Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1858-07-01
A Celestial of the First Water.

A Celestial of the First Water.
The special correspondent: OF the Londo
Times in China writes this graphic accour
of Yeh, the captured Governor of Canton
We suppose he may be considered a first
class specimen of the Chinese,-and "fror
such good L ord deliver us!" We can hard
ly wonder that Oregon and Californi
practically exclude them from their bor
.ders:
In his personal appearance Yeh is
very stout and rather tall mar, about fv,
feet eleven, with the long thin Chimes,
mustsche and beard, remarkably recedine
forehead, skull in W hich what the phren
ologists call generation" is much devel
oped; a certain degree of rotundity behint
the ear, and q moderate development of the
back head. Shorn nearly to the crown
and very thinly covered with hair in that
part where the Chinese mostly cultivate
their hair, our Mandarin offers every facil-
ity for genealogical examination. His
tail is very paltry, very short, and very
thin. The smallest porker in China has a
better tail than her highest Mandarin.
His face is heavy. There is more chin
'..i.an you usually see in a Chinaman-more
jowl and jaw, indicative of will and obsti-
macy. The nose is long and fiat, the nos
trils forming one side of very obtuse an
gle. Seen in profile, the nose is very re-
markable and very ugly; in the front face
this, the most simial expression of the
mans couutenance, is mitigated. The
eye-that round. slit Mongolian eye-is
the most expressive feature of the man who
is sitting opposite to me. and looking rather
suspiciously at me as am now writing
In his ordinary mood there is only look
of shrewdness and quick cunning in this,
the only mobile feature; but l have seen
him IT, the turning moments of his life,
when those eye-balls glared with terror
and with fury. He has large protruding
mouth, thick lips, and very black teeth,
for, as he remarks, "it has never been the
custom OF his family to use toothbrush. /"
Visitors snuoyed him. He was, or pre-
tended to be, much shocked at the dress Of
an English lady. He kept his eyes studi-
ously turned from her, and remarked after
ward that her throat was not covered
Mr. Alsbsster showed him some portraits
in an illustrated Ne,rs of ladies' in bali.
room dress. Yeh was scaDdalized; that
women should wear bed-gowns was proper,
but that they should be painted in their
bed gowns was atrocious.
Yeh is, in his private life, a very res
pectable Chinaman. He is entirely free
from all suspicion of those detestaole hab-
its common to his countrymen, and for
which even the virtuous Keying was but
too notorious. He smokes no opium; his
ordinary drink IS only warm tea; he uses
samson OILY as a medicine. He has sent
his only wife, under the protection of his
father, TO his native village. He spoke of
his concubines, but as could not tell how
far it might be wrong in his eyes to show
number or destination. He has no son,
but has adopted a nephew, who is now
twenty-fGur years old, and is pursuing his
studies at Pekin.
He eats twice day of four or five suc-
culent dishes. and he has the good sense
to eat rice with each dish, not reserving it
for the end of the dinner, as the Chinese
do at their feasts. He drinks nothing while
eating.
Up to this time the only occasions upon
which be manifests any vivscity were upon
discussions as to his food. His Chinese
cook was sent for, and arrived at the last
moment with great stores of Chinese
comestibles, to his immense satisfaction.
In the practice of tha: virtue which we
Westerns are glad to rank next to godli.
ness, Yeh is certainly not conspicuous. A
more undesirable mess-mate for the com
mander OF q ship-of-war can scarcely bt
imagined. He spits, he smokes, he eruc'
tates, and he blows his nose with his fin
gers. Captain Brooker has taught him tht
comfort of pocket handkerchief, but no
10 use it for this purpose. His daily ablu
tions consist Of q slight rubbing Of the fact
with q towel moistened in hot water. HI,
has horror of fresh air, and, while il
Chinese waters, never willingly went oil
deck. He loved to have the ports clos e,
and the sky flights down.
He wears thickly padded stockings, th
long blue-sleeved quilted cape, and blu
pantsloons, tied at the ankle, common t
all Chinamen. He boasts that he has wor
his outer coat for ten years, and its appear
ance amply justifieI his ASSERTION; it is stii
with grease. When we drew near Sings
pore, within one degree of the line, tn