the shoulders of the bearer. Socially the coolie is a very humble character. Poor as he is, nevertheless he is cheerful and contented, industrious and easily managed; he has a smattering of education, too; although he has not dipped into the classical lore of his country, he has a knowledge of the elementary characters of the language, which enables him to feast his mind on street literature, and revel in the simple books of folklore that are to be found in Chinese cities. His dress consists of a jacket and trousers of coarse cotton cloth, but if in prosperous circumstances he has one suit for summer, and a second for winter wear; the latter is the costume which is represented here. It is padded with layers of cotton, and has usually an eventful history attached to it, as the necessities of the poor wearer compel him often to place it in pawn during the summer, in order to release his lighter suit, but it frequently happens when money is scarce that he finds himself unable to redeem his clothes, and then they pass into other hands.
THE MA-QUI.
THE gentleman represented in No. 52 is known in the city of Foochow as a "Ma-qui" — "swift as a horse," and holds the subordinate position of detective officer attached to the magisterial establishment. I paid him a visit at his residence, and took his portrait in the central court. This man is reported to know the haunts of all the thieves in his district. He has been called "the king of the thieves," and he exercises an undoubted sway over the gangs that infest the city.
The liberal views regarding the ownership of property held by these unruly subjects of the Ma-qui meet with a degree of sympathy and consideration from detectives, which is at times apt to thwart the ends of justice.
Thus I myself once applied to one of these native detectives to aid me in tracing some property which had been lost; he coolly informed me that he thought he knew the thief, and that if I really wanted the goods, he was quite confident he could recover them on my paying about three-fourths of their value.
There are many expert professional thieves in China, men who would be profitable hands to any chief who would wink at their peculiarities and take them into his protection.
Housebreaking is practised with great address, particularly in foreign settlements. A gentleman with whom I was acquainted had the following experience with a Chinese burglar: — About midnight, as he lay awake in his bed, the lamp having gone out and the windows being open on account of the heat, he noticed a dark figure climbing up over one of the windows into the room where he lay. My friend remained quite still, and when the thief, believing all to be safe, had stolen into the centre of the apartment, he sprang out of his bed and seized the intruder. Both were powerful men, and a fierce struggle ensued; but the robber had the advantage, as his only covering was a thick coat of oil, so that slipping like an eel from the grasp of his antagonist, he made a plunge at the window, and was about to drop into the garden, when his pursuer made a final effort to catch him by the tail. This tail was coiled up round his head and stuck full of needles, but the thief got away after all, for even the queue was a false one, and as he dropped into the garden it came away by the weight of the fall, and was left an unprofitable trophy in the hands of the European whom he had vainly tried to rob. ​
BEGGARS.
PROFESSIONAL beggars are numerous in all parts of China, but it is in the larger cities that they more particularly abound, and their skill in dodges and deception would have furnished advantageous hints to the mendicants who used to infest our English thoroughfares. In China the beggar pursues his calling unmolested, and even has received for himself a recognition and quasi-protection at the hands of the civic authorities. The fact is, that the charitable institutions— of which there are many all over the country, and which are conducted in some cases with a fair degree of honesty— are yet totally unable to cope with the misery and destitution that prevails in populous localities. No poor-law system is known, and the only plan adopted to palliate the evil is to tolerate begging in public, and to place the lazzaroni under the local jurisdiction of a responsible chief. In Foochow the city is divided into wards, and within the limits of each ward a head man is appointed, who can count his descent from a line of illustrious beggars, and in him rests the right, which would seem to be, to keep the members of his order under his own management and control. During my visit to Foochow I was introduced to one of these beggar kings, and he it is. with three of his subjects, who are presented to the reader in No. 53. I found this man to be an inveterate opium smoker, and consequently in bad circumstances, in spite of the handsome revenue which he was known to receive.
I afterwards visited the house of another head man, and there I was much struck with many evidences of comfort, and even luxury, with which he was surrounded. The eldest son of the chief received me at the entrance, and conducted me into a guests' chamber; and while I was sitting there, two ladies dressed in silks, and with a certain degree of refinement in their air, passed the door of the apartment in order to get a glimpse of its inmate. My host informed me that these ladies were his mother, and his father's second wife or concubine; but the chief himself was unfortunately not at home. This king of beggars has it in his power to make an agreement with the shopkeepers of any street which runs through his district; and when a compact of this kind has been concluded, he will protect them from the pestering visits of his gang of beggars. Any shopkeeper who fails to come to terms is liable to have his establishment haunted by the most offensive class of mendicants. It was related to me that a silkmercer had failed to contribute his beggars' rate. One of the fraternity accordingly paid a visit to his shop, having his body smeared over with mud. and bearing in his hand a bowl slung with cords, and filled to the brim with foul water. Thus armed, he commenced to swing the bowl round his head without spilling a drop of its contents, but had anyone attempted to arrest his hand, the water would have been distributed in a filthy shower over the silks piled upon the counter and shelves. The shopkeeper paid his rate.
