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 Across America and Asia.Notes ot a five 
 
 3 1924 013 977 727 „. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013977727 
 
r 
 
ACROSS 
 
 AMEEICA AND ASIA 
 
 NOTES OF A FIVE TEAMS' JOUBNET 
 
 AROXJKD THE WORLD 
 
 AND OF ESBIDSirOX IS 
 
 AEIZOIsTA, JAPAl!}' 
 
 SlfV 
 
 0HI1^^A 
 
 BT 
 
 RAPHAEL PUMPELLY 
 
 Prqfenar in Haroard Ohiversityj and sometime Mining Bnffineer in the service tf the 
 Chinese and Japanese Chvemmenlt> 
 
 SECOND EDITION, REVISED. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 LETPOLDT & HOLT 
 
 1870 
 
Entekbd according to Act of CoNaKEss in the Year 1669, by 
 
 LETPOLDT & HOLT, 
 
 In the Cxjibk's Orrios of the District Court of the United States for the 
 Southern District of New York. 
 
 BTEREOTTFED BT PRINTED BY 
 
 DENNIS BRO'S & THORNE, THE TROW & SMITH BOOK M'F'G CO^ 
 
 AUBURN, N. T. 60 & 52 GREEN STREET, N. T 
 
As so many of the following pages relate to experiences illus- 
 trating the wisdom of that diplomatic policy which, in bringing 
 China into the circle of interdependent nations, promises good to 
 the whole world, I dedicate them to the chief author of that 
 policy— 
 
 ANSON BURLINGAME. 
 
PEEFAOE. 
 
 Aftee preparing the volume of " Geological Researches in 
 CMna, Mongolia, and Japan," for publication by the Smithsonian 
 Institution, I was induced to write a simple narration of a jour- 
 ney which encircled the earth in the Northern temperate zone, at 
 a time of unusual interest in several of the countries visited. 
 
 The social disorganization in Arizona presented a phase of bor- 
 der life of the worst type indeed, but most valuable as showing 
 the effect of the absence of the usual restraints upon society. 
 
 Extensive travel in the interior of Japan and China under com- 
 mission from the native governments, and the long journey from 
 China over the table land of Central Asia, and through Siberia to 
 Europe, brought me face to face with the inhabitants of these 
 interesting countries, and with the. influences which Nature has 
 used in moulding them to their present forms. 
 
 I have tried to present in a continued, series of sketches these 
 important regions, which are being brought, by the reaction of 
 the spirit of the age upon their natural capacities, into the circle 
 of interdependent nations. 
 
 The incidents and adventures of an eventful journey are used 
 freely, as forming some of the best illustrations of the social con- 
 dition of the races in the midst of which they occurred. 
 
 During a residence of several months at Mr. Burlingame's 
 house in Peking, in the most interesting period of diplomacy in 
 
vi PBEFAGE. 
 
 knowledge thus acquired I have sought to embody in the chap- 
 ter on Western Policy in China. 
 
 The MS. was finished early in 1868 ; the policy, therefore, 
 which is recommended in reference to our Indian question was 
 arrived at before the adoption of substantially the same means by 
 the present administration. 
 
 Those of my readers who are interested in Japanese Art will 
 feel as much indebted to Mr. John La Farge as I am, for kindly 
 writing the chapter on that subject. 
 
 The cuts facing pages 175 and 180, and the maps of Tesso and 
 of the Tang Ho district, are taken from the Geological Researches 
 in China, Mongolia, and Japan, by permission of the Smithsonian 
 Institution. 
 
 The wood-cuts are engraved by Messrs. W.J. andH.D. Linton. 
 The lithographic maps and illustrations were executed under the 
 supervision of Mr. J. Bien. I would express sincere thanks to 
 both Mr.'W. J. Linton and Mr. Bien for the especial interest they 
 have taken in furthering the execution of the illustrations. 
 
 Finally, I would acknowledge the deep obligation I am under 
 to the many friends abroad and at home who, by hospitality and 
 a thousand kind actions, have smoothed the route of travel and 
 the difficulties of publication. 
 
 RP. 
 
LIST OF ILLTJSTEATI01i[S. 
 
 . Thb Dajbutz or Kamakuea. (Prom a Photograph.) Fkontispieob. 
 
 The Santa Eita Vallht. (From a Sketch by H. C. Grosvencr.) To face page 12 
 
 . The Saquaba. (Cereus gigantem.) " " 38 
 
 . Datbkeak on the Desekt. (View from the Tinaje Alta, from a Sketch in the 
 
 Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary.) To face page 57 
 
 , Cbatek near Honolulu 69 
 
 , Ftjzitama and Inosima. (Prom a Japanese Sketch.) 129 
 
 , Volcano of Komangadake, erom Washinoki 169 ' 
 
 . Method or Washing fob Gold * To face page 175 
 
 Manner OP OcciTRRENCE of Stilphtjr* " " 180 
 
 , Change FROM Polygonal to Spherical Form in Eock Masses*.. " " 180 
 
 , Japanese Wood-Cuts AND Color Phis TING " " 198 
 
 Japanese WooD-Cir. 3 AND Color Printing " " 199 
 
 , Japanese Wood-Cuts and Color Printing *' *' 200 
 
 . Japanese Wood-Cuts and Color Printing " '■ " 202 
 
 . Temple of Heaven at Peking. (From a Photograph.) 275 
 
 , EooFS OF THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN. (Prom a Photograph.) 276 
 
 Gateway before the Altar to Heaven. (Prom a Photograph.) 277 
 
 The Altar to Heaven. (Prom a Photograph.) To face page 278 
 
 C«REAN Embassadok. (From a Photograph.) 303 
 
 Attendant of the Corean Embassador. (From a Photograph.) 303 
 
 Attendant of the Coeean Embassador. (From a Photograph.) 303 
 
 . Marble Arch in the Nan-kau Pass. (From a Photograph.) 307 
 
 , The Great Wall. (From a Photograph.) To face page 308 
 
 , Mongol 386 
 
 . Mongol Peinob 386 
 
 MAPS. 
 
 . Meeoatoe Chaet, showing the Authoe's Eoute To face the Preface. 
 
 . Map of Arizona To face page 1 
 
 . Map of Southern Tbsso * " " 143 
 
 . Map OF the Tang Ho District.* To accompany Chap. XXm " " 306 
 
 * From the author's " Gsoloqical Researcite^ in Chiha, Monoolia and Japan." (SmlthiOn. ItMt. 1868.) 
 
coiJrTEisrTs. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE OVEKLAJTO COACH. 
 
 JiBComfort of a crowded coach— A border family— Dipping— 1. Indian Territory— Park- 
 like scenery in Valley of the Red Eiver— Indian cultivation- Negro slaves held by Indiana 
 —Loss of hats— Transition to the prairie lands of Northeastern Texas- 2. From prairie 
 to desert— Visit from the " Eegalators "—Prairie dogs and their neighbors— The des- 
 ert— 3. Camanche depredations — Effects of continued stage travelling— Scenery on 
 the Pecos Eiver- Gnadalonpe Mountains— Teams of wild horaes — i. Arrival at Tnc- 
 son- Warm quarters- Dryness and clearness of the air— 5. Masses of Meteoric iron— 
 VaUey of the Santa Cruz — Surface structure of the valley — 6. The Mission of SanXavier 
 del Bac — Stock ranches— The Santa Eita Mountains- The Canoa—Tubac— Arrival at 
 the Santa Eita mines — ^7. Geography of Arizona — Granite ridges and plains — Geologi- 
 cal remarks on Arizona — 8. Scarcity of surface-water — Influence of climate on the 
 vegetation— 9. Transition from deserts of the coast to the forests of the interior moun- 
 tains — Cereus Giganteus — Trees of the country — Arizona a good grazing country — Little 
 agricultural land without irrigation— Eemains of ancient agricultural civUizatioa on 
 the Gila Eiver— 10. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SANTA EITA VALLEY. 
 
 Influence of climate and vegetation npon the scenery of Arizona — Journey to Fort Bu- 
 chanan— Eemarkable escape of a woman from Indian captivity— 13. Fort Buchanan 
 — ^A man killed by Apaches in sight of the Fort — Subsequent murders at the same place 
 — Previous mining industry at the Santa Eita — ^Difliculties opposed to mining — Our 
 horses and mules stolen by Apaches — Eepeated attacks — 14. Eumored withdrawal of 
 the troopa — How Indian wars are begun— Violation of a flag of truce by XJ. S. troops— 
 16. General consternation among the settlers— We determine to abandon the mines- 
 Collecting debts — Journey to the Heintzelman Mine— A load of ore sent to the Santa 
 Eita — ^Exciting journey back to the mines — 17. Suspicion of treachery — Grosvenor and 
 myself set out in pursuit of delinquents— Eetum— 18. An awful night— Assassination 
 of Grosvenor— 19. Arrival of troops- Burials— Discouraging prospects- Necessity of 
 an Increased force at the mines — 22. Journey to the Fort— A self-recorded murder- A 
 scene of destmction and a race for life— 24. Terrible weapons— Disappointment at the 
 Fort— 25. Eetum to the Santa Eita— Smelting and fighting— 36. Abandonment of the 
 Santa Eita— 27. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE FEONTIBK AND THE DESERT. 
 
 Dtier morals— 29. Prospects of Arizona^-Need of improTed means of transportation 
 —30. Ferguson's route to Lobos Bay— Harbor of Libertad— Dlfllcnlties and needs of 
 metallurgy in Arizona — Fuel — Necessity of immigration — 31. Uncertainty and treach- 
 ery of Mexican laborers — ^Partido system of mining — Wages at Santa Rita — Chinese la- 
 bor recommended — Arizona more a! grazing than an agricultural land — Necessity of 
 change in our Indian policy— 32. The cause of our Indian troubles— Needs of a roving 
 population— 33. . The extermination policy— Success of the methods followed by Hud- 
 son Bay Co. and by the Jesuits— 34. Treatment of Aborigines by Eussia and China- 
 Policy recommended in reference to the Indians — How Indian wars are begun by Indian 
 agents— 35. Excursion to the Papagoria — Scenery — 36. Wild horses— Animals on the 
 sHrt of the desert— Outpost monuments of the Apaches and Papagos— 37. Mines of 
 Cahuabi— A village which gets its water drop by drop — A touching Incident of Indian 
 life— The giant cactus and other plants— 38. Irregular mining— 39. Night soeneiy on the 
 desert— Accident to Washburn— 40. Terrible heat— Narrow escape of Poston— Watch- 
 ing and nursing on the desert — 41. Arrival of a wagon— Starting for Sonora— 42. 
 Starving on the desert— Relief— 43. Arrival at Saric — Kindness of the Mexican women 
 — Retni'n to Arizona — 44. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CLOSING SCENES. 
 
 massacre at the Canoa— 45. Remarkable escape of William Rhodes— One man against 
 » hundred Apaches— 46. The scene at the Canoa—" Unlmown "—47. Murder of Rich- 
 mond Jones— Departure from Tnbac-48. Mexican massacre at the Heintzelman Mine 
 -Murder of John Po8ton-^9. Departure from Arizona— BO. The Gate of Hell— Altar 
 -Productions of Sonora— Caborca— 51. Plot to waylay us— Williams, the frontiers- 
 nan— 52. Signs of the waylaying party— A revolutionaiy general— 53. Williams, from 
 i new point of view— Reminiscences of a cut-throat— 54. A string of ears— The heart 
 rf the desert— 57. Mummies on the desert— Volcanic cones— 58. Terrors of the 
 rinaje alte— Heat of the Gila River— Sand-storms on the desert— 59. A city founded 
 10 pay ferryage— Port Tuma— Beauty of the Yuma women— 60. Burning the dead— 
 Canons of the Colorado— 61. " One-eyed-Jack "—Williams's plot— 62. Farewell to 
 if illiams- Desert of the Colorado— A man in golden armor— 64. Cariso Creek— Parting 
 salutation from the desert— Entrance into Southern California- 65. Growth of Califor- 
 na^66. Engagement of Mr. Blake and the author by the Japanese Government— Ac- 
 snowledgments- 67. 
 
 CHAPTER v. 
 
 PACIFIC OCEAN. 
 
 jrture for Japan— Narrow escape— 68. Approach to the Sandwich Islands— Honolulu— 
 19. The ParS-^Incident and superstition- 70. Geographical sketch of the Sandwich 
 [slands— 71. Productions and Revenue— Influence of European intercourse— 72. De- 
 jarture from Honolulu— 74. Stormy voyage— 75. First sight of Japan— Entrance to 
 ;he bay of Teddo — 76. Arrival at Tokohama— 77. 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 YOKOHAMA. 
 
 Bicnrsion to Kamakam and the Daibntz— 79. Colopsal statne of Bndda— 80. Temples 
 of Kamakum— 81. Excursion to the Temple of Daishi— 82. Fortnne-tellmg— 83. 
 Japanese dinner— 84. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 YOKOHAMA (CONTINTJBD). 
 
 Geological and geographical sketch of Japan— 85. Japanese chronology and historical out- 
 line— 90. The Mikado — 93. Origin of the Tykoonate— 94. Modern history of the Em- 
 pire— 94. Dissensions caused hy the Christians — 96. Interview with the Government — 
 100. Excursion to the Oyama — 101. Silk-district of Hachiogi — 103. Japanese ma- 
 sonry— Inns and beds- 103. Temple— Adventure atKoyasn— 106. Earthquakes- Shock 
 — Earthquakes of Japan — 107. Phallic symbol — Tokaido — 109. Bikunins — 111. 
 Language— 112. 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 POLITICS. 
 
 roritomo — Taikosama— UB. Organization of the Government— 115. Classiflcation of the 
 population— 117. Balance of power— 119. Causes of trouble with foreigners— 120. 
 Prince of Chosu — ^122. Enterprise of the Teddo Government — ^Murder of Richardson — 
 123. Bombardment of Kagosima— 124. Western arrogance— 125. Western policy in 
 Japan— 126. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BXCUBSIONS. 
 
 Wodowara Bay— View of Puziyama— 128. Inosima— 129. Teddo— 131. Temperament of 
 tbe Japanese— 134. The social evil—Japanese houses- 135. Bathing-houses— Incident 
 in a bath— 137. Diseases— Dust-storm from Cblna— 138. Physicians- Cemeteries— 139. 
 Amusements — 140. Drunkenness— 141. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PIKST JOUKNBY IN YBS80. 
 
 Arrival at Hakodade— First journey inland— 143. Japanese horses— 145. Mines of Ichi- 
 nowatari— Stamping— Machinery— Metallurgy— 145. Cost of mining and smelting— 146. 
 Method of travelling — Ascent of the volcano of Komangadak^— 147. Volcano Bay— Hot 
 
 springs ^150. Magnetic iron sand — ^Mines of Kakumi — Umbrella plant — 151. Coast 
 
 scenery— Geology of the Peninsula— Solfatara of Esan — 152. Sulphur-works of 
 Bsan— 163. Infusorial earth- Furnace to smelt iron sand— 154. Veins of copper— 156. 
 Intercourse with the ofScials— 156. Hara-kiru— 157. 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 EELIGIONS OF JAPAN. 
 
 Sintnism— 158. Sintu festival— 159. WorBliip of ancestors— 160. PeticMsm- Shaman- 
 ism— 161. Confacianism— Sketch of Buddism— 162. Christianity- 168. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 SECOND JOTTHNEY IN TBSSO. 
 
 The West Coast— 169. Petroleum— Eecent strata— The Ainos— 170. Gold washings of 
 Kunnni— 172. Forest growth— The auriferous deposits- Method of washing gold— 173. 
 Ancient gold washings— Festival to the dead— 174. View on Volcano Bay— 175. Offi- 
 cial etiquette— Scenery on West coast— 176. Hot springs and snakes— 177. Ascent of 
 Solfataraoflwaounobori— 178. Geology of the volcano— 179. Sulphur formation— 180. 
 Sulphur works and production— Coal-beds-Marine life— 181. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SECOND JOtTENET IN TESSO. 
 
 The Eaiden— Volcanic rocks— 183. Geological structure of Southern Tesso — ^184. Inci- 
 dent— 185. Contrast between imperial and princely domain — Policy of the Tykoon- 
 ate— Boat journey and scenery — 186. Marine productions — Penitentiary — Hot springs 
 and snakes— 187. Bears — Lead mines of Turup— Cost of mining— Introduction of 
 blasting with powder— 189. Rich mines abandoned in Japan— 190. Termination of 
 our engagement— 191. Hospitality of foreigners— Voyage to Nagasaki— Nagasaki— 
 192. Cemeteries- 193. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 JAPANESE AKT. 
 
 Gradual appreciation of Japanese art in the West— 195. Its characteristics— 196. Its value 
 and position in the general history of art— 197. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 rNTRODUCTION TO CHINA. 
 
 Shanghai- 203. Foreign estimate of the Chinese— 204. Specimen of foreign treatment of 
 the Chinese- 205. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 GEOGEAPHICAL SKETCH OF CHINA. 
 
 The Slnian system of mountains— Mountains and rivers— 207. Climate— Diversity of plant 
 life— 209. Animal life— 210. Mineral resources— Routes of travel and commerce— 211. 
 Boutes for railways— Caravan routes— 213. 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 CHAPTER XVn. 
 
 JOUKNBY UP THK YANGTZ' KEANG. 
 
 Shipwrecked— 215. Siege of Nanking— The rebellion— 211. General Ward and his boI- 
 diers— 220. Chinese Sieges— 2S1. Scenery on the Yangtz'— 223. Hankau— 224. Wu- 
 chang— Preparations tor boat-joumey— 226. 
 
 CHAPTER XVin. 
 
 BOAT-JOUBNET ON THE TJPPEB TANGTZ'. 
 
 Fever— Onr boat— 229. Tungting lake— Pagodas and Fungshni— 230. Seriona adTentnre 
 with soldiers— 231. Adventure at Changsha— 235. Preparation for famine— 236. Tai- 
 ping Canal— 237. Curiosity fofled- 238. The gong at home— 239. Opium and its con- 
 sumption—The Sinian system of mountains— 240. Eocks of the Upper Yangtz' — 
 The Ichang gorge— 2il. Knormous thickness of Emestone- Climbing the rapids— 242. 
 Lucan gorge — The Mitan gorge— 244. Devonian limestone — Coal-field of Kwei — 
 Dragon festival— 245. Ketum— 246. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE CHINESB AS EMIGHAHT8 AND COLONIZERS. 
 
 Incentives to emigration and reasons why the Chinese return home— 247. Effect of the 
 Pacific railroad on immigration — 249. Importance of the (juestion from an ethnological 
 point of view — 250. Hostility of the Irish toward the Chinese— The political element 
 in the problem— 251. The Chinese in California— Californian estimates of the value of 
 Chinese labor— 252. The Chinese in Java— 253. Chinese in Singapore— 254. They 
 seem destined to people and develop the wealth of the tropics— 254. Sketch of the 
 Chinese character and political and social principles— 256. The dangers and advanta- 
 ges of nnllmited immigration of Chinese into America— 262. The political aspect of 
 the question— 264. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 PEKING AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD. 
 
 Takn— Tientsin— 266. Plain of Chih-li— Sand-storms- 267. Granite Causeways— Walls 
 of Peking— Adventure of Count Eiisseloff- 268. Description of Peking— Walk on the 
 Wall— 270. Drum Tower— 272. Cabs— 273. Market of Peking— 274. Temple of 
 heaven— 275. State religion of China— 278. Temple of agriculture — Ceremony of the 
 golden plough— Lapidary work — 279. Curiosity shops — Bookstores — Extent of litera- 
 ture— 280. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE CAVBEN NEAR PANG SHAN 
 
 Jonmeylon the plain— 283. Bnddist Monastery— The Sacred Cave— 285. Buddist monas- 
 ■ teries— 286. 
 
Siv CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER XXIL 
 
 VISIT TO THE COAL MTNES. 
 
 Interview with the TenEgli-yamun— 287. Commissioned to examine the coal mines— My 
 party— S88. Characteristic scene— Chinese money— 289. Geology of the coal district 
 of Chaitang— 290. The mines and coal— 291. Chinese mining— 292. lions in the 
 path— 293. Wild scenery— 294. Wang's story— 295. Coal-fleld of Mnntakau- An un- 
 popular magistrate— 296. Adventure— 299. Coal-fleld of Fangshan— Difficult journey 
 through a mine— A merry dinner party — 300. Torchlight journey- 301. An official 
 dinner— Anecdote— 802. Corean Embassy— 303. 
 
 CHAPTER XXni. 
 
 JOITRNBY AliONG THE GBBAT ■WAIL. 
 
 Tomhs of the Ming dynasty— 30B. Nankau pass— 307. Marhle-arch— The great wall— 308. 
 Ancient lakes of TTorthem China— An im willing doctor— 309. Legend of Ki-ming 
 mountain— 310. Coal mines^-Public kitchen— 311. Kalgan — Trachytic porphyry — 
 The Great Wall— 313. Ascent to the plateau of Central Asia— 315. A sharply-defined 
 boundary — Influence of the climat-e on inhabitants of Central Asia — 216. View from a 
 ruined tower— 317. Antelopes — Lost^-Lama temple— 318. A caravanseiy— Stove-beds 
 —319. Dishonesty and honesty— 321. Method of planting— 322. Structure of the pla- 
 teau— 323. Adventure at a farm-house— 324. Dr. Pogojeff's patients— 325. Mongol 
 dwellings— 326. Lava stream— 327. Adventure with a chieftainess— 328. Dried-up 
 lakes— Talley of the Kirnoor— Ancient water levels— 329. Lama temple— 330. Bud- 
 dist Monasteries— Valley of the Ta-lmi— 331. Mohammedan rebellion— 332. Adven- 
 ture at Pung-ching— 333. View from the Great Wall— 334. Deep erosion— A mob at 
 Yang-kau— 353. Eapid erosion— 336. The Eoman mission at Siwan— 337. Samdad 
 Chiemba— Return to Peking— 338. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 WESTERN POLICY IN CHINA. 
 
 War of 1840—339. The last war— 340. Fall of Peking— Prince Kung and the revolution— 
 342. Wise course of England in the last war— Advantages gained by the treaties— 343. 
 The retaliation policy— 344. Advantages of direct intercourse— 345. The anti-foreign 
 party— The " cooperative policy"— 346. Necessity of strengthening the Central Gov- 
 
 omment— Danger of the Exterritoriality clause— 347. The Burgevine imbroglio 
 
 Ward's soldiers— 349. The foreign customs service— 350. Needed reforms in the ad- 
 ministration and judiciary— Adoption of international law— Translation of Wheaton— 
 351. The Lay-Osborne flotUla— 352. The Regency and the Emperor— 353. Influence 
 of public opinion in China— 354. The Chtuese and foreign innovations— 365. The 
 missionary problem— 356. Letter from Sii' F. Bruce— 358. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 FROM PEKING TO NAGASAKI. 
 
 An erratic mis8ionaiy^359. Condition of Christian missions In China— 360.- Prepara- 
 tioiLS for a journey across Asia— 364. 
 
CONTENTS. jj^V 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE TABLE-LAND OF CENTRAL ASIA. 
 
 7ojage— Immense numbers of Medusae — 365. Departure from Peking— 366. Our caravan 
 —Intense cold on the plateau— 367. Mongolian tea— 368. Dryness of the climate— Ter- 
 rific storms— 369. Our cooking— 370. Our lama— 372. The broad-taUed sheep— 378. 
 The Bactrian camel — Kc-soling a camel's foot. — .375. The winter sun on the plateau — 
 376. The mask of ice— Fierce storm — 377. Fighting against odds — 378. Lamasery — 
 380. The plateau and the Gobi desert — 381. Urga— Tlie Grand Lama— 382. Colossal 
 statue of Budda — Praymg machines— The Biiddlst and Eoman rituals— 383. Infln. 
 ence of Buddism on the Mongols— Chinese policy toward Mongolla^-384. Physical 
 characteristics of the Mongols— 386. Kiachta and Maimaichin — 387. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 SIBERIA. 
 
 Russian baths — 388. Gold deposits of Eastern Siberia— Frozen inundations — 389. English 
 iron brought from Cliina — Cost of freight from China — Wolves — 390. A Cossack vil- 
 lage— 391. National dance — 392. Journey over lake Baikal on the ice— Earthquake of 
 1861- Beauty of the ice— 394. The frozen mist— 39S. Irkutzk— Termak and the Eus- 
 sian conquest — 396. Geographical sketch of Siberia — 397. Siberia as a penal colony — 
 Eeflned society in Siberia— 400. Industries— Trade — 402. Overland tea trade— Impor- 
 tance and practicability of a railway from China to Europe — 403. Vices of the Siberi- 
 ans — 404. Eemarkable device for gambling — 406. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 SIBERIA (continued). 
 
 Preparations for journey to Europe— Methods of travelling — 407. Travelling dress— In- 
 tense cold — 409. Siberian inns^410. 70 degrees below zero — My lady companion — 411. 
 View from the north flank of the Altai mountains — 413. Winter landscape — 414. My 
 companion a second EUzabeth— 415. Trouble at Omsk— 116. Post stations— Eussian 
 superstitions — 417. Ekaterinburg— Lapidary work — The gold washings — 418. Meth- 
 ods of washings — 419. Depressing effect of government tax on gold mining— Journey 
 to the iron and copper works of Tagilsk — The iron mountain — 420. Copper ores — 
 Process of sheet-iron manufacture — 421. Effect of emancipation on labor— Departure 
 from Ekaterinburg — 423. Esiles — Crossing the Ural mountains — Kazan — ^Nijui Nov- 
 gorod to Moscow — 423. Extremes of climate on the journey — Prospective growth of 
 Bassia — 424. Prospective condition of the Chinese at home and abroad — 426. 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 Extract from Report of Consul Harvey of Ningpo, to Sir F. Brace, on the Eebellion-^28. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 Eeligiona bearing of the Eebellion ; by Eev. W. Muirhead— 432. 
 
xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Agrionltural prodnctions of the Proviuce of Chihli ; from Eeport of Mr. Consul Gibsor 
 to the British GoTemment— 439. 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 Analyaia of Chinese and Japanese coals; made for E. Pumpelly by Mr. J. A. Macdonald— 442. 
 
 APPENDIX V. 
 
 Tabular statement of the production of the private gold-washinge of Trana-Baikalia 
 during twenty years— 446. 
 
1W. 116° " 
 
 113° 
 
 
 ^T^zm: 
 
 114° 
 
 U2° 
 
 108 ■■ 
 
 
 
 MAP OF ARIZOI 
 
 Willi pari of 
 
 SONOKA AND CALIFORNIA 
 
 to accompany ■ 
 
 r.pumpelly's narrative 
 
 from the latest Maps of I Ik- 
 
 U. S.En0necr Dcparlinenl 
 
 
 'amp Vnllcn 
 
 U8 
 
 ^_.'>''"..V i v_ 
 
 m 1^ 
 
ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AEIZOIS'A, 
 
 Ik the autumn of 1860 I reached the "westernmost end of the 
 ilroad in Missouri, finishing the first, and, in point of time, the 
 ortest stage in a journey, the end of which I had not even at- 
 mpted to foresee. My immediate destination was the silver 
 ines of the Santa Rita, in Arizona, of which I was to take 
 arge, as mining engineer, for a year, under the resident super- 
 fcendent. 
 
 Having secured the right to a back seat in the overland coach 
 far as Tucson, I looked forward, with comparatively little 
 ead, to sixteen days and nights of continuous travel. But the 
 rival of a woman and her brother, dashed, at the very outset, 
 y hopes of an easy journey, and obliged me to take the front 
 at, where, with my back to the horses, I began to foresee the 
 ming discomfort. The coach was fitted with three seats, and 
 ese were occupied by nine passengers. As the occupants of 
 e front and middle seats faced each other, it was necessary for 
 ese six people to interlock their knees ; and there being room 
 side for only ten of the twelve legs, each side of the coach was 
 ■aced by a foot, now dangling near the wheel, now trying in 
 lin to find a place of support. An unusually heavy mail in the 
 >ot, by weighing down the rear, kept those of us who were on 
 e front seat constantly bent forward, thus, by taking away all 
 pport from our backs, rendering rest at all tunes out of the 
 lestion. 
 
 My immediate neighbors were a tall Missourian, with his wife 
 id two young daughters ; and from this family arose a large 
 irt of the discomfort of the journey. The man was a border 
 illy, armed with revolver, knife, and rifle ; the woman, a very 
 \.g, ever following the disgusting habit of dipping— filling the 
 
2 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. r. 
 
 air, and covering her clothes with snuff; the girls, for several days 
 overcome by sea-sickness, and in this having no regard for the 
 clothes of their neighbors ; — these were circumstances which 
 offered slight promise of comfort on a journey which, at the best, 
 could only be tedious and difiicult. 
 
 For several days our road lay through the more barren and 
 uninteresting parts of Missouri and Arkansas ; but when we en- 
 tered the Indian territory, and the fertile valley of the Red 
 river, tlie scenery changed, and we seemed to have come into 
 one of the Edens of the earth. Indeed, one of the scenes, still 
 bright in my memory, embraced the finest and most extensive of 
 natural parks. 
 
 Coming suddenly to the brow of a high bluff we found that we 
 had been travelling over a table-land, while beneath us lay a 
 deep and widely-eroded valley, the further limits of which were 
 marked by distant blue hills. The broad flat bottom-land was 
 covered with a deep-green carpet of grass, and dotted, at intervals 
 of a few miles, with groves of richly-colored trees. As a work 
 of Nature it was as much more beautiful than the finest English 
 park, as Nature had spent more centuries in perfecting it than 
 the nobleman had spent years. 
 
 The fertile country reserved for the Indians is only partially 
 cultivated by them. Although considerable success has attended 
 the attempts to elevate these tribes, the ultimate result of the 
 experiment is by no means certain. The possession of negro 
 slaves by the Indians could not but be attended by even greater 
 evils than the use of this labor among the white population. 
 
 Before reaching Fort Smith every male passenger in the stage 
 had lost his hat, and most of the time allowed for breakfast at 
 that town was used in getting new head-coverings. It tui-ned out 
 to be a useless expense, however, for in less tlian two days we 
 were all again bareheaded. As this happens to the passengers 
 of every stage, we estimated that not less than fifteen hundred 
 hats were lost yearly by travellers, for the benefit of the popula- 
 tion along the road. 
 
 After passing the Arkansas river, and travelling two or three 
 days through the cultivated region of northeastern Texas, we 
 came gradually to the outposts of population. The rivers became 
 fewer, and deeper below the surface; the rolling prau'ie-land 
 
CHAP. I.] ARIZONA 3 
 
 covered with grass gave way to dry gravelly plains, on which 
 the increasing preponderance of species of cacti, and of the 
 yucca, warned us of our approach to the great American desert. 
 Soon after our entrance into this region we were one morning 
 all started from a deep sleep by the noise of a party coming up 
 at full gallop, and ordering the driver to halt. They were a rough- 
 looking set of men, and we took them for robbers until their 
 leader told us that they Avere " regulators," and were in search 
 of a man who had committed a murder the previous day at a 
 town we had passed through. 
 
 " He is a tall fellow, with blue eyes, and red beard," said the 
 leader. " So if you have got him in there, stranger, you need'nt 
 tote him any further, for the branch of a mesquit tree is strong 
 enough for his neck." As I was tall, and had blue eyes and a 
 red beard, I did not feel perfectly easy until the party left us, 
 convinced that the object of their search was not in the stage. 
 
 The monotony of the route across the desert was somewhat 
 varied by the immense republics, as they are commonly termed, 
 of prairie dogs. The plains inhabited by these animals were 
 covered by the low mounds raised over the entrance to their 
 buiTOWs, and separated from each other by a distance only of a 
 few yards. As we approached them the animals disappeared ; but 
 at some distance from us, ahead and on either side, thousands of 
 the dogs were visible, each one squatting on the top of a mound, 
 and regarding us with the most intense curiosity. As we came 
 nearer, one after the other suddenly plunged its head into its 
 burrow, and, after wagging its fat body for an instant, disappeared 
 altogether. Here and there a solemn owl, perched at the mouth 
 of the burrow, or a rattlesnake basking at the entrance in the sun, 
 showed that these dwelHngs were inhabited by other occupants 
 than their builders. One can scarcely picture a more desolate 
 and barren region than the southern part of the Llano Estacado 
 between the Brazos and the Pecos rivers. Lying about 4,500 
 f«et above the sea, it is a desert incapable of supporting other 
 plant or animal life than scattered cacti, rattlesnakes, and lizards. 
 Our route winding along the southern border of this region, kept 
 on the outskirts of the Camanche country. 
 
 Here we were constantly exposed to the raids of this fierce tribe, 
 which has steadily refused to be tamed by the usual process of 
 
4 ACBOSS AMEBIGA ANB ASIA. [chap. i. 
 
 treaties and presents. They were committing serious depreda- 
 tions along the route, and had murdered the keepers at several 
 stations. We consequently approached the stockade station- 
 houses with considerable anxiety, not knowing whether we should 
 find either keepers or horses. Over this part of the road no lights 
 were used at night, and we were thus exposed to the additional 
 danger of having our necks broken by being upset. 
 
 The fatigue of uninterrupted travelling by day and night in 
 a crowded coach, and in the most uncomfortable positions, was 
 beginning to tell seriously upon all the passengers, and was pro- 
 ducing a condition bordering on insanity. This was increased 
 by the constant anxiety caused by the danger from Camanches. 
 Every jolt of the stage, indeed any occurrence which started a 
 passenger out of the state of drowsiness, was instantly magnified 
 into an attack, and the nearest fellow-passenger was as likely to 
 be taken for an Indian as for a friend. In some persons, this 
 temporary mania developed itself to such a degree that their own 
 safety and that of their fellow-travellers made it necessary to 
 leave them at the nearest station, where sleep usually restored 
 them before the arrival of the next stage on the following week. 
 Instances have occurred of travellers jumping in this condition 
 from the coach, and wandering off to a death from starvation 
 upon the desert. 
 
 Beyond the Pecos river the scenery became more varied. The 
 route lay over broad plains, where the surface sloped gently 
 away from castellated and cliff-bound peaks. Here, from an 
 hundred miles away, we could see the grand outlines of the 
 Gaudaloupe mountains, planted like the towers and walls of a great 
 fortress, to render still more difficult the approach to the great 
 wastes lying to the north and east. 
 
 Over the hard surface of this country, which is everywhere a 
 natural road, we frequently travelled at great sppedj wrtb only 
 half-broken teams. At several stations, six wild horses were 
 hitched blind-folded into their places. When everything was. 
 ready, the blinds were removed at a signal from the driver, and 
 the animals started off at a run-away speed, which they kept up 
 without slackening till the next station, generally twelve miles 
 distant. In these cases the driver had no further control over 
 Ids animals than the ability to guide them; to stop, or even check 
 
UP. l] ARIZONA. 5 
 
 lem, was entirely beyond his power ; the frightened horses fairly 
 ying over the ground, and never stopping till they drew up 
 shausted at the next station. Nothing but the most perfect 
 resence of mind on the part of the driver could prevent acci- 
 ents. Even this was not always enough, as was proved by a 
 ;age which we met, in which every passenger had either a 
 andaged head or an arm in a sling. 
 
 At El Paso we had hoped to find a larger stage. Being disap- 
 ointed in this, I took a place outside, between the driver and 
 Dnductor. The impossibility of sleeping had made me half 
 elirious, and we had gone but a few miles before I nearly un- 
 dated the driver by starting suddenly out of a dream. 
 
 I was told that the safety of all the passengers demanded that 
 should keep awake ; and as the only means of effecting this, my 
 eighbors beat a constant tatoo with their elbows upon my ribs, 
 luring the journey from the Rio Grande to Tucson my delirium 
 icreased, and the only thing I have ever remembered of that 
 art of the route was the sight of a large number of Indian camp- 
 res at Apache pass. My first recollection after this, is of being 
 wakened by the report of a pistol, and of starting up to find 
 lyself in a crowded room, where a score or more of people were 
 iiarrelling at a gaming table. I had reached Tucson, and had 
 irown myself on the floor of the first room I could enter. A 
 )und sleep of twelve hours had fully restored me, both in mind 
 id body. 
 
 My first thought was to make the necessary preparations for 
 le journey to Tubac and the Santa Rita. Having soon succeeded 
 I securing a place in a wagon which was to start in a day or 
 vo, I gave up the interval to see the little of interest in the town 
 ad neighborhood. 
 
 It was here that I first saw the efiect of an extremely dry and 
 •ansparent atmosphere. All the ravines and rocks of the Santa 
 Ata mountains are distinctly visible from Tucson, a distance of 
 Lore than thirty miles ; and in the very dry season, as at the time oi 
 ly visit, the tall pines on the summit could be clearly distinguished 
 landing out against the sky. 
 
 Accustomed to judge of heights and distances in the atmosphere 
 f the Eastern States and Europe, I did not hesitate, on being first 
 3ked to guess at the distance, to place it at less than ten miles. 
 
6 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. i. 
 
 The most interesting objects of cxiriosity in the town were the 
 two great masses of meteoric iron which have been mentioned by 
 the various travellers who have passed through .this region.* 
 These had long lain in a blacksmith shop, serving as anvils, and 
 nothing but the impossibility of cutting them had saved them 
 from being manufactured into spurs, knives, etc. The largest 
 mass, half buried in the ground, had the appearance of resting 
 on two legs j but when removed, in 1860, it was found to be a ring 
 of iron, varying from 38 to 49 inches in its external, and from 
 23 to 26^ inches in its internal diameter, and weighing about 
 1,600 pounds. It lies now in the middle of the great hall of the 
 Smithsonian Institution at Washington, bearing the name of the 
 Ainsa Meteorite, having been brought, in 1735, from the Sierra de 
 la Madera by Don Juan Bautista Ainsa, and forwarded to Wash- 
 ington by his descendants. The other, shaped like a slab, about 
 4 feet long, 18 inches broad, and 2 to 5 inches thick, weighs 632 
 pounds, and is now in San Francisco, having been sent thither in 
 1862 by General Carleton. f 
 
 Leaving Tucson early in the morning, we ascended the valley 
 of the Santa Cruz by a sandy road. At first we passed a few 
 patches of land cultivated by irrigation, but soon these were suc- 
 ceeded by the broad sandy plains of this region, relieved from 
 absolute barrenness only by a great number of acacia trees, and 
 a still greater abundance of cacti, of many and large varieties. 
 
 The valley of the Santa Cruz, after bending around the Santa 
 Eita mountains, widens out north of Tubac into a broad plain, 
 rising gently toward the Santa Rita mountains on the east, and 
 the Tinajita mountains on the west. The material forming this 
 plain is part of an extensive marine deposit, probably of the 
 Quaternary age, which has filled all the valleys of the western 
 parts of Arizona and Sonora south of the Gila river. Its depth and 
 the loose character of its sand and gravel material causes the 
 almost immediate disappearance of the water that falls in the 
 rainy season, and this is only brought to or near the surface 
 where the rocks underlying the plain-deposit rise. Thus we find 
 only those plants growing on these plains which require the least 
 amount of water for their sustenance. 
 
 * See " Bartlett'B Explorations," Vol. II. p. 297. 
 
 + An analysis of this mass by Prof. G. J.' Brash, and description of both pieces, has been 
 given by Prof. J. D. Whitney in the proceedinijs of the California Academy of Bciences, Vol. 
 in, pages 30 and 43, from which papers the above details are extracted. 
 
CHAP. I.] ABIZONA. 7 
 
 A few miles brought us to San Xavier del Bac, an ancient mis- 
 sion founded by the Jesuits for the conversion of the Papago 
 Indians. The mission building is still in tolerable preservation, 
 with all the interior ornamentation and objects of worship of the 
 chapel. The successors of the zealous founders have long since 
 disappeared, but the Indians, with a feeling of mixed pride and 
 superstitious reverence, guard it according to their ability as a 
 sacred legacy. 
 
 "We passed several stock ranches, situated on the river at points 
 where water could be obtained. The houses have generally only 
 one room, are built of sun-dried mud, and roofed with branches of 
 the mesquit, covered with a layer of mud. 
 
 Late at night we camped about ten miles north of Tubac. 
 Early the next morning we were startled from sleep by the 
 approach of a wagon, which turned out to contain the Superintend- 
 ent of the Santa Rita mines, Mr. H. C. Grosvenor, and a friend, 
 who had come out to meet me. 
 
 As we continued our journey southward, the character of the 
 country gradually changed. 
 
 For a short distance the bed of the Santa Cruz was filled 
 with running water, and its banks supported a grove of large 
 Cottonwood trees, giving a welcome shade from the hot rays of 
 the sun, while a heavy growth of grass covered the flat. 
 
 On our left rose the high, double-peaked Santa Rita, the highest 
 of the mountains of Arizona south of the Gila river. A bold, 
 precipitous spur, the Picacho del Diabolo, juts out into the valley, 
 a promontory of naked rock, and a favorite post from which the 
 Apache watches for the opportunity to make a raid. 
 
 Crossing the Santa Cruz, we passed the Canoa, a stockade 
 house used as an inn, a place destined to see in the following year 
 an awful massacre. A further ride of fourteen miles brought us 
 to the old Spanish military post of Tubac. The restored ruins 
 of the old village were occupied by a small mixed population of 
 Americans and Mexicans, while near by a hundred or more Papagc 
 Indians had raised a temporary camp of well-built reed lodges. 
 
 After breakfasting we left Tubac, and travelling eastward 
 about ten miles, now ascending the dry bed of a stream, now cros- 
 sing the gravelly mesa, we reached the hacienda of the Santa 
 Rita mines, my destination. 
 
8 AOBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, i, 
 
 Arizona, at the time of my visit, comprised simply the tract of 
 country known as the Gadsden Purc hase, having been b ought ^f 
 the Mexican Go vernnient, through our Minister, Mr. Gadsden, 
 for $10,000,0 00, to serve as a southei-n route for a railroad to tEe 
 Pacific. Taken from the States of Chihuahua and JSonora, it was 
 bounded by these on the south, by the Gila river on the north, 
 the Colorado river on the west, and the Kio Grande on the. east- 
 It thus formed a long narrow strip lying between 31 and 33 
 degrees N"., and containing about 30,000 square miles. The pres- 
 ent boundaries of Arizona are Utah and Nevada on the north, 
 New Mexico on the east, Sonora on the south, and California on 
 the west. • 
 
 Western Arizona * and northwestern Sonora, of which I have 
 more particularly to speak, lie between the watershed of the 
 Rocky Mountains and the depression occupied by the Gulf of 
 California and the Colorado river. 
 
 This region is crossed by parallel granite ridges, running 
 generally north or northwest, and rarely more than sixty miles 
 long and ten to thirty miles apart. The intervals between the 
 mountains are occupied by plains rising gently from the centre to 
 the ridges on either side, and extending around the ends of these. 
 Thus the whole country is a great plain, out of which rise the many 
 outlying sierras of the Rocky range, as islands from the sea. 
 Of these peaks probably none reach a height of 10,000 feet above 
 the ocean, while the elevation of the plains increases gently from 
 the level of the Gulf of California to about 6,000 feet at the water- 
 shed between the Gila and the Rio Grande. 
 
 The greater number of the mountain ridges, especially those 
 having a northerly and northwesterly trend, are of granite, 
 flanked near the base with crystalline schists ; and to this struc- 
 ture IS due the regularity of their sierra outlines. Districts of 
 hilly land of much less elevation than the sierras are made up oi 
 porphyritio rocks, limestones, and metamorphio strata, of unde- 
 termined age, which give to the hills rounded outlines, broken here 
 and there by cliffs and jagged dykes of intrusive rocks, or by 
 metalliferous veins. 
 
 Large areas of the country were once covered by a sheet of 
 
 * Now Arizona, south of the Gila. 
 
CHAP. I.] ABIZOJt/'A. 9 
 
 volcanic rock, -which now remains, capping many summits left by 
 erosion, and forming the picturesque sombrero, or hat-hills. 
 
 The valleys, as was said above, are occupied by a thick deposit, 
 chiefly of loose sand and angular gravel, which has filled up the 
 inequalities of the surface. 
 
 In western Arizona and northwestern Sonora, over a belt reach- 
 ing nearly one hundred miles from the coast, the fall of rain is 
 very small, and has not been sufficient to cut even the smallest of 
 water-courses in the loose deposit of the plains. But further 
 east, as we approach the higher land and the Santa Rita moun- 
 tains, the annual precipitation is greater, and broad valleys with 
 caiions are everywhere cut deep into the plains, leaving these 
 last to be represented only by the mesas or terraces remaining 
 between the valley and the sierras on either side. 
 
 Properly speaking, the whole region in question has no rivers 
 excepting the Gila, the bed of which above its junction with the 
 Salinas river is often, and below that point sometimes, dry. 
 Bartlett supposes the Gila river to be navigable as far as the 
 Salinas with small flat-botttjm boats, during the season of high 
 water. The little rain that falls over a vast region fills the water- 
 courses for only a few hours, after which what is not evaporated 
 sinks, to follow its under-ground course through the loose sand 
 of the stream bed. 
 
 Where the water collects during the rainy season in natural 
 rock tanks, or in clayey depressions in the soil, it quickly evapo- 
 rates, leaving a crust of soda, lime, and potash-salts, which, spread 
 as they often are over large areas of the desert region, aid in 
 heightening the efiect of the mirage. 
 
 Climatic influences have given a marked and peculiar character 
 to the vegetation of this part of the continent. Toward the 
 coast of the Gulf of California the plains are barren and arid 
 deserts, where the traveller may ride hundreds of miles without 
 seeing other plants than dry and thorny cacti. Granite moun- 
 tains border ing these deserts are even mo re awful in their barren-^ 
 ness ; neither tree no r cactus, nor e ven a handful o f earth, can b e 
 seen on their sides ; t hey tower hig h above the pla ins, great 
 masies oi white rock reflecting the rays of the sun with dazzling 
 brillianc}'. 
 
 The only supplies of water to be found over an area of many 
 
10 ACBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. i. 
 
 thousand miles, are at a few points in the mountains, where the 
 rains leave in natural tanks enough to last for a few months. 
 During the rainy season, which sometimes fails, shallow pools are 
 formed in slight depressions on the surface, to be exhausted after 
 a few days' exposure to the fierce rays of the sun. 
 
 Further from the coast, the plains begin to show more vege- 
 tation; gradually appear the palo-verde, the mesquit, and a 
 greater variety of cacti, and on the hills skittered saguaras (the 
 giant Cereus). Still further east appears a denser growth of mes- 
 quit and palo-verde, out of which rises a perfect forest of the gi- 
 gantic columns of the saguaras, covering the lowlands and foot- 
 slopes of the Baboquiveri range. Between these mountains and 
 the peaks of the Santa Rita, the character of the country changes ; 
 the plains are cut in the direction of the longer axis by the deep 
 valleys, which receive tributary ca2ons from the mountains on 
 either side. All that here remains of the original plains are the 
 mesas or table-lands lying between the river and the sierras. 
 
 These mesas, consisting of loose gravel and sand, retain much 
 of the desert appearance, but they are clothed with a hardy grass, 
 and stunted acacias. In many of the valleys the bottom-lands 
 have an extensive growth of the bean-bearing mesquit ; and 
 large Cottonwood trees, and in some places fine groves of ash, 
 shade the beds of streams in the neighborhood of hidden or run- 
 ning Avater. 
 
 On the hill-sides, above the level of the mesas, are scattered 
 the dwarf live-oaks of the country, the trees varying from twelve 
 to twenty-five feet in height, and presenting the appearance of 
 old apple-orchards. Higher up the mountain-sides the oaks are 
 mingled with cedars, and at an elevation of about 6,000 feet above 
 the sea begin the few pine forests of this part of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. 
 
 The abundant growth of grass, and the mildness of the win- 
 ters, render central Arizona a country well adapted to grazing. 
 But away from the Gila river, excepting at a few scattered points, 
 there is no land suitable for cultivation, owing to the absence of 
 water for irrigation. On the extensive bottom-lands of the Gila, 
 the ruins of long-fallen towns and of large aqueducts, and widely 
 distributed fragments of pottery, indicate the former occupation 
 of this region by an ancient and industrious population, related 
 
CHAP. I.] ARIZONA. II 
 
 probably to the scattered remnants of the Moqui race, who are 
 fast dying out in their strongholds on the high table-lands of the 
 Colorado river, their last refuge from the more savage tribes by 
 which they are now surrounded. The widely-spread traces of their 
 arts, and the ruins of their many-storied buildings, sometimes 
 built of stone, prove that this race once cultivated great areas of 
 country which are now desert wastes. 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 LIFE AT THE SANTA EITA. 
 
 The hacienda of the Santa Rita mines, which was to be my 
 home, lay in a broad and picturesque valley, shut in on the north 
 by the lofty range of the Santa Rita mountains, and on the south 
 by high and castellated cliffs of dark porjihyries and white tufa. 
 Through, the open valley, toward the west,~ towering over fifty 
 miles of intervening country, the horn-like peak of the Babo- 
 quivcri mountain was always visible, its outline sharply cut 
 on the cU'ar sky. The Santa Rita valley consists mainly of mesa- 
 land, its outline broken by jagged rocks, rising like islands from 
 the plain, or by the round-backed spurs from the mountains. The 
 surface of these spur-hills is roughened by a net-work of innume- 
 rable mineral veins. 
 
 The drainage from the mountains passes through the valley in 
 a deeply-cut canon, containing here and there a little water, while 
 tnroughout the rest of the valley, with the exception of two or 
 three small springs, water can be had only by digging. The tree 
 growth has the characteristics of the country given in the last 
 chapter. A few cottonwoods occur along the water-courses, and 
 a good growth of mesqult trees and acacias covers the bottom- 
 land. The mesa is the home of a great variety of cacti, the 
 yucca, and the fouquiera, a shrub sending up froni the root a large 
 number of simple stems, covered with sharp thorns, and in the 
 season bearing beautiful flowers. Scattered live-oaks twenty to 
 thirty feet high are peculiar to the spur hills. As we approach 
 the summits of the higher hills the live oaks give place to small 
 cedars, while on the Santa Rita . mountains, at an elevation of 
 about 6,000 feet, begins an invaluable but limited growth of fine 
 pine timber. 
 
 The whole valley and its enclosing hills are covei-ed with abun- 
 dant grass of several kinds, which, while of great importance to 
 the country, give to it a parched appearance. It is in reality a 
 crop of hay, never being green excepting where burnt off before 
 
i -fv^ r^ i!^^" 
 
 
 •' ILi'i ■'■' 'I'Vl'l"- „ ''"' 
 
 lliii'il i 
 
 
 
 
 llil, lllri 
 
 lllll 'i 
 
 I- ' V! 
 
 
 h r 
 
 i:!:!:;:Jit^ 
 
CHAP. II.] LIFE AT THE SANTA RITA. 13 
 
 the rainy season. The peculiar effect of this vegetation is height- 
 ened by the abundance of the short columnar fish-hook cactus, 
 the yucca, the broad thorn-pointed leaves of the Spanish bayonet, 
 and the tall lance-like stem of the century plant, bearing its 
 gracefully-pendant flowers. 
 
 The scenery of Arizona, dependent in great part on its climate 
 and vegetation, is unique, and might belong to another planet. No 
 other part of the world is so strongly impressed on my memory 
 as is this region, and especially this valley. Seen through its won- 
 derfully clear atmosphere, with a bright sun and an azure sky, or 
 with every detail brought out b y the intense light of the moon, this 
 valley has seemed a paradise ; and again, under cu'curnstances of 
 intense anxiety, it has been a very prison of hell. 
 
 A few days after my arrival at the mines, in company with M)-. 
 H. C. Grosvenor, the agent, I started on a journey to Fort 
 Buchanan, twenty-two miles distant. Our route lay in part 
 through a rocky and gloomy defile, along one of the war-trails of 
 the Apaches leading into Sonora. From the countless tracks in the 
 sand it was evident that a successful party of raiding savages 
 had returned with a large drove of horses and mules. 
 
 A few miles before reaching the fort we stopped at the house of 
 an Arkansas family, one of the daughters of which had escaped most 
 remarkably a few months before from Indian captivity and death. 
 She had been married the previous year, and had accompanied 
 her husband to the Santa Rita mountains, where with a party of 
 men he was cutting timber. While alone in the house one day, 
 she was surprised and taken off by a small band of Apaches, who 
 forced her to keep up with them in their rapid journey over the 
 mountain ridges, pricking her with lances to prevent her falling 
 behind. The poor woman bore up under this for about ten miles, 
 and then gave out altogether, when the savages, finding they 
 must leave her, lanced her through and through the body, and 
 throwing her over a ledge of rooks, left her for dead. She 
 was soon conscious of her condition, and stopping the wounds 
 with rags from her dress, she began her journey homeward. Creep- 
 ing over the rough country and living on roots and berries, she 
 reached her home after several days. I was told that the first 
 thing she asked for was tobacco, which she was in the habit of 
 chewing. 
 
14 ACBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. . Iceap. n. 
 
 Continuing our journey through the valley of a trihutary of 
 the Santa Cruz river, we reached our destination — Fort Bu- 
 chanan. This fort, lik e most of our military establishments in the 
 Rocky Mountains, consisted simply of a few adobe hou ses, scattere d 
 in X straggling m anner "over a considerable area, and without even 
 a stockade defence. What objec t th e (jovei-nment had in pro - 
 hibiting the building of either block or stockade forts, I could 
 never learn. "Ce"rtainIy~ar'mofe"useless system of fortification 
 t l;an that ado pted thronghout the Indian countries, cannot be well 
 i magined. In this case the Apaches could7 and frequently did, 
 prowl about the very d oors of the diflei-entTiouse's. N^officer 
 thought of going from one house to another at night without 
 holding himself in readiness w ith a cockedTpisto l. During the 
 subsequent trouble s with the Indians, when~the scatte red white 
 population of the country was being massacred on all sides for 
 wgjit of a protection the Government was bound to give, the com- 
 mandant needed the whole farce of 150 or 200 men to defend the 
 United States property, while with a better and no more costly 
 s ystem of fortification this could have been ac complished with 
 o ne quarter that number, and the lives of many settlers saved by 
 tl.e remaining force. ~~ 
 
 The next day, after riding out with Lieutenant Evans to see 
 some springs which are forming a heavy deposit of calcareous tufa, 
 we started on the return journey. We had passed a thicket about 
 500 yards from the fort, and had gone a little distance beyond 
 this, when we met a man driving a load of hay. In a few minutes, 
 hearing the report of a gun, we looked back, but having made a 
 turn in the road and seeing nothing, we rode on our way. Seve- 
 ral days afterward, I learned that the man we had met had been 
 killed by Indians hidden in the thicket, and that the shot we 
 heard was the one by which he fell. The Apaches were proba-j 
 bly few in number, as they did not attack Grosvenor and my-1 
 self. 
 
 The victim was a young man from the Southern States, and ; 
 letter in his pocket showed that he had been to California to frej^ 
 and place in safety a favorite slave. On his way home, findini 
 himself out of money, he had stopped to earn enough to carry 
 him through, when he died the common death of the country. 
 Four years later, my successor, Mr. W. Wrightson, and Mr. Hop 
 
CHAP, n.] LIFE AT THE SANTA RITA. 15 
 
 kins were killed at tliis same thicket by Apaches, who afterwards 
 massacred the few soldiers left to garrison the fort. 
 
 The valley of Santa Rita had been, it is said, twice during 
 the past two centuries the scene of mining industry ; and old 
 openings on some of the veins, as well as ruined furnaces and 
 arastras, exist as evidence of the fact. But the fierce Apaches 
 had long since depopulated the country, and with the destruc- 
 tion of the great Jesuit power, all attempt at regular mining 
 ceased. 
 
 The object of the Santa Rita Company was to re-open the old 
 mines, or work new veins, and extract the immense quantities of 
 silver with which they were credited by Mexican tradition. In 
 Mexico, where mining is the main occupation of all classes, tales 
 and traditions of the enormous richness of some region, always 
 inaccessible, are handed from generation to generation, and form 
 the idle talk of the entire population. The nearer an ancient 
 miae may be to the heart of the Apache stronghold, the more 
 massive the columns of native silver left standing as support at 
 the time of abandonment. It is not strange, therefore, when wc 
 consider how easily our people are swindled in mining matters, 
 that we find them lending a willing ear to these tales, and believ- 
 ing that " in Arizona the hoofs of your horse throw up silver with 
 the dust." 
 
 The capital of our company was not proportionate to the re- 
 sults expected to be achieved, and the work before us was corre- 
 spondingly difficult. Everything had to be done with the means 
 furnished by the country. We needed fuel, fire-proof furnace 
 materials, machinery and power, and the supply of these fur- 
 nished by nature in Arizona was of a kind to necessitate a 
 great deal of trouble and experimenting, when taken in connec- 
 tion with the peculiar character of our ore. This and the work 
 of exploi-ation and opening of the veins kept me closely occupied 
 through the winter. 
 
 The season was promising to pass without our hacienda being 
 troubled by the Indians, when one morning our whole herd of 
 forty or fifty fine horses and mules was missing. There were 
 no animals leffto follow with, and the result of a day's pursuit 
 was only the finding of an old horse and two jackasses. 
 
 Several times during the remainder of the Winter and Spring 
 
16 AGBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. n. 
 
 we were attacked by Apaches, and our mines were the scene of 
 more fighting than any other part of the territory. 
 
 Aside from this, little of note occurred, until news came that 
 the troops were to be recalled, leaving the country without any 
 protection. The excitement was very great among the settlers, 
 who were scattered over the country in such a manner as to be 
 unable to furnish mutual assistance. 
 
 To make the matter worse, the military began an uncalled-for 
 war with the Apaches. In the beginning of April, I believe, some 
 Indians, of what tribe was not known, carried oif a cow and a 
 child belonging to a Mexican woman living with an American. 
 Upon the application of the latter, the commandant at Fort 
 Buchanan dispatched a force of seventy-five men to the nearest 
 Apache tribe. The only interpreter attached to the expedition 
 was the American who was directly interested in the result. 
 
 Arriving at Apache pass, the home of the tribe, the lieutenant 
 in command raised a white flag over his tent, under the protec- 
 tion of which six of the principal chiefs, including Cachees, one of 
 the leaders of the Apache nation, came to the camp and were 
 invited into the tent. 
 
 A demand was made for the child and cow, to which the Indi- 
 ans replied, truly or falsely, that they knew nothing of the matter, 
 and that they had not been stolen by their tribe. 
 
 After a long parley, during which the chiefs protested the 
 innocence of their tribe in the matter, they were seized. One of 
 the number in trying to escape was knocked down and pinned 
 to the ground with a bayonet. Four others were bound, but 
 Cachees seizing a knife from the ground, cut his way through 
 the canvas and escaped, but not without receiving, as he after- 
 ward told, three bullets fired by the outside guard. 
 
 And this happened under a United States flag of truce. At 
 this time three of the most powerful tribes of the nation were 
 concentrated at Apache pass, and when Cachees arrived among 
 them, a war of extermination was immediately declared against 
 the whites. 
 
 The next day they killed some prisoners, and in retaliation the 
 five chiefs were hung. Our troops, after being badly beaten, were 
 obliged to return to the fort. 
 
 In the meantime, orders came for the abandonment of the ter- 
 
CHAP, n.] LIFE AT THE SANTA RITA. 17 
 
 ritory by the soldiers. The country was thrown into consterna- 
 tion. The Apaches began to ride through it rough-shod, succeeding 
 in all their attacks. The settlers, mostly farmers, abandoned their 
 crops, and with their families concentrated for mutual protection 
 at Tucsort, Tubac, and at one or two ranches. 
 
 "When, in addition to this, the news came of the beginning of the 
 rebellion at the East, we decided that as it would be impossible 
 to hold our mines, our only course was to remove the portable 
 property of the company to Tubac. We were entirely out of 
 money, owing a considerable force of Mexican workmen and two 
 or three Americans, and needed means for paying for the transpor- 
 tation of the projierty, and for getting ourselves out of the country. 
 
 As the Indians had some time before stopped all working of 
 the mines, our stock of ore was far too small to furnish the amotmt 
 of silver needed to meet these demands, and our main hope lay 
 in the possibility of collecting debts due to the company. In 
 pursuance of this plan I started alone but well armed to visit the 
 Heintzebnan mine, one of our principal debtors. The ride of 
 forty miles was accomplished in safety, and I reached the house 
 of the superintendent, Mr. J. Poston, in the afternoon. Not being 
 able to obtain money, for no one could afford to part with 
 bullion, even to pay debts, I took payment in ore worth nearly 
 $2,000 per ton, with a little flour and calico. This was dispatched 
 in the course of the afternoon, in charge of two of the most fear- 
 less Mexicans of the force at the mine. 
 
 The next morning I started homeward alone, riding a horse I 
 had bought, and driving before me the one that brought me over. 
 I had so much trouble with the loose animal, that night found 
 me several miles from our hacienda. 
 
 Only those who have travelled in a country of hostile Indians 
 know what it is to journey by night. The uncertain light of the 
 stars, or even of the moon, leaves open the widest field for the 
 imagination to fill. Fancy gives life to the blackened yucca, and 
 transforms the tall stem of the century plant into the lance of an 
 Apache. The ear of the traveller listens anxiously to the breath- 
 ing of his horse ; and his eye, ever on the alert before and behind, 
 must watch the motions of the horse's ears, an{l scrutinize the sand 
 for tracks, and every object within fifty yards for the lurking-place 
 of an Indian. 
 
L8 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. n. 
 
 Still, night is the least dangerous time to travel, as one is not 
 easily seen so far as hy day. But after a few night journeys I . 
 found the mental tension so unhearahle that I always chose the 
 day-time, prefen-ing to run a far greater risk of death to being 
 made the prey of an overstrained imagination. Then, too, in such 
 a state of society as then existed, the traveller in the dead of 
 night approaches a solitary house, perhaps his own, with much 
 anxiety, the often occurring massacres of the whites and Mexicans 
 by Indians, and the as frequent murders of the Americans by 
 their own Mexican workmen, rendering it uncertain whether he 
 may not find only the dead bodies of his friends. 
 
 About three miles from the hacienda, in the most rocky part 
 of the valley, the horse in front stopped short, and both animals 
 began to snort and show signs of fear. There could be little 
 doubt that Indians were in the iieighborhood. Both horses 
 started off at a run-away speed, leaving all control over either one 
 out of the question. Fortunately, the free horse, taking the lead, 
 made first a long circuit and then bounded off toward the hacienda, 
 followed by my own. ' After a break-neck course over stony 
 ground, leaping rocks and cacti, down and up steep hills, and tear- 
 ing through thomy bushes, with clothing torn and legs pierced 
 by the Spanish bayonet, I reached the house. 
 
 The wagon with the ore, although due that morning, had not 
 arrived, and this was the more remarkable as I had not seen it on 
 the road. When noon came the next day, and the ore still had 
 not arrived, we concluded that the Mexicans, who knew well its 
 value, had stolen it, packed it on the mules, and taken the road to 
 Sonora. 
 
 Acting on this supposition, Grosvenor and myself mounted our 
 horses, and, armed and provisioned for a ten days' absence, started 
 in pursuit. 
 
 We rode about two miles, and descended to the foot of a long 
 hill, making a short cut to avoid the bend of the wagon-road, . 
 which for lighter grade crossed the dry bed of the stream a few 
 hundred yards higher up. 
 
 We were just crossing the arroyo to climb the opposite hill, 
 when looking up we saw the missing wagon just coming in sight 
 and beginning the descent. One of the Mexicans rode a wheel 
 mule, while the other was walking ahead of the leaders. We had 
 
CHAP, n.] LIFE AT THE SANTA RITA. 19 
 
 evidently judged our men wrongly, and when Grosvenor jDroposed' 
 that we should go on and come back with them, I objected, on 
 the ground that the Mexicans, seeing us prepared for a long jour- 
 ney, would know at once that we had suspected them. We there- 
 fore decided to turn back, but taking another way homeward we 
 immediately lost sight of the wagon. After riding a few hundred 
 yards we dismounted at a spring, where we rested for a quarter 
 of an hour, and then rode home. 
 
 l^tFe afternoon passed away without the arrival of the wagon, 
 we supposed it had broken down, and at twilight Grosvenor 
 proposed that we should walk out and see what caused the delay. 
 I to ok down my hat to go, but, being engaged in important work , 
 c oncluded not to leave it, w hen my friend said he would go only 
 to a point close by, and come back if he saw nothing. It was 
 soon dark, and the two other Americans and myself sat down to 
 tea. By the time we left the table, Grosvenor had been out about 
 half an hour, and we concluded to go after him. 
 
 Accompanied by Mr. Robinson, the book-keeper, and leaving 
 the other American to take care of the house, I walked along the 
 Tubac road. We were both well armed ; and the full moon, just 
 rising above the horizon behind us, lighted brilliantly the whole 
 country. We had gone about a mile and a half, and were just 
 beginning to ascend a long, barren hill, when, hearing the mewing 
 of our house-cat, I stopped, and, as she came running toward us, 
 stooped and took her in my ai-ms. 
 
 As I did so, my attention was attracted by her sniffing the air 
 and fixing her eyes on some object ahead of us. Looking in the 
 direction thus indicated, we saw near the roadside on the top of 
 the hill, the crouching figure of a man, his form for a moment 
 clearly defined against the starlit sky, and then disappearing be- 
 hind a cactus. I dropped the cat, which bounded on ahead of us, 
 and we cocked our pistols and walked briskly up the hill. But 
 when we reached the cactus the man w;as gone, though a dark 
 ravine running parallel with our road showed the direction he had 
 probably taken. Of Grosvenor we yet saw nothing. Continuing 
 our way at a rapid pace and full of anxiety, we began the long de- 
 scent toward the arroyo, from which we had seen the wagon at noon. 
 Turning a point of rocks about half-way down, we caught sight of 
 the wagon drawn oif from the road on the further side of the arroyo. 
 
20 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. ii. 
 
 The deep silence that always reigns in those mountains was unbro- 
 ken, and neither mules nor men were visible. Observing something 
 very white near the wagon, we at first took it for the reflected 
 light of a camp-fire, and concluded that the Mexicans were en- 
 camped behind some rocks, and that with them we would find our 
 friend. But it was soon evident that what we saw was a heap of 
 flour reflecting the moonlight. Anxiously watching this and the 
 wagon, we had approached within about twenty yards of the lat- 
 ter when we both started back — we had nearly trodden on a man 
 lying in the road. My first thought was that it Avas a strange 
 place to sleep m, but he was naked and lying on his face, with his 
 head down-hill. The first idea had barely time to flash through 
 my mind, when another followed — it was not sleep but death. 
 
 As we stooped down and looked closer, the truth we had both 
 instinctively felt was evident — ^the murdered man was Grosvenor. 
 
 It would be impossible to describe the intensity of emotion 
 crowded into the minute that followed this discovery. For the 
 first time I stood an actor in a scene of death ; the victim a dear 
 friend ; the murderers and the deed itself buried in mystery. 
 
 The head of the murdered man lay in a pool of blood ; two 
 lance-wounds through the throat had nearly severed it from the 
 body, which was pierced by a dozen other thrusts. A bullet-hole 
 in the left breast had probably caused death before he was muti- 
 lated with lances. He had not moved since he fell by the shot that 
 took his life ; and as the feet were stretched out in stripping the 
 corpse, so they remained stretched out when we found him. The 
 body was still warm, indeed he could not have yet reached the 
 spot when we left the house. 
 
 I have seen death since, and repeatedly under circumstances 
 almost equally awful, but never with so intense a shock. For a 
 minute, that seemed an age, we were so unnerved that I doubt 
 whether we could have resisted an attack, but fortunately our 
 o-uTi situation soon brought us to our senses. "We were on foot, 
 two miles from the house, and the murderers, whoever they might 
 be, could not be far off, if indeed the spy we had seen had not 
 already started them after us. Looking toward the wagon, I 
 thought I could discover other bodies, but we knew that every 
 instant of time was of great importance, and without venturing 
 to examine closer we started homeward. 
 
CHAT, n.] LIFE AT TEE SANTA RITA. 
 
 21 
 
 s 
 
 There was only one white man at the hacienda, and a largo num- 
 ber of peons, and ^ve did not yet know whether the murderer, 
 were Indians, or Mexicans who would probably be in collusion 
 with our own workmen. 
 
 If they were Indians, we might escape by reaching the house 
 before they could overtake us ; but if they were our Mexicans, we 
 could hardly avoid the fate the employe at the house must al- 
 ready have met with. 
 
 Taking each of us one side of the road, and looking out, one to 
 the left, the other to the right, our revolvers ready, and the cat 
 running before us, we walked quickly homeward, uncertain whether 
 we were going away from or into danger. In this manner wo 
 went on till within a half a mile of the houses, when we reached 
 a place where the road lay for several hundred yards through a 
 dense thicket — the very spot for an ambush. We had now to 
 decide whether to take this, the shorter way, or another, which by 
 detaining us a few minutes longer would lead us over an open 
 plain, where we could in the bright moonlight see every object 
 within a long distance. The idea of being able to defend our- 
 selves tempted us strongly toward the open plain, but the con- 
 sciousness of the value of every minute caused us to decide quickly, 
 and taking the shorter way we were soon in the dark, close 
 thicket. As we came out into the open valley, the sensation of 
 relief was like that felt on escaping untouched from a shot you 
 have seen deliberately fired at you. Just before reaching the 
 house, we heard Indian signals given and answered, each time 
 nearer than before ; but we gained the door safely, and found all 
 as we had left it ; the American, unaware of danger, was making 
 bread, and the Mexicans were asleep in their quarters. We kept 
 guard all night, but were not attacked. 
 
 Before daylight -we dispatched a Mexican courier across the 
 mountains to the fort, and another to Tubac, and then went after 
 Grosvenor's body. We found it as we had left it, while near the 
 wagon lay the bodies of the two Mexican teamsters. 
 
 We were now able to read the history of the whole of this 
 murderous afiaii*. The wagon must have been attacked within 
 less than five minutes after we had seen it at noon, indeed while 
 we were resting and smoking at the spring not four hundrccT" 
 y^rds from tnc spot. A party of Indians, fifteen in number, as 
 
22 ACROSS AMEBIGA AND ASIA. [onus. n. 
 
 we found by the tracks, had sprung upon the Mexicans, who seem 
 unaccountably not to have used their firearms, although the sand 
 showed the marks of a desperate hand to hand struggle. Having 
 killed the men, the Apaches cut the mules loose, emptied the 
 flour, threw out the ore, which was useless to them, and drove the 
 animals to a spot a quarter of a mile distant, where they feasted on 
 one of them and spent the day and night. A party was left behind 
 to waylay such of us as might come out to meet the team. When 
 Grosvenor neared the spot he was shot by an Indian, who, crouching 
 behind a cactus about ten feet distant, had left the.impression of hia 
 gunstock in the sand. Knowing well that their victim would be 
 sought by others, they had left the spy we had seen ; and had not the 
 cat directed our attention to him at the moment when he was mov- 
 ing stealthily away, thereby causing us to walk rapidly to the scene 
 of the murder, and faster back, we could hardly have escaped the 
 fate of our friend. 
 
 During the day Lieutenant Evans arrived with a force of nine 
 teen soldiers, having 'with difficulty obtained the consent of his 
 commandant, and soon after Colonel Poston reached the mines 
 with a party of Americans. Graves had been dug, and, after 
 reading < the burial service and throwing in the earth, we fired a 
 volley and turned away, no one knowing how soon his time might 
 come. 
 
 I now foresaw a long and dangerous work before us in extract- 
 ing the silver from our ore. "We could, indeed, have abandoned 
 the mines, and have escaped from the God-forsaken land by ac- 
 companying the military, which was to leave in two weeks. But 
 both Mr. Robinson and myself considered that we were in duty 
 bound to place the movable property of the company in safety 
 at Tubac, and to pay in bullion the money owing to men, who 
 without it coiild not escape. To accomplish this would require 
 six weeks' work at the furnace, crippled as were all operations 
 by the loss of our horses and mules. 
 
 It was of the first importance that we should increase our force 
 of Americans, not only for protection against the Apaches, but 
 more especially against the possible treachery of our Mexican 
 workmen, for at almost every mine in the country a part or all 
 of the whites had been murdered by their peons. One of tho 
 party which had come that day from Tubac was engaged on the 
 
CHAP, n.] LIFE AT THE SANTA RITA. 23 
 
 spot. Partly in the hope of getting a small force of soLliers who 
 should remain till the abandonment began, and partly to per- 
 suade an American who lived on the road to the fort to join ns, 
 I resolved to accompany Lieutenant Evans, who was obliged to 
 return the next day. 
 
 Taking with me a young Apache who had been captured while 
 a child, and had no sympathy with his tribe, I rode away with 
 Lieutenant Evans, intending to return the next day. The wagon- 
 road lay for ten miles along a tributary of the Sonoita valley, 
 then ascended the Sonoita for twelve miles to the fort, while a 
 bridle-path across the hills shortened the distance some two or 
 three miles by leaving the road before the junction of the two 
 valleys. To reach the house of the American whom I wished to 
 see, we would have to follow the wagon-road all the way ; and as 
 more than a mUe of it before the junction of the valleys lay 
 through a narrow and dangerous defile, on an Apache war-trail that 
 was constantly frequented by the Indians, Lieutenant Evans 
 would not assume the responsibility of risking the lives of his 
 men in a place where they would be at such disadvantage. 
 While I felt obliged to acknowledge that it would be imprudent 
 to take infantry mounted on mules through the defile, it was of 
 the first necessity that I should see Mr. Elliot Titus, the American 
 living near the junction of the valleys. At the point where the 
 hill-trail left the road, bidding good-bye to Lieutenant Evans, 
 who, could he have left his men, would have accompanied me 
 himself, I was soon alone with Juan, my Apache boy. As we 
 neared the gorge I observed that Juan, who was galloping ahead, 
 stopped suddenly and hesitated. As I came up he pointed to 
 the sand, which was covered with fresh foot-tracks. 
 
 It was evident that a considerable party of Indians had been 
 here within half an hour, and had dispersed suddenly toward the 
 hills in different directions. Our safest course seemed to be to 
 press forward and reach Titus's house, now about two miles off. 
 We were on good horses, and these animals, not less alarmed 
 than ourselves, soon brought us through the defile to the Sonoita 
 creek. To slip our horses' bridles without dismounting, and 
 refresh the animals with one long swallow, was the work of a 
 minute, and we were again tearing along at a run-away speed. 
 We had barely left the creek when we passed the full-length im- 
 
24 ACBOSS -AMEBIOA Aim ASIA. [chat, u 
 
 pression of a man's foim in the sand with a pool of blood, and 
 at the same instant an unearthly yell from the hills behind us 
 showed that the Apaohes, although not visible, were after us, and 
 felt sure of bringing us down. Our horses, however, fearing 
 nothing so much as an Indian, almost flew over the ground and 
 soon brought us in sight of Titus's hacienda. This lay about two 
 hundred yards off from the road in a broad valley shaded by 
 magnificent live oaks. 
 
 As we rode rapidly toward the houses I was struck with the 
 quietness of a place generally full of life, and said so to Juan. 
 
 " It's all right," he replied ; " I saw three men just now near 
 the house." 
 
 But as we passed the first building, a smith's shop, both horses 
 shied, and as we came to the principal house, a scene of destruc- 
 tion met our eyes. 
 
 The doors had been forced in, and the whole contents of the 
 house lay on the ground outside, in heaps of broken rubbish. 
 N"ot far from the door stood a pile made of wool, corn, beans, and 
 flour, and capping the whole a gold watch hung from a stick 
 driven into the heap. Stooping from the saddle I took the watch 
 and found it still going. 
 
 As I started to dismount, to look for the bodies of the Ameri- 
 cans, Juan begged of me not to stop. 
 
 " They are all killed," he said, "and we shall have hardly time 
 to reach the road before the Indians come up. Promise me," he 
 continued, " that you will fight when the devils close with us ; if 
 not I will save myself now." 
 
 Assuring the boy, whom I knew to be brave, that I had no idea 
 of being scalped and burned without a struggle, I put sjjurs to 
 my restless horse, and we were soon on the main road, but not a 
 moment too soon, for a large party of Apaohes, fortunately for 
 us on foot, were just coming down the hill and entered the trail 
 close behind us. A volley of arrows flew by our heads, but our 
 horses carried us in a few seconds beyond the reach of these mis- 
 siles, and the enemy turned back. Slackening our speed we were 
 nearing a point where the road crossed a low spur of the valley- 
 terrace, when suddenly several heads were visible for an instant 
 over the brow of the hill and as quickly disappeared. Guessing 
 instantly that we were cut off by another band of Indians, and 
 
CHAP, n.] LIFE AT THE SANTA EITA. 25 
 
 knowing that our only course was to run the gauntlet, we rode 
 slowly to near the top of the hill to rest our animals, and then 
 spurred the terrified horses onward, determined if possible to break 
 the ambush. We were on the point of firmg into a party of men 
 who came in full view directly as we galloped over the brow of the 
 hill, when a second glance assured us that instead of Apaches they 
 were Americans and Mexicans, burying an American who had 
 been killed that morning. It was the impression of this roan's 
 body which we had seen near the creek. He had been to the 
 fort to give notice of the massacre of a family living further 
 down the river, and on his return had met the same fate, about 
 an hour before we passed the spot. An arrow, shot from above, 
 had entered his left shoulder and penetrated to the ribs of the 
 other side, and in pulling this shaft out a terrible feature of these 
 Aveapons was illustrated. The flint-head, fastened to the shaft 
 with a thong of deer-sinew, remains firmly attached while this 
 binding is dry ; but as soon as it is moistened by the blood, the 
 head becomes loose, and remains in the body after the arrow is 
 withdrawn. The Apaches have several ways of producing terrible 
 wounds ; among others by firing bullets chipped from the half oxi- 
 dized mats of old furnace-heaps, containing copi^er and lead com- 
 bined with sulphur and arsenic. But perhaps the worst at short 
 range are produced by bullets made from the fibre of the aloe root, 
 which are almost always fatal, since it is impossible to clear the 
 wound. 
 
 On reaching the fort and seeing the commandant, I was told 
 by that officer that he could not take the responsibility of weaken- 
 ing his force, and that the most he could do would be to give me 
 an escort back to the Santa Rita. As the troops from Fort 
 Breckenridge were expected in a few days, I was led to expect 
 that after their arrival I might obtain a small number of soldiers. 
 But when, after several days had passed without bringing these 
 troops, the commandant told me that not only would it be im- 
 possible to give us any protection at the Santa Rita, but that he 
 could no longer give me an escort thither, I resolved to return 
 immediately with only the boy Juan. In the meantime a rumor 
 reached the fort that a large body of Apaches had passed through 
 the Santa Rita valley, had probably massacred our people, and 
 were preparing to attack Tubac. I was certainly never under a 
 
26 , AOBOSS AMERICA AUTD ASIA. [chap. n. 
 
 stronger temptation than I felt then to accept the warmly-pressed 
 invitation of the officers, to leave the country with the military, 
 and give up all idea of returning to what they represented as cer- 
 tain death. But I felt constrained to go back, and Juan and my- 
 self mounted our horses. I had hardly bid the officers good-by 
 when an old frontiersman, Mr. Robert Ward, joined us, and declared 
 his intention of trying to reach his wife, who was in Tubac. As 
 we left the fort a fine pointer belonging to the commandant fol- 
 lowed us, and as he had become attached to me, we had no diffi- 
 culty and few scruples in enticing him away to swell our party. 
 AVe took the hill trail, it being both shorter and safer, and had 
 reached a point within three miles of the Santa Rita without 
 meeting any very fresh signs of Indians, when the dog, which 
 kept always on the trail, ahead of us, after disappearing in the 
 brush by an arroya, came back growling and with his tail between 
 his legs. We were then two or three hundred yards from the 
 thicket, and spurring our horses we left the trail and quickly 
 crossed the arroya a hundred yards or more above the ambush, 
 for such the fresh Indian tracks in the dry creek ^lad shown it 
 to be. 
 
 We reached our mines safely, and found that although almost 
 constantly surrounded by Apaches, who had cut ofF all communi- 
 cation with Tubac, there had been no direct attack. Our entire 
 Mexican force was well armed with breech-loading rifles, a fact 
 which, while it kept off the Indians, rendered it necessary that 
 our guard over our peons should never cease for an instant. Nor 
 did we once during the long weeks that followed place ourselves 
 in a position to be caught at a disadvantage. Under penalty of 
 death no Mexican was allowed to pass certain limits, and in turn 
 our party of four kept an unceasing guard, while our revolvers 
 day and night were never out of our hands. 
 
 AVe had now to cut wood for charcoal and haul it in, stick by 
 stick, not having enough animals to draw the six-horse wagons. 
 This and burning the charcoal kept us nearly three weeks before 
 we could begin to smelt. Our furnaces stopd in the open air 
 about one hundred yards from the main house, and on a tongue 
 of high-land at the junction of two ravines. The brilliant light 
 illuminating every object near the furnace exposed the workmen 
 every night, and all night, to the aim of the Apache. In order 
 
CHAP, n.] LIFE AT TEE SANTA BITA. 27 
 
 to obtain timely notice of the approach of the Indians, we pick- 
 eted our watch-dogs at points within a hundred yards of the 
 works ; and these faithful guards, which the enemy never succeeded 
 in killing, more than once saved us from a general massacre. 
 The whole Mexican force slept on their arms around the furnace, 
 taking turns at working, sleeping, and patrolling, receiving ra- 
 tions of diluted alcohol, sufficient to increase their courage with- 
 out making them drunk. 
 
