Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-28

have been copied by the mechanics of the
own telautographs heard of similar in
stances at Marking. and the Chinaman who
told me laughed as he described how easily
an American gun maker had been taker
In The man represented a rapid-iir-
ing gun, and he wanted to get an order
from the viceroy. He came to Marking and
was received right royalty. He had several
of his guns with him, and us he exhibited
them the button-hole eyelids of the Chimes.
officials widened and their black pupils
grew big at its destructive properties. They
began TO figure with him on prices, and led
him to believe that they We're going to bu,
the guns. They treated him WELL and wheT
he was invited out to dinner night afte'
night he thought his contract was assured
anu his visions were those of Monte Cristo
All at once the civilities ceased and he was
told that the Viceroy had concluded after all
that he did not want the gun. Before he
left IL leaked out that during the nights he
had been out eating birds nest soup and
shark fms and listening to The dulcet
screeches of the singsong girls the agents
of the viceroy had picked the locks of his
gun cases and had taken accurate measure
ments and models of the machinery of the
guns The only reason why they are not
making these guns today is because they
have other guns they consider better. They
have the drawings and they can reproduce
them at any time. In the gun works at
kiangnan l saw all kinds of modern rifles
i
was told that the best Of the lot had been
chosen, and that they were now making
them for the troops. I handled some which
had just been finished, and to my mex
perienced eyes they looked AZ well as any
L have seen elsewhere. Speaking Of the
wonderful power Of the Chinese to copy
any piece OF machinery which is placed be-
fore them curious incident occurred In
connection with the electric light plant in
the palace of the emperor. The foreign
manager of this plant became sick and went
nj for h lie hAo h fAr Enxrr
he returned he found a second plant run
ming. The Chinese had copied the original
machinery. and for fear that they might
make a mistake they had reproduced 1t
even to the color and amount of the paint
put on the different parts.
On Board Man-Of-War.
During my stay at the Kiangnan arsenal
1 visited one of the Chinese gunboats which
was made at Foo Chow. My photographer
was with me- and he took pictures of the
boat and some of the officials. The sail
ors did not relish being photographed, but
the commands of the captain made them
pose as we wished. Mr.. Cornish, the for
eign adviser of the arsenal was with me-
and our Chinese cards were sent in to the
captain. A moment later a round-faced
Chinaman, standing at least six feet two
and weighing two hundred pounds. ap-
peared on deck He bent over and shook
his own hands at me in Chinese fashion,
and then asked Mr.. Cornish and myself to
step down into his cabin. This was a large
room, built much like the salons of one of our
big boats. 1t was furnished with a number
of two-foot tables. which stood against the
walls of the room between heavy armed
teak wood chairs, that as we sat down
each of us had a table beside him, upon
which later on tea and champagne were
served. The tea was given us in Chinese
cups, with saucers on their tops, so tilted
into them as to keep The tea leaves out of
our mouths. The champagne was served
in little gltsses tn size of an egg cup and
the captain smacked his lips as the amber
hutd audibly gurgled down his throat In
me center OF the room as we entered one
OF the officers OF the ship was sitting on a
stool. with a copper basin in front of him
and a barber behind him. The barber was
Shaving his head and braiding his queue.
and the officer did not seem to regard our
presence in the least He rose and shook
his own hands at US. then bowed half
dozen times. and then had his man go on
with the shaving. There was, in fact. an
tsnconventonallty about the whole ship
that was refreshing. A big mandarin was
expected, and the marines were dressing
themselves on board. One man pulled on
his trousers as we came out of the CAP
tain's cabin on to the deck. and another
hurriedly got himself into his coat
Interviewing the Captain.
The marines wore dark blue shirts or
sacks and blue pantaloons Of wadded cot
ton, which were tucked into thick black
cloth boots. The shirts were bordered with
wide bands of red and were embroidered on
the breast with Chinese characters. / had
one of the marines on deck photographed
and / noted that his gun was muzzle
leader, though he was standing beside
big Armstrong cannon at the time l after
VI ards got a picture of a whole crew with
their turned-up straw hats and their light
blue clothes, as they posed for their pho
tcgraph on one of the biggest ships of the
Chinese navy, and / was struck with the
nerve shown In their faces and the agility
with which they moved about at their
work
chatted with the captain sometime
about his boat. and found that he under
stood its organization and. equipment. He
was anxious to have a new six-inch gun
and he told Mr.. Cornish So He spoke
pigeon English, and when Mr. Cornish
asked him il he did not want to try the
gun before he took it out to sea, he replied
emphatically:
Yes. must havey tly. S'pose my 60 way
-spose gun no good must havey tly-my
take gun out-we go shoote. S'pose allie
lightee we takee, but must have a tly"
Ihis chinese captain, however, 1 am told
knows more about his ship than many of
the other officials do. The mandarius, as
a rule, are politicians rather than business
men, and some of those who are in charge
OF the arsenals know nothing whatever of
mechanics. A few days ago a twelye-inch
gun was tested and the leading officials
OF Shanghai went out to see it. These
high mandarins discretely retired to a pavil-
the understrappers did the business
If there should be a war between China
and Japan it will in all probability be
blood-thirsty one. The Chinese would have
10 scrupies about the use of dynamite and
all the deyilish contrivances of modern in
vention will be adopted. 1t may be that the
10 yok pO," or hand grenades which were
used by the Chinese war tunks of the past
will be again brought into service /
chatted the other day with Capt Impey of
the Monoeacy, of the American navy. about
these He describes them as the most
horrible weapon known to man. The smell
from them is so suffocating that no one
can Withstand them, and when they ex-
plode they often set the ships on fire and
tear the skin from the bodies of the men on
board. 1t is not probable that they would
be of great value in the present prospective
war. but these people who have used them
in the past would not hesitate to adopt any,
thing that might be invented Of the same
nature in the future
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