The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1871-11-28

entirely departed. Hong,Kong does the
business, the principle houses only having
agencies In the formar Plea tiTr
Canton proper, liza al selhsg Chinese
cities Is surrounded bya Watlabout TWEEN.
ty feet high and eight or ten feet wide. The
population consists Of Tartars and Chinese,
the two races still keeping distinct and
rarely intermarrying. The Tartars are
the governing classes of China-having
command Of all the military-and are al
called Cinnamon, there is very little love
between the two races. A stranger would
at first notice no difference between them,
as they Dress alike and have the same
customs; but on close inspection 1t would
be found that the Tartars have higher
cheek.bones and toreheads and the posi-
ton Of the eyes Is less angular.
took a walk round the wall of the
city and was much surprised TO find II in
the state Of crumbling decay which It is
in, and no effort seems to have been made
for years 10 repair 1t. | saw guns that
must have lain dismounted for q hundred
years at least, the carriages being abso.
lutely rotten. But the wall still shows
evidence Of It's once having been q fine
structure and no despicable means OF de-
fence. ........I t......
Tho streets Of the city are exceedingly
narrow, being about five or six feet wide
only, These are constantly thronged
through the day with crowds oil people,
which makes lOcOmotion rather difficult.
They are In constant state Of filth and
stehch-the dogs, which abound in great
numbers, being tho only scaveDgers. Each
street Is devoted 10 some particular BUSH
ness, thus one street will DO all book
stores; another all jewelryi another all
boots or clothes, and SO on. 30 narrow
are the streets that two Sedan chairs can
not pass each other and, In fact, the
pedestrian must often get into Q store or
squeeze himselfup against wall In order
70 lot one Of these conveyances pass,
Almost all the houses are Of one story
only, the Chinese being afraid to build
high as they do not wish TO interfere with
the spirits that are supposed 10 DO con.
stantly fitting through the air. The
houses OF the Mandarins are built In com.
pounds and generally cover large extent
Of ground and the rank and grandeur of
q Mandarin Is decided by the number OF
court.yards one has to pass through before
entering the house. Ihave seen as many
as seven gateways TO pass from the street
to the house. Two great exceptions exist,
however, to these low buildings, the pago.
das and pawn shops. The former are
generally built OF wood and always con.
sist Of either seven or nine storiGs-mostly
the latter number. What the precise oh.
lecL Of these buildings Is, no one knows, but
| believe they are connected with the intro.
duCtionof Buddhism into the Empire.
AS to tho pawn shops, they are remark.
able institutions They rise like battle.
mented towers above the level oil the city,
built OF stone, some as high as eleven
stories, tho walls pierced with small holes
for muskelry, and cannon planted on the
tops. The pawn shops always contain |
an immense quantity Of goods, well-to-do |
Cinnamon often pawning their valuables,
not TO raise money, but as the interest is |
very small, to have place Of safe.keep.
Ing for them, Hence, the necessity Of
them strong and supplying them |
with means oil defense They have often
been attacked by bands Of robbers, with
various success.
There area great many places Of wor.
ship in Canton, belonging TO the three re.
ligions prevailing Id China, namely, Budd.
hists, Tanists and Con(uClans. There Is
one belonging TO the former sect that
contains 3B5 idols, some of them Of pure |
gold. Some of these temples arc very
handsome structures. Tho priests, Of
which there are great number, live In
The buildings, and are Supported by con.
lributlons from the faithful. ,
There is one thing to be seen nCanton
which / think exists nowhere else In the
wide world, This Is tho soCalled "Beg.
CARS Square.' No institutional charity
exists. Beggars abound, and of night |
lime tile poor wretchcs come TO-. this
square 10 Sleep and often 10 die. For II a
Deggar dies anywhere else he b thrown
INTO the river, but ifhe dies In this square
no Is provided with coffin out of a fund
Jequeathed by some charitable Chinese
ady for this purpose. AsupersIltlOn pre-.
walls amongst the Chinese that In order TO
reach heaven he must be buried In a cot.
In. Hence, when dying, they crawl TO
his square TO dle-peOple passing by IN
thousands and taking no notice. passed
through this square and moro revolving
sight never witnessed. ...
| could 60 on for long time In describ.
ing the many strange things Witnessed
IN this city, but am afraid my letter is
already too long, and | will close by a
,hort reference 70 the Oldest foreign settle.
nent in China, namely, the Portuguese set.
Element Of Macao. : - ~.
syThis place Is situated little 10 the
north Of Canton, and about 30 miles from
Hong Kong. II was founded In the early
part Of the fifteenth century, when the
Portuguese first came to China. For
years Il was the only place where Euro.
Dean was allowed TO land 10 trade with
he Chinese. II retained its prestige for
Iometime alter Hong Kong became a
British colony. But lie glory as atrading
post has almost entirely departed, and Il
now enjoys Tie unenvlable reputation of
being the headquarters Of the Infamous
.raHlS known as the Coolis trade. It Is a
very pretty place, and Is claimed by Por.
.ugal as q colony, although the Chinese
10 not actually recognize the claim. New
srtheless, II Is governed by Portuguese
Governor General, who e also az c6icto
Minister to China and Japan.
HUNTING ON HUaHEs' RIVERA par.
IN OT. htntnra Charles Aihev and others. |