 More than one attempt was made by the Apaches to attack us, 
 but being always discovered in time, and failing to surprise us, 
 they contented themselves with firing into the force at the fur- 
 nace from a distance. In the condition to which we all, and es- 
 pecially myself, had been brought by weeks of sleepless anxiety, 
 nothing could sound more awful than the sudden discharge of a 
 volley of rifles, accompanied by unearthly yells, that at times 
 broke in upon the silence of the night. Before daylight one morn- 
 ing our chief smelter was shot while tending the furnace ; it then 
 became necessary for me to perform this duty myself, uninterrupt- 
 edly, till I could teach the art to one of the Americans and a 
 Mexican. 
 
 I foresaw that the greatest danger from the Mexicans was to 
 be anticipated when the silver should be refined, and made ar- 
 rangements to concentrate this work into the last two or three 
 days, and leave the mine immediately after it was finished. 
 
 Dispatching a messenger, who succeeded in reaching Tubac, I 
 engaged a number of wagons and men, and on their arrival every- 
 thing that could be spared was loaded and sent off. The train 
 was attacked and the mules stolen, but the owner and men es- 
 caped, and bringing fresh animals, succeeded in carrying the prop- 
 erty into Tubac. 
 
 At last the result of six weeks' smelting lay before us in a pile 
 of lead planchas containing the silver, and there only remained 
 the separating of these metals to be gone through with. During 
 this process, which I was obliged to conduct myself, and which 
 lasted some fifty or sixty hours, I scarcely closed my eyes ; and 
 the three other Americans, revolver in hand, kept an unceasing 
 o-uard over the Mexicans, whose manner showed plainly their 
 thoughts. Before the silver was cool, we loaded it. We had the 
 remainino- property of the company, even to the wooden machine 
 
28 A0B0S3 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. n. 
 
 for -working the blast, in the returned wagons, and were on the 
 ■way to Tubac, -which -we reached the same day, the 16th of June. 
 Here, -while the last -wagon -was being unloaded, a rifle -was acci- 
 dentally discharged, and the ball passing through myTiafr above" 
 t he ear d eafened m e for the whole afternoon. 
 
 Thus ended my experience of eight months of mining opera- 
 tions in an Apache stronghold. 
 
CHAPTER HL 
 
 THE rEONTIEE AND THE DESEKT. 
 
 The social condition of Arizona from 1857 till 1862, and later, 
 was one -which could not fail to furnish much food for thought 
 to even a superficial observer. When the country came into the 
 possession of the United States, it was almost entirely depopu- 
 lated, excepting the Indian tribes. After the conclusion of the 
 Gadsden treaty it was entered by Colonel C. D. Poston with a 
 party of explorers, and soon gained a reputation as a silver dis- 
 trict from the high assays of ores discovered by that party. A 
 considerable number of companies were soon formed to work 
 mines in various parts of the country. In addition to the people 
 sent out to work in different capacities at the mines, an American 
 population, both floating and settled, was soon formed, mostly 
 from the Southern States, and of men unaccompanied by families. 
 Many of these were old frontiersmen, many more were refugees 
 from the slackly-administered justice of Texas, New Mexico, and 
 California ; and when the vigilance committee cleared San Fran- 
 cisco of its worst social elements, a large number of the ruffians 
 and gamblers expelled from that city made their home in Arizona. 
 In addition to this there flowed into the country many thousands 
 of Mexicans, who had formed the most degraded class in a land 
 where social morality was, in every respect, at its lowest ebb. 
 
 There was hardly a pretense at a civil organization ; law was 
 unknown, and the nearest court was several hundred miles distant 
 in New Mexico. Indeed, every man took the law into his own 
 hands, and the life of a neighbor was valued in the inverse ratio 
 of the impunity with which it could be taken. Thus public 
 opinion became the only code of laws, and a citizen's popularity 
 the measure of his safety. And popularity, in a society com- 
 posed, to a great extent, of men guilty of murder and of every 
 Clime, was not likely to attach to the better class of citizens. 
 The immediate result of the existing condition of public opinion 
 was to blunt all ideas of right and wrong in the minds of new- 
 
30 ACSOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. ni. 
 
 comers who, suddenly freed from the legal and social restraints of 
 the East, soon learned to justify the taking of life by the most 
 trifling pretexts, or even to destroy it for the sake of bravado. 
 Murder was the order of the day among a total white and peon 
 population of a few thousand souls ; it was daily committed by 
 Americans upon Americans, Mexicans, and Indians ; by Mexicans 
 iipon Americans ; and the hand of the Apache was, not without 
 much reason, against both of the intruding races. The treachery 
 of Mexican workmen went to such an extent that I believe there 
 was hardly a mine in the country at which the manager, or in 
 several instances all the white employes, had not been at some- 
 time assassinated by their peons for the sake of plunder. 
 
 Such has been the condition of society in, a part of our country 
 within the past ten years : and it existed without the influence of 
 actual war. It is true that a state of things more or less resem- 
 bling that I have tried to sketch is incidental to the early his- 
 tory of many frontier districts, but it can hardly be said to have 
 augured well for the future of a region in which it was claimed 
 that an enduring civilization was springing up on the ruins of the 
 Jesuit efibrts, which were really far more successful. 
 
 That the region in question has a future that is both bright 
 and near, there can, I think, be little doubt. Its prospects are 
 dependent on the development of a mineral industry and the 
 occupations subservient thereto. My own observations have con- 
 vinced me that Arizona contains many rich deposits of silver, cop- 
 per, and lead, and probably of gold also ; but to work these profit- 
 ably will require, in most if not in all instances, the overcoming of 
 peculiar obstacles that now exist. Without at present touching 
 upon the Indian question, the first essential to success is an im- 
 provement in the means of transportation from the mines to the 
 coast, and betw een the difl'erent mining districts. During the 
 short period when mining industry "was trying to struggle into 
 existence, supplies, including machinery, reached Tucson in cen- 
 tral Arizona, by three different routes : from Indianola, Texas, 
 1087 miles; from Fort Yuma, on the Colorado river, over 250 
 miles ; and from Guaymas, on the Gulf of California, nearly 400 
 miles distant. 
 
 A shorter and safer route than any of these will be necessary, 
 -nd when furnished with a good wagon road, or ultimately with 
 
CHAP, m.] THE FRONTIER AND TEE DESERT. 31 
 
 a railway, the first essential to tlie development of industry of any 
 kind will have been attained. 
 
 A reconnoissance, made for the Government by Major Fergus- 
 son, has shown that a good wagon-route exists between Tucson 
 and Lobos Bay on the Gulf of California. The distance is 211 
 miles, or about IVl miles from Tubac, and by digging a limited 
 number of wells the road would be made easily practicable at all 
 seasons. The harbor of Libertad, on Lobos Bay, is considered 
 by Major Fergusson to be a good one, and capable of admit- 
 ting vessels of heavy draught.* 
 
 Owing to the scarcity of fuel and water, and to the character 
 of the ores, it is probable that the mining companies will be 
 obliged to have central reduction works, or to sell a part or all of 
 their ores to such establishments, carried on independently. The 
 owners of these works, by being able to mix and grade the vari- 
 ous ores of different mines, would have it in their power to reduce 
 them far more cheaply and with less loss of silver than could the in- 
 dividual mines. Low-grade ores, comparatively free from lead and 
 zinc, and containing under $80 to $100 silver per ton, would prob- 
 ably be most cheaply worked by the Spanish-American amalga- 
 mation, or patio process ; whUe the richer and poorer classes of 
 silver ores, containing much copper, zinc, antimony, and arsenic, 
 not being suitable for amalgamation, would work well in the fur- 
 nace when mixed with the oxidized and unoxidized silver-lead ores 
 of the country. 
 
 For fuel, the mines and works must, for some time to come, be 
 dependent on the scanty mesquit and live-oak trees, as the 
 nearest coal known is 200 to 300 mUes distant. The scantiness 
 of the growth of these trees, and their small size, will soon raise 
 the cost of fuel. In view of this, experience might prove it to be 
 desirable to carry the smelting only so far as the production of 
 rich mats and argentiferous lead, and to ship both these products 
 from the nearest port. 
 
 The troubles with the hostile tribes will disappear before the im- 
 migration that will be necessary to inaugurate successfully a min- 
 ing industry and to furnish the mines with means of subsistence. 
 
 * See "Letter of the Secretary of War commnnicating copy of report of Major D. Fcrgns- 
 son on the country, its reaonrces, and the route between Tucson and Lobos Bay. Senate, 
 37th Congress, Ex. Doc. No. 1." 
 
32 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, ii 
 
 An important obstacle to be overcome is the uncertain charac 
 ter of Mexican labor. The Mexicans in Arizona, freed from th 
 restraints of peonage, which is practically a system of slaverj 
 and working for Americans, toward whom they feel only hatred 
 give full play to the treachery of their character. In this connec 
 tion the proximity of the boundary line is a serious evil. 
 
 Mexican labor is good when properly superintended, or bette 
 yet when employed on the partido plan, in which gangs workinj 
 in ore are interested to the extent of a specified share. 
 
 At the Santa Rita, workmen at the furnace received $1 pe 
 day of twelve hours; able-bodied miners $15 per month; an( 
 other Mexican laborers $12. In addition to these wages, eacl 
 man had weekly a ration of sixteen pounds of flour. At th 
 same time, American workmen received from $30 to $70 per montl 
 and. board. ' 
 
 The system of paying the Mexicans the greater part of thei 
 wages in cotton and other goods, on which the company made 
 profit of from one hundred to three hundred per cent., reduce( 
 the cost of labor to a minimum. This last plan, however, beinj 
 foreign to American ideas, would soon disappear before the core 
 petition that would arise under the influence of a vigorous mininj 
 industry. 
 
 It seems doubtful whether Americans * can be profitably usei 
 for hard work in the climate of Arizona, but I think it not im 
 probable that voluntary Chinese labor would be found to b 
 highly advantageous and superior to the Mexican. 
 
 Arizona, although very inferior as an agricultural region, is ce 
 pable of supplying a large mining population with the first neces 
 sities of life. The plains and. valleys of the higher portion hav 
 large tracts of good grazing-land ; and many now barren valleys 
 when skUfuUy irrigated, as was anciently the valley of the Gil 
 river, would yield abundant crops of corn, wheat, and othe 
 grains. 
 
 So long as the present lack of all humane relations exists be 
 tween the various Apache tribes and the whites, safety for proj: 
 erty and person will obtain only through an ever-increasing in 
 migration and the gradual extermination of the warlike occupant 
 of the soil. 
 
 * By Americans I refer thronghont to the white natives of the United States. 
 
CHAP. III.] THE FBONTIEB AND THE DESERT. 33 
 
 One cannot but look upon the history of our intercourse with 
 the original owners of our country as a sad commentary on the 
 Protestant civilization of the past two centuries. In the history 
 of no other conquest, heathen or Romish, do we find such a record 
 of long-continued atrocity and treachery on the part of the con- 
 querors, or of utter failures of badly-conceived and dishonestly- 
 executed plans for the elevation of the conquered race. The ex- 
 ample of duplicity set by tlie early religious colonists of ISTew 
 England, has been followed by an ever-growing disregard for the 
 rights of the Indian ; and for nearly two hundred and fifty years 
 the outposts of our population have been the theatres of scenes 
 for which no centralized government would dare assume the re- 
 sponsibility. 
 
 So long as our population continued small, and its advance 
 slow, the extensive reserves set aside for Indians seemed to offer 
 a lasting home for the rapidly-vanishing race ; and later, when 
 our fast-increasing and wide-spreading numbers sought only 
 agricultural lands, it seemed that, as a hunting people, they 
 might find abundant area for subsistence on the table-lands of the 
 Rocky Mountains. But this, the last hope of the remaining tribes, 
 is being destroyed, since the continued discoveries of the precious 
 metals have drawn our pioneers to every nook, no matter how 
 barren, of that immense region. 
 
 While our forefathers made at least a show of paying the na- 
 tives for the land taken from them, there is now not even a pretence 
 of such compensation, at least not in the southern Rocky Moun- 
 tains. The Indian country is subdivided between the various 
 tribes, whose range is limited by more or less defined boundaries. 
 As by far the greater number are almost solely hunters, the area 
 necessary to their support is out of all proportion to that required 
 for the subsistence of an equal number of agriculturists. With 
 the influx of a mining population, the Indians, unable to encroach 
 upon the territory of neighboring tribes, are gradually driven to 
 the most barren parts of the mountains, and with the disappear- 
 ance of game are reduced to the verge of starvation. Whether 
 they oppose bravely at first the inroads of the whites, or submit 
 peacefully to every outrage until forced by famine to seek the 
 means of life among the herds of the intruder, the result is the 
 same. Sometimes hunted from place to place in open war ; some- 
 ? 
 
34 ACB0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, m 
 
 times tlieir warriors enticed away under j^eaceful promises by one 
 party, while a confederate band descends on the native settle- 
 ments, massacring women and children, old and young ; they are 
 always fading away before the hand of violence. No treaty or 
 flag of truce is too sacred to be disregarded, no weapons too cruel 
 or cowardly to be used or recommended by Americans. Read 
 the following quotation from a late work : 
 
 " There is only one way to wage war against the Apaches. A 
 steady, persistent campaign must be made, following them to 
 their haunts — hunting them to the ' fastnesses of the mountains.' 
 They must be surrounded, starved into coming in, surprised or 
 inveigled — by white flags, or any other method, human or divine 
 — and then put to death. If these ideas shock any weak-minded 
 philanthropist, I can only say that I pity without respecting his 
 mistaken sympathy. A man might as well have sympathy for a 
 rattlesnake or a tiger." * 
 
 I have quoted the above passage, because it exj)resses the sen- 
 timent of the larger part of those directly interested in the extei-- 
 mination of the Indians, who are also exercising a constant pres- 
 sure on the Government, and making healthy and just legislation 
 in the matter impracticable. 
 
 If it is said that the Indians are treacherous and cruel, scalping 
 and torturing their prisoners, it may be answered that there is no 
 treachery and no cruelty left unemployed by the whites. Poison- 
 ing with strychnine, the wilful dissemination of small-pox, and 
 the possession of bridles, braided from the hair of scalped victims 
 and dec-orated with teeth knocked from the jaws of living women 
 — these are heroic facts among many of our frontiersmen. 
 
 In the territory under the control of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany—the interests of that organization requiring a proper treat- 
 ment of the Indians— very little trouble has ever been experienced 
 during a long intercourse with the natives ; and the same may, I 
 believe, be.said of the relations between the Mormons and the sur- 
 rounding tribes. Throughout Spanish America the Jesuits succeed- 
 ed to a high degree in their endeavor to elevate the condition of the 
 conquered race, and the limit to their success was always deter- 
 mmed by the cupidity of the home government, and of the min- 
 ing population. 
 
 * Sylvester Mowry in "Arizona and Sonora." 
 
CHAP. III.] THE FRONTIER AND THE DESERT. 35 
 
 Without difficulty these zealous apostles founded missions, and 
 traversed parts of the Rocky Mountains which are now accessi- 
 ible to only a strong military force. Leaving our own continent, we 
 find in Russia, China, and many other lands, a successfully pursued 
 policy, resulting in a greater or less elevation of conquered races. 
 The nomad Tarter tribes, brought under Russian rule, in Russia 
 and Siberia, have been transformed, even where not christianized, 
 into a different mode of life, forming a highly respected class, 
 following the same occupations equally successfully with the Rus- 
 sians, among whom they live. 
 
 I can explain the different condition of our relations with the 
 Indians, only by supposing that, in the presence of long-continued 
 dishonesty in our Indian agencies, public opinion has shaped itself 
 into conformity with the interests of the frontiersman, who is re- 
 strained by no higher law than liis own grossly selfish aim. Per- 
 haps the question has already passed beyond the control of the 
 Government ; certainly, at present, it is being Avorked out under 
 more general laws — those which control animal life; it has be- 
 come a struggle for existence, a contest in which the nobler moral 
 faculties have no part. ' 
 
 There is, perhaps, no doubt that the aboriginal race will soon 
 disappear from the United States ; nor can it be denied, if the mere 
 contact with us, without the use of violence, causes them to melt 
 away, that their disappearance is for the ad^-antage of the world 
 at large, since the fact of a natural decrease would prove them to 
 be lacking in ability to do their share in the world's work. But 
 it is the duty of Government to see that their disappearance shall 
 take place through the natural decrease in the number of births. 
 This result can be effected only by causing the tribes to remove to 
 reservations, where they may be protected by Government in their 
 rights, and made to respect the rights of others. The policy at 
 present followed toward the hostile tribes is not only unjust, but 
 it is an unpardonable waste of men and money. Costly treaties 
 are made with difficulty, only to be immediately broken, as well 
 by the Indians as by the settlers, and by the very agents appoint- 
 ed to execute the obligations of the Government. Indian agents, 
 appointed to represent the Government, and distribute presents 
 among the Indians, carry on with them a profitable but shameful 
 trade, bartering not only arms and spirits, but the very presents 
 
36 ACBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. iir. 
 
 of Government, against horses and mules, which they know well 
 the Apache must first steal from Mexicans and Americans. It 
 was out of these thefts, made to fulfil the dishonest contracts en- 
 tered into with Government ofiicials, that the majority of the 
 Indian troubles arose in Arizona. 
 
 If war between the hostile tribes and the whites is unavoidable, 
 let its prosecution be transferred from the irresponsible settlers to 
 the military, and waged with the definite object of concentrat- 
 ing the Indians upon liberal reserves, and there accomplishing all 
 that can be efiected toward their elevation by the efforts of Gov- 
 ernment, and of the missionary enterprise of any religion. 
 
 When we deposited the movable property of our company at 
 Tubac, we did so under the supposition that that village would 
 be a point at which a large part of the white and Mexican popu- 
 lation would concentrate for mutual defence, until the fresh 
 troops, whose coming was rumored, should arrive. As soon as 
 the contents of the wagons were stored away, tlie silver assayed, 
 and our debts paid, I determined to make a journey for recreation 
 into the Papagoria — the land of the friendly Papago tribe. In 
 company with Colonel G. D. Poston and Mr. J. Washburn, I 
 reached the Cerro Colorado or Heintzelman mine, then being 
 worked by the first-named gentleman. Here we took a Mexican 
 guide and laid in our provisions, consisting of pinole — powdered 
 parched-corn — sugar and coffee. 
 
 Early the next morning we left the mine, and, following the 
 Indian ,trail westward for several miles, came onto the great 
 Baboquiveri plain. This broad stretch of wild grass-land being 
 one of the main thoroughfares of the Apaches, we . were obliged 
 to keep a good look-out all day. But notwithstanding the great 
 heat, and the danger from Indians, the combined effect of the grand 
 scenery and the prospect of reaching a country where comparar 
 tive safety would allow a few nights of unguarded sleep, filled 
 me with new life, and I gave myself up again to the fascinating 
 influence of nature in the Eocky Moimtains. Twenty miles or 
 more to the west of us, rose the sharp and lofty peak of the Babo- 
 quiveri, its eagle-head outline and every feature sharply defined, 
 while the range out of which it towers up stretched ' away in long 
 
CHAP, m.] THE FRONTIER AM) THE DESERT. 37 
 
 wings of glistening, barren rock, till lost in the northern and 
 southern horizons. 
 
 As we entered the valley from our position on its eastern 
 border, the broad plain lay before us. Descending in a gentle 
 slope to the centre, and thence rising gradually to the same 
 height along the base of the opposite mountain range, it was a 
 wide expanse of grassy steppe, and forests of mesquit and cacti. 
 Detecting us from afar, a drove of wild horses trotted oif over 
 the grassy surface, and we watched their graceful course as with 
 streaming tails and flowing manes they disappeared in the dis- 
 tance. 
 
 The only other signs of life that break the monotony of these 
 journeys, are given by the herds of bounding antelopes, or by 
 the red or gray wolf as he trots slowly away from the travellei-, 
 stopping dog-like ever and anon to turn and watch the intruder. 
 The tracks of the great grizzly bear, the marks of the huge paw 
 of the no less ferocious panther, and the sudden and frequent 
 sound of the rattlesnake, warn the traveller of other dangers than 
 the Apache. 
 
 Taking a diagonal course over the plain, we reached the foot- 
 hills of the Baboquiveri range at the approach to Aliza pass. It 
 was late at night before we had wound through the rocky defile, 
 and by the light of the full moon ascended to the spring near the 
 top. After watering the horses from our hats, and drinking a 
 supper of pinole in water ourselves, we took turns at watching 
 and sleeping. 
 
 Early the next morning we reached the summit of the pass. 
 The Baboquiveri range forms the boundary between the Papagoes 
 and Apaches, two tribes differing widely in appearance, character, 
 and habits, and between whom there has ever been hostility. 
 
 The Papagoes guard carefully the approaches to their country, 
 and these passes have been the scenes of many desperate battles. 
 But the desei't character of the Papagoria is its best defence, 
 since, in view of the great scarcity of water over an immense area, 
 it would be almost certain death to a party of Apaches to pene- 
 trate far into it. At the summit of the pass stands a large pile 
 of stones, literally bristling with arrows, both old and new. 
 Whether this was a landmark or battle monument I did not learn. 
 
 A ride of twenty miles over a gravelly plain, which reflected 
 
38 ACROSS AMERICA' AND ASIA. [chap. iii. 
 
 the intense heat of the sun, brought us to €ahuabi, a Papago 
 village on the skirt of the desert. Here two silver mines, the 
 Cahuabi and Tajo, had been worked for a short time some years 
 before and temporarily abandoned. Both of these veins, one 
 containing free gold, as well as silver ore, give good promise;, 
 indeed, I consider the Cahuabi district to be one of the richest for 
 silver in Ai-izona. The fact that it lies in the desert, with barely 
 enough water to cook with, will be a serious hindrance to its 
 development. 
 
 Most of the Papago villages on the desert are several miles 
 from any water, and one of the chief occupations of the women 
 is the obtaining of this necessary of life, and bringing it home. 
 I say obtaining, for getting water is there often a labor of pa- 
 tience, skill, and danger. In many places it is to be had only by 
 digging. A spot is chosen where the rock dips under a deposit 
 of sand, and an opening like a quarry is sunk in the latter, expos- 
 ing the rocky surface. The little water that trickles slowly, drop 
 by drop, along the plane of contact between sand and stone, is 
 collected with the greatest care and patience, till the labor, some- 
 times of hours, is rewarded by one or two gallons of water in the 
 earthen vessel, which the woman then bears on her heady perhaps 
 six or nine miles, to her home. In very dry seasons, w^ater can 
 be had only by extensive digging of this kind. A friend once 
 reached one of these wells at a time when, after a succession of 
 dry seasons, the Indians were dying from thirst. He found a 
 large number of natives digging recklessly, far below the sur- 
 face, and following down ithe line of contact between sand and 
 rock, in the vain hope of finding a few drops of water. In their 
 despair, they undermined the high face of the sand, and it fell, 
 burying for ev;er a number of the unfortunate creatures. 
 
 From Cahuabi we made an excursion into the desert to visit a 
 mine being opened by some Mexicans. At the outset, our way 
 lay over a gravelly plain covered with small scrubby acacias, 
 and the green, leafless palo-verde, over which towered countless 
 columns of the saguarra ( Cereusgiganteus). This giant cactus 
 one of the wonders of the vegetable world, impresses a peculiar 
 character on the scenery in which it occurs. Often a simple shaft, 
 nearly as large at the top as at the base, it rises thirty and even 
 sixty feet above the ground. Its green surface is fluted like a 
 
^^i^^^^^^fO'^L^L I'^'s -j-'i-- --' ^^?Si 
 
 THE SAGrAEA. 
 
CHAP, m.] THE FRONTIER AND TEE DESERT. 39 
 
 Grecian column, and armed from base to summit witli small clusters 
 of long thorns, while a coronet of beautiful, highly-colored flowers 
 encircles the base of the hemispherical top. In the season, these 
 flowers are replaced by a sweetish fruit, as large as a hen's egg, 
 which forms an important source of food among the Papagoes. 
 .This fruit is made into an agreeable syrup, which seems to be as 
 much prized among these Indians as the sugar and syrup of the 
 maple are among the northeastern tribes. 
 
 Beneath the soft-green exterior, the body of the shaft is a skele- 
 ton of poles, finger-thick, as long as the plant, and irregularly 
 connected together into the form of fasces. These poles, taken 
 from dead trunks, furnish, with the exception of the bow and 
 arrow, the only means of reaching the fruit. 
 
 So strongly do these cacti resemble Grecian columns, that one 
 is almost tempted to look for fallen Corinthian capitals and 
 ruined temples. It is a curious coincidence, that the natural ob- 
 ject which is best suited to furnish the prototypes of the fluted 
 Grecian column and the Roman fasces, should belong to an order 
 of plants not represented on the eastern continent, and to a species 
 restricted to a small area on the immense deserts of the New 
 World. 
 
 Reaching the new mine, we found the Mexicans at work in an 
 irregular opening, from which about a wagon-load of good-look- 
 ing argentiferous copper ore had been taken. This they would 
 have to transport nearly one hundred miles before they could 
 smelt it. In Mexico, where all the men are more or less miners, 
 it is common, especially since the decline of the great mining in- 
 dustiy, for a number to club together for the purpose of working 
 some old or new mine on shares. The present laxity in the en- 
 forcement of the mining laws, the general absence of security to 
 property, and an inherent love of gambling, are all favorable to 
 such enterprises. While many new discoveries of value are made 
 in this manner, the fact that they are not recorded, and the ruin- 
 ous system followed by these people in robbing the pillars of old 
 mines, render the operations of the gambucinos a serious evil to 
 the country. 
 
 Returning to Cahuabi we began our homeward journey, intend- 
 ing to reach Arivacca by a trail crossing the mountains south of 
 the Baboquiveri peak. We encamped for the night near the 
 
40 ACSOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. hi. 
 
 ■western foot-hills of the range, and from our elevated position the 
 vast plains, sti-etching away toward the Pacific, were spread out 
 before us. To this grand landscape the brilliant light of the full 
 nioon lent its enchanting power, rendering more weird the unfa- 
 miliar plant forms, silvering the distant ridges of barren granite 
 and the surface of the boundless desert. Not a sound, nor even 
 a breath of air, broke the silence of the night ; and as I yielded 
 to the influence of the scene, I seemed to be a wanderer in dream- 
 land. 
 
 Soon there came the doleful bark of the red wolf, growing 
 louder and nearer as these animals approached and hovered about 
 the camp. 
 
 In the morning I found that the rawhide thongs had been 
 gnawed off from my saddle, although it had served me for a pil- 
 low all night. 
 
 Before night we reached Fresnal, a Papago village. Near this 
 we encamped by a spring of good water, surrounded by fine ash and 
 mesquit trees, and lying in a ravine descending from the Babo- 
 quiveri peak. Our intention was to leave Fresnal on the follow- 
 ing afternoon, but while preparing to break camp an accident 
 occurred by which all our plans were changed. While we were 
 eating our pinole, a sand-storm was seen whirling rapidly toward 
 us from the desert, and we all hastened to wrap our fire-arms in 
 the blankets, to protect them from the penetrating dust. In doing 
 this Mr. Washburn let his revolver fall. It instantly went ofi", and 
 discharged a ball into the irmer side of his right thigh. An ex- 
 amination showed that the ball had not come out, and it seemed 
 almost certain that it had entered the abdomen, and that death 
 must soon follow. A hasty consultation resulted in sending a 
 Papago on Mr. Washburn's horse to Tucson, about 80 miles dis- 
 tant, for a doctor, while Colonel Poston, with the guide, started 
 for Arivacca, about 40 miles off, by the trail over the mountain, to 
 bring an ambulance, and I remained to nurse our wounded com- 
 panion. During the afternoon we found that the ball had glanced 
 around the outside of the pelvis, and following the spine had 
 lodged itself between the muscle and bone, near the shoulder 
 blades. Being entirely ignorant of everything relating to sur- 
 gery, I did not venture to cut it out, but decided to wait for the 
 doctor's arrival,'keeping the wound constantly washed in the 
 
CHAP. HI.] THE FBONTIEB AND THE DESEBT. 41 
 
 meantime. After an absence of less than two days and a half, 
 the Papago returned, having nearly killed the fine horse he rode, 
 and bringing a letter, in which the doctor regretted the impossi- 
 bility of undertaking a journey in the existing condition of the 
 country. 
 
 Five days passed without bringing any news from Colonel 
 Poston, and concluding that another friend had swelled the long 
 list of victims to the Apaches, I made preparations to await the 
 time when I should either help my companion into his saddle or 
 dig his grave. Recovery seemed almost impossible, with the 
 thermometer ranging from 116 to 126 degrees in the shade, and 
 when night brought only a parching desert-wind. 
 
 Day after day passed by without bringing any change in our 
 prospects, or in the condition of the wounded man. The Papagoes 
 of the neighboring village, from whom I bought milk and boiled 
 wheat, were at first friendly : their frequent visits to our camp 
 relieved the tedious monotony of the long days, and I occupied 
 my time in learning their language. But gradually these visits 
 became rarer, and finally ceased altogether. The old chief raised 
 the price of milk from one string of beads per quart, to two 
 strings, and the smallness of my supply of this currency render- 
 ing it necessary to raise their value in the same proportion, our 
 relations became daily less and less friendly. Our isolated posi- 
 tion thus grew every day more unpleasant, surrounded as we 
 were by Indians who were nominally friendly, but who had mur- 
 dered more than one helpless traveller. 
 
 Nearly two weeks had passed since the accident, when a Mexi- 
 can arrived from Colonel Poston bringing provisions, and a letter, 
 from which we learned that after leaving us they had lost iheir 
 way at night on the Baboquiveri plain, and after wandering 
 about for three days without food or water, the guide became in- 
 sane and strayed away toward the south. Poston, finding water 
 the next day, had regained sufficient strength to retrace his steps 
 toward the Baboquiveri peak, till coming into the trail he reached 
 Arivacca, delirious and half dead, on the fifth day. "When his 
 reason returned he learned that the ApacheS had made a descent 
 on the place a few days before, killing several men and driv- 
 ing off all the animals. He advised us to hire a party of Papagoes 
 to bring Washburn in on a litter, I immediately made the pro- 
 
42 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chat, m 
 
 position to the chief, beginning by offering a horse, and ending with 
 the offer of horses and arms by the dozen. It was useless. The 
 old man was temj^ted ; but most of the warriors being away for 
 the summer, he would not venture to expose the village to a 
 raid from the Apaches by sending the young men with us. 
 
 The Mexican left the welcome provisions and returned to Ari- 
 vacca, and again the same tedious routine of watching and 
 waiting was resumed. Nearly all my time during the day, and 
 much of the night, was occupied in keeping water on Washburn's 
 wound. By this means, together with the dryness of the climate, 
 it was kept free from gangrene, and the condition of my patient 
 was apparently improving. 
 
 One day the unexpected but welcome sound of a creaking 
 wheel was followed by the appearance of a wagon drawn by 
 oxen, and escorted by eleven Mexicans. It was a party who had 
 gone from Sonora, over the desert, to open a mine, and were now 
 returning with a load of ore. The scarcity of water on the desert 
 had caused them to take the route along the foot of the moun- 
 tains, and, fortunately for us, the first wagon that had ever 
 passed this way came in time to give us relief. A bargain Avas 
 immediately made — the Mexicans, who were on foot, agreeing to 
 take Washburn to Sarie, in Sonora, for five dollars. Making as 
 comfortable a bed for the wounded man as was possible, over 
 the rough load of ore, we began this new stage of our journey. 
 
 The oxen made slow progress, rarely over ten or twelve miles 
 a day, and now and then losing a day altogether ; still it was a 
 great relief to be again on horseback. At Poso- Verde we reached 
 the border of the Papagoria. Here the Indians had taken advan- 
 tage of the existence of a spring, and abundant grass, and we 
 found a well-stocked ranch of horses and cattle. The spring was 
 a small pool, in which stood, during the heat of the day, all the 
 cattle that could find room, and in it the Indians bathed every 
 morning. Already from a distance Ave smelt the water, and 
 Avhen Ave reached it, it seemed more like a barn-yard pool than 
 a reservoir of drinkable Avater. Still Ave Avere forced to use it 
 there, and to lay in a supply. 
 
 Leaving Poso-Verde we turned from the mountains unto a 
 broad plain, bearing scarcely any other vegetation than scattered 
 tufts of grass. As we Avere now exposed to the Apaches, we 
 
CHAP, m.] THE FRONTIER AND THE DESERT. 43 
 
 were obliged to keep a constant look-out. The Mexicans had no 
 amunition, and ours was useless to them. In two or three days 
 it was suddenly discovered that we were out of provisions and 
 tobacco. A Mexican was instantly sent ahead on our extra horse 
 to get supplies at the nearest village in Sonora, and it was hoped 
 he might meet us on the second or third day, at least in time to 
 prevent any deaths from starvation. 
 
 But when the thii-d day passed without his return, it was 
 evident that hunger was telling fearfully on us. The Mexi- 
 cans became, all of them, more or less deranged, as much from 
 waqt of tobacco as from hunger ; we could make but little pro- 
 gress, as our companions wandered away from our course, and 
 my time was divided between guiding the oxen and keeping 
 the men near the wagon. I was entirely ignorant of the route, 
 and, not being able to rely on the random talk of the crazy guides, 
 could only keep a southerly course, and trust to accident for find- 
 ing water. 
 
 The Mexicans tore open my saddle-bags in search of tobacco, 
 an action I had neither the strength nor the heart to resist. I 
 began to feel that my own reason was leaving me, and that only 
 a speedy relief could save us from death. 
 
 Fortunately, before night overtook us, we reached a low range 
 of hills, and my heart beat fast as I saw a number of petalhya 
 cacti growing from the rocks. It was the season for their fruit, 
 and enough of this was found to supply a scanty meal all around. 
 
 The next day, fearing to go on, we remained quiet, and I stood 
 guard with drawn pistol, till the following morning, to prevent 
 the starving men from killing one of the oxen, knowing well that 
 it must inevitably cause the death of Washburn. Toward noon 
 of the fifth day a horseman was seen coming from the north, who 
 proved to be our Mexican bringing provisions. He had passed 
 us in the night, and had gone a long day's journey beyond us, 
 before cutting our trail. Our deliverer was torn from his horse by 
 the men, in their impatience to get at the supplies, but, before 
 taking a mouthful of food, we all quickly rolled cigarettes, and 
 each inhaled one long draught of delicious smoke, and then fell 
 to eating. Fortunately, the man had been wise enough to hide 
 most of his load, to prevent the eifects of over-eating in our con- 
 dition. By the next morning we were nearly recovered from 
 
44 ACSOSS AMEBIGA AND ASIA. [chap. hi. 
 
 I 
 
 the effects of starvation, as was shown by the returned sanity 
 and straightened forms of all of us. Thus ended one of the most 
 awful episodes of my journey. 
 
 Two or three days more brought us to Saric, where the sym- 
 pathies of the entire female population were immediately enlisted 
 in behalf of Mr. Washburn, and we were soon furnished with as 
 comfortable quarters as the poor frontier village could supj)ly. 
 This was not much, however, consisting of a room, in Avhich we 
 spread our blankets on some fresh cornstalks. 
 
 The Apaches had made a raid on the place that day, and the 
 village was in a state of excitement. An old Spaniard was found 
 whom we both knew, and who, having some knowledge of sur- 
 gery, proceeded to cut out the ball. 
 
 This was done successfully, the lead coming out in two pieces. 
 By careful treatment, and constant nursing on the part of the 
 kind-hearted Mexican women, Washburn in less than two weeks 
 was on the road to certain recovery, and I prepared to leave him, 
 to return to Arizona. When on the point of starting I was seized 
 with chills and fever, and for a week was the patient, in turn, of 
 every lady in the village. But kind nursing, aided by emetics 
 and warm water by the pailful, restored me, and, leaving a 
 country where the men are mostly cut-throats, and the women 
 angels, I rode toward Arizona. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CLOSIXG SCENES AND ESCAPE, 
 
 At Arivacca I found Colonel Poston impatiently awaiting the 
 arrival of the agent of Colonel Colt, to "whom he had transferred 
 the lease of the Heintzelman mine. Being both of us anxious to 
 leave the country, we determined on a journey together through 
 the principal mining districts, to the city of Mexico, and thence 
 to Acapulco, or Vera Cruz. Before beginning this we visited 
 Tubac, where we found the population considerably increased 
 by Americans, who had been driven in by the Apaches, from the 
 ranches of the Santa Cruz valley. 
 
 In three days we were ready to return to the Heintzelman 
 mine, and the morning of the fourth day was fixed foi our final 
 departure from Tubac. But a circumstance occurred in the even- 
 ing which interfered with our plans. Just before dark a Mexi- 
 can herdsman galloped into the plaza, and soon threw the whole 
 community into a state of intense excitement. He had gone 
 that morning with William Rhodes, an American ranchero, to 
 Rhodes's fai-ra, to bring in some horses which had been left on 
 the abandoned place. The farm lay about eighteen miles from 
 Tubac, on the road to Tucson, and to reach it they passed first 
 through the Reventon, a fortified ranch ten miles distant, and 
 then through the Canoa, a stockade inn, fourteen miles from 
 Tubac. At the inn they found the two Americans who had 
 charge of the place, cooking dinner ; and telling them they would 
 return in an hour to dine, they rode on. Having found the 
 horses, they returned, and, before riding up to the house, secured 
 the loose animals in the corral, and then turned toward the inn. 
 Their attention was immediately drawn to a shirt, drenched in 
 blood, hanging on the gate, and, approaching this, a scene of 
 destruction confronted them. The Apaches had evidently been 
 at work during the short hour that had passed. Just as they 
 were on the point of dismounting, they discovered a large party 
 
46 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. it. 
 
 of Indians, lying low on their horses, among the bushes a feAv 
 hundred yards off the road. At the same instant that they put 
 spurs to their horses, to escape toward the Reventon, the Apaches 
 broke cover, and reached the road about one hundred yards be- 
 hind the fugitives. 
 
 There were not less than a hundred mounted warriors, and a 
 large number on foot. About a mile from the inn, Rhodes's horse 
 seemed to be giving out, and he struck off from the road toward 
 the mountains, followed by all the mounted Indians. The Mexi- 
 can had escaped to the Reventon, and thence to Tubac, but he 
 said that Rhodes must have been killed soon after they parted 
 company. 
 
 It being too late to accomplish anything by going out that 
 night, we determined to look up the bodies and bury them the 
 following day. Early the next morning I rode out with Colonel 
 Poston and three others, to visit the Canoa. To our great sur- 
 prise the first man we met, as we rode into the Reventon, was 
 Rhodes, with his arm in a sling. He corroborated the story of 
 the Mexican, and told us the history of his own remarkable 
 escape. Finding his horse failing, and having an arrow through 
 his left arm, he left the road, hoping to reach a thicket he remem- 
 bered having seen. He had about two hundred yards advantage 
 over the nearest pursuers, and as he passed the thicket he threw 
 himself fi'om the horse, which ran on while he entered the bush. 
 The thicket was very dense, with a narrow entrance leading to a 
 small charco or dry mud-hole in the centre. Lying down in this 
 he spread his revolver cartridges and caps before him, broke off 
 and drew out the arrow, and feeling the loss of blood buried his 
 wounded elbow in the earth. All this was the work of a minute, 
 and before he had finished it the Indians had formed a cordon 
 around his hiding-place and found the entrance. The steady aim 
 of the old frontiersman brought from his horse the first Apache 
 who charged into the opening. Each succeeding brave met the 
 same fate as he tried the entrance, till six shots had been fired 
 from Rhodes's revolver, and then the Indians, believing the weapon 
 empty, charged bodily with a loud yell. But the cool ranger had 
 loaded after each shot, and a seventh ball brought down the 
 foremost of the attacking party, and the eighth the one behind 
 him. During all this time the Indians fired volley after volley 
 
-■■lAf. IV.] CLOSING SCENES AND ESCAPE. 47 
 
 of balls and. arrows into the thicket, ia the hope of killing their 
 hiclden opponent. After the twelfth shot there came another 
 whoop, anotlier charge, and one more Avarrior fell. Then the In- 
 dians, who knew him well by name, and from many former fights, 
 called out : " Don Guiglelmo ! Don Guiglelmo I — Come and join 
 us; you're a brave man, and we'll make you a chief." " Oh, you 
 devils, you ! I know what you'll do with me if you get me," he 
 answered. After this Rhodes heard a loud shout : " Sopori ! 
 Sopori ! " — the name of the ranch of a neighboring mine — and 
 the whole attacking party galloped away. 
 
 After a few minutes, finding the Indians all gone, Rhodes left 
 the thicket and found his way to the Reventon. Thus happened 
 one of the most remarkable defences and escapes, and one that 
 could have been carried out only by a cool courage, such as few 
 men even with a long frontier experience can command. 
 
 Leaving the Reventon we rode toward the Canoa. As we ap- 
 proached it the tracks of a large drove of horses and cattle and 
 of many Indians filled the road. Soon we came in sight of the 
 inn, and two dogs came running from it toward us. With low, 
 incessant whining they repeatedly came up to us, and theu turned 
 toward the inn, as if beseeching our attention to something there. 
 Wlien we entered the gate a scene of destruction indeed met us. 
 The sides of the house were broken in and the court was filled 
 with broken tables and doors, while fragments of crockery and 
 iron-ware lay mixed in heaps with grain and the contents of mat- 
 trasses. Through the open door of a small house, on one side of 
 the court, we saw a body, which proved to be the remains of 
 young Tarbox, who coming from Maine a short time before had 
 been put in charge of tlie inn. Like many of the settlers, the 
 first Apaches he had seen were his murderers. Under a tree, 
 beyond a fence that divided the court, we found the bodies of 
 the other American and a Papago Indian, who, probably driven 
 in by the Apaches, had joined in the desperate struggle that had 
 evidently taken place. These bodies were pierced by hundreds 
 of lance wounds, and were already in a terrible condition. 
 
 Ou^' small party of five took turns in keeping watch and dig- 
 o-in"' the graves. Burying the Papago in one grave, and the two 
 Americans in the other, we wrote on a board — " Tarbox ; " and 
 vmder, this : " White man, unknown, killed by Apaches." How 
 
48 ACnOSS AMMBICA AND ASIA. [chap. iv. 
 
 often does that word " unknown" mask the history of some long- 
 mourned wanderer from the circle at home. 
 
 We had just finished the burial, when a party of Americans, 
 escorting two wagons, rode in sight. They were on their way to 
 Fort Buchanan, where they hoped to discover the caches in which 
 commissary stores had been hidden on the . abandonment of the 
 country. Happening to ask them whether Mr. Richmond Jones, 
 superintendent of the Sopori Company's property, was still in Tuc- 
 son, I was told that he had left that town for the Sopori early on 
 the previous day. 
 
 Knowing that he had not yet reached home, we instantly sus- 
 pected that he was killed. As the party had met with no signs 
 of Indians till near the Canoa, we began a search for his body in 
 the neighborhood, and before long a call from one of our num- 
 ber brought us to the spot where it lay. A bullet entering the 
 breast, two large lances piercing the body from side to side, 
 and a pitchfork driven as far as the very forking of the prongs 
 into the back, told the manner of his death. Wrapping the 
 body in a blanket, we laid it in one of the wagons and turned 
 toward Tubac. Finding the spot where Rhodes had left the road 
 in his flight from the Indians, Poston and myself followed the 
 tracks till we reached the scene of his desperate fight. The place 
 was exactly as Rhodes had described it, and the charco was cov- 
 ered with the branches cut loose by the Apache bullets, while the 
 ground at the entrance was still soaked with blood. 
 
 At Tubac a grave was dug, and in it we buried Richmond 
 .Tones, of Providence, R. I. Like Grosvenor, a true friend of the 
 Indians, he fell by them a victim to vengeance, for the treachery 
 of the white man. The cry of Sopori, raised by the Indians when 
 they left Rhodes, was now explained ; they knew that in Jones 
 they had killed the superintendent of that ranch, and they were 
 impatient to reach the place and drive ofi" its large drove of 
 horses and cattle before the arrival of any force large enough to 
 resist them. This they efiected by killing the herdsmen. 
 
 The next morning, bidding good-bye to Tubac, Poston and my- 
 self returned to the Heintzelman mine. I was to pass a week 
 here, for the purpose of examining and reporting on the property ; 
 but hearing that a wagon-load of watermelons had arrived at Ari- 
 vacca, and having lived on only jerked beef and beans for nearly 
 
CHAP, rv.] CLOSING SCBNB8 AND ESCAPE. 49 
 
 a year, I determined to go on witt Poston. and pass a day at the 
 reduction works. It was arranged that two of the Americans 
 should come to Arlvacca the next day, to carry the mail through 
 to Tucson. They came ; but, the letters not being ready, their de- 
 parture was postponed till the following morning. 
 
 About an hour and a half after these two men had left Arivacca, 
 they galloped back, showing in their faces that something awful 
 had happened. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " asked Postoa- 
 
 •' There has been an accident at the mine, sir." 
 
 " Nothing serious, I hope ? " 
 
 " Well ! yes, sir ; it's very serious." 
 
 " Is any one injured — is my brother hurt ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir, they're all hurt ; and I am afraid your brother wont 
 recover." 
 
 My friend dared to put no more questions ; the men told me 
 the whole story in two words — " all murdered." 
 
 Mounting my horse, which had already been saddled to carry 
 me to the mme, I returned quickly with the two men. We found 
 the bodies of Mr. John Poston and the two German employes, 
 while the absence of the Mexicans showed plainly who were the 
 murderers. I heard the history of the affair afterward in Sonora. 
 A party of seven Mexicans had come from Sonora for the pur- 
 pose of inciting the peons, at Arivacca and the mine, to kill the 
 Americans and rob the two places. They reached Arivacca the 
 same day that Poston and myself arrived, and finding the white 
 force there too strong, had gone on to the mine. Here they found 
 no difficulty in gaining over the entire Mexican force, including a 
 favorite servant of Mr. Poston. This boy, acting as a spy, gave 
 notice to the Mexicans when the white men were taking their 
 siesta. Without giving their victims a chance to resist, they mur- 
 dered them in cold blood, robbed the place, and left for Sonora. 
 Laying the bodies in a wagon just arrived from Arivacca, we 
 returned to that place. I found that during my absence the peons 
 had attempted the same thing at the reduction works, but being 
 detected in time by the negro cook, they were put down. That 
 evemncf we had another burial, the saddest of all, for we commit- 
 ted to the earth of that accursed country the remains not only 
 of a friend, but of the brother of one of our party. 
 4 
 
50 ACBOSS AMEBIGA AND ASIA. [chap. it. 
 
 - I will add here that the accident which so nearly proved- fatal 
 to Washburn on the desert, in all probability saved his life, since 
 by delaying his return to the Heintzelman mine, where he made 
 his home, it saved him from the general assassination. 
 
 After this occurrence we both abandoned our proposed jour- 
 ney,- and determined to leave the country by the nearest open 
 route. The events of the past week, added to all that had gone 
 before, began to tell on my nerves, and I felt unequal to the task 
 of making a dangerous summer journey of over one thousand 
 miles through Mexico. 
 
 The arrival of a Spaniard whom we knew well, decided our 
 route. lie brought the news that a vessel' was to arrive at Lo- 
 bos Bay, on the Gulf of California, to take in a cargo of copper 
 ore. So we determined to leave with him for Caborca, on our 
 way to Lobos Bay. Indeed, the only route open to us lay 
 through Sonora, as it was out of the question for two men to 
 think of taking the ordinary routes through Arizona. 
 
 The day after the funeral we put our baggage into the return- 
 ing wagons, and following these, on horseback, left Arivacca. 
 Our own party consisted of Poston, myself, and the colored cook. 
 Crossing the Baboquiveri plain we passed around the southern 
 end of the Baboquiveri range. Here I entered agaiu upon the 
 great steppe, which, stretching northward through the Papagoria, 
 and southwestward to the Altar i-iver, had so lately been the 
 scene of our eventful journey. On the skirt of this plain we en- 
 camped for the night. 
 
 Tlie "effect of the grand scenery and wonderfully clear atmos- 
 phere of this strange land, is to intensify the feelings of pain or 
 pleasure which at the time sway the traveller's mind. Thus; 
 while under ordinary circumstances, the surroundings of this our 
 first encampment would have been engraved on the memory with 
 all the shading and coloring of a sublime and beautiful night- 
 scene, the events of the past week formed a background on which 
 the picture of that night remains impressed with all the weii'd 
 gloom of the darkest conceptions of Breughel or I^ore. The 
 bright moon-lighted heavens were suddenly overcast, in the north- 
 east, by the first thunder-cloiid I hai seen in the territory.' Above 
 us the sky wais clear,' but over ihe mouhtaink we had' left" all! was 
 dark and gloomy. As the thundei* rolled in peal after peal, and 
 
CHAP. IT.] CLOSING SCENES AND ESCAPE. 51 
 
 lightning broke in great columns, its sudden light impressing on 
 the eye the weird rock-forms and frowning cliffs of the Arizona 
 mountains, it seemed a fitting end to the scenes we had left be- 
 hind, and as though that region were realizing its name, and were 
 m reality the " Gate of Hell." 
 
 Our route lay for two or three days, as far as the Altar river, 
 over hard, gravelly plains, generally bearing grass and scattered 
 mesquit trees and cacti. The Altar river is a mere rivulet at 
 nearly all seasons, but along its course are many places which 
 might become flourishing ranches, were not all attempts at indus- 
 try rendered hopeless by the raids of the Apache. Following 
 the river we reached Altar, a village built of adobes, and contain- 
 ing a population of about 1,900 souls, including the ranches of the 
 inmediate neighborhood. 
 
 The productions of this part of Sonora are chiefly maize, wheat, 
 barley, beans, and some sugar and tobacco.* Watermelons 
 are raised in large numbers. A solitary date-palm, standing 
 near Altar, is evidence of the attempts of the early missionaries 
 to introduce fruits which seemed suited to the climate. 
 
 On the fourth day of our journey we reached Caborca, a village 
 containing about 800 inhabitants, chiefly agriculturists and miners. 
 It was in the fine old mission-church at this place that the filibus- 
 tering party under Crabbe met their fate. 
 
 Here we were welcomed by an acquaintance, Don Marino Mo- 
 lino, who ofiered us the hospitality of his liouse. Much to our 
 disappointment, we learned that the coming of the expected vessel 
 to Lobos Bay had been postponed for several months, and it 
 became necessary to choose another way out of the country. Our 
 choice of routes was limited to two : the one leading to Guaymas, 
 about 200 miles distant, and the other to Fort Yuma, nearly as 
 far to the northwest, on the Colorado river. 
 
 While we were in Caborca, some of the former peons of the 
 
 * " The prices of wheat and barley are ahont the same at all the pubhlos, viz, wheat at 
 harvest time $1,50 per fanega, (150 lbs.); wheat at Beeri time 13,00 per iane^a. (15011)9 ); barley 
 at harvest time $1,00 (120 lbs.) : at seed time $2,50-$3,00 ; beans cost from *.3.0O to $8,0!) (aver- 
 age $5,00) per fanega ; com the same as wheat, but the fanega weight 200 lbs. Beef cattle , 
 and all 'kinds of stock are scarce. I estimate that about 4.000 head of cattle belong to Cabor- 
 o, and perhaps 5,000 to 6,r00 are on the Galera rancho ; *eix miles from there they sell steers 
 for $5,00 to 12,00. Animals are generally fattened for slaughter in the towns, where they 
 sell for about $20,00 ; heavy fat oxen fi-om $40,00. to 60,00 : tallow brings a high price. 
 
 "At Pitiqnito, about six and one-half miles from Caborca, there is raised annually : of wheat 
 abont8,000 fanegas ; of corn say 2.000 iinegas. Cotton thrives well."— ifepori of Major D. 
 Fergumm, to tfie Secretartj of War. 
 
52 ACBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. iv. 
 
 Heintzelraan mine, who had been of the assassinating party, were 
 seen walking in conscious security through the streets. We 
 heard that they not only boasted openly of their part in the mur- 
 der, but that they had formed a party of twelve desperadoes to 
 follow and waylay Poston and myself, for the sake of the large 
 quantity of silver we were supposed to have in our baggage. 
 Our friends warned us of the danger, and advised us to increase 
 our force before continuing the journey. At the same time a 
 report was brought in by a Mexican coming from California, 
 that Fort Yuma was to have been already abandoned, and that 
 owing to two successive rainless seasons, many of the usual 
 watering-places on the desert route to the Colorado were dry. 
 There was one distance, he said, of one hundred and twenty 
 miles, without water, and on this some of the party to which he 
 belonged had died from thirst. 
 
 We decided, however, on this route, as, besides leading directly 
 to California, it exposed us mainly to the dangers of the desert. 
 One thing caused us much uneasiness : this was the question as 
 to how we should cross the Colorado river, supposing the Fort 
 were really abandoned. That river is deep, and broad, and the 
 current rapid ; and the abandonment of the fort would, consider- 
 ing the hostile character of the Yuma Indians, necessarily cause 
 the abandonment of the ferry also. 
 
 There was in Caborca an American, named William s, who had 
 been found some weeks before dying from hunger and thirst, 
 on the shore at Lobos Bay. Brought into Caborca, and kindly 
 treated _by an old lady of that plac e, he had already recovered, 
 and was seeking an opportunity to leave the country. According 
 to Williams's story, he had formed one of a party of three who 
 had built a boat on the Colorado river, intending to coast along 
 the Gulf of California to Cedros island, on a- "prospecting" expe- 
 dition. Arriving at Lobos Bay, he said, they had been wrecked, 
 but he was unable to account for the subsequent movements of 
 his companions. We believed his story, and liking the ajjpearance 
 of the man, engaged him to go with us to California, giving him 
 as compensation an outfit consisting of a horse, saddle, rifle, and 
 revolver. As soon as we had engaged a Mexican, with several 
 pack-mules, we were ready for our journey. Our party now con- 
 sisted of four well-armed men, not counting the Mexican muleteer. 
 
riiAP. IV.] GLOSma SCENES AND ESCAPE. 53 
 
 Several friends escortocl us as far as our first encampment, which 
 we reached in the night, and left us the following' morning, but 
 Tot without repeatedly warning us to keep an unceasing watcl 
 for the party that was sure to follow us. 
 
 The first inhabited place we passed was the Coj'^ote gold-placer, 
 near which are the ancient Sales and Tajitos gold and silver mines, 
 and, in the neighboring Yazura mountains, the Coyote copper 
 mine. The ore of the latter is a rich, brilliant black sulphuret. The 
 Sales and Tajitos were worked with profit till the insurrection of 
 the Indians. 
 
 The next settlement in which we encamped was Quitovac, a 
 place which had some celebrity for its gold placers before the dis- 
 covery of that metal in California. It had been our intention to 
 take the route to the Colorado river, leading through the Sonoita 
 gold district, in preference to that passing through San Domingo. 
 These routes, diverging at a point a few miles beyond Quitovac, con- 
 tinue parallel to each other, but separated by mountains, till their 
 reunion on the Gila river. When asked at Quitovac which route 
 we proposed taking, we liad given that by Sonoita as our choice. 
 But as soon as we took the road in the morning it became evident 
 that a party of horsemen had passed through Quitovac during 
 the night, stopping for only a short time. The tracks sliowed 
 them to be t welve in number, and when on reaching the fork of 
 the trails we found that, after evident hesitation, they had taken 
 the SoTioita route, we changed our plan and turned into that lead- 
 jng to San Domingo, which place Ave reached in a few hours. In 
 this sfttleiiieiM, containing two or three houses, the last habitations 
 before reaching the Gila river, we found Don Reraigo Rivera, a 
 revolutionary Sonoranian general. Don Remigo had withdrawn 
 with his small force to the United States boundary, where he 
 was awaiting a favorable opportunity for action. Leaving his 
 men at Sonoita, he had come to pass a few days at San Domingo. 
 As this gentleman had frequently been a guest at the Santa Rita, 
 and at Colonel Poston's house, we received from him a cordial recep- 
 tion, and dismounted to breakfast on pinole and watermelons. 
 While thus engaged, a courier rode up at full speed, and Avas 
 closeted for a few minutes with our host. This man, Don 
 Remio-o informed lis, brought news of the arrival, in the neigh- 
 borhood of Sonoita, of twelve men, whose names he gave. It 
 
54 ACBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [cha 
 
 was supposed by his friends that they had come to assassi 
 the general. 
 
 " That is not likely to be their object," said Don Renrigo, " £ 
 though they are cut-throats, they belong to my party, and 
 served under me. It is more probable," he continued, ' 
 they are following you, as I have heard of a plot to waylay y 
 
 Our suspicions of the morning were thus confirmed,, and th 
 cessity of being prepared for an attack became more.appare 
 
 San Domingo lies on the boundary, and the trail leaving 
 ranch keeps for a few miles south of the line, and then enter 
 United States territory. To this point Don Remigo accon 
 ied us, to show us the last watering-place before entering upoi 
 desert. As we returned from this spring to the road, two 
 were seen, who, having passed us unnoticed, were trave 
 north. They proved to be two Americans, on their wa 
 Fort Yuma, and they readily joined us. Our party now numl 
 six well-armed men, and we felt otirselves able to cope with 
 Mexicans. The size of our force now rendered it possible to 
 a watch without much fatigue to any member of the party ; 
 our greatest danger lay in the exposure of our animals, and c 
 quently of ourselves, to death from thirst. Soon we would ha 
 enter upon the broad waterless region, and the bones of anims 
 ready bordering our trail warned us of the sufferings of past j 
 
 One night, as we wei-e skirting the desert along the base 
 barren sierra, "Williams and myself had fallen behind the car: 
 when my companion, from over-use of our Spanish bi'andy, b 
 to talk freely to himself. We were just approaching a bold, 
 spur of the sierra, while immediately before us the trail w 
 between immense fragments of rock fallen from the moun 
 above. Williams stopped his horse, and looking at the r 
 said, half aloud : 
 
 " Here's where the d — d greasers * oveitook us, and we whi 
 them." 
 
 As the man had said that he had never been over the roai 
 fore, I thought it at first only the talk of a drunken man. 
 
 " I thought you had never been this way before, Wjllian 
 said to him. 
 
 " Maybe I haven't ; maybe I dreamt it ; but when you g< 
 
 * A name applied to Mexicans by frontiersmen. 
 
CHAP. IT.] CLosim scEjtrm and escape. 55 
 
 that spur you'll see two tall rocks, like columns, on the top of the 
 sierra ; them's the ' two sisters.' " 
 
 "We soon passed the point of the spur, when, looking toward 
 the top of the mountain, I saw two tall rocks, like columns, rising 
 from the crest. My interest in this man was now excited, indeed 
 I had already had a suspicion that he was not what we had taken 
 him to he. Determined to learn more, I passed him my flask ; 
 we rode, on together, talking ahout Sonora, though not very co- 
 herently on Williams!s part. After riding a few miles we entered 
 a scanty forest of mesquit and palo-verde trees, and I ohserved 
 that my companion had become attentive to the surroundings. In 
 answer to my questions he replied : 
 
 " I am looking for an opening on the left side of the trail. 
 There's a square opening with a large mesquit at each corner, 
 and a long branch goes from one corner across to the other ; un- 
 der the branch there's a mound, I guess." 
 
 He rode ahead, and soon turned out of the trail. 
 
 Following him, I entered by a narrow path and found myself 
 with him in a square opening ; there, indeed, was a mesquit at 
 each corner, a long branch crossing the space diagonally, and 
 under the branch a mound. The clear moon-light shone into the 
 spot and cast our shadows over the mound, as if to hide a mystery. 
 
 "He's rotten now, I reckon;" my companion muttered. "I 
 told him I'd spit more than once on his grave, and by G — d I've 
 done it." 
 
 " What was his name, Williams ? " I asked, passing the flask 
 again. 
 
 " Charley Johnson." 
 
 " What did you kill the poor devil for, in this out-of-the-way 
 place ? " 
 
 " An old grudge, about a Mexican woman, when we were with 
 Fremont. I told him I'd spit on his grave, and I've done it ; ha ! 
 ha ! ha ! I've done it. We had a split here about a scarf— and I 
 got the scarf, that's all." 
 
 " Who kept the priest's robes ? " I asked, looking him full in 
 the face. 
 
 At these words, Williams started and made a motion toward 
 his pistol ; but seeing that I had the advantage, inasmuch as my 
 hand rested on my revolver, he simply exclaimed : 
 
56 ACROSS AMEBIOA AND ASIA. [chap, iv 
 
 " What the devil do you know about the priest's robes ? " 
 " Only that you -were one of Bell's band," I answered, quietly. 
 The suspicions I had formed as soon as Williams had betrayed 
 a knowledge of the route, were fully confirmed ; our quiet-look- 
 'ng companion had been one of the band of cut-throats which , 
 ander the notorious Bell, had been the terror of California, soo n 
 afte r the discovery of gold. This party had gone to 8onora. 
 about eight years be fore the time of our journey, under the pre - 
 text of wishing to buy horses. Stopping at a celebrated gold 
 placer near Caborca, they were" hospitably entertained at the 
 neighboring mission by the old priest and hi s sister, who were 
 living alone. In return for this kind receptio n they had h ung the 
 priest, outraged t he lady, and r obbed t he rich church of several 
 thousand dollar s in gold. The inh abitgjits^of^ajgoi-ca h ad told 
 me of this occurrence, still fresh in their minds, and of the bra- 
 vado of the party in riding through Caborca, using^ the priestly^ 
 robes as saddle blankets. Before a sufficiently strong party 
 could be raised to follow them, they had escaped to the desert, 
 and when finally overtaken, were found too strong for their pur- 
 suers, who were driven back. 
 
 My experience on the border with men of the class to which 
 Williams belonged, had shown me that to manage them, or, when 
 it becomes necessary, to associate with them, one must assume, to 
 a certain extent, their tone ; this I had done with my compan- 
 ion, and by this means and the aid of the brandy-flask I obtained 
 his confidence. He acknowledged that he had been one of Bell's 
 men, and had been on the expedition into Sonora. When he was 
 recently brouglit into Caborca nearly dead, he was taken c irfe~o! 
 by the sister of the priest whom they had hung, and Williams 
 lived in c onstant fear thart; the lady would recognize h im. Not 
 only had he escaped recognition, but he told me, as an excellent 
 joke, that the Senora had given him a letter to her two daughters, 
 who were living in California. 
 
 He was, at the time of our journey, a refugee from California, 
 having murdered a man in San Francisco. The history he gave 
 me of his life, while with Bell's band, was a combination of aw- 
 ful crimes and ludicrous incidents, that would swell a volume. I 
 never knew but one rufiian Avho more surely deserved hanging 
 than this companion, whom we had taken with us to increase our 
 
CHAP. IV.] CLOSma SCENES AND ESCAPE. 57 
 
 safety. That other man ^vas one who had been a blacksmith at 
 the Santa Rita mine, and had been discharged for trying to stab 
 Mr. Grosvenor. Soon after this he killed a man at Tubac, and, 
 as the sympathies of the inhabitants were with the victim, Rodg- 
 ers found it necessary to leave the country to avoid Ij'nch law. 
 Before going, he took one of the employes of the Santa Rita to 
 his trunk, and showing him a string of eighteen pairs of human 
 ears, told him he had sworn to increase the number to twenty- 
 five. From Arizona he went to Chihuahua, near which city he 
 killed his tra^-elling companion ; and some months later we heard 
 that, having brutally murdered a family of four persons at El 
 Paso, for the sake of a few dollars, he had been caught and hung 
 by his heels over a slow fire. Thus his own ears made the twenty- 
 fifth pair. 
 
 One cannot come much in contact with such men without feel- 
 ing how little human nature has been affected by the march of 
 society, and how subject to conventional influences are even the 
 passions of man. The workings of conscience come to seem a re 
 finement of civilization, but so artificial that they are absent in 
 the absence of the restraints of the civilization in which they 
 originate. An eminent clergyman has said that colonization is 
 essentially barbarous : certainly, from the time when the pioneer 
 first enters a new country, until, with increasing population, the 
 growing interests of individuals and society necessitate the bri- 
 dling of crime, the standard of right and wrong is far below that 
 even of many peoples whom we class as savages. And, other 
 things being equal, it is by the lesser or greater rapidity of this 
 transformation process, that we may measure the superiority or 
 inferiority of the parent civilization. 
 
 In a few days we approached the worst part of the desert ; the 
 watering-places became more separated and the supply smaller. 
 Our route lay over broad gravelly plains, bearing only cacti, with 
 here and there the leafless palo-verde tree, and the never-failing 
 greasewood bush. In the distance, on either side, arise high 
 granite mountains, to which the eye turns in vain for relief;, they 
 are barren and dazzling masses of rock. Night brought only 
 parching winds, while during the day we sought in vain for shel- 
 ter from the fierce sun-rays. The thermometer ranged by day 
 between 118 and 126 degrees in the shade, rising to 160 degrees 
 
58 A0B08S AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap,iv, 
 
 in the sun. On these vast deserts the sluggish rattlesnake meets 
 the traveller at every turn ; the most powerful inhabitant, his 
 sway is undisputed by the scorpions and the lizards, on which he 
 feeds. The routes over these wastes are marked by countless 
 skeletons of cattle, horses, and sheep, and the traveller ■ passes 
 thousands of the carcasses of these animals wholly preserved in the 
 intensely dry air. Many of them dead, perhaps, for years,, had 
 been placed upright on their feet by previous travellers. As we 
 wound, in places, through groups of these mummies, they seemed 
 sentinels guarding the valley of death. 
 
 With feelings of much anxiety we encamped on the border of 
 the joZeyas, a depressed region, once probably a large lake,- now a 
 surface of dried mud, crossed by ridges of shifting sand.' From 
 that camp on, there lay before us a continuous ride of nearly 
 thirty hours, before we could hope to find the nearest water on 
 the Gila river, and it was not probable that all our animals could 
 bear up under the fatigue and thirst. 
 
 But during the night the sky was overcast with black clouds, 
 and there came the first rain that had fallen on this desert for 
 more than two years. Never was storm more welcome ; both we 
 and our animals enjoyed heartily its drenching torrent. Before 
 day-break the sky had cleared, and with the rising sun began the 
 heat of another day. A broad sheet of water, only a few inches 
 deep, covered the play a for miles before us, and banished from our 
 minds all fear of suffering. Across the centre of this great plain 
 there stretches, from north to south, a mass of lava about one 
 mile wide, and extending southward as far as the eye can reach. 
 On this lava-wall there stand two parallel rows of extinct vol- 
 canic cones, 100 to 300 feet high, with craters. In crossing 
 this remarkable remnant of recent volcanic action, I could look 
 down, the long and perfect vista of regular cones, till they 
 faded away in the perspective and behind the curvature of the 
 earth. 
 
 On the second day after the rain, the water had almost every- 
 where disappeared, having been evaporated by the heat and 
 di-yness of the air. Leaving the plain, we sought water in 
 a ravine of the neighboring mountain. Finding here cavities 
 worn in the face of the granite cliff, we each entered one and 
 made our noon camp for once in the shade. Here I found a 
 
CHAP. IV.] CLOSING SCENES AND ESCAPE. 69 
 
 large pair of horns of the Rocky Mountain sheep, or "hig-hom:" 
 they weighed at least thirty pounds. 
 
 Qur next camp was made at the Tinaje alta or high tanks. 
 Here, at the head of a long ravine in the mountains, there is a 
 series of five or six large holes, one above the other, worked in the 
 granite bed of the gorge. After a rain these are all filled, but as 
 the season advances, the lower ones become empty, and the 
 traveller is obliged to climb to the higher tanks and bail water 
 into the one below him, and from this into the next, and so on till 
 there is enough in the lowest to quench the thirst of his animals. 
 The higher tanks are accessible only at great risk to life. After 
 a succession of dry seasons it sometimes happens that travellers 
 arrive here already dying from thirst. Finding.no water in the 
 lower holes, they climb in vain to the higher ones, where, perhaps, 
 losing strength with the death of hope, they fall from the nar- 
 row ledge, and the tanks, in Avhich they seek for life, become 
 their graves. 
 
 A ride of one day from the Tinaje alta brought us to the Gila 
 river, at one of the stations of the abandoned overland stage route. 
 Here a piece cut from a newspaper and fastened to the door of the 
 house, first informed us of the defeat of the North at Bull Run. 
 Indeed, almost the last news we had received before this from 
 the East, was of the firing on Fort Sumter. 
 
 Our route now lay along the Gila river. Stopping in the af- 
 ternoon, we sought relief from the heat by taking a bath in the 
 stream ; but the water which we had found pleasant in the morn- 
 ing was now unpleasantly wai-m, and on trying it with the ther- 
 mometer, the mercury sank from IIV degrees in the air, only to 
 100 degrees in the water, which was thus two degrees above 
 blood-heat. During the night we were travelling by the bright 
 light of the full moon, when, looking south, I saw a black wall 
 rising like a mountain of darkness, and rapidly hiding the sky as 
 it moved steadily toward us. In a few minutes we were in in- 
 tense obscurity, and in the heart of a sand-storm which rendered all 
 progress impossible. Dismounting, we held the terrified animals 
 by the lassos, and sat down with our backs to the wind. We 
 had repeatedly to rise to j^revent being buried altogether by the 
 deluge of sand. When the storm was over the moon had set, oblig- 
 ing us to unload our half-buried animals and camp for the night. 
 
60 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. iv. 
 
 The next morning we reached Colorado city (opposite Fort Yu- 
 ma), on the Colorado river. This place, consisting of one house, 
 had a curious origin, which was told me by a friend, who was also 
 the founder. Soon after the purchase of Arizona, my friend had 
 organized a party and explored the new region. Wishing to raise 
 capital in California to work a valuable mine, he was returning 
 thither with his party, when they reached the Colorado river at 
 this point. The ferry belonged to a German, whose fare for 
 the party would have amounted to about $25. Having no 
 money, they encamped near the ferry to hold a council over this 
 unexpected turn of affairs, M'hen my fiiend, with the ready wit of 
 an explorer, hit upon the expedient of paying the ferriage in 
 city lots. Setting the engineer of the party, and under him the 
 whole force, at work with the instruments, amid a great display 
 of signal-staffs, they soon had the city laid out in squares and 
 streets, and represented in due form on an elaborate map, not 
 forgetting water lots, and a steam ferry. Attracted by the unu- 
 sual proceeding, the owner of the ferry crossed the river, and be- 
 gan to interrogate the busy surveyors, by whom he was referred 
 to my friend. On learning from that gentleman that a city was 
 being founded so near to his own land, the German became inter- 
 ested, and, as the great future of the place was unfolded in glow- 
 ing terms, and the necessity of a steam ferry for the increasing 
 trade dwelt upon, he became enthusiastic and began negotiations 
 for several lots. The result was the sale of a small part of the 
 embryo city, and the transportation of the whole party over in 
 part payment for one lot. I must do my friend the justice to say 
 that he afterward did all that could be done to forward the 
 growth of the place. 
 
 Making our quarters at the ferry-house, our party separated, 
 the colored cook going, with the muleteer, back to his Mexican 
 wife, in Sonora. The two Americans who had joined us on the 
 road lived near the fort ; with their departure, our number was 
 reduced to three. 
 
 During our stay of several days, we saw a good deal of the 
 Yuma Indians, a tribe which, till within a few years, was cele- 
 brated for the beauty of its women. But this quality was al- 
 ready causing the destruction of the tribe, and while we were 
 there we saw the funeral ceremonies of the last of the beautiful 
 
CHAP. IV.] CLOSma SCENES AND ESCAPE. 61 
 
 women. TJrjlike most of the Indians, the Yumas bum their dead. 
 In this instance, a pile of wood about eight feet long, and four or 
 five feet wide, left hollow in the centre to receive the body, 
 formed the funeral pile. The body, wrapt in the clothing of the 
 deceased, and borne by relatives, was placed in the pile, which 
 was then lighted. As the flames increased, friends approached 
 the spot, with low and mournful wailing, to feed the fire with 
 some article of dress, or ornament. One after another, the young 
 Yu^ma women were disappearing, victims to disease brought by 
 the troops, and which, it seems, the military physicians did little 
 to prevent the spread of. 
 
 Both the men and women of this tribe are large and well 
 built. The women wear a short skirt, made of strings of bark, fas- 
 tened to a girdle around the waist, and reaching to above the 
 knees. The most important weapon of the warriors is a short 
 club, an unusual implement among our aborigines. 
 
 The Colorado river is about five hundred yards broad at Fort 
 Yuma, and its yellowish waters represent the drainage of the 
 greater part of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. Nav- 
 igable for steamboats to the mouth of the Virgin river, live 
 hundred miles from the Gulf of California, it presents the means 
 of reaching Utah with the least land travel. 
 
 Above this point it comes in from the east, and southeast, and 
 in this part of its course, the Grand Canon is one of the greatest 
 of natural wonders, if, indeed, it be not the most remarkable. 
 For a distance of nearly five hundred miles the river flow s 
 through a gorge, whose vertical, and, in places, overhanging walls, 
 rise on either side to a height of from four to six thousand feet. 
 Indeed, the explorations of Ives and Newberry have shown that 
 throughout this immense area, which forms a table-land between 
 the Kocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, the whole river 
 system of the Colorado and its tributaries is sunk thousands of 
 feet j)erpendicularly into the crust of the earth. 
 
 Through this almost inaccessible region are scattered the rem- 
 nants of the Pueblo Indians, a disappearing race which has left, 
 over an immense area, the ruins of large dwellings, and of exten- 
 sive canals for irrigation. 
 
 After resting a few days we made preparations to continue 
 our journey to California. An emigrant who, with his wife, had 
 
62 ACBOSS AMEBIC A AND ASIA. [chap. rv. 
 
 Ijeen forced by the secessionists to leave Texas, agreed to caiTy 
 our baggage in his wagon. He left the ferry in the morning, 
 while we were to start in the evening, and overtake him at the 
 first encampment on the desert. During the day there arrived 
 a man whom I knew to be a notorious cut-throat. This fellow, 
 a tall one-eyed villain, who was known as "one-eyed Jack," I 
 knew must have just come from Arizona. He wore trowsers of 
 -which one leg was white, and the other brown. It was soon 
 evident that the new arrival and Williams were old cronies, and 
 they passed most of the day together. Before, we left in the 
 evening I asked Williams the name of his friend, and received 
 for answer that he was called Jack, that he had just come from 
 California, and Svas going to Arizona. 
 
 We left the ferry about dusk, but before we had gorie half a 
 mile Williams had disappeared. Our route lay for several miles 
 along the west side of the Colorado, and Poston and myself rode 
 to the point where the road leaves the river to turn westward. 
 Here we descended the bank to water the horses, and dismount- 
 ing, waited nearly an hour for our missing companion. We finally 
 started without him, and leaving the river, began to cross the 
 wooded bottom-land toward the desert. We had ridden a short 
 distance when a bush, freshly fallen across the road, seemed to be 
 a warning that the route was impracticable further on. Poston 
 remained by the signal, while I looked in vain for another way 
 through the underbrush ; it was evident that the bush had been 
 cut since the passage of the wagon that morning. I had started 
 through the open wood to strike the road some distance beyond, 
 when my attention was drawn, by my horse's uneasiness, to a 
 mule tied in the woods, and to a man stretched out on the ground. 
 At a glance I saw from a distance, by the different-colored legs 
 of the man's trousers, that " one-eyed Jack "was near me. Without 
 stopping, I went to the road, and following this back, came upon 
 Williams's horse fastened to a tree, and near him his owner appar- 
 ently asleep. On being asked what the bush meant, he replied 
 that he had put it there that we might not pass him while he 
 slept. That was the last place where we would find grass, and 
 as there would be no water for thirty miles, he said we must 
 camp there for the night. In the mean time Poston rode up. 
 The truth had already entered my mind. But dismounting, while 
 
CHAP. IV.] GLOSma SCENES AND ESCAPE. 63 
 
 I pretended to unbuckle my saddle-girth, I asked Williams where 
 he had been. 
 
 " I went back to the river for my canteen." 
 
 This I knew was a lie, for I had seen him drink from it as we 
 left the ferry. 
 
 " When is your one-eyed friend going to Arizona ?" I asked. 
 
 "He's gone already; I saw him across the river ;" was the cool 
 reply. 
 
 The villain's coolness was admirable, but the whole plot was 
 clear. Jumping into the saddle, and making a sign to Poston, I 
 declared my intention of riding on to the emigrant's camp. As 
 Williams swore he would go no further that night, we left him 
 and soon entered the desert. We both decided that Williams 
 and his friend had conspired to kill us while we slept, and then 
 to murder the emigrant and his wife, and get possession of the 
 silver which had attracted the Mexican bandits.* 
 
 Leaving the woods, which form a narrow strip along the Colo- 
 rado, wo passed a belt of shifting sand several miles broad, which 
 is gradually approaching the river and burying the trees. 
 
 We reached the camp of the emigrant at about 3 a. Ji., and enter- 
 ing the abandoned station of the Overland Stage Company, slept 
 soundly till roused by the noise of the preparation for breakfast. 
 After we had eaten and begun to saddle our animals, Williams 
 rode up, and entering the house rather roughly told the lady-like 
 wife of the emigrant to make him a breakfast. Some sharp 
 words passed between us, and Williams left the house with an 
 oath and a muttered threat. Poston beckoned to me, and we 
 went out. Our companion stood a few yards from the door, with 
 his back toward us, and did not notice our approach. Poston 
 drawing his revolver, called Williams by name. Taken by sur- 
 prise he whii-led around, and catching sight of the revolver, made 
 a motion toward his own ; but he was too old a hand to draw a 
 pistol against one already pointed at him. 
 
 " Williams," continued Poston, in the coolest tone, " Pumpelly 
 and I have concluded that it wouldn't be safe for you to go to 
 California. The last man you killed has not been dead long 
 
 * Colonel Poston on a snbsegnent jonmey learned in Sonora, that the twelve Mexicans 
 had followed us for more than 200 miles, but finding- us always on the watch, had not dared 
 attack ns. 
 
64 ACROSS AMEBICA AND ASIA. [chap.it. 
 
 enough, and they have a way there of hanging men like you. 
 We don't wish to shoot you, for we hav'nt the time to bury you. 
 You may keep the outfit, hut you had better go back and join your 
 friend; one-eyed Jack, down there by the river ; you and he can't 
 kill us, and you can't get our silver." 
 
 With a hearty laugh, Williams held out his hand. 
 
 " Give us your hand ; you're sharper by a d — d sight than I 
 thought you was ; you'll do ■ for the border ; good morning !" 
 and jumping into the saddle, he put spurs to his horse and rode 
 away by the road he had come. We watched him as he rode off, 
 and could not help laughing at the fellow's cool impudence. 
 After riding a short distance he turned, and, waving his hat, 
 shouted : " Good-bye ; bully for you ! — you'll do for the border." 
 I have given this scene in full, as an illustration of the character 
 of a representative of one type of the frontiersman. 
 
 The desert we were now crossing begins in Lower California, 
 and stretches several hundred miles northward, between the Sierra 
 Nevada and the Colorado river. ' Portions of this great area are 
 depressed below the level of the sea. Where we crossed it, partly 
 in Lower California and partly in California, it was the worst of 
 deserts. Its centre, along our route, was a broad plain of fine, 
 sandy clay, strewn with fresh-water shells, and appeared to be the 
 dry bed of a fresh-water lake, which was once, probably, supplied 
 from the Colorado river. Away from this plain the surface is 
 covered with ridges of shifting sand. The wells dug by the Over- 
 land Stage Company yield a sulphurous and alkaline water, so 
 fetid as to be undrinkable; excepting when the traveller is driven to 
 it by fear of death from thirst. Indeed, it often induces a disease 
 which sometimes proves fatal. On no desert have I seen the 
 mirage so beautiful as here. 
 
 Riding one night, we saw before us a camp fire,- by which we 
 found an American and one Mexican. As meeting a traveller on a 
 desert is always an event, we dismounted and smoked while the 
 others were eating. The American was on his way to Sonora, 
 and the Mexican was his guide. We told him how dangerous it 
 then was to travel through the intermediate country, and in Sonora. 
 
 " Well, I guess I'm pretty much proof against bullets and 
 lances, stranger; just feel here; "he replied, putting his hand 
 on his breast. 
 
CHAP. IV.] CLOSING SGENSS AND ESCAPE. 65 
 
 "We felt his shirt, and found it double, and lined all round with 
 discs of something heavy. 
 
