The New York herald., 1869-04-18
CHINA.

CHINA.
Advantages Arising from Steamboat Navi-
GatiOn-The Road from Tuug Chow to
Pekin-Primitive Modes of Conveyance-
The City of Pekin-The Empcr0r-Chinese
Customs-Religious Toieration.
PEKIN, Feb. q 1858.
The Introduction Of steamboats, into Chinese
| waters Is working great change in the course of
travel. In former days the capital was reached by
the grand canal which formed the principal route of
communication between the southern provinces and
Pekin, and was intersected by all the water courses
leading from the mountains Of Tartary to the sea.
Steamships have now changed the course Of travel
and trade from the interior to the sea- and lines of
steamers run from all the coast ports to Tein Tsin
the seaport Of Pekin.
Tien Tsin is city containing half million of In
habtants and from its location at the head Of steam
navigation on the Peho river and at the intersection
Of the grand canal must be place of great CONNER
cial importance 1t Is the principal port OF the
province OF Chihle, ''the Supreme province" con-
tanning a population of 2s,Oooooo OF people, and
supplies besides three or four northern provinces
and the great regions Of Manchuro and Mongolia
1t Is also the entrepot Of the trade overland to
Siberia and Russia and Of the most interesting
features OF 1ien Tsn commerce is the long caravans
OF camels loading with tea and silk for the overland
journey Of near 5000 miles through Mongolia and
Siberia to Russia.
At Tten Tsin we bid adieu to steam and adopt the
primitive mode of travelling which has been In use
among the natives ever since the flood. The varieties
Of c0nveyances from Tien Tsn to Pekin are boats,
carts. palanQuin, horses, mules, donkeys and wheel
barrows. There is o great variety and very little
choice. The boat IL the least uncomfortable and.
besides, viii carry your luggage, 80 we en-
Aook NJ of tIroa ffruaa
the price the natives would have 10 pay
and commenced the ascent Of the Peiho river. For
the first 1--WE or six miles we threaded way slowly
through the thousands Of junks which choke the
river, but having passed the mouth Of the grand
canal the navigation improved and we were enabled
to make twenty-five or thirty miles q day. Each
three or four men who by alternately polling track
Ing and sailing will carry you to Tung Chow, the
these boats you have to carry your own provisions
and bedding. small apartment In the stern serves
ss U SS
and grapes along the banks OF the Pelho you can
to the banks Of The river and you car listen ali night
to the melodies Of gongs, rattles bamboo flutes,
b0atmen, with their long tails and nowing robes,
remind one forcibly OF the devils In "Dante's In.
ierno" as they jump ashore to anchor the boat for
But first had each thrust his tongue between his teeth
And each had made sdsi 'S tsumpss Of his rump
The road from Tung Chow 10 Pekin was formerly
paved with large nat stones. but as repairs have
been made on II for some two hundred years 1t re-
sembles dapidated graveyard, and forms q boue-
ward about equal In smoothness to the Giants Cause
A passenger in one Of their travelling carts sits
pieces With each hand he leans back he viii break
his spine, and II lie does not keep sharp lookout
sideways jolt win break his sku. They are heavy,
~ m har ms nj VnO 1Qrn
wooden wheels with iron bands fastened with long /
iron spikes. The top is covered with blue cotton |
front, to keep the dust from smothering the pas
senger, It Is indeed gloomy and uncomfortable |
Empire Riding in these carts does not produce |
that equanmiiy OF mind and serenity OF counte- /
nance appropriate to entering the capital Of great
The vicinity OF Pekln does not indicate the ap- |
proach to capital OF four hundred millions OF peo- |
Pile; the miserable roads, the mud hovels and the |
squad Inhabitants clad In rags ana the remnants OF |
sheepskins do not impress one favoraby with Chinese
II Is better to read books written two
or three hundred years ago. The walls are fifty to |
sixty feet high with pagoda towers the gates
height, covered with the peculiar enameiled tiles OF
China, rejecting the bright rays OF an Asatic
freshly as they were ere only made % yesterday
marked, are sixty feet hgh-they are forty to fifty
feet wide at the top, and afford promenade around
the city Of some twenty-five miles In extent, There
are only four gates-north, east south and west /
aud these are opened and closed with the sun. The
pear to be entirely useless at the present time
II q stranger were taken around the walls OF Pekn
palaces covered with green, red, yellow and blue
tiles; Its temples, embowered In groves
o. trees It's pagodas Its churches & i's % mosques It's
trees which overshadow the mud novels which line
It's dirty streets he would declare 1t an earthly para
dse but when he Is taken to lower depth, amidst
the nth and wretchedness OF a million people |
crowded within its walls, he would declare with en-
phasis that 1t was-some other place.
In the midst OF a fertile country, teeming with an
population In the immediate vicinity OF
o ,Ss s s cspa o an mpe
400, 100000 OF people Is crumbling TO ruin. Whyf
There can De only one answer;nrne government @ @
men OF great and enlarged minds. The plan Of Pekin
Is conception worthy Of the greatest engineer, and
by Rome Paris; but apathy rests
upon 1t like mountain, and the dust Of ages is
its monuments In obscurity.
IL is city without sewerage or the other conve-
nences OF civilization. forming nauseous cesspoo |
as food ateristng the round OF human and swinish
At night heather darkness shrouds the |
daos Sess he
parent paper to frghten away the ev spirits Of the
night, while internal noises issue from overcrowded |
dens OF human dissipation, and the night watchman |
goes his rounds beating gong to warn thieves OF |
impending detection. The streets are not passable
exists In lPekin or the north OF China: In wet /
weather they are q slough OF mud, In dry weather l
beds Of tfust The lakes, which ornamented the city
scum which detracts somewhat from their beauty. |
The Emperor Is now thirteen years Of age, aud |
will not probably ascend the throne for five or six
years come, and then II may be matter OF some
conjecture as to what view he will take OF foreign
intercourse HIS earliest recolections OF foreign In
tercourse are alb out the time that Pekin was cap
tured by the allied British and French armies In 1850
amid the connagrati0n OF the summer palace and |
the flight OF mis- father into Tartary and his death
in exile His infant person was then seized by his
uncle the Prince Of Eie, and strife ensued among
the Tartar chiefs for the government OF the dynasty
In which the Prince OF Ee mysteriously departed for
the mansions OF his ancestors and another uncle.
the Prince OF Kung, succeeded to the guardianship
Of the imperial successor and became the leading