The worst class of beggars are the outlaws, who recognize no chief, and who live in holes and hovels about the burial grounds. I made the acquaintance of some of this class, and I have given a picture of them in No. 54. I found them dwelling, with many others, in a Chinese city of the dead, where the coffins containing bodies are deposited temporarily in mortuary houses or tombs till the geomanas has been paid to find a suitable place of interment. Many of these coffins are, however, never moved again, and then they rot in their places where they were stowed. In the first of these charnel-houses which I came to, I fell in with a living tenant, an old man so worn and ghastly that I fancied he had forced himself free from the mouldy, dank coffin that lay in the darkest comer of the sepulchre. He was seated at the doorway moaning, and striving to fan into flame some withered branches which he had gathered to make a lire. Further on I found the subjects presented in my photograph. These occupied another tomb, and had established a begging firm under the control of a lusty chief, who had just concluded a hearty meal, and who is seen standing in front of the entrance enjoying a pipe. His ragged partners were each discussing a reeking mixture of broken scraps which they had collected during the day. They had now laid aside their daily counterfeits of disease and deformity, and were laughing merrily, forgetful of the cares and coffins that surrounded them. The jester of the party was a man who made a good thing of it by acting the religious devotee, performing penance by driving an axe into his head; when I saw this impostor he was seated astride the highest coffin, cracking his jokes over the skull of its occupant.
Another of the party drove a flourishing trade with a loathsome skin disease. All of them, in truth,
were dead to such of the finer feelings as usually have their home in a Chinaman's heart. ​
THE SEDAN.
THE sedan-chair is one of the most useful institutions in China, and has been employed there from a very ancient date. Private sedans are kept by the civil mandarins, and by people of wealth and rank. In former days strict rules existed, which forbade certain of the lower orders, and even foreigners, from using sedans.
These rules are still in force among the Chinese, and with the civil mandarins the sedan is the official means of conveyance, their rank being denoted by the covering and furniture of their chairs, as well as by the number of bearers, and of the footmen in attendance. Military mandarins, on the other hand, travel, or pay their official visits, on horseback, as is shown in No. 56. Public chairs are now in use in different parts of the empire, and these I have already described in Volume I.
THE PLOUGH.
THE Chinese plough, like that in use with us, is furnished with a share and mould-boards of iron. The one shown in No. 57 has, however, only a single lever fastened to the beam in place of the two which are employed to guide our ploughs. It will be seen that the ploughman is enabled by this means to direct his implement with one hand, while the other is left disengaged for managing the ox, which is yoked to the plough. This ox, in the Fukien province, is of a very small breed, and is employed for light work, such as the ploughing of orchards and gardens.
NORTH CHINA PONY.
A NORTH China pony, one that was trained successfully as a racer, is shown in No. 58. Most of these ponies are bred on the Mongolian plain, and are brought down during the winter months to Peking for sale. There they fetch from £5 to ^"50 apiece, and are then commonly transported by their purchasers to the ports on the coast, and re-sold at much higher prices. They are hardy and strong -limbed animals, and the example in the photograph affords a handsome type of its class; although, in common with all the ponies of Mongolia and China, it has the head large, and a frame which inclines to be heavy. No horses are either bred or made use of in China; even the cavalry there are mounted on ponies such as this one, and mules are held in greater esteem than horses among the Chinese. It seems strange that they should not have endeavoured to improve their own stock by making use of some of those high-bred horses which were left by our troops in the country at the close of the last war; but it is clear they have not done so,
as they have still nothing better than their own heavy-limbed ponies to show. ​
THE FRUITS OF CHINA.
THE majority of the fruits grown in China are indigenous to the country, and there are many which have not yet been introduced into the orchards of Europe. A proportion, however, of the Chinese fruits are common also to the more temperate climates of the west, although, with one or two exceptions, these varieties are not reared to a perfection in China, equal to that obtained in other countries, where the same fruit is to be found. This remark applies especially to the apples, pears, peaches, plums, and grapes in the southern provinces, where the gardeners show a strange tendency to gather and dispose of their fruit before it has fully ripened. It is less true of the northern provinces, where these fruits are nearly equal in quality and flavour to the produce of our English gardens. The principal fruits of China, as given by Dr. Williams, are comprised in the following list: — The pomegranate, carambola or tree gooseberry, mango, custard apple, pine apple, rose apple, bread-fruit, fig, guava, and olive. The whampe, lichee, langan, and- loquat are the native names of four fruits, the second of which is said to have been introduced, while the others are indigenous. The lichee, probably the finest of these, has a rough and granulated skin of a bright red colour. The pulp is whitish, opalescent, and juicy, and covers a hard seed, which, in fruit of inferior quality, is often of considerable size. A lichee may be seen in the right-hand corner of No. 59, with its skin broken and hanging away. The Averrhoa carambola, known to foreigners as the Chinese gooseberry, is shown in the same picture to the extreme left. This fruit grows in great abundance in Malayan India. To these we may add the plantain (Afusa paradisea), of which there are many varieties in Southern China and Formosa; the papaya (Carica papaya), the seeds of which are used as anthelmintics; oranges and limes of numerous kinds; and the persimmon, which looks like a huge tomato, and has its polished skin filled with a sweet succulent pulp of a pinkish colour. Wild raspberries grow in abundance in Formosa, and have a flavour equal to those of our home
gardens. ​
THE TEA PLANT.