 " Those are all twenty-dollar gold pieces ; I'm pretty much 
 proof, " he continued. It was useless to give further warning to a 
 man who published the fact that he was encased in gold, so we left 
 him to his fate. We heard afterward, all the way to Los Angeles, 
 that he had everywhere boasted of his golden armor ; and, later 
 still, that he had been murdered by his guide. This man was the 
 associate of Palmer, with whom he had caused an excitement iu 
 San Francisco about a rich silver mine they pretended to have 
 discovered in a volcano in the Sierra Nevada. After raising a 
 large sum of money they decamped. The body of Palmer was 
 discovered some time afterward in Tulare county. 
 
 Finally, in the beginning of September, we approached the 
 western edge of the Colorado desert. Travelling by moonlight, 
 we entered the valley of Carisso creek, by which the desert sends 
 an arm, Uke an estuary, into the mountains which limit it. As 
 though fearful that the traveller may forget the horrors of a thou- 
 sand miles of journey over its awful wastes, the desert, as a last 
 farewell, unfolds in this dismal recess a scene never to be forgotten. 
 
 Already from the plain, through the clear moonlight, we saw 
 the lofty range bordering the waste, a barren wilderness of dark 
 rock rising high above the gray terraces of sand that fringe its 
 base, great towering domes and lowering cliffs rent to the bottom, 
 and clasping deep abysses of darkness. 
 
 As all night long we forced our way through the deep sand of the 
 gorge, winding among countless skeletons, glittering in the moon- 
 light, scorched by hot blasts ever rushing up from the deserts 
 behind us, we seemed wandering through the valley of the shadow 
 of death, and flying from the very gates of hell. 
 
 The next day we reached the summit of the Sierra Nevada, and 
 felt the breeze from the ocean. In an instant both horse and 
 rider raised their drooping heads, and, quickened as with a new 
 life, dropped the accumulated languor of months of travel. 
 
 As we descended the western declivity of the mountains, our 
 eyes greeted everywhere by herds of cattle and magnificent live- 
 oaks, it seemed impossible that the cheerful land we were travers- 
 ing should be a frame to the scene of desolation we had left the 
 day before. 
 5 
 
66 ACROSS AMERICA AKD ASIA. [chap, iv, 
 
 Our route to Los Angeles lay through the stock ranches which 
 form, with the vineyards, the principal industrial feature of the 
 southern part of California. Almost the entire population con- 
 sisted of emigrants from the Southern States, and so strong was 
 the hatred felt toward the North, since the news of the rebel vic- 
 tories, that a Northerner was in as great danger as he would have 
 been in the worst parts of the South. 
 
 With our arrival at Los Angeles ended our journey on horse- 
 back ; a coasting steamer took us to San Francisco. Colonel 
 Poston returned by the Isthmus to the Eastern States, and I 
 passed two or three months in visiting some of the principal min- 
 ing districts, preparatory to beginning the practice of my pro- 
 fession. 
 
 California is well known, of late, to all the inhabitants of the 
 Eastern States, and is perhaps more widely known throughout the 
 world, through books of travel and family letters, in every lan- 
 guage, than any other part of the globe. Therefore I shall not 
 stop to dwell upon it, intensely interesting though it be, not more 
 from its great and varied natural resources than from its wonder- 
 ful history. Twenty years ago an almost uninhabited and un- 
 known region, California had every prospect of having to await 
 the gradual westward-bound progress of population. As if by 
 magic, the discovery of gold transformed it into a land teeming 
 with the energy, enterprise, and daring of every people, while at 
 the same time it became the place of refuge of all the criminals 
 and ruffians who could escape from justice, and buy or work a 
 passage thither. Thus arose on the instant a state of society in 
 which justice had little voice, and in which the revolver enforced 
 the law of might. 
 
 Such was its birth. The California of to-day is a monument 
 of the manner in which not merely Americans, but men of every 
 political education, once inoculated with the spirit of self-govern- 
 ment, have evolved order and stability out of a state of dissolu- 
 tion. And even thus, California is but the embryo of a giant, 
 whose future growth will be, perhaps, less dependent on the na- 
 tions of the Atlantic, than on those which are destined, in the next 
 centuries, to encircle the Pacific with the homes of future civili- 
 zation. 
 
 Shortly before my arrival in San Francisco, the Japanese Gov- 
 
CHAP. IV.] CLOSING SCENES AND ESCAPE. 67 
 
 ernment had instructed Mr. C. W. Brooks, their commercial 
 agent, to engage two geologists and mining engineers, for the 
 purpose of exploring a part of the Japanese Empire. Through a 
 misunderstanding, a copy of the con-espondence, which passed 
 through our minister at Yeddo, having been sent to Washington, 
 our own Government proceeded to make the appointments. By 
 a pure coincidence I was chosen as one of the two men, both at 
 Washington and at San Francisco, my colleague appointed from 
 the former place being Dr. J. P. Kimball, and from the latter, 
 Mr. W. P. Blake. 
 
 In preparing for this journey I became indebted to many kiad 
 friends, especially to Professor J. D. Whitney, of the State Geo- 
 logical Survey, and to his Assistants, Messrs. Brewer and Ash- 
 burner, as well as to Messrs. Louis Janin and Henry Janin, of the 
 Enrequita mines. 
 
CHAPTER V, 
 
 PACIFIC OCEAK. 
 
 On the 23d of November, 1861, Mr. Blake and myself went 
 aboard the clipper-ship " Carrington," which was bound to Yoko- 
 hama, by way of Honolulu. Among the passengers were Lady 
 Franklin, and her niece, Miss Craycroft. At midnight, the friends 
 who had come to see us off left the ship. With the hoisting of 
 the anchor we cut loose from the New World, and, drifting 
 through the Golden Gate, began the long voyage over the 
 great ocean. The rising sun found us still in sight of the Fa- 
 rellones, and rocking in the long swell of a calm and glassy sea. 
 Another clipper, also calm-bound, lay a mile or two from us ; while 
 in the distance, the white sails of pilot boats and fishing smacks 
 seemed to fan the horizon as they rolled with the monotonous 
 motion of the swell. The day was nearly gone without bringing 
 a breath of air, when it became evident that the neighboring 
 clipper and our ship were slowly but surely approaching each 
 other. It was a large vessel, bearing only ballast, while our 
 smaller craft was heavily loaded. Every i-oll of th e long swell 
 brought us nearer together, until it se emed as though every mip- 
 u^e- must bring the sharp bow of the imme nse ship crashing 
 through the frail side of the " Carrington." 
 
 Captain Mather sent for the passengers to be ready for escape, 
 and ordered the crew on deck with axes in hand. Already th e 
 black hull of the oth er ship towered high above us, as she rose 
 on the top of a roll, threatening to crusFusTnlier descent. The 
 c aptains' held a Tiurried council lrom ~t Eeir "quarter-decks. '" As a 
 l ast hope for their vessels, they decidedlhat the " Carrington," be - 
 ing the heavier laden, should drop ancho r. This was done^r 
 we were still over the bar, and almost at the same instant a faint 
 breath of air, barely perceptible to a landsman, moved our neigh- 
 bor slowly off. 
 
 The "Carrington" had just made the shortest trip on record, 
 
c=^- T.] PACIFIC OCEAN. 
 
 69 
 
 from Yokohama to San Francisco, having been less than twenty- 
 seven days on the way, atad we hoped that the present voyage 
 would be correspondingly short, or less than fifty days. But we 
 were doomed to make the longest time between the two ports. 
 
 The first part of the voyage was marked by delightful weather, 
 in the region of refreshing trade winds. I improved the opportu- 
 nity for practicing navigation, and, between this occupation and 
 the usual amusements on shipboard the days passed quickly by. 
 
 On the 17th of December a peak of the island of Maui, and 
 soon after the island of Molokai, and the next morning three 
 peaks of Oahu, were visible. As we approached the last named 
 island, the small but well-defined crater near " Coco head," and 
 
 CKATEli NEAR HONOLULU. 
 
 later, that at Diamond point, rose from the surf, outposts of the 
 great volcanic group we were entering. The following morning, 
 having taken a pilot, we steered for the entrance to Honolulu. 
 As we approached the island the scene was truly enchanting. A 
 dense carpet of delicate green, like that of a newly-opened leaf, 
 mantled the island, and descending from the tops of the high 
 hills, disappeared behind the long tufty walls of snowy-white 
 surf-foam. Groves of cocoanut trees and bananas, and taro- 
 terraces, formed the foreground, above which arose the green and 
 denSely-wooded hills of the interior. 
 As we were to remain only a day or two at Honolulu, we has- 
 
70 ACMOSS AMEBIOA AND ABIA. [chap, v 
 
 tened on shore. Having letters to Dr. Judd, one of the original 
 cabinet members instrumental in framing the Hawaiian Govern- 
 ment, Mr. Blake and myself received a cordial reception from 
 that gentleman and Mr. Carter, and an invitation to make our 
 stay at their houses. The day was spent in a pleasant ride to 
 the Par6, a mountain pass, celebrated alike for its magnificent 
 view and for a desperate battle fought during the war which 
 ended in the union of all the Islands under one King. The road 
 leading to this place winds up a broad valley, of which the sides 
 sweep with a gentle curve, on either side, up to the foot of the 
 high cliffs which wall it in. 
 
 The valley is cultivated, while the ravines are filled with dense 
 foliage, and every nook and ledge on the cliffs give root-hold to 
 luxuriant over-hanging masses of delicate green. 
 
 At last we stood on the pass. The view before us was one of 
 ■ which the Hawaiians might well be proud. We stood on the top 
 of a high cliff, with a large and nearly circular valley beneath us. 
 Away to the right and left stretched the lofty walls, curving 
 gradually around as if to enclose the valley on all sides, and 
 draped in rich tropical green, relieved here and there by the 
 red and brown cliffs, and towers of rock. 
 
 Away in the distance, the green of the valley-carpet gave place 
 to the blue of the ocean-background ; the narrow belt of surf, 
 dashed to foam over the white coral bottom, forming a line of 
 harmony between the two colors. 
 
 While we were at the Pare, an incident occurred which illus- 
 trates a curious superstition still prevalent among the people. 
 In examining the volcanic rock, of which the hills consist, my 
 attention was attracted to what I took to be a wax-like mineral, 
 known as palagonite. Detaching it without much trouble, I was 
 surprised at finding a hole behind it, apparently containing more 
 of the same substance. 
 
 Hoping to increase my supply of a rare mineral from a new 
 locality, I stowed away in my pooket, without a closer examina- 
 tion, the piece I had obtained, and proceeded carefully to dig out 
 the rest with my knife. Much to our astonishment, the prize 
 produced from the hole was a half-decayed rag. A closer exam 
 ination of the supposed mineral, so carefully treasured in my 
 pocket, showed that it belonged decidedly to the animal king- 
 
CHAP. T.] PAGIFJO OCEAN. 7] 
 
 dom. Mr. Carter asked an explanation from some passing natives. 
 They explained that the substance found was the navel of som e 
 infant, it being an ancient custom, at the birth of a child, for the 
 parents to hide this part of the infant to whom alone the place 
 of concealment is afterward shown. Should an enemy, by any 
 chance, discover the sacred repository, it would be in his power to 
 bring about the death of the unsuspecting owner by sorcery. 
 
 The Sandwich Islands, lying in the middle of the Pacific, be- 
 tween 19 and 23 degrees N. latitude, and in the track of all vessels 
 bound from our western ports to eastern Asia, hold the most im- 
 portant position among the groups in the great ocean. They are 
 the chief rendezvous for whalers ; and before the decline of that 
 branch of industry, nearly the entire commerce of the Islands 
 centred in the necessities of these roving fleets, and the transship- 
 ment of whale oil and bone. The decrease of this external source 
 of wealth is now being compensated by the development of the 
 resources, chiefly agricultural, of the Islands. 
 
 With a temperature averaging 75 degrees through the year, 
 and ranging between the extremes of 60 and 88 degrees, and 
 always fanned by the northeast trade- winds, the climate is exceed- 
 ingly healthy, and may make of the group the sanitarium of the 
 Pacific. 
 
 When discovered by Cook, in 17 "7 8, the Islands were under the 
 rule of separate chiefs ; but about the beginning of the present cen- 
 tury, after a desperate war, they were all subjugated by Kame- 
 hameha I. and united into one kingdom under him. In 1820 the 
 first missionaries arrived from the United States. According to 
 Dr. Anderson, they found property, life — everything, in fact — in 
 the hands of the King and irresponsible chiefs — the nation com- 
 posed of thieves, drunkards, and debauchees, and the people 
 slaves to the sovereign. The labors of the missionaries began 
 immediately, and met with the approval of the King, Kameha- 
 meha II. 
 
 In 1822 the Hawaiian language was reduced to writing, and 
 schools were established. Under the influence of the missionaries 
 the machinery of a liberal government with a code of laws was in- 
 troduced; public works were undertaken; general education was 
 fostered • and in 1 840 a liberal constitution was granted by the King, 
 Karaehameha IV. At present there are more than 400 schools, 
 
72 AOSOSS AMEBIC A AM) ASIA. [chap. v. 
 
 and one college. More tlian one-tMrd of the population can read, 
 and nearly all the children attend the schools. Several hundred 
 works, representing a considerable range of science, literature, 
 and reUgious instruction, have been translated into Hawaiian. 
 
 Increasing intelligence has increased the wants of the people. 
 While during their condition as savages nearly all the demands of 
 life were supplied by the voluntary gifts of a tropical nature, 
 the requisites of civilized life are obtainable only through labor. 
 Under this stimulus the natives have mainly, through oral instruc- 
 tion, attained to considerable skill in agriculture, and in manufac- 
 turing simple products, as sugar, molasses, salt, arrow-root, etc., 
 as well as in working in iron and other metals. In 1858 the ex- 
 ported domestic produce, mostly agricultural, amounted to about 
 $530,000, and the total commerce to $1,089,661 imports, and $787,- 
 082 exports, yielding $116,138 to the customs revenue. The im- 
 ports have since risen to $1,800,000, and the exports to $1,330,000. 
 The receipts of the treasury for the two years ending March 31, 
 1860, were $656,216, the expenditures $643,088, and the national 
 debt $108,777. No standing army is kept beyond the royal 
 body-guard of eighty men. 
 
 The above sketch of the history and commerce of these islands, 
 taken mainly from the " American Encyclopedia," speaks for itself, 
 as an illustration of the rapid change effected in the condition of 
 the natives through the well-directed labors of an intelligent body 
 of missionaries. 
 
 The history of our intercourse with the Sandwich Islands, pre- 
 sents perhaps the best standard by which we may judge of the 
 effect of the engrafting of European civilization on the widely- 
 spread Polynesian and Malay races. 
 
 Before the arrival of Cook on their shores, the inhabitants of 
 these Islands were a race of savages, possessed of health and robust- 
 ness to a degree equalled only among the kindred New Zealanders, 
 and enjoying fully the indolence almost forced upon them by the 
 abundance of the voluntary gifts of the earth. On the other 
 hand, they were oppressed by the terrors of a dark and bloody 
 religion, which was able at any moment to drag individuals or 
 families to the altar as sacrifices to the caprice of a chief or a 
 priest. 
 
 As is generally the case in new regions, European civilization 
 
CHAP, v.] PACIFIC OCEAN. ^3 
 
 has been there represented by its extremes of good and evil. 
 For many years the Government of these Islands has been virtually 
 in the hands of a body of zealoiis and intelligent missionaries, 
 who, as we have seen, have succeeded in forming a constitutional 
 monarchy with a liberal code of laws. 
 
 The Christian religion has taken the place of the terrible rites 
 of human sacrifice, and with the introduction of a written language, 
 and the establishment of numerous schools, education became 
 open to all, and its advantages are availed of by the entire popu- 
 lation. 
 
 In no part of the extra-Caucasian world has modern missionary 
 enterprise efiected so much social and political good as among 
 the Polynesians, and especially in the Sandwich Islands, and it 
 has indeed been a great good. But it would seem that those 
 very characteristics of the Polynesian race whicli rendered the 
 effecting of this possible, facilitated in even a more easy ratio the 
 introduction of the seeds of destruction. 
 
 It is easy to understand, when viewing them as a people pos- 
 sessing no civilization of a higher degree than was theirs, and 
 therefore governed by traditional customs, morally, socially, and 
 politically, of a very low order, the offspring of the animal rather 
 than of the intellectual faculties, that among them the influence 
 of the debauching sailor should be as potent for evil as that of 
 the missionary for good. 
 
 The immense difference between the results of these opposing 
 influences may be measured by the fact that the population of 
 the group diminished from 140,000 in 1823, to 73,000 in 1853 — a 
 loss of nearly one-half in thirty years, owing mainly to the intro- 
 duction of foreign vices and foreign disease. Whether this de- 
 crease will continue till the extinction of the aborigmes is per- 
 haps not certain ; but it is hardly probable that the Polynesians, 
 as a pure race, will play any very important part in the great 
 future that is dawning upon the Pacific world. 
 
 The costume introduced by the missionaries, nearly fifty years 
 afo, is still the dress of the native women. It consists of long 
 skirts, high waists, immense coal-scuttle bonnets, and, apparently, 
 no underclothing. The effect was laughable, as we met troops 
 of pretty girls mounted astride of ponies, and dressed in the 
 costume of our grandmothers' portraits, chattering and laughing 
 
74 ACBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. v. 
 
 gayly as ttey cantered along, their l)riglit-colored dresses flut- 
 tering in the wind, and scarcely concealing their well-rounded 
 forms. 
 
 It was not without much difficulty that the missionaries suc- 
 ceeded in making these children of nature adopt any dress what- 
 ever, even for decent attendance at church. Even now, I have 
 been told, on some of the islands, the people bring on Sunday all 
 their clothing in a bundle to the door of the church, where they 
 dress, and after service doffing their costume, carry it homeward 
 under their arms. 
 
 Honolulu, with its pleasant society, delightful climate and trop- 
 ical fruits, as well as its beautiful scenery, is destined to become 
 a favorite resort for visitors from California and the neighboring 
 States. Until within a few y ears- the group enjoyed an absolute 
 freedom from the disagreeable insects and reptiles common to the 
 tropics, but at present mosquitoes abound, the legacy of a ship 
 which stopped there some years ago on its way from Oregon t o 
 Asia with a cargo of lumber. 
 
 After a delightful visit of two days we left Honolulu, and 
 again settled down to the routine of life at sea. Hoping to find 
 more favorable winds we ran several degrees south, till brought 
 to a standstill by a calm. Here, for days, our ship lay appar- 
 ently motionless, on a perfectly smooth sea, though our observa- 
 tions showed that the great equatorial current was carrying us 
 on our way at the rate ot a&o ut titty miles a da y^ A large sharK 
 hovered around bur stern, his companion, a pilot-fish, almost 
 always visible, swimming near the dorsal fin of the monster. A 
 large hook, baited with beef, was thrown overboard. The shark 
 turned on his back, and quickly swallowing the bait, turned 
 again and was caught. The home-end of the rope was passed 
 through a block, and soon the great monster was being raised to 
 the quarter-deck. While in this position a violent blow from 
 his tail against the stem of the ship shook the latter through its 
 whole length, showering into the sea nearly our entire stock of 
 bananas, which had been hung over the stern to ripen. 
 
 During the calm, the smooth surface of the ocean bore myriads 
 of zoophytes,mostly Physales (Portugese man-of-war) and Velellae, 
 with here and there an lanthina and a Ehysostoma. The Velellae, 
 a flat oval disc about an inch long, with an upright membrane 
 
CHAP T.] PACIFIC OCEAN. 75 
 
 like a sail crossing it obliquely, floated leisurely on the surface. 
 Many dead ones were found having small mollusks attached to 
 them, these pirates using then- victims at the same time for food 
 and means of locomotion. 
 
 The rhysostoma and physales lived for several hours in a 
 bowl of sea water, and both of them emitted a phosphorescent 
 light, when stirred in the dark. Many were the sharp stings we 
 received from the long arms of the latter, when they chanced 
 to touch the back of the hand or the face. 
 
 In violation of all sailing directions, our captain now decided 
 to run north and then west to Japan, and with the first favorable 
 wind we steered northwest till the calms of Cancer brought us 
 again to a standstill, excepting the slow westwardly movement 
 due to the current. The next wind permitted at first a north- 
 westerly course, but soon bringing us into the region of westerly 
 winds, our course slanted off to the north, and finally into east of 
 north, and we ran again south into the calms of Cancer. During 
 more than sixty days we were continually repeating this zigzag 
 course, making some progress by casual breezes and the current 
 in the calms of Cancer, and then running north in the vain hope 
 of finding favorable winds. This was owing to the mismanage- i 
 ment of the cap)tain, f^r it is an_jestablished fact, that from the 
 27th degree north latitude north, the prevailing winds are from the 
 west, while from the 23d degree north latitude to the equator, they 
 are the trades blowing from the north-east, the two regions being 
 separated by the belt of the calms of Cancer. 
 
 At the end of a month we had not made half the distance be- 
 tween Honolulu and Japan. About this time it was discovered 
 that the great iron tank on which we relied for water had 
 sprung a leak. As it was surrounded by the cargo, it was both 
 impossible to get at the leak to stop it, or to find out how far 
 it was from the bottom. The deck-casks were empty, the water 
 sinking several inches daily in the tank, and it was impossible to 
 say when we might reach land. The passengers and crew were 
 immediately put on rations of water, each person receiving about 
 a quart daily. 
 
 During the greater part of the remaining distance we were 
 tossed about by almost constant head winds and violent storms ; 
 the three new sets of sails with which the ship had begun the 
 
76 AGBOBS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. v. 
 
 voyage were reduced to one set made up of patches ; and the 
 loss of the nut from a rudder-holt threatened to leave us without 
 the means of steering. In addition to this, a disagreement be- 
 tween the chronometers left us in doubt as to our exact position ; 
 for we had seen no land since leaving the Sandwich Islands, 
 although our course crossed repeatedly the long line of low reefs 
 and rocks stretching thence to the northeast. 
 
 On the evening of the 18th of February, the cry of "land !" 
 brought us all on deck. A cone, so regular in shape as to leave 
 no doubt of its being the Japanese volcano Fuziyama, was visible 
 near the setting sun. The day and night were calm, and as we 
 were now within, the influence of the Kurosiwo — the gulf stream 
 of the Pacific — we were drifted northward, and in the morning 
 were opposite Cape King. Hundreds of Japanese fishing boats 
 were visible all day, and toward evening a favorable breeze 
 brought us in sight of the volcano Oosima, from which arose a 
 column of vapor. 
 
 The next morning found us ofi" the entrance to the bay of Yeddo. 
 Fuziyama was very distinct, its elegant cone completely mantled 
 with snow, and rising high into the air above the intervening 
 wooded hills. Far away, long before we had seen other land, 
 the first glimpse we had caught of Asia and the Japanese Em- 
 pire was the snow-clad cone of this graceful mountain. This beau- 
 tiful volcano, rising 12,400 feet above the sea, is perhaps the first 
 object associated with Japan in the minds of all who have seen 
 the decorated wares of that country. It was, therefore, fitting 
 that this only familiar object, like a solitary friend, should wel- 
 come us as strangers to a land where all else was new to us. 
 
 The entrance to the bay of Teddo does not make itself appar- 
 ent till one is nearly in it ; and, owing to a misunderstanding of 
 the sailing directions, we very nearly ran aground in taking a 
 wrong course, which would have brought us ashore in Su-^aki 
 bay. When we discovered the mistake the wind was gone, and 
 we passed the day lazily and impatiently, watching the glassy sur- 
 face of the sea for the " cat's-paw " forerunner of a breeze. The 
 arrival of a boat, from which we bought some fish, was a wel- 
 come excitement, as our cabin stores were entirely gone, and 
 without the fish we should have been reduced to very bad junk 
 and hard-tack. 
 
CHAP, v.] PAGIFIO OCEAN. ^i^i 
 
 During the afternoon I amused myself in examining some of 
 the many kinds of zoophytes with which these waters abound. 
 One of these, a beroe, I believe, a small transparent hell-shaped 
 animal, was marked with ciliated lines, radiating from the top, 
 and continuing to the rim. Kept in a bowl of sea-water, and 
 stirred in the dark, this animal emitted a beautiful phosphorescent 
 light along all the ciliated lines, rendering these, and only these, 
 distinct in every detail. 
 
 Early the next morning we beat into the TJraga channel, the 
 entrance to the bay. On both sides the shore was fonned by 
 high hills, with numerous valleys and ravines. Rich foliage cover- 
 ed the declivities, while small villages or isolated houses occupied 
 the foreground in the valleys, the terraced sides and bottoms of 
 which last were green with young grain. Fishing boats, and nets 
 of many kinds, lay along the shore, while hundreds of junks were 
 taking advantage of the fair wLad to leave the bay. Boats with 
 fishermen were constantly coming off to us and offering fish. 
 In their long dresses, it was impossible for us to distinguish be- 
 tween the men and women. All were anxious to get empty 
 bottles ; one of these, corked and thrown astern, would cause an 
 exciting race between a score of boats. 
 
 Soon we passed the long tongue of land known as Treaty 
 point, and the bay of Yeddo opened before us so large that, in 
 the northeast, no land was visible. Here Mr. Benson, U. S. 
 Consul, and Mr. Brower, agent of Messrs. Olyphant & Co., came 
 on board and invited Mr. Blake and myself to make our stay at 
 their house. 
 
CHAPTER VL 
 
 YOKOHAMA. 
 
 The scene which met us on landing, and through which we 
 walked to Mr. Brower's house, was no less novel than husy. At 
 the head of the quay we passed a long low building with black 
 walls and paper windows. This was the custom-house, and a large 
 number of men bearing two swords, and shuffling in sandals in and 
 out at the doors, were the officials of this service. The broad 
 streets, leading through the foreign quarter, were crowded with 
 Japanese porters, bearing merchandise to and from the quay, each 
 pair with their burden between them on a pole, and marking time 
 independently of the others, with a loud monotonous cry — whang 
 hai ! whang hai ! 
 
 We immediately reported ourselves by letters to the Governor 
 of Kanagawa, and receiving an answer from that officer that he 
 would communicate with the Government at Yeddo, we settled 
 down to await further orders. 
 
 Yokohama is one of the three ports opened to foreign trade. 
 The treaty called for the opening of Kanagawa, a large town on 
 the opposite side of the harbor ; but the native Government 
 wishing, in accordance with its policy, to keep foreigners distinct 
 from Japanese, built an island in a shallow harbor, separating it 
 from the main land by broad canals. On this they erected store- 
 houses, and built a quay. With the day^^appointed for opening the 
 port arrived the foreigners, eager to reap the first fruits of trade, 
 and these earliest comers, finding conveniences prepared for them 
 which did not exist in Kanagawa, accepted readily the position 
 assigned them by the cunning Government. Yokohama is infin- 
 itely better adapted to trade than Kanagawa, so far as the harbor 
 facilities are concerned, and is far more easily defended against 
 the attack of the assassinating Renins. Both reasons undoubt- 
 edly entered into the plans of the Government ; but other equally 
 important motives influenced it in building this isolated town. In 
 
CHAP. Yi.] YOKOHAMA. ^9 
 
 the first place the Yeddo Government could say to the anti-for- 
 eign party that no aliens had been allowed a dwelling-place on 
 the island of Nippon. By this means the letter of the unrepealed 
 , law against admission of " barbarians " was evaded. In the 
 second place, by the isolation of foreigners and all who were per- 
 mitted to trade with them, it was possible to keep a thorough con- 
 trol over commerce. 
 
 Soon after our arrival we started on an excursion to visit the 
 Daibutz, a colossal image of Budda. The road thither lay 
 across the country intervening between the bays of Yeddo and 
 Wodowara. This region is a plateau, which, facing the former 
 bay with a bluif about 100 feet high, extends inland about twenty- 
 five miles to the Oyama mountains. This plain is cut up by in- 
 numerable ravines and valleys which are cultivated, while the 
 narrow intervening ridges are generally covered with forest trees. 
 The ravines are terraced to the hill-tops, the upper half being 
 devoted generally to wheat and other crops, while the lower half, 
 as well as the valleys into which the ravines open, are given up to 
 rice-culture. The water for this crop, in the ravines, is supplied 
 by the outflow from a horizontal bed of gravel which everywhere 
 crops out about haK-way up the hill-sides. Our road, rarely wide 
 enough for two horsemen riding abreast, lay partly over the hills, 
 while during much of the distance it wound among the rice planta- 
 tions along the tops of the narrow partitions by which the inigat- 
 ing water is confined to the fields, and where a misstep of the horse 
 would have left both him and his rider floundering in deep mud. 
 
 The highly-cultivated valley s unmarred by fences, the sober- 
 looking farm-houses and cottages showing well-preserved age, 
 shaded by handsome trees, and surrounded by neat hedges of 
 growing bamboo, all united to form a landscape in which there 
 was nothing harsh, and where the work of man seemed to har- 
 monize with that of nature. 
 
 Our way wound through several villages where the people, es- 
 pecially the children, turned out to see us go by, the latter greet- 
 ing us with the morning salutation : " ohaio ! " '' ohaio ! " Several 
 times we passed large temple enclosures with imposing gateways 
 of granite, from which broad stone walks led through groves of 
 magniflcent trees to wide flights of stone steps, leading up the 
 hill-side to the shrine at the top. 
 
80 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. vi. 
 
 About noon we reached Kamakura, and leaving our horses at 
 au inn, started on foot to visit the Daibutz. A half-hour's walk 
 along a comparatively broad road, leading under peculiar arch- 
 ways placed at short intervals, brought us to the shore of Wod- 
 owara bay, and near this to our destination. Passing through 
 an enclosing grove of evergreens, we came into a large open space 
 paved with flagstones. In the centre of this is the image. It 
 represents Budda sitting, in the Oriental manner, on a lotus. It 
 is of bronze, fifty feet high, and ninety-six feet in circumference at 
 the base, and is raised on a pedestal five or six feet from the 
 ground. 
 
 We had all come expecting to see some grotesque idol, and we 
 were therefore pleasantly surprised, when, instead of this, we 
 found ourselves admiring a work of high art. It is Budda in 
 Nirvana. The sculptor has succeeded in impressing upon the cold 
 metal the essence of the promise given by Sakyamuni to his fol- 
 lowers, a promise which has been during more than twenty centu- 
 ries the guiding hope of countless millions of souls. This is the 
 doctrine of th e final attainment of Nirvana — t he state of utter 
 annihilation ofextgrnai consciousn ess— after ages of purification 
 by transmigration. 
 
 Both the face, which is of the Hindoo type, and the attitude 
 are in perfect harmony with the idea intended to be expressed. I 
 felt that I saw for the first time, and where I least expected it, a 
 realization, in art, of a religious idea. No Madonna on canvas, 
 or Christ in marble, had ever been other to me than suggestive, 
 through the aid of an acquaintance with the subjects treated. 
 The Budda of Kamakura is a successful rendering of a profound 
 religious abstraction. 
 
 The head is covere d with small knobs, r epresenting the snails 
 which tradition says came to prot ect Budda from the heat of th e 
 burning sun. 
 
 This image, which was made about 600 years ago, was cast in ] 
 sections of a few square feet of surface each, and an inch or mo re 
 thick, and when put together, the joints -y^ere fitted so closely 
 that now, af ter the l apse of centuries, they can be detected only 
 w here the~weather has made them visible in the disc oloration. 
 
 The statue is hollow, and has in the interior a temple with 
 many small images of the Buddist pantheon. Many of these 
 
CHAP. VI.J YOKOHAMA. gj 
 
 without the lotus, -srould, in a Romish church, have passed readily 
 for representations of the Virgin. 
 
 It is said that a large temple once enclosed the Daibutz, but 
 was destroye d by an earthquake-wave from the sea. l// .j^-^-'.^ : 
 
 Returning to Kamakura, we ate a hearty lunch, which Iiad 
 been brought and prepared by the servants of Mr. Keswick, and 
 then started to visit the great temple grounds at this place. 
 
 Passing under a large granite gateway and crossing a stone 
 bridge, we entered the grounds by a broad flagged walk nearly a 
 mile long. At short intervals, we crossed paved avenues leading 
 through the open grove of trees which bore the marks of many 
 centuries, and ascending by broad flights of steps to elevated 
 shrines commanding long vistas over the surrounding land. On 
 large terraces perfectly graded and paved and surrounded by 
 carved stone balustrades, are built the great temples which ren- 
 der Kamakura famous. The buildings are of imposing size, and 
 areraisedafewfeetfromtheground. They are built of wood, the 
 immense beams which appear under the widely-projecting roof 
 being richly carved with the heads of dragons and storks. Every 
 end of a timber is capped with copper, and large quantities of 
 this metal are used inside and out of these edifices. On some of 
 the temples great labor had been expended in very rich and ele- 
 gant carving of the woodwork, and on some of the terraces we 
 saw several large and graceful bronze vases. 
 
 In one part of the grounds, sacredly guarded by an enclosure, 
 there is a priapus, if one may so style a representation of the 
 opposite sex, in a black stone, said to have fallen frOm heaven. 
 It is worshipped by barren women. 
 
 At the time of our visit the temples were closed, and we were told 
 they had not been opened for several years. On a subsequent visit 
 I found that a runner gave notice to the priests of the approach of 
 foi'eigners, in time to close the buildings. This was a recent restric- 
 tion, arising out of the shameful acts of some European visitors. 
 
 Leaving Kamakura, wo ascended a valley bordered by many 
 temple grounds, and commanded by small shrines, perched at the 
 tops of long flights of moss-grown steps of stone. Through a 
 deep artificial cut we passed from this valley over the water-shed, 
 and descended to the fishing village of the Kanesawa, on the 
 bay of Teddo, whence we reached Yokohama by boat. 
 
82 ACROSS AMERIGA AND ASIA. [chap,ti. 
 
 Finding the Government was not likely to forward us to our 
 destination for some time to come, I engaged a teacher and began 
 the study of the language. The young Japanese who undertook 
 to teach me this most difficult tongue, though naturally bright, 
 had not only no philosophical knowledge of its structure, but he 
 did not know one word in any other language. The instruction 
 was obtained through the medium of an English-Chinese diction- 
 .ary, the teacher taking the place of a Chinese-Japanese pronounc- 
 ino- lexicon. Progress thus made, though slow, was not always 
 sure, and many were the words treasured up for use which had to 
 be dropped when found to mean the very opposite of what I had 
 supposed. After having carefully learned to read and write the 
 Katakana alphabet of forty-nine letters, I was quite taken aback on 
 finding that no books were printed in that chai'acter, and that 
 there remained still the more difficult Hirakana alphabet, and 
 the endless study of the Chinese character to be gone through 
 with before I could hope to read anything beyond love-letters 
 and novelettes. 
 
 In the beginning of March there was to be a festival at the 
 temple of Daishi (great teacher), in honor of the inventor of the 
 Japanese alphabet. Mr. Benson and myself, on the day appointed, 
 entered the boat of the Consulate, and crossing the harbor, 
 followed the shore of the bay to the mouth of a small river, the 
 sediment from which has produced a long delta. Notwithstand- 
 ing the high tide, our boatmen had a hard pull up stream, till 
 throwing off all their clothing they worked with a will at the 
 long sculls, marking time with the monotonous " hwang ho ! 
 hwang ho ! " or the quicker " hwai hi ! hwai hi ! " 
 
 These boatmen, and indeed most of the men of the lower orders, 
 are as a class the best built men I have seen. The muscles of 
 the arm, leg, and back are equally well developed by the varyipg 
 routine of their labors. The habit of being naked, with the ex- 
 ception of the breech-clout while at work, renders their skin much 
 darker than that of the middle and upper classes. 
 
 After grounding several times we reached the landing nearest 
 the temple. 
 
 Passing through the village of Kawasaki, we ordered a dinner 
 at one of the many inns, to be ready on our return. After leav- 
 ing the village, our path lay part of the way between beautiful 
 
CHAP. Ti.] YOKOHAMA. 
 
 83 
 
 and well-kept hedges of evergreens and narrow avenues of tall 
 trees, and partly through extensive peai^orchards. These pear- 
 U-ees have the appearance of being very old, and at about ten 
 feet from the ground are all cut off and trained on horizontal 
 frames, thus exposing the fruit to the sun. All the pears I tried in 
 Japan were tasteless things, and I believe it is not yet certain 
 whether they are pears or apples. 
 
 "We soon entered the enclosure of the temple and were sur- 
 rounded by the crowd of visitors dressed in gala costume. 
 
 An imposing building fronted us, approached by a broad flight of 
 a dozen or more steps leading to a wide verandah, which went en- 
 tirely around the temple. The massive overhanging roof, the great 
 size of all the timbers used in the structure, and the gloom which 
 seemed to pervade the interior as seen from without, all gave to the 
 place an impressive appearance. I never approached a Japanese 
 temple without an indescribable sensation, such as I imagine one 
 would have felt in ascending the steps of the teocalli of Mexico 
 during a sacrifice. 
 
 The woodwork of the temple, outside and in, is richly carved. 
 Over the high portal there is fastened a peculiar bell, shaped like 
 a double gong, over the front of which hangs a thick silken-rope, 
 reaching to the verandah. As we watch the motions of the 
 worshippers an officer of some rank arrives, and stepping from 
 his chair washes his hands in the fountain in the middle of the 
 court. 
 
 Slowly he mounts the steps, and giving a snake-like motion to 
 the silken-rope, the bell gives out a clear but peculiar sound, the 
 reverberations of which are lost in the sombre interior of the 
 temple. Throwing himself on his knees and face, the worshipper 
 now utters a short prayer, and rising, enters the building. 
 
 Here a large number of priests, attending apparently the chief 
 bonze, are perfoi-mingthe ritual, while others are engaged in telling 
 fortunes, or selling illustrated guides to the temple. The air is 
 loaded with burning incense rising from swinging censers and 
 from countless vases. 
 
 The fortime-teller holds in his hand a tube containing a largo 
 number of sticks like crochet-needles, while before him is a case 
 containing one hundred or more drawers. With a few coins we 
 buy the right to try our luck in reading the future. The old 
 
84 AOEOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. Vi. 
 
 man shakes the box and we each pull out a stick -vvith a number 
 on it, which we find corresponds to a numbered box from which 
 the priest hands us a printed paper ; this being in a mixture of 
 Chinese and Japanese, and badly printed at that, is if anything a 
 little harder to read than fnturity itself. The result of some hours 
 of study Adth my. teacher over this paper, was the finding that it 
 contained a good deal about clouds and water, an old man sitting 
 under a cherry tree — that part was obscure, but the words, kahe, 
 money, and kami, lord, evidently pointed to wealth and promor 
 tion, but as I found out later that kan6 also means metal and 
 crab, and kami means head and paper and other things, I do not 
 consider that the record of my destiny is yet unravelled. 
 
 On the wall of the temple hangs a large bronze tablet with the 
 two alphabets, beautifully executed in high relief. The man who 
 receives these honors can hardly be called the inventor of these 
 alphabets, since the Katakana is made up from the Chinese radical 
 charactei;s, while the , Hirakana is taken from characters of the 
 Chinese adapted to a running hand. Still the application of these 
 signs to the writing of the forty-nine soimds of the language was 
 the beginning of a new era for Jaj)an. 
 
 Even here, where there are crowds of visitors, everything is 
 extremely neat, from the matted floor and waxed and polished 
 verandah and steps of the temple to the smooth flags of the paved 
 court and the great cluster of dustless bronze-work in its middle. 
 With all this, the rich silk dresses and fresh faces of pretty, girls 
 and the more sober costumes of men and niatrons are in keeping. 
 
 When we reached the inn the landlady showed us to a room, 
 and soon two neatly-dressed waitresses appeared with our dinner 
 of soup, fish, rice, seaweed, eggs, mushrooms, and beche de mer, with 
 warm saki or rice wine. If I had previously had any prejudice 
 against Oriental cooking, it vanished with that dinner and never 
 returned, not even in the heart of China. The two really pretty 
 and graceful girls waited on us as though we had been Japanese 
 olficers, even to lighting for us the tiny pipes of fragrant tobacco. 
 I began to think that travelling in Japan was likely to be accom- 
 panied with fewer hardships than I had been led to expect. It 
 required some exertion to leave the gayly-decked village in time 
 to float our boat out with the tide on our way homeward. 
 
CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 YOKOHAMA. 
 
 The name Japan, by whicli we know that empire, is an European 
 corruption of Ji pun quo {Ji — sun ; pun — root, or origin ; quo — 
 land or country), the name by which it is called in the Peking 
 dialect in China, and in which we see the origin of Marco Polo's 
 Zipanga. This is the Chinese pronunciation of the Chinese char- 
 acters with which the Japanese write the name of their empire, 
 and which they pronounce Nipon, or Dai Nipon (Great Sun ori- 
 gin); or, as it is usually rendered, Land of the Rising Sun. The 
 imperial banner is a red sun on a white ground. Awa-dji-sima 
 (awa — foam ; dji — earth ; sima — island,) is said to have been the 
 original name. A veiy ancient name seems to have been Yamato 
 ( Jawza — mountain ; to — east), east of the mountains, by which a 
 province is still designated. The pure Japanese language is still 
 called Tamato-no kotoha. 
 
 The Japanese empire forms the chief part of the long barrier 
 chain of islands which, stretching along the eastern coast of Asia, 
 separate the Great ocean from the Great continent. This chain, 
 a mountain range partially submerged, rising above the surface 
 of the ocean in the island of Formosa, trends northeast, through 
 the Liukiu group, Kiusiu, Nipon, and Yesso, and, forking in the 
 latter, sends off, due north, a geologically distinct branch in the 
 island of Sagalien or Krafto, while the main range continues in 
 its northeasterly course, through the long line of the Kuriles and 
 the continental mountains of Kamschatka, to Behring's Straits. 
 
 This outlying chain is the easternmost member of an extensive 
 system of pai-allel ranges, which, reaching from Birmah to the 
 Arctic ocean, determine nearly all the details in the configuration 
 of eastern Asia in the same manner as the Appalachian system de- 
 termines the outlines and details of eastern North America. In 
 another work,* after giving reasons for uniting most of the moun- 
 
 * " Geological Eeeeaiclies in China, Mongolia, and Japan." Smlthaoniau Institute, 1866. 
 
86 ACROSS AMEBIC A AND ASIA. [chap, til 
 
 tains of eastern Asia under one system, I have shown the remark- 
 able analogies which exist between this and the Appalachians. I 
 have there proposed to unite all the mountains of the northeast and 
 southwest system under one name — the Sinians. ji^--v Xcvu-kw, Ci^' 
 
 Excepting Formosa, all the large islands of this chain belong 
 to Japan. The greatest breadth across the middle of Nipon is 
 about 200 miles, and the average width of the empire is less 
 than 100 miles. But its narrowness is compensated for by its 
 length, the principal islands ranging from N. L. 31 degrees to about 
 50 degrees in the island of Sagalien, a length, following the axis, 
 of over 1,G00 miles. 
 
 Its backbone of older granite and metamorphic rocks is over- 
 laid by younger formations, among which are at least coal-bear- 
 ing deposits of one age, and Tertiary and Post-tertiary beds, 
 while strata of the Cretaceous or Jurassic age exist on Yesso and 
 Sagalien. Throughout its whole length this range is pierced by 
 countless volcanic vents, and the lavas and tufas ejected from 
 these sources, and in great part deposited originally under the 
 sea, now form terraces and plains around the islands, and cover 
 much of the interior. It is essentially a mountainous country ; 
 and though the height of the interior is not known, it seems im- 
 probable that the mountains, excepting some volcanic peaks, rise 
 to a greater elevation than 4,000 to 6,000 feet, while even on Ni- 
 pon the crest-line probably averages less than 3,000 feet. The 
 volcano Fuziyama is said to be over 12,000 feet high, and other 
 peaks of similar character may rise above 10,000 feet. 
 
 The rivers, although very short, being merely coast streams, are 
 often deep and navigable for small craft; they are, however, fre- 
 quently broken by falls and rapids. The bold and rock-bound 
 coast is indented with bays and countless fiords, forming many 
 harbors -where whole fleets could ride in safety. 
 
 With such a wide extent in latitude there of course exists a 
 corresponding range in climate. In Hakodade, according to 
 the observations of Dr. Albrecht, the mean annual temperature 
 (from an average of the four years 1859-62) is 48-'''' degi-ees in 
 1862, the minimum being, in January, 10 degrees F., and the max. 
 imum, in August, 8T-' degrees. The fall of rain in 1862 was 47 
 inches ; the maximum fall in one month being ten inches, in July. 
 
 Notwithstanding its insular position, the mean annual tem- 
 
CHAP. vn.J rOKOSAMA. 87 
 
 perature of Japan, in common with that of all eastern Asia, is bc- 
 low that of corresponding points on the eastern coast of America, 
 which. IS at least ]iartiaUy explained, by the fact that the pre- 
 vailing winter winds are from the west, blowing from the cold 
 steppes of Tartary. 
 
 A marked diBference is said by the Japanese to exist between 
 the climates of the eastern and western coasts of Nipon, the lat- 
 ter being much colder and receiving a greater fall of snow than 
 the former. The eastern coast, as far as the northern part of 
 Nipon, is washed by the Kurosiwo, which, branching off from the 
 equatorial current in the tropics, flows as a broad belt of warm 
 water to the northeast, the counterpart in the Pacific ocean of the 
 Atlantic gulf-stream. On the other hand, in the Japan Sea 
 there seems to be a cold current, setting south from the Sea of 
 Ochotsk. A branch from this reaches eastward, through the 
 Straits of Tsungara, passing Hakodade with a velocity of four or 
 five miles per hour . On a voyage in H.I.R.M. Steamer Bogartyr, 
 from Hakodade to Nagasaki, through the Japan Sea, it was found 
 that the current set us every day thirty to forty miles south of 
 the position indicated by dead reckoning. 
 
 At the change in the monsoons, especially in September, the 
 coast is visited by fearful hurricanes, called typhoons, carrying 
 destruction in their track. Although these cyclones are felt in 
 the waters of Yesso, their centres follow the curve of the warm 
 Kurosiwo, which does not wash the shores of that island. 
 
 Abounding in forests from the extreme south to the northern- 
 most islands, Japan is exceedingly rich in the variety of its trees. 
 The moisture of an insular climate, together with the fertility of 
 soils fonned by the decay of volcanic rocks, produce an exuber- 
 ant vegetation in every latitude of the emph-e. On the highlands 
 of Nipon the prevailing forms are European. The valleys of 
 southern Nipon and the forests of Kiusiu contain many tropical 
 plants, while the investigations, especially of Gray and Maximo- 
 witch, have shown that the flora of Yesso is generically almost 
 identical with that of the northeastern United States. 
 
 The animal kingdom does not seem to be so well represented 
 as one might expect, when we consider that the islands must 
 have communicated with the continent at some period since the 
 appearance in Asia of the animals now living wild in the Jap- 
 
88 ACROSS AMERICA ANB ASIA. [chap. tii. 
 
 anese mountains. The list of wild quadrupeds known to foreign 
 naturalists, seems to be confined to the hare, deer, antelope, bear, 
 wild hog, red and black fox, badger, otter, mole, marten, and 
 squirrel. 
 
 " The aniitaals of Japan have a strong analogy with those of 
 Europe ; many are identical, or slightly varied, as the badgerj 
 otter, mole, common fox, marten, and squirrel. On the other 
 hand, a large species of bear in the island of Yesso resembles 
 the grizzly bear in the Rocky Mountains of North America. A 
 chamois in other parts of Japan is nearly allied to the Antelope 
 montana of the same mountains; and other animals, natives of 
 Japan, are the same with those in Sumatra ; so that its fauna is a 
 combination of those of very distant regions." * 
 
 The list of domesticated animals is very small, and confined to 
 the oxen necessary in agriculture, horses, two kinds of dogs, the 
 small pug-nosed variety like the King Charles, and the wolfish 
 Tartar variety, with erect ears and bristling hair. Besides the 
 common house-cat, with a long tail, thei-e is a variety having by 
 nature either no tail, or one an inch or two long, and ending with 
 a knot. The sheep, goat, and ass, seem to be unknown through- 
 out the group. 
 
 The number of islands composing the Japanese empire is 
 variously estimated at from 1,000 to 3,800, and the aggregate 
 area at 1T0,000 square miles; Nipon, 900 miles long by about 100 
 miles broad, containing about 95,000 square miles; Kiusiu about 
 16,000, Sikok about 10,000, and Yesso about 30,000. 
 
 The population of Japan is generally placed at between thirty 
 and forty millions. All estimates for the present must be merely 
 arbitrary, as, although the population is probably known to the 
 Government, it has never been ascertained by foreigners ; and we 
 are yet too ignorant of the extent of cultivable land on Nipon 
 and Kiusiu, and, indeed, of all the other data necessary to form 
 a rough estimate. The Japanese, not being a meat-eating people^ 
 are able to cultivate land which with us would'be devoted to 
 pasture. In no other country does so large a portion of the po]> 
 ulation support itself and supply the interiQ?_with the product s 
 of the sea. These, ranging from sea-weed to marine mammals, 
 contribut e perha,pras" large ly to the subsistence of the nation a s 
 
 * Mrs. Somorville's " Physical Geogi-aphy," p. 457. Murray, London, 1858. 
 
CHAP, vn.] YOKOHAMA.. 89 
 
 do the products oF_the land . Both these facts form important 
 elements in estimating the ability of the country to support life ; 
 they might seem to favor the supposition, other things being 
 equal, of a larger population to the square mile than we find in 
 Europe. But the feudal state of the empire, together with the 
 mountainous character of the islands, both of them conditions 
 opposed to expansion ; the laws requiring the maintenance o f a 
 fixed forest area , which have a tendency to restrict increase ; 
 and the system of licensed prostitution without med ical control, 
 which, by producing barrenness among a large number 'of women, 
 and spreading disease through all classes, acts both directly 
 and indirectly against increase ; all these and some other facts 
 seem ^o weigh against the arguments for an overflowing popu- 
 lation. 
 
 There is a strong reason for believing that the population of 
 Nipon and Kiusiu is far below the maximum which those coun- 
 tries and their coasts can support. This is found in the fact that 
 Tesso, separated from Nipon by only a strait fourteen miles 
 broad, and having an area of 30,000 square miles, and a climate 
 like that of Illinois and New England, with a more fertile soil 
 than in the latter, has no population beyond fishing villages on 
 the coast, and a few scattered aborigines in the interior. 
 
 Japanese literature, so far as known to us, gives no clue to the 
 origin of the people. The native chronologies and histoi'ies rep- 
 resent the inhabitants of the islands as sjsrung from a race of 
 gods through demi-gods, who, during more than a million years, 
 occupied Japan. The authentic dates of their history begin 
 about 670 B.C., and the apparent absence of traditions relating to 
 a foreign origin would seem to indicate that the time of their ar- 
 rival was very remote indeed. 
 
 At present the empire is inhabited by two distinct races, the 
 Japanese and the Aino. The latter people, exclusively hunters 
 and fishermen, and now found only in parts of Yesso, Sagalicn, 
 and the Kurile islands, as late as the sixth century occupied a 
 large part of northern Nipon, whence they were dislodged. 
 After a long series of bloody wars on Yesso they were brought 
 to complete subjection in the twelfth century, by Yoshitzune, 
 brother of Yoritomo, the first Siogun. The Ainos probably 
 inhabited a large part if not all of the present empire before 
 
90 ■ AGBOSS AMEEICA AND ASIA. [chap. vr. 
 
 the arrival of the Japanese. It is impossible to suppose that the 
 Ainos, with their dark skins, heavy-flowing beards and haiiy 
 bodies, should be the parent stock of the Japanese, who differ 
 from them as much as they do from the Caucasian. If there 
 was ever any considerable admixture of the two peoples, the 
 traces of Aino blood seem to have entirely disappeared. 
 
 By some writers the Japanese have been derived from the 
 Mongol family, while others see in them proof of a Malay origin 
 Grammatical analogies in language, and some points of resem- 
 blance physically, point to a relationship with the Mongol family. 
 It is not impossible that the wide-spread Malay and Mongol 
 races may have met in southern Japan, and in their union pro- 
 duced the present population, in the character of which many of 
 the distinguishing features of both are combined. We cannot 
 hope for even a proximate solution of the ethnological questions 
 of eastern Asia until the data shall be supplied by a more 
 thorough knowledge of the languages, early religions, myths and 
 popular traditions than we yet possess. 
 
 , The first fixed date in Japanese chi-onology seems to be 667. 
 B.C. In that year the Mikado Jinmu made an expedition from 
 Yamato against Kiusiu, In 663 B.C. a great battle was fought 
 in Hiunga (Kiusiu) between Jiumxt and Osatehico, and the fol- 
 lowing year found all Nipon and Kiusiu subject to Jinmu, who 
 founded the throne of the Mikados. In the person of the Mikado 
 he vested the ofiice of high priest, representative of heaven, and 
 emperor. He is represented as civilizing the nation, reforming 
 the existing laws and government, and dividing time into months 
 and years. Jinmu, to whom is given the title ten-no of heaven, 
 may have been a foreigner who introduced an alien civilization, or 
 to him may have been ascribed the founding of arts which existed 
 previously. The succeeding Mikados conferred the command of 
 the army upon near relatives or members of high families. 
 
 Little is recorded beyond the names of Emperors and Em- 
 presses, the occurrence of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and 
 astronomical and meteorological phenomena, until the accession of 
 Su-jin-tenno, B.C. 97. This Emperor built a Sintu temple in Isse, 
 created four generalissimos Sioguns) for the east, west, north, 
 and south, ordered the first census of Nipon and Kiusiu, levied 
 taxes to build large ships, and ordered the draining of lakes for 
 
CHAT. VII.] YOKOHAMA. 91 
 
 irrigation. Under his reign, Corea, divided into the kingdoms of 
 Hakusai, Shinra, and Nin, is mentioned for the first time. 
 
 Undur the next Mikado, Bui-nin-tenno, A.D. 6, tlie terrible cus- 
 tom was abolislied which required that, on the death of the Em- 
 peror, the Empress and all the retinue of near attendants should 
 commit suicide by hara-kiru. 
 
 At the death of the Empress, the highest of her ladies killed 
 themselves by cutting their throats. This also was abolished 
 on the death of Hiwassu-hime, Empress of Sui-nin-tenno, earthen 
 imaaes beins: substituted for the ladies of rank. 
 
 Suinin ordered the forming of ponds and canals for irrigation, 
 and more than 800 were built in different parts of Japan. 
 
 The next Emperor, Keko-tenno, A.D. 71 to 130, after quelling 
 obstinate rebellions in Kiusiu and northeastern Nipon, com- 
 manded the arable lands of the empire to be surveyed, and 
 granaries to be built in all the towns, to guard against famine 
 — a proceeding which would seem to indicate a large population. 
 Sen-mu-tenno, A.D. 131 to 190, created the office of Daijin, the 
 second dignity in the realm. 
 
 His successor Chin-ai-tenno, A.D. 192 to 200, dying of chagrin, 
 caused by being defeated in an expedition which he had under- 
 taken in person against Kumaoso, prince of Tskuslii, he is suc- 
 ceeded by his widow. Jingo Kongo, A.D. 201 to 269. This female 
 Mikado, v/ho seems to have had a brilliant reign, at the begin- 
 ning of her rule commanded in person an expedition to Shinra, 
 in Corea, in which she conquered that kingdom. After three 
 years of widowhood she gave birth to a son who was destined to 
 become the most renowned of the Mikados. After her death. 
 Jingo Kongo was ranked among the gods of the empire, and 
 her life and deeds are "widely commemorated in the popular liter- 
 ature and drama of the country. 
 
 Her son ascended the throne under the name of Ojin-tenno, 
 A.D. 270 to 310. In the second year of his reign the islands of 
 Yesso (Yesso and Sagalien) submitted voluntarily to the Jap- 
 anese rule ; thus the boundaries of the empire seem to have been 
 at that time the same as at present, while the three kingdoms of 
 Corea were also tributary. In A.D. 283 a woman was brought 
 from Hakiisai (Corea) to teach the art of sewing (working in ?) 
 silk. In the following year an improved breed of horses was 
 
92 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, vtt 
 
 brought over from the same country. In A.D. 285^ W ani, a 
 philosopher, i ntroduced the works of Confucias and the Senji- 
 man ("thousand character book"). This last was one of the 
 most important events in the history of the country, as the works 
 of Confucius have und oubtedly had much to do with moulding 
 the philosophy of Japan, and the "thousand character book" 
 still forms the basis of primary education in the Chinese written 
 language. The first musical instrument made in Japan, the koto 
 of to-day, is said to have been formed in A.D. 300, from the wood 
 of an old man-of-war. 
 
 In A.D. 306 Ojin-tenno . sent an embassy to the Go country 
 (Nanking ?) in China to import into Japan the means of produc- 
 ing and manufacturing silk. 
 
 It is related of this Mikado, that having been advised by the 
 brother of his prime minister that the latter was conspiring 
 against the throne, he caused them both to plung-e their arms 
 into boiling water, when, the ordeal proving favora,ble to the min- 
 ister, the informer was executed. 
 
 Ojin-tenno, after his death, became god of war, and his reign is 
 looked upon with national pride, /i^^ ^ (, ,iyi^^;> 
 
 Under Jintoku-tenno, A.D. 313 to 399, extensive inundations 
 led to the construction of dykes along the rivers ; and ice-houses 
 and mills for cleaning rice were for the first time built. 
 
 In A.D. 367 Tamits was sent to crush a rebellion in Yesso. 
 
 Liehu-tenno, A.D. 400 to 405, appointed two scholars to writ^ 
 the history of the empire. 
 
 Under Yuriyaku-tenno, A.D. 457 to 479, mulberry trees were 
 planted throughout the empire. 
 
 In A.D. 488 skilful carpenters were induced to immigrate 
 from Corea. 
 
 In A.D. 609 the Coreans, who had begun to settle in Japan, 
 were sent back to Corea by Government. Three years later an 
 embassy was dispatched to Hakusai (Corea) to collect the Chi- 
 nese classical literature. 
 
 Buddism entered Japan about the middle of the sixth century, 
 apparently from Corea. With it came the zealous missionaries, 
 who soon succeeded in spreading their faith. Toward the end 
 of the eighth century the empire was invaded by foreigners 
 " who were not Chinese, but natives of some more distant land," 
 
OHAP. VII.] YOKOHAMA. 93 
 
 who, being continually re-enforced, were not finally repulsed till 
 eighteen years after their arrival. These people have been i-e- 
 ferred by some to the Malays, and by others to the inhabitants 
 of Siberia or of Kamschatka. 
 
 The reign of the Emperor Itsisio, 987 to 1012, was marked by 
 two terrible epidemics or plagues. An important rebellion in 
 Oshiou, the northernmost province of Nipon, has rendered the 
 reign of Go-rei-sen famous. 
 
 Down to the end of the twelfth century Japanese history clus- 
 ters around the person and deeds of the Mikados. The outline 
 given above is mainly a direct translation from a native manual 
 of chronology, and gives the most important features alluded to 
 in that book. The names, dates of birth, accession and death of 
 the Mikados, and dates of great earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, 
 embassies to and from China and Corea, together with rebel- 
 lions, make up a meager thread of historical occurrences. It is 
 mainly interesting as showing the gradual introduction of some 
 of the most important elements of civilization from Corea and 
 China, whence probably nearly all of the arts were derived, to be 
 subsequently improved upon. 
 
 Down to this period the executive power centred in the Mi- 
 kado. Descended from a long line of sovereigns of one family, 
 the representative of heaven, and himself a deity of high rank, in 
 him centred also the glory and veneration of the nation. The 
 character of the Mikado's office is one of the most remarkable 
 features in the organization of Japan. He i s one of the best con- 
 ceived types of the Vicar of Heaven, to whom all religious and 
 temporal power is delegated. It is probable that the idea was 
 jeiived from China. But it would seem that this type of rule r, 
 of which the Pope of Rome is the latest expression, is of great 
 antiquity; and not only does it now exist in^the_J IikadOjJ}he 
 Emperor of China, and the Dalai Lama of Thibet, but, at the 
 time of the conquests, this idea was perhaps even more fully car^ 
 ried out in the Inca of Peru. 
 
 Too holy to be seen by other than the very highest of his at- 
 tendants, the Sun, although himself a deity, not worthy of shin- 
 ing on his head, the Mikado may not touch the ground with 
 his feet, nor even cut his nails and hair, so sacred is his body. 
 This last duty is performed while he sleeps, and being considered 
 
94 A0I10S8 AMEBIOA AND ASIA. [chap. tii. 
 
 a theft of these parts, the loss is not supposed to detract from 
 his sanctity. It is said that the pots in which the food of the 
 Mikado is cooked, and the dishes from which he eats, are used 
 hut once and then destroyed, lest they should fall into the hands 
 of some one else on whom the use of them would bring serious 
 consequences. 
 
 Toward the end of the twelfth century, during a period of 
 civil commotion, when the princes had begun to grow remiss in 
 their allegiance, Yoritomo, a prince of the imperial blood, was 
 entrusted with extraordinary power as generalissimo. Being a 
 man of great ability and ambition, he not only usurped nearly 
 all secular power, but succeeded in transmitting it to his suc- 
 cessors. 
 
 This act gave the death-blow to the real sovereignty of the 
 Mikado. The nominal power, and all the honors and reverence 
 due to him as Son of Heaven and Emperor, remained, indeed, 
 and his sanction was considered necessary to all measures of 
 great importance; but the executive p assed into the hands o f 
 the Siogun, who, while ruling almost absolutely, has never 
 claimed a higher nominal rank than the fourth deputy in the 
 realm. The Mikado thus became a mere shadow — a tool, alter- 
 nately in the hands of the Siogun, the Council of Daimios, or of 
 contending factions, often an important instrument, but a tool 
 still. Unable to endure the seclusion and tedium inseparable 
 from their rank, many Emperors have abdicated in favor of their 
 sons — sometimes successively in favor of several children — both 
 in order to relieve themselves from the monotonous life, and to 
 give the mothers the pleasure of seeing their children seated on 
 the throne. The dignity has been held repeatedly by women — 
 the widows or daughters of the preceding Mikados. 
 
 One would think that the allowance of twelve wives to the 
 Emperor would secure a direct succession ; but a large part of the 
 Mikados have been cousins or nephews of their predecessors, the 
 nearest of kin, whether male or female, being chosen. 
 
 Many of the Mikados have devoted their lives to literature, and 
 Miako has become the centre of learning for the empire, while 
 the spirit of war and military science find their home at Yeddo. 
 
 During the taikoonate of Yoritomo a long-continued rebellion 
 on the islands of Yesso was crushed by Yoshitzunc, the brother 
 
CHAP. Til.] YOKOHAMA. 95 
 
 of Yovitomo. Yoshitzune, having been disgraced, is said to have 
 travelled into northern Yesso (Sagalien), whence he crossed to 
 the continent, where the Japanese claim that he reappeared as 
 Gengis Khan. After the death of Yoritomo his widow entered a 
 convent, but soon returning, ruled during the minority of her son 
 till her death, with all the power, political and military, belong- 
 ing to the rank of Siogun. 
 
 From the middle to the end of the thirteenth century the atten- 
 tion of the empire was anxiously turned to the movements of the 
 Mongols under Kublai Khan. The great wave of revolution" 
 which, sweeping over the length and breadth of Asia, subjected 
 the great continent as far as Germany to the rule of one family, 
 threatened to overwhelm Japan — the outpost of Asia on the Pa- 
 cific — at the same time that it menaced the foundations of the 
 terrified nations of Europe, a^j <in^^^^^J ■:k.k^^>--rfkxj'">--i ■■ i^aT 
 
 Two powerful expeditions, worthy of the might and pride .of 
 the terrible Khan, were sent against Japan, but each time a brave 
 resistance, aided by the stormy sea and rock-bound coast of the 
 empire, proved its salvation, and the invaders met the fate of the 
 fleet of Xerxes and the Spanish Armada. To another and more 
 peaceful expedition, sailing two centuries later from the opposite 
 extremity of the great continent, and having Japan for its desti- 
 nation, we owe the discovery of America. Incited by Marco 
 Polo's account of Zipanga, given from information received at 
 the court of Kublai, Columbus, believing in the spherical form of 
 the earth, hoped to reach these islands or the Indies by sailing 
 westward. 
 
 Kublai Khan, in his letter to the Japanese emperor demanding 
 his submission, asserted that it was already the hope of philoso- 
 phers to see all mankind united in one family, and declared. his 
 intention to accomplish this result by force of arms if necessary. 
 The great Mongol conqueror tried the virtue of armed force in 
 making Japan conform to this one-family programme, and failed in- 
 gloriously. Three centuries later, Europe applied, for a less exalted 
 end, the more insinuating wedge of Jesuit proselytism, and, fail- 
 ing signally, was cast out after having^btained a strong foothold. 
 Again, three centuries later, America, who. owed her discovery in- 
 directly to the correspondence between Kublai Khan and the 
 Mikado, reviving the application of the " one family" idea to Japan, 
 
96 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. vii. 
 
 has by means of peaceful diplomacy paved the way for bringing 
 that empire into the circle of nations. 
 
 During the reign of the Mongol dynasty in China the Japanese 
 refused to hold any intercourse with that country; but on the 
 accession of the Mings they again opened their ports and per- 
 mitted trade to continue, though under a strict surveillance. 
 
 During the middle of the sixteenth century the feuds among 
 the great lords of the empire threatened to throw the land into 
 anarchy, and a strong arm was needed to restore order and hold 
 the balance. This was found in Taikosama, the man who with 
 reason is perhaps the most popular personage in their history, and 
 who has been called the Napoleon of Japain. Beginning as a 
 servant in the palace, and as a common soldier, he attracted the 
 attention of the Siogun, who promoted him rapidly till in time 
 he won the highest military rank. On the death of his master, 
 Nabunanga, in 1585, Taikosama assumed the taikoonate, and taking 
 the higher title of Koboe, which has been translated " lay Em- 
 peror," he soon usurped the little secular power that had till then 
 been left to the Mikado. He must certainly have been a man of 
 great ability, for the task he had to perform was one of the most 
 difficult character. The fierce contest between the princes, and 
 the danger of invasion by the armies of the King of Portugal, who 
 had gained myriads of allies in the christianized Japanese, required 
 both the breaking of the power of the feudal lords and the exter- 
 mination of a religion which threatened the independence of the 
 country. 
 
 K we may judge the means lie employed to this end by the 
 internal peace which seems to have reigned since his time, they 
 must have been well conceived. Almost his first step was a war 
 againt Corea, in which he engaged the most troublesome princes, 
 many of whom never returned. His greatest stroke was, per- 
 haps, the subdividing of each of the few principalities into se- 
 veral, thus weakening the power of individual princes by in- 
 creasing their number. 
 
 Nearly forty years before the accession of Taikosama, the 
 Jesuit missionaries under Xavier, the disciple and friend of 
 Loyola, had obtained a foothold in Japan, and had begun a bril- 
 liant career of proselyting. Had this work remained in the hands 
 of that order, Japan would probably have become a Christian 
 
CHAP, vn.] YOKOHAMA. 97 
 
 country. Unfortunately for that result, there poured into the new 
 field an army of Franciscan, Dominican and other friars, who 
 soon quarrelled with the Jesuits and among themselves. Con- 
 verts were made by thousands ; among them were princes of 
 the highest rank, while Nabunanga, the predecessor of Taiiiosama, 
 was counted as a warm friend of the cause. 
 
 In their unbridled zeal, this army of the church, carried away 
 by almost unprecedented success, began a persecution of the ex- 
 isting religions at the same time that they transferred the alle- 
 giance of their converts from their rightful rulers to the Pope, 
 and plotted for the subjection of the empire to the King of 
 Portugal. So sure did they feel of their position that they not 
 only gained the enmity of the powerful priesthood at Miako, by 
 their wholesale destruction of temples, and the indignities offered 
 to the bonzes, but they insolently refused to the great lords of 
 the empire even the respect shown by one daimio toward 
 another. ' 
 
 Already in the second year of his reign, 1587, Taikosama found 
 it necessary to issue an edict banishing the missionaries. But 
 though opposed on political grounds to the new religion, he 
 abstained from violent persecution. Before his death Taiko 
 caused his son six years old to be married to the grand-daughter of 
 his most intimate friend. To this same friend he entrusted the 
 regency. This man proved faithless to the trust, and, usurping the 
 taikoonate, took the name of Gongensama. Under him the 
 policy of Taiko was continued. The Christians, foreign and na- 
 tive, feeling sure of their ground, openly defied the Government, 
 and in so doing brought upon themselves a terrible persecution. 
 Finally, when it was discovered that an extensive conspiracy ex- 
 isted to transfer the countiy to the rule of Portugal", a decree or- 
 dered that the " whole race of the Portugese, with their mothers, 
 nurses, and whatever belongs to them, shall be banished for ever." 
 
 In 1639 the Portugese were totally expelled, and their profita- 
 ble trade passed into the hands of the Protestant Dutch. The 
 year 1640 saw the last great struggle. In the province of Simaba- 
 ra near Nagasaki, a large number of Christians arose in insurrec- 
 tion and seizing a fortified position, bi-avely defended themselves 
 against the Government until the place was taken with the assist- 
 ance of the Dutch. The entire besieged population, men, wo- 
 7 
 
98 ACBOSS AMEBICA AND ASIA. [chap, vn. 
 
 men, and children, were destroyed, preferring death to life bought 
 at the cost of recanting. The law of Gongensama is still unre- 
 pealed ; it prohibits any foreigner, under pain of death, from set- 
 ting foot on Japanese soil, and renders it lawful for any subject 
 to kill any one of the hated race. 
 
 In return for the shameful assistance given by them in this 
 massacre, the Dutch, thenceforth despised by the Japanese, were 
 indeed allowed to monopolize the foreign trade, though only un- 
 der great restrictions and indignities. 
 
 From that period till 1854 Japan has preserved an entire se- 
 clusion from the outer world, no native being allowed to leave 
 the country, and, excepting the Dutch imprisoned at Decima, no 
 foreigner to enter it. 
 
 Repeated efforts made by England and Russia, with a view to 
 ■establish friendly intercourse, have met vrith failure, and, in the in- 
 stance of Golownin,with the imprisonment of the envoy. During, 
 two centuries Europeans were looked upon only as the descendants 
 of those who brought so much misery into the empire, and who 
 nearly succeeded in destroying its independence. But most of all 
 is our religion hated, not because of its dootripes, but because 
 the Government looks upon it still as being the great political 
 lever it certainly was two centuries ago. Nor are their fears of 
 the missionaries altogether unfounded. The penalty of death im- 
 posed on all Japanese who listen in any manner to instruction in 
 Christian doctrines, is a barrier which not only the Romish but 
 many Protestant missionaries would gladly see removed by the 
 sword, were there no other cause for war. 
 
 During this long period of seclusion the Japanese obtained, 
 through the Dutch, information concerning the condition of Eu- 
 rope, and during the past fifty ye ars an increasing number of stu - 
 dents have devoted'TEemselves to the study of theoretical and 
 j£plied sc ience, in Dutch works and translations. Thus a party 
 of some strength, including even daimios, would have been glad 
 of intercourse with the outside world, for the sake of the benefits 
 to be derived from it, had it not been for the fear of serious polit- 
 ical consequences. 
 
 The existence of this party; may have facilitated the negotia - 
 tions of Commodore Perry in 1853^4. The treaty then con- 
 cluded gained for American ships the right to obtain supplies and to 
 
CHAP. Til.] YOKOHAMA. 99 
 
 trade under restrictions at Simoda and Hakodade, whei-e consuls 
 were allowed to reside. Soon after this England obtained similar 
 privileges at Hakodade and Nagasaki, as did also the Russians, 
 Avhile the Dutch received greater freedom at Decima. In 1857 Mr. 
 Townsend Harris negotiated for American vessels the right to enter 
 the port of Nagasaki In 1858 Mr. Harris succeeded in reaching 
 Yeddo, and during the first half of that year, unsupported by armed 
 force, he gained after a long struggle a diplomatic triumph, which 
 places him on a level with the most famous European diplomat- 
 ists in the East. A few weeks later the Earl of Elgin arrived 
 and concluded a new treaty. By the treaties with America and 
 England the ports of Kanagawa, Hakodade, and Nagasaki were 
 opened to trade with those countries after July 1st, 1859. Negate, 
 or some other port on the west coast of Nipon, after January 1st, 
 1860, and Hiogo, the port of Osaca, after January 1st, 1863. Sub- 
 sequent treaties with France, Holland, Prussia, and Switzerland, 
 have opened these ports to subjects of those countries. 
 
 These treaties grant the right of residence at Yeddo, and of 
 travelling freely through the empire to the diplomatic agents of 
 the treaty powers, and to the subjects of those powers the right 
 to lease ground at the open ports, to build, trade, practice freely 
 then- respective religions, and enter the country to the distance 
 generally of ten ri, or twenty-five English miles. 
 
 Nearly a month had passed after ovir arrival in Japan before 
 we heard directly from the Government. Mr. Harris had written 
 to us that they were for some reason ojaposed to our visiting 
 Yeddo. We found it impossible to account for the delay of the 
 Government in assigning to us our duties, the more so that they 
 were, from the time of our departure from America, paying at 
 the rate of a viceroy's salary. 
 
 It seems that an unforeseen trouble had arisen in the minds of 
 the authorities concerning the social position we were to occupy. 
 In a country where rank, from the god-Mikado to the lowest tide- 
 waiter, tapers off in an unbroken perspective of princes and offi- 
 cials on one side, and spies of equal rank on the other, this ques- 
 tion had necessarily to be settled before the first interview, by the 
 etiquette of which our relative positions would be assigned. "Were 
 minino- engineers and geologists mechanics, or were they officials? 
 and if so, what position did they hold in the civil or military 
 
100 AVMOSS AMERIOA AND ASIA. [chap. tii. 
 
 scale in the United States ? In despair, the question was finally- 
 submitted to Mr. Harris, who very diplomatically and considerately 
 told them that were Commodore Perry (whom they knew) and our- 
 selves at his house, he would treat us with the same consideration 
 that he would the Commodore. 
 
 This settled the question, and we received a notification that 
 the future Governor of Yesso would come from Yeddb to call 
 upon us. On the appointed day an officer arrii^ed to announce 
 the coming of the Governor, and soon after the loud jingling of 
 the iron staff and rings of the street-warden gave notice of his 
 ajjproach. He came with a large retinue of officers, all of whom, 
 excepting his immediate attendants, remained outside. The Gov- 
 ernor Kadzu-ya-Chikungono-kami, and his Ometzki, with three or 
 four officers, seated themselves according to rank, with several 
 scribes behind them on one side of the room, while we took seats 
 opposite them, the Governor's interpreter being in the middle. 
 
 The Governor hoped we had recovered from the fatigue of our 
 long journey ; he had been told that we had met with head winds, 
 and had made a stormy voyage. It was very kind in us to come so 
 far to give the Japanese instruction in mining. 
 
 "We replied that we had had a very rough voyage of ninety 
 days, but that the interest we had found in everything we saw in 
 his delightful country had quite restored us. "Wo anticipated 
 much pleasure in doing what we could in the field to which the 
 Japanese Government had called us ; we felt highly honored by 
 the appointment. 
 
 Several servants now entered and placed in a row two light 
 and gracefully-woven baskets of oranges, and two boxes, each con. 
 taining about two hundred eggs. After asking us to receive 
 " these trifling presents" and receiving our thanks, the Governor 
 introduced business, by enquiring whether on approaching the 
 coast of Nipon we had been able to judge by the color of the sea 
 or the taste of the water or fish, or by any other means, of the 
 wealth or poverty of Japan in metals. He seemed a little sur- 
 prised at our negative answer. This was the first of a long series 
 of similar questions I had to answer in interviews with Japanese 
 officials, and the Board of Foreign Affairs at Pekin ; they showed 
 that these people, who have for thousands of years sought the 
 philosopher's stone and the elixir of life, suppose that the scien- 
 
CHAP, vii.] YOKOmLVA. 101 
 
 tists of the west possess ii key to open a royal road through the 
 secrets of nature. 
 
 After informing ns that tlie Government had sent for a steamer 
 to take us to Yesso, the Governor asked whether either of ns 
 had visited the mining districts of Europe. When told that I 
 had made them the subject of several years' study, he was much 
 interested, and asked many questions concerning the mines, and 
 the manner of working them. 
 
 Kadzu-ya-Chikungono-kami, with whom we Averc to have a great 
 deal of intercourse on Yesso, was the type of a Japanese gentle- 
 man. He had a handsome face, with a fair complexion, and an ex- 
 ceedingly kind expression, which always reminded me, as did in- 
 deed his manner and appearance generally, of Pius IX. as he was 
 twelve or fourteen years ago. In addition to this he had the modest 
 and easy manner which marks the man of social culture in all 
 countries, and especially in Japan. 
 
 The next morning the Governor returned, by appointment, to ex- 
 amine the instruments, etc., forming our outfit; during several 
 hours he w.andered among theodolites, levels, chronometers, sex- 
 tants, barometers, etc., asking an explanation of each object, and ex- 
 pressing the wish that he might be able to give time to the sturdy of 
 science. During this interview, as in that of the previous day, every 
 word said was written down by the attendant scribes, while some of 
 the officers amused themselves by sketching the no^-el display. The 
 same day we received a call from one of the earlier embassadors 
 to America, accompanied by a former Governor of Yesso. The 
 first spoke much of his visit to the United States, and of the plea- 
 sure it had given him. 
 
 Having learned that it would probably be several weeks before 
 we would be sent to Yesso, we determined to see something of 
 the surrounding country, and naturally planned our first excur- 
 sion so as to include the nearest mountains, the Oyama, on the 
 edo-e of the treaty limits. Accompanied by Mr. Frank Hall and 
 Mr. Robertson, with our Japanese servants and bettos, or run- 
 ning footmen, we made an early start from Yokohama. 
 
 Crossing a broad marsh hy the costly causeway which the 
 Government had built to render Yokohama accessible to Kana- 
 gawa, we passed through the latter town and were soon in the 
 country. Our bettos led the way on foot, acting as guides, and 
 
102 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, m 
 
 running at the rate of a four and a half or five mile trot. These 
 grooms deserve a passing description. They are a luxury per- 
 mitted only to ofiicers, whose horses they generally lead by the 
 bit on all formal occasions, for the Japanese ofiicial rides fast 
 only when on important business, or when in the absence of spec- 
 tators a fast trot or canter may be indulged in without loss of 
 dignity. Foreigners have adopted the custom, much to the 
 astonishment of the Japanese, who look with wonder on a Euro- 
 pean merchant riding in a saddle and keeping running footmQn, 
 both of which luxuries are forbidden to any native not graced 
 with two swords. 
 
 As we kept up a brisk trot wherever the road permitted it, our 
 Dettos gradually relieved themselves of the little clothing they 
 nad worn at the outset, and they now appeared in a costume 
 \vorthy of a N'ew Zealand chief. They were tattooed from head 
 to foot, and there seemed to be as much livalry among them as 
 to whose back should present the most varied picture, as there 
 was in out-doing each other in swiftness of foot. My betto, who 
 was one of the fastest runners, was covered with an elaborate 
 representation, in bright red and blue, of a lady and a dragon, the 
 head of the latter peering forward over the right shoulder, while 
 the body of the monster, extending down the man's muscular 
 back, wound its tail around the left leg and foot. 
 
 The country we were travelling through was part of the low 
 table-land extending from the bay of Yeddo to the Oyama moun- 
 tains, but was less cut up by ravines than along the route to 
 Kamakura, and there was consequently little rice culture. For 
 several miles a large part of the surface was. occupied, by a young 
 forest growth, with fields- devoted to the cultivation of rape seed, 
 wheat, buckwheat, etc. Soon we came into a more populous dis- 
 trict and through small villages, with substantial farm buildings 
 and fire-proof storehouses. Through these places we rode at the 
 head of an amused crowd, whose size was limited only by the 
 extent of the population. 
 
 Large numbers of mulberry trees now showed that we were 
 entering the silk district of Hachiogi. The country was divided 
 into small fields, by rows of these trees crossing each other at 
 right angles, leaving the squares thus enclosed open for the culti- 
 vation of grain. They are planted a few yards apart, having the 
 
CHAP. Yii.] YOKOHAMA. 103 
 
 trunks cut off at a height of from one to five feet from the 
 ground. This dwarfing process not only hinders them from shad- 
 ing the adjoining grain, but is said to improve the quality of the 
 icaf. 
 
 Occasionally a well-huilt stone wall, enclosing extensive and 
 wooded grounds, and broken by an imposing gateway, showed 
 that we were passing the home of some man of more than ordin- 
 ary rank. In building walls the Japanese show a great deal of 
 both taste and skill, although the masonry is among them con- 
 fined almost exclusively to substructures, gateways, and tombs. 
 Indeed, the prevalence of earthquakes prohibits the use of cither 
 stone or bricks for houses. Where a suitable rock can be ob- 
 tained, walls are constructed of large and well-dressed blocks, 
 neatly laid together without mortar ; but where the country fur- 
 nishes only rubble or stone of irregular shape, they are used with 
 mortar in such a manner that while the stones nearly touch each 
 other, the white cement seems to occupy the greater part of the 
 surface and produces a very beautiful effect. In building sea 
 walls of dry masonry, large blocks of lava cut into truncated 
 four-sided pyramids are used. 
 
