Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-03-14
CONSUL AT CANTON.

CONSUL AT CANTON.
A Trip with That OmeIaI to See the
Sacred Swine OF China-Banyans
Growing on.Houses, Lotus Lakes
Flower Boats. and Unreliable Native
Press.
Canton, China, Correspondence of The Inter
Ocean.
Suppose we take little exercise
over Honam," said Consul Seymour
as we were standing on the front bal
cony of the United States consulate
this morning, looking across at the
island of the name which he had quot
ed.
Of course promptly assented, and
we walked to one OF the granite stair
ways that lead from the Shameen
down to the water level. Signaling
sampan, we were soon comfortably
seated in one of the peculiar Chinese
passenger crafts, of which there are
always thousands visible from almost
any point on the river front. Two
women pulled at; the oars, or mani
pulated bamboo poles where the depth
of the water interfered with rowing,
while two more were engaged on the
| pup Ii SculIIHS.
THESE ARE NOT THE FASTEST
of the Chinese boats, but they are
fairly satisfactory in respect to speed.
The slipper sampans, used mainly for
cargo purposes, are the fastest of all
and they will run right away from the
fastest foreign-built row boat, al
though looking rather clumsy. They
are propelled by two or four coolies,
who stand up and push their bars
from them, while looking in the
same direction in which the boat is
going.
We directed our course first to the
bungalow of Mr.. Nye, the American
Vice Consul. Mr.. Nye has been out
here in Canton half a century, and
seems to feel that change of climate
now, in view of advancing infrmity,
would be fatal.
Mr.. Nye was disengaged, and read
lily consented to accompany US. As
we emerged from his house he called
my attention to some bastard ban
vans gro wing out of each of the cor
ners of the building, the seed of
which had been planted there by the
wind great many years ago, and
which had been watered by the caves
trough, until the trees had attained a
firm grip and quite imposing proper
tons.
Don't you feel afraid that they
may strain the walls so that they will
collapsed" J inquired.
Quite the reverse" was the reply.
| l. @etx,n flaa cd
by the rootlets as to be able now to
resist any cyclone"
We first visited the Honam Temple,
one of the largest and finest in all
South China. When this is said every
thing has been said. China does not
produce anything very grand
IN THE WAY OLE RELIGIOUS ARcHITEo
TURE,
and hardly anything that is distinct
i've. We passed down dirty avenue
of banyans, followed by the regtag of
the whole island, whom even the dig
nifty of the whole American consulate
was not sufficient to awe into silence.
Sometimes the appeals of this howl
ing mob for "cumshaw" were nothing
short of deafening. We looked into
number of halls, all much alike, in
spected gilded images, huge candle
sticks, and sandalwood incense-tapers
and nauseam, and then went quite a
distance to the rear to see the mausole-
UNI where theashes of deceased priests
are deposited. This was very sub
stantlal monument, composed of
granite slabs, eleven feet long by two
feet wide. Near by was the crematory
the first | have seen in CHINA
small stone oven six or eight feet
high, equipped for the incineratlon of
a SINCE body at time.
Then we were escorted back to see
| the
SACRED SWINE"
Can any one think of more incon-
gruous consideration These were
nothing more or less than a drove of
obese hogs, such as may be seen every
| fail at a county fair in the United
States. They are kept at the expense
of the temple in recog .ition OF the
command of Buddha that every man
shall do all in his power to prevent
the destruction of single creature.
BY the way, Buddhism in China is
not at all the poetical thing which
some may ignorantly fancy. If Ed
win Arnold could have come here
after having written his Light of
ASIA" | think
HE WOULD HAVE BECOME SICK
at his stomach; and if he could have
inspected the workings of Chinese
Buddhism prior to the publication of
| that pleasant little idyll, doubt if the
world would ever have pursued the
poem.
But it was something more sub
stantially novel that [ intended to
make the burden of this letter when
commenced to write. With the in
fluence of the whole American con-
sulate behind me, l was permitted the
very rare privilege ofpasslng over the
famous Heuqua estate, one of the
wealthiest and most imposing homes
in this whole empire. More than
this, was permitted to see the females
in the various branches of the Houqua
family, a privilege which, l was as
sured, was never before accorded a
male foreigner. Think of that, We
envious American Washers. Only
one or two ladies have ever enjoyed
this remarkable favor, Mrs. Henry,
the miIlioniare's vito, and daughter
of Robert E. Lee being the most not
able of the fortunate ones. The fact
becoming known that was ''Meli-
can newspaper man." and would
probably never return to demana a
repetition of this supreme blessing,
it. together with the influence of my
official companions, proved an open
sesame to the mysterious inner cir
cles.
The elder Houqua died some forty
years ago, supposed to be worth near
ly million of dollars for every year
of his life. His wealth is illustrated
by the fact that when the English de-
manded ransom of several million
dollars for the city of Canton, about
the time when they were holding the
city, Mr.. Houqua came forward and
said:
Permit me the happiness of donat
ing S1,100, 000."
And the citizens
TITN THAT