THE geographical limits within which the cultivation of the tea plant has in modern times been carried probably lie between the 25th and 37th parallels of north latitude, Japan being the northernmost country in which the shrub is grown, and Assam the furthest point south to which its culture has been at all successfully extended. Fortune considered that the districts in which tea can be grown to greatest perfection are those between 27° and 31° north; and it seems probable that the finest qualities of tea are still to be found on the slopes, terraces, and steppes of the Dohea range of mountains. The two varieties of this plant which are best known in China are Thai Boltm and Thea viridis. From the former black teas are manufactured, while Then viridis supplies the best descriptions of green. The tea plantations, with few exceptions, are small in size, as is the case also with the plantations of mulberry in the districts where silkworms are reared. The fact is that the growers are most of them small farmers, men who possess little or no capital of their own, but obtain advances on their crops through the landowners, or the agents of the native tea merchants, to whom they dispose of their tea. Most of the capitalists engaged in the tea traffic are sharpwitted, far-seeing traders, belonging to Canton.
The tea plants are reared from seed sown in a nursery, and when they are sufficiently matured, the finest of them are selected, and planted out in rows about four feet apart, a like interval being left between each of the plants, so that every clump enjoys an equal share of soil and sunshine. See Nos. 60 and 61. Manuring is rarely resorted to, as the plant is a hardy one, which, if kept free from weeds, will mature in about three years' time. It is then ready for picking, and is never allowed to flower. The first crop of the early leaves is gathered in the month of April, the young leaves then yielding the finest teas, while the older leaves are collected in May and during the early part of June. The leaves thus gathered are sold to the tea agents, who, when they have obtained a sufficient quantity to make up a parcel of say 600 chests, so mix the leaves together as to secure that degree of uniformity in the manufactured tea which will admit of its being brought to market under a specific name. In the production of a good sound tea a great deal undoubtedly depends upon the quality of the leaves, but the marketable character of the article owes quite as much to its subsequent manipulation in the firing and sifting rooms. Black teas / are produced by first allowing the fresh leaves to ferment and blacken by the oxidation which follows their exposure in the open air and light, while green tea is obtained from the same plant by arresting the exposure of the leaves while they are still green, and before the process of fermentation has set in.
It has been reported by Mr. Fortune that certain green teas owe their hues to an admixture of deleterious colouring matter; I have, however, never seen this process of tea-dying in operation.
There are spurious teas exported— those made up of tea-leaves that have been already in use. It is impossible to say what foreign matter, either designedly or by accident, may have been introduced into such as this, but the teas
that are bought and sold at fair prices are remarkable for their purity. ​
THE YENPING RAPID.
THE Min is the great artery down which the produce of the central tea districts of China is conveyed to the Foochow market for exportation. Several rapids are to be found on this river, and of these the one represented in No. 62 is by far the most dangerous, for the channel at this point is interspersed with huge masses of rock, on which many a cargo-boat is wrecked during the year. At all seasons the greatest pluck and dexterity are needed in the steersman to bring his boat in safety down this rapid. When I descended it in December, 1871, there were evidences of recent wrecks strewn over the rocks, and in portions of the cargo that had been saved and piled up along the banks. At one time I thought that our boat would have been dashed to pieces, for it seemed to be flying down the rapid and on to a jagged rock, and the helmsman appeared incapable of bringing her round in time to clear the danger. His appearance, however, was reassuring; calmly and impassively he stood at the helm, and just as I was prepared to make a spring for the rock, he cast his whole weight on to the rudder, and brought the boat round with a swoop within a hair's breadth of the rock, and we escaped with the side of the boat slightly grazed.
SMALL RAPID BOAT.
THE scene represented in No. 63 was taken about 100 miles above Foochow, and shows the boat in which I ascended the river Min for a distance of about 260 miles from its mouth, as far as the city of Yenping. The boat is strongly built, and is as nearly as possible flat-bottomed. Its frame is of hard
wood, planked with pine, a tree which grows in abundance on the hills of this portion of Fukien. ​
* ↑ Oawfurd, "Ethnological Journal," 1848.
* ↑ "History of the Kwangtung Province," " Fall of Canton Empire," p. 27.
* ↑ Chine Modeme," par ML Bazin; p. 395.
* ↑ “History of the Pirates,” by F. Neumann; p. 29.