 The fences surrounding farm-houses are always exceedingly 
 neat; sometimes they are well-kept hedges of living bamboo, 
 but more generally they are formed of interwoven bamboo and 
 reeds. 
 
 Toward evening we reached Hachiogi, a large town, and 
 stopped at the best looking inn, where we were shown to a large 
 room on the second floor. As foreigners generally insist on 
 wea ring theii' boots on the delicate Japanese mats, it is difficul t 
 for^ them to gain admission to any ho use where the proprietor 
 has once had his floors disfigured, and when admitted they usu- 
 ally rec eive the poorest rooms. W hile we were eating,"arid~till 
 late in the evening, we were surrounded by more people than 
 we could have wished for. As I was about to pass my first night 
 in a Japanese house, I watched anxiously the preparations for 
 sleeping. These were simple enough : a mattrass in the form of 
 a very thick quilt, about seven feet long by four wide, was spread 
 on the floor; and over it was laid an ample robe, very long, and 
 heavily padded, and provided with large sleeves. Having put 
 on this night-dress, the sleeper covers himself with another quilt, 
 
104 ACROSS AMEBIGA AND ASIA. [chap. tii. 
 
 and sleeps, i. e., if he has had some years' practice in the use of 
 this hed. 
 
 Butjthejnost remarkahlefeature about a Japanese bed is the 
 pillow. This is a wooden box about four inches high, eight 
 inches long, and two inches wide at the top. It has a cushio n 
 of folded pap e rs on the upper side to rest the neck o n, for the 
 elaborate manner of dressing, the hair does not permit the Japa- 
 nese, especially the women, to press the head on a pillow. Every 
 mornin g the uppermost paper is taken off, from the cushion, ex - 
 posing a clean surface with out the expense of washing a pillow- 
 case. 
 
 I passed the greater part of the night in learning how to poise 
 my head in this novel manner ; and when I finally closed my eyes, 
 it was to dream that I was being slowly beheaded, and, to awake 
 at the crisis to find the pillow bottom-side up, and my neck resting 
 on the sharp lower edge of the box. During my stay in the 
 country I learned many of its customs, mastering the use of 
 chop-sticks, and accustoming my pal ate to raw fresh fish , but the 
 attempt to balance my head on a two-inch pillow I gave up in 
 despair, after trying in vain to secure the box by tying it to my 
 neck and head. 
 
 Early the following morning we strolled through the town, 
 looking in at many of the shops. In these we saw none of the 
 choice lacquer ware and porcelain which are sold at the ports 
 visited by foreigners. There were few articles of luxury, but 
 mostly the objects of necessary consumption, as grain, vegetables, 
 dried fish, sea weed, native cotton and silk stuffs, copper, iron 
 and earthen-Avare, and common china, and lacquer work. A sign 
 exposed in front of an apothecary's bore in gilded Roman letters 
 " Van Hitter's Medicines," and looked to us much as the chai'- 
 acters on the sign of a New York tea-store must appear to a 
 Chinaman. 
 
 On our I'eturn to the inn, a man brought a card covered with 
 eggs of the silk-worm : it was about ten inches by fourteen, and 
 contained, according to the owner, 80,000 eggs ; the price was 
 one dollar. Our hotel bill for four persons, four horses, and five 
 servants, was five and a half dollars. As we rode out of the 
 town the streets filled rapidly with a crowd, which grew larger 
 and larger as we proceeded. 
 
CHAP. VII.] YOKOHAMA. 105 
 
 Every house tuniecT out its quota, every cross-street poured in 
 its thousands, until a surging sea of heads filled the street be- 
 hind us. "Tojin! Tojin!" (Chinaman! Chinaman !) greeted us 
 on all sides, till we were almost deafened. If one of us stopped 
 and wheeled round, the efiect was laughable : the whole crowd, 
 now as eager to run away as they had been to follow us, turned, 
 and those behind cried " forward," while those before cried 
 " back ; " till we left them tumbling one over the other, all 
 laughing, crying, and yelling at the same time. There was no 
 intention to insult us, as often happened in the fishing villages 
 where men and children would run after us, yelling " bacca ! 
 bacca ! " (fool ! fool !) In both Japan and China Jbe farming 
 population is the best behaved tow ard f oreign ers. 
 
 After a ride of several miles over a plain which was little culti- 
 vated, we descended into a picturesque valley, and soon came to 
 a small temple, which looked with the beautiful grounds sur- 
 rounding it so inviting that we entered. Two buildings, flanking 
 the entrance, contained the usual gate-keepers, colossal images 
 with horrible faces, brandishing weapons and standing on impos- 
 sible lions. Near the middle of the ojjen space stood a shrine, 
 with a beautifully-executed gUded bronze image, about sixteen 
 feet high, of Budda standing on the lotus. On one side there 
 was a large bronze stork on a tortoise, and on the other a 
 graceful vase of the same metal. 
 
 The main building was a Sintu temple. A series of pretty 
 water-color paintings, in which dragons, warriors, and mermaids 
 predominated, hung on the walls ; there was one image, that of 
 an ugly man with a demoniacal face, who we were told by the 
 polite priest was the devil. 
 
 A few miles further on, the road entered a small village, where, 
 at the inn, the old landlady and several pretty waitresses came 
 out and asked us to dismount. Such an unusual reception made 
 it evident that no foreigners had visited this j)lace before ; so 
 getting down, we reijioved our shoes and entei-ed the neatly mat- 
 ted rooms. We were received in the same manner that is usual 
 among Japanese : the landlady came first, and getting on her 
 marrow-bones and touching the floor with her forehead hoped we 
 were well and had had a pleasant journey; theu came a remark, 
 ably handsome w&itress who, after much bowing and many polite 
 
106 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, -v 
 
 questions, went out for refreshments. First confectionery w 
 brought in (for in Japan this precedes everything else), and aft 
 that soup, boiled rice, eggs, sea weed, and stewed clams. 
 
 Late in the afternoon we reached the village of Koyasu, bu 
 on the hill-side at the foot of the Oyama. As in many mounta 
 villages in Japan, the main street went directly up the declivi 
 by a series of narrow steps and terraces. Up this difficult roi 
 we uro-ed our horses, apparently without attracting anyattentii 
 from the inhabitants. To our surprise not a child followed us 
 the street, and the few people we passed continued their occup 
 tions without looking up. This was something so unusual th 
 we were at a loss to understand the reason, till on applying at t 
 first inn we were refused entrance, when we concluded that t 
 police were at the bottom of the affair. The hostess met us 
 the door and informed us that her husband being away at Yedd 
 and there being absolutely nothing to eat in the house, and i 
 servants, and as the house was being repaired, it would be ii 
 possible to receive us, but we would find better accommodatior 
 little further up the street ; so we climbed a hundred steps 
 more to the next inn. Here the hostess appeared and regretti 
 the impossibility of entertaining us : her husband had died th 
 day ; but there was a much better place, she said, a little higher v 
 Although it was raining furiously, and we were already drench 
 to the skin, we rode perseveringly up stairs. Nearly half a m: 
 of climbing up the slippery stone steps brought us into the c^ 
 ning, but no nearer to a bed ; every inn seemed to have been sii 
 denly visited by an afflicting angel, prostrating the proprietor, t 
 in one place the gates were rudely shut in our faces and we we 
 warned off. To think of riding back ten or fifteen miles in 
 rainy night was out of the question, so we determined on retui 
 ing to the house where we had first been turned away, and obta 
 ing quarters by politeness if possible. 
 
 Inwardly cursing the yaleoninerie (as Sir R. Alcock aptly ca 
 ' it) of the police, we rode our sure-footed horses down the ha 
 mile flight of stairs, to the place where we had made our fi: 
 trial. Here resolutely dismounting, we waited, while Mr. Hall, w 
 spoke the language well, besieged the hostess. By persuasive ] 
 liteness he carried the point, where force would probably hg 
 failed, and been followed by serious results. Once in, we W( 
 
CH.vp. ^^I.] YOKOHAMA. IQI 
 
 treated well, not only by the hostess, but by the landlord also 
 As -we were eating, a sharp shock of an earthquake shook the 
 house, which vibrated for some seconds. No one becomes, I be- 
 lieve, accustomed to these phenomena ; the uncertainty which 
 hangs over all the phases of an earthquake-wave darts through 
 the mind of man as well as brutes a ray of terror, which seems 
 frequently to precede the first shock. It has often been remarked 
 iu connection with the more fearful of historical earthquakes, 
 that before a shock has been felt the entire population of a city 
 have rushed from their houses at the same instant, as if driven by 
 an instinctive impulse. Certainly animals are warned of the ap- 
 proaching danger before man feels even a tremor, a fact which 
 may be explained by their greater sensitiveness ; and it may be 
 that the senses of man, especially in regions where he lives in a 
 chronic state of expectation of these convulsions, are open to im- 
 pressions so delicate that they affect only the inferior machinery 
 of the brain, 
 
 Japan is one of the great centres of earthquake action, and 
 the dates of the destructive shocks occupy a considerable portion 
 of their chronological records during more than two thousand 
 years. An eruption of ,the volcano Asamayama, in Shinano, in 
 1783, was accompanied by a fearful loss of life ; thousands of 
 people were swallowed up by great chasms which rent the earth, 
 and into which they were plunged in escaping from lava, ashes, 
 and torrents of boiling water. In 1854 the Russian frigate " Diana " 
 witnessed in the harbor of Simoda an earthquake whose centre 
 seems to have been submarine. Three immense waves rushing 
 in from the sea covered the highest trees, and dashed the native 
 shipping to pieces on the inland hilLsides, while in their return 
 they scoured out the harbor to its rocky bottom so that it is 
 said anchors can no longer find holding ground. The frigate 
 was " spun round and round at anchors," and left almost a wreck. 
 The waves produced by this shock translating themselves across 
 the Pacific ocean, recorded their dimensions on the tide guages 
 of California. From the elements, thus afforded, of length of 
 wave and time of ti-ansmission, Professor Bache was able to cal 
 culate the mean depth of the North Pacific. The same wave 
 swept across the China Sea and up the Yangt'z Iviang.* 
 
 * Edkins, in " Year-Book of Facts," 1855. 
 
lOS AOBOSS AMEEIGA AND ASIA. [chap, vn 
 
 Owing to the frequency of these phenomena the houses are 
 necessarily built of wood, which causes all great shocks to be fol- 
 lowed by fearful conflagrations, and proportionate loss of life. 
 Everywhere the traveller meets with the vestiges of these com- 
 motions in fallen tombstones and granite columns. In the 
 grounds of a temple in the western suburb of Yeddo, I observed 
 a large monolith which had been turned nearly 45 degrees on its. 
 base, presenting an instance similar to that observed on the obe- 
 lisks of a Calabrian convent. This last has been cited to prove 
 that there are sometimes gyratory shocks. In both instances it 
 is probable that the turning was produced simply by the rock- 
 ing motion imparted to stones whose centres of gravity were out 
 of the axial line. 
 
 In the morning we set out on foot to climb the mountain. 
 The temples near the summit have great celebrity, and are visit- 
 ed by many pilgrims. The stone steps are said to extend to the 
 highest point. After about half a mile of climbing up the street 
 of stairs through the village, an ofiicer joined our party, and 
 seemed disposed to make himself agreeable in answering ques- 
 tions. A little further on we found ten or twelve ofiicials drawn 
 up in a line across the street, near an inn. With a great many 
 bows they pointed to the open door, and pressed us to enter and 
 take some refreshments. Of course we could not refuse; the lion 
 in the path was too strong to be turned by force. 
 
 When we had taken our places on the mats, the officers, seat- 
 ing themselves in a semi-circle between us and the door, ordered 
 confectionery and tea, which were produced so quickly that it 
 was evident they had planned the whole thing beforehand. We 
 Boon came to business : we asserting our wish to visit the temples, 
 and our right to travel twenty-five miles from the port ; they 
 " regretting " that their instructions were to consider Koyasu 
 the extreme limit, as it was twenty-five miles by the road. Of 
 course we had to yield ; but we effected a compromise by promis- 
 ing to return if they would allow lis to visit a neighboring hill to 
 see the view. Reluctantly agreeing to this they led the way, 
 and we had gone some distance before we found that they were 
 taking us back by another road. Determined not to be outdone 
 in this manner, we insisted upon seeing the view, and starting 
 back over the fields reached a small eminence, where there was 
 
CiiAP. vn.] TOKOHAATA. 109 
 
 a fine look-out over tlie plains between Wodawaia bay and the 
 bay of Yeddo. Expressing ourselves satisfied ^yitla this, -wo 
 turned our steps down-hill and entered the main road, where we 
 found that a large canvas curtain with the arms of the Tykoou 
 had been stretched across the street, and a guard-house erected. 
 
 In descending the steps our attention was drawn toward a 
 group of fifteen or more representations of the phallus. They 
 were of sandstone, from a few inches to two feet long, and stood 
 erect around a central column containing a cavity either intended 
 to hold a lantern or an incense-burner. The. phallus enters largely 
 into the symbols of the popular religion, if one may judge by the 
 great number of representations of it exposed for sale. It would 
 be interesting to know whether this is a feature of the older re- 
 ligion of Japan, or whether it was introduced into the country from 
 India. I believe thei'e is no trace of it in either China or Tartary, 
 and the fact that it is incorporated into the Sintu ceremonies 
 would seem to show that it existed here before the introduction 
 of Buddism. The wide geographical range which this symbol 
 occupied in antiquity from the earlier and later mysteries of Greece, 
 Rome, Samothrace, and Egypt to India, and as it would seem to 
 Central America, renders its discovery in actual nse in a country 
 where it co-exists with a very ancient religion exceedingly inter- 
 esting. 
 
 The Takonins sent a spy after us in the person of a man who 
 pretended he was going to Yokohama on business, but we soon 
 left him behind. In the afternoon we reached a river which could 
 be crossed only on a ferry ; a flat-boat was there, but the ferry- 
 man refused to take us over, and it was not without some difficulty 
 that we succeeded in crossing by ourselves. News of our inva- 
 sion had gone before, and at the first town we were met by 
 wondering officers and wardens with their jingling staves of iron, 
 to whom however we did not give a chance to repeat the hospi- 
 talities we had received from their colleagues in the morning at 
 Koyasu. 
 
 Here we entered the tolcaido, the great highway which follows 
 the eastern coast from one end of Nipon to the other. There is a 
 net-work of these thoroughfares by which the provinces of the coast 
 and mountains are connected among themselves and with each other 
 respectively. They would be necessary, if only as military roads, 
 
110 ACB0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, vil 
 
 to accommodate the transit of the army which each prince is 
 obliged to take with him on his yearly journey to Yeddo. These 
 highways, so important from both a military and commercial 
 point of view, are part of the imperial domain, though they traverse 
 the territories of almost all independent daimios. 
 
 As wagons or carts are next to unknown, these roads are in- 
 tended only for pedestrians and horsemen, and are not always in 
 perfect condition in the rainy season. They are made broad in 
 order that the trains of two princes may conveniently pass eaCh 
 other. 
 
 The tokaldo is lined on either side with villages, the larger of 
 these extending their suburbs in eachdireotion one or two niiles. 
 Thus for a great part of the distance the highway presents the 
 appearance of a city street. But at intervals the traveller comes 
 into the open country, where, as he moves onward on horseback 
 or in a norimon, shaded by ancient elms and oaks, he may enjoy 
 the ever-varying scenery, and turn his eyes from lovely hill and 
 dale, woodland and green terraces, on one side, to bold head- 
 lands and island-dotted bays on the other. The scenery along 
 the coast of southern and central Japan is as beautiful as it is 
 j)eculiar. The coast is very bold, and indented with thousands, 
 of bays and fiords. The surf is dashed to foam on countless rocks 
 covered with a gorgeous carpeting of bright-colored sea mosses 
 and shells. There are islets worn by time and wave into fantastic 
 shapes, and islands rising with high, vertical walls, capped with a 
 dense mass of trees and plants, which overhang t"he precipice in 
 their luxuriant growth. Here and there a wooded island, rising 
 like a pyramid of verdure,.is capped with an ancient temple, made 
 accessible by long flights of stone steps, which, beginning under 
 an archway on' the beach, climb the- steep hill-side, half hidden by 
 the overhanging tree s. The general absence of beach , the dark vol- 
 canic rock and rich shades of greenj combined in every variety 
 of outline, surrounded- by the sapphire blue of a deep sea, and 
 covered by a sky like that which vaults the Mediterranean — these 
 are distinctive features of Japanese marine scenery. In the fury 
 of a typhoon it is as awfUl as it is enchanting in a calm. The 
 Suwonada or inland s6a, which separates Nipon from Kiusiu and 
 Sikoku, is described by all who have passed through it as beirlg 
 beautiful beyond description. 
 
CHAP. vii.J TOKOITAMA. 
 
 Ill 
 
 But to return to the tokaido, under the shade of whose elms we 
 are trotting. . Groups of travellers are strung along the road ; here 
 and there a horseman riding, if he bear two swords, astride a sad- 
 dle with a peculiar heavy stirrup of iron, his horse's mape dressed 
 like a cheval-de-frize with paper cord, and its tail carefully en- 
 cased in a bag ; or if the rider be a merchant, he is perched cross- 
 legged on a high pack-saddle, and carried slowly by a sorry beast. 
 Another group of daimios' retainers and baggage-bearers, separ- 
 ated from the main train, loiter at a roadside booth, drinking tea 
 or saki, and scowling at the passing foreigners. As we canter 
 gently onward we overtake an humble traveller, bent up in the 
 basket cango, which, slung under a pole, is borne by two men at a 
 trot, who have concluded that it is easier to carry clothing on the 
 cango than on their backs. 
 
 Soon a rise in the road shows us a larger group slowly ascend- 
 ing the hill before us. From tlie number of retainers it seems to 
 belong to a man of high rank, perhaps an inferior daimio. A con- 
 siderable number of soldiers and men bearing lances, spears, tri- 
 dents, and other insignia, on long poles, are straggling along the 
 road escorting a large norimon, behind which a caparisoned horse 
 is led by grooms. Richardson had not then been murdered for 
 trying to pass the train of a prince, so following the rule of the road 
 we cross to the right side, and pass the cortege. Strolling mendi- 
 cants and begging priests, with bells or rattles, sturdy story- 
 tellers and pretty-faced bikunins, or travelling nuns, as they are 
 charitably called, make the tokaido their home, and find on it the 
 means of subsistence. I never learned whether the story-tellers 
 have the power of improvising, though I have reason to believe 
 that they have, since I felt more than once that a laugh was raised 
 in the streets at my expense by these popular characters. 
 
 Much mention has . been made by travellers of the mendicant 
 nuns or bikunins, of whom I saw several ; they are generally young 
 and pretty, though not always so charming as they have been rep- 
 resented. Kaempfer has described them : "We also met several 
 young bikunins, a sort of begging nuns, who accost travellers for 
 their charity, singing songs to divert them, though upon a strange, 
 wild sort of tune. They will stay with travellers as long as they 
 may wish for a small matter. Most of them are daughters of the 
 yamabushi, or mountain priests, and are consecrated as sisters 
 
112 AGSOSS AMEBIGA AND ASIA. [chap, ve 
 
 of this holy hegging order by having their heads shaved. The; 
 are neatly and well clad, wearing a black-silk hood upon thei 
 shaven heads, and a light hat over it to defend their faces fron 
 the heat of the sun. Their behavior is to all appearance free 
 yet modest, neither too bold and loose, nor too dejected anc 
 mean. As to their persons, they are as great beauties as one shal 
 see in this country. In short, the whole scene is more like a pretty 
 stage comedy than the begging of indigent poor people. It ii 
 true, indeed, their fathers could not send out upon the begging er 
 rand persons more fit for it, since they know not onlyliow tc 
 come at travellers' purses, but have charms and beauties enougl 
 to oblige them to further good services: * * * They arc 
 obliged to bring so much a year of what they get by begging tc 
 the temple of the sun goddess at Isse, by way of tribute."* 
 
 It was already late in the evening when we rode through Kaa 
 agawa and over the long causeway to Yokohama. 
 
 The greater part of my time was spent in trying to learn Ja- 
 panese. I soon saw the hopelessness of attempting to master the 
 written language, as the task of wading through hundreds of 
 varied and obscure letters of the running hirakana, in addition tc 
 some thousands of Chinese characters, was one requiring years of 
 patient toil where I could spare only months, and one which had 
 not then been accomplished by any foreigner. My object was 
 simply to learn the vernacular. The pure Japanese language is 
 considered by Klaproth and other leading authorities to stand 
 alone, forming a family by itself, whose nearest relationship, 
 though very remote, seems to be with the Mongolian and Manchu, 
 Siebold and others have tried to trace analogies between it and 
 some South American tongues, as those of the Incas and some 
 Brazilian tribes, and resemblances have been pointed out between 
 it and some Californian and South Sea dialects. But these analo- 
 gies are based rather on coincidences in words than on grammati- 
 cal structure, and the former have now far less weight with philolo- 
 gists than the latter. And this calls to my mind a remarkable 
 coincidence, which shows how unreliable results must often be 
 which are obtained by a simple comparison of words. The Japan- 
 ese word signifying anger is ihari, while an anchor is also ikari. 
 
 * "Japan; an account, Geographical and Historical." Clias. JTacFarlane ; qnotin° 
 Eaempfer. 
 
CHAP, vn.] YOKOHAMA. 113 
 
 a coincidence in the double application of words whicli is certainly 
 not based on any generic aflGinity between Japanese and English. 
 
 Spoken by a Japanese lady, this language is as soft and almost 
 as musical as Italian ; but when sung under your windows by 
 some half-drunken wight, who finishes each line with an explosive 
 abruptness, suggestive of a punch in the stomach, it .s anything 
 but harmonious. The verbs are easily formed, a large part by 
 the combination of auxiliary and intransitive verbs with nouns, 
 prepositions, etc., as loakaru, understand — from the noun wafe, 
 meaning, and art, to have ; sh'ta-n-inc, stoop, humble, from sh''ta, 
 below, and iru, to go. Every verb has a form of etiquette and a 
 familiar form, each of which has an independent inflection. The 
 polite form is obtained by suffixing the particle mas to the root, 
 as aru, arimas, or more politely go-z-arhnas, — all three of them 
 forms of the present tense of the verb to have. The verbs are not 
 inflected as to either person or number. There is no distinction 
 for gender in the grammar, though sex is indicated in some words 
 by particles. The plural is formed, in nouns and pronouns, by 
 suffixes, as domo,tachi, watahushi, I ; loatakushidomo, we. Nouns 
 and pronouns are declined by the addition of suffixes, as ten, heaven ; 
 nominative, ten-^oa, or ten-7iga, heaA-en ; possessive, ten-no, of 
 heaven ; dative, tcn-i, or ten-ni, to heaven ; accusative, ten-vM, 
 heaven; ablative, ten-de. While in some resi^ects there is great 
 simplicity in the Japanese grammar, as in gender and number, in 
 others it is very complicated, as in its verbs, and in the endless 
 number of representative words used for different classes of 
 objects in connection with the cardinal numerals. 
 
 With the introduction of the classical literature of China into 
 Japan began the incorporation of many Chinese words into the 
 native language, and at present even the vocabulary of the lower 
 classes contains a large number of these, in addition to the coi- 
 responding native words. But in the official language, the pro- 
 portion is so large that it becomes nearly, if not quite, unintelli- 
 srible to the lower classes. All official writing and important 
 literature is written in the Chinese character, often modified for 
 inflection, etc., by Japanese letters. Good penmanship is one of 
 the first requirements of a Japanese gentleman or scholar, and a 
 well-penned character or sentence is often considered as much a 
 work of art as a fine painting. 
 8 
 
CHAPTER yill. 
 
 POLITICS. 
 
 DtTEiNG our stay at Yokohama we might undoubtedly have 
 seen far more of the country had we chosen to ask for the 
 right to make excursions in our character of foreigners in the 
 Jajjanese service, a step we did not wish to take before we should 
 have' performed some of our duties. As subjects- of a foreign 
 power we had no right to pass the narrow treaty limits, nor would 
 it have been always safe to have done so even tinder the protec- 
 tion of a Government permit. The relations between foreigners 
 and natives were daily becoming more complicated, and a civil 
 war was threatening to break out at any moment. Foreign min- 
 isters, in the general obscurity that hides the whole political and 
 social organization of the empire, not knowing whether our ene- 
 mies were in the Government of the Taikoon or among the dai- 
 mios, distrusted both alike. Under the pressure of the anti-for- 
 eign party of powerful princes, the Yeddo Government was losing 
 ground, and the Taikoon menaced with disgrace, should he not 
 withdraw at least the greater part of the privileges granted to 
 Western powers. To understand the condition of Japan at pres- 
 ent, ani the standing of foreigners in it, as well as the pros- 
 pect of increasing'benefits to be derived from our intercourse with 
 that country, it will be necessary to give a brief outline of this 
 political organization, so far as our information on this obscure 
 subject will jermit. 
 
 From the time when Jinmu, establishing himself as a deity, 
 Son of Heaven, founded the present dynasty and its divine prerog- 
 atives, down to the twelfth century, the power transmitted to his 
 descejidants appears to have been sufficient to enlarge and govern 
 the empire, to carry on foreign wars, and to control the growing 
 strength of the princes, among whom the land seems at an early date 
 to have been divided into iiefs. In the natural course of a develop- 
 ing feudalism the power of the Mikado waned before the combi- 
 
CHAP. VIII.] POLITICS. 115 
 
 nations of feudatory lords, -wlio were fast becoming independent 
 princes, till in the twelfth century the balance threatened to be 
 lost, and the imperial power to be buried amid internal strife. 
 "We bave seen how Yoritomo, entrusted by the Mikado with ex- 
 traordinary power, succeeded in giving a temporary check to these 
 internal troubles, and in laying the foundation on which was to be 
 built the rival taikoonate. The check given by Yoritomo to the 
 daimios was merely temporary ; it remained for the strong hand 
 of Taikosama to restore the balance, not as between the princes and 
 the Mikado, but between them and the taikoonate ; the latter, while 
 continning. the nominal power of the supreme emperor, using this 
 as a makeweight in the scale. 
 
 Sprung from the people, Taiko, even while founding as he 
 vainly hoped a line of sovereigns, could have little sympathy 
 with the great princes, who were alike dangerous to the empire 
 and to the newly-established power. He found the integrity of 
 the empire threatened by the independence of these daimios, 
 while the allegiance of people jxnd princes was being transferred 
 to the Church of Rome. To break these powers was his task. 
 The uprooting of Christianity was merely begun by him; it was 
 left for his immediate- successors to crush out a religion that was 
 menacing the independence of the land. The policy introduced 
 by Taiko, and carried to completion by the more powerful among 
 his successors, consisted in subdividing the sixty principalities, 
 until' they now immber more than six hundred. To facilitate 
 this work he engaged the empire in a war with Corea, in which 
 the most dangerous daimios Avere drained of their resources to 
 an extent that rendered them temporarily harmless. How many 
 of the six hundred daimios hold tlieir lands in fief from the Tai- 
 koon is not known to foreigners, but it seems that daimios of 
 this class form the military barrier which defends the court of 
 Yeddo. 
 
 Within this wall is the intricate machinery of the Governnient ; 
 and here we come to the large class of hattamoto — the bureau- 
 cracy of Japan. These are the officials proper — not daimios, but 
 salaried servants of the Taikoon— receiving their pay in rice, 
 money, or land. They foi-m the three arms of the service, and a 
 list issued monthly publishes the promotions and changes made 
 in their numbers. 
 
116 ACMOSii AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, viii 
 
 Among the many checks placed on the daimios, the most im- 
 portant is perhaps the obligation to live half the time at Yeddo,' 
 "while during the other half they are forced to leave their families 
 at the capital as hostages. The large standing army each prince 
 is obliged to maintain, at home and at Yeddo, is a constant drain 
 upon his' resources. They appear to be prohibited from visiting 
 each other, and all intercourse between them seems to be ren- 
 dered difficult, with a view to prevent coalitions. But these 
 feudatory lords still have an immense power, and recent events 
 have shown that however absolute Taikosama and his first succes- 
 sors may have been, the Taikoon of the present time is far from 
 being so supreme as has been supposed. 
 
 The Sioguu,* or Taikoon, holds the fourth rank from the 
 Mikado, from whom he receives his investiture. Next to the 
 Taikoon comes the Council of the Kokushi, consisting of eighteen 
 or twenty-four daimios, among whom are some of the most pow- 
 erful members of the ancient aristocracy. These are the repre- 
 sentatives of the Mikado at Yeddo, and are said to take no 
 active part in the Government, but rather to form a consultative 
 body, whose duty it is to advise upon questions where their own 
 and the Mikado's sanction is necessary, as in the instances of 
 the treaties with foreign powers, when intercourse with these had 
 been prohibited by the laws of Gongensama for more than two 
 centuries. Next comes the Gorogio, called the Cabinet of the 
 Taikoon, composed of five daimios of the third class, seemingly 
 chosen from the newer aristocracy. Subordinate to the Gorogio 
 there is a council of eight ministers, also daimios, but of inferior 
 position, whose functions are supposed to be purely administra- 
 tive. 
 
 After the second council come the Bunios, of whom there seems 
 to be a large number holding a great variety of offices. A num- 
 ber of these, under the name of Gaikoko Bunio, Governors of 
 Foreign Afiairs, are said to correspond, to a certain extent, to the 
 British Under-Secretaries of State, and the American Assistant- 
 Secretaries. From the class of Bunios are appointed the gover- 
 nors of towns and judges. The larger part, if not all, of the ofli- 
 ces inferior to the above are filled from the hattamotos. 
 
 ■ * In this sketch of the organization of the Yeddo Government, I have followed Sir E. . 
 Alcock's work, " The Capital of the Tycoon," and the author of the App. D, in the same 
 book. 
 
CHAP. Yin.] POLITICS. 117 
 
 Almost eveiy office is duplicated, perhaps every one below the 
 Taikoon. Every officer who holds a position of any responsibility, 
 down to the subalterns of the custom house, is attended by a 
 metzki, or an ometzki, according to the rank of tlie officei". These 
 have generally been called spies by foreigners, but they are mdi-e 
 properly auditors, and they constitute not only a powerful check 
 against misconduct in office, but are at the same time official 
 advisers on all questions. They are, at least sometimes, promoted 
 to fill the positions of those whose auditors they have been. At 
 the consular ports there are several metzkis, whose duty it is to 
 be present at all interviews between foreigners and any official. 
 These report to the ometzki, whose duty it is to attend the Gov- 
 ernor. The ometzki reports to a board of o-o-metzkis at Yeddo. 
 Once a year members of this board make tours of inspection 
 through the empire. 
 
 But apart from this open system of control there is a net-work 
 of espionage spreading its secret meshes over every part of the 
 empire, and surrounding the actions of mikado, daimio, and 
 official, and, to a certain extent also, of the people. Working in 
 profound secresy, the spy adopts the apparent position most 
 likely to further his object. One of the embassadors to the 
 United States was at one time a spy of th is class in Hakodade, 
 circulating among the inhabitants in the disguise of a pedlar. 
 
 So m.uch for the machinery of Government ; concerning the 
 population, whose political and social life it controls, our informa- 
 tion is not much more definite. They are divided into classes, 
 not indeed as strongly marked as are the castes in India, but still 
 fenced in with all the restrictions of feudalism. These classes 
 are said to be eight in number, viz : 
 
 1. The daimios, many of whom hold large territories in the 
 administration of the affairs in which they are virtually indepen- 
 dent, possessing despotic power over the lives of then- subjects. 
 These princes rank according to their revenues, which, estimated in 
 kokos* of rice, vary from 1,200,000 to 10,000 kokoas (£769,728 
 to £6,400.) t 
 
 2. Hereditary nobility, not daimos, holding their estates in 
 fief from daimios or the Taikoon, and obliged to furnish fight- 
 ing men in proportion to the value of the estates. This class is, 
 
 • One Koko equals about 100 lbs. + Alcock's "Capital of the Tycoon," App. D. 
 
118 ACROSS AMEBIC A AND ASIA. [chap, viil 
 
 I believe, the liattamoto, at least those in it who are vassals of 
 the Taikoon. 
 
 3. Priests of all sects. - 
 
 4. Soldiers, vassals of the nobility. 
 
 'The members of these four upper classes have, among other 
 privileges, those of wearing two swords and Turkish trousers, 
 and may ride on saddles. 
 
 5. Professional men, as physicians, government clerks, etc. 
 
 6. Merchants of the higher class, who, although possessing 
 perhaps the greatest wealth of any class in the empire, are looked 
 down upon by those above them, from whose ranks they are 
 excluded. Still some of the gi-eat merchant faniilies in which 
 wealth has accumulated for many generations, affect Considerable 
 state in travelling, and it is not impossible that some among tliem 
 may hold a social position somewhat analogous to that of a Roths- 
 child in aristocratic Austria. 
 
 7. This class includes smaller dealers, mechanics, artisans, 
 and artists. 
 
 8. Peasantry and day laborers of all descriptions. 
 
 Below these there is a class composed of workers "in leather, 
 who are pariahs, living in suburbs, separated from. the rest of the 
 inhabitants, and not allowed to enter even a roadside inn ; they 
 furnish the executioners. 
 
 There is another subdivision into classes which has rather refer- 
 ence to classification of occupations in the abstract, viz : war, 
 agriculture, scholarship, trade. 
 
 The great mass of producers and manufacturers, forming a 
 class far below the consumers, are merely tolerated, and their 
 position is not much better than serfdom. The common soldier 
 enjoys privileges which the merchant, often far better educated 
 and richer, may not hope to see accrue to either himself or his 
 descendants. One would suppose that in absence of the ability 
 to pass from the lower to the higher ranks all incentive would be 
 wanting for the accumulation of surplus wealth, in a country 
 wliere dress and most expenses are regulated by sumptuary law; 
 but this does not seem to be the case. 
 
 The government of the empire is best described by calling it 
 a feudalism of the most despotic kind, while at. the same time it 
 is doubtful whether any other people ever before prospered and 
 
CHAP. VIII.] POLITICS. 119 
 
 lived as happily under a feudal and despotic government as do 
 the Japanese. 
 
 The relation between the tenant and his landlord is not well 
 understood ; it is known that rent is paid in kind amounting to 
 more than half the crop, the land being frequently surveyed <o 
 determine the share ; this applies to rice, other crops being paid 
 Ml money. 
 
 We have then two great opposing elements, the Taikoon and 
 :he daimios, and between them the nominally acknowledged su- 
 zerain of both, the Mikado. The power of the Mikado is moral, 
 but even as such it is immense, and in it would seem to lie the 
 balance. This power existing in the prestige attaching to the 
 Mikado, as such, appears to be independent of any individuality, 
 and is consequently valuable only as an insti-ument in the hands 
 of one or the other of the opposing parties. During times, of 
 peace, when the national machinery runs smoothly, the Mikados 
 go through the tedious routine of living and dying, toy sovereigns 
 with a toy court ; but when some grave qiiestion arises, as of late 
 years, he becomes the object of intrigue, and the most important 
 problem appears to be who shall then control his mandates. 
 
 Although much depends upon the individual character of the 
 Taikoon, still the greater part of the power of the Yeddo Gov- 
 ernment lies in the hands of the Council of Kokushi and the Go- 
 rogio, and above these, as it would appear from their action con- 
 cerning the treaty with Commodore Perry, is the voice of the as- 
 sembled 600 daimios, to be consulted on questions of the deejjest 
 importance. From this it will be seen how difficult it is to find 
 the true seat of power. The reins seem to lie in the liands of the 
 Taikoon, and the power of this to be limited by combinations 
 among the daimios, and by the action of these through the voice of 
 the Mikado. A system of intrigue and espionage at the court of 
 Miako and among the daimios has until lately been sufficient to 
 I maintain the nice balance established by Taikosama. This cer- 
 tainly seems remarkable, when we consider that each prince keeps 
 a large standing army, and controls his own territory. 
 
 Many explanations have been attempted of the causes lying at 
 the bottom of the troubles that have attended recent intercourse 
 between foreigners and Japanese. Sir Rutherford Alcock, for 
 three yeai-s British Minister to Japan, supposes that the Govern- 
 
120 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. Tm. 
 
 ment yielded the treaties solely under the belief that a refusal 
 would be followed by a war with all the powers demanding inter- 
 course, and that they yielded with the intention of expelling for- 
 eigners so soon as they should feel strong enough. With all due 
 respect for the opinion of one who has had three years of diplo- 
 ■natic intercourse with the Yeddo Government,! cannot but think 
 that this judgment is unjust. Another explanation seems to me 
 to accord much better with the course of events which followed 
 the making of the last treaties. 
 
 For many years an increasing number among the upper 
 classes had been students of foreign sciences and, arts, to such an 
 extent as they could profit by Dutch works on these subjects and 
 translations from them. If there were no daimios among this 
 number, several of them encouraged these studies and endeavored 
 to turn them to practical account in building ships and steam- 
 boats, in casting cannon, and in establishing manufactories of dif- 
 ferent kinds. Thus some of the great princes, whatever they 
 might think of the foreigner, had evidently begun to appreciate 
 tlie material features of his civilization, and they undoubtedly 
 saw in foreign trade a means of strengthening themselves and | 
 increasing their revenues. This is proved by the fact that they 
 have shown themselves exceedingly eager to buy foreign steam- 
 ers and sailing vessels, and that their tenants have been allowed 
 to turn their attention to the production of such articles as have 
 at different times been most in demand for the Western markets. 
 I know of no reason why this remark should not be true of all the 
 daimios. 
 
 The Yeddo Government also saw in foreign trade the source 
 of a large revenue, at the same time that their knowledge of 
 Western affairs and the march of events on the shores^of the Pa- 
 cific taught them that the time was fast approaching when se- 
 clusion would be impossible. It is not likely that the making of 
 the treaties was at the time very seriously opposed. But a vio- 
 lent opposition broke out afterward. The cause of this appears 
 to have been much more in the restrictions placed by the Govern- 
 ment upon trade between the daimios and foreigners, than in 
 any hatred felt by the former toward the latter. The Govern- 
 ment, ever jealous of the princes, while it could not prevent these 
 from buying steamers, would not allow them to employ a foreigner 
 
CUAP. Till.] POLITICS. 121 
 
 ill any capacity, thus rendering the loss of costly vessels almost 
 certain, a loss which the Government may have regarded as a de- 
 sirable drain on the owners' resources. They were restricted also 
 in the purchase of arms, and finally, not only were the daimios 
 prohibited from sending any of their subjects abroad, but all 
 their products destined for the Western market could reach the 
 foreign merchant only through the hands, or under the surveil- 
 lance of Government employes, and they charged the Govern- 
 ment with retaining the lion's share of the profits. 
 
 These resti-ictions could not but excite the jealousy and opposi- 
 tion of the daimios. Among the first results of foreign inter- 
 course was a complete revolution in the relative values of labor 
 and its products, a condition of things which vreighed heavily on 
 a large part of the population, especially in the interior. Silk, one 
 of the great articles of export, nearly doubled in value at the 
 ports from 1861 to 1804. The demand for cotton produced by 
 the American war, raised tlie jprice of this necessity from a few 
 cents to over thirty cents per pound. It was the same with almost 
 everything for which there was a demand for exports. Thus in 
 Japan, which had been one of the cheapest countries in the world, 
 the prices of the necessities of life were suddenly raised to nearly 
 an equality with those in the dearest markets. The effect of this 
 was to bring great profits to the Government and to those stand- 
 ing between the producer and foreign shipper, while the producer 
 was obliged to pay for necessities and luxuries j^rices out of all 
 proportion greater than the increased value of his products. 
 Naturally, in the absence of extraordinary hindrances, time would 
 equalize the relations between labor and its products, but, at 
 best, it would take years for an equilibrium to. establish itself 
 through the whole country. The value of labor on Nipon is un- 
 known to me, but at the mines on Yesso, where it was said to be 
 much dearer, miners received 5 cents, common laborers 4 cents, 
 overseers 7 cents, and women 2 to 6 cents daily — each receiving 
 daily rations of the value of 4.5 cents. On ISTipon, rice, the main- 
 stay of life, Avas worth until recently about one cent per pound. 
 If the rise in prices bore heavily on the laboring classes, accustomed 
 to live in the strictest simplicity, it weighed still more upon the 
 immense population of less patient retainers and Government em- 
 ployes, whose pay had hitherto enabled them to dress in silk 
 
122 AOjROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. viii. 
 
 and indulge in luxuries. Having no interest, present or prospec 
 tive, in foreign intercourse, they soon became exasperated at a 
 state of tilings ■which plunged them into a condition of relative 
 poverty, since their pay remained stationary. 
 
 In addition to these causes for internal troubles, there ■were 
 intrigues among princes, ■who sought to aggrandize themselves at 
 the expense of the Taikoon. These, finding a powerful lever in 
 the rising unpopularity of the course pursued by the Yeddo 
 Government, brought it to bear at the court of the Mikado, 
 and all the more effectually that the making of the treaties 
 had been vs^ithout the consent, and probably in defiance, of that 
 sovereign. 
 
 These intrigues culminated in the organization of an opposition 
 sufficiently strong to control the Mikado, before ■whom the Taikoon 
 was summoned to appear. In the conferences of the great lords 
 of the emi3ire, assembled at Miako in 1863 and 1864, several of 
 the daimios appear to have openly advocated the removal of all 
 I'estrictions on foreign trade, and the opening of the ■whole country. 
 But the decision of the majority resulted in a decree of the Mikado, 
 commanding the Taikoon to release the princes from obligation 
 to live ■vvith their families at Yeddo, and ordering these to turn 
 all their resources toAvard preparations for -war, with a view to 
 the expulsion of the " barbarians." 
 
 Foremost among the opposition was the Prince of Chosiu, whose 
 batteries at Simonoseki command the inland sea. This daimio 
 precipitately began hostilities, which soon brought him into war 
 not only with foreign powers by firing on their vessels, but with 
 the Taikoon, and, by his attempt to seize the person of the Mikado, 
 with the court of Miako. The empire was threatened at the 
 same moment with both a civil and a foreign war. It became 
 evident how little real power the Yeddo Government possessed 
 when opposed by the daimios and the Mikado. The open ports 
 were threatened with constant danger, trade was at a standstill, 
 and the Government ^v&s pressing the abandonment of Yokohama 
 by foreigners. 
 
 A combined attack made by the foreign squadrons upon Simo- 
 noseki resulted in the immediate humbling of Chosiu, and changed 
 the whole complex of affairs. The, Taikoon Avas strengthened by 
 the humiliation of his chief opponent, and from that time the 
 
CHAP. Tin.] POLITICS. 123 
 
 course of events was progressive.* One of the most significant 
 results of this change in the political current -was the decree 
 which soon followed, permitting Japanese to go abroad — lea,ving 
 the country, axen when carried away by storms at sea, having 
 been always a capital offence. That it has been, throughout, 
 the intention of the Yeddo Government to extend their relations 
 witli the outside world, is shown, I think, by the fact of their pur- 
 cliasing foreign merchant-vessels, with the intention of opening 
 a direct trade between their own merchants and other countries. 
 Two voyages of this description were made — one to the Anioor 
 river, the other to Shanghai. The intention of the Government 
 was to open the way for a direct trade in which Japanese mer- 
 chants should compete with the foreign shippers. The history 
 of the past nine years has been marked by many acts of violence 
 which have tended to widen the breach between the Japanese and 
 ' foreigners. A few of these have perhaps had a direct ^Jolitical ori- 
 gin, but the greater number, if not all, have been acts of revenge, 
 in wliieh the victims were the provokers, or have suffered for the 
 deeds of other foreigners. Even the attempted assassination of 
 Sir R. Alcock is ascribed by that gentleman to the wish of a 
 daimio to be avenged on a foreigner of rank for having been 
 forced to demean himself by having an interview with the com- 
 mander of a Russian man-of-war. The murder of Richardson, 
 which was so fearfully avenged by the British fleet at Kagosima, 
 was another instance of the sajne class. Shimadzo Saburo, repre- 
 sentative of the powerful Prince of Satsuma, had been to Yeddo 
 as bearer of a message from the Mikado. Returning after un- 
 successful negotiadons, his large retinue was met by a party of 
 foreigners. In order to avoid any collision, the Government had 
 requested foreign ministers to warn their countrymen of the 
 danger of riding on the tokaido on that particular day. A party 
 of three Englishmen and one lady, disregarding the warning, 
 met the train beyond Kanagawa, when, as would appear from 
 the language of the lady, the soldiers tried to crowd the party 
 off from the road — a proceeding which was resented by an at- 
 tempt to break across the doable file of retainers. The latter, 
 
 * Since the above was written great changes have taken place. A revolution has heen 
 begun, of which we cannot foresee the end. The Taikoon Government has, at least for the 
 present, disappeared. It remains to be seen whether the foreign Miuisters have acted 
 wisely in using their influence in the furtherance of this revolution, in which the country 
 seems likely to be resolved into its feudal elements. 
 
124 ACBOSS AMERICA AND A8IA. [chap. yia. 
 
 drawing their swords, cut down Mr. Richardson, and the re- 
 mainder of the party escaped only with several wounds. Rich- 
 ardson, at first wounded, was afterward killed, by the order, it 
 seems, of Shimadzo Saburo. Had a Japanese of any rank tried 
 to cross a similar train he would have been cut down in like 
 manner ; but it appears from the language of the lady, immedi- 
 ately' after her escape — language quite different from that of the 
 subsequent aifidavits of the party — that there was an attempt to 
 force a passage across the train by riding down the soldiers. 
 Certainly it would seem that some such provocation was given, 
 since another foreigner, a few minutes in advance of this party, 
 met the train, and passed it without the slightest trouble. The 
 affidavits of the party, however, represented the attack as having 
 been wholly unprovoked ; and, acting on this, the British Gov- 
 ernment prepared to avenge the assassination. Satsuma was re- 
 sponsible for the act, and to his capital, Kagosima, the fleet was 
 sent, to demand the payment of £25,000 as indemnity, and the 
 execution of the murderers. After two interviews with the offi- 
 cers of Satsuma, in which the latter blamed the Taikoon's Gov- 
 ernment, and proposed that a commission should examine into 
 the indemnity question, the Charge d'Afiaires placed the matter 
 in the hands of the admiral, who seized as pledges three steamers 
 belonging to Satsuma. The Japanese, regarding this as an act 
 of hostility, opened fire, when the admiral signalled to have the 
 steamers burned. In the midst of a fierce gale, the squadron 
 brought its guns to bear on the town. 
 
 " At this time the storm was raging with great fury ; the town 
 had been fired by the shells and rockets of the fleet, and the wind 
 was carrying the flames swiftly through the streets. A dreadful 
 spectacle was thus presented. The three [captured] steamers 
 were on fire, as were also five large Lewchew junks, to which the 
 gunboat " Havoc " had separately applied the torch, and the city 
 stretching away over three miles was in flames, which were seen 
 also to envelop the green trees on the hillsides. The foundry 
 and machine shops, a mile in extent, were also on fire, and the fury 
 of the fiames kept pace with that of the storm. The next moi-n- 
 ing the fleet opened fire again on the town and batteries, some 
 of which feebly responded. Several shells were thrown into the 
 palace, which is believed to have been destroyed, as flames were 
 
CHAP. Yiii.] POLITICS. 125 
 
 seen to issue from it as the fleet left. " The account from wliicli 
 I quote adds : " It was thought that sufficient had been accom- 
 plished by way of punishment, and that further proceedings would 
 be regarded as vindictive ! " 
 
 The attacking squadron suffered severely, and lost fifty-six offi- 
 cers and men. The loss of life among the population of the city is 
 said to have been very great, as no notice whatever was given 
 of the intended bombardment. Indeed, scarcely thirty-six hours 
 passed between the arrival of the fleet and the attack. Thus many 
 lives were lost, and a city laid in ruins, and with it the extensive 
 machine shops — the nucleus of foreign civilization in Japan — all 
 because a foreigner had been killed in attempting to do that which 
 law and custom punish with death in Japanese subjects. "When 
 a young Englishman was shot down in Rome by a French sentinel 
 whom he approached, not having understood the challenge, did 
 any one think that offence called for the bombardment of a Frencli 
 city ? It was in fact in perfect accord with the policy followed by 
 the West in treating with the East. When an Englishman, or an 
 American, or a Frenchman — starting from the firm belief that all ori- 
 entals are infinitely beneath his own race — assumes that they have 
 no rights he is bound to respect ; ignores the fact that, as a stran- 
 ger, he is tolerated in their land by courtesy or necessity, and forci- 
 bly .attempts to assert that superiority ; he should be taught that he 
 does so at his own risk. As with the individual, so with the nation. 
 The representativesof the Western governments ai-e clothed with 
 almost sovereign power, and are only too often also imbued with 
 the prej udice of race. That which they would not dream of doing in 
 the face of an European power, they often do not hesitate to prac- 
 tice toward a weaker oriental nation — constantly violating interna- 
 tional law at the same time that they demand of them an observ- 
 ance of it. Thus at Kagosima we find the fleet arriving on the 
 evening of the 11th. Negotiations during the 12th resulted in a 
 letter which did not refuse compliance with the weighty demands 
 of the English, but proposed the appointment of commissioners by 
 Satsuma and the Taikoon to determine whether the former was 
 responsible for the murder, or the latter from not having stipulated 
 in the treaties that foreigners should not be bound to observe the 
 same rules of the road that are obligatory among the natives. 
 This letter was evasive, and early on the 13th the steamers of Sat- 
 
126 ACROSS AMEBICA AND ASIA. [chap., vui. 
 
 suma were seized without any notification that they were taken as 
 pledges, and not as a declaration of war. This is resented by a hrisk 
 fire upon the squadron. The admiral fiDrthwith burns the three 
 prizes and other shipping, and within half an hour has began a fierce 
 bombardment, not of the batteries only, but of a large city, amid 
 whose converging flames thousands of innocent people find their 
 death. Surely these things are done quicker in eastern than in 
 western waters ; and what can prevent hasty action where all 
 depends on one word from one man, and where that word, on 
 which hang the lives of thousands, may depend on the state of 
 that man's digestion ? 
 
 Leaving justice out of the question, the material interests of 
 the West require a thorough change in its policy to ward orientals . 
 Throughout eastern Asia we have to deal with people on whom, 
 at present, we are far more dependent than they are upon us ; 
 at the same time we are hoping to create among them the prin- 
 cipal markets for the products of our industry. The creation of 
 such markets presupposes the creation of wants, which are wholly 
 inconsistent w ith a condition of de cay, and which can be gratified 
 only by the products of an industry of which a vigorous national 
 vitality must necessarily be the basis. Ev erything that tends t o 
 impair that vitality , whether it be the indirect encouragement of 
 anarchy, through the weakening of the government, or by the 
 forced introduction of opium, operates directly a gain st the inte r- 
 es ts of the We st. Both justice and our own interests demand that 
 our diplomacy with these people shall start not from the assump- 
 tion that they are an inferior race ; but that, owing to continued 
 isolation, they are now a century or more behind us — and this not 
 in all things, but in a few of those essential points of our civiliza- 
 tion at which Western nations have successively arrived at recent 
 dates. Starting from this point, and looking upon them as capable, 
 under favorable circumstances, of rising to the average level of 
 Western countries, it will be the duty of the West to render the 
 conditions necessary to such an elevation as favorable as possible. 
 The cunning of the Japanese or Chinese statesman, by which he 
 seeks to compensate for his nation's weakness, not only in exciting 
 jealousies among foreign ministers, but in a thousand other ways, 
 must be met by a just and united action on the part of the repre- 
 sentatives of the West. While we exact from them the observance 
 
CHAP. Tm.] POLITICS. ~ 127 
 
 of treaty stipulations, we must first see to it that those stipulations 
 ai"e just; and, next, our policy must be such as will tend to make 
 these governments independent of foreign military aid, in either 
 external or internal troubles. Thus, by strengthening the power of 
 a government, we shall both remove from it the cause for a deceitful- 
 ness which arises from conscious weakness, and shall render it able to 
 meet its treaty obligations. Such a policy requires a co-operation 
 not only among the foreign representatives, but also among their 
 respective governments ; and surely the problem which it alone can 
 satisfactorily solve is sufficiently important to demand for it a 
 careful consideration. The problem is nothing less than this: 
 there are two healthy nations, representing more than one-third 
 of the human race : shall we do that which lies in our power 
 toward maintaining them in a healthful condition and raising them 
 to the rank of equals, or shall we stand by and see them sink into 
 a state of decay, in which for centuries they will be not' only use- 
 less to the world, but a curse upon it ? We shall see, in speaking 
 of China, that this desirable change of policy was inaugurated by 
 the foreign representatives at Peking. Could the home govern- 
 ments be brought to see the importance of the change, as did the 
 broad-minded statesmen who originated it, it would be alike well 
 for the future of the East and for the world at large. What Tur- 
 key is to-day to Europe, eastern Asia^ if not rendered self -de- 
 pendent, will surely soon be to the worl d. 
 
 i would here remark that as England, of all western countries, 
 has long played the most important part in the East, comments on 
 Western diplomacy in that part of the world are almost synony- 
 mous with comments on English diplomacy. But I am instigated 
 by no feeling of animosity toward England in my remarks, for I con- 
 sider her simply as the exponent of the whole West. England has 
 built up the commerce of the world ; and if in doing, as she has 
 done, almost the entire police duty of the Eastern seas, and in 
 opening new countries to trade with all the world, she has com- 
 mitted many acts which may in future be considered as stains on 
 her flag, it must be remembered how great are her interests there 
 at stake, and that what she has done we might also have done 
 Under less excusing circumstances. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 EXCUESIONS. 
 
 Toward the end of April I joined Mr. C. Maximowitch,' a dis- 
 tinguished Russian botanist and explorer, in making an excur- 
 sion to Inosima, on Wodowara bay. A pleasant ride along the 
 ■western shore of Yeddo bay brought us to Outzu, or the penin- 
 sula of Sagami, where, leaving the sea, we turned to cross over 
 to Wodowara bay. There are extensive fortifications at this 
 place, aTid wehad barely, passed behind, these when several sol- 
 diers rushed out after us, with drawn swords.. They, were fortu- 
 nately on foot ; and, finding that we did not , stop, they sent a 
 runner to give notice of our, coming. This fellow shot past us, 
 and although we kept ixp a travelling trot, he.: reached ^ village 
 four or five miles oif a few minutes; before.iW,^ arrived. But. we 
 were , half-way through the place , before those who might :have 
 turned us/back could be astir. ■ The warden, with- Ms • jingling 
 staif,- on his way to stop us, started back at the sight of two for- 
 eigners, and before he could recover we were beyond. the, village. 
 
 It is impossible to ride anywhere in Japan, off from the tokaido, 
 vrithout being aware of the diiSculties an invading army would 
 meet with. Excepting the few great arteries, like the tokaido, 
 the roads are mere bridle paths, winding among rice fields, which, 
 at most seasons, are deep sloughs of mud. 
 
 When we came in sight of the sea, a view presented itself in 
 which I immediately recognized a scene familiar to all who have 
 seen much of the Japanese lacquered ware. Before us lay the 
 smooth water of Wodowara bay. A mile or more from us a 
 long, low neck of sand joined the beach to the rocky island of 
 Inosima. Far away over this neck, and the bay beyond, rose the 
 lofty and graceful cone of Fuziyama. This view of the moun- 
 tain is a favorite subject of Japanese artists. The annexed sketch 
 is taken from this point. The most perfect of volcanic cones, ris- 
 ing, no matter whence you see it, above a beautiful intervening 
 
CHAP. ix.;| 
 
 SXCUBSrONS. 
 
 129 
 
 landscape, it is with reason an object of national pride, and the 
 subject of innumerable sketches and verses. 
 
 Sii- R. Alcook and the Europeans of his party are the only 
 foreigners who have ascended Fuziyama. They determined the 
 height of the highest peak, by the boiling point and aneroid, to be 
 14,177 feet above the sea, and estimated the depth of the crater 
 at 350 feet. The last eruption was in 1707, and six months 
 afterward the mountain Ha-e-san was thrown up on its tiank. 
 Other great eruptions took place in A.D. 1032, A.D. 800, and 
 A.D. 781. 
 
 INOSIMA, AND MOUNT PUSrTAMA, FKOM A JAPANESE SKETCH. 
 
 This mountain is the resort of thousands of pilgrims from the 
 common classes ; but according to the British minister it is con- 
 sidered beneath the dignity of a person of rank to make the 
 ascent. Indeed, I believe that the upper classes are generally 
 Confucianists, while Fuziyama is sacred in the Sintu religion. 
 
 A pleasant canter along the firm beach brought us to the 
 sandy neck, and over this, between two lines of surf, to the isl- 
 and. Here we passed under the inevitable temple gate-way or 
 arch • this one was of bronze, and its unusual size and workman- 
 ship showed that wc were entering upon very sacred ground. 
 9 
 
130 AOSOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. ix. 
 
 The island is about two hundred feet high, and a quarter of a 
 mile or more long, three of its sides being precipices. From the 
 sacred portal we ascended the steep street between a double row 
 of inns, at one of which we left the horses, and continued the ex- 
 cursion on foot. Temples with large paved squares in front of 
 them, filled with pilgrims, booths of shell dealers, small tea- 
 houses, and fragments of overturned gateways — records of 
 earthquakes — lined the street on either side. 
 
 The island is cleft by a great chasm, which is now partially 
 re-filled with detritus. But the celebrity of the place arises from 
 a long, tunnel-like cave, passing at the level of the sea nearly 
 through the island, and excavated by the waves along a system 
 of cracks in the sandstone. The cavern is about 500 feet long, 
 but the waves rush into it through a long, deep chasm, a continu- 
 ation of the cave without the roof. Here is the home of the sea- 
 god, of whom there are many images in the dark recess. Truly, 
 a more appropriate place could scarcely be found for his abode 
 than this, where the surges of a stormy sea must enter with awful 
 force and reverberating thunder. 
 
 Walking back to the inn, we were struck with the beauty of 
 many of the shells exposed for sale ; among these were the deli- 
 cate, smooth scallop, with one valve white and the other pur- 
 ple, and the paper nautilus. In these waters are found also the 
 fragile and hair-like vitreous coral, and the beautiful fluted den- 
 talium. 
 
 On our return we visited the Daibutz at Kamakura, and, cross- 
 ing thence to the tokaido, reached Yokohama. During my ab- 
 sence a vessel had arrived, bringing Mr. Pruyn, the successor to 
 Mr. Harris, and the consuls for Yokohama and Hakodade. As 
 this ship was going to Yesso, we proposed to the Government to 
 send us by it, and they immediately dispatched a Governor of 
 Foreign Afiairs to Yokohama, to give us our instructions. 
 
 After our business was transacted I asked the Governor what 
 objection there could be to Mr. Blake and myself seeing Yeddo. 
 I was not a little astonished when he replied that there was not the 
 slightest objection, and expressed surprise that we had not al- 
 ready visited the capital. He informed us that, should we wish 
 to go thither the following morning, he would give orders to the 
 Governor of Kanagawa to provide us with an escort. We accepted 
 
cu.AP. IX.] EXCURSIONS. 131 
 
 the offer, although it would allow us only one day at Yeddo, 
 including the journey. 
 
 Early the next morning, accompanied by six officers and eight 
 bettos or running footmen, we set out for the capital. With the 
 exception of a few short interruptions, the road between Kana- 
 gawa and Yeddo is lined on both sides with houses, forming under 
 different names one long, narrow village. A short distance be- 
 yond Kanagawa we passed the place where, a few months later, 
 Mr. Richardson was killed. 
 
 Away from the tokaido, the country lying only a few feet above 
 the bay is a broad expanse of rice plantations. The horizon is 
 bounded on the west by the low green bluff of a table-land, which, 
 approaching the sea near the southern limit of Yeddo, furnishes 
 elevated ground for the city, while to the numerous valleys in this 
 plateau Yeddo owes much of the agreeable variety and pictur- 
 esqueness of its scenery. 
 
 Our escort conducted us to the American legation,where we were 
 hospitably received by Mr. Harris, from whom we learned, much 
 to our disappointment, that we had visited Yeddo upon the one 
 day ia all the year when it would be impossible for us to either 
 cross the city or approach the castle, since on tliat day the Tai- 
 koon would visit a favorite palace, and the Government had re- 
 quested that no foreigners should enter the heart of the capi- 
 tal. I felt this disappointment less than I should have, had I fore- 
 seen that I was to leave Japan without revisiting its metropolis. 
 
 The legation occupied the large reception rooms of a temple 
 built for the use of those daimios whose ancestral tablets were 
 here preserved. For the protection of the minister, the grounds 
 were surrounded by a double stockade of bamboos. Between 
 these walls a strong patrol was constantly on duty, and from 150 
 to 200 soldiers, furnished by the Taikoon and a daimio, were 
 always on guard. Piles of combustible materials were scattered 
 through the grounds, by which, in case of an attack, a brilliant 
 light could be produced. In the midst of dangers requiring pre- 
 cautions of this kind did Mr. Harris live in Yeddo, after the with- 
 drawal of the other ministers, himself and his interpreter, Mr. 
 Portman, being the only Europeans in the great city. 
 
 The grounds of the temple were large, and contained some 
 beautiful specimens of Japanese gardening, consisting of dwarfed 
 
132 ACROSS AMEBIOA AND ASIA. [chap. ix. 
 
 trees and rock work, with ponds containing gold lish and silver 
 fish. Several of these were more than two feet long, while some 
 of the smaller ones proudly steered their way by means of lobed 
 tails longer than their bodies, and apparently as delicate as lace. 
 
 The excursion we made at the suggestion of Mr. Harris, while it 
 showed us only a small part of Yeddo, led us through the daimio 
 quarter. One feature that struck me was the abundance of large 
 trees, many of them primeval forest pines, which met the eye at 
 every turn, crowning the low hills or rising from the grounds of a 
 daimio's yaski. The enclosures are very large, and one may ride 
 miles between the low black barracks that surround them. Of 
 the space enclosed only a casual glimpse is vouchsafed by an 
 open gateway. In these enclosures many small standing armies 
 are scattered through Yeddo, and it is said that military drill 
 and artillery practice are here kept up as regularly as among west- 
 ern armies. Should the system be destroyed which so perfectly 
 balances these forces, it seems almost certain that Japan, with 
 its feudal lords and their mountain-bound territories, will undergo 
 a most destructive period of anarchy. 
 
 Although I was nearly aU the day in the saddle, I saw but little 
 of Yeddo excepting the streets leading through the daimio quarter 
 and the western suburbs. Here we rode for miles through what 
 was half town, half country. The houses were all neat villas, 
 standing some distance from the road. They were protected, 
 but not hidden, by hedges of living bamboos and other plants, 
 while the grounds enclosed were shaded by carefully cultivated 
 trees, and ornamented with the choice flowering shrubs of the 
 country. 
 
 As we turned our steps homeward, and re-entered the long 
 suburb on the road to Kanagawa, the escort pressed upon us the 
 necessity of keeping together, as the drinking-houses of this 
 quarter were always full of the drunken retainers, who are a con- 
 stant source of terror to the peaceable inhabitants. A somewhat 
 startling illustration of the habits of this class ofiered itself more 
 suddenly than was agreeable. A party of eight or ten dashed 
 into the street just ahead of us, flourishing their drawn swords 
 and acting like devils. Fortunately they were either too drunk 
 or too much bent on cutting each other to notice us. 
 
 It was late at night when we reached Yokohama. We had 
 
CHAP. IX] BXCUBSIOm. 
 
 133 
 
 gone fifty-four miles since the morning, and we had been to Yeddo, 
 and had ridden sixteen miles in the city ; we had probably seen 
 less of its interesting points than any other travellers before or 
 since. One only out of all our running footmen returned with 
 us, having kept ahead of his horse during the entire journey. 
 The varied picture of life oifered by a great city, even though seen 
 from a distance, leaves a more vivid impression on the mind of a 
 traveller, and supplies, perhaps, more suggestions for his apprecia- 
 tion of a people, than any other phase of a journey. But know- 
 ing as little as do foreigners of the social life and manner of think- 
 ing of the Japanese, it is impossible to give a just description 
 of their character. The opinion of each traveller is generally 
 based on the strongly-impressed incidents of his experience. On 
 liis first excursion he hears the ' universal salutation, " Ohaio !" 
 good morning ! which he receives from children, and enters in his 
 joui-nal that the Japanese are an exceedingly hospitable people. 
 Soon he finds that the exclamation is quite as often, " bacca ! 
 bacca !" fool ; or " tojin ! tojin !" Chinaman ; and when the novelty 
 of their appeai-ance has worn off, he becomes vexed at the immense 
 crowds of men, women, and children, which, attracted by the nov- 
 elty of his appearance, follow him through the streets, and nearly 
 crowd him out of his quarters at the inn, in their anxiety to see 
 him eat, drink, sit, and stand, even waiting for him to undress to 
 see whether the barbarian is made like themselves. If he lacks 
 patience, the virtue above all others necessary to the traveller, he 
 is likely to resent this treatment by violence, and to get a pelting 
 with miid or stones for his reward. Such treatment causes a 
 change in his estimate of the people, and the world is informed 
 that the Japanese hate foreigners. 
 
 He sees the " social evil" at the tea-houses, and visiting the pub- 
 lic baths finds both sexes bathing in common , without the refine-'^ 
 ments adopted at Newport or Brighton, and the world learns 
 that modesty, and consequently all other virtues, are unknown to 
 the Japanese — that they are sunk to the lowest depths of vice to 
 which even a heathen people can sink. 
 
 But the thoughtful traveller learns in the first stages of his 
 wanderings, that the more distant the relationship between two 
 races, the more difficult is it to measure them by the same stand- 
 ard. To describe a people we must first know their inner life — 
 
134 A0B08S AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, ix 
 
 how they act and how they think, what are their home relations, 
 and what their virtues and vices — for to these a nation's character 
 may be reduced. Before we can pass judgment upon their 
 character, or compare it with our own, it is necessary to analyze 
 their virtues and vices, to find out how much of these is absolute 
 and how much conventional, when compared with the West ; and 
 when, after submitting our own to the same analysis, we have 
 reduced botb to their simplest expressions, then and not till then 
 may we institute a comparison. 
 
 But ignorance of these data does not prevent ray giving to 
 the reader the impressions gleaned during a closer intercourse 
 than foreigners have generally had with the natives. 
 
 In the nervousness of their temperament they differ widely 
 from all the o ther peoples of eastern Asia ; and, although we are 
 ignorant of their literature, enough is visible in their art to show 
 that in imaginativeness, as well as temperament, they approach 
 ^more ne a rly to the Hindoo race than does any of the Mongolian 
 branches. In this fact lies the secret of the rapidity with whic h 
 not only the Buddist, but, later, the Christian religion took ro ot 
 among all class es. And in nothing is the difference between the 
 Chinese and Japanese more marked than in this matter of reli- 
 gion ; for while in China the early popular faith, after the lapse 
 of thousands of years, sank to its already ancient condition of a 
 State ceremonial, and was supplanted by the materialism of 
 Confucius, leaving only a few vague superstitions floating in the 
 popular mind, the race between Buddisra and Confucianism, con- 
 tinuing nearly as long in one country as in the other, has in 
 Japan always been to the advantage of the former. 
 
 This same characteristic feature of the national mind may 
 again render easy the introduction of Christianity clothed in the 
 splendor of the Roman ritual, an event which none but the most 
 sanguine can anticipate for China. 
 
 The writers on Japan, of tbe sixteenth century, could not say 
 too much for the truthfulness, frankness, and gentleness of the 
 natives. Nor do I think their pictures of the people so extrava- 
 gantly colored as some later writers would have us believe. 
 There is a modesty and refinement, extending far into the lower 
 classes, and, accompanying these qualities, a far greater regard for 
 truth than is generally found among orientals. Unfortunately, 
 
CHAP. IX.] EXCURSIONS. 135 ^ 
 
 this remark cannot hold good in regard to official intercourse in ^ 
 a country where intrigue is an ai"m of the Government. 
 
 But Japan is a country full of contradictions, according to our 
 standard. It is pretty certain that female virtue stands quite as 
 high among that people as among any other, and higher than in 
 some western countries ; and yet accompanying this we find 
 parents selling their daughters to licensed houses of prostitution, 
 which abound to a great extent, showing that any excess of 
 virtue in one sex is perhaps counterbalanced in the other. As 
 repulsive as is this Japanese feature of the social evil, it carries] 
 with it mitigating circumstances which are wanting in otheJ 
 countries. The victims, who are always from the lower classes! 
 are sold from poverty, and being themselves entirely irresponsi4 
 ble for their position, none of the disgrace attaches to them which' 
 drags the unfortunates of the West into the lowest depths ; on 
 the contrary, they are sold in childhood for a limited number of 
 years, and as the proprietors of the establishments are obliged to 
 have them instructed in every branch of female education, they 
 often marry into the class in which they were born. Parallels 
 to both these modes of entering and leaving this kind of life are 
 not wanting even among the families of poor officials in some 
 parts of eastern Europe. The anomaly is in the laws which per- 
 mit in the husband that which they punish with death in the 
 wife. 
 
 Japanese houses are built on one model, differing chiefly in size 
 and costliness of material, while, from the palace down, there 
 reigns a rigid simplicity in form and furniture. The frequency 
 of earthquakes necessitates the use of the lightest materials, and 
 these are wood and paper, and with these substances the danger 
 from fire is so great that costly ornamentation would be thrown 
 away. According to Sir R. Alcock, fires in Yeddo are so frequent 
 that the whole city is burned down and rebuilt every seven years, 
 and the same rule probably holds in other towns. Fire insur- 
 ance is unknown, and though there are brave and well-organized 
 fire-brigades, they can, with their small hand-pumps, do little to 
 stay a conflagration raging in such light materials. 
 
 The dwellings are one or two stories high, with a verandah 
 running all around. The size of the rooms is regulated by t hg 
 number of mats ; and as these are always six feet long by t hree 
 
136 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. ix. 
 
 wide, the area of the room must b e planned to admit a given 
 number of whole mats. The rooms are divided by sliding doors 
 of paper, stretched on a slight frame, which rolls easily in grooved 
 beams in the floor and beneath the ceiling. These doors often 
 foi-m the only partition walls, and by removing them the whole 
 building may be thrown into one room. The mats are made up 
 of several layers of coarse matting, covered by one of a fine white 
 grass, the whole being about two inches thick, and bound at the 
 sides with a border of dark cloth. This forms a firm and elastic 
 covering for the floor. The wood-work of the outside is painted 
 black, when painted at all ; but, in the interior, wax, oil and lacquer 
 are used to produce ornamental effect, in connection with the 
 grain of the wood. Beams of the ceiling and upright posts are 
 often carved, but more generally lacquered or waxed ; sometimes 
 the timber is only partially squared, a portion of the bark being 
 left on, and a curious effect produced by lacquering this with 
 the rest. The paper of the sliding doors is often a picture-gallery 
 in itself, representing landscapes, or birds and flowers, often ad- 
 mirably done in ink or colors. 
 
 Nearly every room has one end devoted to a recess, one-half 
 of which is a closet for mattrasses, etc., in bed-rooms, and the 
 other half a niche with a hanging scroll, bearing a picture or 
 verses ; underneath this stands a low rack for swords. The 
 rooms are heated with charcoal, either in an elegant bronze bra- 
 zier, or in an iron pot in a box of sand, sunk into the floor. 
 
 Thus easily is the furniture of a Japanese room summed up. 
 As simple as it is, these houses have the chai'm of neatness. No 
 dust is visible, least of all on the floor; and if the rooms look 
 empty, they also look airy. The reader will have remarked the 
 absence of chairs and tables — of these the Japanese has no need. 
 Never stepping on a mat other than in his stockings, he always 
 has a clean floor to sit on ; and here, with shins doubled under 
 him, and using the hollow of the feet for a chair, the native will 
 sit by the hour, smoking and gossiping over tea or saki, or 
 playing chess. 
 
 In neatness I do not believe that the Japanese are surpassed 
 by any people ; and if " cleanliness is next to godliness," cer- 
 tainly the daily parboiling to which every one of the population 
 submits himself may go far toward absolving them from other 
 
CHAP. IX.] EXCURSIONS. 13-^ 
 
 sins. Every house has its bath— a simple tub, large enough to 
 allow one to sit down with the knees doubled. A copper tube 
 passing through the water at one end, and having the bottom 
 perforated for a draught, contains a little burning charcoal, which 
 soon heats the bath. Toward evening this is warmed, and the 
 household, beginning with the master and ending with the ser- 
 vants, take their turns. 
 
 Although every house has its tub, the towns abound in public 
 baths, where, for a trifle, a more luxurious scrubbing can be had. 
 And these public places are an institution of the country quite as 
 remarkable as any other. There is a door marked " for men," 
 and one " for women ; " but this distinction ends after crossing 
 the threshold, for, on entering, men, women, and children are seen 
 scrubbing each other, enjoying cold and hot douches, and mak- 
 ing a perfect babel of the room with their loud chattering and 
 laughter. 
 
 This custom, shocking as it seems to an European, appears to 
 be perfectly compatible with Japanese ideas of modesty and pro- 
 priety, and a Japanese lady of undoubted virtue finds nothing 
 wrong in the practice. I shall long remember an incident which 
 convinced me of the truth of this statement. During my stay at 
 one of the mines on Yesso, where there is a hot spring, I went 
 one evening with one of the officers of our staff to take a bath. 
 The small spring-house had an outer room for servants and 
 mi ners, and an inner compartment for the officers and their fami- 
 lies ; but this division was only above the water, which ran from 
 the spring into a box about three feet deep and eight feet long. 
 As we entered the inner compartment we found the wife of the 
 chief officer bathing with her children. Before I had time to 
 withdraw, the lady came out ; and, politely offering us the bath, 
 remarked, that as there would not be room for all of us, she would 
 go with the children to the other compartment. The whole 
 thing was done so gracefully, and without the slightest embar- 
 rassment on her part, that I began to wonder from what direc- 
 tion would come the next shock to preconceived ideas of propriety. 
 Soni soit qui mal y pense, is perhaps as applicable in a Japanese 
 public bath as in the galleries of sculpture of the Vatican. 
 
 Much of the healthful effect of the daily bath is neutralized by 
 the absence of under-clothing that can be often changed, as white 
 
138 AOSOSS AMEBIC A AND ASIA. [chap. ix. 
 
 Tinder-garments may not be worn by any one beneath the rank 
 of a Buiiio. 
 
 It is possible that the prevalence of skin diseases, to which the 
 Japanese are subject, is in some manner connected with the bath- 
 system. Besides the common itch, there is a kind of similar 
 disease, peculiar to the country, I believe, which is very obstinate 
 and difficult of- cure. The whole empire seems to enjoy a healthy 
 climate, which has generally secured them from epidemics. These 
 have however sometimes swept over the country ; and among 
 them measles, apparently epidemic, appears to have been the 
 most common. Notwithstanding the proximity of Japan to 
 China, which is one of the centres of cholera, there appears to have 
 been but one cholera season previous to the opening of the ports. 
 This freedom from the great Asiatic scourge is certainly remark- 
 able, when we consider that, although houses and streets are 
 exceedingly clean, the practice of preparing liquid manure in 
 large open cisterns, of which there is one in every field, would 
 with us be thought sufficient of itself to generate the disease. 
 At certain seasons, indeed generally, this custom makes it almost 
 impossible to enjoy a country walk unless one be gifted with 
 enduring nostrils. If it be true that the germ of cholera is a 
 fungoid body, transmitted through the air, one might expect to 
 find it brought by the S. W. monsoons from the delta of China. 
 What the wind can do as a medium of transportation is well 
 illustrated by its power of carrying dust and volcanic ashes to a 
 distance of hundreds of miles. On the 31st of March, and 1st of 
 April, 1863, there was a great dust-storm on the plain around 
 Peking, in which people lost their lives. The air was darkened, 
 and the dust fell several inches deep, the wind being from the 
 northwest. During the same days the air was filled with a dust 
 fog at Shanghai, and at Nagasaki, where I then was. At Na- 
 gasaki the wind blew from the west, and during both days what 
 appeared at first to be a fog obscured the sun just enough to 
 permit one to distinguish the spots on its red disc with the naked 
 eye. On the third day it was found that a deposit of dust had 
 settled, so fine as to be imperceptible excepting on the fresh white 
 paint of a yacht. 
 
 This phenomenon occurring at Nagasaki, more than 700 miles 
 from its source, was observed at points much more distant at sea. 
 
CHAP. IX.] EXGUBSIOWS. I3y 
 
 These dust storms had been supposed to have their origin on the 
 Gobi desert; but I found in 1864, -while travelling beyond the 
 great wall of China, between the Gobi and the plain of Peking, 
 that the strong northwest winds blowing from the desert reached 
 th.e plain quite free from dust, and that it was not until it struck 
 the cultivated plains of northern China, at a season when the dry 
 loamy soil was unprotected by crops, that it raised great vol- 
 umes of dust, similar to that described. The dry climate of north- 
 ern China is comparatively free from cholera. 
 
 ijurmg all my travels in Japan I noticed only one case of 
 goitre. It is true that I did not visit any limestone regions, but a 
 great part of the population live in shaded and damp valleys; so 
 damp that a freshly-polished boot is covered with mould in forty- 
 eight hours. If there be any connection between absence of 
 iodine and presence of goitre, it may be that the universal con- 
 sumption of sea-weed as food, or presence of iodine in water com- 
 ing from the recently raised marine volcanic tufa which prevails 
 on the coast, may have something to do with the immunity the 
 Japanese enjoy from this disease. Goitre abounds in the lime- 
 stone hills west of Peking, in a very dry climate. 
 
 That tape-worms do not oorae from pork only, would seem to 
 follow from the statement of a Japanese officer at Hakodade, 
 that officials sent from Teddo to Tesso generally become troubled 
 with these parasites. The Japanese eat little meat, never pork 
 in any form, but they are not so scrupulous with regard to bear's 
 flesh. Troubles of the eyes are common, and many blind people 
 are seen in the streets, recognizable by their shaven heads and 
 long sticks. 
 
 That the Japanese do not die off en masse, is no fault of 
 their physicians, for these are little more advanced than their 
 brethren in China, and in the latter country the most profound 
 ignorance of anatomy and physiology rules, at least among the 
 old-school doctors. A considerable number of physicians now 
 practice medicine as learned from good Dutch teachers and foreign 
 works on the subject ; but in view of the great difficulty that at- 
 tends the study of the body, by the aid of dissection, in Japan, 
 their knowledge is not deep. 
 
 Although pills to insure longevity form part of the Japanese 
 materia medica, immense cemeteries prove that even long lives 
 
140 A0S0S8 AMEBIC A AND ASIA. [chap, ix 
 
 must end. These cities of the dead were always interesting to 
 me. Often built on the side of a hill, covering a large area, and 
 commanding a fine view, their neatly-kept avenues offer the place 
 for quiet walks, where one is sure to find none of the revolting 
 sights so common in similar places in China. In all that relates 
 to their dead, the Japanese exhibit a refinement one does not expect 
 to find out of Christian countries. Thus we find great care bestowed 
 on the tombs, and much taste and art displayed in their construc- 
 tion. Thousands of small paved terraces, surrounded by stone 
 balustrades, form family lots containing commemorative stones of 
 eveiy shape and size, and every variety of proper ornamentation. 
 The sculptured inscriptions in the Chinese character always excit- 
 ed my admiration, the execution being much more finished than is 
 common with us. 
 
 On the night of the festival corresponding to All Souls' Day, 
 the cemeteries are illuminated with myriads of lanterns, which, 
 seen from a distance, produce the effect of as many openings into 
 a mountain burning within. Cremation and interment seem to be 
 about equally practiced, though it does not appear which is the 
 more ancient custom. 
 
 But the reverence they show for death does not prevent the 
 Japanese from getting all the enjoyment they can command out 
 of life. Festivals abound : there would seem to be one for every 
 temple; and in the absence of these, holidays, marriages, theatres, 
 performances of jugglers, acrobats, and wrestlers, furnish the need 
 ed excitement for the people. In pleasant weather, picnics, on 
 water and land, enlivened with music, are an unfailing resource. 
 
 The wrestlers appear to be retainers of daimios, and are trained 
 from youth to their occupation. They are certainly men of great 
 strength, but it was always a question with me how strength 
 could exist under such masses of fat as they seem to be made of. 
 In their exhibitions they are naked, excepting a belt drawn tightly 
 around the loins, forming the only means of obtaining a firm 
 hold of each other. It is doubtful whether they are as strong as 
 the more muscular native stevedores, who trot along all day, bear- 
 ing two or three hundred pounds of tea or copper, in loading 
 ships. Among the Japanese acrobats and contortionists, one may 
 see nearly all the feats familiar to similar performers with us, 
 and many others, requiring great skill and courage, and the jug- 
 
CHAP. IS..] EXCVBSIOm. 141 
 
 glers are probably not excelled by their bi-ethren of India and 
 Europe, in tricks that require extreme delicacy of manipulation. 
 
