The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1880-01-03
Ghin0s Sbroad,


Opium and cottons, and tea and silk.
constitute in the estimation Of most people
the sum total Of the foreign trade with
China. To such gencralizers ships bills
OF lading are unknown documents; they
do not know apparently that cotton and
opium do not supply all that Cinnamon
seek from foreigners, and that the aboring
classes OF the empire are not all employed
IN eultiyating tea and manufacturing silk.
These articles are after all only the big
hsh which come to the traders net; and
when they fail, there are plenty of smaller
Try which help to supply their place.
Inc chinese boast themselves Of being a
civilized people; but though their philoso-
ply Is ereditable they are unable 10 pro-
vide their seamstresses with any but the
clumsiest of needles, aud though they can
calculate eelipses with commendabie ac-
euraey they have failed to contrive any,
thing better than flint and steel wherewith
to light tho wicks floating in oil, which
serve them for lamps. These imperfec-
tlons 10 the domestic economy of the peo-
pie being universal and ever present cause
the appearance of box of English matches
or packet Of well-made needles to be re-
ceiyed with expressions of pleasure, which
would make excellent models for the con.
yersational advertisements now the fashion.
One can Imagine how enthusiasts among
the purchasers Of the 1929 gross Of
matches imported into Tientsin alone last
year would dilate on the superior ease with
which they are now able to light their
evening lamps, and how the female owners
OF 272t millions of needles, which were
fellow voyagers with the matches, would
chatter over the excellence Of the foreign
manufacture.
But many other things go to China be-
sides needles and matches. Rhinoceros
horns, tigers bones, and deer and buffalo
slnews are imported for the benefit Of
timid and sickly Cinnamon, who seek by
swallowing decootions made from these
promising substances to acquire some of
the strength aud courage of their original
owners, And there is no lack Of enthu-
siasm among Chinese gourmots for the
succulent beehe-de-mer, which the shallow
waters Of the Islands Of the Pacific Ocean
yield at their demand, or for the birds
nests which lend such gutinous charm
70 their tavoTite soup. No other swallows
in the world but those which build their
nests In caves on the sea-cliffs of Java
and Borneo arc able to produce these last
most precious delicacies. Newly form
ed nests or nests in which the eggs are
freshly laid are most priced; and these
have to go through process of cleansing
before they are dried and despatched for
the China market, where, however, if in
prime condition, they reward their captors
at the rate Of 50 per pound. Among
more materially minded purchases, window
glass, watches, dyes, paint and other s'srn.
dries lind ready sale; and peacocks and
kinghshers feathers are eagerly bought up
to adorn the hats OF msndarins whom the
Emperor delights to honor, and the head
dress Of fashionable ladies'
In return for these aud other imports
China sends into the outer world medi.
sia.ss of f.- ,s-sa.s- valus ti4an tiius,; st,r
accepts from il, though she has evil
dently some customers who arc fond
Of rare remedies, and who look with a
strange faith to lily flowers, ginseng, and
lotus nuts for relief from some Of the ills
which flesh is heir to. Even from the
disease-begotten tuber known as China
root, which grows from the roots of un-
healthy fir trees, iancful inyalids extract
a cure for diseases as unreal as the remedy
employed to dispel them. Another export
due to an unhealthy condition aggravated
by an uneongenial climate is the white
wax of Sge-chuen. In the Keen-chang
district Of that province there grows in
abundance the Ligastrum lucidunl, an ev-
ergreen tree with pointed ovate leaves, on
the twigs Of which myriads of insects
spread themselves like brownish film, in
the spring Of the year. Presently the sur
face of the twigs becomes encrusted with
n white waxy substance secreted by the in.
sects, and it increases in quantity until the
latter part Of August, when the twigs are
cut of and boiled in water. During this
process the wax, rising to the SURFACE, is
skinned of, and is then melted and al.
lowed to cool in deep pans. BY one Of
those curious accidents which have done
so much to increase the knowledge Of man
kind, it was discovered that, BY transport
ing the insects bred in Keen chang to the
less congenial climate of Kea-ting Flu, in
the north Of the province, the amount Of
wax produced was vastly increased No
people more readily discern a commercial
advantage, or more speedily take adyant-
age Of one when unencumbered with DO
litical considerations, than the Chinese;
aud this singular effect of removing the
insects from congeuial climate to one so
uncongenial as to prevent their breeding
was eagerly taken advantage Of by the Sze.
ehuen traders. Travellers by night on
the high road between Keen-chang and
kea-ting Flu may meet in the spring of
the year hundreds Of wax merchants, each
carrying his load of female insects, big
with young, on their way to their wax
farms in Kea-ting Flu. The Journey is
rough and long, aud fortnight's sun
would precipita,e the Matching, which
should take place after the females have
been attached TO the trees. To the unset
entihc eyes Of Cinnamon the round pea
like female appears to be nothing more
than an egg, and this belief is the more
exeusable since the birth of the young Is
the signal for the death Of the parent, Of
whose previous existence there remains
only as evidence an outer shell or husk,
Six or seven of these prolific mothers arc
wrapped in palm leaf and tied to a branch
OF the Ligustyum iueidam In few DAYS
swarms Of enthusiastically small insects
creep forth and cluster on the twigs Of the
tree, where they fulfill their mission aud
perish with its Accomplishments Ia the
boiiing-pot each August. Baron Rich
thofen considers the value Of the annual
crop to be, on an average, upwards Of sa,-
25O,OO0; and during last year there was
exported from one port Of Hankow up
wards Of s405,O 600 worth of it,
Tha Nn~.~ns-s... 7 u..-.s-