 The theatre is considered one of the best reflectors of the pop- 
 ular mind. In Japan, as in China, the performances begin early 
 in the day, and end late at night, the large audiences showing how 
 popular is this amusement. The plots are nearly always in- 
 trigues at court, resulting in promotion or death of the heroes, or 
 the exploits of great warriors and robbers. The public taste de- 
 mands, and is gratified by,the profuse display of gory heads and 
 dripping swords. The favorite pieces contain a great deal of 
 " blood and murder," and not unfrequently scenes that border on 
 extreme grossness, which are viewed with as little embarrassment 
 by neatly-dressed matrons and daughters as the sallies of " Gen- 
 evieve de Brabant," or the "Grande Duchesse" excite in a western 
 audience. The same vein seems to run through the immense range 
 of light literature, illustrated with woodcuts, that often approach 
 the obscene. Although I have been told by Japanese that the fami- 
 lies of the upper classes do not witness this kind of theatrical rep- 
 resentations, and are guarded against access to corresponding 
 works of fiction, still there is no doubt that there reigns through- 
 out the female population an absence of that moral refinement 
 which, with us, is considered so necessary as a safeguard for 
 female purity. 
 
 The ruling vice in Japan is, und oubtedly, drunkenness. It per- 
 vades all classes, though it is confined by the force of public 
 opinion to the male sex. On a festival of the third day of the 
 third month women are indeed allowed great license, and in their 
 harems, from which on that day even their lords are excluded, 
 they may indulge to any extent in the forbidden cup; but a 
 woman of the lower class who should be found drunk at any 
 other time, would expose herself to a severe beating from her 
 husband, while were she of the higher class she might die by the 
 sword of her spouse. The only fermented liquor used is, I believe, 
 the saki, distilled from rice, and differing from the Chinese tiu or 
 samshu in that while it is weaker it often contains much of the 
 poisonous oil of distillation. It is always taken warm, and the 
 better kind is not disagreeable to the taste. Few Japanese are 
 fit for business in the evening, and during the afternoon many 
 streets in Yeddo are rendered wholly unsafeHBy the troops' of 
 
142 AOBOSa AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. ix. 
 
 drunken retainers , whose drawn swords are the terror of the 
 inhabitants. ' """" ' 
 
 With alT their faults the Japanese are a generous people, brave, 
 and capable of enduring great hardships, imaginative and impul- 
 sive rather than reasoning ; while in their enthusiastic attempts to 
 learn foreign sciences and arts they contrast strongly with the 
 Chinese, and promise perhaps a rapid and progressive revolution 
 in their civilization. 
 
M AUa^ial ar^ B.a,. Y.X. ^n^lcanie A.kes. 0. R.er Gra.eU. UJT. lie.e.U Terra... L.Lara. TSX Tafa Conylo..rate V:,. Pu^i. T.rfa. -Y. Coal. 
 
 Ar. 3Ieta,aorflh'c Argillitc. Q. Qaartzite. SI. Cg. Clay Slate, and Conglo.aerutc. C.G. tonrjlo;nerale and Granahle 
 
 A.V. Aphanitu- Rock. Gr. Granitic and S;ienite Scric:. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 FIKST JOTJKNEY IN TESSO. 
 
 Bidding good-by to our hospitable friends, Messrs. Brower 
 and Benson, and to Dr. Simmons, to whose kindness I owed much 
 of the pleasure of my visit, we sailed on the " Ringleader " for 
 Yesso, and entered the harbor of Hakodade after a short and 
 pleasant voyage. This town, the northernmost of the open ports, 
 is built on the foot-slope of a rugged peak of trachyte, which, 
 rising 1,150 feet, overlooks the straits of Tsungara, and com- 
 mands a view of the hills of Nipon. This island-like peak is con- 
 nected with Tesso by a low sandy neck, thas forming a harbor 
 several miles broad, and accessible for the largest vessels. 
 
 Quarters were assigned us at the custom-house pending the 
 building of a house suitable for our dwelling, offices, laboratory, 
 etc. 
 
 As the object of our engagement with the Government was 
 the exploration of its lands on the island of Yesso, and the intro- 
 duction, if found advisable, of foreign methods of mining and 
 working metals, it became necessary to make a general tour of 
 observation through those lands. Accordingly, on the 23dof May, 
 we set out on our first official journey. The Government had 
 attached to us a staff of five officers, who were at the same time 
 assistants, escorts, and pupils. Two of these, Takeda and Oosima, 
 were chosen as having distinguished themselves in the study and 
 application of European science ; two others, Tachi and Yuwao, 
 were officers of the mining department of the revenue office; 
 the fifth, Miagawa, accompanied us in the capacity of both inter- 
 preter and student. Besides these, an ometzki was sent, nominally, 
 and I believe really, to either control or advise the officers. 
 
 With our servants we made a train of eleven horsemen as we 
 rode through the long paved street of Hakodade. 
 
 Crossing by the sand neck to the main island, we cantered 
 over the firm beach to Arikawa, passing through straggling 
 
144 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. x. 
 
 hamlets of fishermen. Here oil was being made from tons of 
 reeking herrings, and we threaded our way among a labyrinth of 
 drying nets, and under myriads of noisy ravens and croWs. 
 These birds enjoy absolute security in all Japan. 
 
 Welcome as scavengers, they are little feared by the farmer 
 who by a simple contrivance frightens them from the crops of 
 his small fields. I never see a crow without being reminded of 
 a manner of killing them I saw practiced in Corsica. Small cones 
 of stiff paper, with pieces of meat glued in the bottom, and 
 smeared with glue above these, are placed opfen-end up in holes 
 in the field. The unsuspecting raven, plunging its beak deep 
 into the meat, draws forth not only the morsel but the enclosing 
 cone, glued to the feathers of its neck ; thus blinded the bird rises 
 in the air till it falls exhausted near the place where it was 
 entrapped. 
 
 A broad crescent-shaped plain half encircles the bay of Hako- 
 dade, and rises gently from the water to the wooded hills of the 
 interior; its green surface, covered with a' heavy growth of tall, 
 rank grasses, forms, as seen from Hakodade, a beautiful middle 
 ground between sea and mountain. 
 
 Leaving the beach we ascended the Ari, a small river, to the 
 village of Ono, on a broad, swampy plain, one of the few places 
 on Yesso where agriculture is followed. 
 
 Until within a few years the island formed the domain of the 
 Prince of Matsmai ; but by an imperial decree it was subdivided 
 among the five lords of Matsmai, Sendai, Tsungara, Nambu, and 
 Awa, the Government retaining a considerable part for itself. It 
 was inhabited only on the coast by fishennen ; and as the proceeds 
 of their labor were very profitable, all other pursuits seem to have 
 been forbidden. Since the partition, the Government has turned 
 its attention to colonization from Nipon, and to the encourage- 
 ment of all the occupations necessary to develop its resources. 
 With this end in view, it has offered many inducements to farmers 
 and others, supplying them with land at a reasonable rate, and 
 distributing among them horses, for which they are bound to 
 furnish relays to ofiicials travelling on Government business. 
 Thus at Ono there are already several farms cultivating an in- 
 ferior kind of hardy rice, and enough silk is produced to supply 
 the raw material for a factory. . ■ . - 
 
CHAP. X.] FIRST JOURNEY IN TES80. 145 
 
 From Ono we sent back our own horses, and the next morning 
 began our experience with the vicious brutes of the country, which, 
 being unaccustomed to foreigners, did all they could to throw us. 
 The Japanese horses are small and strong, but badly built, and are 
 evidently the degenerate offspring of the Tartar stock. As they 
 are always stallions, their worst qualities are generally the most 
 apparent. There is an improved breed on Nipon, which supplies 
 really superior animals for the stables of the daimios and high 
 officers. The frame of the Japanese saddle is very similar to that 
 used by the Chinese, and, like that, is derived from the Tartars, 
 who seem to have furnished the model for saddle-trees to all 
 the world, if we except the English variety. After a short ride 
 through a wooded valley we reached the lead mines of Ichin- 
 owatari, lying at the entrance to a rocky ravine containing a 
 wild mountain torrent. 
 
 The ore is galena, associated with zinc blende, iron pyrites and 
 copper pyrites, the body of the veinstone being mainly magnesite, 
 while the rocks enclosing the veins are calcareous argillites and a 
 greenstone. In all Japanese mines the absence of pumping ma- 
 chinery prevents mining to any considerable depth below the 
 level of the adit. The galleries were tolerably well timbered, 
 though low and narrow. Owing to ignorance of the use of pow- 
 der in blasting, their means of attacking the rock were — till the 
 application of powder in mining was introduced by us — confined 
 to the use of pointed instruments : a miner's pick with one point, 
 a hammer, and a gad with handle, completing the outfit. The 
 ore is roughly assorted by hand, and then passed under dry 
 stamps. 
 
 I was not a little surprised to find, in the mountains of Japan, 
 stamps constructed on the same principle as those of Cornwall and 
 Germany, though far inferior in point of efficiency. They were 
 worked by an overshot water-wheel, turning a cam shaft. The 
 stamped ore is sifted and sent to the washing house, where it is 
 concentrated in wooden pans, generally by women, to a very pure 
 schlich. The furnace in which the ore is smelted is a cavity in 
 the ground lined with a mixture of charcoal and clay, and forming 
 a crucible, about fourteen inches broad by ten inches deep, with 
 imder-drains. In front there is an earthen shield to reflect the 
 force of the blast, which enters through a clay nozzle from a box- 
 10 
 
14:6 AOB0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. x. 
 
 bellows. The smoke and fumes of lead and sulphur pass off 
 through a chimney. 
 
 In smelting, the crucible is filled with burning charcoal, and on 
 this is thrown the ore to the amount of eighty pounds. When 
 this is about half melted, twenty-five or thirty pounds of pig4ron 
 is added in small pieces, to combine with the sulphur of the galena, 
 and when this is partially effected the whole is stirred. After 
 about two hours the blast is stopped, the coals are withdrawn, and 
 water is thrown on the bath to cool the first layer of matte. This 
 is repeated six or seven times, till the surface of the lead is free, 
 when the metal is cast into bars, the matte being thrown away. 
 -In this operation we have the simplest form of the " precipitation" 
 process, the Mederschlag Arbeit of the Germans. 
 
 These mines are very poor, their greatest production having 
 been in 1860, when during a few months it averaged 600 pounds 
 of lead daily. At the time of my visit it was about 80 pounds. 
 As a curiosity I give below a schedule of the daily expenses at 
 these mines : 
 
 Thirty miners, averaging 6 cents eacli $1 80 
 
 Thirty coolies, at 8 cents each 3 40 
 
 Seven overseers, at 5 cents each 35 
 
 One carpenter, 8 cents 8 
 
 Twenty-six ore-dressers, averaging 3 cents each 78 
 
 Two men at the stamps, at 4 cents euch ' 8 
 
 One smelter, 8 cents 8 
 
 Two smelter assistants, at 4 cents each , 8 
 
 Two hundred pounds of charcoal, 17 .cents , 17 
 
 Thirty jjonnds of inferior pig-iron, 16 
 
 $5 98 
 Rations of rice and miso, a substance used for soup, are supplied 
 to the workmen. Low as are these wag€s, they are higher than 
 in the mining districts of Nipon. 
 
 Leaving the mines, we returned to the main road and ascended 
 the water-shecl of the peninsula which divides Volcano bay from 
 the straits of Tsungara. The top of the ridge commands a fine 
 view, reaching on the south across the straits to the hills of 
 Nipon, while in the north rises the volcano of Komangadake, 
 with a beautiful lake nestling in the wood and meadow at the foot 
 of the long slope of the cone. A vegetation almost tropical in 
 its luxuriance, overhangs- the banks of this picturesque water. 
 
CHAP. X.] FIRST JOURyET IN TESSO. I47 
 
 Riding a short distance beyond the lake we stopped at Skunope 
 for the night. Here we were kept waiting one day, owing to tlie 
 failure of the warden of the village next beyond, to provide 
 horses. I must remark that this was the only instance in which 
 we were delayed on any of our journeys in Japan from this cause, 
 and it appears that the delinquent in this case was severely pun- 
 ished for the neglect. A courier always preceded us by two or 
 three days, bearing a requisition for horses, and notifying the inns 
 at which we were to stay, to receive no other guests. On the 
 journey a messenger Avas seat out every evening to give addition- 
 al notice. As this was our first official journey, the Government 
 had ordered that We should receive the same honors in passing 
 through towns, that are shown to the Governor on his annual 
 trip. Thus we were met by the wardens of villages at the town 
 limits, sometimes two or three miles distant from the houses. 
 These men coming on foot, went down on their knees as the train 
 approached, and then, after touching the ground with their fore- 
 heads, jumped up and led the way to the inn. Independent of 
 the fact that a European must feel more disgusted than honored, 
 by having a man kneel before him in the dust and mud, these 
 men were a great nuisance, as Japanese ideas of dignity required 
 us to follow them at a walking pace. 
 
 Japanese despotism has trained the people very thoroughly in 
 the art of falling instantaneously on their marrow-bones. It is 
 astonishing to see the eifect of the magic word " sWtaniro ! " 
 " kneel " upon a dense crowd, when a person of high ranli is pass- 
 ing ; as if by enchantment every gaping, laughing, and chatter- 
 ing native is prostrated, and a deep silence reigns, broken only 
 by the jingling rings on the warden's iron staff, and the solemnly- 
 repeated warning, sKtaniro ! sKtaniro ! 
 
 In most of the villages we found small heaps of white sand 
 scattered along the streets, which we were told was intended as an 
 honor for us. 
 
 On the second morning our horses came, and we set out on the 
 way to the volcano. As we were obliged to pass through, the 
 intervening forest, a party of coolies went before us with axes, to 
 clear a route through the underbrush. For several miles we were 
 in a dense wood in which the predominating trees were noble 
 specimens of magnolia, beech, birch, maple, and oak, with large 
 
148 ACROSS AMERICA AND ^ ASIA. [chap, x 
 
 vines of grape, ivy, etc., twisted around their trunks and hanging 
 from the boughs. 
 
 We came out of the forest at the beginning of the gentle foot- 
 slope of the mountain, and found ourselves on a bed of pumice 
 that extended from where we stood to the summit of the volcano, 
 in the shape of a stream several hundred yards wide. Leaving 
 the horses here we began the ascent over the surface of the pumice- 
 stream; it was easy enough at first, but the slope soon became 
 steeper, and we made slow progress during. the last half of the 
 ascent over the loose material. Lar.ge trunks of dead trees, some 
 fallen and others standing, surrounded with pumice several feet 
 above the root, showed that a growth of heavy timbisr once cov- 
 ered the sides of this mountain and was killed by an eruption. 
 
 We reached the edge of the crater at a point below the highest 
 peak, the latter being 3, "779 feet above the sea, according to the 
 niarine charts. I was told that this volcano was formerly a more 
 perfect cone of greater height than at present, but that seven or 
 eight years before our visit, it fell in ; the occurrence was accom- 
 panied, or preceded, by a severe earthquake and an eruption of 
 hot water and pumice, causing the loss of several lives at a dis- 
 tance of several miles. The ashes of this eruption were carried, 
 by the higher air-currents, to tlie Kurile islands, the nearest of 
 which is about 250 miles distant in a northeasterly direction. 
 The crater is now several hundred feet deep, with steep walls, 
 and entirely open toward the sea on the east side. Its bottom 
 is formed by a broad plain elevated in the centre — a rudimentary 
 inner cone — which extends with an unbroken slope through the 
 opening down to the sea-shore. 
 
 This plain is traversed in all directions by great cracks, distin- 
 guishable, from the summit, by rows of steam jets issuing from 
 between their raised red-and-yellow edges. 
 
 The view from Komangadake is grand. On our left the shore 
 of the beautiful Volcano bay forms a long and sweeping curve, 
 while parallel to this the mountains in the background, covered 
 with dense forests, appear in all the shades of green, blue, and 
 purple as they stretch away toward the distant horizon. Far 
 away over the bay, rising as it were from the sea, are several 
 symmetrical cones, long extinct, while nearer, though seemingly 
 among them, rises the semi-active Oussu volcano in ruins, its 
 
CHAP. X.] FIB8T JOURNEY IN TESSO. 149 
 
 Biilphur-coated cliffs glistening, even at this distance, in the sun- 
 light. 
 
 Although it -was the 29th of May a few patches of snow still re- 
 mained in the inner ravines of Komangadake. 
 
 Following a talus of pumice we descended into the crater and 
 crossed the plain to a point where the largest volume of vapor 
 was emitted. This, as we found, arose from an inner crater or pit 
 about 600 feet in diameter, with precipitous sides exhibiting the 
 stratification of the pumice plain. We examined next Ihe long 
 cracks that marked the surface of the plain like a network of gigan- 
 tic mole-hills. In approaching these, the ground trembled and 
 answered with a hollow sound to each foot-step. The crevices, 
 often open, are in places closed over at the top by a deceitful arch 
 of sulphur and drifted sand. Breaking through these arches we 
 exposed gorgeous cavities lined with dense, yellow masses of 
 sulphur crystals too delicate to bear the shock of a breath. The 
 action of the steam, charged with sulphuretted hydrogen and 
 sulphurous acid, has altered the pumice near the cracks to a bright- 
 red clay, and formed efflorescences of iron-salts, and alum. 
 
 The appearances are that this mountain has been a ruined cone, 
 which was rebuilt by an eruption of purnice, to be again broken 
 down, and its skeleton of trachyte given over to the mighty level- 
 ing force of solfatara gases. 
 
 As we were cantering homeward through the woods, in single 
 file, an incident occurred which might have caused the death of 
 one of the party. 
 
 As I was riding at a brisk gallop, a short distance in advance 
 of the others, I saw, too late to avoid it, a grape-vine hanging 
 like a swing forty or more feet long, and its lower end just high 
 enough from the ground to strike my stomach. To cry out a 
 warning to those behind, and give the swing a push into the air, 
 was the work of an instant, but it was too late ; the returning 
 vine embraced Takeda, and, as I looked back, his horse had gone 
 from under him, while the force of the shock expended itself in 
 causing him to make several somersaults around the loop prepar- 
 atory to a tremendous flap on the ground. His swords had fallen 
 from the scabbards, and he narrowly escaped being transfixed by 
 one of them,, which stood point up, its hilt buried in the moss. 
 
 The road from Skunope to Volcano bay led us through a dense 
 
150 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. x. 
 
 forest of maguificent trees, over two or three swamps -which we 
 . crossed on corduroy roads, and along the banks of a small lake 
 whose surface was covered with water-plants, and its edges 
 hidden under drooping foliage. The last few miles of the way 
 lay through a more scanty growth of small trees springing from 
 a soil of less decomposed pumice. Finally we came to the shore 
 of Volcano bay. This truly beautiful arm of the ocean received 
 its name from the three volcanos that rise on its circumference, 
 and the fact that as many more perfect cones of extinct volcanos 
 are visible from its centre, renders the name appropriate. The 
 Japanese call it Edomo bay. 
 
 Turning eastward we skirted the southern shore, and passed 
 the base of Komangadake (called also Sawaradake), which slopes 
 gently into the sea, deflecting the shore line in a semicircle 
 toward the north. The northern sloj^e of the mountain was for- 
 merly covered to near the summit with a heavy growth of timber, 
 represented now by a forest of dead trunks extending over many 
 thousands of acres. Tlie trees were probably killed by a shower 
 of hot pumice, which still covers the surface to the depth of from 
 six to twenty-four inches. On most of the trunks the bark 'is 
 intact, showing no signs of the action of a high degree of heat. 
 Seven or eight years had passed since the destroying shower, and 
 a fresh undergrowth was starting, among whicli creeping plants, 
 apparently the first to spring into life, were already winding their 
 spiral course around myriads of dead giants. 
 
 Sections of the soil exposed in gullies showed that this last 
 shower was only one of a long series, some of which were on a 
 much greater scale, and must have carried destruction over a far 
 wider area. 
 
 At a short distance from the foot of the mountain slope we 
 reached the hot sulphur springs of Shkabe. There are several 
 springs rising on the beach, and in a small rivulet. They are' 
 housed over and visited by many invalids, who parboil themselves 
 in water where the thermometer rises to VO and 15 .degrees of 
 the centigrade scale, or 167 degrees F. No people are fonder 
 of tlie use of hot springs', both for pleasure and as remedial agents, 
 than are the Japanese, and in no country are they more abundant 
 than in this group of volcanic islands. 
 
 Beyond Shkabe we left tlie semi-circular plain which surrounds 
 
cn.vr. X.] FIRST JOURNEY IN YESSO. 151 
 
 the volcano, and our ■way now lay along the shore, the gentle 
 surf from the sea playing around the feet of our horses, while on 
 our right hand arose the green hills of the peninsula. 
 
 The sandy beach was in places covered Avith a thick layer of 
 the black grains of magnetic iron concentrated by the surf, from 
 the detritus of volcanic rocks, containing a small per-centage only 
 of that mineral. 
 
 Leaving the sea-shore at the m^outh of the Kakumi creek, we 
 ascended this stream, whose clear waters, flowing over a bed of 
 snow-white porphyry, looked like milk. A short ride brought us 
 to the buildings of the Kakumi mines. The day of our arrival 
 here was the festival of children. Before the dwelling of the 
 officer in charge of the mines, a dragon and fish were flying at the 
 top of a long pole, and the presents to the baby-son of the house 
 were displayed in the entry ; they consisted of toys in imitation 
 of the various insignia of high military rank. Kakumi also has 
 its warm spring. 
 
 The next day we visited the mines, neither of which were being 
 worked. The first, a gold mine, gave little promise, even with the 
 cheap labor of the country, and we began a long walk up the 
 creek to the other, which had been opened on a copper vein. There 
 was no road and rarely a path, much of our way lying in the bed 
 of the stream or through a dense underbrush di-ipping with the 
 night's rain. This vein, which had been explored by an adit, con- 
 tained copper pyrites to an extent which would not justify work 
 in a country where labor and materials are dear, but which ren- 
 dered a profit possible in Yesso. Being surprised by a heavy 
 shower on our way back, I was not a little amused at the readi- 
 ness with which the Japanese improvised umbrellas by covering 
 themselves with the immense leaves of a large plant, resembling 
 the dock, growing to the height of nine or ten feet, with leaves 
 several feet in diameter. On this occasion, and Subsequently, I 
 found in them an excellent substitute for both umbrella .and rain- 
 coat. The Japanese always carry rain-coats of strong oiled paper 
 or silk, w hich are light and tolerably durable as well as cheap , 
 qualities w hich are also combined in their paper umbrellas. 
 
 From Kakumi we returned to the bay, and riding eastward to 
 ■\Yosatsube, embarked in a boat, the precipitous character of the 
 shore rendering it impossible to continue by land, even on foot. 
 
152 A0B0S8 AMMEICA AND ASIA. [chap, x 
 
 Here a low, point of fantastically curved beds of hornstone breaks 
 .he surf. Our boat was worked by sixteen oars and sculls, and 
 the strong arms of the boatmen made it fly over the water, keeping, 
 time in its vibrations to the swaying and the song of the naked 
 sailors. 
 
 Added to the charm of novelty, this water journey had that of 
 the wildly picturesque coast scenery. The boat kept as close as pos- 
 sible to the shore, in its shade indeed. Far down in the clear waters 
 we could see great rocks surrounded by darkness, and covered 
 with sea-weed in leaves fifty feet long, almost motionless in the 
 deep. Every now and then a trough of the rolling swell would 
 lay bare, in the whirling waters, some rock taller than the rest, 
 carpeted with a dense mass of sea-moss, shells, and sea-anemones, 
 brilliant with splendid colors, which show their beauty for a min- 
 ute to the daylight, to be reburied in a whirlpool of returning 
 waves. Cliifs hundreds of feet high, of brown, columnar lava, rise 
 from the deep, caverns resound the thunder of the waves, while 
 great stains of red and black are half hidden by the green masses 
 of moss, vines, and flowers that find root-hold even on the face of the 
 precipice. Add to these the many waterfalls leaping from the 
 woods above to the sea below, a clear blue sky and the graceful 
 column of vapor rising from the distant volcano, and you have a 
 faint outline of the scenes through which our wild and naked sail- 
 ors made us skim over the waves. 
 
 The rocks forming the shore cliffs are volcanic tufa conglom-- 
 erate deposited under the sea, and containing lava-streams all of 
 trachytic origin. The skeleton of the peninsula, however, is made 
 up of very old clay slates and sandstone, with massive bodies of 
 greenstone. 
 
 We landed in a little bight at the fishing hamlet of Totohoke, 
 und.the next morning began, on horseback, the ascent of the vol- 
 cano of Esan, a very active solfatara lying at the eastern point 
 of the peninsula. As the mountain is barely 2,000 feet high, and 
 the entrance to the crater much lower, we soon reached the Govern- 
 ment sulphur-works. 
 
 Although Esan must once have been a volcano of large size, 
 and the source of the great deposits which form the sea-margin 
 for several miles, I saw in its crater and walls no pumice and no 
 rocks readily recognizable as products of recent eruptions. On 
 
CHAP. X.] FIRST JOURNEY IN YESSO. I53 
 
 the contrary, it is a volcano in ruins, and in whiclr the destructive 
 agencies are still working on a grand scale. The large crater is 
 divided by a high ridge of detritus, and in both the compartments 
 thus formed, countless jets and columns of steam and gases issue 
 from the wall, from the detritus, and from the vaulted mud-vents. 
 The air is loaded with sulphurous acid, and a small stream of 
 limpid water, which issues from the crater, is strongly impregnated 
 with the same acid and with astringent salts. 
 
 The walls of the crater are rapidly disintegrating and falling, to 
 be converted into clay, impregnated with sulphur, alum, and other 
 salts, products of the action of acid and steam on each other and 
 on the rocks they are decomposing. Everywhere the scene is 
 one of ruin. Here is visible on a grand scale the decomposing 
 action of sulphurous acid and steam, the eifects of which are seen 
 in the altered trachytic rocks of Hungary, and still progressing 
 on a smaller scale in the Neapolitan solfatara. Nowhere have I 
 seen so well exhibited the levelling power of nature when she 
 brings into steady action her more active agents. Steam sur- 
 rounded us on all sides, issuing in jets from the sides of the crater 
 and rising slowly out of the taluses of debris, as the smoke rises 
 slowly and silently from the ruins of a mighty conflagration. 
 
 The main vents are small mud-craters or geysers in the centre 
 of one of the compartments of the great crater. They are 
 springs or pits, each covered by a great vault of hardened mud, 
 like an immense bubble or inverted bowl, from ten to twenty -five 
 feet high, the sides and roof from six inches to two feet thick. 
 They quake with the constant reverberation of the struggling 
 gases and mud, the last rising to near the surface, and sometimes 
 bursting out in a shower of thick drops. Through the small open- 
 ings in these vaults issue volumes of steam, highly charged with 
 sulphuretted hydrogen, and at intervals glimpses of the interior 
 exhibit the surface lined with sulphur in massive layers, splen- 
 did with crystals or drooping with long stalactites of the yellow 
 mineral. 
 
 From one of these vaults I traced a mud stream, evidently the 
 last feeble attempt at an eruption, and the date of this was not 
 known to the sulphur-diggers. Whenever new vents are formed, 
 mud and large masses of rock are ejected with miich violence. 
 
 The sulphur works are supplied from the talus formed by the 
 
151 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. x. 
 
 ever-tailing walls of the crater, and this material contains from 
 twenty-five to sixty per cent, of sulphur in layers and impregna- 
 tions. Without further preparation than being broken into 
 pieces, it is melted in iroa pots, where the impurities sink to the 
 bottom, and the top is ladled out into shallow depressions in the 
 ground and left to cool. As this product is still impure, it is re- 
 melted in similar pots and then strained through sacks into tubs, 
 where it cools. The blocks thus obtained are broken, and the 
 centre, whicli is yelloAV and highly crystaline, goes to market ; 
 while the surface, to the depth of one or two inches, being dark 
 and perhaps less pure, is re-melted. The production amounted at 
 the timeof my visit to about 6,600 pounds daily. According to 
 the books at the works, the cost of production amounted to about 
 S6,43 .per ton of 2,000 lbs., the same quantity selling for $24 
 in the Hakodade market. 
 
 Leaving this scene of destruction, we descended to Nietanai, on 
 the shore of the straits of Tsungara. The next morning, riding 
 along the sea-shore, between Nietanai and Kobi, I discovered in 
 the bluff a deposit of white infusorial earth, specimens of which 
 I submitted to Mr. Arthur M. Edwards. The results of that 
 gentleman's investigation * are exceedingly interesting, bringing 
 to liffht a close resemblance between the organisms contained in 
 this deposit and those m the stratum under liichmond, Va., and a 
 still greater similarity, extending to identity of species with those 
 of the extensive deposit in California. 
 
 At Kobi, as at many points on the coast, large quantities of 
 iuagnetic-iron sand are concentrated on the beach by the surf,and 
 a bed of the same material, much oxidized, crops out in the bluff 
 deposits, which are themselves raised beaches. The Imperial 
 Government, wishing to manufacture cannon for the defence of 
 Yesso against tlie Russians, commanded Takeda, an officer aftei-- 
 ward attached to us, and one who had done much to advance 
 in his country the knowledge of military engineering and navi- 
 gation, to build a furnace on the foreign plan, for the purpose 
 of smelting this ore. Such a thing had never been seen by a 
 Japanese, but without further plans or specifications than were 
 given in a Dutch work on chemistry, Takeda built a fur- 
 
 * See Mr. Edwards' letter, in appendix No. 3 to " Geological Besearclics in Cliina, Mon- 
 golia, and Japan," by tlie author. Smithsonian Institution,' 186S. 
 
CHAP. X.] FIRST JOURNEY IN TESSO 1 
 
 .JO 
 
 nace about thirty feet liigli, after a really fine model, with a cyl- 
 inder blast, moved by an excellent water-wheel. Unfortunately, 
 owing to the absence of all details on the subject in the only 
 book he had, the blast was far too weat, and the bricks not suffi- 
 ciently refractory. The furnace thus proved a failure, aftei 
 smelting a few hundred-weight of iron. The incident, however, 
 will serve as an illustration of Japanese enterprise. Another of 
 our officers, Oosima, by dint of repeated experiments, carried 
 a similar undertaking to a more successful issue in the province 
 of Xambu. 
 
 The southern side of the peninsula is entirely diffisrent from the 
 northern. Facing Volcano bay the rocks are volcanic, overhang- 
 ing the coast in high cliffs, which form the abrupt termination of 
 a densely-wooded table-land or terraoe. On the southern side 
 the grassy pyramidal or rounded hills of the older metamorphio 
 rocks slope off to the straits in the eastern half, while as they 
 trend westward they are separated from the sea by a low 
 and gently-sloping terrace of recent clay deposits. Both, the 
 terrace plain and the southern exposure of the hills are barren of 
 trees. 
 
 Along the shore of the straits we discovered several promising 
 veins of copper pyrites in the clay slates already mentioned, and 
 in the further exploration of which we subsequently made the 
 first application of powder to blasting in Japan. Returning to 
 Hakodade we completed the circuit of the peninsula and our first 
 excursion. 
 
 We were now detained more than two months at Hakodade 
 by the prevalence of measles over all the island, and in the fami- 
 lies of the officers attached to us. During this time we gave 
 regular instruction to our assistants in the branches bearing on 
 mining and metallurgy, an occupation which, at the same time, 
 gave me some insight into the intellectual capacity of the class 
 represented by these men. The difficulties to be overcome were 
 very great, as we wei-e teaching subjects of which but few of the 
 technical terms have Japanese equivalents, to students who were 
 ignorant of the elementary branches, which necessarily precede 
 the study of applied sciences. But they showed generally anxiety 
 to learn, as well as rapid comprehension of what was taught. 
 Takedahad studied mathematics in Bowditch's " N"avigator," using 
 
156 ACROSS AMERIdA AND ASIA. [chap, x 
 
 an Englisli-Dutch and a Dutch-Japanese dictionary, and had 
 mastered that book so thoroughly that it was literally indexed 
 in his mind, and he was able to calculate longitude from an 
 eclipse or an occultation as easily as from an altitude or lunar dis- 
 tances ; but this knowledge was purely mechanical, and mathe- 
 matics from a philosophical point of view was a new field' to him, 
 though when he took them up in this spirit he exhibited for the 
 study a mental power which I almost envied him. 
 
 Our interviews with the Governoi and his council took place 
 alternately at his palace and in our own quarters. At the palace 
 they were always accompanied with tea and refreshments, and 
 often with a Japanese dinner, while the short pipe of the country 
 was in constant use. This is quite an important weapon in 
 diplomacy, and a Japanese minister or governor never fails when 
 pressed with a question, to gain time for reflection in filling and 
 lighting a pipe of their fragrant tobacco. As official interviews 
 occur very frequently between the authorities and foreign rej)re- 
 sentatives, the former have gradually formed a strong liking for 
 European cooking, and in order not to appear ill at ease in the 
 use of western table-furniture, the Governor and his council 
 had, at times, dinners prepared in European style to practice the 
 use of knives, foi-ks, spoons, and glasses, and in giving toasts. 
 They are very fond of champagne. , 
 
 The Governor and all the high officers about him were gentle- 
 men whose dignified bearing and refinement and suavity of 
 manner would grace any western society. And I remarked that, 
 as a rule, they showed consideration toward inferiors and ser- 
 vants, never exhibiting the passionate outbursts so common 
 among Chinese officials, a difiereuce, perhaps, partially arising from 
 the consciousness of power with the Japanese. The governors 
 never lose self-possession in piesence of the sometimes excited and 
 rude language of some westciii representatives. On one occasion, 
 in answer to my question whether this self-possession were inborn 
 or the result of education, the Governor replied that it is made 
 one of the most important features of training, from the earliest 
 childhood through life. Indeed, so delicate is the sense of per- 
 sonal honor in the official class, that the wounded feelings of an 
 equal may easily cause him to retaliate by hara-ldru, thereby 
 forcing the offender to perform the same operation. The neccs 
 
CHAP. X.] FIRST JOUBIfrET IN TESSO. I57 
 
 sity for self-control thus rests on a basis not less strong than the 
 love of life. 
 
 Formerly, in committing hara-kint, the suicide actually ripped 
 open his bowels ; at present, he simply scratches the abdomen, 
 di-awing blood, while an attendant, dressed in white, gives the 
 death-blow with a sword 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 EBLIGIONS OF JAPAN. 
 
 Of tlie Japanese religions, very little is known by Europeans. 
 At present, besides many sects of Buddists, we find Sintuisni 
 and Confucianism. Toleration has always marked the relations 
 between the Government and the followers of different faiths. 
 Christianity was, indeed, rooted out, but its priests could blame 
 only their own abuse of the encouragement they long received. 
 
 Whatever may have been the earliest religion of the Japanese, 
 Sintuism, (Shintau,* Chinese; kaminomitchi, Jap., way of the 
 kami, gods or spirits,) was that which formed the basis of the 
 spiritual-political government founded by Jinmutenno, iii the 
 seventh century B.C. 
 
 From the vague knowledge we have of their cosmogony, it 
 should appear that out of nothing there arose a self-created su- 
 preme god. But this deity, like Brahma in the Indian trinity, 
 withdrew, leaving two other gods to accomplish the material 
 creation. The universe was then ruled during myriads of years 
 by seven cosmical gods in succession— Ten-sin-szchi-dai. The last 
 of these, having a wife, became the progenitor of the human race. 
 To create a habitable earth, he plunged his spear into the waters, 
 and from the drops which fell congealed from it was formed Ja- 
 pan. The government of the world now passed into the hands 
 of five successive gods, Dai-sin-go-dai, who during more than 
 two million years ruled the earth, and to the last of whom in 
 union with a mortal, was born Jinmutenno, the first of the Mi- 
 kados. The first of these five rulers was Tensio-dai-jin, the god- 
 dess of the sun, daughter of the last of the preceding seven. 
 
 It is quite possible that this cosmogony is a foreign element, 
 devised as a foundation for the heavenly claims of the Mikados ; 
 and, as it has been supposed that Jin mu was a foreigner, it is not 
 impossible that under the early emperors a mixture of imported. 
 
 * According to Siebold. 
 
GHAP. XI.] RELIGIONS OF JAPAN. 159 
 
 and native beliefs may liave taken place to found Sintuism, the 
 state religion. 
 
 The earliest expression of the religious idea in Japan was, 
 probably, a worship of spirits and animals, a mixture of Shama- 
 nism and Fetichism. 
 
 It is not clear what position the primeval gods hold in the 
 Sintu worship ; but the Mikado is superior to most, if not all, since 
 the gods are all obliged to attend him every year in the tenth 
 month, which, for this reason, is called kamimatsuki godless. 
 During this month there are no festivals, as the gods are supposed 
 to be absent from their temples. The Ten-sin-szchi-dai and Dai- 
 sin-go-dai are excepted in this service. 
 
 The sun goddess is the great divinity who, it seems, may be 
 worshipped only through the mediation of her lineal descendants, 
 or of the kami, born gods or canonized. All these kanii have 
 temples dedicated to them, generally small shrines closed with 
 grating and containing a mirror and tassels of white paper, as 
 emblems of purity. At Isj-e is the principal temple of the sun 
 goddess, surrounded by a great number of smaller ones. Every 
 village appears to possess a shrine, and one is often found within 
 the precincts of Buddist temples. No images are set up for wor- 
 ship. The whole cultns is obscure ; the functions of the priests, 
 who bear the titles " god keepers " and " messengers of the gods," 
 are not known to foreigners. The sun goddess is the highest ; 
 and as she may be worshipped only through the mediation of the 
 Mikado, or of the kami, consisting of 492 born gods and some 
 thousands of deified mortals, there is no need of an interceding 
 priesthood or of images. 
 
 At a small village on Yesso I happened to see something of a 
 Sintu festival. A vista of temple gate-ways leading to a small 
 shrine was lined with box lanterns eight or ten feet high, support- 
 ing similar horizontal ones overhead. Among the countless deco- 
 rations painted on these paper transparencies, were many repre- 
 sentations of the phallus. During the afternoon a procession left 
 the temple bearing the inner shrine. A staff-bearer preceded, 
 followed by a man carrying a stand to receive gifts. Next came 
 two men with sticks, from which hung ornaments of white paper, 
 and after these a drummer, fifer, and cymbal-bearer. Behind 
 these strutted the " god keeper," fantastically masked with flow- 
 
160 AGBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xi. 
 
 ing white locks, and a nose six or eight inches long projecting 
 from under a helmet. He wore high stilt-shoes, and bore a large 
 spear in the right hand. Following the god-keeper came a num- 
 ber of retainers leading a caparisoned horse, and bearing spears, 
 bows, and guns, the insignia probably of tlie priest's ofBoe. 
 Strangely enough, the man who represented the god-keeper was 
 merely a cooly, hired as a substitute ; the tiite priest, if such ho 
 jnay be called, walked behind the procession in civilian's dress. 
 
 During the day and evening, worshippers, dressed in their best 
 clothes, approached the shrine after washing their hands at a 
 small tank. Throwing a few coins into the gift-box, they pros- 
 trated themselves, uttered a short prayer, rang the shrine bell 
 three times and withdrew. The approach to the temple must be 
 made with a pleasant face, and indeed there seems to be an entire 
 absence of asceticism in the Sintu cultus. Offerings of rice, wine, 
 etc., are brought; but if the custom of offering sacrifices was ever 
 developed to a further extent, it has been modified by Buddism. 
 
 The duties enjoined by this religion are said to be : " 1. Pres- 
 ervation of pure fire, as the emblem of purity and means of purifi- 
 cation. 2. Purity of soul, heart, and body. The purity of the 
 soul is to be preserved by a strict obedience to reason and the 
 law; the purity of the body, by abstaining from everything that 
 defiles. 3. Exact observance of festival days. 4. Pilgrimage. 
 5. The worship of the kami, both in the temples and at home." 
 " Impurity is contracted by associating with the impure, listening 
 to impure language, by eating certain meats, by coming in con- 
 tact with death or with blood. Whoever is stained with his own or 
 another's blood is impure for seven days, i. e., unfit to approach 
 holy places. "Whoever eats the flesh of any four-footed beast, 
 deer only excepted, is impure for thirty days. On the contrary, 
 whoever eats a fowl, wild or tame, (water fowls, pheasants, and 
 cranes excepted) , is impure for only one Japanese hour." * Attend- 
 ing a dying person, killing a beast, or approaching a corpse, ren- 
 ders impure for one day. The nearer the relationship to the 
 dead person the greater the impurity. 
 
 The worship of ancestral spirits is general among the Japanese, 
 and is apparently identical with the Chinese custom, but in what 
 relation it originally stood to Sintuism is unknown to us. It 
 
 * "Japan." Charles MaeFarlane. 
 
CHAP. XI.] BELIGIOm OF JAPAK 161 
 
 forms there, as in China, the household worship. A festival of 
 this cultus, the feast of the dead, reminding one of All Saints' Day, 
 occurs yearly. During three days the departed spirits return to 
 their former homes, and on the last night every house sets afloat 
 on the waters a little boat containing rice, wine, etc., for the 
 departing spirit, while lanterns on every tombstone illuminate the 
 cemeteries. 
 
 Side by side with these ancient forms exist remnants of Fetich- 
 ism, perhaps . as traditions of the earliest belief of the people. 
 Certain animals are kami, and even stones may be chosen as such. 
 No Japanese will kill a water-snake, at least those living in and 
 near warm springs, of which they are looked upon as the gods. 
 Whenever we caused excavations to be made for mining pur- 
 poses, the common miners chose from the rubble the most water- 
 worn rock and set it up as the kami or rather fetich of the place. 
 
 Besides these, there are the remains of an extensive system of 
 demon-worship, also of great antiquity, in which good and evU 
 spirits play an important part, and which seems, in connection with 
 the worship of ancestors, to be of the same origin with the Shaman- 
 ism of the Mongolian family. These demons, represented under 
 conventional forms, occupy an important place in Japanese art. 
 
 Even in the little we know of these ancient forms of religion, it 
 is impossible not to see in them an incongruous mixture. While 
 the greater part of them probably belong to Mongolian Shamanism, 
 we are reminded of the Arians in the cosmogony, in the worship of 
 the sun, and in the veneration of the phallic symbol, as well as in 
 the order of nuns,* the proceeds of whose mode of life go in part 
 to the temple of the sun. It should appear that the religion of 
 the Mikados is an oflEshoot of the early worship of sun and light, 
 which in antiquity was practiced in central Asia, and which, at 
 different times, seems to have been common to all the agricul- 
 tural tribes from the Nile to Peru. Unlike the course of devel- 
 opment among other peoples, it does not seem to have grown 
 into a dualistic belief; the sun goddess is worshipped as the 
 mother of the human race, as the positive deity, without the 
 awful rites of Siva and Kali. It is probable that there was no 
 distinct idea of a hell until this was introduced by Buddism. 
 
 That a future life was believed in, is shown by the ancient cus- 
 
 ♦ See page 111. 
 11 
 
162 AOBOSS AMERIOA AND ASIA. [chap. xi. 
 
 torn whicli required the wives, concubines, and attendants of the 
 Mikados to commit suicide at his death, a fact that reminds us 
 of the similar custom among the Incas of Peru, and the burning 
 of widows in India and among the Phenicians. 
 
 A careful study of the early religion of Japan cannot fail to 
 produce most interesting results to the ethnologist. 
 
 In the year A.D. 285 the works of Confucius were introduced 
 by the philosopher Wani. While the philosophy of Confucius 
 has done much toward moulding the ethics of Japan, its skepti- 
 cal tendency has been confined to the higher classes, among which 
 it has come to number a large sect of atheists. 
 
 But the religion of the Japanese people is Buddism, derived 
 through Corea from China, and subsequently developed by 
 priests who travelled to its source in India. The early missiona- 
 ries of this faith, disregarding hardships and dangers, penetrated, 
 as zealous apostles, through all eastern Asia, spreading their 
 doctrines broadcast over fields in which they took root the more 
 readily that the teachers were ever ready to engraft on them the 
 pre-existing superstitions. As Buddism, in its different forms, 
 has had an important efieot on all the people of eastern Asia, 
 it may not be amiss to give here a brief outline of it. 
 
 At the time of the birth of Budda, in the sixth century B.C., 
 Brahminism, developed out of the sun and light worship of the 
 Arians, was flourishing in all India, and supported like an arch 
 of adamant the oppressive system of castes — a system which, 
 based probably on the original relations between the conquering 
 Arians and the subjugated aboriginal tribes, has been the bane 
 of India, from the time of that conquest to the present day. 
 Brahminism taught that Brahma, the one supreme deity, feel- 
 ing a desire to create, developed into a god-head of three per- 
 sons — Brahma, creator; Vishnu, preserver ; and Siva, destroyer — 
 and that the whole world was created not only by this deity, but 
 out of him, and is, in fact, part of his essence. According to the 
 Brahminical view, all creation was the result of a sinful desire 
 on the part of Brahma to produce ; and existence is an evil 
 which ought not to be ; indeed, their abstract philosophy teaches 
 that it is a dream. But, creation being efieoted, or at least 
 seeming to be, the whole course of existence, material and imma- 
 terial, is a preparation for the remedying of this evil by the final 
 
CHAP. XI.] RELIGIONS OF JAPAN. 153 
 
 re-absorption of all things into the divine essence ; and this could 
 be effected only by transmigration — ^by a long-continued purifica- 
 tion through birth and regeneration of each individual soul in the 
 various forms of life in plants, animals, and men. Out of the de- 
 mand of the popular mind for a more explicit system of punish- 
 ments and rewards, arose a belief in a heaven for the righteous, 
 and a graduated hell for the wicked. But these were not eternal 
 conditions — heaven, earth, and hell were finally to be re-absorbed 
 into Brahma, and all individual existence to be lost in the origi- 
 nal essence from which it sprang. A leading doctrine of this re- 
 ligion is the salvation of man — that is, his final absorption into 
 the divine essence, through his own exertions, and from this doc- 
 trine grew the asceticism, which, developing to its highest degree 
 in self-sacrifice, has long formed the second destructive worm at 
 the root of Indian civilization. 
 
 Budda undertook the reformation of the world, the abolition 
 of caste, and of the shedding of blood in sacrifices. His name was 
 Sakyamuni. He was born a prince,* and is said to have been 
 prompted to meditation by meeting in one walk an old man, a sick 
 man, a corpse, and a priest. Determined to find by meditation the 
 cause of the four great evils — birth, sickness, old age, and death — 
 he secretly left his family and possessions to study among the 
 Brahmins. After six years of deep thought, aided by fasting 
 and mortification, he found that Brahminism offered no solution 
 of the problem. Finally, after throwing off the shackles of the 
 Brahminical philosophy, he attained the essence of knowledge and 
 became Budda, sage. 
 
 The original dogmatics of Budda and his disciples, the result 
 of this long meditation, is substantially this : f there is no exist- 
 ence, no substance, no world ; consequently all that existence 
 pre-supposes is wanting : there is no first cause, no deity. AH 
 was nothing, is nothing, will be nothing ; all things are unreal, and 
 non-existence is the only reality. The presence of the ever- 
 changing world is only a conceit, a result of the belief in its real- 
 ity. X -^ ti^'t exists, i. e., seems to exist, is subject to the four 
 great evils : birth, sickness, old age, death, and to the pains arising 
 
 * The eariieBt Bnddist writingR speak of him only as a man ; but the mythology with 
 which the religion was early corrapted, represents him as an incarnation of Vishnn, who 
 entered his mother's womb In the form of a five-colored ray of light. 
 
 t " Scherr Gesch. der Beliglon," I. 339. 
 
 X Laaaen after Hodgson. £id. Alterthamsknnde, n. 461. 
 
164 A0B088 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xi. 
 
 from these. The world and life are only a sorrow. To relieve 
 this sorrow, man feels a longing, which gives birth to pleasure 
 and passions. In the complete destruction of this longing con- 
 sists the redemption from sorrows, which are ever being born 
 anew. This destruction and redemption is approachable only- 
 through the six perfections: wisdom, virtue, activity, charity, 
 patience, and brotherly love.* Salvation results from the union 
 of the highest wisdom with the most virtuous action. But sal- 
 vation is nothing else but nirvana, i. e., the entire extinction of 
 man — the return of the individual nothing into the primeval state 
 of non-existence. 
 
 During nineteen years Budda travelled through India, fol- 
 lowed by disciples, preaching his doctrines, recognizing no caste, 
 teaching human equality, virtue, and brotherly love, and planting 
 the seeds of a religion which was destined to number hundreds 
 of millions of followers. He died in his eightieth year, after 
 having won many disciples among all classes. Budda left no 
 writings ; but, as in the early Christian church, his doctrines were 
 written by his immediate followers, and in three great ecclesias- 
 tical conferences, the last B.C. 146, the dogmas, discipline, and 
 course of missionary labor were established, f 
 
 In its original form, Buddism taught that existence was an evil, 
 the world a vale of sorrow, and the release from this evil was at- 
 tainable only in the nirvana, i. e., the condition of extinction of the 
 soul, or of its consciousness. This blessedness was open to those 
 who became Buddas by observing the ten commandments, viz : 1, 
 thou shalt not kill; 2, thou shalt not steal ; 3, thou shalt not be 
 unchaste ; 4, thou shalt not lie ; 5, thou shalt not bear false wit- 
 ness ; 6, thou shalt not swear ; 7, thou shalt not speak evil ; 8, 
 thou shalt not covet ; 9, thou shalt not take vengeance ; 10, thou 
 shalt not be superstitious, i. e., believing in gods. 
 
 But this was too unsatisfactory ; and to satisfy the moral neces- 
 sity in the Indian mind for a belief in future punishments and re-^ 
 wards, the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul, and ulti- 
 mately of a paradise and hell, were taken from Brahminism, with 
 many other corruptions ; and as the new faith spread beyond the 
 confines of India, a whole hierarchy of saints, with a queen of 
 
 • Bnmonf. " Introduction a THiBtoire de Buddism," 1. 153. 
 t " Scherr. Qesch. der Eeligion ; " a work I have used freely in this eketch of Bnddism. 
 
CHAP. XI.] BELIQI0N8 OF JAPAN. 165 
 
 heaven at their head as in Catholicism, was built upon the spirit- 
 worship of the converted peoples. And it was to this plasticity 
 that the religion owed the facility with which it spread over east- 
 ern Asia. 
 
 Thus Buddism modified its absolute negation of immortality 
 to the extent of lengthening out existence by means of transmi- 
 gration as a purifying process, preparatory to extinction in the 
 blessed nirvana. The soul wanders through six classes of ani- 
 mated beings, viz: genii, demons, men, quadrupeds, birds, and 
 creeping animals, ascending or descending, according to merit or 
 demerit. It is open to all to become Buddas, through their own 
 exertions after wisdom and virtue, aided by the purification of 
 transmigration. But there are several degrees among the Buddas 
 to be gone through before entering the nirvana. At present Sa- 
 kyamuni is the highest, and under him are three bodhisvatta, i. e., 
 possessors of the essence of wisdom. They have reached the en- 
 trance to the nirvana, but are not yet freed, being obliged to be 
 bom again and again on earth to advance the work of salvation. 
 On this basis, especially, rests the whole organization of Lamaism 
 in Thibet and Mongolia, where these Buddas re-appear in the per- 
 sons of the Grand Lamas. 
 
 Strictly, all Buddists should be beggars, celibates, and ascetics. 
 Practically, these conditions are followed only by the priests and 
 a large number of hermits. 
 
 At an early date, probably in the conferences already mentioned, 
 the organization of the Buddist church and its discipline received 
 the main features which have lasted to this day. The divisions 
 into active clergy and monks, all celibates as well as nuns, the 
 ranks of the clergy, the ritual, veneration of relics, intercession 
 through saints, confession though not auricular, organization of 
 monastic and conventual life, use of the rosary in prayer, shaving 
 the heads of clergy and nuns, the synods and church councils, the 
 clerical costumes especially in Thibet, the sermons in Japan, ring- 
 ing of bells for matins and vespers — all bear the strongest analogies 
 to their counterparts in Catholicism. The temple service, with 
 sprinkling of holy water, burning of incense in censers, and with 
 chants, resembles high mass. 
 
 The resemblance is so strong indeed that Abb6 Hue, a zealous 
 and learned Catholic missionary in Thibet, was forced to admit a 
 
166 ACB0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xi 
 
 community of origin, though while in one part of his narrative he 
 supposes that a Nestoriau missionary introduced the Catholic rit- 
 ual into Thibet, in another place he attributes it to the agency of 
 Satan. But so many of the features in which Buddism resembles 
 Catholicism are common to all the branches of the former, branches 
 which diverged even in the middle of the first century, that one 
 is forced to the conclusion that western ritualism and much of 
 the superstition on which it is based is of Pagan birth. 
 
 Buddism, as we have seen, entered China in the middle of the 
 first century, and thence, through Corea, it reached Japan in the 
 sixth century. In these countries it has retained more nearly its 
 external Indian form. It entered Thibet also at an early date ; but 
 obtaining there control of the state, the doctrine of transmigration 
 Avas carried to a logical consequence in the incarnation of the 
 bodhisvatta in the ruler under the title of Dalai Lama. It is in 
 Thibet that the strongest analogy obtains between the Catholic 
 and Buddist hierarchies, culminating at H'lassa, as at Rome, in a 
 temporal and spiritual sovereign. In the fourteenth ceiuury 
 Thibetan Buddism was much purified of its corruptions by 
 Tsongkaba,* a reformation which extended only through Thibet 
 and Mongolia. 
 
 In its earliest form a rigid, comfortless Atheism, with the mildest 
 and most humane of moral codes, it has everywhere engrafted 
 upon its stock foreign superstitions until its temples are pantheons. 
 Still, as in most religions, the unalloyed doctrines of the founder 
 are studied as a mysticism by a few of the more learned in the 
 priesthood. In every country where it has found foothold it has- 
 left more or less of its impress on the people. In Thibet, where 
 one-third of the population are said to be in the clerical ranks, 
 the eifect of the reformation is still visible in thousands of ascetics 
 seeking salvation through hermit life and severe mortification of 
 the flesh, and in the law requiring women to render themselves 
 hideous when out of their homes. In Mongolia the humane doc- 
 trines of Budda have made a peaceful, hospitable, and kind-hearted 
 race out of the descendants of those hordes which during the 
 middle ages were the scourge of the eastern world, from the 
 Pacific to the Atlantic, from the Arctic to the Indian ocean. 
 
 In China it has had less efiect on the people. The Chinese 
 
 * " Huo'B Travels in Thibet, China, and Tartary." 
 
CHAP. XI.] RELIGIONS OF JAPAN, 167 
 
 miud, the exact reverse of the Indian, had early formed for itself 
 the moral code of which Confucius was the exponent ; while Tauism, 
 with its mixture of early native and Brahminical superstitions, 
 supplied as much of the supernatural as an utilitarian people could 
 require ; but among the teeming population there were certain 
 fields open for it, and to these it adapted itself. Even in China 
 enough are found to fill its monasteries, and the priests of the count- 
 less temples are supported by the sale of charms, by giving theat- 
 rical representations, performing funeral services, and feeding the 
 spirits of the dead on All Saints' Day. 
 
 It is said that the early Buddist missionaries in Japan obtained 
 the imperial favor by announcing that the Mikado was an incar- 
 nate Budda, thus making him the head of theii' church as in Thibet. 
 But, though not disturbed by Government, it suffered a long per- 
 secution from the people. Its usual elasticity causing it to adapt 
 itself gradually to the popular mind, and the fact that it offered more 
 distinct promises of a future condition, enabled it ultimately to 
 overgrow Sintuism, and to spread wider and deeper than the utili- 
 tarianism of Confucius. Buddism may now be said to be the re- 
 ligion of Japan, though it must be used as a generic title, numerous 
 sects having sprung up under the lax supervision of its nominal 
 head. 
 
 In Japan, Buddism has not merely taken into its hands the per- 
 formance of the native ritual — it has spread widely its influence, 
 especially as a means of moral instruction in families. Its temples 
 are crowded not only on festival days, but regular and frequent 
 -sermons by day and in the evening are attended by attentive 
 congregations, chiefly of women with their children ; and in this 
 way religious instruction, which, though Pagan, inculcates many 
 of the moral truths that form the basis of Christianity, is ex- 
 tended to the family circle. Religious training, left to the mother 
 and the temple sermon, begins when the former carries her 
 baby to the temple, thirty days after birth, to make its first offer- 
 ing of a few coins. Alcock has described the funeral of a Japan- 
 ese interpreter of the British legation, in which he dwells upon 
 the points of resemblance it bore to a Catholic ceremony. 
 
 It is said that in Japan, Buddism has developed a more defined 
 idea of heaven and hell than elsewhere ; certainly the illustrations 
 of hell-torment in Buddist books might have served as models 
 
168 AOEOSS AMEBIOA AND ASIA. [chap. xi. 
 
 for Dante, so much do they resemble the monkish fancies of me- 
 diaeval Europe. But for the same reason that Buddist asceti- 
 cism, which flourishes in Thibet, found a slight foothold in Japan 
 among the pleasure-loving Japanese, this dualistic conception has 
 never produced the gloom which with diflerent degrees of dark- 
 ness has accompanied a similar conception in the west, from an- 
 cient Egypt to modern Scotland ; much less has it developed the 
 fearful rites of Moloch and Astarte, of Siva and Kali ; indeed, the 
 Japanese mind was wanting in the qualities necessary to originate 
 or grasp a distant personification of the evil principle. 
 
 The fact that Sintuism forbade the use of meat as food, ren- 
 dered it the more easy for the Buddist religion to inculcate its 
 doctrines against taking life. Certainly the gentle doctrines of 
 Budda must have done much toward making of the Japanese, 
 outside of the soldier class, the quiet and kindly people they 
 are. 
 
 The strong resemblance between Japanese Buddism and Cathol- 
 icism, existing in the idea of a supreme God and the miraculous 
 incarnation and birth of a Saviour, in the doctrine of future re- 
 wards and punishments, in the ritual and church organization, in 
 the worship of saints and a queen of heaven — all these may be 
 the ingredients of a soil in which Christianity would flourish. 
 
 "We have seen how successful were the efforts of the followers 
 of Xavier ; could they have copied the example of their Buddist 
 predecessors by proclaiming the Mikado as Vicar of Christ, and 
 have renounced all political designs against the independence of 
 Japan, Miako might to-day be a rival of Rome, the centre of an 
 eastern church, and the Mikado the head of a powerful hier- 
 archy. 
 
CHAPTER XIL 
 
 SECOND JOURNEY IN TESSO — THE WEST COAST. 
 
 TowAEU the end of July the measles were so far on the de- 
 cline throughout the island that we prepared a more extended 
 journey of reconnqissance. On the fifth of August we left Hako- 
 dade for the west coast. 
 
 Our first day's ride was over a 'part of the road followed on 
 the previous occasion, and brought us to our first resting-point 
 for the night, Washinoki, on Volcano bay. Leaving this point 
 the next morning, we struck off to the northward, over the beau- 
 tiful beach which skirts the western shore of this water. The 
 
 KOMANGADAIiB FROM WASHINOKI. 
 
 scenery surrounding this inland sea is beautiful even for the Jap- 
 anese coast. Jutting far inland from the Pacific ocean, its south- 
 ern shore from Cape Esan is formed by lofty cliffs, crowned with 
 dense forests as far as the volcano of Komangadake. Thence 
 the coast-line sweeps in a circle of some forty miles in diameter 
 to Cape Edomo on the north. Terraces, covered here with grass 
 
170 AGB088 AMEBIOA AND ASIA. [chap. xii. 
 
 and there with forests of deciduous trees, separate the bay from 
 the rugged range of mountains which divides the waters of the 
 Pacific from those of the Japan sea. The northern horizon is 
 broken by several lofty and symmetrical volcanic cones, while on 
 both shores curling columns of vapor rise with ever-varying 
 shapes from yellow sulphur-coated piles of rock, the only rem- 
 nants of once active volcanos. 
 
 A brisk trot soon brought us to Otoshibetz. Beyond this 
 place the beach is overhung by a terrace blufi", from sixty to 
 eighty feet high, exposing strata of sandy clay abounding in 
 recent marine shells. A large part of these still contained much 
 of their organic matter, and in several instances I found the 
 dorsal ligament of bivalves still elastic when wet. 
 
 A further ride of a few miles brought us to the large fishing 
 village of Yamukshinai. Near this place, between the shore and 
 the cliff, there is a marsh several acres in extent, in which numer- 
 ous tepid springs bring to the surface a mineral oil of the consis- 
 tency of tar. Here we found several priests, who not only used 
 this product for light, but also in the manufacture of India ink. 
 These old men received us hospitably, and listened with incredu- 
 lous wonder to our stories of artesian borings, and flowing wells 
 of petroleum. 
 
 Before reaching Yurup we passed through a settlement of 
 Ainos, a remarkable race, which is shrinking steadily in numbers 
 before the superior civilization of their rulers. Those of this 
 people whom we saw had been long in close contact with the 
 Japanese, but we were told that they did not differ much from 
 those in the interior. They are of medium stature, and toler- 
 ably strong and compact build. The face is broad, the forehead 
 rather low, the nose short, and oftener slightly concave, in pro- 
 file, than straight. Their eyes differ decidedly from the Mon- 
 golian type in shape, and are black. Their color is perhaps a 
 little darker than that of the Japanese ; the smallest children are 
 white. 
 
 But the most remarkable characteristic of this people, in which 
 they differ from all other races of eastern Asia, is the luxuriant 
 growth of their hair, which is straight, long, and glossy. The 
 men have' heavy beards of great length, and moustaches of such 
 dimensions that they form a curtain which has to be raised to 
 
CHAP, xu] SECOND JOUBNET IN YESSO. 171 
 
 gain access to the mouth in eating. The whole body is more 
 hairy than in other races. 
 
 The women are short, tattoo their chins, and wear large ear- 
 rings. The Japanese look upon the Ainos with contempt, and 
 give to them a curious origin. According to a traditional myth, 
 the wife of a pre-historic Mikado was banished from Nipon for 
 infidelity. After a long wandering, she found herself alone on 
 the island of Yesso. Here there appeared to her a dog, which 
 became her sole companion, and from the union of this pair there 
 sprang the Aino race. But notwithstanding the degraded position 
 which they are now able to assign to this people, the Ainos were 
 able during more than a thousand years to maintain a vigorous 
 defensive warfare. It is probable that they were the aborigines 
 of the empire : indeed as late as the seventh century they occu- 
 pied a considerable portion of Nipon. And it was not until 
 about the twelfth century that they were brought into complete 
 subjection by the arms of Yoshitzunfe. Their spirit was then 
 broken, and they were practically enslaved by the Japanese. For 
 the last two hundred years at least they have been the serfs of 
 the Prince of Matzumai, who by allowing them no other source 
 of subsistence than that of fishing, has made their labor the main 
 source of his revenue. At present they are a mild, good-natur- 
 ed race, and the early European navigators in the Pacific found 
 no terms too strong in praising the simple habits and virtues of 
 this people. 
 
 As we passed through the village we met several men who 
 saluted us in the Aino manner, by stroking their long beards and 
 lowering their hands gracefully from their mouths. The houses or 
 huts are built of poles, covered with brush or rushes ; they are 
 rectangular on the ground, and curve at the sides and ends up- 
 ward to the ridge-pole ; each hut is fenced about with reeds. Near 
 each of them is a small building, raised about eight feet from the 
 ground on posts, and serving as a store-house for fish, sea-weed, 
 and so forth. Before many of the dwellings I observed the skulls 
 of bears raised on long poles. This custom is connected with their 
 superstitions, and reminded me of a similar practice described 
 somewhere.as occurring among a tribe of Indians in British Amer- 
 ica. Reverence for this animal has not prevented the Ainos from 
 becoming very skilful in the art of killing them by the use of spring 
 
172 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xii. 
 
 bows, and other means. Sticks cut so that long tassels of shav- 
 ings hang from the sides, are also connected in some way w ith 
 their superstitions. They are called inas, and are found raised on 
 poles alongside of the skulls of bears, and stuck into the earth 
 near graves. 
 
 The characteristics of this people are so little known that it is 
 more difficult to determine their position among the races of man 
 than that of almost any other. It is not improbable that they 
 represent a portion of the ante-Mongolian population of eastern 
 continental Asia, of whom the easternmost islands have become the 
 last foothold, just as the inaccessible portions of the Indian archi- 
 pelago, the mountains of China and Thibet, and the frozen 
 regions of the northeast, contain the varied remnants of peoples 
 who have no longer place in either history or tradition. 
 
 Leaving Yurup in the morning we continued our journey along 
 the beach to Kunnui on the sea. Here leaving the shore we 
 ascended the valley of Kunnui creek. The day was extremely 
 warm, and both horse and rider were tormented beyond endur- 
 ance by swarms of many kinds of insects. There were large 
 brown flies, nearly an inch long, which inflicted pain, and drew 
 blood through a single thickness of woollen clothing ; there were 
 yellow flies barred with black, which buried themselves in 
 swarms in the shaggy hair of our horses, driving the poor ani- 
 mals almost to distraction ; there were the common horse-fly, 
 the deer-fly, and clouds of mosquitoes. 
 
 Our bridle-path lay for several miles through a swamp, covered 
 with a dense growth of weeds, eight or ten feet high. Among 
 these there is the plant I have already mentioned, with a strong 
 leaf, often nearly four feet in diameter, which frequently serves 
 the Japanese as umbrella or parasol. At length we crossed 
 into the valley of the Toshibetz, and descending by a most villain- 
 ous road, where the horses floundered in mud to the saddle-girths, 
 we reached the dwelling of the officer who had charge of the 
 gold mines of Kulinui. The hospitality of this gentleman was very 
 acceptably shown in the form of a salmon over two feet long, which 
 had just been speared in the Toshibetz. The next day we started 
 for the gold washings, in a log canoe, with sides of neatly-fitted 
 boards. Two Ainos, a man and a bright-eyed boy, pulled us 
 skilfully and rapidly against the strong current of the mountain 
 
CHAP, xn.] SECOND JOURNEY IN TE8S0. 173 
 
 torrent. This region is clothed with a forest of maple, beach, birch, 
 oak, magnolia, elms, and wild mulberry trees of large size and 
 thrifty growth. But these beautiful woods are rendered almost 
 impenetrable by the dense growth of a kind of bamboo, which 
 grows from eight to twelve feet high, and so compactly that it 
 is impossible to see more than two or three feet into it. The 
 gold is found in a deposit of sand and gravel, which at one time 
 has formed a broad plain occupying the whole valley of the 
 Toshibetz, but in which the river and its tributary creeks have 
 cut their channels to the underlying rock. Geologically the 
 deposit is very recent, overlying in places beds of sandy clay, 
 which are the equivalents of the terrace deposit near Otoshibetz, 
 and like this latter abound in shells of living species in which 
 the organic matter and ligaments are also still preserved. The 
 auriferous gravel contains varieties of granite in chloritic and 
 micaceous slates, quartzite and amygdaloid with geodes of chal- 
 cedony, and rolled fragments of binoxide of manganese. The 
 concentrated sand of the washing is chiefly magnetic iron and 
 zircon. The manner of working is ingenious, and will be under- 
 stood by referring to the annexed diagram. The bed of a rivulet 
 is chosen for the work. A reservoir (a) is dug and dammed, and 
 the bed of the stream [h) cleaned out and made regular. This 
 done, the auriferous banks {d) are broken down into the stream, 
 where the force of the current concentrates the gravel, carrying 
 ofi" the sand and clay. The workmen then pi ace themselves in 
 pairs {g) up and down the stream, near and below the broken- 
 down bank. Each man is provided with a coarse mat, about two 
 feet long by one broad, which he places lengthwise in the stream, 
 keeping it down with one foot, at the same time partially stem- 
 ming the current. He then hoes the gravel on to the mat, much 
 of the old gravel going off below as fresh material arrives from 
 up stream. At intervals the mat is carefully removed and 
 washed out into a very shallow tray on batea, made from a board 
 about eighteen inches long, and one foot wide, hollowed out, and 
 having a circular depression near one end in which the workman 
 concentrates the gold. In this manner the gravel is pretty well 
 exhausted of its gold, very little being caught upon the lower 
 mats. The working progresses sideways into the deposit and up 
 stream, and the current is kept near the banks, as these recede 
 
174 A0B088 AMERIOA AND ASIA. [chap. xn. 
 
 from the centre of the rivulet. As the space between the banks 
 widens, all the coarser material that is not carried beyond the 
 workings by the current is built up into a pile of loose masonry 
 (c), which, increasing in length and breadth as the work advances, 
 forms an island. 
 
 The returns from these washings are very small, and even with 
 the cheap cost of labor barely pay more than expenses. This, 
 however, is probably owing to the fact that this whole region 
 had been very thoroughly washed over in ancient times, though 
 when and by whom does not appear to be known. Broad and 
 deep canals of considerable length are still visible in the dense 
 forest, and we found every indication that an extensive and well- 
 arranged system of " ditch-digging " had once existed through 
 this region. All these workings are covered with a heavy 
 growth of trees, apparently not differing from the surrounding 
 forest, either as to kind or size. Trees eighteen inches in diame- 
 ter were found growing in the bottom of the now dry canals. 
 The same method of washing the sand and disposing of the 
 rubble as that described above appears to have been used by 
 these old miners. 
 
 On our return to the house we found each member of our large 
 train rejoicing in th e possession of a long string of fine speckled 
 'trout ; am ong these were some fish which resembled closely the 
 cat-fish of our own rivers. 
 
 The next day was a fast, corresponding somewhat in the Japa- 
 nese calendar to All Souls' Day of the western church. At 
 this time the spirits of ancestors are supposed to visit the homes 
 of their earthly relatives. In the evening a fire is built at the 
 entrance, to guide the spirits in ; and the next day another is 
 built to conduct them out. This is the simple form of the cere- 
 mony in the wilderness. In the cities and towns the houses and 
 cemeteries are illuminated, and on the sea-shore every family 
 launches a mimic vessel, loaded with rice and wine, to feed the 
 departing spirits on their voyage to the other world. During 
 this fast the Japanese live entirely on vegetables, eating neither 
 fish nor eggs. 
 
 Being ready to continue our journey we retraced our steps 
 toward Volcano bay, running again the gauntlet of mud-holes 
 and flies. Of these last the yellow variety, which gave us the 
 
CHAP. XII.J SECOND JOUBNET IN TESSO. 175 
 
 most trouble, left us as soon as we came within the influence of 
 the sea-breeze. At Kminui on the sea, the fishermen were busy 
 in packing in straw bags, and loading into junks, immense quan- 
 tities of herrings, from which the oil had been expressed. This 
 refuse is shipped as a manure to Nipon. Clouds of ravens, the 
 constant attendants of the fishermen, hovered over the beach. We 
 reached Woshimanbe, our sleeping place, early in the afternoon. 
 Here taking a boat and rowing a short distance out on the bay, 
 we had a fine sun-set view of the north and west shores. We 
 could see distinctly the sulphur-coated cliffs of the great solfatara 
 of Mount Oussu. This ragged pile is evidently but the remnant of 
 a volcanic cone, which must once have been of great size. Far 
 inland and north from Mount Oussu we could clearly see the 
 towering peak of Shiribetz. This is a perfect cone, regularly 
 truncated, and rising apparently from the plain. Unlike the 
 greater number of Japanese volcanoes, its activity seems to have 
 ceased soon after the formation of the cone. It is clothed to the 
 summit with a dense vegetation, which at the distance from which 
 we saw it, seemed like purple velvet and the rays of the setting 
 sun. Its height is great, probably between six and eight thou- 
 sand feet, and its symmetrical form entitles it to a place among 
 the picturesque volcanoes of the world. 
 
 Leaving Woshimanbe and Volcano bay, we turned northwest 
 to cross over to Odaszu on the Japan sea. The road was hardly 
 passable even on horseback. The long trains of pack-horses, 
 fastened together in single file, soon convert a road into a succes- 
 sion of deep holes, separated only by narrow partitions, and filled 
 with soft mud, which the sinking feet of the horses churn up at 
 every step into the rider's face. 
 
 After a tedious ride we reached a solitary farm situated in the 
 plain on the water-shed. The establishment of these farms, together 
 with the granting of many privileges to their occupants, is one of 
 the wise means by which the Government is endeavoring to colo- 
 nize the island, which has hitherto been productive only in its 
 fisheries. 
 
 Here we embarked in two small boats and descended a shallow 
 and rapid river. For several hours we passed between banks, 
 now low and overhung with water-willows, now high and clothed 
 from the river's edge with beautiful forests. As we glided down 
 
176 AOBOSS AMEBIGA AND ASIA. [chap. xii. 
 
 the shallow rapids, I noticed that the bottom was covered with 
 closely-packed colonies of nnios. Gradually the steep banks re- 
 ceded from the river, and the valley opening out before us was 
 occupied by broad terraces sloping gently toward the sea. 
 
 At a point a mile or two above the mouth of the stream we 
 came upon a relay of horses which had been sent out to meet us, 
 and which carried us to the village of Odaszu. 
 
 We had hardly arrived when an officer appeared, announcing 
 that the magistrate ci the district would soon wait upon us. He 
 came immediately with all his retinue, and entered our apart- 
 ments with two or three officers. In our interviews with those 
 officials who had been in the habit of meeting foreigners, we had 
 always adopted the usual compromise between foreign and Japan- 
 ese etiquette ; but we now were to receive an officer who knew 
 nothing of this compromise, and to whom a shake of the hand 
 would have seemed as ridiculous a proceeding as the salutation by 
 rubbing noses seems to a European newly arrived among the na- 
 tives of the South Sea islands. There was no escaping it ; it was 
 clear we would have to conform to the complicated Japanese 
 ceremonial. Accordingly we ranged ourselves and the officers of 
 our escort in a row, squatting upon our marrow bones, while our 
 visitor and his attendants faced us in another row, exactly five 
 feet distant. This done, using our knees as pivots, every man 
 threw his body forward, with the palms of his hands resting on 
 the mat, and regarding his vis-a-vis 'for an instant, lowered the 
 head till the forehead rested on the floor. In this position each 
 side murmured in a low tone the customary formula, and then 
 raised the head just far enough to see that the other side was 
 being equally polite. Another lowering of the head, and another 
 formula, and the ceremony was ended. Keturning again to the 
 usual sitting position, not without a strong tendency to vertigo, 
 on my part at least, we began an informal conversation, assisted 
 by the fragrant tea and tobacco of Japan. Our visitor soon left 
 us to rest from the fatiguing journey of the day. 
 
 Our route now lay northward along the western coast of the 
 island. The road to Isoya was very rocky and difficult of pas- 
 sage. We found it, however, very picturesque, winding along 
 the sea-shore, now over a narrow, pebbly beach, overhung by 
 high and ragged cliffs, and now cut through projecting points of 
 
CHAP. XII] SECOND JOURNEY IN TES80. 177 
 
 rock. Beyond Isoya, leaving the shore, we ascended by a nar- 
 row trail to the top of a high promontory, which here juts out 
 into the sea. From this ridge, which is harren of forest, we could 
 see far inland up the broad valley of the Shiribetz river. The 
 plain, and the gently-sloping sides of this beautiful valley, are 
 covered with a compact growth of the cane already mentioned, 
 giving to it the appearance of a green savannah, through which 
 meanders like a silver thread the clear mountain stream. De- 
 scending to the plain we were ferried across the river, which it 
 seems is navigable for some distance for flat-boats. 
 
 The northern wall of the valley is formed by a lofty promon- 
 tory called the Raiden. Here, leaving the sea-shore and rising 
 by a rugged path, we reached the surface of a terrace, a barren 
 plain bestrown with fragments of volcanic scoria. 
 
 The road up the side of the mountain proper was one of the 
 worst on the island, and was in many places little better than a 
 flight of rocky steps. This mountain is composed of beds of 
 trachytic lava and tufas, and the soil formed from a disintegra- 
 tion of these rocks supports a noble growth of the beautiful forest 
 trees of this country. 
 
 After a precipitous descent into a deep gorge, we reached, be- 
 fore snnset, the hot springs of the Yunonai. Through this ravine 
 there runs a small torrent which has its source in the crater of 
 the solfatara of Mount Iwanai. Where our route crossed this 
 creek there are several hot sulphur springs, and a small inn, a 
 branch of the principal hotel of Iwanai. The springs have tem- 
 peratures varying from 40 to 60 degrees C. In the warm detritus 
 which surrounds these, there harbor countless snakes, of which 
 the cast-off skins are visible in every direction, on the ground, 
 and fluttering from every bush. These reptiles are respected by 
 the natives, being looked upon as the divinities of the springs — 
 a remnant, probably, of the old nature-worship of the country. 
 
 Here, as at Kakumi, the hot springs stand in close connection 
 with the snow-white quartziferous porphyry. This rock is im- 
 pregnated with iron pyrites, which in places is represented only 
 by cubical cavities containing sulphur. 
 
 Another long and difficult ride over the northern part of the 
 Raiden brought us to Iwanai and the broad terrace plain which 
 rises from the sea to the inland mountains. 
 
178 ACHOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xii. 
 
 Iwanai is one of the principal towns on the island, and is the 
 residence of a magistrate. This officer waited upon us as soon 
 as we arrived, and we went through a repetition of the customary 
 ceremony, but this time with a more practical result ; for we had 
 to make requisitions on him for the necessary animals and guides 
 to take us to the volcano of Iwaounobori. Early the next morning 
 the guides were in the court of our inn with twenty- six saddle 
 and pack-horses. With this long train we soon filed through the 
 streets, objects of silent wonderment to the population. A ride 
 of a few miles over the grassy plain brought us to the mountain, 
 and here began a road the like of which it would not be easy to 
 find outside of the island of Yesso. It had been cut the year be- 
 fore through the dense undergrowth, and consisted of mud fully 
 two feet deep, in which countless stumps of cane stood like so 
 many bayonets. 
 
 In the midst of the mountains an unexpected view burst upon 
 us. We suddenly left the forest, and there lay beneath us a beau- 
 tiful lake, hemmed in on all sides by gentle mountain slopes, clothed 
 only with bamboo cane, but this so dense and green that it had 
 all the appearance of long, waving grass. Through an opening 
 in the hills this green landscape was brought into sharp contrast 
 with the towering pile of black and gray crags and clifiis, coated 
 with glistening sulphur, or striped with bright bands of red and 
 yellow. From this massive ruin countless columns of vapor 
 were rising, at one moment separately, at another intermingled 
 by the breeze, and we knew that we were approaching one of na- 
 ture's grandest laboratories. Skirting the lake and crossing the 
 low pass we reached the sulphur works at the foot of the moun- 
 tain before dark. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that on the plain at the foot of the 
 mountain we found a large area covered with wintergreen, bearing 
 white berries. The occurrence of this genus, gaultheria, whioh_ 
 is unknown on continental Asia or Europe, is another striking point 
 of reseniBlance between the Horas ofnorthern Japan and the 
 United States. 
 
 We attempted an ascent of the mountain to get a view, but 
 were rewarded only with a thorough drenching from the fog, 
 which suddenly settled round the summit. 
 
 The next morning we all made the ascent. Iwaounobori is a 
 
CHAT. XII.] SECOND JOUKNET IN TESSO. 179 
 
 true solfatara of grand dimensions. It is the remnant of an an- 
 cient cone, which must have been of great height, and it is the 
 centre of a large volcanic region which surrounds it, with the 
 varied and peculiar scenery belonging to such districts. From 
 the summit, fifteen extinct cones, and probably many more volca- 
 nic mountains, are visible; among these the distant peaks of 
 Esan and Komangadake rise distinctly on the horizon. Nearer 
 to us was the magnificent cone of the Shiribetz, second only to 
 the Fuziyama in beauty ; while between this and the mountain 
 on which we stood lay the broad green valley of the Shiribetz, 
 remarkable for its long sweeping horizontal and vertical 
 curves. Afar ofi" to the east the horizon was broken by a range 
 apparently running north and south through the middle of the 
 island. 
 
 While I was lost in the great beauty of the scene spread out 
 before us, I became more strongly impressed by the difficulties 
 which we would have to contend with in our exploration of the 
 island. The presence everywhere of the dense undergrowth of 
 cane seemed to render the interior inaccessible. 
 
 As I have already said, this mountain is only a part of the skel- 
 eton of a former cone of large size. Of the symmetrical mantle 
 of ashes which once covered it, only portions of the foot-slope 
 are now visible around the base. The present mountain is a 
 great mass of trachytic rock with several culminating points, 
 connected by small ridges, and has a number of crateriform depres- 
 sions. The sides are broken with perpendicular clifis several 
 hundred feet high, and cut into by deep and narrow gorges. 
 The depressions on the summit, which indicate, perhaps, the po- 
 sition of fonner outlets, are now filled to the level of the lip with 
 sand and clay, forming plains surrounded by rocky walls. 
 
 The Iwaounobori is the central one of three volcanos, which 
 lie in a line running about N. IST. W. This is also the course of 
 a broad belt within the limits of which the solfatara action is 
 most developed, both across the summit and upon the sides. 
 The rock within this belt, wherever not covered by the products 
 of decomposition, is traversed by countless fissures, more or less 
 filled with sulphur, and wherever the filling is incomplete there 
 issue forth jets of steam and gases. These jets showed on every 
 trial a temperature of 98 degrees C. The steam has a strong 
 
IgO A0B08S AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xn. 
 
 odor of both sulphurous acid and sulphuretted hydrogen. It has 
 an acid reaction on litmus paper, which is especially strong when 
 drops that condense on the sulphur-crystals around the orifices of 
 the jets are tested. Beautiful crystals of sulphur formed rapidly 
 on the bulb of the thermometer. Excepting at the steam vents, 
 the fissures are closed with sulphur at the surface ; but by break- 
 ing in to the depth of a few inches cavities are exposed, lined with 
 a bristling mass of the straw-colored crystals of this mineral. On 
 a precipitous part of the exterior of the mountain, where a large 
 mass of the rock seemed recently to have fallen off, I saw an in. 
 teresting exhibition of the action of the gases. The rock is seen to 
 be traversed by a perfect network of sulphur veins (a), which seem 
 to occupy the positions of the cracks common to all rock. The 
 trachytic character {b) is tolerably well preserved in the centre of 
 the block, but towards the circumference the rock is more and 
 more disintegrated, and has assumed the form of concentric 
 layers, the outer shell being changed to a white earth. It seems 
 not improbable that this condition may exist through a large 
 part of the mountain, thus forming a great stock-werk of sulphur. 
 
 The only way in which I can account for this structure is by 
 supposing that the disintegration of the rock, which formerly oc- 
 cupied the spaces now filled with sulphur, took place when the 
 water, which now appears only as steam, stood at a higher level 
 in the mountain, making it a mud volcano, like Esan, and exud- 
 ing the products of decomposition as fast as formed. On the 
 withdrawal of the water to a lower level, the abandoned net-work 
 of fissures was filled with sulphur by the decomposition of sul- 
 phuretted hydrogen. 
 
 At another place, in the walls of one of the small craters near 
 the summit, there Is an instance that would seem to Illustrate the 
 action of the gases and steam without the presence of water as 
 such. Here a black rock, which occurs in dykes at several points 
 on the mountain, is visible in different stages of alteration. In 
 places it was observed to have the concentric structure assumed 
 by many rocks during the first period of disintegration, and by 
 which the polygonal form of the blocks into which all bodies of 
 rock are subdivided, is lost as each succeeding shell is removed. 
 In this case the outer shell Is white and earthy. Again the same 
 rock was found altered, to the centre of each block, the shape re- 
 
CHANGE FROM POLYGONAL TO SPHERICAL FORMS, 
 IN ROCK-MASSES. 
 
 MANNER OF OCCURRENCE OF SULPHUR. 
 a Snlphnr. b Rock. 
 
CHAP, xu.] 8EG0ND JOURNEY IN TE8S0. 18] 
 
 maining, to a soft, pasty, white clay, quite tasteless. Often in tht 
 centre of a snowy-white mass of this clay, would lie a core, equally 
 soft hut black, the line of separation between the colors being well 
 marked. In places where the alteration was in the first stage, an 
 alnm-salt was found, producing an efilorescence on the surface of 
 this black rock, possibly as one of the first products from the 
 decomposing felspar. 
 
 On the west side of the peak, in the valley which drains the 
 craters, there was formerly a spring of chalybeate water, which 
 has left a large deposit of hydrated oxide of iron, filled with 
 leaves and stems of cane, apparently of the same species that now 
 covers the surrounding country. 
 
 After taking lunch near the small shrine of the San Gin (moun- 
 tain god), we descended to the sulphur works. Here also some 
 one has worked in ancient times, and an old iron cauldron of great 
 size, which was found half-buried at this spot, is now used for the 
 evening bath-tub. It is mounted over a furnace in the open air. 
 "When the water is heated to the right point, the bather gets in, 
 and presents, as seen through the smoke, a scene which reminds 
 one of pictures of boiling martyrs of old. 
 
 The Government has sulphur works on this mountain, in which 
 fourteen cauldrons are kept at work. The monthly production is 
 about 64,000 pounds, at a total cost of $183 25. 
 
 Returning to Iwanai, we left the next morning to continue our 
 journey northward along the coast. A broad, pebbly beach, be- 
 tween the terrace plain and the sea, extends as far as the mouth 
 of the ShLribuka river — a stream which is navigable for canoes. 
 After crossing this we came again to the precipitous cliffs ajjd 
 craggy head-lands which characterize the west coast. Our jour- 
 ney was made partly on horseback, and partly by boat, the head- 
 lands being often impracticable for roads. In this manner we 
 reached the small fishing village of Ousubetz. Leaving the sea 
 the next morning, we ascended the bed of Kaiyanobetz creek. 
 About a mile from the shore we came upon a series of sand- 
 stones and shales, enclosing three seams of superior bituminous 
 coal, the largest bed being about four feet thick. We spent the 
 hour before sunset in rowing among the rocks ofi" Ousubetz, ad- 
 miring the richness in form and color of the marine life exhibited 
 in the fissures and on the sides of the rough rocks. Brilliant star- 
 
182 AOBOaS AMEBIGA AND ASIA. [chap. xn. 
 
 fishes and shells were clustered in the bright and many-colored 
 sea-mosses, out of which grew, like beautiful flowers, large sea- 
 anemones. Many fishing-boats were engaged in taking the halio- 
 tis from the rocks. This is done by means of a long, three-pointed 
 spear. We found this mollusk to be an excellent substitute for 
 oysters when made into soup. The Japanese are very fond of 
 this, as they are indeed of almost everything that lives in the 
 sea. Sea-slugs (beche-de-mer), cuttle-fish, sea-urchins, and sea- 
 weed of many varieties, would serve to head a long list of marine 
 animals which are, in reality, excellent food. They occur on 
 many coasts, including our own ; but the Japanese alone seem to 
 turn them to practical account. The same remark might be ap- 
 plied to the vegetable productions of the forests. In one class 
 especially, the cryptogams, there seems hardly to be a variety 
 — whether growing in the forests, or even on the wood-work Lq 
 mines, or cultivated in gardens — which does not find its way into 
 Japanese soups. 
 
CHAPTER Xin. 
 
 SECOND JOUENBT IN TESSO 
 
 The summer was now so far advanced thao, much as we 
 wished to visit the northern part of the island, we felt that to 
 continue our journey, which was purely one of general reconnois- 
 sance, would give us too little time for work at the mines before 
 the setting-in of winter ; we therefore concluded to return. A 
 boat, propelled by eight' oars and four sculls, aided by a large sail, 
 brought us rapidly across the bay to IwanaL 
 
 As we were to continue our journey by sea, we were now at the 
 mercy of the weather, which for two days prevented our start- 
 ing. This delay, however, gave me the opportunity of seeing the 
 ceremonies of a great Sintu festival, which I have described in a 
 previous chapter. 
 
 On the 25th of August a smooth sea tempted us to start on 
 our journey by boat. We were soon passing under the rocky 
 cUffs of the Raiden. The northern part of this mountain is 
 formed of the volcanic tufa-conglomerate, covered by a great bed 
 or perhaps several flows of lava, often exhibiting columnar struc- 
 ture. In places, beds of lava seemed to be inter-stratified with 
 conglomerate. 
 
 At about half the distance between the northern and southern 
 sides of this highland a large amphitheatre or crateriform valley 
 opens toward the sea. South of this the cliffs, less high, consist 
 of the conglomerate, and in the perpendicular walls are visible 
 many small but regular dykes with transverse columnar struc- 
 ture, and in places dislocated by faults. The conglomerate strata 
 have a considerable south-westerly dip, and as we approached the 
 southern flank of the Raiden, near the village of Hamajime, they 
 disappeared under the sea. Over-lying this formation, and com- 
 posing the mountain above, is a gray volcanic rock, possessing 
 a tabular structure, which gives it often a stratiform appear- 
 ance near the bottom ; but in the upper half of its thickness, the 
 
184 AOBOHS AMEBIGA AND ASIA. [chap. xm. 
 
 plates curve irregulai-ly upward, presenting their edges toward 
 the upper surface of the bed. 
 
 This mountain is a high flat ridge, running nearly east and 
 west, between the valleys of the Shiribetz and the Shiribuka riv- 
 ers, and on it is the Iwaounobori, and at least one more volcano. 
 
 These volcanic rocks, especially the tufa-conglomerates, are 
 characteristic of a greater part of the Japanese coast. They 
 were deposited at a time when this long range of islands was 
 submerged to such an extent that only the higher points, most of 
 which are volcanos, showed themselves above the sea. What is 
 now a range of large islands, was then a long archipelago, con- 
 sisting in the main of super and submarine volcanos. In the 
 straits separating these countless islands, and uj^on the submerged 
 slopes flanking the main range toward the Pacific on the one side, 
 and the Japan sea on the other, there were deposited the ashes 
 ejected from these vents, commingled with the debris which was 
 being constantly formed along the shore-line of the islands. The 
 eruptions of lava from the sub-aerial and sub-marine- volcanos flowed 
 in streams over the surface of these deposits, to be again covered 
 by other beds of detritus and ashes. In the neighborhood of ac- 
 tive centres the fissures radiating from these through this de- 
 posit were filled by dykes of injected lava. Long submerged 
 and exposed to the action of both the sea-water and springs con- 
 taining acids and alkaline salts, the mineralogical character and 
 texture of these beds sufiered great changes. This was espe- 
 cially the case where the more finely comminuted and more soluble 
 ashes predominated over the rolled fragments of harder rock. 
 The results of this metamorphic action difier according to the 
 circumstances under which it took place. Thus, near Kumaishi 
 there are heavy beds consisting entirely of pumice, which seem 
 to have undergone but little change ; this is perhaps explainable 
 by the abundance of small and perfect crystals of quartz, which 
 would seem to indicate that the pumice itself is highly silicious 
 and insoluble. In other places immense beds have been trans- 
 formed into palagonite tufa. Again, as in the peak of Hako- 
 dade and the neighborhood of the Esan, immense beds, which 
 were unquestionably deposits of tufa, have been so changed by 
 re-crystallization into felspar v^ith horn-blende and quartz, as to 
 become trachytic porphyries. 
 
CHAP, xiii.] SECOND JOTTRNET IN TES80. 185 
 
 The subsequent elevation of the Japanese archipelago so far 
 united its countless islands as to form the present group. Many 
 former straits are now passes between inland mountains, from 
 the crests of which the beds of tufa slope off to disappear under 
 the ocean. The action of the sea along the coast has everywhere 
 cut deep into this deposit, breaking the once continuous decliv- 
 ity, and substituting for it the cliffs and fiords, which everywhere 
 encircle the islands that constitute Japan. 
 
 This is one of the more recent phases of geological change to 
 which the Japanese group has been subjected. The skeleton of 
 the islands consists of granitic and schistose rocks, apparently 
 of the same age as the similar fonnations of China and Tartary, 
 and like these either Silurian or protozoic. At various points 
 upon the group, tertiary, secondary, and perhaps paleozoic rocks 
 are represented. 
 
 Leaving the boat at Isoya we continued our journey the next 
 morning with horses. Riding around the head of the bay of 
 Odaszu, we were ferried over the Shibuta river, our horses swim- 
 ming behind. Here we entered the domain of the Prince of 
 Tsungara. The broad terrace plain which forms the surface of 
 the deposit of tufa conglomerate is here covered with a heavy 
 growth of a jointed grass from six to ten feet high, while the in- 
 land hills are clothed with stunted forests. In crossing the wood- 
 ed slopes we found abundance of vines of the wild grape and of 
 the hiwa, which bears a delicious fruit. 
 
 In crossing one of the small rivers, near where it empties into 
 the sea, an accident occurred which might have been attended 
 ■with serious results. The stream was spanned from bank to 
 bank, about fifteen feet above the water, by a bridge constructed 
 only of four large timbers laid loosely side by side. The two 
 inner beams were squared, but the outer ones were left unhewn. 
 On to this narrow bridge five Japanese officers had already pre- 
 ceded me, when I observed that every one of their horses was 
 treading against the side of the outer round timber, and rolling 
 this from its place. Foreseeing an immediate catastrophe, I 
 backed off and gave the alarm. But the warning came too late. 
 The words dbnai! abnail had hardly left my mouth when the 
 beam rolled from its place, and the horses plunged with a heavy 
 splash into the torrent below. The riders, with the skill peculiar 
 
186 ACROSS AMEBICA AND ASIA. [chap, xiil 
 
 to Japanese horsemen, landed upon the bridge and escaped un- 
 harmed. The animals also suffered nothing worse than a wetting. 
 
 I was struck by the more flourishing condition of the inhabitants 
 of the imperial domain, as compared with those of the territory of 
 the Prince of Tsungara. There was a general air of dilapidation in 
 the villages, and of thriftlessness among the people, in the region 
 we were now passing through, which spoke of the imposition of bur- 
 dens disproportionate to the sources of revenue. The line of de- 
 marcation between the two conditions was as sharply drawn as the 
 geographical boundary. The cause could not lie in nature, for 
 the sea, which is in both the only source of revenue, offered its 
 treasures alike to both. The reason most probably lies in the 
 polic y of the Taikoonate, which during more than two centuries 
 has been exerted to impoverish the feudatory lords of the empir e, 
 by exacting from them the constant maintenance of large armies , 
 and of great establishments at Yeddo . To meet this constant 
 drain, taxation must have been pressed to the utmost, while the 
 means thus raised were in great part expended in the imperial 
 city, and on the road thither ; thus enriching countries which are 
 practically foreign, instead of circulating for the benefit of all 
 classes at home. One can hardly conceive of a policy better 
 calculated than this to impoverish and weaken the dangerous ele- 
 ments of a feudal empire, and at the same time to enrich the terri- 
 tory of the central power. 
 
 After riding through several of these miserable villages, we 
 came to a point beyond which roads were impossible, and 
 from which we continued our journey by boat. The coast here 
 was a succession of deep fiords and bold head-lands, facing the 
 sea, with high and wood-crowned cliffs. With a breeze which just 
 filled the sail, we threaded our way among countless islets. 
 Nothing but the most intimate knowledge of this coast could 
 have guided us safely through the narrow channels separating 
 rocks which lay bare after every wave, and which almost touched 
 us on either side. But the sense of danger is often lulled by the 
 increasing confidence in one's guides ; so here, after having passed 
 several times through places which seemed to threaten certain 
 destruction, we withdrew our attention from the terrors beneath, 
 to the fantastic forms carved by the waves out of the soft rock 
 at the base of the overhanging cliffs, and to the grander view 
 
CHAP, xra.] SECOND JOURNEY IN TESSO. 187 
 
 of the long perspective of headlands and islands, forest and sea, 
 drawn out before us. 
 
 Daring the afternoon we had been approaching a chain of high 
 pinnacle rocks, which jutted out from a cape, and which as we 
 approached them were found to consist of symmetrical columns 
 of lava. In the little bay thus protected lay a fishing village, our 
 resting-place for the night. The chief productions of this part 
 of the west coast are awabi (haleotis), erico (beche-de-mer), ika 
 (cuttle-fish), some herrings and pectens, together with sea-weed. 
 The sea-urchin [nona) is also very abundant. All these form ar- 
 ticles of trade with the other islands, and of export to China. 
 From this point we made a short excursion into the interior. 
 
 Continuing our journey now by horse, now by boat, we reached 
 Oiisubetz, whence we were to ascend a small stream into the 
 mountains. 
 . At this village there was being built a large penitentiary, to 
 which prisoners from all parts of the empire were to be sent, and 
 where they were to pass their time in working at diiferent trades. 
 This experiment was being tried in imitation of American state 
 prisons. 
 
 Our excursion up the valley of the Ousubetz, or more prop- 
 erly up the bed of that creek, was one which showed the difficulty 
 of access to the interior as soon as the very few routes of travel 
 are left. We made the first seven miles with the greatest difficulty 
 on horseback, over the stony bed of the river. Here we found 
 several huts and warm springs ; these latter, having temperatures 
 from 54 to 58 degrees C, issuing from porphyritic rock, and contain- 
 ing much lime and iron, are the favorite resort not only of count- 
 less snakes, but also of many invalids ; and it would certainly seem 
 that any person whose constitution is strong enough to carry him 
 over the road thither from the coast, could not fail to leave this 
 locality with every assurance of having had it well tested. 
 
 Avery large and cavernous deposit of ferruginous tufu surrounds 
 the springs. In the never-failing heat imparted by the neighbor- 
 ing water to this rock, large families and colonies of harmless 
 serpents live and multiply, enjoying, as the presiding genii of the 
 place, a perfect immunity from harm. Their cast-off" skins cover 
 the ground, rot in the water, are entwined among the plants, or 
 dangle as streamers from every hole. 
 
188 ACROSS AMEBIC A AND ASIA. [chap.xhi. 
 
 These springs are frequented by bathers during the spring and 
 autumn, when insects are least troublesome, the visitors paying the 
 owner for the privilege of using the water. 
 
 Leaving our horses at this point, we continued our journey on 
 foot. For several miles we waded almost uninterruptedly in the 
 stream, the water often rising nearly breast-high. The object of 
 this excursion was to examine certain mineral deposits which had 
 been reported to the Government as existing in the valley. But 
 after we had nearly exhausted both the afternoon and our strength, 
 the guide confessed himself unable to find the place, and we re- 
 traced our steps. The valley of this river lay between nearly 
 vertical walls of amygdaloid and porphyries, a structure which, by 
 forcing us .to follow the bed of the torrent, rendered our journey 
 exceedingly difficult. 
 
 The next morning we returned to the sea-shore, and continued 
 southward to Kumaishi. Here for a distance of some miles the 
 terrace formation changes character; its usual gloomy conglom- 
 erate tufa is replaced by pumice, the snow-white cliflEs of which 
 presented a new feature in the coast scenery. 
 
 While rowing off the shore I was struck by a peculiarity con- 
 nected with this tufa. There are in the deep water many rocks, 
 whose surfaces are just exposed at low tide. They are flat, and 
 from a few feet to several yards in diameter, the tops and the 
 sides for some feet below the surface being thickly encrusted with 
 mussels, and a variety of those organisms which flourish between 
 tides. Below the area thus protected, the action of the sea upon 
 the soft pumice has progressed until the supporting material of 
 each encrusted rock is little more than a slender column. 
 
 At Tomarigawa we left the Japan sea and turned eastward to 
 re-cross the mountains. The western slope is deeply sulcated by 
 ravines, which at a short distance from the sea expose the gran- 
 itic and other rocks, the irregularities of the surface of which have 
 been filled up by the volcanic tufa conglomerate. Our route lay 
 mainly along a very narrow ridge of this conglomerate, which in 
 places became so sharp that the road had to be built up with 
 rubble and brush. 
 
 The forest had the usual dense undergrowth of cane. While 
 we were threading our way along the narrow path, a large bear 
 met us, coming from the opposite, direction, and caused a great 
 
CHAP, xra.] SECOND JOTJBNEY IS TESSO. 1S9 
 
 commotion among our horses. He was evidently as much star- 
 tled as Ave were, for Avith a rapid shuffle he disappeared in the 
 thick undei'growth, and the noise he made showed the speed 
 with which he descended the hill. These animals are very numer- 
 ous, and only a few days before some of them had eaten a horse 
 at the neighboring mines. 
 
 Before evening we reached the mines of Yurup, in a valley on 
 the eastern slope of the mountains. Here the volcanic conglom- 
 erate has been removed by erosion over a large area, exposing an 
 extensive development of black metamorphosed argillite in ver- 
 tical strata, associated with broad bands of greenstone. True 
 fissure veins traversed both these rocks, bearing galena, zinc-blende, 
 and pyrites of iron and copper, associated with quartz, calcite, 
 carbonate of manganese, and more rarely barytes. These veins, 
 which, with a width of from two to eighteen inches, are tolerably 
 regular in the greenstone, split into parallel threads in the argil- 
 lite. A considerable area has been worked for lead, but here as at 
 Ichinowatari the deposits are very poor. The highest production 
 ever attained was about four tons per month, but at the time of my 
 visit it was less than two. The processes of separation and smelt- 
 ing are the same as at Ichinowatari. The foUowinoj schedule of 
 the daily expenses is inserted as a curiosity. The laborers are 
 supplied by the Government with rice : 
 
 DAILY EXPENSES OF THE YTJEUP LEAD MINES. 
 
 Accountant clerk $ 05 
 
 Head miner 07 
 
 Twenty-five miners, at 5 els 1 35 
 
 Eigliteen Coolies, at 4 cts 73 
 
 Thirteen women, ore dressers and washers, 3 to 6 cts 45 
 
 Daily consumption of iron 13 
 
 " " " steel 04 
 
 "' " " mats and ropes 06 
 
 Total $ 3 76 
 
 Here we made the first application o f powder to mining that 
 had ever been a ttempted in J apan. The men learned readily the 
 art of drilling, but could not "be persuaded to take any part in 
 the charging, tamping, and lighting of the first hole. They 
 would not even stay to watch the process, but left the mine in a 
 body. They came back immediately after the explosion, fully 
 
190 ACB0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xiii. 
 
 expecting to find the works fallen. in, and the rash foreigners 
 buried in the ruins. Their delight was indescribable when they 
 saw the result of the blast, which, at the cost of , an hour's labor, 
 had accomplished more than they were able to do by their own 
 process in a day. After this they stayed to learn all about the 
 tamping. and lighting, and very soon went through the whole 
 operation without assistance. 
 
 It is remarkable that the use of powder for blasting should 
 have remained so long unknown in China and Japan, in which 
 countries this explosive material has been used for other purposes 
 I since very early time s. It was amusing, too, to find the Japanese 
 Government in 1862 urging the same objections to its use in mines 
 that were put forward under similar circumstances by the gov- 
 ernments of Europe two or three hundred years ago. It was 
 not without some difficulty that we obtained permission to make 
 the trial. The result was so successful that before I left Japan I 
 was told that many princes had sent men to Yurup to learn the 
 new process. 
 
 The empire is very rich in deposits of usefuLmetals, and upon 
 the island south of Yesso, these, including iron, have been worked 
 since very early times. The Japanese being very skilful in min- 
 ing above the lowest attainable water level, have found and 
 worked countless deposits, exhausting them down to the point at 
 which the water compelled them to leave. 
 
 The natural result of this is, that large numbers of veins bear- 
 ing gold, silver, lead, and copper, have been abandoned when 
 most productive. Indeed, it would seem that only the introduc- 
 tion of pumping machinery is necessary to raise to a high point 
 the production of these and other metals. In this direction, there- 
 fore, I turned my first attention. As the Government considered 
 it dangerous for us to visit the mining districts of Nipon, I de- 
 cided to introduce such improvements as could be constructed in 
 a simple form at the mines of Yurup. 
 
 Unfortunately, the lateness of the season prevented my doing 
 more than making the preliminary surveys, and the termination 
 of our engagement soon after this rendered it impossible to give 
 other than theoretical instruction in this important branch of 
 mining. 
 
 At Yurup there are also two warm springs with a tempera- 
 
CHAP, xni.] SECOND JOURNEY IN TESSO. 191 
 
 tnre of 40 degrees C. The water is iised in winter for wasting 
 the ores, and for this purpose is conducted into a large tank 
 built in one corner of the ore-house, where it serves also as a 
 bath. 
 
 The road from Yurup to Volcano bay lies for some distance, 
 through deep and narrow gorges, in which it is in places cut 
 out of the solid rock; but as wc approach the sea the valley 
 widens and becomes a fertile river bottom, upon which there were 
 already two or three farms. Among the products of these is 
 the hardy variety of rice, which in Japan and China is cultivated 
 in a climate resembling that of the northern United States. 
 Coming at Yurup into our j^revious road we returned to Hako- 
 dade, which we reached on the 14th of September. 
 
 The remainder of the autumn was passed at the mines, Mr. 
 Blake returning to the gold washings of Kunnui, and I to the lead 
 mines of Yurup. 
 
 During this time there was growing the revolution which has 
 since broken out with such force that the long prosperous empire 
 is now the scene of dissensions which threaten its very exist- 
 ence. 
 
 Among the charges brought against the Taikoon by the anti- 
 foreign party, was one which accused him of throwing the re- 
 sources of the country open to foreign spies in engaging us. Find- 
 ing itself losing ground, the Yeddo Government was forced to 
 suspend many of its liberal schemes, and first of all to bring to 
 an end our engagement. This was done in February, 1863. My 
 connection with this Government had been uniformly pleasant, 
 and it was with deep regret that I saw t!ie threatening ascen- 
 dancy which the anti-liberal party was daily gaining. 
 
 As the hour of departure approached, the young officers who 
 had so long been my companions and pupils showed how strongly 
 they felt a separation which threatened to put an end to the study 
 of foreign sciences in which they had become engrossed. To 
 several of them I was deeply attached, and that the feeling was 
 mutual was shown by the tears they shed when the moment 
 of parting came, and which were the only ones I ever saw in 
 the eyes of a man in Japan or China. Takeda, Myagawa, 
 Oosima, and X uwao, vied with each other in bringing presents, 
 among which were ancient family swords, the choicest of heir- 
 
192 AOBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xm 
 
 looms, -which money cotild not have bought. It was useless to 
 refuse the acceptance of objects which I knew they prized so 
 much. They were men of high intelligence and cultivated minds, 
 and possessing all the characteristics which with us constitute the 
 thorough gentleman. Myagawa, who had mastered the English 
 and French languages, has since twice been to Eui'ope as inter- 
 preter and secretary to Japanese embassies. 
 
 During our sojourn in Hakodade I incurred a heavy debt to 
 the greater part of the foreign inhabitants for many acts of 
 friendship and hospitality ; especially to Messrs. Walsh & Co., 
 and their agents, Messrs. Stevenson and Wheaton. 
 
 Profiting by the kind invitation of Capt. Bassargine, we em- 
 barked for Nagasaki in 11. I. R. M. corvette " Bogartyr." The 
 weather was very rough, and we had more than usual difficulty 
 in making headway through the straits of Tsungara. Here a 
 strong current rushes perpetually from the Japan sea to the 
 Pacific. During the winter months this and a constant west 
 wind render Hakodade almost inaccessible to vessels coming from 
 the east. After entering the Japan sea and turning south-west- 
 ward, every day's progress brought us into more southern cli- 
 mates. As we approached the straits of Corea, countless pictur- 
 esque islands, covered with a semi-tropical vegetation, offered a 
 pleasant contrast to the snowy hills and leafless forests of the 
 northern part of the empire. ' 
 
 It was a beautiful morning at the end of February when we 
 steamed up the long bay of Nagasaki. It had been my intention 
 to go on with the "Bogartyr" to Shanghai, but receiving a kind 
 invitation from Mr. J. G. Walsh, the U. S. Consul, of the house 
 of Messrs. Walsh & Co., I concluded to remain. 
 
 Nagasaki is built on the side of a high hill at the head of the 
 long bay of the same name. Its streets in one direction are long 
 and crooked, conforming to the contours of the ground, while in 
 the other they rise in flights of stone steps, ascending the mountain. 
 The upper part of the slope is occupied very generally with 
 temples and temple grounds, and with extensive cemeteries. 
 As seen from the water, the city and its surroundings present a 
 unique and pleasant appearance. Large trees rise from every 
 part of the town, while here and there thick masses of the rich 
 foliage of the camphor tree, or smaller grores mixed with the 
 
OH-VP. XIII.] NAGASAKI. 193 
 
 lighter green of the bamboo, relieve the monotonous outlines of 
 the level roofs of a Japanese town. Above all these the city is 
 overlooked by massive temples, standing on terraced grounds 
 faced with heavy stone -walls, and approached by, long avenues of 
 steps and sacred gate-ways. Not less remarkable are the ceme- 
 teries, always a particular feature of a Japanese town. These, 
 too, lie above the city, and cover the surface of the hill, following 
 all its irregularities, filling ravines, and mantling the summits and 
 sides of promontories, here creeping into the temple grounds, and 
 there setting a limit to the growth of the town. The hills thus 
 occupied are very steep, and have been made available for this 
 purpose only by raising upon their slopes _ thousands of small 
 terraces, faced with stone. Indeed, the entire side of the moun- 
 tain is one mass of hewn masonry. It is a city of the dead, and 
 is traversed in every direction by main avenues and lesser streets, 
 always paved with well-trimmed blocks of stone. Each terrace is 
 divided into small lots a few yai-ds square, which are floored with 
 stone and suiTounded with tastefully carved railings of the same 
 material. These are family lots ; and in each are several monu- 
 ments in dark-colored stone, of various forms and sizes. Round 
 and square columns, obelisks, human figures, and tablets, are the 
 most common forms, and upon these the inscriptions are taste- 
 fully cut in such high relief, or sunk so deeply into the rock, that, 
 like an Egyptian necropolis, this one and the names of its inhabi- 
 tants seems intended to last through all time. 
 
 Till the end of the fourteenth century the site of Nagasaki 
 Avas occupied merely by a fishing hamlet belonging to a prince 
 of the same name, the ruins of whose palace were in Kaempfer's 
 time still visible upon the hill behind the city. With the extinc- 
 tion of this family its territory became part of the domain of the 
 Prince of Omura. Soon after the arrival of the Portugese, the 
 then ruling head of this house found it conformable to his spirit- 
 ual or material interests to confer this city upon the strangers, 
 to be theirs for ever. It became immediately a centre of foreign 
 trade, and of the proselyting missions of the Christian church, 
 and a stronghold in which were developed the ambition and in- 
 solence of the Europeans, which before long led not only to theii 
 own expulsion, but also to the awful persecutions inflicted upon 
 those over whom their influence had been extended. After the 
 13 
 
194 AOBOSS AMEBICA AND ASIA. [chap. xiir. 
 
 adoption by the Japanese of an exclusive policy, they transferred 
 the Dutch factory to this place, or rather to the artificial island 
 of Decima, where they were guarded by gates and police, and 
 treated with great indignity, as the price of being permitted to 
 trade. 
 
 Being no longer in the service of the Government, I was de- 
 barred from making any excursions in the neighborhood of Naga- 
 saki. My walks were confined to an area of a few square miles, 
 and to runs in a sail-boat along the adjoining coast. The neigh- 
 borhood of the city is highly cultivated, the valleys and hillsides 
 being terraced. Among the crops I noticed large fields of rape- 
 seed, raised for the oil. The walks through these fields and ter- 
 races command beautiful and ever-changing views, and would be 
 delightful were it not for the manure-tanks sunken in the ground, 
 which meet one at every step with the most ofiensive odors. 
 There are several coal mines in the immediate neighborhood, but 
 as they are on princely domain they were inaccessible to me. 
 After trying in vain to get permission to visit them, I concluded 
 to leave for China, where foreigners had lately acquired the right 
 of penetrating to the interior. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 AN ESSAY ON JAPANESE AKT, 
 
 Written to accompany this Volume, by 
 
 JOHN LA PAEGE. 
 
 Interest in Japanese art must have much increased, to have 
 made Mr. Ruskin fear some malign influence upon his artists 
 coming from this heathen source ; and it is true that many artists 
 are in the habit of looking to it for advice and confirmation of 
 their previous tendencies and efforts in art. 
 
 Our first knowledge of Japanese art is not recent. Japanese 
 products have come into Europe for the last two hundred years. 
 
 In 1664, the importations into Holland of Japanese porcelain, 
 fine specimens, amounted to 44,943 pieces. Japanese museums 
 were formed at Dresden and in Holland ; and very good sale- 
 catalogues {raisonnh) of the last century, distinguish carefully be- 
 tween Japanese and Chinese work. 
 
 They have always been admired, and collected, but like other 
 rare things have had their best merits passed over, because they 
 could be made the objects of a vulgar curiosity. Though they 
 furnish a test, if ever there was one, for discernment in art, those 
 who make it their business to instruct in such matters were silent. 
 Original appreciation of excellence is never abundant ; even so 
 late as 1851, Mr. Owen Jones did not include Japanese decoration 
 in his " Grammar of Ornament." 
 
 Since then, the opening of the treaty ports has made it familiar 
 to all of us. We have all admired the many objects made lovely 
 by their workmanship : their inimitable lacquers, embodying on 
 their surface a complete school of ornament ; their unrivalled ivory 
 and metal work ; their porcelains and enamels ; their bronzes, of 
 colors unknown to ours, cast and polished beyond our means ; 
 their colored printing, contrasting with our own brutal chromo- 
 
196 
 
 ACROSS AMERICA ANI> ASIA. [chap, xit 
 
 lithographs by its frankness, or by a delicacy equal to exquisite 
 
 hand-work.* 
 
 These things all please the eye, as if with the sense of touch. 
 On analysis, besides the wondrous finish, we notice the novelty of 
 the design, its energy, its accuracy, its sentiment, very often the 
 grandeur of its styfe, very often a stamp of individuality or per- 
 sonal talent, its recalling of natural objects, the enchanting 
 harmony of its colors, and its exquisite adaptation to the surface 
 ornamented. 
 
 We feel that we are looking at perfect work, that we are in 
 presence of a distinct civilization, where art is happily married to 
 industry. These accompaniments of every-day life, studied out, 
 reveal a complete school of art. While it is still pure, uninflu- 
 enced, and uninjured by now contacts, it will be well to inquire 
 into its value, and to learn what lessons we can derive from it. 
 Its limits seem at this day distinctly traced. What we shall 
 know hereafter cannot contradict the points already made, even 
 if it should very much displace them. Notwithstanding that 
 every nation bears intellectual fruit neither natural nor tasteful 
 to others, this is truer of literature than of plastic art, for this 
 last speaks the more universal language ; and without our aim- 
 ing at a full analysis, the principal characteristics of this deco- 
 rative art may be here described in some connected order. 
 
 Most evident in Japanese art, is the use of a marvellous deco- 
 ration, the very crown of that power over color always an heir- 
 loom of the East, and a separate gift from ours. To Eastern 
 directness, fulness, and splendor, the Japanese add a sobriety, a 
 simplicity, a love of subdued harmonies and imperceptible grada- 
 tions, and what may be called an intellectual refinement akin to 
 something in the Western mind. If we wish, their works can 
 be for us a store-house as ample and as valuable in its way as 
 the treasures of form left to us by the Greeks. For the Japan- 
 ese, no combinations of colors have been improbable, and their 
 solutions of such as are put aside by Western knowledge recalt 
 the very arrangements of Nature. 
 
 * I remember a print in which a silYered sickle of a moon shone throngh the most deli- 
 cate gray fog clouds, as correctly edged as if by the photograph, and melting into the very 
 texture of the paper. Over this were faint lines of falling rain, and an inscription perfect- 
 ly distinct, bat as pale as the faintest wash of India ink. If we admire this refinement, 
 what are we to think of that which it addresses- in Japan ? 
 
CHAP. XIV.] JAPANESE ART. 197 
 
 Great beauty of color is apt to obscure the structure upon 
 which it rests, and excellence of design is not seldom unrecog- 
 nized in the works of great colorists. Little as this is felt in the 
 hai'monious synthesis of Japanese decoration, Japanese draw- 
 ings and wood-outs in black and white allow us to gauge their 
 abstract power of design, and their knowledge of drawing. Strip- 
 ped of those other beauties of color and texture so peculiar to 
 their precious work, these drawings give us in the simplest way 
 their control of composition, that power in art which affects the 
 imagination by the mere adjustment of lines and masses. Herein 
 their work can be compared to the best, in this the most simple 
 means of expression in art, for by this all its forms and jjeriods 
 are united, and the tattooing of the savage is connected with the 
 designs of Michael Angelo. In fact it is the nearest exjDression 
 of the will of the artist, which is the very foundation of art. 
 Japanese composition in ornamental design has developed a prin- 
 ciple which separates it technically from all other schools of deco- 
 ration. This will have been noticed by all who have seen Japan- 
 ese ornamental work, and might be called a principle of irregu- 
 larity, or apparent chance arrangement: a balancing of equal 
 gravities, not of equal surfaces. A Western designer, in orna- 
 menting a given surface, would look for some fixed points from 
 which to start, and would mark the places where his mind had 
 rested by exact and symmetrical divisions. These would be 
 supposed by a Japanese, and his design would float over them, 
 while they, though invisible, would be felt beneath. Thus a 
 few oi-naments — a bird, a flower — on one side of this page would 
 be made by an almost intellectual influence to balance the large 
 unadorned space remaining. 
 
 And so, by a principle familiar to painters, an appeal is made 
 to the higher ideas of design, to the desire of concealing Art be- 
 neath a look of Nature. It has the advantage of allowing any 
 division and extension, and super-imposition of other and contra- 
 dictory designs. With another analogy to the higher forms of 
 Art the Japanese look to more symmetrical arrangement for 
 their gi aver effects and religious symbolisms. To carry out this 
 subtle conciliation of symmetry and chance, this constant refer- 
 ence to the order of nature requires of course an incessant watch- 
 ino- of all its moods and all its details. 
 
198 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xiv, 
 
 The daily record of such attention fills the sketch-books of all 
 artists, and many of the little Japanese books of prints are noth- 
 ing but fac-sirailes of such sketches. Whether they are careless 
 or studied, an impression of Nature disengages itself from them 
 all ; every one who sees them will be more or less sensitive to a 
 spirit of observation unfamiliar to our more hurried civilization. 
 With the exception of a certain idealized stereotyping of the 
 female face, they have a respect for reality only limited by under- 
 standing the necessities of art. Any excess is in the direction of 
 essential laws, and accentuation is a note of Japanese art. If 
 they have not the feeling for plastic beauty that we inherit from 
 the Greek ancestors of our mind, they show a deep sense, a pro- 
 found knowledge, of the character of the human form; and«nce 
 drawing may be divided into the drawing of form, and the draw- 
 ing of motion, they may lay claim to a full and consummate 
 ownership of the latter. If their modes shock our own convention- 
 alities, we cannot gainsay that never before have artists so lived 
 at home with animals and plants ; never has artistic skill held 
 under a more subtle sway the thoughtless tribes of sea and air. 
 
 The printed sketches of Hoksai, one of their later artists, from 
 some of which the accompanying fac-similes are taken,* are 
 types of the many-sidedness of the Japanese sketch-books, Birds, 
 beasts, insects, and plants — their growth and jnovements ; curves 
 of motion in water — falling, running, or even thrown ; the curl 
 of smoke ; the ceremony of the Daimios, the shuffling of the 
 Bonzes, the strut of the soldiers, the quarrels of the populace, 
 scenes of home and out-door life, games of children, military 
 exercises ; all trades with the workers in them, and deformities 
 born of their work ; men too fat, men too thin ; landscape ef- 
 fects ; studies of architecture and perspective ; and especially, 
 and always, all possible positions of the human body are noted 
 down in these little albums. All this is done in a manner which 
 would grace the sketch-book of the best draughtsman that ever 
 lived, with sensitive feeling, a detached mind, and gentle humor. 
 
 Art is a necessary exaggeration of Nature, and implies a bear- 
 
 * These facsimiles, not chosen particularly for their artistic merits, give besides iiomo 
 imaginary scenes, a page of common Japanese types, and one of occupations and trades. 
 At tlio foot of one is depicted a dispute about hack-hire, or rather cango-hire, not differing 
 materially from similar comedies with us; above, the figure throwing back his ai-msls 
 frightened by a ghost. 
 
Pac-siiniles of Japanese Woodcuts and Color-Printing 
 
Fac-siraile- of Ja]ianeae Woodcuts and Cnlor-Frmting' 
 
CHAP. XIV] JAPANESE ART. 199 
 
 ing heavily upon certain distinctive points (caricatura). A 
 certain gvotesqueness marlis these Japanese drawings. I do not 
 refer to that side which, in all works of art, marks national dif- 
 ferences, and which has for other nations something ludicrous ; 
 but thei'e exists here a vein of humor which everything tells us 
 must be a national expression. Their constant and delicate ob- 
 servation recalls with a smile the secret mechanism of actions, 
 from the slight indications of any habit to extravagances of 
 gesture and demeanor which flourish in an open life like theirs. 
 Their hand is light, and never suffers from that Western spirit of 
 caricature wliich underlines and insists and dwells upon its joke. 
 A few lines give it. If we understand it, so much the better ; if 
 not, we shall not have failed in a puzzle or a rebus. We can still 
 admu'e the accuracy of whatever is detailed, the comprehensive- 
 ness of what is suggested, often the grace and beauty ; always the 
 swing and energy of the design : for the Japanese draughtsman 
 unites within him what is often separated in the Western artist — 
 the power of representing grace and awkwardness, and a feeling 
 of dignity, with a sympathy for the laugh on things. A Japanese 
 hero strains under a ponderous weight, or a lady flirts her fan, 
 and it is hard to say whether we receive most distinctly the 
 impression of manly efibrt or of female grace. The summons of 
 the idea is always answered by their imagination ; the real bends 
 before their will, though never trampled upon, and retaining all 
 its essential laws. However much the motive, the main forms 
 or the accessories help the story and belong to it, they retain 
 their elementaiy construction, and their strength or their grace is 
 merely framed by a more feeling line. Hoksai, in the inscriptions 
 alongside of some designs equal in all but beauty to the Greek 
 inventions of the centaur, or the fawn, modestly remarks that it 
 is more easy to draw things that no one has seen, than to 
 represent things that every one sees.* With us, however, this 
 
 * A sample of his playftil fancy is given m the fac-slmilcs of this book, the two figures 
 carrying a bundle between them balanced upon the nose of one of them. They are called 
 by Sir Eutherford Alcock gnome.<, rather perhaps suggested by some such description in 
 the work known as the Sinico— Japanese Encyclopedia, of " the Yu-min," the feathered 
 people: "The kingdom of the feathered people lies southeast of the sea, amid rocky 
 precipices. The men have cheeks lengthened out like those of birds ; their beaks are red, 
 their eyes white. Wings grow upon them, and they can fly, but they are incapable of going 
 far away or of keeping up their flight for a longtime. They resemble birds, but are not 
 bom of eggs." These stories account for other creatures of Hokisai, bicephalous semi-cen 
 
200 ACSOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xiv. 
 
 ease of imagination is not an every-day mattei', thougli with 
 us, also, the greatest successes in realism have been attained by 
 men among the greatest in imaginative powei". The exception 
 with us seems to be an essential character with them, transform- 
 ing nature, deeply studied and wisely understood. The sum of 
 all this makes up our first impression that the two opposites of 
 realism and decoration form the art of Japan, and that in this 
 successful blending, it takes a distinct place, never before filled 
 in the logical history of art. 
 
 Some of the compromises made necessary by this combination are 
 interesting. Chinese art is often ridiculed for its complete ab- 
 sence of perspective ; but our own practice of copying paint- 
 ings, imitated in all their modelling and light and shade, upon 
 the curved surface of our vases, is itself an utterly barbaric 
 notion. 
 
 The perspective of the vase destroys the perspective of the or- 
 nament, which it is impossible even to see from a proper point of 
 view. The treatment of perspective in Chinese decoration is, 
 therefore, the result of a very sensible idea. But the Japanese 
 have improved upon the usual Chinese manner, and have invented 
 an interesting compromise, in which certain rules of linear or iso- 
 metric jjerspective are used with a deep feeling for the actual 
 appearance of nature : and by the use Of high horizons, so that 
 the different planes shall come one above the other, they manage 
 to frame large compositions within quite an illusive effect. It is 
 owing to this bird's-eye view that they are able to represent 
 crowds and masses of people with enviable felicity, and give the 
 feeling of open air and expanse to their smallest landscapes. 
 
 In the gradual separation of decoration and pictorial art with 
 
 (auric, many-legged, extensible, accustomed to Bend their heads on hawking expeditions 
 or using their noses with more than elephantine sagacity, as does the female at the top ot 
 this same page. Notice the probability of these impossible creations. In the foremost 
 creature the blending of man's cheek with bird's beak ; the bird-like skull under the wild 
 hair. See how the clothes and the wings in both are customary with them, and how the 
 wings indicate a short flight and are merely a help. The man with the nose is not doing 
 anything eccentric for him. He is accustomed to it, but he must of course lessen the weight 
 of his burden and stop its swaying by putting his hand under it. His eyes blink too, and his 
 face is wrinkled by the tension. All this the artist has seen in his fancy ; within the mem- 
 ory of his observation he has found the projectedhead, the bent body, the cautious and bal- 
 anced tread. Hokeai has, if I may say so, studied the manners of these strange creatures, 
 and in other pictures of the bird-men, they always preserve their character, short-winged 
 and strong-beaked, abrupt in motion, whirring in flight, quarrelsome as the quails they 
 are like. 
 
r,iir-Tr;iLilK:; "t Jyyiane^^e AVoodcuis ainl Coloi-Frmliiiii 
 
[chap. XIV JAPANESE ART. 201 
 
 us there was at least this advantage, that tlie artist was impelled 
 to the individual study of nature that he might mirror the great 
 world in the little world of his picture. 
 
 To different origins we shall reasonably look for the causes 
 which have kept the Japanese artist to flat tints and boundary 
 lines in drawing, and have prevented his pursuing others of na- 
 ture's appearances, and attempting to give the forms of things 
 by the opposition of light and shade, or the influence of colored 
 light. With the harmony which belongs to all good art, Japan- 
 ese -jvorks, if they do not solve the latter problem, offer at least 
 very successful sketches of such solutions. Their colored prints 
 are most charmingly sensitive to the coloring that makes up the 
 appearance of different times of day, to the relations of color which 
 mark the different seasons, so that their landscape efforts give 
 us, in reality, the place where — the illuminated air of the scene of 
 action ; and what is that but what we call tone ? Like all true 
 colorists, they are curious of local color, and of the values of light 
 and shade ; refining upon this they use the local colors to enhance 
 the sensation of the time, and the very colors of the costumes 
 belong to the hour or the season of the landscape. Eyes studious 
 of the combinations and oppositions of color, which must form 
 the basis of all such representations, will enjoy these exquisite 
 studies, of whose directness and delicacy nothing too much can 
 be said in praise. 
 
 The possibilities of art resemble very much those of life, and 
 outside of this peculiar art Ave can imagine many openings. We 
 certainly have in the colossal statue of Daibutz (given in the 
 frontispiece), in its serene ideal of contemplation, a surmise of 
 some one of the things that might have been in Japan. 
 
 I have no space to consider whether, if the Japanese have an 
 ideal, it can be contained, as with the Greeks, in the dream of a 
 perfected beauty. The sufficient ideal of realism is character. 
 Nor, any more than in Pagan antiquity, need we expect to find in 
 Japanese art that deeper individual j)ersonality — the glory of our 
 greatest art — and which may perhaps be connected (however il- 
 logically it has been proved) with the education of the Western 
 world by Christianity. That attempt at bringing to the surface 
 some of the subtlest, deepest, and most complicated feelings of 
 the mind, which is the soul of the works of Leonardo, of Michael 
 
202 AOEOSS AMEBIOA AND ASIA. ciiap. xiv.] 
 
 Angelo, of Rembrandt, has had apparently no exemplar outside of 
 modern and Christian Europe. 
 
 We shall miss that unconscious inferiority of the artist to his 
 intention which so often giVes a naive charm to early works. Art 
 is a slow growth, as slow as civilization ; and the consummation 
 of refinement in certain of their designs, meant to he repeated 
 for common uses, is a sufficient' proof that it is old in Japan 
 Besides that, we have its Chinese antecedents, its long inter- 
 course with China which has an ancient art history, and the an- 
 tiquity of some of the few documents we know. All our judg- 
 ments have thus far been based uj)on the pictorial art of Japan, 
 the only accessible to us, and open to any inquirer. The ques- 
 tions regarding other forms of art with them — the social questions 
 connected with the position of art among them — ^cannot be under- 
 taken for want of room. 
 
 Inquiry into Japanese art would give EQaterial for appreciation 
 of the social state of the artist-workman in mediseval times and 
 in a military race, or again in Pagan antiquityj and for ;a 
 study of the advantages and disadvantages, connected with a 
 fixed social condition : to which comparison the analogies .g,nd dif- 
 ferences with their Chinese brethren will add help. But it must 
 now be sufficient to have helped, in anyway, to call attention- to 
 this art, which helps to bridge the gulf between us and the East- 
 ern gardens. It can be the source of useful influences from a living 
 school, equal to any in the study of nature and the use of decora- 
 tion ; and it ofiers, to all those willing to put themselves in the 
 proper mood, a new and fresh fountain of imaginative enjoyment. 
 
 J. L. F. 
 
Tac-siiniles of Japanese Woodcuts aud Color-Priniing 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 LNXKODUCTIOX TO CHINA. 
 
 TowAED the end of March I embarked on a sailing vessel. 1 
 had bidden farewell to the " land of the rising sun." With feel- 
 ings akin to homesickness I watched the green mountains of Kiu- 
 siu and the Gotto islands till the last peak disappeared. 
 
 After a few days westwardly sailing, and already at a distance 
 of two hundred miles or more from the China coast, the sea wat-er 
 lost its clearness, and assumed a brownish-yellow color, caused 
 by the suspended silt which is brought by the Y"angtz' Kiang and 
 Hwang Ho from the interior of China. 
 
 This material is rapidly filling the Yellow sea and the gulf of 
 Pechele. Passing a day or two among the shoals at the mouth 
 of the Tangtz' we finally entered into the Wusung river. We 
 were nearly half a day in ascending to Shanghai. On either side 
 of the stream, high levees, covered with grass, shut out the view of 
 the country beyond, allowing only glimpses of tree-tops and tiled 
 roofs. Many Chinamen and dogs were always in sight on the 
 embankments, and the passage of the river was frequently barred 
 by fleets of junks, their decks literally crowded with diminutive na- 
 tives, whose stolid faces, shaven heads, longqueus, and incessant 
 jabbering, produced upon me an impression which was the fore- 
 shadowing of the endless monotony of life and character among 
 this great race. 
 
 The city of Shanghai consists of two parts, the old walled 
 town, and the foreign settlement, around which there has gradually 
 collected an immense native population, mostly drawn thither 
 from the surrounding country for protection against the rebels. 
 During this visit I found Shanghai anything but a pleasant place. 
 Through the whole month of April there were incessant rains and 
 fogs, rendering the streets of both cities almost impassable. Still 
 I manacfed to take several walks through the old town, than 
 which a more filthy place can hardly be imagined. The streets 
 
204 INTRODUGTION TO CHINA. [chap. xv. 
 
 are very narrow, often with mud a foot deep. In China nothing 
 is lost ; even the parings of finger-nails and the clippings of hair 
 from the barber's shop are bought and sold for manure. I was 
 therefore not so much astonished as disgusted at the frequent oc- 
 currence on the side of the street of large open pits, spanned by 
 planks, and intended for the accommodation of the public and the 
 farmer. Even the better streets, which are paved, are so narrow 
 and so covered with awnings that the sun rarely enters, and in 
 this warm, damp climate they are always pervaded by disagreeable 
 odors. 
 
 China is probably in the minds of most people associated with 
 the old picture in the school books, of a man bearing a pole Avith 
 a basket of rats at one end and one of puppies at the other. It 
 is generally thought of as the home of all that is curious and 
 ridiculous, and as the seat of every kind of vice — views obtained 
 not from the early travellers and Jesuit missionaries, who were 
 close observers and intimately acquainted with the country, but 
 from later visitors who were less observing than prejudiced. 
 Confessing that my first impressions of this strange people and 
 their land were extremely unfavorable, I shall pass them by in 
 silence, giving only those, and in their proper place, which were 
 the result of maturer observation. 
 
 The opinions which rapid travellers express concerning the 
 character of a people are only too apt to be but the reflex of 
 those of their fellow-countrymen who are supposed, during a Ion 
 ger residence upon the spot, to have had better opportunity to 
 become acquainted with the inhabitants. But it happens that 
 the prejudice and hate of race are proportionate to the degree of 
 dissimilarity in language, religion, and customs, to say nothing 
 of physical qualities. When, therefore, we find in close contact 
 two races, so diiferent in every respect as are the European and the 
 Chinese, neither understanding, nor having anything in common 
 with the other excepting the mutual love of gain, and where this 
 intercourse has been maintained at the point of the bayonet, we 
 can expect to find but little sympathy between such extremes. 
 The average foreigners in China, being wholly ignorant of every- 
 thing connected with the history, social organization, and even 
 the true character of the people, look down upon them from the 
 lofty point of view which, during the past half century, has be- 
 
CHAP. XV.] ACMOSS AMERICA AKD ASIA. 205 
 
 come the conventional stand-point. The more ignorant the for- 
 eigner, the more proudly he sees in himself the representative of 
 the science, the intellectual refinement and material progress of the 
 west. To this man the teeming population around him is simply 
 a swarm of chattering animals, useful as producers of tea and con- 
 sumers of opium. Even if they are human beings, they are only 
 heathen, and, in the opinion of this man, who perhaps would not 
 begin a journey on Friday, nor make a thirteenth at table, they are 
 woefully superstitious. "We cannot Avonder at his treating them 
 accordingly, when we find him either tacitly or directly encour- 
 aged by public opinion at home, and by the policy of his govern- 
 ment. He has learned that a whole nation may be forced to 
 consume a poison which at home can be bought only through 
 the order of a physician. With this high assurance of the little 
 value to be placed upon the moral and physical health of a na- 
 tion, how can we wonder that our average representative of west- 
 ern civilization, acting on a smaller scale, should make the life 
 and rights of a Chinaman subordinate to his own convenience. 
 
 I will give here one of the many instances which I saw illustra- 
 tive of this line of conduct. A steam-boat which had been un- 
 dergoing repairs, made a trial tnp, crowded with most of the 
 leading foreigners of Shanghai, all, like myself, invited for a 
 pleasure excursion up the "VVusung river. As we were steaming 
 at full speed, we saw some distance ahead of us a large scow 
 loaded so heavily with bricks as to be almost unmanageable by 
 the oars of four Chinamen who were propelling it. They saw 
 the steamer coming, and knowing well how narrow was the chan- 
 nel, worked with, all their force to get out of it and let the boat 
 pass. As we all stood watching the slow motion of the scow 
 which we were rapidly approaching, I listened every instant for 
 the order to stop the engine. The unwieldy craft still occupied 
 half the channel, the coolies straining every muscle to increase 
 her slow motion, and uttering cries which evidently begged for a 
 few instants' grace. There was yet time to avoid collision, when 
 the pilot called out, " Shall I stop her, sir ? " " No," cried the 
 captain, " go ahead." There was no help for it. Horrified at hear- 
 ing this cold-blooded order, I waited breathlessly for the crash, 
 which soon came. The scow striking under the port bow, veered 
 around length^^ise and was almost instr.ntly under the paddles. A 
 
•20Q ISTRODUGTWN TO CHINA, [chap. xv. 
 
 shriek, a shock, and a staggering motion of our boat, and we 
 were again steaming up the channel. Going to the stern I could 
 see but one of the four Chinamen, and he was motionless in the 
 water. Among the faces of the foreigners on the crowded decks 
 there were few traces of the feelings which every new comer 
 must experience after witnessing such a scene. The officers of 
 the boat looked coolly over the. side to see whether the bow and 
 paddles had suffered any damage; and such -remarks as were 
 made upon the occurrence, were certainly not in favor of the vic- 
 tims. 
 
 I am aware that in thus describing an incident which I wit- 
 nessed as an invited guest, I lay myself open to the charge of hav- 
 ing committed a breach of courtesy, and I should certainly have 
 passed this by in silence were it not so important an illustration of 
 the condition to which our intercourse with the Chinese has been 
 brought by long years of misguided policy on the part of the 
 foreign and native governments. 
 
 The instance I have cited admitted of no excuse, as a few min- 
 utes' time could be of no importance on a pleasure excursion. It 
 lias long been the practice of foreign vessels to run into and sink 
 any junks or boats that might be in their way, no matter how 
 crowded with passengers these might be ; and probably scarcely 
 a day passed without a boat being thus sunk in Chinese waters. 
 
 After such an occurrence I was not surprised to see foreigners 
 walking through crowded streets, and incessantly belaboring the 
 heads of men, women, and children, with heavy walking sticks, to 
 open a path, nor at the constant occurrence of similar abuses 
 engendered and encouraged by the absence of any means of 
 redress on the part of the natives. 
 
 I would not be understood as bringing a sweeping charge 
 against all the foreign inhabitants of China. There are many 
 noble exceptions, but as such they are powerless beyond the 
 sj)here of their own employes. 
 
 Having a strong desire to penetrate into the interior of the em- 
 pire, I planned a journey to the upper Yangtz' and its tributaries. 
 Before beginning the narrative of this trip it will be well to give 
 as briefly as possible a sketch of the geogra.phy of the empire, and 
 of the leading features which stand in close connection with the 
 development of its history and civilization. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 GEOGEAPHICAL SKETCH OF CHINA. 
 
 The eighteen provinces forming China proper, and occupyiug 
 a circular area nearly equal to that of the United States east of 
 the Mississippi, are bounded on the eastern semi-circle by the 
 Pacific ocean, on the west by Thibet, the loftiest mass of mount- 
 ain plateau on the globe, and on the north by the table-land of 
 Mongolia, stretching from the plains of the Aral sea to the Amoor 
 river. 
 
 The vertical escarpment of this table-land shuts in the empire 
 on the north as with a wall, while two great mountain ranges 
 with snowy peaks, the continuation of the Thibetan Kwenlun and 
 Himalaya, extend from west to east nearly across the empire in 
 the middle and the south. Excepting these two ranges, the con- 
 formation of the surface of China is entirely dependent upon the 
 parallel ridges which cross the empire from southwest to north- 
 east, members of "the great mountain system which in another 
 place I have called the Sinians, and which has determined the 
 outlines and nearly all the physical features of the great conti 
 nent, just as the Appalachians have determined those of the east 
 em part of North America. 
 
 Two great rivers, the Hwang Ho in the north, and Yangtz' in 
 the middle, traverse the empire. While their general courses are 
 detei-mined by the east and west mountain systems, they are affect 
 ed by the Sinian ridges, now following the northeasterly course 
 of these, and now traversing them through deep gorges. 
 
 By the intersection of mountain ranges belonging to the differ 
 ent systems, large basins are formed, which are drained by impor 
 tant streams, tributaries of the two great rivers. While these feed 
 ers, which form nearly the whole water system of the country 
 are in themselves sufficient to make a great main trunk, the uppei 
 courses of the Hwang Ho, and especially of the Tangtz', draining 
 for a great distance the extensive snow-fields of th6 lofty Kwcn 
 
208 ACEOSS AMERICA ANL ASIA. [chap. xvi. 
 
 luD, supply the vast floods wliich every summer overflow and fer- 
 tilize the lower valleys. 
 
 In the south a third large and navigable river, the SiKiang, tak- 
 ing its rise on the table-land of Yunnan, flows eastward to Canton. 
 In the extreme southwest, the province of Yunnan is crossed by the 
 middle course of the Cambodia, the sources of which are supposed 
 to lie among the snow-fields of Thibet. North of the gulf of 
 Pechele and the Yellow sea, there lies a broad depression run- 
 ning northeast and southwest between the mountains of Corca 
 and Manchu.ria on the east, and the table-lands of Mongolia on 
 the west. The northern part of this is drained by the Songari 
 branch of the Amoor, while the southern part, comprising Shing- 
 king, the newest province of China, is watered by the Liau river, 
 which empties into the gulf of Pechele. 
 
 An extensive lowland half encircles the mountainous promon- 
 tory of Shan-tung. With a breadth varying from one hundred and 
 fifty to three hundred miles, it extends six hundred miles from 
 Peking in the north to Hang-chau in the south. Its soiithern 
 half is the common delta-plain of the Yangtz' and the Hwang 
 Ho, Avhile the northern portion is that of the latter river only. 
 
 Leaving out of consideration the rich provinces drained by the 
 Si Kiang, and the smaller streams on the southeast coast, China 
 proper is opened frofii its remotest, corners by' a wide-spreading 
 network' of navigable streams tributary to two of the largest 
 rivers of the world, the lower courses of which are united by a 
 ship canal, which, crossing them, extends the whole length of the 
 great plain. These great river systems, the. one draining the 
 semi-tropical region of the middle, the other the. temperate belt 
 of the north, are the arteries to which first of all the superabun- 
 dant life of the empire is due. Countless fertile and well-watered 
 valleys, enjoying the most favorable . climates, and the adjoin- 
 ing mountains, produce a list of vegetable and mineral material so 
 inexhaustible in every dii-ection, and giving rise to such a widely- 
 branching manufacturing industry as to make. of China a self- 
 dependent world. To the unsurpassed systeni of inter-communica- 
 tion presented by its great rivers, the empire owes the homogen- 
 eous character of its population, and largely also its long-con- 
 tinued political unity. 
 
 The greatest source of wealth to this country lies in the fertile 
 
CHAP. XTi.] GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF CHINA. 209 
 
 soil of its great plain, of its river bottoms, and of the foot-liills of 
 the middle and southern mountains. The higher portions of the 
 hilly country, generally either hard granitic rock or compact lime- 
 stone, seem to be unproductive. This region, which must cover 
 by far the larger part of the empire, seems to have been cleared 
 at an early period of the forests which had probably covered it. 
 
 The climate of China, e ven along the coast, is everywhere from 
 1 to 3 degrees below that which belongs to its latitudes. At Peking, 
 in latitude 40 degrees north, the mean temperature of the year is 
 about 53 degrees F., while that of the different seasons is about as 
 follows: winter, 29 degrees F. ; spring, 55-| degrees ; summer, T6 
 degrees; autumn, 54 degrees. 
 
 At Shanghai, in 34 degrees north, the average for the year is 
 about 62 degrees F., with occasional extremes ranging from 24 
 degrees in winter to 104 degrees in si^mmer. Snow falls here oc- 
 casionally, and during the winter of 1845-6 there were ten days of 
 skating on the Wusung river. 
 
 ^At Canton , in 23 degrees 12 minutes N. L., the annual mean is 
 VO degrees, with extremes ranging from 52 to 85 degrees.* This 
 place has the reputation of being the coldest city near sea-level 
 in the tropics . 
 
 This variety of climate is accompanied by a corresponding di- 
 versity of plant life. On the coast, in the tropical belt, south of 
 the Nanling mountains, there grow palms, sugar cane, bananas, 
 sweet potatoes, yams, etc. " It is remarkable t that here the violet 
 blooms in the shade of the Melostoma; bamboos and conifersmix 
 in the same groves, as well as pines and oaks, while potatoes and 
 sugar cane are cultivated in the same field." On the northern 
 declivity of the Nanling, the southern lip of the basin of the 
 Yangtz', there appear the more hardy chestnuts, poplars, conifers, 
 and a carpinus. 
 
 Between the northern and southern edges of the great basin of 
 the eastern course of the Yangtz', a region nearly six hundred 
 miles wide, the low hills and plains are cultivated to their utmost 
 capacity, and the variety of products is as great as the range in lati- 
 tude. Here the low lands are an unbroken succession of rice, 
 cotton, and sugar plantations, while the low hills are covered 
 with tea fields in the south and middle, and with wheat and mil- 
 
 « stein nnd Horschelmann. Handbiicli a. Geogr. und Statistik. Asien. t Ibid, 
 
 14 
 
210 AOBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xn. 
 
 let in the north. The few trees seen are generally about the 
 farm houses, and are always of useful kinds, as the bamboo, the 
 mulberry and camphor tree, the orange, peach, apricot, and 
 pomegranate, the walnut and the chestnut, and we may add the 
 grape-vine. It is said that all the European fruits and veget- 
 ables, as well as many that are unknown to uSj are cultivated in 
 China. 
 
 In the extreme north, on the great plainin Chihli, andin the 
 highlands south of the great wall, we find rice almost entirely 
 replaced by millet and a species of sorghum. Even here, in lati- 
 tude 39 degrees 30 minutes, there is raised a large quantity of 
 cotton ; but aside from this, great fields of barley, wheat, buck- 
 wheat and oats, and of beans, appear more in harmony with this 
 northern climate. Here also are raised the castor bean, grapes, 
 peaches, pears, apples, and what is with us called the Siberian 
 crab-apple, persimmon, and jujube. Almost the only trees seen 
 in this region are the willow in long fence rows, planted for char- 
 coal, the funereal groves of cypress, and a few ornamental trees, 
 generally the silver pine and the salisburia in the teraple grounds. 
 
 The dense population of China leaves slight foothold for wild 
 animals in the cultivable regions, and the necessity of cultivat- 
 ing every inch of available ground is the reason why one sees no 
 more large quadrupeds than are needed to aid in tilling. All the 
 tame and wild animals of the country belong to families which 
 have a wide range on the continent, unless we may except the 
 sUk-worm and the Cicada limbata, which works the pith of the 
 Ligustrum lucidum into white wax. Butterflies and beetles with 
 brilliant colors abound ; even these are turned to account, being 
 sent to the cities in large quantities as ephemeral ornaments for 
 the hair of ladies. 
 
 Even in China there are large districts which are but thinly in- 
 habited, owing to the proximity of fierce frontier tribes, or to their 
 unproductive character. In the far southwest the jungles and \ 
 wilds of Yunnan are inhabited by the animals common to Farther V 
 India ; among these are the rhinoceros and the Bengal tiger, the 
 latter of which probably ranges through the mountains of the 
 west and north, as it is found in large numbers in the forests of 
 Manchuria and Corea. 
 ~ The antelope and the deer of the plains of Tartary, and the 
 
 i 
 
CHAP. XVI.] OEOGRAPEICAL SKETCH OF CHINA. 211 
 
 argali of the Altai mountains, are found in the alpine region of the 
 northern provinces of Kansuh, Shensi, and Shansi. 
 
 The mineral productions of China are as numerous as those of 
 the most favored countries. In the extent, variety, and quality 
 of its coal beds, "v vhich are distrihuted th rough every province , 
 it ranks second only to the United States. The number of local- 
 ities where iron ores are found is very great. Through the west- 
 ern provinces there extend immense deposits of salt, from which 
 during centuries past the saline waters have been obtained by ar- 
 tesian wells pf great depth. Gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, quick- 
 silver, and zinc are mentioned by Chinese geographical authorities 
 as occurring and being worked at many points throughout the 
 empire. Every province has an inexhaustible supply of marbles 
 and other ornamental rocks, while at several points large moun- 
 tains of de composed granite furnish kaolin the basis of the por- 
 celain manufacture. 
 
 In the mountains of the southwest we enter already upon the 
 East Indian district of precious stones. 
 
 Before closing this very brief sketch of the physical geogra- 
 phy of the country, I may be pardoned for glancing at the high- 
 ways which form the principal routes of travel and commerce be- 
 tween the different provinces. Chief among these are the three 
 great rivers, the Hwang Ho, the Yangtz' Kiang, and the Si Ho . 
 Upon these and many of their tributaries commerce is carried on 
 by countless flat-bottomed vessels, between one hundred and three 
 hundred tons burthen. Smaller boats drain the trade of the 
 country almost from the head waters of all the smaller tributa- 
 ries. All these craft are propelled by the large buttei-fly sail, 
 which admits of running very close to the wind. In addition to 
 this they are moved by sculls, by poling, and especially by track- 
 ing along the shore. Thus nature has provided the means of 
 bringing the productions of the three great basins of the north, 
 the middle, and the south, to the ocean, the great highway of the 
 world. But the seas of the China coast are dangerous by reason 
 of their storms, rocks, and pirates, a circumstance which has led 
 to an extensive use of more tedious but safer inland routes of 
 communication between the north and the south. Thus trade 
 has long been carried on between Cant on and the valley of 
 Yangtz' by ascending the Feh Kiang to the JTanling mountains. 
 
212 AOBOSS AMEBIGA AND ASIA. [chap. xvi. 
 
 and, af ter portaging across these, descending either the S iang 
 rive r through Hiinan, or the Kan river through Kliangsi . "~^ 
 
 The products of the extreme south, as well as those of the up- 
 per and middle Yangtz', find their way to the far north through 
 the great central market of Hankau, by ascending the Han river, 
 through Hupeh, portaging into the system of the Hwang Ho, as- 
 cending this and its tributary, the Fan river, through Shansi, and 
 thence beingj packed on animals to the market of Kalgan, a gate 
 of the greatly wall, and the chief distributing point for central 
 Asia, Siberia, and Russia. This is the route taken by the fam ous 
 caravan teas.* 
 
 ±5ut the most important highway connecting the north with 
 the south was until lately the imperial canal. This connected 
 the waters of the Peiho, and through these the capital, Peking, 
 with the waters of the Yellow river, the Yangtz,' and the streams 
 of the province of Cheh-Kiang. Running more than six hundred 
 miles, the whole length of the great plain, it served the double 
 purpose of offering a safe route for large ships, and of draining 
 the products of the most densely peopled area in the world. 
 
 These are the great highways of trade, which have long served 
 the commercial wants of this productive and populous land. It 
 becomes a question of very high impoi';tance, as to how far steam- 
 boats can be substituted for the present sailing craft, and to.what 
 extent the configuration of the countiy is adapted to the construc- 
 tion of great trunk lines of railway. 
 
 For several years river steamers of the largest class have run 
 regularly upon the Yangtz' as far as Hankau, over seven hun- 
 dred miles from the sea. 
 
 With the exception of the rapids between Hupeh and Sz'chuen, 
 there is nothing to prevent the carrying of steam navigation to 
 the extreme west of the empire. These rapids are all short, with 
 great depth of water, and could without much difficulty be over- 
 come. It is probable that the larger tributaries of the Yangtz' 
 could be navigated by steamboats similar to those plying on our 
 western waters. 
 
 With regard to the Yellow river, we know little beyond the 
 fact that it is a large and turbulent stream, second only to the 
 Yangtz' in size, and that it probably has a more rapid descent 
 in its middle course than the latter. Still there can hardly be a 
 
CHAP, svi.] GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF CHINA, 213 
 
 question that its entire course across the great plain, and possi- 
 ■fely as far as the province of Kansuh, is navigable "for steam- 
 boats. 
 
 The valleys of the great rivers offer the most perfect routes for 
 opening railway communication between the west and the east. 
 The cities of Peking in the north, and Canton in the south, could 
 be connected by a remarkably direct line of railway. From 
 Peking to the Yangtz' river this would be a perfectly level 
 route, traversing the productive and densely peopled great plain. 
 From the Tangtz' it would ascend the Kan river by an easy 
 grade, and descend the Peh Kiang after overcoming the Nanling, 
 the only watershed requiring to be passed throughout its length. 
 
 The amount of steam traffic by rail and water which China is 
 capable of supporting is so great that estimates of its extent 
 would seem fabulous. Indeed, this capacity is about that which 
 a population of four hundred and fifty millions would induce 
 upon that portion of the United States lying east of the Missis- 
 . sippi river. 
 
 The ocean is not the only great highway by which China is 
 approached. From early times the " Middle Kingdom " has held 
 intercourse with the remotest parts of Asia. Several land routes 
 connect her with Corea and the Amoor river, and through this 
 with eastern Siberia, Kamschatka, and the northern islands of 
 Japan. By these routes the Chinese obtained the rich furs of the 
 northeast in return for tea, tobacco, and textile fabrics. This 
 intercourse is of very ancient date, and has made a trading peo- 
 ple out of some of the nomad tribes of the Amoor, who are now 
 the middle men between the civilized Chinese and the wild hunt-" 
 ers and fishermen of Siberia and the northern Pacific. 
 
 Further west, two great caravan routes connect the markets of 
 China with those of Siberia. One of these, leaving Kweihwa, 
 supplies all central and western Mongolia. The other, starting 
 from the great market town Changkiakau, or Kalgan, crosses 
 the plateau of Tartary to Maimaichin and Kiachta, where it'con- 
 nects with the postal and commercial highway which extends 
 through the principal cities of Siberia to the great market towns 
 of Tinmen in Tobolsk, and of Nijni-novgorod, the seat of the an- 
 nual fair, and the eastern terminus of the European railroad 
 system. This is the route followed by the caravan teas which are 
 
214 ACBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xti. 
 
 transported across Tartary on camels and througli Siberia on 
 sleighs. It is a remarkable fact that, although the Russians pay 
 for their tea chiefly in silver, it can he delivered at St. Petersburg 
 by this overland route from Hankau on the Yangtz' at a less 
 cost than the same tea shipped at Hankau in a vessel which 
 would take it by sea to the same destination. 
 
 Other great caravan routes, one extending north of the Celes- 
 tial mountains through the province Hi, another south of the 
 same range through Yarkand, connect northern China with the 
 extreme west of Asia. Under the brilliant reign of the Han 
 dynasty, nearly two thousand years ago, the latter of these two 
 routes was safe for travel, and the greatest highway of commerce 
 in the world; it connected the most powerful empires of the 
 east and the west — China and Rome — and, between these, the 
 then flourishing countries of central Asia, 
 
 In the west and southwest of China an extensive trade has 
 always existed with Thibet and India, while the great rivers of 
 Farther India have been the avenues of commerce with Birmah 
 and Siam. 
 
 During the reign of the Mongol dynasty, when all of conti- 
 nental Asia and much of Europe was under the rule of the descen- 
 dants of Genghis Khan, these routes were all open, thronged with 
 caravans and armies, and studded with relay houses for postal 
 couriers. Where Marco Polo could then travel in safety, even a 
 Chinaman could now pass only at the risk of life, while to a 
 European the joui-ney would be next to impossible. The advance 
 of Russian arms in central Asia is fast opening up that region, 
 and we may reasonably hope that in a few years those interesting 
 countries will be. accessible to exploration and commerce. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 JOURNEY UP THE YANGTz'-KIANG. 
 
 A SUCCESSION of fine days in the beginning of May induced 
 me to stai-t upon a journey up the Yangtz'. Going on board 
 the "Surprise," we steamed down the Wusung river, and 
 out upon the broad estuary of the Yangtz'. The brown flood 
 of this great river, the " Son of the Sea," empties into the 
 ocean with a breadth of nearly fifty miles . It might be aptly 
 called the "father of the land," as the immense quantity of silt 
 rolled oceanward by its current is steadily adding to the con- 
 tinent, and filling up the Yellow sea. 
 
 During the first day of our journey the river was many miles 
 wide, and where the shore was visible the land beyond was hid- 
 den by the levees. On the second day the tops of hills were seen 
 in the distance rising gradually above the horizon, and promising 
 a variety in the sceneiy for the coming day. This promise, how- 
 ever, was not to be fulfilled. 
 
 About midnight I was awakened by a loud noise under the 
 window of my state-room, which was just astern of the starboard 
 wheel-house. Looking out I found that the engine had stopped, 
 and a number of Chinamen were trying to lower a boat from the 
 davits. Just then the wheels began to move, and supposing that 
 we had merely been aground, I returned to my berth and fell 
 asleep, to be soon re-awakened. We were again standing still, 
 and the Chinamen were making frantic efibrts to loosen the boat, 
 while a confused din of shouts and screams from the forward 
 deck betokened some most unusual excitement. Knowing that 
 we had on board a large number of Chinese passengers, it oc- 
 curred to me that they might be merely a gang of rebels or pi- 
 rates, who had mutinied in order to seize and rob the steamer. 
 Such things had occurred before in Chinese waters, and the mere 
 thought of it caused me to buckle on my revolver before going 
 forward. The long saloon was empty, and filling with smoke. 
 
216 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xvii 
 
 Rushing over the forward deck, I nearly fell into a great hole, 
 cut from the port side nearly half-way across the vessel. A man 
 on the opposite side of this hole warned me to lose no time in 
 saving anything I might have of value, adding that although our 
 bow was grounded on a sand bank, there was fifty feet of water 
 under the stern, and that she must soon break her back and go 
 down. The crew and the Chinese passengers were in the boats, 
 and the steamer was evidently on fire. I hurried to my state- 
 room, and after dressing hastily, set about saving first the money, 
 then my charts and instruments, fearing that each instant's delay 
 might make me a second too late. Carrying all my property ex- 
 cept some toilet articles and a box of cigars, I reached the bow 
 and found the man who had warned me already iii the boat and 
 on the point of leaving. Learning that we had been run into by 
 the " Huquang," a steamer w;hich had been aground up the river 
 for eight months, I rushed back to my state-room and saved my 
 cigars. Such of my readers as are hard smokers will sympathize 
 with me, when I confess that the risk incuri-ed in saving this lux- 
 ury seemed slight in comparison with the annoyance caused by 
 the privation of it far two days. Before we had pushed off the 
 steamer was in flames. 
 
 The collision had been caused by a misunderstanding of sig- 
 nals. Mr. Osborne, the captain of our boat, was knocked over- 
 board by the shock, and although a good swimmer, was never 
 again seen. The collision had actually occurred before I was 
 aroused the first time, and when I had gone back to my berth the 
 boat was fast sinking, and had I not awakened of my own accord 
 I sh ould probably have perished in it. 
 
 As soon as we had reached the " Huquang," the latter contin- 
 ued its course down the river, lighted on its way by the flames 
 of the burning wreck. 
 
 After a delay of a day or two at Shanghai, I started again 
 for the interior on the return trip of the "Huquang." This 
 vessel was one of the finest and fastest river steamers in the 
 world, and, like the other boats of the line, was built in the 
 United States. 
 
 A little more than a day's journey brought us to the wreck of 
 the " Surprise." The hull was burned to the water's edge, and 
 little else was visible than the frame-work and warped rods of the 
 
CHAP, xvn.] JOURNEY UP THE TANQTZ'-KIANO. 217 
 
 machinery of tliis boat, Tvliicli was once a favorite steamer on the 
 California coast. 
 
 About four miles above the scene of the accident we passed 
 the point where the Imperial canal crosses the Yangtz' and 
 entered the treaty port of Chinkiang. This city had formerly 
 great commercial importance from its position at the intersection 
 of the two great routes of traffic. But during later years the silt- 
 ing up of the canal, and the destruction by the rebels of industry 
 and trade throughout the productive neighboring country, had re- 
 duced it to a miserable condition. 
 
 In the middle of the river there rises a high and picturesque 
 rock, called Silver Island, which forms a favorite subject for native 
 artists. 
 
 Above Chinkiang we left the lowlands and entered the hilly 
 district, which, surrounding Nanking with a radius of forty or 
 fifty miles, rises like an island from the great plain. As we ap- 
 proached the ancient capital of the empire, its gray Avails were 
 seen winding across the tops and along the crests of the hills, 
 but the city itself was mostly hidden by the inequalities of the 
 surface. It was then in the ninth or tenth year of its siege, and 
 few of the monuments of its former greatness had been spared by 
 the hand of war, or the fanaticism of the rebels. Its grand pa- 
 godas and the porcelain tower were so many heaps of ruins. 
 
 The progress of the rebels was everywhere marked by de- 
 struction, rapine, and murder. Nowhere did they attempt a re- 
 organization of the industry and society Avhich they had trampled 
 down. 
 
 The rebellion seems to have begun among a clan in the moun- 
 tains of Kwangsi, and to have been called into existence by the 
 persecution of a small body of religious fanatics. A native who 
 had learned something of the doctrines of Christianity and of the 
 Old Testament had founded a new sect. Had the officials left 
 them in peace, it is probable that the rebellion would never have 
 had an existence ; but persecution called forth, resistance which, 
 after a few easy successes, took the form of aggression, and tlio 
 small religious sect became rapidly an army of insurgent fanatics. 
 Appealing to the patriotism of the Chinese, they called upon the 
 nation to cast out the foreign Manchu dynasty, and to place upon 
 the throne tlie rebel leader, who claimed to be a'descendant of the 
 
218 ACROSS AMEBIOA AND ASIA. [chap, xvn, 
 
 Mings, and to possess the sacred banner of that dynasty. Ac- 
 cording to old prophecies the Mings should regain the empire in 
 1852, and the bearer of the sacred banner should be seated on 
 the throne.* 
 
 In 1851 the movement had gained large proportions, the impe- 
 rial armies being repeatedly beaten, each victory giving whole 
 departments to the insurgents. At first the rebels seem to 
 have kUled olily the Tartars, treating the people at large kindly, 
 and destroying only the property of the Government, and the 
 temples and priests of the various religions. Everywhere, how- 
 ever, they forced upon the people the ancient Chinese costume, 
 and exacted the cutting off of the queus, the distinctive sign of 
 allegiance to the Manchus. ~ 
 
 The inefficiency of the successors of the Emperor Kienlung, 
 during the present century, had told sadly upon the administra- 
 tion of government and justice throughout the empire. Theo- 
 retically, all the offices are given only to those who prove them- 
 selves in character and by competitive examination to be capa- 
 ble of honestly and intelligently performing their duties. During 
 the brighter periods of Chinese history this rule has been followed, 
 and has undoubtedly conduced to the great prosperity of the na- 
 tion. But the war with England, following it is true after a long 
 interval upon the protracted and costly expeditions of Kienlung 
 against the Tartars, had so completely depleted the treasury that 
 the Government resorted to the sale of offices, the most demoral- 
 izing means of recuperation. The first consequence of this course 
 was the transformation of magistrates into extortioners. The 
 sale for ten or twenty thousand dollars of offices nominally worth 
 two thousand, was a direct authorization of dishonesty on the part 
 of the official, and of the establishment around him of the terrible 
 machinery by which the people of his district were robbed. 
 
 Every nook and corner of this vast empire, where population 
 treads closely upon and often beyond the limits of production, 
 had suffered for years the evils of this corruption. Thus the peo- 
 ple had neither the power to resist the rebellion nor the love of 
 the Government which was necessary to rouse them to extraor- 
 dinary efforts. They either submitted passively to the insurgents, 
 swelling their ranks, or fled in terror before them. 
 
 * MacFarlane's " Insurrection in China." 
 
CHAP. XVII.] JOURKEY UP THE TAJSfGTZ'-KMNG. 219 
 
 In 1852 the movement had grown to a gigantic size. The 
 rebels overran the fertile province of Hunan, and captured three 
 adjoining cities, Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankau. Here the 
 leader, giving the executive power to a few followers, withdrew 
 from the sight of his adherents, and, claiming divine attributes, 
 directed their movements in accordance with revelations received 
 directly from the Supreme Being. It was here, I believe, that he 
 for the first time proclaimed his equality with Jesus Christ, whom 
 he styled the Elder Brother. Here also he took to himself wives, 
 who were assigned to him by revelation. 
 
 Using the Yangtz' river as a highway and base of operation, 
 the rebels descended to banking, possessing themselves of the 
 cities and provinces on their way, and leaving devastation in 
 their track. Nor did the unhappy population of central China 
 suffer less at the hands of the imperial troops, who followed or 
 preceded the rebels. Their track was marked with equal de- 
 struction, and with the bodies of the murdered or starved inhabit- 
 ants. Nanking being taken, it became the rebel capital, and the 
 base of further operations. 
 
 The city of Suchau — 'Vthe Paris of China " — and nearly all of 
 the fertile province o f Kiangsuh, soon fell into the hands of the 
 rebels. This, the most populous of the eighteen provinces, is also , 
 the principal seat of silk culture, and of all the arts and man u- 
 factures. 
 
 Crossing the Yangtz', the destructive horde overran nearly 
 every part of the great plain, entering the province of Chihli, 
 and threatening Peking. Had this movement been better organ- 
 ized, and less remote from the base of operations, the reign of the 
 Manchus would have been brought to an end. 
 
 As it was, the rebels left an awful track of desolation. The 
 Hwang Ho (Yellow river), which had for centuries been confined 
 to one cou rse by a system of levee s, had gradually raised its be d 
 until the stream was high above the surrounding country . Only 
 by the annual expenditure of many millions of dollars, and the 
 constantly applied labor of an immense force of men, was this 
 turbulent river kept from bursting its barriers. The exhaustion 
 of the imperial treasury by foreign and internal wars, and the 
 oificial corruption reigning throughout the empire, had occasioned 
 an almost total neglect of this, the most important public work. 
 
220 ACSOSS AMEB.IGA AND ASIA. [chap. xvii. 
 
 On the arrival of the rebels, their ranks were swelled by the dis- 
 affected and starving guardians of the river. The complete neg- 
 lect of the embankments was followed by a breach in these near 
 the city of Ifung. For several hundred years the Hwang Ho had 
 flowed in an east-southeasterly course into the Yellow sea ; but 
 at difereiit times during Chinese history it had traversed almost 
 every portion^ tlie great plain. Jj ursting.it s north ern barri er^ 
 this stream, one ot the'iargest m. tne world, now poured witn its 
 whole volume over the plain of Uhihli and iShantung, suGme rging 
 immense areas, and linding outlets in the gulf of Jr'echelij^several 
 hundred miles' north of "its former moutli in the Y ell ow^ea . 
 When we consider that the average population of these' two 
 northeastern provinces is about four hundred andlfty^"ouls to the 
 square mile, and that the region oversowed was by far the most 
 pojpulous, some idea can be formed of the magnitude of "the sl i^er^ 
 ing which must have obtained. 
 
 In addition to the great-direct loss of life, there came the misery 
 entailed by the destruction of crops, and the plunging into beg- 
 gary of immense populations. These starving millions, pressing 
 in among their more fortunate "neighbors, soon reduced the whole 
 country to a condition of famine and anarchy. A necessary result 
 of this state of things was the organization of numerous and large 
 bands of robbers. This I believe to have been the origin of the 
 Nien-fei bands, who have given the Imperial Government much 
 trouble, and have generally been confounded with the Taiping 
 rebels. 
 
 During the period between 1850 and 1864, every province of 
 China, with three or four exceptions, had sufTered fearfully from 
 rebellions, having mpre or less connection with the Taiping move- 
 ment. 
 
 Destroying industry wherever they went, the rebels relied upoii^ 
 obtaining p ossessio n of the seaport s, a nd collecting the customs 
 o f foreign trade as a means of securmg fb reign recognition , and 
 of-conti nuing the war till the o verthrow of the Manchu Govern- 
 ment. But at the larger seaports they were met by.Jinglisn and 
 French "forces, an d they faile d to obtain the benefits of this com - 
 merce. 
 
 : In 1860 a new element entered into this long contest. An 
 American by the name of "Ward, acting under a commission from 
 
CHAP, xvn.] JOURNEY UP THE TANOTZ'-KIANG. 221 
 
 the Imperial Government, and assisted by a few daring foreigners, 
 organized and disciplined a force of native soldiers. Thoroughly 
 practised in the Western drill, kept under the strictest discipline, 
 and led into action by the bravest of oiEeers, these native troops 
 entirely disproved all Western ideas conce rning; the efficiency o f 
 C'liin ese soldiers. Inspiredby the reckless daring of Ward, who was 
 always lirst in the breach, these men showed themsel ves unflincVi- 
 ingly brave ; a nd as they wrested city after city from the rebels 
 by storm, they won the name of the " Ever Victorious Braves." 
 General Ward was killed at the taking of Tsekie, and the com- 
 mand was transferred to Burgevine, one of bis assistants, and 
 like him an American, Continuing in their successful career, the 
 " Ever Victorious Braves" increased the number of imperial vic- 
 tories, until finally, under the command of Major Gordon, a dis- 
 tinguished officer of the English army, they captured the city of 
 Suchau, which next to Nanking was the chief rebel stronghold. 
 The backbone of the rebellion was now broken, and the taking 
 of Suchau was followed in a few months by the fall of Nanking, 
 after a siege of nearly eleven years. 
 
 The hope entertained by many missionaries, aind Europeans at 
 home, that the Taiping movement would result in a change of 
 dynasty, the christianizing of China, and the introduction of 
 European civilization, was sadly disajipointed. Throughout the 
 whole course of the rebellion the insurgents failed to show the 
 slightest power of organization. Their car eer was everywher e 
 destructive of life, j )ropert_yj^a nd industr y.''' -^ 
 
 ~Jt!ut let us return to the narrative, from which the sight of the 
 beleaguered city has drawn us into a digression. Neither Suchau 
 nor Nanking had yet fallen, although one of the longest sieges 
 in history was drawing toward its close. 
 
 The walls of Chinese cities generally enclose a large area of 
 arable land, but no amount of food thus obtainable could long 
 support a large population. I confess that it has always been'to 
 me a source of wonderment how the inhabitants were kept alive 
 during the long sieges of history. Perhaps the practice at Nan- 
 king may ofier a solution of the problem. It is said that every 
 morning, between certain hours, there was a cessation of hostili- 
 
 * The reader is referred to the Appendix, for several interesting extracts relating to the 
 character of the rebellion. 
 
222 ACSOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xvii. 
 
 ties, during which time an immense market was opened in the 
 besieging camp, wJiere the rebel garrison could purchase autne 
 ""necessaries of life. 
 
 Passing out of the imperial lines, we steamed up the river, 
 now through a broad valley with isolated hills rising from the 
 plain, now approaching near to mountain ranges two and three 
 thousand feet high. For many miles below Kiukiang the east 
 bank of the river is determined by a range of barren hills, out- 
 liers of the Kingteh group, famous for its kaolin and porcelain 
 manufactures. A high island rock, picturesque in form, and 
 with precipitous sides, rises in the middle of the river. This is 
 ^the Siau-ku-shan, or Little Orphan island, and the quaint build- 
 ings which crown its cliffs have a historical and legendary interest 
 among the Chinese. Above this island, the high hills forming 
 the east bank are cleft to their base, opening to the traveller a 
 view to the outlet of the Poyang lake through a long gorge, with 
 high limestone cliffs, and islands with broken outlines. This 
 gorge is the gateway for the commerce of the fertile province of 
 Kiangsi, and for the great routes of trade connecting the 
 Yangtz' river with Canton, with Fuhkien, and with Chehkiang. 
 The Poyang lake is connected with one of the largest tea dis- 
 tricts by an intricate system of river and canal navigation. The 
 cities on its banks have long been the seat of refinement, and its 
 picturesque shores are the scene in which are placed many of the 
 popular romances, and form the theme of innumerable songs. In 
 the wild recesses of the neighboring Liu mountains there are 
 sacred caverns and famous monasteries. It was near this lake 
 that Abbe Hue had the illness which he has, described with so 
 much humor. One can hardly regret the Abbe's sickness, since 
 it has supplied us with two such charming descriptions as his 
 own, and that of the author of " John Chinaman, M.D.," in a re- 
 cent number of the "Atlantic Monthly." 
 
 There were at Kiukiang many refugees fleeing before the 
 rebels, and seeking protection in the city, which was now defended 
 by foreign powers. A large proportion of these unfortunates 
 had been well-to-do families, but now, reduced in numbers by 
 violence or starvation, and plundered of everything they had 
 possessed, they were indeed pitiful objects. Mothers, whose hus- 
 bands had been killed or impressed by the rebels, brought their 
 
CHAP.xvn.] JOURNEY UP TEE TANOTZ'-KIANG. 223 
 
 children to foreigners, begging them to adopt them, and praying 
 in return only that their little ones might be insured against 
 starvation. 
 
 Above Kiu-Kiang the river breaks through several ranges ot 
 limestone hills, the rugged cliffs and outlines of which render 
 this portion of its course extremely picturesque. Indeed, the jour- 
 ney from Chiukiang to Hankau is one not easily to be forgot- 
 ten. The river runs for long distances parallel to high moun- 
 tain ranges, now hugging them close and undermining their cliffs, 
 now bending away and separated from them by gently-sloping 
 terraces, again bursting through these lofty barriers in wild gor- 
 ges. In other portions of its course it Avanders through broad 
 filains, skirting here and there low hills and terrace bluffs, the 
 predominating color in these and in the banks generally being a 
 bright red, from which the water obtains its brownish tint. The 
 hills are barren ; even a tree is rarely seen. But the signs of life 
 are everywhere. Tlie gray walls of innumerable cities are con- 
 stantly disappearing behind the steamer, and otliers as constantly 
 coming into view before it, on the banks of the river and inland 
 from it, spreading out over the lowlands, built upon slopes of 
 hills, or extending: over the crests, or again entirelv enclosins: iso- 
 lated elevations. Look where the traveller will, he is sure to see 
 the same gray walls, as dismally monotonous in color and form 
 as are their inhabitants in appearance and in daily life. 
 
 At the time of my journey, a depressing air of decay seemed to 
 envelop the country and cities of the entire lower com-se of the 
 Yangtz'. Dilapidated walls and ruined houses, and an almost 
 complete absence of the shipping which once thronged the river, 
 were everywhere painfully apparent. But this paralysis was 
 easy of explanation, as the causes were still at work. For more 
 than ten years this portion of the Yangtz' had been the highway 
 of the war, along and on either side of which rebels and imperial 
 ists had vied with each other in the Avork of plunder and carnage. 
 The countless vessels which had once served the trade of the 
 river, had been impressed as transports. Jfearly all legitimate 
 trade was destroyed by the war. Small craft, often alternately 
 pirates and smugglers, sailing under the protection of a foreign 
 flag, and commanded by European desperadoes, preyed upoTi the 
 little trade that remained. It was this state of things, especially 
 
224 ACROSS AMEBICA AND ASIA. [chap. xvil. 
 
 Lhe total destruction of the native carrying interests, tha^ enaljled 
 steam navigation to be introduced upon this river without mee t- 
 ing -w itli strong opposition. Unce inaugu rated, it became extremely 
 popular amoiig the natives, whose capitalis ts became part-owner s 
 mtiie boats, while the travel ling Chinaman paid readily the hig h 
 rates of passage. 
 
 At Hankau Mr. Breck, the American consul, and agent of Messrs. 
 1 lussel & Co., kindly offered me the hospitality of his house, which 
 I enjoyed while preparing to continue my journey. 
 
 The cities of Hankau, Wuchang, and Hanyang, situated at the 
 junction of the Yangtz' and Han rivers, were estimated by Abbe 
 Hue to contain an aggregate population of eight millions. Al- 
 though this estimate was probably much exaggerated, it is still 
 probable that these three cities, comprising a provincial capital, 
 a departmental centre, and a chief market town of the empire, 
 formed one of the largest assemblages of population in the world. 
 Hankau, almost exactly in the centre of the empire, is the focus 
 of commerce for all that immense region which is drained by the 
 waters of the upper Yangtz'. It is also the point of trans-ship- 
 ment into steamers and sailing vessels for the trade of this region 
 with eastern China and the foreign world. Here I saw clipper 
 ships taking in cargoes of tea for a direct voyage to England. 
 Moreover, it is the starting-point for the large overland trade 
 with Russia. 
 
 These cities had been twice taken and nearly destroyed by the 
 rebels, and during the whole rebellion were constantly threatened 
 with fresh attacks. A panic which followed one of these alarms 
 is well described by Sir Harry Parkes, who witnessed it while ac- 
 companying the British expedition made in 1861, for the purpose 
 of opening the river in accordance with the treaty. 
 
 '•On the 18th, rumors were current in Hankau that a body of 
 rebels had appeared in the vicinity of Hwang-chau, fifty miles 
 east of Hankau. * * * These rumors became more alarming 
 during the night of the 18th, and when it was known on the fol- 
 lowing morning that Hwang-chau had fallen, we witnessed a 
 signal example of that intense bewilderment and alarm to which 
 the Chinese people so readily fall victims. It was generally re- 
 ported that rebel eniissaries had passed through the streets at 
 dead of night, knocking at the door of each house, and warning 
 
CHAP. XVII.] JOURNEY UP THE YAKQTZ'-KIANO. 225 
 
 the inliabitants to take to flight; and though this, if it occiu-red 
 at all, may only have been the work of local marauders, who have 
 their own objects in promoting confusion, it was faithfully acted 
 upon by all the people. As the alarm spread and it became 
 diflicult to procure the means of conveyance, they soon aban- 
 doned all care for their property, and sought only to secure 
 their personal safety. The consternation was as great on the 
 "Wuchang as on the Hankau side : in both cases the population 
 rushed frantically down to the water-side ; and several instances 
 of suffocation in the narrow streets, and in the struggle to gain 
 the boats, are reported to have occurred. Scenes of great dis- 
 tress were observed by those among us who landed to inform 
 ourselves of the state of affairs. We were asked on all sides by 
 the people themselves, for the intelligence we ourselves were in 
 quest of, while others who had made our acquaintance begged us 
 to protect their property, or to aid them in getting away from 
 the place. Darkness fell upon crowds of the people lying with 
 their weeping families and the debris of their property under the 
 walls of "Wuchang, anxious only to escape from defences that 
 should have proved their protection, and which, as they are of 
 considerable strength, would, if projierly defended, be proof 
 against any ordinary Chinese attack. The noise and cries at- 
 tending their embarkation continued throughout the night, but 
 daylight broiight with it a stillness that was not less impressive 
 than the previous commotion ; by that time all the fugitives had 
 left the shore ; and the river, as far as the eye could reach, was 
 covered with junks and boats of every description, bearing slowly 
 away up stream the bulk of the population of three cities, which 
 a few days before we had computed at one million of souls. 
 From such a spectacle we could only draw two painful conclu- 
 sions : the one, that the rebels were held in detestation by the 
 people who thus fled from them ; the other, that the people had 
 abandoned all hope in the power of the Government to protect 
 them." 
 
 It was just two years after the occurrence of this panic that I 
 visited these cities. Hankau, always an important centre, under 
 the protection of foreign flags and the impetus given by foreign 
 trade, was rapidly becoming one of the most populous cities in the 
 empire. 
 
 15 
 
226 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xvii. 
 
 Crossing over to Wnchang, the provincial capital, I was struck 
 with the fact that while Hankau had far outgrown its former 
 limits, the population of its neighbor had shrunken to a fraction 
 of its recent size. Under the guidance of some ragged soldiers, 
 I took a long ramble along the top of the city wall, which is said 
 oo extend fourteen miles around the city. It had suffered very 
 much during the rebellion, and had recently been repaired at an 
 enormous exjjense. Chinese cities, especially the more impo r- 
 tant ones, contain within their defences extensive areas of culti- 
 vable land, intended to supply the population during long sieges. 
 But the great extent of wali whichlFlhus made necessary, must 
 render the greater n umber of towns indefensible, and prove a 
 source of weakness during civil wars! fivrt,. ',■ '~p^AjLZ7T^~i'^ 
 
 Excepting along a few of the principal streets, the city was in 
 ruins. Grass was springing up on the top of the wall, and among 
 it there was growing the Avild strawberry ; but it had a sickening- 
 taste, which was common to this fruit wherever I found it in 
 Asia. JJesceudmg trom the wail, i started upon a stroll through 
 the ruined part of the city ; but, overcome by the accumulated 
 filth, I was soon forced to abandon the attempt in disgust. Re- 
 turning to the inhabited streets, these were found to be but little 
 better. They were indeed paved, but being scarcely more than 
 from eight to twelve feet wide, enclosed between two-story build- 
 
 ings, and overhung by awnings, they were rarely penetrated by 
 the rays of the sun. The atmosphere was reeking with the hor- 
 rible stench rising from foul gutters. It was partly to the walk '' 
 through these streets that I owed a long illness during tlie fol- 
 lowing summer. 
 
 Hastening out of this pestilential atmosphere, I crossed over 
 to Hanyang. This city was a complete ruin. Only here and 
 there appeared an inhabited house, while from the top of a high 
 ridge which traverses the town, the ruined walls and dwellings 
 were visible on all sides. This narrow ridge is continued on the 
 opposite side of the river, through the centre of Wuchang, where 
 several streets are said to pass through it in tunnels. 
 
 In making the preparations for the continuation of my jour- 
 ney I was largely indebted to the kind assistance of Mr. Dick, 
 of the Imperial Maritime Customs. While I was fearing lest I 
 should have to make the journey alone, I found in the Rev. 
 
CHAP. XVII.] JOUBNET UP TEE TANGTZ'-KIANG. 227 
 
 Josiah Cox a companion without wliom I could hardly have made 
 the trip. 
 
 My plan was to penetrate the coal fields of southern Hunan, 
 and thence returning to the Yangtz' river to ascend this to 
 Sz'chuen. But from every side we were warned against enter- 
 ing Hu-nan, as the population of that province Avas infuriated 
 against foreigners. Several months previously some lawless 
 soldiers had descended the river in boats which they had im- 
 pressed in Hunan. While at Hankau this rabble had kid- 
 napped an Englishman, and had nearly murdered him on one of 
 their boats. In accordance with the retaliatory policy then 
 ruling in China, the English gun-boats stationed at Hankau had 
 burned the junk on which the outrage had been ommitted. 
 This, instead of being a punishment visited upon the offenders, 
 was an injury inflicted uj)on the innocent owners of the vessel. 
 
 The inhabitants of Hunan, who from their frequent intercourse 
 with Canton had conceived a deeply-rooted hatred toward for- 
 eigners, made common cause in resenting what they considered 
 to be an act of injustice. The Catholic missions were attacked, 
 their chapels burned, and the native Christians persecuted, while 
 the bishop and his priests owed their escape only to the devotion 
 of their converts. Although this had happened sometime pre- 
 vious to my visit, the hatred of foreigners was said to be still in 
 full force. The bishop and other missionaries of Hunan were at 
 Hankau, not considering it possible for some time to re-enter 
 their field. The presumption was that it would be impossible 
 for us to travel in a region where men who were in the habit of 
 courting martyrdom, rather than of shunning danger, hesitated to 
 enter. Still we determined to make the attempt. The first ne- 
 cessity was a disguise. Unfortunately for the execution of this 
 plan, nature had made us both decidedly un-Mongolian. Each 
 of us stood nearly a head higher than the tallest Chinaman, and 
 my light hair and blue eyes would have been very hard to dis- 
 guise. The former could have been dyed, and the color of the 
 latter hidden under a pair of blue Chinese goggles ; but an insur- 
 mountable difiiculty presented itself — I had thoughtlessly had 
 my hair cut close just before leaving Shanghai, and there was 
 nothing to which a tail could be fastened. So we concluded to 
 make a virtue of necessity, and to show that the proper way for 
 
228 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xvii. 
 
 foreigners to travel was as nature and the tailors at home had 
 made them. I confess it was not without many misgivings as to 
 the success of this plan that we hastened on our preparations. 
 
 Finally, after much searching, we succeeded in finding a pas- 
 senger boat of about eighty tons burthen, commanded by a skip- 
 per who assured us that he was thoroughly acquainted with the 
 waters of Hunan, and of the upper Yangtz'. A carefully worded 
 contract was drawn up under the supervision of Mr. Dick and 
 Mr. Cox, both of whom were well versed in the language and 
 character of the Chinese. Almost the only provisions we laid in 
 were rice, sardines, crackers, and ale. 
 
CHAPTER XVIIL 
 
 BOAT JOUENEY OK THE UPPER YANGTZ'. 
 
 Ik order to get an early start, we went aboard at midnight on 
 the 23d of May. The weather was very warm, and, moored as 
 we were at the filthy bank of the river, we slejDt that night in an 
 atmosphere which was foul enough to disease any one but a 
 Chinaman. Instead of getting an early start we were detained 
 nearly all the next day, quarreling over the terms of the contract ; 
 and when we finally cast loose, later in the afternoon, I was al- 
 ready prostrated by a low fever. During more than a week I 
 was too ill to take any interest in the country we were passing 
 through, and when, thanks to a vigorous use of quinine, I felt 
 myself gradually recovering, we had almost reached the entrance 
 to the Tung-ting lake. 
 
 Our boat was a flat-bottomed craft, with a house extending 
 nearly two-thirds the length of the deck, and divided into four 
 cabins communicating with each other. Givinn; one of these to 
 our servants, and another to Mr. Cox's Chinese writer, we made 
 ourselves quite comfortable in the remaining two. By means of 
 sailing, sculling, poling, and tracking, with a crew of nine men, 
 we managed to make about twenty miles a day against the cur- 
 rent. 
 
 From Hankau to the Tung-ting lake the river runs parallel to a 
 range of mountains, the rugged and barren crests of which, lying 
 some miles distant to the east, form the boundary between Hu- 
 nan and Kiangsi. Between these and the river the surface is 
 broken with low hills, while these are fringed with broad and 
 gently-sloping terrace-plains, Avhich terminate abruptly near the 
 river-bank in blufls of a bright-red color. The opposite bank is 
 flat, and with it begins the plain of Hupeh, an extensive lowland, 
 the silted-up bed of a large inland sea of which the Tung-ting is 
 only a remnant. The early historians speak of it as a swamp, 
 but it is now cultivated to a great extent, while the countless 
 
230 A0R0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xvm. 
 
 lakes, creeks, and canals, forming a navigable network between 
 the Han and the Yangtz', make every part of it accessible. 
 
 Passing the departmental city of Yochau we entered the Tung- 
 ting lake with a favorable breeze. This water has the reputa- 
 tion of being visited hj dangerous squalls. Therefore, as a pro- 
 pitiation of the elements, the discharge of fire-crackers and the 
 beating of gongs were prosecuted with more than usual vigor on 
 the morning before our entrance upon the treacherous water. 
 Not trusting, however, to these preparations alone, our skipper 
 kept quite close to the eastern shore. This is much indented with 
 little bays, miniature fiords, shut in by high red cliffs of the ter- 
 race formation. In the background the country is mountainous ; 
 ridge after ridge, made up of pyramidal and uniformly grass-cov- 
 ered hills, rising away to the eastward, form a green highland 
 extending to the high and rugged mountain range which forms 
 the eastern boundary of the province. 
 
 Twenty-four hours of sailing and sculling brought us in sight 
 of the southern shore of the lake. The season of high-water was 
 approaching, and the level of the lake was gradually rising. A 
 lofty pagoda, whose base was washed by the increasing waters, 
 served as a landmark to guide us toward the mouth of the Si- 
 ang river. This pagoda was one of the few left standing by the 
 rebels in their destructive course. These beautiful towers, which 
 form the most characteristic feature of Chinese landscap e, are al- 
 ;g3ys polygonal, and built with a n odd number of storie s, and are 
 sometimes nearly two hundred feet higli. The'exterior is often 
 highly ornamented and built with glazed tiles. The famous 
 tower at Nanking was faced with blocks of fine porcelain. The 
 walls, always of great thickness, are built to last for ages. Stand- 
 ing in close connection with the Fung-shui doctrine, the strongest 
 of the Chinese superstitions, they" exert as the people believe a 
 most powerful influence in contro lling certain supposed currents 
 i n earth and air, which are believed to be important agents in 
 modifying, for better or worse, climate, crops, health, and even the 
 ordinary actions of man. Strangely enough, one of the strongest 
 objections raised by the Chinese against the introduction of tele- 
 graphs ancTraA lroaas, is that they would disturb the course ofthese 
 currents and'b ring calamilieslip'o'irtlfe nation^ 
 
 Soon after entering thFSiang riverwe~pas"seT'the village of Si- 
 
CHAP. XTiii.] BOAT JOURNEY ON THE UPPER TANGTZ'. 231 
 
 ang-in (hieii). Prettily situated upon the bluffs, and abounding in 
 shade trees, it -was, as seen from a distance, one of the very few 
 agreeable-looking villagea which it was our lot to pass. It is 
 celebrated for its manufacture of rough earthenware, for which 
 the red terrace clay supplies the material. We felt half inclined 
 to suspect that the presence of the trees was due to their value 
 for making charcoal, rather than to any less utilitarian cause. 
 Possibly, had we closely questioned the inhabitants concerning 
 some of the largest and finest of these trees, we should have 
 found that they were being spared till they were large enough 
 to cut up into respectable coffins for some fat Chinamen. 
 
 The valley of the Siang lies between high hills, fringed Avith 
 the same red terraces that we have seen bordering the lake. 
 
 Two days of tracking and poling brought us in sight of the 
 walls of Changsha, (fu), the capital of Hunan. 
 
 During the past few days we had several times been seriously 
 annoyed by attempts to impress our boat on the part of soldiers 
 descending the river. Hitherto Mr. Cox had prevented them 
 from boarding us by explaining the power of our passport. But 
 as we were slowly moving up the river, along the bank opposite 
 Changsha, a party of soldiers had come aboard and raised the 
 imperial flag, before we were aware of their presence. In vain 
 we urged the I'ights guaranteed by our passports ; they insisted 
 upon keeping the boat. Not wishing to resort to force we made 
 a compromise, by which they agreed to remove the flag, while we 
 promised to remain moored to the bank until they should return 
 with an officer. It was clear that we should have to await their 
 return from the city ; and as the river, owing to the inundation, 
 w^as a mile or a mile and a half wide, with a swift current, we 
 could hardly expect them under two or three hours. We moored 
 under a low bank, the bow of the boat being connected with the 
 shore by a rope of braided bamboo. 
 
 A little before sunset several boats loaded with soldiers made 
 their way across the i-iver and landed just above us, and we saw 
 immediately that they had brought no officer. Three of our 
 foi-mer visitors immediately came on board and renewed their de- 
 mand for the boat. Mr. Cox met them forward, and while refus- 
 ing to give up the craft, first requested, and finally ordered them, 
 to leave us ; while at the same time, Avith the .utmost coolness, ho 
 
232 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xviii. 
 
 prevented any more soldiers from jumping on board at the only- 
 place where the boat touched the shore. In the meantime an ex- 
 cited crowd of one hundred and fifty or more villagers and sol- 
 diers, armed with swords and pikes, had collected on the bank, 
 and were shouting out to those upon our boat to kill the foreign 
 devils. One of the three, running aft along the platform which 
 surrounded the boat, attempted to beat in the cabin dooi-. Feel- 
 ing that words would be no longer of use, I threw the door open 
 from the inside, and giving the man a sudden blow as he started 
 back, sent him headlong into the river. This was the signal for 
 a general attack. The mob having neither fire-arms nor stones, 
 opened upon us with a perfect storm of lumps of sun-burnt clay. 
 They were more successful with these than with their pikes, which 
 were too heavy to be conveniently managed across the twelve 
 feet of water between us and the sliore ; still it Avas not always 
 easy to dodge their thrusts, and not wishing either to be spitted 
 on such a weapon, or to be beaten to a jelly by tlieir missiles, I 
 drew my revolver, which had served so well in Arizona, and 
 opened fire upon the crowd. Unfortunately, in the confusion of 
 the moment, I dropped the pistol overboard. In an instant, how- 
 ever, I got another from the cabin, and re-opened upon the mob, 
 supported by my companion, who showed far more coolness than 
 myself. Our bullets caused the assailing party to fall back, and 
 before they could return to the attack a new actor, or rather ac- 
 tress, came upon the scene in the person of our skipper's wife. 
 Flourishing an immense knife, she rushed to the bow of the boat, 
 and began to hack away at the bamboo rope by which we were 
 moored, at the same time pouring forth such a torrent of abuse 
 as can only flow in Chinese accents from the tongue of a Chi- 
 nese virago. In the meantime the crowd, although kept at a dis- 
 tance by our pistols, made her the focus of a volley of missiles. 
 She stood the attack bravely, never flinching either from her 
 work with her knife or from her torrent of invectives. Clearly 
 the Chinaman was right who said that a woman gains in her 
 tongue what she loses in her feet. 
 
 Suddenly the cable parted, and yielding to the cun-ent the 
 boat whirled quickly into the stream. A new difficulty now 
 arose; all the crew had jumped ashore and run off in the begin- 
 ning of the fight, except the captain and one man, and these 
 
ciiAP. xTiii.] BOAT JOURNEY ON THE UPPSR TANGTZ\ 233 
 
 were found liidden away below the deck. We should hardly 
 have discovered them had not the skipper's wife appeared drag- 
 ging her lord and his companion by their tails. All we could 
 now do Avas to guide our craft toward a small island which lay 
 about a mile below us. It was already nearly dark, and heavy 
 clouds betokened a coming storm. We could see the soldiers 
 embark and make their way as rapidly as possible across the 
 river, where Ave knew there was a large force of their lawless 
 comrades, and from these we expected a more determined visit 
 during the night. We had hardly moored to the island before 
 the storm came on, and with such a fury that it was evident 
 we should be safe from any attack while it lasted. It was 
 almost morning before the waters were quieted enough for us to 
 send a man in the small boat to Changsha, with a letter to the 
 Lieutenant-Governor of tiie province. In this document we com- 
 plained of the soldiers, and asked for an escort to accompany us 
 up the river beyond the city. 
 
 Soon after daylight a boat was seen coming toward us from 
 the town. We Avatched it rather anxiously through our glasses, 
 not knowing whether it contained friends or enemies. We were, 
 however, quite prepared for the latter event, having all our arms 
 spread out, including even an old " Tower musket," loaded Avith 
 revolver balls. The boat, which was a large one, contained some 
 twenty or thirty soldiers, among whom we discovered to our 
 relief three military officers. 
 
 As soon as these officials Avere seated in our cabin they in- 
 formed us that they had been sent by the Lieutenant-Governor 
 to offer any assistance we might need. His Excellency, they 
 said, had already received instructions from the Viceroy to 
 aid us on our journey, and His Excellency had heard with the 
 most profound sorrow of the attack made by lawless soldiers 
 upon the honorable members of the exalted American country, 
 and of the exalted English country ; the soldiers, then on their 
 Avay to Nanking, were desperadoes, robbing and murdering 
 Avherever they went, and were utterly beyond the control of His 
 Excellency, or even of their own officers. These visitors gave 
 us to understand that they were instructed to escort us during 
 the rest of our trip on the Siang river ; but either having formed 
 an unfavorable opinion of our commissariat, or for some other 
 
234 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xviir. 
 
 reason, they suddenly, left us a; few miles above the city, inviting 
 us to visit them on our return. 
 
 During two days .we continued our journey up-stream, gather- 
 ing at every opportunity information concerning the coal dis- 
 tricts. Many boats passed us loaded with coals fi'om Southern 
 Hunan ; but we observed that they were invariably smaller than 
 our own craft. From the crews of these boats we learned that it 
 would be necessary to change our means of conveyance, that 
 even then we could hardly reach the mines in less than three 
 weeks, and that the journey would be attended with much dan- 
 ger, owing to the existing excitement against foreigners. Find- 
 ing these statements corroborated at every step, I determined to 
 turn back at Siang-tan. 
 
 Siang-tan is another of the great market towns — the collecting 
 and distributing point for a large tea district. 
 
 Our progress down stream was very rapid. 
 
 The liills, which approach the river, consisted of argillaceous 
 slate, limestone, and sand-stone. The last two rocks are exten- 
 sively quarried — the sandstone in large blocks for building 
 material, while the limestone is burned. 
 
 Seeing a large number of kilns in operation at Ting-tan, below 
 Siang-tan, we landed, for the purpose of examining the process. 
 The decided coolness with which the people at first received us 
 soon melted before the polite bearing and " Confucian quota- 
 tions" of Mr. Cox, and we were soon being shown over the 
 premises. The burning is carried on in circular kilns of from 
 twenty to thirty feet in diameter, which are built up of alternate 
 layers of limestone and coal, the enclosing wall being constructed 
 at the same time with large blocks of the same stone. As the 
 kiln increases in height the outer wall is secured by encircling 
 ropes of braided bamboo. 
 
 Here, as everywhere else in the province, I was struck with 
 the neatness and apparent prosperity of the people. It was al- 
 most impossible to believe that the horrors of the rebellion had 
 recently swept backward and forward through this land, and 
 that scarcely ten years had passed since army after army of im- 
 perialists and rebels had laid waste to complete ruin the fields 
 and towns now so smiling and prosperous. What better argu- 
 ment could be brought forward against the repeated assertions 
 
CHAP. xvm.]. BOAT JOUBNET ON THE UPPER TANGTZ'. 235 
 
 of national decay, and of corruption, moral and physical, social 
 and political, that are charged against this people ? Surely the 
 same laws of nature must apply as well to nations, as ,to the fam- 
 ilies and individuals of which they are formed ; and, as in the 
 human body, the rapidity with which a wound heals is a measure 
 of the soundness of the body, so it should seem that the rapid 
 recovciy of Chinese provinces from the effects of gigantic politi- 
 cal wounds is an indicati on of a most vigorous vitality, both na- 
 tional and individual. 
 
 Tlie next day after leaving Siang-tan we came in sight of 
 Changsha, and of the dense forest of masts lining the shore for 
 two or three miles in front of the city. 
 
 Thinking to enter the town, we proceeded to lookup the boat of 
 the officer who had escorted us, and who, being in command of 
 the river police, lived on his flag-ship. Having found this and 
 moored our boat near by, we sent on board our cards and compli- 
 ments, and soon received a visit in return. Our former guest was 
 this time -accompanied by the chief of police ot the city. The 
 latter gentleman had just given orders to facilitate our visit to 
 the Lieutenant-Governor, when we became aArare of an increasing 
 distant rumbling noise. Just then the attendants of our visitors 
 rushed in, pale and excited, proclaiming the approach of a mob. 
 Opening the door, our eyes were greeted with a sight which, 
 once seen, cannot easily be forgotten. Some ten or twelve tiers 
 of boats moored close together lay between us and the shore. 
 Beyond these the whole space between the city wall and the river, 
 as far as the eye could reach, was densely packed with human 
 beings. Evidently the news of our coming had preceded us, 
 and the report of the arrival of the foreign devils had spread 
 like lightning. Apparently the whole male population of an 
 immense city was pouring out of the gates. Surging and clash- 
 ing like an endless and many-colored wave, it rolled down the 
 sloping bank, and advanced over the intervening boajs, Avhich 
 rocked and swayed, threatening to go down under the moving 
 mass that was sweeping over them. From exclamations heard 
 on every side, we saw that the intentions of the crowd were any- 
 thing but friendly. They were not less than thirty thousand 
 strong. Pale, and with chattering teeth, our visitors hurried into 
 their boat, and, beseeching us to flee, for our lives, shot across the 
 
236 ACSOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xviii 
 
 river. The skipper had gone ashore, but without waiting for him 
 we made quick work in casting loose, and in an instant were 
 whirled into the current. We were none too soon, for already a 
 half-dozen of the unwelcome visitors had sprung on board ; and 
 now to their great surprise found themselves prisoners. Now 
 that we were safe, we could look back with a different kind of 
 interest on the imposing scene presented by this yelling mass of 
 humanity. Our involuntary guests protested that they, as well as 
 most of the crowd, had been attracted simply by a desire to see 
 the honorable foreigners. They said, however, that the soldiers 
 were inciting the crowd to mob us. 
 
 Many lives must have been lost in the frantic rush of these 
 thousands over the boats, and unquestionably the authorities 
 trembled till they had news of our safety. There is nothing that the 
 Chinese officials fear so much as mobs in large cities. These dis- 
 turbances give full play to lawless characters, while the force of 
 the police bears no proportion whatever to the necessities of 
 such cases. 
 
 Seeking the island which had once before given us a shelter, 
 we waited till the return of the skipper. 
 
 For some distance above the mouth of the Siang the west 
 bank is bordered by a lowland, which forms the southern border 
 of the lake, and is apparently a delta-plain, produced by the Si- 
 ang, the Tsz', and Yuen rivers. This lowland is traversed by 
 many channels, into one of which — the Lung-tan Ho — we entered, 
 in order to reach the west end of the lake without being exposed 
 to the full force of the wind sweeping across a broad sheet of 
 water. The greater part of the lowland was already inundated, 
 and many farm-houses and even villages were partially under 
 water. The inhabitants were fearing serious injury to the crops, 
 and it was with great difficulty that we could purchase from place 
 to place a scanty supply of rice. In anticipation of a famine the 
 authorities had forbidden the sale of provisions to non-residents 
 in larger amounts than was absolutely necessary to keep them 
 from starving. Two days' journey westward brought us again to 
 the lake, and after waiting forty-eight hours for a fair wind, we 
 crossed over to the mouth of a river which communicates through 
 the Tai-ping canal with the Yangtz' Kiang. The river-course was 
 not distinguishable, owing to the wide-spread inundation ; but 
 
cnAP. XVIII.] BOAT JOUENET ON THE UPPER YAKOTZ'. 237 
 
 when we reached the canal we found the country on either side 
 of tliis ten or fifteen feet above the water. 
 
 In this, as in most Chinese canals, it is hard to distinguish be- 
 tween the work of nature and the Avork of man. We were two 
 days and a half with a fair wind in going from the lake to the 
 Yangtz'. Tlic canal Avas found generally to have over five tat h- 
 oms of water in the middle, and from three to four fathoms with 
 ill forty leet ot the bank. The width of the stream flowing 
 through it was two hundred and fifty or three hundred yards at 
 the time of our visit, while at its junction with the Yangtz', its 
 breadth was five hundred or six hundred yards. This was during 
 high water; during the season of low water, in 1861, Captain 
 Blakistone found it to be only one hundred yards broad at the 
 entrance. The current from the Yangtz' to the Tung-ting lake 
 was very strong. 
 
 We were again upon the broad, s^naft stream of the Yangtz', 
 oi', as it is called in this part of its course, the Kin-sha Kiang— the 
 river of golden sand — a name derived from the gold washings 
 which occur along its course through Sz'chuen and Yunnan. 
 An incident occurred during our journey tlirough the canal, 
 which was followed by some little annoyance. We had arrived 
 during the night at one of the many inland custom-houses at 
 which duties and tonnage dues are collected on all shipping. 
 Having to wait till daylight for the arrival of the officials, we 
 found ourselves in the morning surrounded by a number of junks 
 which had come in during the night. Among these was one 
 which carried a flag with the inscription, " Great French Nation." 
 Knowing that M. Simon, a French gentleman, who was studying 
 the agriculture and horticulture of Cliina, was at that moment 
 travelling on the Yangtz', and thinking that a meeting would be 
 not less agreeable to him than to us, I addressed a polite note to 
 him, which we sent on board by Mr. Cox's Chinese writer. Ho 
 soon returned, accompanied by a Chinaman, who informed us 
 that M. Simon and his companion had taken another boat for 
 their journey, and that the one which we had seen was then on 
 the way to Changsha, carrying some wine. The man showed 
 great trepidation, and betrayed throughout the fact that he was 
 lying. After his return to the junk it weighed anchor instantly, 
 and made off with all possible haste ; but instead of steering 
 
238 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xviii. 
 
 toward Changsha, went in the direction of the Yangtz' river. 
 After finishing our business with the custom-house, we thought 
 little more of the occurrence of the morning till we approached 
 the city of Taiping-kau, at the entrance to the Yangtz'. As we 
 neared the shipping we observed the Frenchman's junk sailing 
 some distance ahead of us, and that a large number of boats 
 loaded with people were putting off from the shore to see the 
 foreign devils ; but we saw also that these boats invariably 
 turned away from our predecessor and came toward us. Now, 
 there is nothing in the world more trying to the nerves than to 
 be over-run by a crowd of even friendly Chinamen ; one must 
 submit to being felt of, stared at, and having the texture of his 
 hair and clothes tested ; to having his hat and boots tried on and 
 passed around the crowd, with the chance of their disappearing 
 in the capacious pockets of some acquisitive visitor. And all 
 this must be submitted to until the whole population of a large 
 town has satisfied its curiosity. There is no other alternative 
 than to submit or fight, and the less fighting that pioneer ti-avel- 
 lers do the better for themselves and for those who follow them. 
 It had been our practice to avoid observation as much as possi- 
 ble in passing large cities, and it was therefore with a feeling of 
 annoyance that we sat in our cabin awaiting the coming devel- 
 opment. The boats soon began to arrive. 
 
 "Where are the western barbarians?" asked several of the 
 new-comers. 
 
 " There are none here," answered our men with perfect com- 
 posure ; " why don't you go to the boat with the French flag ? " 
 
 " So we did, but they told us there that that was only the bag- 
 gage boat, and that the barbarians were in this one." 
 
 " Do you suppose," returned our men, " that they would be such 
 fools as to use that fine boat for baggage, and travel in this mis- 
 erable craft? I think I saw the barbarians on that large junk," 
 pointing to a vessel a little distance down the canal. Our would- 
 be visitors, completely deceived, started off on the false scent, 
 while we passed the city, and moored for the night on the oppo- 
 site bank of the Yangtz'. We ascertained afterward that Mr. 
 Simon and his companions were really on board the junk which 
 carried the flag. 
 
 The next day, with the help of a light breeze, we made the town 
 
3IIAP. xviii] BOAT JOUBNET ON THE UPPER YANGTZ'. 239 
 
 of Tung-tse, twenty-seven miles up the river, where we moored for 
 the night. It is customary for the river craft to congregate in 
 large numbers at night, for the sake of mutual protection against 
 pii-ates. Thus, along the rivers, certain places have become 
 mooi'ing stations, to reach which the crews of junks bend every 
 effort. At such places there are night-watchmen always walk- 
 ing the river bank, on the lookout for thieves, when they come 
 from either land or water. We generally avoided these congre- 
 gations, but, reaching Tung-tse toward sunset, we moored on the 
 outskirt of the boats already there, and were soon shut in on 
 all sides by those which came after us. A man has need to be 
 deaf, or born a Chinaman, to endure with composure the ordeal 
 of a night in such an assemblage. The din of a Chinese crowd 
 is always great, but hei"e it is as varied as terrible. The shout- 
 ings and invectives of the sailors, during the confusion of mooring, 
 is soon mingled with the shrill notes of female voices. If each 
 sailor makes more noise than his skipper, the wife of the latter 
 makes more than all together. There seems to be an incessant 
 quarrel about food, between the crew and their mistress, Avho 
 reigns as supremely as shrewdly over the commissariat. But 
 for one word from a sailor, the virago gives tv/enty, and with a 
 force of invective which forebodes rather a diminution than an 
 increase of rice. Loudest, because nearest, were the deafening- 
 accents of the mistress of our boat ; but on all sides the same in- 
 cessant wrangling could be heard, with the woman's voice domi- 
 nating. After about half-an-hour of this vocal exercise, and 
 when it seemed to be just reaching a climax, there suddenly 
 sounded a gong. Quick as lightning every boat resj)onded. 
 From one end to the other of the vast fleet of junks, from a 
 thousand gongs there poured out a deafening din, tearing the 
 night air with the quickly-growing and dying shrieks and groans 
 of the accursed instrument. The reader, who has often been 
 tempted to violate the eighth commandment by carrying off the 
 morning gong of some hotel, will appreciate my feelings. Hardly 
 had the gongs ceased when a new noise arose, occasioned by the 
 explosion of thousands of packages of fire-crackers. It may be 
 doubted whether the observance of this superstitious ceremony is 
 followed from a belief in its power over, evil spirits, or from .in 
 actual knowledge of its effect on the female tongue. Certainly 
 
240 AGSOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xviii. 
 
 tlie victory was complete. Gradually the air became slightly 
 tainted with the sickening odor of burning opium, and a death- 
 like silence reigned through the night. Opium pipes were burn- 
 ing on all sides. 
 
 The worst eifects of opium-smoking are probably not propor- 
 tionate to the prevalence of the habit. Were it otherwise, the in- 
 crease of the practice must be threatening the vitality of the na- 
 tion. This vice is one of the fruits of intercourse with European 
 civilization. Little more than half a century ago, this drug was 
 used only as a medicine ; at present, the importation amounts to 
 bet'iveen 5,000 and C,600 tons yearly, which does not represent, 
 however, the amount consumed, since witliin recent years a 
 rapidly-growing area in China is devoted to its j)roduction. The 
 profit netted by the East India Company from the opium trade, ■ 
 after deducting all expenses, is estimated to have reached an ag- 
 gregate of £67,851,853 sterling. Who can estimate the conse- 
 quence of the system, adopted by a Christian government, to in- 
 troduce this poison ? As a violation of the laws of nature, this 
 deliberate paralyzing of a part of the great body of mankind 
 must surely re-act upon the rest of the world. China is adapted, 
 by the formation of its surface, by its climate and resources, and 
 by the industry of its teeming jiopulation, numbering one-third of 
 the human race — by all these it is adapted to become, not only one 
 of the most important exporting countries, but also one of the 
 largest consuming markets for the products of other nations. 
 By as much as we diminish the muscular power and energy of 
 this population, by just so much do we injure our own interests, 
 by diminishing their power of production, and their ability to 
 become purchasers. 
 
 Above Tung-tsc the river makes a great bend, and the charac- 
 ter of its scenery changes. The traveller is here approaching the 
 central mountain range of the Sinian system, which, though it 
 probably rises not more than four or five thousand feet above 
 the sea, extends through tlie heart of China, from the southwest 
 to the northeast, and finds its prolongation in the mountains of 
 IVianchtu-ia between the Amoor river and the Japan sea. 
 
 A journey of two days brought us around the river bend from 
 Tnng-tseto Itu (Hieu). Above this place the river runs in al- 
 most a straight course from Ichang (fu). For a few miles above 
 
CHAP, xviii.] BOAT JOURNEY ON THE UPPER YANGTZ\ 2il 
 
 Itu it is ■bordered by low hills of red sandstone, but beyond 
 tbese the mountains rise in towering masses, which grow higher 
 and more rugged till they are lost in the highest range, whose 
 broken outline is visible in the west over all the intervening 
 country. Further up the river the sandstone is succeeded by 
 conglomerate, the massive beds of which are cut through by the 
 river at right angles to the plain of stratification. Plere the river- 
 bed is narrowed and deepened, while the current is perceptibly 
 quickened. The shores rise abruptly, often in high cliffs, worn 
 into fantastic shapes. As we approached Ichang the hills be- 
 came higher and more broken. 
 
 A few miles above the city, at the place designated as Mussul- 
 man point on Blakestone's chart, the conglomerate is succeeded 
 by limestone : the two rocks conformably stratified, the former upon 
 the latter, and rising with a gentle inclination toward the north- 
 west. Continuing up stream the river suddenly contracts, and 
 the great Yangtz', which a few miles below was over a thousand 
 yards wide, is here narrowed to two or three hundred. 
 
 Without previous warning the traveller enters here the Ichang 
 gorge, and with it upon some of the grandest river scenery in 
 the world. The walls rise eight hundred or a thousand feet, 
 overhanging the water in immense perpendicular cliffs of yellow 
 limestone, or forming, steep declivities, covered with a luxuriant 
 growth of semi-tropical plants. The river, confined to a deep and 
 narrow bed, rushes with a strong current through this chasm. 
 
 Long and time-worn chains are clamped into the face of the 
 precipitous walls. Catching these rusty links with hooks on long 
 poles, the crew moved the vessel slowly against the current, the 
 mast often rubbing against overhanging masses of rock. In 
 other places flights of hewn steps, and narrow paths cut along 
 natural ledges, offer a foothold from which the trackers can drag 
 the vessel by long bamboo ropes. 
 
 Deep inaccessible dells, filled with the rich growth of a semi- 
 tropical vegetation, break the face of the vertical walls. Streams 
 flowing from the mouths of caverns high above the river cool the 
 air in their descent, while huge clusters of stalactite which they 
 have formed — the work of ages — show well the chemical power of 
 the smallest drop, side by side with the mechanical force of the 
 rolling rivei'. 
 16 
 
242 AGE08S AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xyiir. 
 
 The Ichang gorge is nearly seven miles long. Between its 
 rocky walls, the whole volume of the great river, narrowed to 
 less than one-third of its usual width, flows in a rapid stream of 
 great depth, while water-marks, eighty or more feet ahove the 
 winter level, show how great the rise must be during the season 
 of inundation. 
 
 In passing through the gorge we had crossed the whole thick- 
 ness of the limestone strata from their youngest bed, at Ichang, 
 to the metamorphic rocks which underlie them at the vipper end 
 of the defile. From measurements made by me at this point, I 
 found this limestone formation to have a thickness, at right 
 angles with the plane of stratification, of eleven thousand six 
 hundred feet, or more than two statute miles. 
 
 Emerging from the northwest end of the gorge, we came into 
 an open though undulating country ; low and rounded hills of 
 granite and gneiss bordering the river on either side, betrayed 
 the fact that we had reached the anti-clinal axis of this impor- 
 tant range of elevation. The lofty limestone cliffs recede abruptly 
 from the river at the upper end of the defile, but away beyond 
 the granite hills one can trace their bold outlines and castellated 
 forms, as, after encircling the open valley, they again bend to- 
 ward the river, once more to narrow its waters in the Lukan 
 gorge. 
 
 We were now approaching the diificult rapids of San-taii-ping. 
 Here for a distance of several miles the river rushes with a velo- 
 city of eighteen miles an hour. Standing on the bow of our 
 boat, and looking at the awful exhibition of the cataract before 
 us — at the great river rushing and tearing down its rapid descent, 
 and dashing over hidden rocks, forming strong eddies and whu-1- 
 pools, whose great circles sweeping rapidly by covered the whole 
 surface of the river — it seemed impossible that our heavy boat 
 could be made to climb this hill of water. 
 
 But the experience of ages has taught the Chinese to look 
 lightly upon these obstacles to inland navigation, and large num- 
 bers of vessels, of from a hundred and fifty tons burthen down, 
 are constantly making the passage. The inhabitants of a large 
 village at the foot of- the rapids obtain their livelihood by track- 
 ing boats past the cataract. Arrived at this place the sailors 
 beat the gong, and the skipper, going ashore with a bag of cop- 
 
CHAP, xvni.] BOAT JOURNET ON THE UPPER YANOTZ\ 2i3 
 
 per coin, engaged one hundred and forty or fifty men. Great 
 coils of rope were brought out of the hold and laid in readiness 
 apon the deck. The long bamboo tracking-rope was passed 
 ashore, attached to the belts of a long row of coolies, and the 
 work began. At one moment an eddy would favor us a little 
 way, as far as some point of rock, past the end of which the water 
 rushed with fearful speed ; then would come a tug. The vessel 
 was connected with the shore by the strongest cables, fastened 
 to the rocks fore and aft, to secure us in case the tracking-line 
 should part. In this way, by the slowest warping, the craft Avas 
 brought to stem the wild current, her head being kept in the 
 right direction by a long sweep, worked over the bow by several 
 men. Other coolies managing a long spar, on the land side, 
 kept her clear of the rocks, while others armed with poles cleared 
 her from the shore. Every now and then, in spite of all their 
 precautions, violent shocks showed that we had struck on sunken 
 rocks. Then all was excitement. The air echoed with the beat- 
 ing of the gong, accompanied by loud yells, signalling for the 
 trackers to stop, and every compartment of the hold was quickly 
 examined for signs of damage. 
 
 Twice our tracking-line parted, and then the labor of hours 
 was lost, for the cables in each instance were badly fastened, and 
 gave way. In an instant our junk was whirled into mid-stream 
 and went spinning around like a top, while at the same time she 
 swept with fearful speed down the rapids. With no little skill 
 our men steadied her with the sweep, and having stopped her 
 gyrations, worked the craft by means of the sculls into a shore- 
 eddy, and so brought us to the shore. Such accidents are not 
 infrequent, and during the headlong course which follows, if the 
 boat strikes a hidden rock complete destruction follows. 
 
 It is not an uncommon thing on Chinese rivers to see human 
 bodies floating down the current ; but disgusting and painful as 
 this occurrence is upon the smooth river, there was something in- 
 describably awful in the sight of a swollen and discolored corpse, 
 which, coming dashing and rolling down the foaming rapids, swept 
 by us on its way to the ocean. The sands under the Yellow sea 
 must bury large numbers of Chinamen, the victims of internal 
 wars, and of overwhelming inundations. During the last rebel- 
 lion the smaller rivers in the neighborhood of large cities were 
 
244 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xvin. 
 
 often clicked with the dead bodies, resulting from the massacre 
 of the inhabitants. At the time of the Manchu conquest three 
 hundred thousand people were destroyed at Kai-fung (fu) alone, 
 by the breaking of the embankments of the Yellow river. * The 
 loss of life by sword and flood is proportionate to the immensity 
 of the population ; and of the victims a large part must have 
 found their graves in the recent deposit on the coast. 
 
 A remarkable instance of the formation of a deposit of fine 
 material in the swiftest part of the river is observable in these 
 rapids. Granite rocks rising to the surface, near the shore, form 
 a n obstruction to the current, which is here from fifteen to eigh t- 
 eien miles an hour, causing eddies in their lee, in which a constant 
 precipitation of sand takes place. Banks of quicksand are thus 
 formed, their tops almost even with the surface of the river. Their 
 sides, too steep to remain at rest, are constantly being washed 
 away, and as constantly replaced by the freshly precipitated ma- 
 terial. At low water these banks line the shores, and during the 
 high water season I noticed one more than half a mile long, andi 
 twenty-five or thirty feet above the river — the result of some 
 previous very high freshet. 
 
 For a distance of six or seven miles the river is more or less 
 broken by rapids, caused by the granite core of the range. As 
 soon as we had fairly passed this succession of cataracts we were 
 near the entrance to the Lukan gorge. The lofty marble clifis, 
 after having described broad curves on either side of the rivei-, 
 converged suddenly, until they now stood before us two immense 
 walls a thousand feet or more high, and separated only by the 
 narrowed brea:dth of the river. The gorge is not a quarter as 
 long as the one above Ichang. At the western end the valley 
 widens a little, and the cliffs, again receding from the river, describe 
 a small circle, to converge again a mile or two further up stream. 
 Here they again produce a grand defile, called by Blakistone the 
 Mi-tan gorge. At the west end of this chasm the limestone dis- 
 appears beneath heavy beds of sandstone, and the traveller has 
 crossed the principal anti-clinal axis of China. From the gran- 
 ite core, which occasions the rapids, the great limestone founda- 
 tion dips southeastwardly toAvard Hu-peh, forming the long 
 gorge; and northwestwardly toward Sz'chuen, forming the 
 
 * Williams' " Middle Kingdom," Volume I., p. 79. 
 
CHAP, xvin.] BOAT JOURNEY ON THE UPPER TANOTZ\ 245 
 
 Lukan and the Mi-tan defiles. This great body of limestone, 
 wliich appears, from such data as I could gather, to be of Devo- 
 nian age, exists throughout all China, capping and flanking all 
 the principal ranges of elevation, and sinking far beneath the sur- 
 face of the intervening areas. Wherever I encountered this 
 formation, I found it to disappear under the rocks of the Chinese 
 coal-measures ; just as it does at the west end of the Mi-tan 
 gorge. 
 
 As soon as we left the defile, the scenery changed completely : 
 the high clifis no longer encircled the valley with their lofty cas- 
 tellated forms ; the formation to which they belong lay far below 
 the surface ; while its uplifted edge, forming a great mountain 
 range, was behind us, stretching southwest toward India, and 
 northeast toward the Amoor river. The wild and broken 
 scenery, to which we had become accustomed, was now succeeded 
 by low and symmetrical hills of the sandstones and argillites of 
 the coal-measures. 
 
 A few miles above the city of Kwei (chau) we came into the 
 coal-field of Kwei and Pah-tung. Here beds of soft anthracite 
 are worked by the Chinese by means of galleries driven into the 
 hillside. The seams are very thin, rarely attaining more than 
 one foot in thickness. 
 
 "W e had been eight davsin accomplishing the last forty mile^ 
 ol oiir journey, and the season was so far advanced that I felt 
 o bliged to turn back from this point, _a step which I was the mor e 
 un wi lling to take that I was now rapidly recovering from a fever 
 which had haunted me since leaving Hankau. 
 
 If the journey of the past week had been slow and tedious, the 
 return was rapid enough. In a little more than one day we 
 rushed through the Mi-tan and Lukan gorges, and in a few min- 
 utes jumped the long rapids, shooting at a fearful rate past places 
 where we had spent days in ascending, and gliding between the 
 walls of the long gorge at a rate we would gladly have lessened 
 to enjoy its grand scenery. 
 
 As we approached Ichang we found the river covered with 
 boats gayly decked with flags, and moving about amid the music 
 of gongs and the firing of guns. Numbers of long slender boats, 
 gayly painted, and representing the heads of dragons on the bows, 
 were running a warmly-contested race. The good people of Ich- 
 
24:6 ACSOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xnii. 
 
 ang were celebrating a dragon-boat festival. This is said to be 
 observed in memory of a much beloved statesman, Wuh-Yuen, 
 who about 300 B.C. drowned himself in the Yangtz' Kiang, and 
 the festival commemorates the rivalry of the people in searching 
 for his body.* 
 
 We were seventeen days in descending from Ichang to Han- 
 kau. Strong head-winds detained us for days at a time, and these 
 delays were unfortunately on the great plain of Hu-peh, whei-e 
 tliere was nothing whatever to interest us. The entire country, 
 so far as I travelled in the valley of th e Tfangtz', is barren of 
 trees, as is nearly all of the empire. T he only timber we saw 
 was in rafts, which had come down the Yuen river from the moun- 
 tains of southwestern Hunan, where it is said to be cut and sold to 
 the Chinese by the independent Miautsz' mountaineers. Here and 
 there about a farm house one may see a few small trees, but 
 rarely enough to break the terrible monotony. And the absence 
 o|!-animal life, other than men and dogs, with here and there a buf - 
 falo, is another feature which strikes the travell er. But man is 
 everywhere. Draw your boat along the shore in the most seclud- 
 ed places, and land with the firm conviction that you have at 
 last found a spot where, free from intrusion, you may relieve 
 the monotony of boat-life by a stroll upon the grassy bank ; you 
 shall hardly go a rod before your ears will be greeted with the 
 exclaination, Yang-kweidsz' ! Yang-kweidsz' ! and as if by magic 
 you will be surrounded by the grinning faces and pig-tails of 
 inquisitive Chinamen. 
 
 On the nineteenth of July we moored our craft to the wharf at 
 Hankau, and ended our boat journey on the upper Yangtz'. Mr. 
 Cox, to whose companionship I was indebted for the successful 
 issue, and much of the pleasure of the journey, returned to his 
 missionary work, while I prepared to leave for Shanghai by the 
 first steamer. 
 
 * Williams' " Middle Kingdom." 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZEES! 
 
 If we Americans of to-day turn from the splendid sunrise of 
 our national morning, to the misty veil that enshrouds the future, 
 we shall see a giant spectre slowly defining its shadowy form 
 against the western heavens. 
 
 Let us look and reflect ; for it is the mirage of a distant empire, 
 a looming of one-third of the human race. It is the foreshadow- 
 ing of a problem which only time can solve ; but which is none 
 the less one of the most important in the world's history. Let 
 us examine the elements of this problem. On the western shore 
 of the Pacific there is a country, not mu ch larger than the United 
 States east of the Mississippi, in whi ch a population of more than 
 f ourTSundrcd millions treads closely upon the capacity of the soil 
 for supporting existence . So true is this, that those years in which 
 the productiveness of the earth falls below the average, witness 
 widespread famine and all the horrors that follow in its train. 
 
 By untiring patience and industry, by intelligence and the skill 
 attained through ages of experience, by uniting all these quali- 
 ties in wresting from Nature the last atom she can yield, and, 
 finally, b y returning to Mother Earth, with scrupulo us care, all 
 that has been taken from her, with interest drawn from sea and 
 river, t his race maint ains its vitality unimpai red. But it is a 
 straggle for life. So long as the throes of this tremendous 
 struggle were confined to China by strong natural and political 
 barriers, they found a remedy in decimation by famine and 
 , pestilence. But the past twenty years have efiected as grea t 
 breachegjnjthe political barrier which the Ch inese ha^ raised 
 about themTas twent y centuries have mad e in their ancient wall 
 of brick and stone. The s ocial and political restraints which 
 have opposed emigration ~are disappearing, and the first con- 
 sciousness of an expansive power is beginning to show itself in 
 the maritime provinces of the empire. 
 
248 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xix 
 
 A few years since, the confines of Asia and its ai"cliipelagoes 
 were the horizon of the world to every Chinaman. The small 
 fields therein' opened to a peaceful race attracted many enter- 
 prising emigrants ; but neither were the openings large enough, 
 nor the facilifees for reaching them great enough, to initiate any 
 very important movement. The discovery of gold in California 
 and Australia, and the demand for labor oij_th^_distant shores o f 
 the Pacific Ocean, g;ave the needed impulse . Timidly, at first, 
 small numbers went abroad ; then tens of thousands ; until now 
 there must be nearly two hundred thousand Chinamen on the 
 American continents alone. During these years there has been, 
 also, a continuous stream returning to Asia, and carrying home, 
 in the aggregate, a lai'ge amount of money and information. 
 Thus, the number of Chiname n who have seen the outside world 
 cannot be far from one per cent, of the whole male ^Jopulation of 
 the empire . These act as a leaven on ever-growing circles at 
 home, spreading among hundreds of millions those stories of 
 adventure in distant lands, of wonders, of boundless demand for 
 labor, and of high wages, which make individuals think and be- 
 come restless! Thoughts arise, which, when they become com- 
 mon to large; numbers, are intensified to a degree -projjortionate 
 to the size of 'the masses swayed by them, until the sympathetic 
 attraction of remote countries produces the tidal wave and cur- 
 rents of emigration. The measure of this movement is the exact 
 resultant of all the social and physical forces which operate in its 
 action. These are, of course, intricate and obscure beyond com- 
 putation ; but tliey are resolvable, in general terms, into one set 
 of favorable and opposing forces in China, and other sets, with 
 difierent resultants, for each country outside of China. 
 
 In China we have one-third of the human race, sufiering from 
 an excessive death-rate and all the misery of an incessant strug- 
 gle for life, with no remedy but the ability to overflow into other 
 lands, until the population at home shall stand in a proper ratio 
 to the means of support. 
 
 Leaving out all other questions, the capacity of America for 
 receiving emigration is at present boundless, as compared with 
 the capacity of all the world to supply it. An eminent English 
 geographer his carefully calculated that the two Americas are 
 capable of supporting thirty-six hundred millions of inhabitants. 
 
CHAP. xix.J CniKESK AS EmORANTS AND COLONIZERS. 249 
 
 Room and subsistence are not wanting. The capacity for ab- 
 sorption of labor is scarcely more limited. The ..end of the long - 
 continae4_cxodus from Europe ca nnot be far off ; to think othei-- 
 wise is to believe unjustifiably in a rapidly-approaching decay of 
 the nations beyond the Atlantic. Social a,nd political reforms, 
 raising the condition of the people, especially that of the women 
 of the lowest classes ; the increase in industrial prosperity, and 
 the continued drain of skilled labor to foreign countries ; seem to 
 be silently working throughout Europe toward the establish- 
 ment of a proper balance between population and means of sup- 
 port. 
 
 The Chinaman in this coimtry was for years excluded from 
 all participation in the development of the national prosperity, 
 and was grudgingly allowed to work only in those gold dig- 
 gings which were considered worthless by the American. But 
 when a pressing necessity arose for labor on the pu.blio works 
 of California and Nevada, the Chinaman was found to answer 
 every need; and now, having become identified with our in- 
 ternal iaiprovements, he has obtained recognition as a necessary 
 element of population— the execution of great enterprises is based 
 on his co-operation. For Aveal or woe, the Pacific Railroad is 
 imiting more distant extremes than the two shores of our conti - 
 nent. 
 
 The facilities for crossing the Pacific are yearly increasing ; 
 
 and so is also the knowledjio of America in China. Unless 
 
 — - — "7 -i. - -i " 
 
 obstacles be placed mthe way, immigration will increase rapidly; 
 
 with additional encouragement it will soon become enormous. 
 
 Having no rights, exposed to continued extortion, treated with 
 contempt and indignity, branded as an idolater, and charged 
 with every vice by his scrupulously just, religious, and virtuous 
 neighbors, the Chinaman, feeling that he has no position here 
 seeks California, as the pearl-diver docs the bottom of the sea, 
 and retiirns as soon as possible to the free air of his native soil. 
 Place these Chinamen on the same footing with other immigrants, 
 and the result will be, that, while many will return to the home 
 of their forefathers, a large portion will make this the home of 
 their descendants. This was and is the case in the Dutch Eas' 
 Indies, where they were less oppressed than in California. 
 
 Under these circumstances, if this immigration should be pro- 
 
250 ACBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xix. 
 
 portionate to the necessity for relief that exists in China, or to 
 the capacity for receiving it here ; or, again, if it should bear the 
 same relation to the parent population that the emigration from 
 Ireland arid Germany bears to the home population of those Coun- 
 tries, the male adults of Mongolian origin on this_cont i n ent wo u ld 
 £^pon outnumber those of the^uroj jea n j;acg. 
 
 When we consider that the prejudice of race is, with us, a part 
 of the foundation of politics ; that the moral characteristics of 
 various nationalities become important parts of the framework on 
 which parties are constructed ; that the opposing armies which 
 fight with the ballot, and at times threaten the sword, are, to a 
 large extent, massed by races ; — when we consider this, and then 
 turn to the prospect of a homogeneous mass of people among us, 
 their male adults outnumbering largely those of all other com- 
 ponent parts of the population, and having no sympathetic bond 
 with us in their language, traditions, or, so far as it goes for any- 
 thing, their religion ; then the social and political importance of 
 this great problem dawns on the mind. /^^ Lcn-'. Omi (l-'-if'U 
 
 To the thinker who has come to look upon the Americas as the 
 birthright of the European under the tutelage of the Anglo- 
 Saxon ; as presenting the prospect of a hemisphere peopled with 
 a new race, built up from the best elements of the European, num- 
 bering more than twice the present population of the globe ; a 
 race which will be homogeneous, enjoying the most complete 
 means of iriter-communication by steam and electricity, having 
 one language, one form of government, and one idea of God ; 
 to him the startling possibilities involved in the problem before 
 us co me as the djs covery of neglected data, which m ay invali- 
 date the results of years of calculation. 
 
 If the probabilities of the case bear any proximate relation to 
 the possibilities, the teeming population of our hemisphere two 
 or three centuries hence may have more Chings and Changs in 
 their genealogical trees than Smiths and Browns ; for, other things 
 being equal, the predominant blood will be that of the race 
 best able to maintain an undiminished rate of increase ; and the 
 vitalityof the Chinese nation during a constant struggle for life 
 seems to bespeak' for it at least equally favorable prospects in less 
 crowded homes. 
 With an emigration from China standing in the same ratio to 
 
CHAP. XIX.] CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZERS 251 
 
 the home population that the drain from Germany holds to the 
 population of that country, we should have an influx of more 
 than one million Chinese yearly. Ten years of this rate would 
 place upon our soil a preponderance of male adults of Mongolian 
 blood over those of all the other families of man among us. 
 
 The perception of this possibility cannot but awaken in the 
 mind of the true American the gravest thoughts. The social, 
 political, and ethnological questions involved are of transcendant 
 importance. 
 
 The question of the prohibition or the heavy taxation of Chi- 
 nese immigration is almost sure to be one of the earliest and 
 most bitterly fought political issues of the Far West. The hos- 
 tility to ihe Chinese of the white laborers, especially of the Irish, 
 is already beginning to show itself openly in the most violent 
 acts of intimidation. But it is not difficult to foresee that any 
 legislation which has for its object the suppression of any social 
 element or force that has once shown itself to be a necessity, in 
 rapidly carrying forward the system of internal improvements 
 on which a large part of our material industry rests, must ulti- 
 matelviail. 
 
 We may therefore assume that the recognition of the necessity 
 of Chinese labor in the Far West insures an influx of Chinese 
 proportionate at least to the extent of the great system of fiublic 
 works which will be needful for the growth of the western 
 States and Territories. We shall see, further on, that these 
 Asiatics are obtaining strong foothold in almost all other branches 
 of labor, because they answer the requirements better than any 
 other class of people. It is therefore not improbable that they 
 will find their way, in large numbers, to this side of the Rocky 
 Mountains. 
 
 Is it probable that the party warfare of the country will leave 
 this enormous quantity of possible political force in the latent 
 condition appertaining to aliens ? 
 
 Gaining the right to vote means gaining citizenship, the remo- 
 val of disqualifications, and the protection of their distinctive inte- 
 rests and customs to a degree proportionate to the number of 
 their votes. Having obtained these, the Chinese emigrant will 
 become, beyond a doubt, a permanent citizen. 
 
 With this prospect before us it may not be uninterestin"- to 
 
252 ACSOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xix, 
 
 glance at the characteristics of this race, both in countries to 
 which they have emigrated, and in their own home. 
 
 Twenty years of contact between the two races in California 
 have done little toward removing the prejudice against the Chi- 
 nese. They have poured steadily into and out of the country ; 
 but, surrounded by barriers, they have been forced to form a 
 world of their own. Within this some fifty thousand men have 
 been thriving, while many of them have amassed large fortunes. 
 Many an enterprise, too, has swamped in failure, which would 
 have given brilliant returns but for the tyranny of white workmen 
 who prevented the employment of cheap Chinese labor. This 
 tyranny is met with at every step : from the court-room, where 
 the Chinaman is denied the right of giving evidence in mixed 
 cases, to the " gold diggings," where white rowdies, acting &i self- 
 appointed collectors, levy the mining tax, which is never assessed 
 upon Americans. Recently, however, various manufactur ers, far- 
 mers, and others, braving that wild beast, the Irish mob, have 
 begun to employ Chinese labor, and with such success thatcapi - 
 talists see in it the sinew and muscle of the li'ar W est. 
 
 A writer in the "Overland Monthly," March, 1869, says of 
 the Chinamen : " What they want is employment and such pay as 
 will supj)ort them arid leave something over to send back to the 
 father and mother, or to the wife and children, left at home. So 
 accustomed have they always been to give a full and honest day's 
 labor to tliose who have hired them, that they expect to give 
 their employer the service of their muscle and their skill during 
 all the hours of the day, only asking a reasonable time for meals, 
 together with the stipulated wages when their work is done." 
 
 The owners of woollen factories praise them as the best of work- 
 men. The ofiicers and foremen of the Central Pacific railroad — on 
 which some ten thousand Chinamen are said to be at Avork — speak 
 no loss highly of them. Their work is full and honest, no lag- 
 ging and story-telling, no whisky drinking, and few fights. Over- 
 seers declare that they can drill' more rock and move more dirt 
 with £!hinamen, than with an equal number of men who claim 
 tills kind of occupation as their speciality. AVhat they lack in 
 bodily vigor is made up in persistency and steadiness. 
 
 Indeed, California is just beginning to feel how suicidal hei' 
 course toward Asiatic labor has been, and she is finding that her 
 
CHAP. XE.] CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZERS. 253 
 
 material prosperity is increasing apace with the innovation upon 
 that policy. The Chinese are found now in woollen, paper, and 
 powder mills ; in the borax works ; in the hop plantations, fruit 
 orchards, and vineyards ; following the reaping machines on farms, 
 and working the salt-pits on the coast ; doing almost universally 
 the cooking, and engaged in bimdreds of branches of industry 
 that would be impossible without their cheap labor. 
 
 The sure result of this will be that, in a few years, the small 
 savings of these workmen will, by accumulation, transform tlio 
 coolie of to-day into the capitalist, contracting to build railroads, 
 owning large farms or factories, and lines of ships, and making 
 great commercial combinations. This is certain, for no people on 
 the face of the earth advance so unswervingly in the accumulation 
 of capital ; and in its investment from childhood upward they 
 combine the shrewdness of the Jew with the many-sidedness of 
 the Tankee. What the Jews have been in banking, the Chinese 
 may easily become in general commerce and industry on the Pa- 
 cific coast. 
 
 On the island of Java, where they have long been tolerated, 
 the Chinese number not far from 150,000, the gi-eater part having 
 more or less Javan blood. The oppression of the Dutch is the 
 cause of the population not being larger. " They are obliged to 
 pay a mulct for leave to enter, and a larger one for permissioir 
 to quit," besides a poll-tax ; none of which imposts are levied on- 
 other foreigners. During the last century they were so badly 
 treated that they revolted, and in 1740 were attacked in their 
 quarter in Batavia, when ten thousand of them are said to have 
 been slaughtered. Sir Stamford Raffles, writing in 1817, says: 
 " The most numerous and important class of foreigners in Java 
 are the Chinese, who do not fall short of 100,000, and who, with 
 a system of free trade and free cultivation, would soon accumulate 
 tenfold by natural increase within the island and gradual acces- 
 sions of new settlers from home. Tliey arrive at Batavia to the 
 amount of a thousand or more in junks, without money or re- 
 sources ; but by dint of industry soon acquire comparative opu- 
 lence. There are no women in Java who came directly from 
 China; but as the Chinese often marry the daughters of their 
 countrymen by Javan women, there results a numerous mixed 
 race which is often scarcely distinguishable from the native 
 
254 A0R088 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xix. 
 
 Chinese. Many return to China annually in the junks, but by no 
 means in the same numbers as they arrive. They are governed 
 hi, matters of inheritance and minor affairs by their own laws, 
 administered by their own officials appointed by the Dutch gov- 
 ernor. They are distinct from the natives, and are in a high de- 
 gree more intelligent, more laborious, and more luxurious. They 
 are the life and soul of the- commerce of the country. In the na- 
 tive provinces they are still the farmers of the revenue, having 
 formerly been so throughout the island." 
 
 Beginning on their anival as coolies and laborers, they soon 
 accumulate enough to work independently, and many of them 
 amass large fortunes. They have obtained nearly the monopoly 
 of the native produce, and an uncontrolled command of their 
 market for foreign commodities. Their industry embraces the 
 whole system of commerce, from the greatest wholesale specula- 
 tions to the most minute branches of the retail trade. In then- 
 hands are all the manufactories, distilleries, potteries, etc., and 
 they have lai'ge coffee and sugar plantations. Their means are 
 increased by their knowledge of business, their spirit of enter- 
 prise, and their mutual confidence. They are equally well 
 adapted for trade or agriculture. 
 
 In the English colony of Singapore, 50,000, out of a population 
 of 80,000, are Chinamen, . chiefly from the island of Hainan. 
 Here the Chinese have obtained a strong foothold, and, under 
 the full protection of English law, are accumulating great for- 
 tunes. Nearly all the trade is under their control, and this rep- 
 resented, in 1867, $35,000,000 imports and $28,T00,000 exports. 
 Carrying Tvith: them and retaining their innate energy in a coun- 
 try where both the natives and Europeans succumb, morallv if 
 not physically, to the enervating climate, they are absorbin g 
 every department of labor . The writer was told some years 
 since that the English owners of a large machine shop at Singa- 
 pore were gradually removing their English workmen and replac- 
 ing them with Chinamen, having found the latter more docile, 
 sober, and enduring, and, with the same amount of instruction, 
 equally skilfGl. So sjicoessfid is t heir compet ition, that Parsees, 
 Jews, and Eur opeans can retain no f ootholdlnface^riE 
 
 The growthbf Chinese p opulation and industrylH^lhe Ea st 
 Indian Archipelago is already a matter of great significance. In 
 
CHAP. XIX.] CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZERS. 255 
 
 it we may see the coming solution of an important problem. 
 The vast areas of tropical lands, insular and continental, have 
 hitherto been, comparatively speaking, a closed world. And yet 
 "the warm regions yield larger returns of those plants they have 
 in common with the temperate zones, and have peculiar plants 
 which yield more nourishment from the same area. Thus maize , 
 which yields forty-fold or fifty-fold in France, gives one hundred- 
 and-fifty-fold, on an av erage, in Mexico." " Humboldt estimates 
 that an arpeni (five-sixths of an acre) which will barely support 
 two men when sown in wheat, will feed fifty with bananas." 
 
 3. good authority has given the following tabular statement 
 of the relation between latitude and productiveness. 
 
 Latitude o deg. 13 deg. 30 deg. 45 deg. 60 deg. 
 
 ProdnctiveneBS lOO 90 65 35 18 1-2 
 
 It is this excessive bounty of tropical nature that feeds the 
 Southern races without labor. And the absence, during ages, of 
 the necessity for labor in these regions, has unfi tted the natives for 
 active participation in making their countries contrib ute t heir full 
 share to the needs of mankind. But the tim¥must come, sooner or 
 later, when these vast forests and jungles will be the granaries 
 from which the deficiencies in the production of other lands will 
 be made good ; when they will stand in the same relation to other 
 countries that our prairies and the wheat-fields of Russia hold to 
 manufacturing England, or that Siam is just beginning to hold 
 to China ; and when the great wealth of raw materia l — greater 
 by far than we as yet appr eciate — which is contained in the vege - 
 table world of the tropics, will be a necessity to countless rriahii- 
 factories, supplying comforts and luxuries to largely increased 
 populations over the whole world. 
 
 The Chinese alone, of all races, have shown them selves able to 
 maintain vigorous moral and physical vitality in the unwholesome 
 and enervating climates of the JSout E Wherever they go and 
 . are allowed a fair field, they turn their attention to the discovery 
 ^nd development of the resources of the land -in every dire ction 
 known to their experience, and with fully as much good judg- 
 mentj energy, and success, as are shown by the Europea n. Indeed, 
 they possess, in an eminent degree, the qualities that are essen- 
 tial in colonizers, es pecially that strongly-marked nation al indi- 
 viduality which enables them to retain the best characteristics of 
 
256 ACliOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xix. 
 
 their race in the midst of the effeminate customs of the infei-i-or 
 natives."" The ability to thrive in the mos t extreme cTuna tesls" a 
 remarkable characteristic of this people r"™WeTiyreJ5st seen 
 how well they resist the enervating and unwholesome climate of 
 the tropics. The writer has also seen them — collected together 
 from different parts of the Chinese empire — ^pursuing, in consid - 
 erable numbers, the different branches of their industry, on the 
 confines of T artary and iSiberia, where the mean annual tempe ra- 
 ture is t hirty-two degrees (Fahrenheit), and where the" mercury 
 sinks, ever y winter, t o sixty d egrees below zer o. So^^z^j c^ a^-'-vi-^ A ' 
 
 Whatever may be the future of China proper, it is perhaps 
 not too much to foresee in the mutual adaptation which exists 
 between tropical regions and Chmese colonization, the germ of a 
 growth in which the best elements of their own and the western 
 civilizations will blend to raise the offshoots of China to the rank 
 of great powers in the councils of the world. 
 
 But it is in their own home and in the record of their national 
 growth that we must seek the most important data for estimat- 
 ing the Chinese character. The limited space at my disposal 
 admits of only a superficial glance at the outlines of this record, 
 and the principles on which the social and political organizations 
 rest. For the practical worth and working of these principles, 
 we have a measui-e in the present social and political condition 
 of the empire. 
 
 The most striking features in the history of China a£ e the per - 
 sigtencyiof -its civilization and its national vit a lity , wliich seems 
 stm undiminished notwithstanding the great age of the emipire. 
 This civilization is native to the soil. At every step we find 
 unmistakable proofs that in remote times the ancestors of the 
 race lived under a patriarchal government. The earliest record s 
 describe them as en tering China from the northwest , and we 
 ^k"now that in that direction, upon the high table-lands of central 
 Asia, between Thibet and the Tienshan, there existed a civiliza- 
 tion which was partly pastoral, but acquainted also with many 
 arts, and in which the use of iron was known at the remote period 
 preceding the separation of the earlier branches of the Arian 
 race. Our own ancestors, and those of the Chinese, were per- 
 haps near neighbors at that epoch. In entering China the latter 
 found it occupied by an aboriginal race of which remnants live, 
 
CHAP. XIX.] 0HINE8E AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZERS 257 
 
 to this day unconquere d, in the southern and western mountains ^ 
 The earliest records and traditions, carrying us hact far into the 
 uncertain period of history, show us the founders of the empire 
 gradually forming colonies through the land, and carrying on 
 defensive wars against the northern hordes, at the same time that 
 they conquered Loth the natives of the soil and the natural obsta- 
 cles in the way of their expansion. 
 
 Already in the dawn of their written history, we find them 
 carrying out a great enterprise, building works to control the 
 waters of the Yellow river — one of the most ungovernable streams 
 of the earth — by confining it between dykes several hundred 
 miles in length, to prevent its destructive inundations ; an under- 
 taking the maintenance of which, even at the present day, forms 
 a heavy tax on the whole empire. Thus, in the infancy of the 
 nation, there existed the germs that were necessary to its wonder- 
 ful growth. 
 
 Every essential feature of their civilization, moral, social, politi- 
 cal, industrial , is the ofispring of their o\vii mind s. More than 
 this, from China there have radiated many of the fundamental 
 features of Asiatic and even of European civilization. The mari- 
 ner's compass, printing, and gunpowder, were early inventions 
 of that country, and there is little doubt that they were directly 
 or indirectly introduced into the West during the reign of the 
 Mongol dynasty, when so man y Europeans wandered freely 
 through all Asia. It has been claimed that the first printed copy 
 of the Bible was made in Chin a. The observing traveller in that 
 country will see at every step the prototypes of familiar objects 
 in common use with us and in Europe. 
 
 It has often been made a reproach to the Chinese, that their 
 inventions have remained unperfected. This is certainly a re- 
 markable fact, when we consider the fertility of mind necessary 
 to have oi-iginated, throughout, such a civilization; but it would 
 seem tbat the perfecting of the results of thought and labor is, 
 to a certain extent, dependent on their transplantation into other 
 countries, and on the reaction upon each other of different kinds 
 of civilizations. China has ever been too isolated to enjoy the 
 benefits of this interchange, although there is reason to hope that I 
 such an era is now dawning . It must also be remembered that 
 China has ever been a world within itself ; sufiicient to itself 
 17 
 
25 S ■ A0B0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xix. 
 
 Having no competitors, t heir inventions stopped at the poin t 
 where the desire d end was att ainedj they were intended to be 
 labor-aiding rather than labor-saving. It would seem that with 
 this isolation, the very fact that the Chinese civilization is in- 
 digenous would go far toward explaining the persistency of its 
 type. 
 
 The principles upon which the whole social and political fabric 
 of the empire is based had already been established, and had 
 taken a firm root in the national mind in early historical times ; 
 and so firmly were they fixed that every attempt to overthrow 
 them has ended in the extinction of the aggressive dynasties. 
 These principles are, p a ternal and j ilial duty, and individual 
 responsibility for the pu blic welfare. As^thelCmperor is the son 
 
 ~Gf Heaven and the father~of tEe people, he is responsible to 
 heaven for the well-being of the nation ; a portion only of his 
 
 , power is delegated to the officers of the government. So also, 
 in the family, the parent is supreme, but also responsible for the 
 conduct of the children. The entire population of a city is re- 
 sponsible for the citizens ; each ward,- for its families ; each family, 
 for its members. No crime is greater than the violation of filial 
 duty in the family relation, and all crimes acting against the pub- 
 lic good are brought to the doors of the public sponsors. 
 
 But the Chinese, always too material and practical a people to 
 vest the control of the imperial will in heaven alone, established, so 
 far as we know, first among mankind, the principle that the will 
 of the people and the will of heaven are synonymou s. In the 
 Shu-King, compiled by Confucius, 600 B.C., from authorities 
 much more ancient, we find the following axiom : " That which 
 heaven sees and hears manifests itself in that which the people 
 -see and hear." " That which the people judge worthy of reward 
 and of punishment indicates what heaven desires to reward and 
 to punish." Again it is said in the Chung-King : " The wise 
 emperors of ancient times used the eyes and ears of the empire 
 to see and hear, for the wishes of the people were their wishes, 
 since it is in the wishes of the people that the intentions of heaven 
 
 : are manifested." Believing thus firmly that "the voice of the 
 people is the voice of God," a council of the wisest men of the 
 empire, themselves raised from the people, has ever surrounded 
 the throne, holding the position of censors, memorializing the Em- 
 
CHAP. XE.] CHINESE AS EMIOBANTS AND COLONIZERS 259 
 
 peror on the state of the country, and generally not hesitating to 
 risk their lives in criticising a wrong policy. 
 
 As the people are the children of the Emperor, they are all 
 equal, as members of one famil y. There is no distinction of 
 class. The descendants of Confucius have, indeed, by that title, 
 certain privileges of nobility, and the members of the Imperial 
 family form, during the existence of a dynasty, a class of nobles ; 
 but they enjoy only a few slight prerogatives, which end with the 
 ninth remove. Whenever a citizen has rendered some signal 
 service to the state, advancing the public good, he is ennobled, 
 receiving certain titles and privileges, but -these cease at his 
 death, his descendants having no further share in them than the 
 honor of being his offspring. As no man can be greater than his 
 father, the whole line of ancestors is ennobled. Thus, an aristoc- 
 racy is foi-med, indeed, but it is wisely perpetuated backwar d into 
 the other world. 
 
 All being equal, competition for office is open for all. Educa- 
 tion is universal, and proficiency in scholarship forms the basis of 
 this competition. The government, it is true, appoints most of 
 the officials, but they are chosen from those who, in the succes- 
 sive competitive examinations, take the highest honors. 
 
 That these principles have not merely been acknowledged, but 
 that they have been the true mainspring, acting weakly at times 
 it is true, the Chinese nation at this day is a standing proof. 
 Among them alone, of all peoples, has the jjrinciple that forms 
 the basis of our own government, the equality of man^ existed 
 through all history . -=— . _ 
 
 The early philosophers of China taught these doctrines, as a 
 moral and political code, and as the only just basis of govern- 
 ment. At that time the country was split up into numerous 
 feudal kingdoms; but when, some time after the death of Confu- 
 cius, the empire was consolidated, the doctrines of the great teacher 
 became gradually the rule of action, and until the present time 
 they have never lost ground in their hold upon the national 
 mind. As a code of morals, it is not venturing too far to say 
 that the writings of Confucius have been and still are as much 
 respected as is the creed of any other people. 
 
 The universal esteem in which scholarship has ever been held 
 has made education one of the chief aims of life to a greater de- 
 
260 A0B088 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xk. 
 
 gree in China than in most other nations. An aristocracy of in 
 tellect assumes here the position which in other countries is 
 assigned to birth or wealth; schools are universal, and the pro- 
 portion of the inhabitants who are unable to read and write is 
 verysmalL The classics and history of their own country are 
 very generally studied. That their ability to learn is not con- 
 fined to the groove of their own system of study is shown by the 
 instances of Chinese educated in the West. About twenty years 
 ago two boys, children of very jioor families, were sent to 
 America to be instructed. After leaving the school at Munson, 
 one went through Yale, and in graduating took the highest place in 
 English composition; the other carried off the highest honors in 
 surgery and botany in the University of Edinburgh. Since that 
 time the first has carried the experience gained in the West into 
 the conduct of his business in China, and the other is esteemed by 
 the European residents of the English colony of Hong-Kong as 
 one of the best surgeons in the East. The science of war is consid- 
 ered inferior to scholarship, and the ■ Chinese are essentially a 
 peaceable people, although they have carried on great wars dur- 
 ing different periods of their history. 
 
 The power of the central government is felt but lightly through- ' 
 out the empire. There is a practical decentralization which leaves 
 a wide scope for free action to the provinces and their subdivisions ; 
 this is_ex£mp1ifie d ^n the japplication of the revenues, excepting 
 nigritane^ustoms, to the use of the 'disfricts in ' w h ich they are 
 raised. The governmentof China is really one type of democracy, 
 as that of Japan is of despotism. In China the people are represent- 
 ed in the government, in that, though all the principal offices are 
 filled by the Emperor, they are filled from the people by compe- 
 titive examination. This is the theory ; practically many offices 
 ai-e sold to raise money, as during the wars with England and 
 the rebellion. The central government is felt chiefly when its 
 appointees are corrupt ; but the power of the people is generally 
 great enough to cause removals in such cases. Their faculty of 
 organization and self-govern ment showed itself repeatedly during" 
 the late r ebemon. 'I'he British consul at Ning-Hn pniH them a.- 
 high tribute in this respect, in praising the perfect order and self- 
 rgovernment which was shown for a long time at that place, 
 -when its population, greatly increased by the crowds fleeing 
 
CHAP. XIX.] CHINESE AS EMIQBANTS AND COLONIZERS. 261 
 
 from the rebels, was abandoned by its officials and left to take care 
 of itself. 
 
 Having no fear of the future world, they meet death with great 
 c ourage, dreading it less than continue T~pai n. The family ties 
 are very close, and family honor is the strongest check on their 
 actions. Their sense of commer ci al honor is deep, and my own 
 e xperience, in central and northern Chin a, leads me t o think 
 that honestY is quite as general there as in other countrie s. The 
 existence of hospitals, founded by private charity, for the sick 
 and for foundlings, and for other pui'poses, proves that the Chi- 
 nese are not negligent of social responsibilities. They are prover- 
 bially industrious ; and could we measure the amount of produc- 
 tive manual labor performed throughout the world, without the 
 aid of modern labor-saving machinery, we should probably find 
 that this third of the human race accomplishes not less than from 
 six-tenths to seven-tenths of the whole. " 
 
 It is no slight tribute to say that during nearly 5,000 miles of 
 travel, in this closely peopled land, the writer never saw a drunken 
 Chinaman. 
 
 The Chinese have been charged with being, as a people, cor- 
 rupt beyond measure, given over to every abomination, and prac- 
 tising infanticide to the extent of destroying one-quarter of the 
 female children; but it is the opinion of Doctor Lockhart, an 
 eminent medic a l mi ssionary, who has studied the question many 
 years in different parts of the empire, that the latter crime is (in 
 proportion to the population) no more frequent, or perhaps les s 
 common, than it is in its various forms in Engl and and America ; 
 and it should seem that the healthy and moral condition of soci- 
 ety is proved by the vitality of the nation, the overflowing popula- 
 tion, and the rapidity with which gigantic wounds in the national 
 body are healed. Of course the aggregate of crime must be very 
 large, especially in the great cities ; but it is doubtful whether it 
 is greater, in proportion to the population, than among the na- 
 tions of the West. 
 
 With all the admiration a careful observer must have for 
 China, it is certainly not a pleasant country for a foreigner to 
 live in, unless he recognize and keep always3efore him the fact 
 that oi-ganic matter, in decaying and giving nutriment to plants, 
 loses every vestige of its former character. There is too much 
 
262 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xis 
 
 of the human element;, go where you will, look where you will, 
 it is there. In the more closely peopled parts the traveller is 
 surrounded hy a turbid stream of life, while he treads a soil, 
 almost human, the ashes of the unnumbered millions of the past ; 
 the very dust which he breathes and swallows is that of a charnel 
 house. The water of wells is everywhere impregnated mth the 
 products of organic decay; and the rivers are the sewers of count- 
 less cities. 
 
 On the densely-peopled plain all the organic and much of the 
 mineral ingredients of the soil must have made many times the 
 circuit of plant and animal life ; in .other words, everything that 
 goes to make and maintain the human body has formed part of 
 human bodies which have passed away. 
 
 Few foreigners have the courage to enter the larger southern 
 towns in summer, so horrible is the air. In the neighborhood of 
 great cities on the delta ]>lain, where water is found just below 
 the surface, one may ride for miles always in sight of coflEins 
 bursting in the scorching heat of the sun, and breeding the pesti- 
 lence that yearly sweeps off the surplus population. 
 
 What I have attempted to make conspicuous, is the fact that 
 the spirit of the Chinese, as shown in their enterprise and energy 
 as colonizers, in their commercial character and faculty of organ- 
 ization, iythe democratic idea of the political eqtiality of man, in 
 the practicaL-dflfientralization sOIieic-gQygrniafiiit, and in the 
 universality of education and the making of education a neces- 
 sary qualification for office, is in hai-mony with the spii-it of the 
 present ag e. This is the strong armor of the race , its saf eguard 
 in the future struggle for existence, by which it is clearly distin- 
 guished from those inferior races whose social and political sy s- 
 tems belong to j^eriods long past, and differ so much from our 
 own that they fal l at the first contact with us. 
 
 We have seen that there exists in China a boundless source of 
 emigration, and the necessity for emigration ; that the capacity 
 of America for receiving this emigration is comparatively unlim- 
 ited ; that the emigration will be at least proportionate to the 
 encouragement offered ; that the encouragement is springing into 
 existence through the recognition of the Chinese as a necessary 
 element for the development of the resources of. the Far West ; 
 that the immense influx of these people will constitute a possible 
 
CHAP. XIX.] CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZERS. 263 
 
 political power which cannot remain latent, and that the attain- 
 ment of the privileges of citizenship will make of them a fixed 
 instead of a floating population, which, so far as anything we 
 know to the contrary, may at no distant date largely outnumber 
 the European element. The first question which naturally rises, 
 is, in what can this people c ontntoe to our material prosperity? 
 It is not difficult to answer to this that by reason of their many- 
 sidedness, their adaptability to all branches of industry, they can 
 contribute more than any other foreign element in the first gen- 
 eration. They can supply labor for the house and field, for 
 building railroads, for working in mines and factories, for every 
 need on sea and land. Within the really impassable limits set 
 by nature, they alone can render productive vast tracts of land, 
 the cultivation of which is essential to the prosperity of our 
 mountain territories. They can contrib ute largel y to our wealth 
 and that of the world by their saving_ofmaterial, and by forcing 
 us, through co mpetition, to becom e more economical in this re- 
 spect. They can advance greatly our material prosperity, not 
 only by the product of their labor in working for Americans, but 
 by their independent enterprise as capitalists. Indeed, the low-( 
 ering of the price of labor in America, through Chinese immigra- 
 tion, taken in connection with the almost certain rise in price in 
 Europe, appears to offer the best solution of the vexed question 
 of free trade, by placing us on an equal or superior footing with 
 Europe in the manufacture of those things which now require 
 protection. It should seem that Chinese emigration, organized 
 on the most liberal plan, in conformity with the emigration laws 
 of China, and under the responsible guidance of Chinese contrac- 
 tors, would rapidly raise our Southern States to a height of pros- 
 perity never yet reached by them, and render possible the com- 
 pletion and maintenance of great works, necessary to control the 
 overflow of the Mississippi, and to drain unproductive and mala- 
 rious regions. 
 
 Will the price at which these benefits shall be gained be too 
 high ? Every one will answer this according to his own way of 
 measuring the future by the past. But he who sees in events ' 
 the resultants of social and physical forces, the operation of great 
 laws, progressive in their action and tending toward that millen- 
 nium when every part of the earth, according to its natural en- 
 
264 ACROSS AMERICA AJfD ASIA. [chap. xix. 
 
 dowment, shall justify its existence, by contributing its full share, 
 as a part, to the welfare of the whole ; toward the unification of 
 mankind by the assimilation of the best parts of its different races 
 into a new type — who believes that 
 
 Throngh the ages one increasing purpose rnne , 
 
 will feel the least anxiety in contemplating the future. To the 
 charge that they will largely outnumber the Americans, absorb- 
 ing many branches of industry and competing in all, he will 
 answer that they can do so only by being able to compete wit h 
 the Eur opean element ; in oth er words, by being really equally 
 e fficie nt, and thu s iu|tifying_their_i-i^ht to citizenship. To the 
 assertion that their use of opium threatens the addition of another 
 national vice to those we have ■ already, he will reply that the 
 rapid spread of the use of this drug, a use of only some sixty 
 years' standing in China, was induced by natural causes, acting 
 in a country which had reached an abnormal condition, and that 
 it can exist as a national habit only where it is a natural neces- 
 sity. The long-continued generations of temperance of this people 
 show their normal condition, and we have little reason to fear 
 that half a century of opium smoking can destroy the deep-seated, 
 inherited vitality of the race, or have fixed it as a constitutional 
 vice upon those who will emigrate hither. 
 
 The political aspect of the question is that of the most imme- 
 diate importance, for many obvious reasons. Nothing is more 
 certain than the impossibility of a foreign race continuing to live 
 and increase, in America, in other than two conditions, viz., either 
 under the animal-breeding system of slavery, or (and probably 
 only) by being equally strong with the European element, in the 
 average of all things which constitute strength in this age. The 
 ability of any people to prosper, multiply, and co-exist among us, 
 proves them to possess an average equality with us when mea- 
 sured by our standard, deficiencies in some points being compen- 
 sated in others — these differences being desirable in the same de- 
 gree that individuality is desirable. If an inferior race, or large 
 bodies of vicious and criminal people, prosper and multiply, it 
 does not invalidate this rule, but rather shows that our actual 
 measure, on certain points, is far below our theoretical standard. 
 K the Chinese, having the exercise of equal rights in a fair field, 
 should prove themselves undesirable citizens, it would be proof 
 
CHAP. XIX.] CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZERS. 265 
 
 of inferiority, of inability to contribute their full share to tba 
 general good ; and the inability to compete with their neighbors 
 would inevitably result in their disappearance from the arena as 
 important rivals. 
 
 In view of all the possibilities of the case before us, it becomes 
 evident now, more than ever before, how important it is that we 
 should turn our energies toward Americanizing the foreign ele- 
 ments of our population. A large Chinese emigrationis the 
 strjfflgest argument against immediate and unqualified, suffi -age. 
 With the prospect of an unparalleled influx of Chinese, it is of 
 immediate importance that we insist upon their unj^erstaTiding 
 our social and political organization before giving them a voice, 
 and this can be done only by insisting up on a residence of seve -< 
 ral years in the country, and by an educat ional test, which shoul d^ 
 noE be less than the ability to read an d speak the English la nj 
 guage. Indeed, this is only an additional illustration of the neces- 
 sity for an educational qualification, in the matter of citizenship 
 in general, and it should seem sulEciently clear to convince even 
 the most confirmed advocates of unqualified suflTrage. 
 
 The danger most to be guarded against, is the enactment or 
 continuance o f special legislation w ith regard to Mongolians. 
 Everything which tends to exclude themfrom the rest of the 
 community, and, in a greater degree, everything which denies to 
 them — as do practically the laws of California — the common 
 rights of humanity , not only affects seriously the character of the 
 aliens and retards the growth of the region in question, but re- 
 acts most injuriously on the European element, producing those 
 mor al evils wh ich were the worst results of slav er y with us — a 
 re-action which is the curse following everywhere intercourse be- 
 tween the European and non-European races. To suppose that a 
 whole state or nation is able to rise above all prejudice of race, 
 to look upon such a question from a cosmopolitan standpoint, is 
 almost the same as supposing the average intellectual level of the 
 people to be on an equality with that of its most liberal, minds ; 
 but it should not be demanding too much to expect to find this 
 ' quality in the lawgivers of a land which claims that " all men 
 are created equal ; " especially should we look for it in the consid- 
 eration of a question which pre-supposes an infiux of Chinese by 
 millions. 
 
CHAPTER XX, 
 
 pekhtg and its neighboehood. 
 
 Aftee a sojourn of half a month in Shanghai under the hospi- 
 table roof of Mr. Edward Cunningham, I embarked on a steamer 
 for Tien-tsin, the port of Peking and in due time sighted the 
 low coast of the gulf of Pechele and the mouth of the Pei-ho. 
 As we entered this river we passed the mud flat which was the 
 scene of the terrible slaughter of English troops that led to the 
 war of 1860. The entrance to the river is guarded by two large 
 forts, the walls of which are almost washed by the high tides, 
 while at low water a broad mud flat is exposed for some distance 
 from the shore. The English plenipotentiary arriving at the 
 mouth of the river with the intention of ascending the stream 
 to Tien-tsin and Peking for the purpose of ratifying the ti'eaty 
 of the previous year, found the entrance eflectually barred by 
 stakes. The attempt to pass these being met with resistance 
 from the shore, a force of several hundred men was landed upon 
 the flat at low-water to storm the fort ; but before they could 
 reach the walls these unfortunate men became helplessly entan- 
 gled in the mud directly under the enemy's guns. Between this 
 
 fire and the rising tide nearly the whole force perished" in sight 
 of the vessels, which were unable to give them ass istance. 
 
 The Pei-ho is a narrow and winding stream, deep enough to 
 admit, as far as Tien-tsin, any craft which can cross the bar at 
 the mouth ; vessels drawing more than eight feet can pass the 
 straight reaches only at high water.* 
 
 — L^JS?'^®'^* ti mes within Chinese history this channel belo w 
 Tiej^in has been the lower course of the turbulent and wan-, 
 dering Yil low river] " ' 
 
 Tien-tsin (Heaven's Ford) is a city of about 400,000 inhabit- 
 ants. Lying at the junction of the imperial canal with the Pei- 
 ho, it was, until the destructio n of the former, a place of impor- 
 
 * Williams' " CMnese Commercial Guide." 
 
CHAP. XX.] PEKING AND ITS NEIOUBOBHOOD. 267 
 
 tance in the internal trade. The chief exports are pulse, fruit, 
 deers' horns, furs, -wools, wax, flint-steels, and rhubarb. Toward 
 the end of the American war some cotton was also shipped from 
 this port. 
 
 The most comfortable route to the capital is by boat, but as 
 this involved a four days' journey, and the land route less than 
 three, I joined M. Gamier, a French gentleman, who was going 
 by the road. Our baggage went in two-wheeled carts drawn by 
 mules, while we were mounted on strong Tartar ponies. The 
 journey was not a very interesting one, as the road lay over the 
 broad plain of Chih-li. It was already the beginning of Septem- 
 ber. The crops were just ready to be cut, and our way was 
 hemmed in on either side by broad, cultivated fields, gilded by 
 the drooping ears of millet, or reddened by the ripening kao- 
 liang, a -variety of sorghum which grows to the height of ten oi 
 twelve feet. While millet here takes the place of rice as food for 
 the people, the grain of the kao-liang replaces rice, as a source 
 from which the alcoholic drink of the Chinese is distilled, and is 
 also used largely for fodder. Many fields were planted with buck- 
 wheat, and others with cotton. 
 
 Although we passed many large farm-houses, well built of bric k 
 and roofed with glazed tiles, and surrounded with large enclo- 
 sures, the greater part of the villages and isolated houses bore the 
 marks of poverty, being built of mud, and thatched with reeds 
 and straw. 
 
 Where the crops had been removed, the surface was a sandy 
 plain, dried by the summer's sun, and sending up clouds of dust 
 with every gust of wind. The soil is impregnated with alkalin e 
 salts, which effloresce on the surface , and render the fine sand 
 extremely irritating to the eyes. On this great plain, sand storms 
 often rage with all the fierceness and destructive consequences 
 which one is accustomed to look for only on deserts. Only a year 
 or two before my visit to northern China, one of these storms had 
 prevailed for several days, and with so much intensity that the 
 air was darkened, boats were unable to move on the river, and 
 many people died from losing their way even in this thickly peo- 
 pled region. In Tien-tsin it fell many inches deep in the courts 
 of houses, and fine particles were even filtered through the paper 
 of windows. 
 
268 ACBOSS AMEBIOA AND ASIA. [chap. xx. 
 
 A lofty pagoda, towering high over village and plain, showed ua 
 that we were nearing Tung-chau (fu), twelve miles from Peking. 
 The Pei-ho here receives a canal, which connects its waters and 
 those of the grand canal with the capital of the empire. 
 
 Here we came upon one of the granite causeways, or highways, 
 which radiate from the capital. The road is perhaps eighteen 
 feet wide, and is constructed of granite blocks about six feet long 
 by two feet wide and one foot thick. This massive covering was 
 laid upon a thick and perfectly graded bed of concrete and cement. 
 These roads were constructed for durability, and exhibit a great 
 degree of skill ; for, although they have probably never been re- 
 paired, the stones have undergone no movement from their orig- 
 inal position. But a defect in construction, combined with the 
 wear of long use, has made them now almost worthless. 
 The slabs were laid with the longest axis across the road, and in 
 such a manner that the end joints formed by each two slabs fell 
 half-way between the end joints of the neighboring stones. These 
 end joints being the weakest points, have, through long exposure 
 to the tires of cart wheels, been worn into deep ruts as long as 
 the slabs are broad. It was driving over this very causeway in 
 a Chinese carriage that hastened the death of one of the gentle- 
 men who accompanied Mr. Ward in the embassy to Peking. Had 
 these roads been built of slabs sufficiently long to leave the end 
 joints always in the middle of the highway, they would certainly 
 have been masterpieces of the art of road-making. 
 
 Suburban villages with innumerable hostelries concealed the 
 walls of the city until we were almost under them. 
 
 A large gateway, surmounted by an imposing tower and pro- 
 tected by a semi'-circular curtain wall, which in its turn is pierced 
 by three portals, stood before us. Through this we were allowed 
 to pass, after a close examination of our passports by the officer 
 of the guard, and we rode into Khan-balu, the city of the 
 Khans. 
 
 It is no easy undertaking for a stranger to find his way to any 
 given point through a city so subdivided as is Peking by inner 
 walls. It was to this very difficulty that a foreign minister owed 
 a diplomatic success. The Danish Government, wishing to make 
 a treaty with the Chinese, had sent Count Easseloif as plenipoten- 
 tiary. But the Government, not wishing to enter into any new 
 
.CHAP. XX] PEKING AND ITS NEIGBBOREOOD. 269 
 
 treaties, declined to receive the minister. This gentleman, how- 
 ever, having reached Tien-tsin, determined to push on to the 
 capital, where arriving some time before his retinue, he entered 
 the gate alone, and not speaking the language, soon lost his way. 
 After wandering about for a long time, and trying in vain by 
 gestures to learn from the astonished natives the whereabouts of 
 the foreign legations, he rode up to a well-dressed Chinaman who 
 was just leaving a house. After several ineifectual attempts to 
 establish an understanding, the Chinaman good-humoredly got 
 out of his carriage, and led the foreigner into a room where he 
 found several other Chinese gentlemen. An interpreter was 
 soon found, and refreshments were brought in. After a good 
 deal of sociable conversation the embassador found that his guide 
 was one of the high officers of the empire, and that he was then 
 present at a meeting of the Board for Foreign Aflfairs— the au- 
 thorities who had declined making a treaty — and at the same 
 time the officials discovered that they were entertaining the very 
 man whose entrance into the city they had endeavored to pre- 
 vent. The accident led to a hearty laugh all round, and to a 
 good understanding, which resulted in the speedy consummation 
 of a treaty. 
 
 After quartering ourselves in a Chinese inn, I made my way 
 to the American legation, where I met with a kind reception from 
 our minister, and received, both from him and from Mrs. Burlin- 
 game, a cordial invitation to make ray home at their house during 
 my visit. It is from this time on that I date my real travels in 
 China, at least so far as travelling means a study of the people. 
 During this visit, which was prolonged many months beyond my 
 original intention, I learned to free myself from the prejudices 
 which every traveller is apt to contract upon the China coast, and 
 during my subsequent travels to look upon the people, with 
 whom I was thrown much in contact, from an entirely different 
 stand-point. For the ability to do this I have to acknowledge my 
 deep indebtedness to Mr. Burlingame, and to the late Sir Frederick 
 Bruce. The broad-minded policy of these two men, based upon 
 justness, and freed from prejudice of race, has begun a new era in 
 the history of Eastern diplomacy. 
 
 Peking was fo,unded by Kublai-Khan, about A.D. 1282, as the 
 seat of his court. It is said to have been built near the site of 
 
270 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xx. 
 
 an important town which dated from the Chow dynasty (1122 to 
 256 B.C). The enclosure is about twenty miles in circumfer- 
 ence, and is divided into two parts, the Chinese and Manchu cities. 
 The walls of the latter, which are the larger and wider, are forty 
 to fifty feet high, and about forty feet wide at the top. Tapering 
 slightly from the base upward, they are built witk an extremely 
 solid core of earth, faced with massive brick masonry, resting on 
 a solid foundation of stone upon concrete. The top is paved with 
 tiles and defended by a crenulated parapet. The outer side is 
 protected by bastions some fifty feet square, and built at intervals 
 of a few hundred feet. Of the sixteen gates which pierce the 
 walls, seven belong to the Chinese town, six to the Tartar, and 
 three to the partition wall between the two cities. Each gate- 
 way is surmounted by an imposing tower several stories high, and 
 rising, apparently more than a hundred feet from the ground. 
 Within the Tartar city, and occupying the heart of it, there is a 
 walled enclosure called the imperial city, and within this again, 
 the forbidden city , containing the imperial palaces and pleasure 
 grounds. 
 
 Unlike most other Chinese towns, Peking is traversed by 
 broad aven ues, crossing the city in both directions, in straight 
 lines. A stream, entering near the northwest corner of the 
 Tartar city, is divided into two branches, which, entering the 
 imperial city, surround the forbidden enclosure with canals and 
 lakes ; and then, re-uniting, the waters pass through the southern 
 part of the Tartar city and the Chinese town into the Tung-chau 
 canal. 
 
 Upon the west bank of this stream, in the southern part of the 
 Tartar, city, are the American, English, and Russian legations. 
 
 As the top of the wall forms the principal promenade for the 
 few foreign residents, let us make our first excursion thither, in 
 order to get a general view over the city. Passing out of the 
 gateway of the American legation, we come upon the esplanade 
 bordering the nearly dry bed of what was once a beautiful canal, 
 but its marble facing is now dilapidated and scattered in large 
 white blocks over the mud. Beyond the street, on the other side, 
 a high wall encloses the large pleasure-grounds and shady groves 
 of a prince of the imperial blood. We may often see ladies of 
 His Highness' harem peeping shyly over the broken parapet. 
 
CHAP. XX.] PEKING AND ITS NEIGHBOREOOD. 271 
 
 It would be interesting to know whether these life-long prisoners 
 feel more of contempt or of envy for the lot of foreign ladies, 
 when they see them walking in public, on the arms of gentlemen, 
 or riding on hoTseback, with all the freedom which they are 
 taught belongs only to men. But we shall not get near enough 
 to this coy bevy to learn their feelings from their looks, for they 
 have already shocked their own ideas of propriety by allowing 
 themselves to be seen, and their fresh faces have suddenly dis- 
 appeared. It is not often that a foreigrfer of the male sex gets a 
 near sight of the ladies of this class, other than when they pass 
 in carriages. Still, there was one instance in which a dashing 
 young foreigner played the part of Don Juan in one of these 
 harems, though without meeting the fate of Byron's hero. But 
 to return to our walk. Crossing over a white marble bridge, 
 and following the dirty street which borders the canal, we leave 
 the water-course where it passes, by a low archway, through the 
 wall of the city. Giving a small fee to a watchman, we are ad- 
 mitted to a long, inclined plane, and ascending this we reach the 
 top of the wall. We are now upon the partition between the 
 two cities. Looking north over the Tartar town, we see little 
 more than a broad forest, above which rise on every side the 
 lofty towers of the gates, and the high roofs of the palaces and 
 temples. Excepting the houses just beneath us, the private 
 dwellings are hidden in the dense foliage. Strolling westward 
 over the beautiful promenade, now almost green with the grass 
 springing up between the tiles, we find ourselves in the shadow 
 of the great tower over the middle gate. 
 
 Beneath us lies the Meridian Avenue, which, running due 
 south through the middle of both cities, connects the imperial 
 precincts with the temples of Heaven and of Agriculture. Imme- 
 diately below us a busy throng of Chinamen is pouring in and 
 out of the gate, with all the motley variety of an oriental popu- 
 lation. A large square, paved, and surrounded with an open mar- 
 ble fence, is bordered on the north by the red wall and lofty ver- 
 milion gateway through which the Meridian Avenue enters the 
 imperial city. Colossal lions of white marble guard the entrance 
 to this sombre gate. Beyond this a succession of high buildings 
 rise, one behind the other, on the line of the avenue, the yellow 
 tiles of the roofs shining like gold in the sunlight, and contrast- 
 
272 AGBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xx. 
 
 ing well with the dark .green of the foliage out of which they 
 spring. Several miles to the north, and conspicuous above the 
 intervening palaces, we see the " golden mountain," a beautiful 
 hill, having several summits, each crowned with a picturesque 
 pavilion. This feature in the scenery is said to be artificial, and 
 to contain a vast store of stone coal. History records that the 
 last emperor of the Mings, finding his cause hopeless, and the 
 capital falling into the hands of the rebel Li-tsz-ching, retired to 
 this mountain, and there ended his dynasty by stabbing his 
 daughter and hanging himself. 
 
 Further on, in the northern part of the city, a massive building 
 stands high above the trees. This is the great watch-tower, in 
 one of the upper stories of which is kept the giant drum of 
 Peking. On our left, near the western wall of the Tartar city, 
 there stands a massive monument, an Indian tope of white mar- 
 ble ; while further west, in the suburbs, stands one of the loftiest 
 and most beautiful pagodas in China. 
 
 Away to the west, over some ten or twelve miles of intervening 
 country, arise the high and barren mountains which form the 
 western limit of the great delta plain, and the transition frQm 
 the lowlands of the coast to the elevated plateau of central Asia. 
 
 Turning our faces southward, we see the Meridian Avenue 
 emerging from the gateway beneath us, and in its southerly 
 coarse dividing the Chinese town into two equal parts. For the 
 distance of a mile or so this broad street is bordered on either 
 side by the principal shops and market-places of the city. Be- 
 yond these, entering a large open space, it passes between two 
 great enclosures, one containing the temple of Agriculture, the 
 other the altai' to Heaven. Conspicuous above the treesj and over 
 -all the city, rises the triple roof of the temple of Heaven. This 
 beautiful structure is very impressive, not less from the unique- 
 ness of its form, than from the fact that it is the centre of the 
 state worship of an empire including a third of the human race ; 
 a worship which, though now dead to the hearts of the people, 
 and of the sovereign, dates from the gray time of antiquity, 
 and has ever been the channel through which the monarch has 
 tendered to Heaven, of which he is the Son, the expression of 
 that obedience which he exacts from the people who are his chil- 
 dren. 
 
CHAP. XX.] PEKING AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD. 273 
 
 The circular tent-like roofs of this temple are covered with glazed 
 ciles of the deepest azure, and surmounted with a golden ball. 
 The rays of the afternoon sun, falling on this brilliant surface, 
 produce a rich purple sheen, a beautiful play of light, the sight of 
 which was in itself sufficient inducement for the daily walk upon 
 the wall. 
 
 But the sun is just going down behind the ragged peaks of the 
 west, the wall is darkened for half a mile by the lengthening shad- 
 ow of the tower above us, and the flood of golden light is leaving 
 the yellow roofs of the imperial palaces. 
 
 The life of a foreigner in Peking isrelieved of much of its monot- 
 ony by the many objects of interest situated within a day's jour- 
 ney on horseback. The Chinese use horses but little, preferring 
 saddle mules, o f which they have the finest in the wor ld, or the 
 two wheeled vehicles of the country drawn by the same animals. 
 To most foreigners these carts without springs are almost useless, 
 as it requires a life-long experience to be able to balance one's 
 body, even in travelling through the streets of the city, without 
 being bruised to soreness by the jolting. At many of the princi- 
 ple points in Peking there are regular stands, where a number of 
 these carriages may be found waiting, but they are rarely used 
 by the foreign residents, whose stables contain fine horses from 
 India. 
 
 We, too, will make our excursions in the saddle. Following 
 the canal for a short distance, and turning the corner at the Rus- 
 sian legation, we enter a broad street, leading to the Meridian 
 Avenue. As we approach the Meridian Gate the bustle of street- 
 life surrounds us on every side. The broad paved square is filled 
 with the hurrying crowd. Private carriages, or common hacks, 
 clatter over the granite flags ; hundreds of itinerant peddlars, 
 cooks, and tinkers trot in and out through the gate, their burdens 
 hanging upon their shoulders at either end of an elastic pole ; 
 well-dressed and thrifty shop-keepers saunter along the side- 
 walk, fanning their contented faces; scores of beggars, the 
 worst outgrowth of Chinese city life, horrible wretches, clothed 
 with the dirtiest of dirt, or at best with fragments of cast-ofl" mats, 
 besiege relentlessly every passer-by. As we approach the gates 
 a party of horsemen pass us, dressed in yellow robes and mount- 
 ed on Tartar ponies : they are princes of the imperial blood. A 
 18 
 
274 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, kx 
 
 long train of camels, carrying coal, is passing through the gate. 
 Stepping with caution on the smooth stones, the long line of 
 giant animals move slowly along, chewing lazily the cud, and sway- 
 ing their long necks and horizontal heads first to one side and then 
 to the other, and fixing their beautiful eyes upon every object 
 they pass. But here is another group of animals, not less use- 
 ful in their habits than they are disgusting in appearance : a dozen 
 or more of the most mangy dogs, and worse looking pigs, are 
 fighting over a heap of offal. These are the scavengers of China. 
 
 A lai-ge bazaar borders this square ; in it are shops and stands, 
 containing all kinds of manufactured articles, among them many 
 of foreign make. 
 
 The gateway is a high and arched tunnel, from sixty to a hun- 
 dred feet long, in which swirig'inassive folding doors, which, 
 amid much sounding of gdrigs, are closed at dark, and opened at 
 daybreak. Leaving this portal we eriter a large semi-circular 
 space, surrounded by the cui-tain-wall which defends this entrance 
 toward the Tartar-city. Of the three gates leading out of this 
 space, two are open to the public,'while the middle one is unlocked 
 only for the Emperor. 
 
 The Meridian Avenue in the Chinese city is paved with granite 
 blocks, which have becoine smooth and rounded' and filled with 
 ruts through the long wear of cart wheels. On either side are 
 the shops and booths which form the chief market-place of 
 Peking. jDuring the winter months- this city has no rival in the 
 world in the abundance arid variety of the game and domestic 
 meat with which its market is stocked. Being near Mongolia it 
 receives large quantities of gOod beef, and of the broad-tailed and 
 common sheep. During the winter, long camel trains are con- 
 stantly arriving, loaded with antelopes, two or three kinds of deer, 
 wild boars, and wild ducks. Bears, sturgeon, and blue fish are 
 brought in from Manchuria, while the surrounding country fur- 
 nishes an abundance of pheasants, partridges, and snipe. As the 
 thermometer stands low during the whole winter, these things can 
 be easily preserved for months. The variety of vegetables and 
 fruits is also very respectable, and foreigners have no cause to 
 complain either of the character or cost of food in this part of 
 China. 
 
 A ride of a mile or more brings us to a marble bridge, over 
 
CHAP. XX.] PEEING AND ITS NEIQUBORHOOD. 275 
 
 which the Meridian Avenue crosses a creek to enter the open plain 
 between the temples of Heaven and of Agriculture. Here leav- 
 ing the avenue, we can canter over the turf to a gateway in the 
 enclosure sacred to Heaven. Strictly speaking, no one is allowed 
 to enter these precincts ; but foreigners having done so immedi- 
 ately after the surrender of Peking, established a precedent, which, 
 with the aid of a small fee, continues to them the privilege. The 
 
 TBMPLE OF HEAVEN. 
 
 outer wall is some thi-ee or lour miles m circumference. Within this 
 a broad belt of groves and lawns, with shaded avenues, surrounds 
 an inner wall. At the gate of this inner enclosure we leave our 
 horses and proceed on foot. On either side, the avenue is bordered 
 by a park, with clusters of fine trees scattered over broad lawns. 
 And now the great temple rises before us. There high above 
 the trees is the azure triple roof, brilliant, as a sapphire in the sun- 
 light. The structure stands upon three terraced stages, each one 
 ten feet high, respectively one hundred and twenty, ninety, and 
 
276 
 
 AGBOSti AMERICA AND ASIA. 
 
 [chap. XX. 
 
 sixty feet in diameter.* The form of these terraces is polygonal, 
 and each one is surrounded by a balustrade; on them stand 
 many large and beautiful bronze vases for burning incense. The 
 whole is built of pure white marble, highly sculptured, and covered 
 with bas-reUefs, representing the dragons and other animals of 
 the early Chinese mythology. From each of the four points of 
 
 /»ll!llv 
 
 :i:l3:!i'iI||;^''S*S;;€'''''i'^''A 
 
 M 
 
 
 iHE KOOS'S OF THE TEMPLE OP HEAVEN. 
 
 the compass the terraces are ascended by broad inclined planes, 
 constructed with massive and sculptured slabs of marble. Upon 
 this really grand sub-structure stands the temple, a large circular 
 building, painted vermilion and pierced with lofty windows. 
 These openings are curtained with rolling screens, made of rods 
 
 ♦ Article " Pekin," New American Encyclopedia. 
 
CHAP. XX.] PEKING AND ITS NEIOHBOBHOOD. 
 
 277 
 
 of blue glass, which shut out all view of the interior. Over the 
 main entrance is a tablet inscribed with the name of Shangte, the 
 Most High Rnlea. 
 
 A broad causeway leading southward, and passing through an 
 arched gateway in a high red building, and under several elabo 
 rate arches, connects the temple with the altar to Heaven. This, 
 like the terraced substructure of the temple, is built of white 
 
 GATEWAYS BEFOKB THE ALTAB TO HEAVEN. 
 
 marble, and has also three terraced stages, the upper one of 
 which, judging from memory, is more than a hundred feet in 
 diameter. It is covered with richly-sculptured figures of mythi- 
 cal animals, while the terraces are decorated with large incense 
 vases of bronze, whose dark color and graceful outlines stand in 
 beautiful relief against the white marble background. In the 
 middle of the top platform thre^e altars or small tripod tables 
 are ranged in a line from east to west, while on one side a large 
 
278 ACROSS AMEBIOA AND ASIA. \cb.a.v. xx 
 
 iron basket seems intended for use in offering burnt sacrifices. 
 On the south side stands a sacred gateway, also of white marble. 
 
 There can be but one temple of Heaven, and the Emperor, 
 the High Priest — Son of Heaven — alone has the right to worship 
 Shangte. 
 
 I never entered this spot without being impressed with a feel- 
 ing akin to awe, or rather with the sentiment which ever attaches 
 to the contemplation of those things which bear the stamp of 
 great antiquity, and are hidden behind the veil of mystery. 
 Under no other temple than the broad universe, this imposing 
 altar — imposing in its simplicity — the only symbol of a religion 
 which, unchanged by later corruptioW, dates back far beyond 
 the dawii of any history — ^is erected to a deity, or perhaps it 
 were more' proper to say, to an ictsa. which Fas never Eeen per - 
 sonified in the Chinese mind, and still less repi-esented to the 
 senses. 
 
 The worship of Shangte (Tien), the controlling power of the 
 universe, was associated, in the earliest times enlightened by 
 history, with the worship of the spirits of the hills and rivers. 
 This belief in a governing powg- in Heaven, whether it exists 
 now or 21 discarded, pervaded the early writings of ^hina i* It 
 is recorded that music was invented "for the praise of Shangte. 
 Rival claimants to the throne appealed to Shangte. He is the 
 arbiter of nations. He is both benevolent and capable of being 
 moved to wrath. In the "Book of Odes," composed mostly 
 from 800-1000 B.C., and in part much earlier, Shangte is spoken 
 of as seated on a lofty throne, while the spirits of the good 
 " walk up and down on his right and left." Shangte is said to 
 have « no voice or odor "—to be le—i. e., a principle of nature. 
 Dr. Martin observes that there is less anthropomorphism in the 
 representations of Shangte than in those of Jehovah in the 
 Hebrew Scriptures. The source of this worship is probably the 
 same as that of the worship of Ancestors, which is so deeply 
 rooted that the lapse of ages, national and family vicissitudes, 
 and exotic religions have been poweriess to impair its vitality. 
 Indeed, so closely is this popular faith bound up with everything 
 that is best in the mo rals and customs of the nation and of indi- 
 
 ISraf*"" ^^' ^'*^' " ®*° ^'*" '■ *''« '^^^ Beligione of China." Ne«- Englander, Aprils 
 
CHAP. XX.] PEKING AND ITS NEIOHBOBEOOD. 279 
 
 viduals, that it should seem that its aholition must be accompa- 
 nied by moral anarchy. 
 
 On the other side of the Meridian Avenue there is the temple 
 of Agriculture, surrounded by extensive grounds. Here, in the 
 spring, the Emperor performs the ceremony of ploughing the 
 ground with a golden plough — a ceremony said to have been 
 performed also by the Incas of Peru. id'-Jo. irtf'i-ri / - '■' J S ' 
 
 One of the most fertile sources of amusement to the stranger, 
 in Peking, is the walk through the streets in which are collected 
 the curiosity stores and lapidary shops. The latter occupy en- 
 tkely a long street parallel to the Meridian Avenue in the Chinese 
 city. Here I was in the habit of passing hours in examining the 
 countless variety of carvings in precious and semi-precious stones. 
 The most common articles are snuif-vials, and mouth-pieces for 
 pipes, carved chiefly out of green and white jade and fei-tsui, a 
 stone precious among the Chinese, and recently named jadeite by 
 a French chemist. The ingenuity and patience which the work- 
 men exhibit are truly wonderful. The snuff-bottles are generally 
 oval and about two inches long, by an inch and a half wide, and 
 two-thirds of an inch thick. The mouth is a little over an eightli 
 of an inch in diameter, and retains this size to the depth of about 
 half an inch. Below this the bottle is hollowed out, leaving to 
 the walls everywhere an equal thickness of one eighth to one 
 quarter of an inch. The whole is polished inside and out. The 
 patience of the workmen will be appreciated when I say that I 
 have seen bottles thus executed in the hardest materials, in rock- 
 crystal, aqua-marine, topaz, and even in rough sapphire, a stone 
 next to the diamond in hardness. 
 
 The show-cases in these shops are filled with ornaments, in 
 which all the precious stones known to us are represented, ex- 
 cepting only the diamond, emerald, and opal. The emerald is 
 well known to the Chinese under the name of lieu-pau-shi (green 
 precious stone), but they also call it tsu-ma-lu. The Chinese 
 simply polish the natural surface of a precious stone, the art of 
 cutting them into symmetrical shapes with facets seems never to 
 have been practised by them. 
 
 Among the larger ornamental works in stone, vases in jade- 
 stone, jasper, and rock-crystal, are the most prominent. But the 
 finer specimens of these large productions are very rare. Choice 
 
280 AOBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xx. 
 
 pearls, and fine rose coral, are also found in these shops. Nor 
 must we forget to mention a kind of jewelry peculiar to the Chi- 
 nese, in which the most delicate part of the plumage of the king- 
 fisher is so laid upon gold, as to produce the effect of a brilliant 
 enamel, even under close examination. 
 
 Not far from this street is that which contains the principal 
 curiosity shops. Here the collector wanders bewildered among 
 the profusion of treasures. Piles of porcelain vases of every 
 shape, and dating mostly from the present, and from the Ming 
 dynasty, surround him. Objects in bronze, and beautiful clois- 
 sonee vases, the spoils of ruined temples and palaces, 6tageres of 
 heavily-carved vermilion lacquer ware, loaded with vases, and 
 ornamental carvings in jade, agate, and coral; piles of swords, in 
 the ornamentation of which the antiquarian would read many an 
 interesting history ; these are some of the treasures which tempt 
 even the most economical travellers to extravagance. Nor are 
 their prices at all modest ; five hundred to two thousand dollars 
 is by no means an uncommon price for porcelain and cloissonee 
 vases, in which beauty and moderate age are combined ; it is only 
 the productions of the present day that are cheap. 
 
 If we continue our walk a half mile or so through this street, 
 we shall find ourselves in the booksellers' quarter, the paradise 
 of the Chinese scholar, and of the foreign sinologue. The extent 
 Vof Chinese literature is very great, and the number of works 
 which are really monumental is large. Among these we may 
 mention the dictionary of the Chinese language, in one hundred 
 and thirty thick volumes, which was compiled during eight years' 
 labor, by seventy-six scholars, with the assistance of literati in 
 all parts of the empire, and under the supervision of the Kmperor 
 Kang-hi ; * the Statutes of the reigning dynasty in more than one 
 thousand volumes, and many other works historical and scientific, 
 containing each several hundred volumes. The " General Geog- 
 raphy of the Chinese Empire," under the present dynasty, con- 
 tains two hundred and sixty volumes, descriptive and statistical, 
 with a valuable collection of maps covering the whole empire. In 
 compiling tables of the mineral productions of China, I had 
 occasion to consult, through a native scholar, a large number of 
 authorities, and, in doing this, I found the range of native litera- 
 
 * Williams' " Middle Kingdom," vol. I., p. 540. 
 
CHAP. XX.] PEKING AND ITS NBIGHBOBHOOD. 281 
 
 ture on the geography of China, overwhelming. Under different 
 dynasties during the past two thousand years, several immense 
 general treatises on the subject have been produced. Not only 
 this, but almost every province, department, and district, has its 
 special and voluminous geography. 
 
 In this street there is a small confectionery shop, which the 
 foreigner rarely passes without entering. Here, after running 
 the gauntlet of curiosity stores and lapidaries' show-cases, one is 
 tempted with candied fruits and jujubes dried in honey, and with 
 Siberian crab-apples encrusted with a transparent coating of 
 sugar. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE CAYEEK NEAK FAKGSHAN'. 
 
 Among the remarkable places in the neighborhood of Peking, 
 there is a cave celebrated for its extent, and for the wildness of 
 the scenery in which it is situated. It lies in the limestone 
 mountains, about two days* ride southwest from Peking. On a fine 
 September morning, a party, consisting of Dr. S. W. Williams, 
 Rev. Mr. Blodgett, and myself, started on an excursion to this 
 interesting place. Leaving the city by one of the southwestern 
 gates, and passing the suburbs, we came into the open country 
 on a broad, cultivated plain. The tall kao-liang had been har- 
 vested, leaving the view open as far as the eye could reach. 
 Groups of houses, barns, and villages were everywhere in sight. 
 Here and there the eye could detect, in the distance, the gray 
 outlines of walled towns, while, rising above all, the most con- 
 spicuous and picturesque, were lofty pagodas, the silent and 
 ancient guardians of the mysterious currents of air and earth, 
 which are supposed to exercise a potent influence upon the well- 
 being of the country. Away to the south, two of these towns, 
 standing in close proximity, rise above the horizon fi-om the city 
 of Tso (chau). 
 
 This portion of China, lying in the region of prevailing west- 
 erly winds, which deposit their moisture on the higher parts of 
 the continent, is favored with an atmosphere so dry and clear 
 that distant objects are defined with a distinctness of outline and 
 detail rarely found in regions so near to the sea. Through this 
 transparent air we could see with wonderful clearness all the 
 details of gorges and cliffs, of spurs and peaks, and of range 
 rising behind range of the great mountain region which, trending 
 away to the southwest and the northeast, borders the great plain, 
 and forms, through its valleys, the stairway to the high table- 
 lands of central Asia. 
 
 The road we were following is one of the chief and most 
 
CHAP. XXI.] THE CAVERN NEAR FANOSHAN. 283 
 
 ancient highways of the empire. Passing through Shansi and 
 Sz'chuen, it forms the land route to Thibet and India. In ita 
 course it passes over lofty mountains, spanning deep gorges with 
 suspension bridges, or with arched structures, and winding along 
 precipices where the roadway had to be cut through the solid 
 rock. It was along this route that Marco Polo travelled on one 
 of his journeys when sent as embassador by Kublai-Khan. Be- 
 fore reaching our resting-place for the night we passed the first 
 object mentioned by the Venetian traveller — the bridge of Liu- 
 kiu-chao, over the Huen river — or, as he calls it, the Puli-san- 
 gan. This structure is built with many arches, and entirely of 
 marble and hewn granite. It has undergone many changes 
 during the six centuries which have passed since Marco Polo 
 rode over it ; but the marble parapet, with its posts surmounted 
 by lions, still remains as a voucher for his story. 
 
 This highway, leading from Peking to the west, like the one 
 approaching the city from Tung-chau (fu), is paved with granite 
 slabs. Worn smooth, and cut up with deep ruts, it has long 
 since sunk into disuse, and in places lies buried beneath drifts 
 of sand. 
 
 During this excursion, as indeed everywhere in the neighbor- 
 hood of Peking, I saw many private cemeteries of wealthy Chi- 
 nese families. They consist generally of a sombre closed building, 
 surrounded by groves of cypress. In the centre of the grove are 
 grouped the tumuli, in which are buried the cofiins. These 
 mounds are from five to fifteen feet high, and are well covered 
 with green turf. In many of them there is a profusion of marble 
 monuments, often tall tablets eight or ten feet high, surmounted 
 with the sculptured dragon, and supported on the back of the 
 giant tortoise, indicating that they were erected by order of the 
 Emperor in commemoration of some great services performed by 
 the deceased. The imperial decree, with its date, is neatly in- 
 scribed upon the face of the tablet. 
 
 To these burial-places there is generally attached a certain 
 amount of land, the revenue from which is devoted to the main- 
 tenance of the grounds. Some families have founded large Bud- 
 dist monasteries, the monks of which hold their fee on condition 
 of keeping the place in order. Hundreds of these cemeteries are 
 scattered around the environs of the capital. In their various 
 
284 ACBOSS AMEBIGA AND ASIA. Ichap. xxi. 
 
 states of preservation are recorded the fortunes of many, a family,; 
 for the first duty of a Chinaman, after that whi ch he owes to living 
 parents, is the respect -which he is e njomed to show to the_ ashe"3 
 of his an66gtOl^!J. — tJndoubtediy tne many rumed places of the 
 dead, where nothing is now visible but fallen and half-buried 
 monuments, exist still in the memories and traditions of scattered 
 families whose wealth has long since departed. Some successful 
 descendant of the neglected dead may be now reaping in Califor- 
 nia or Australia the fortune which will enable him to fulfil his 
 familv duty by restoring the ancestral hall and its monuments. 
 
 Toward sunset we passed through the gate of Leang-hiang 
 (hien), and looking out for an inn, soon found ourselves in the 
 court. of the principal caravansary. This was a large square, 
 approached through a high gateway, and surrounded by a one-story 
 building. The kitchen, filled with busy cooks and hungry travel- 
 lers, stood at the entrance to the court, and as we entered formed 
 a centre of attraction to a group of ragged beggars. At the bot- 
 tom, of the square the building was raised a few feet higher from 
 the ground than the rest of the inn, and contained the principal 
 rooms. After a supper of cakes fried in oil, of boiled rice,. of mut- 
 ton and fried eggs, our servants unrolled our bedding, and we 
 went to sleep. 
 
 The next day brought us to Fangshan (hien), a walled town 
 at the foot of the mountains. Leaving this place after dinner, 
 we crossed a granite ridge and passed through a region of 
 low but rough hills. The road was paved with large blocks, of 
 stone, which had become so smooth that it was impossible to ride, 
 and even difficult to walk and lead one's horse. 
 
 Jf assmg through a small village, i knocked at the door of amis- 
 erable house, and asked for water to drink. The poor inmates 
 brought me hot tea, not understanding how any one could wish to 
 take into his stomach anything so insipid as cold water. When I 
 offered a small amount in payment, they seemed almost offended, 
 and I learned henceforth to credit even the poor mountaineers of 
 utilitarian China with some of the delicate sentiments of Western 
 life. 
 
 Toward evening we reached a small village, where we were 
 obliged to leave our horges and hire donkeys to take us to the 
 cave. The road being very bad, it, was already dark when we 
 
CHAP. XXI.] THE CAVEBN NEAR FANG SEAN. 2S5' 
 
 stood knocking at the gate of the great monastery where we were 
 to pass the night. The monks showed us to one of the best 
 rooms, and our servants set out in search of the kitchen, where 
 they were permitted to cook the fowls which we had taken the 
 precaution to bring with us. This was a large monastery, full of 
 rambling cloisters, surrounding courts and temples. When we 
 went to sleep the distant sound of the low chant at vespers had 
 not yet ceased, and the morning prayers greetecl our cars indis- 
 tinctly when we awoke. 
 
 After an early breakfast we set out on foot, and a long walk 
 brought us to the entrance of the cavern. This is on the side of 
 a precipitous hill, and high above the bottom of the valley. 
 Near the mouth there stands a shrine and a marble tablet, erected - 
 by the Emperor Kang-hi, the second of the present dynasty. / ^ 
 
 Taking guides and torches we entered a long tunnel-like pas- 
 sage, and proceeding a short distance came to a ■ large bas-relief 
 of Budda, sculptured in the wall. It represents the great sage, 
 either in the state of meditation or of absorption in the Nirvana. 
 In all Buddist co untrie s, many, if not all, caveS are held sacred, 
 and m many the shadow otT3udda is supposed' to be visible to 
 those who, by leading holy lives, have so mortified the flesh as 
 to be able to see things spiritual. We soon entered an immense 
 chamber, the further end of which communicated by a low pas- 
 sage with the next in the series. Entei-ing at first on our hands 
 and knees, we came to a place where the passage was so small 
 that the only way to pass was by lying flat and straight, and 
 being pushed at the feet by one guide, and pulled by the hands 
 by another. The most portly member of our party very fortu- 
 nately took his turn last. Unhappily for him, although a pious 
 man, he had not sufficiently mortified the flesh to be able to pene- 
 trate to the inner mysteries of this holy place. After vain efforts 
 we were forced to leave him wedged tight, literally stuck, with 
 a guide tugging at each end to back him out. 
 
 The second chamber is very large, and ornamented with sta- 
 lactites to an extent w;hich well repaid the trouble we had passed 
 through. In the centre there arises a large dome, upon which 
 stand immense stalagmite pillars, in the grotesque outlines of 
 which devout pilgrims are taught to trace human resemblances ; 
 they are called the ro-han, or saints. 
 
286 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [cnAP. xxi 
 
 The once brilliant incrustations of this chamber are now black- 
 ened with the smoke of torches. A long series of chambers is said 
 to continue far into the mountain ; but the exit at the further end 
 of this room had been walled up by command of one of the Em- 
 perors, because a party of pilgrims, having strayed beyond the 
 explored regions, had never again been seen. 
 
 Retracing our steps we again went through the wire-dra'iving 
 process and rejoined Mr. Blodgett in the outer chamber. The con- 
 necting passage between the two rooms had been polished to the 
 smoothness of glass by the friction of countless pilgrims who had 
 passed through it. 
 
 Taking a more round-about way on our return, we ascended to 
 the head of the valley, and, crossing the water-shed, came into an 
 exceedingly wild and broken region. The limestone mountains 
 are here cleft to their base by deejD gorges, with dashing tor- 
 rents broken by Avaterfalls. Along the precipitous walls paths 
 are hewn in the rock, now protected by parapets, now descending 
 from ledge to ledge by long flights of steps cut into the cliffs. 
 This seems to be the very paradise of monks. Monasteries and 
 shrines, apparently centuries old, are scattered in profusion 
 through these wild mountain recesses. They are perched in 
 places seemingly the most inaccessible, crowning overhangino- 
 cliffs hundreds of feet high, their walls built up flush with the edge 
 of the precipice, and in situations .accessible only by steps hewn 
 in the living rock. However practical the Chinese in general 
 may be, there is certainly a love of the poetic in nature among 
 the devotees of Buddism. It is perhaps from the comparatively 
 limited number of imaginative Chinamen that Buddism recruits 
 its monks. We visited several of these eyrie-like retreats, and 
 were everywhere hospitably received, and invited to drink from 
 that unfailing fountain, the overflowing tea-pot. Returning to 
 the monastery where we had passed the night, we set out upon 
 the road to Pekin, well pleased with all we had seen and experi- 
 enced. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 VISIT TO THE COAL MINES. 
 
 I HAD nearly finished the necessary preparations for a journey 
 homeward through Tartary and Siberia, when, at the instance of 
 Mr. Burlingame and Sir Frederick Bruce, the Chinese Govern- 
 ment requested that I should undertake the examination of some 
 of their principal coal fields. In order to suppress piracy and 
 smuggling, the Government had instructed Mr. Lay, their Inspec- 
 tor-General of Maritime Customs, Avho was then in England, to 
 purchase and send out a fleet of gun-boats, officered and manned 
 by Englishmen. A flotilla of eight steamers had accordingly ar- 
 rived, under the command of Captain Sherard Osburn. Alarmed at 
 the idea of having to pay from fifteen to twenty dollars a ton for 
 English coal, and knowing that they had themselves large de- 
 posits of this mineral, they decided to search for desirable fuel 
 among their own mines. 
 
 The arrangements were made over a lunch at the Tsung-li- 
 yamun with the officers of the Board of Foreign Afiairs. The in- 
 terview, which was very friendly, brought out some curious ideas 
 with regard to geology ; among these was the belief in the growth 
 of coal in abandoned mines : everything was produced by the co- 
 action of ym and yang, force and matter, the active and passive, the 
 male and female principles in nature ; and where surrounding con- 
 ditions had once favored the production of coal, why should they 
 not always favor it ? But at the same time they objected to ex- 
 tensive mining, on the ground that it would exhaust the store on 
 which future generations would be dependent : an inconsistency 
 in reasoning which they got over by saying that the rate of 
 growth of new coal is not known. Another objection to exten 
 sive mining was the danger of litigation from trespass, and one 
 of the officers immediately proceeded to give a long and roman 
 tic story of a desperate subterranean battle which had raged for 
 days underground between the forces of two mines which had 
 
288 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxn. 
 
 suddenly become connected underground, an encounter in 
 which the participants were mutually exterminated. 
 
 It was agreed that three mandarins, two civil and one military, 
 should go with me. The question having arisen as to how my name 
 could he intelligibly written in Chinese, Tung Ta-jin selected for 
 the first syllable the word Pang as the nearest approach offered 
 by the language, and wrote it for me on a card in a character in 
 which the principal element was the sign for a dragon. Did they 
 think there might be some connection between the intended ap- 
 proach to foreign innovations, and the clutches of this tei-ritic 
 monster ? 
 
 Through the kindness of Sir Frederick Bruce, Mr. Murray, of the 
 English legation, was permitted to accompany me, and I will say 
 in advance that much of the success which attended the excursion 
 was due to his excellent knowledge of the Chinese language, as 
 much of the pleasure was due to his genial companionship. 
 
 Our first day's journey led us to Yang-fang, a little west of 
 north from Peking, and lying at the foot of the mountains. A few 
 miles before reaching this place we crossed the Sha-ho- river, near 
 the city of Chang-ping (chau), by a long bridge of white marble. 
 This is still in good preservation, if we except the deep ruts, 
 Avhich here, as everywhere else, have ruined the granite pave- 
 ments. 
 
 At Yang-fang a bold granite spur juts like a headland into 
 the plain. Some ten or fifteen miles beyond, the mountain is 
 cleft by the N"an-kau gorge, commanded by the ancient watch- 
 towers and forts, which form the outposts of the great wall of 
 China. 
 
 The next morning, leaving the plain, we began the ascent into 
 the mountains through a valley. Murray and myself, as well as 
 Ma, the military mandarin, were mounted on strong Tartar horses, 
 while Wang and Too, the civilians, being more effeminate, were 
 carried in open chairs. Ma was a Mohammedan, and a type of 
 the better class of Chinese soldiers ; easy-going and tolerably frank, 
 he did not hesitate to express his contempt for tlie effeminacy of 
 the civil mandarins in general, and for those of our party in par- ^ 
 tlcular. Of these latter, Wang, the elder of the two, was a tall 
 and well-conditioned man of about fifty, well informed aftpr the 
 Chinese fashion, and with a uniformly pleasant expression, which 
 
CTiAP. XXII.] VISIT TO THE COAL MINES. 289 
 
 betokened a really kind heart. On the other hand, Too was a 
 type of the too frequent class of overbearing and " squeezing " 
 mandarin. His voice and manner, always harsh, became posi- 
 tively disagreeable npon the slightest provocation from an in- 
 ferior. 
 
 The valley we were ascending is cut deep into the Devonian 
 limestone, and shut in by high and ragged cliffs. A tolerably 
 good road, leading over alow pass, brought us into another valley 
 tributary to the Huen-ho, and after a short descent we drew up 
 at an inn in the mountain hamlet of Tien-kia-kwan. 
 
 Before entering the house Too called the landlord to him and 
 treated us to a characteristic scene. 
 
 " What have you to eat ? " demanded Too. 
 
 " Boiled millet and eggs," replied the landlord. 
 
 " What do you charge for your eggs ? " 
 
 " Very little — almost nothing, only six cash apiece," was the 
 reply. 
 
 " How dare you call that cheap ? You must know that wc 
 are no ordinary travellers. The Emperor has bought foreign 
 steamers, and Prince Kung has sent this gentleman to find coal 
 for them ; therefore you should let us have the eggs for three 
 cash." 
 
 By this time Too had worked himself into a passion, and fairly 
 shrieked his argument into the ears of the host and of the gath- 
 ered crowd. By his appeal to patriotism he finally succeeded in 
 reducing the price by, in our money, about one-tenth of a cent per 
 egg, making a gain of about two cents on our bill, to be divided 
 among the pockets of our escort. 
 
 Although within fifty miles of one of the largest cities of the 
 world, we were in a region where money is little used, nearly all 
 the small transactions of the people being effected by barter of 
 the necessaries of life. The currency of China is very clumsy, 
 the copper coin being so bulky as to render its transportation 
 costly, while the uncoined silver is extremely inconvenient, from 
 the fact that it has to be weighed at every payment, while the 
 scales of sellers and buyers rarely agree, and the legal standards 
 of weight differ several times in the course of a few days' jouix 
 ney. In Peking, besides the ordinary cash, there is a copper 
 coin of which the actual value is many times less than that which 
 
290 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxii. 
 
 is stamped upon it; this is useless beyond the walls of the city. 
 Peking also enjoys' an institution which I had supposed w;as pecu- 
 liar to the United State s, rxamely, an endless number of wild-cat 
 banks issuing paper currency ; their notes are useless out of 
 town, as no one will take them for fear the bank may liave already 
 failed, or that it may suspend before its notes can be presented 
 for payment. 
 
 We found in the inhabitants of these mountains a simple- 
 hearted and civil people, who Avere quite free from the dislike to 
 foreigners which prevails among the inhabitants of the_ south , 
 and for which Europeans ancTISmericans have chiefly themselv es 
 to blame. Although every ounce of food that is gained from 
 these baiTen hills is won by the hardest labor, I saw few signs 
 of suffering among the inhabitants. They are contented with the 
 boiled yellow millet, and a few vegetables, with now and then a 
 dish of fried eggs, or a chicken which has passed the prime 
 of life, whatever that period may be in the time allotted to a 
 fowl. 
 
 The next day we continued our journey southward, through a 
 deep and narrow valley in the limestone. The hjgh and precipi- 
 tous walls frequently approached each other so closely that the 
 valley became a gorge. Finally we emerged into the more 
 open country of the Huen-ho. Crossing a high spur, around which 
 the river bends, we began our initiation into Chinese mountain- 
 paths. Here the limestone has been traversed and dislocated by 
 large dykes of porphyry, enclosing fragments of the slate which 
 belong between upper and lower beds of the traversed rock. 
 After passing this spur, our road lay for several miles along the 
 steep face of the mountain, and high above the rushing rivei-. 
 The road, paved with porphyry boulders, was almost impassable ; 
 the rounded surfaces of the stones had been worn smooth' as 
 glass by the daily passage for centuries of long trains of mules 
 loaded witli coal. On such a road a false step might plunge both 
 horse and rider into the roaring torrent below. 
 
 At Ching-pai-kau we were ferried across the river, and entered 
 the valley of the Chai-tang creek. Here passing a little mill 
 worked by an overshot wheel, we continued our route under the 
 shade of the willows along the edge of the sluice, till the valley 
 narrovred and we entered a wild erorsre. The limestone clifls. 
 
CHAP. XXII.1 VISIT TO THE COAL MINES. 291 
 
 which at first formed the walls, were succeeded as we went south 
 by the towering peaks and steep declivities and side ravines of 
 the great mass of conglomerate, which, overlying the limestone, 
 forms itself the foundation of the coal measures. Soon tliis was 
 succeeded by overlying beds of the softer sandstones and slates 
 of the coal series, and we emerged from the narrow gorge into 
 the broad and open valley of Chai-tang, a region of low hills with 
 soft outlines, such as are characteristic of most coal basins. A 
 few miles' journey brought us in sight of the walls of Chai-tang 
 on one side of the creek, while on the otlier rose a high, flat- 
 topped hill, with a lofty watch-tower at each end, ancient guard- 
 ians of the valley. 
 
 Soon after our arrival at the inn we were waited upon by the 
 magistrate of the district, from whom we obtained a complete 
 list of the coal mines in the neighborhood. 
 
 Referring the reader elsewhere * for a detailed account of the 
 mines of this district, I confine myself here to the remark that 
 there is within a radius of four miles from Chai-tang a large num- 
 ber of openings upon the coal seams. Within this area the coal 
 varies from CE^king bituminous to pure anthracite. The seam con- 
 taining the Fu-tau mine averages about seven feet in thickness, 
 and produces a steam coal equal, if not superior, to the best 
 Welsh variety.f The Ta-tsau or " great seam," about three miles 
 south of the Fu-tau consisting of two beds, separated by about 
 eight feet of sandstone, and containins: an asrsregate thickness of 
 forty-eight feet of coal, is a deposit of remarkably fine anthracite. 
 
 The other mines contain coal of a more bituminous character. 
 Each variety has its distinctive Chinese name, and is mined for 
 some special purpose in the domestic and manufacttiring arts. 
 The coking varieties are burned to coke, and at every mine the 
 dust, which with us is thrown away, is mixed with a little clay 
 and moulded into cakes of artificial fuel. For many purposes, 
 especially for use in the kitchen, this artificial product is esteemed 
 more highly than when in the natural shape, as the globular form 
 of the cakes admits a ready draught, while their composition is 
 said to enable the consumer to control the rate of burning much 
 better than with any other fuel. 
 
 * Piimpelly's "Geological Researches in China, Mongolia, and Japan." Pablished by 
 the Smithsonian Inftitntion, 18G7. 
 t Foranalyses of Chinese coals, see Appenuix. 
 
292 A€BOSS AMERICA AlfD ASIA. [chap. xxii. 
 
 In large cities situat ed at a distance from the mines the dust 
 and cinders of coal are mixed with the dung of cows and horse sT" 
 and with clay. 
 
 The absence of machinery for draining has prevented the Chi- 
 nese miners from working more than a few feet below water-level, 
 and as the seams of the Chai-tang district are highly inclined, 
 this point is soon reached. Aside from this, their whole system 
 is so defective that the utmost capacity of production of any one 
 mine in .this district is less than two thousand tons a year. The 
 works are entered by an inclined plane, which descends in the 
 coal to less than a hundred feet below water-level, when it com- 
 municates with a nearly horizontal gallery, which, extending to 
 the furthest limits of the property, forms the main thoroughfare 
 of the mine. Though unable to work below this level, the Chinese 
 miner literally exhausts the fuel lying above it. By means of 
 using inclined planes connected by levels, he subdivides the seam 
 into pillars. Ventilation is effected either by air-shafts or by a 
 blowing machine, constructed much ujjon the same princij)le as our 
 fanning mill for grain. The timbering, which is almost confined to 
 the main level, is very costly, owing to the almost entire absence 
 of wood. The accumulating water ot the. mine runs along the 
 bottom level to the foot of the inclined plane. One-half the 
 width of this slope is cut out into hollow steps, four or five feet 
 high, in each one of which stands a man armed with a bucket ; 
 by these the water is bailed from step to step, until it reaches the 
 surface. In some mines this woi-k is done entirely by blind men. 
 I The manner of raising the coal is not less primitive than the 
 drainage, the bottom level and the inclined plane being covered 
 with smooth round sticks, over which the coal is dragged in sleds 
 by coolies. The passages are generally so low that these men 
 are forced to go on hands and knees, dragging the sled by means 
 of a cord passed around the neck and between the legs. The fuel 
 sells at the different mines of this district at prices ranging from 
 $1,'70 to $2- per ton— 2,000 lbs. 
 
 The coal field of Chai-tang is cut off at the west by a high 
 escarpment, the edge of a large area of intrusive porphyries. In 
 this region, some five or six miles west of Chai-tang, there occurs 
 a small patch of coal, which is cut up into small dislocated frag- 
 ments by dykes of porphyry, which in places traverse the seams. 
 
CHAP. XXII.] F/-SJ2' TO THE COAL MINES. 293 
 
 and in some instances are spread out parallel to these, forming for 
 a greater or less distance the roof or the floor of the bed. 
 
 Near this place, which is called Ching-shui, there are the 
 ruins of an old furnace, where some years since there were cast 
 large quantities of iron currency. This expedient was adopted 
 by the Government during its financial straits, with the view of 
 making the iron cash pass for the same value as those of copper, 
 than which latter, if anything, they were a little smaller. This 
 attempt was a complete failure, and to this day this iron currency 
 lies stored in immense quantities in one of the old palaces of the 
 Tartar city. 
 
 After having finished the examination of the Chai-tang district, 
 I determined to visit the coal fields lying at the edge of the great 
 plain on the eastern slope of the mountain. When the question 
 was raised as to what route we should take, Too instantly infonn- 
 ed us that he had made careful enquiries into the geography of 
 the region, and had found that there was actually only one road 
 leading out of it, namely, the one by which we had come. I had 
 wished to descend the valley of the Huen-ho to the point where 
 it enters the plain, and in spite of Too's geographical investiga- 
 tions I felt confident that there must be a road of some kind fol- 
 lowing the course of the river. Calling in the magistrate of the 
 district, and several men who were said to be thoroughly acquaint- 
 ed with the country, I held a council, which I had no doubt 
 would confirm my belief in the existence of the desired road. 
 But no; Too led oif with an argument, giving physical and polit- 
 ical reasons why no road could either now be or ever have been 
 built in the valley ; and he was unanimously sustained by the 
 others. Murray, after a severe cross-examination, elicited the 
 fact that a road had existed some time during the Han dynasty, 
 or later, but that in many places the precipices, in the sides of 
 which it had been dug, had fallen. But there was no road now ; 
 this they were all agreed upon. Close questioning, however, 
 brought out an additional fact, namely, that there was a path, im- 
 passable, however, for animals, and attended with the, greatest 
 danger even for foot passengers. Good, I said, we will take this 
 road to-morrow. But we had not yet vanquished all the lions 
 that seemed to stand guard over the valley of the Yang-ho. The 
 path, they said, if such it could be called, was very winding, cros- 
 
2^94 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxn, 
 
 sing the river from shore to shore, and in places where the bed 
 contained fathomless quicksands. This lion being defeated, a 
 host of fresh ones came to the rescue. There were no inhabitants, 
 and we could get nothing to eat ; in places the water was poison- 
 ous ; there were caverns which hurled out terrific blasts of wind ; 
 the river was subject to unaccountable freshets which were liable 
 at any time to fill the gorges, carrying everything before them. 
 When we asked one of the mountaineers how he had gained all 
 this information about a valley which no one could visit, he re- 
 plied that he knew it from two men who, in going through, had 
 experienced all these horrors ; but unfortunately for his testimony 
 he added that they were both swallowed up by quicksands. I 
 must give credit to Wang and Ma for having taken no part in 
 the argument. 
 
 The next morning we returned to the valley of the Huen-ho, 
 which, we descended to the point at which we had previously en- 
 tered it. Here the road forked, and the one which descended the 
 liver was certainly larger than the other one, by which we. had 
 come into the valley from the north. To the intense disgust of 
 Too, I turned into the river road. We soon found that this was 
 in constant use. After going a few miles we came to a point 
 where the river narrowed, and the valley contracted to a gloomy 
 gorge, enclosed between lofty cliffs of limestone. In the face of 
 the wall the road was hewn into steps, by which it ascended to a 
 point high above the river, from which it again descended by 
 another steep stairway. The route was less than three feet wide, 
 with a vertical cliff on one side, while toward the river it was 
 protected by a parapet about one foot and a half high. It was 
 an ugly place for man or beast ; long use had polished the rock 
 till it was as smooth as glass. Having begun the passage on 
 horseback, neither Murray nor myself ventured to dismount, fear- 
 ing to disturb the horse's balance on the smooth and narrow 
 place. In making the descent my horse went down on his 
 haunches, and I confidently expected that in his struggle to rise 
 he would plunge us both over the parapet and down to, the dark 
 mass of v/aters which were rolling and dashing far beneath us. 
 The strong animal with great caution regained his feet, trembling 
 like a leaf. 
 
 I was not surprised when we found a considerable village a 
 
CHAP. XXII.] VISIT TO THB COAL MINES. 295 
 
 little further down, and better yet a comfortable dinner and bed 
 in a region where we had been warned of the ab.sence of people 
 and food. If anything astonished me it was the long trains of 
 liundreds of mules, heavily laden with coal, which we passed the 
 next day, for it seemed to me impossible that they could go up 
 and down the smooth stairways which we had passed. 
 
 During this day's journey we crossed the river once, fording 
 over a bed of beautiful gravel ; but although there were neither 
 quicksands, nor terrific winds howling from the bowels of the 
 earth, the road was certainly horrible enough to have been built 
 in the time of the Han, and used ever since without being re- 
 paired. The river here keeps near the contact between the lime- 
 stone and the overlying porphyry conglomerates. In each of 
 these formations the aspect of the valley differs, but in both the 
 scenery is extremely wild. 
 
 At the little village of Wang-ping-tsun, where we stopped for 
 the night, Murray and myself paid a friendly visit to Wang. 
 •Behind all the politeness of the old man, we could perceive that 
 our visit was not well timed. An opium pipe and lamp lying on 
 the table were sufficient explanation of our friend's uneasiness. 
 We had long known that he smoked opium, but the old man had 
 supposed his habit unknown to all but himself. Seeing my looks 
 involuntarily directed to the pipe, he made the common excuse, 
 saying that he sometimes used the drug for relief from pain, but 
 that he neither had contracted the habit, nor should he do so. 
 
 When we were seated, Wang told us how a former friend of 
 his, who had once been a magistrate of the place where we then 
 were, had fallen into the habit of using opium ; how this habit, 
 gaining on him, had caused him to neglect his ofiicial duties, and 
 had transformed a kind-hearted and beloved magistrate into a 
 hated tyrant, extorting from the poor villagers the means to meet 
 the then high price of the drug ; how, after being mobbed and 
 driven from his office, he became an outcast, and his family beg- 
 gars. When Wang finished the story of his friend, by saying 
 that in an attack of remorse and despair he had ended life by an 
 over-dose of opium, there were tears in the old man's eyes, and I 
 could not help thinking that he was unfolding his own future, so 
 true was his story to the career of almost all who become addicted 
 to this vice. 
 
296 ACROSS AMEBICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxu 
 
 The next day our road passed over three high ridges, by- 
 crossing one of which, the Niu-chaii-ling, we saved a very great 
 bend in the river. Having reached the climax of the horrible, in 
 describing roads already mentioned, I have no words left to do 
 justice to this. For a distance of several miles the way over 
 this hill is paved with large irregular blocks of porphyry, the 
 surfaces of which are everywhere rounded and polished; In many 
 places the formerly slight depressions at the point of contact be- 
 tween three or four blocks have been worn into holes several 
 inches deep by the shoes of countless mules, which during cen- 
 turies have daily packed their heavy loads over this tedious pass. 
 
 At Sankia-tien we came uj)on an arm of the great plain, finish- 
 ing safely our journey through what Too had caused to be de- 
 scribed as the very valley of the shadow of death. The real 
 object of dread on the part of Too was the shortening of the 
 journey, thereby depriving him of the chance to " squeeze " per- 
 haps ten dollars in his accounts. 
 
 Rounding a mountain spur, we entered the coal field of Mun- 
 ta-kau, which lies in another ann or bay of the great plain. Here 
 we found that a temple had been prepared for our reception, and 
 that many little things had been, done to make our stay comfort- 
 able. 
 
 The coal of this region is altogether anthracite, and many 
 openings have been made upon the several beds. ' One mine 
 which I visited has been worked to a horizontal distance of 8,500 
 feet. The seam is veiy irregular in thickness, viying from a 
 few inches to six or seven feet. In this mine one man can bring 
 to the surfa.ce only about one hundred and thirty-three pounds 
 daily, owing to the great loss of time experienced in dragging 
 the sled one mile and a half on hands and knees. The ventila- 
 tion is assisted in this mine by a very large fan-blowei-. 
 
 After staying a few days at "Mun-ta-kau, I determined to skirt 
 along the edge of the plain to the coal district of Fang-shan 
 (hien). To do this, both mules for the transportation of the bag- 
 gage, and carriers for the chairs of Wang and Too, were needed. 
 For these a requisition was sent in to the local magistrate, with 
 a request that they might be ready by daylight the next morn- 
 ing. The next day, seeing no signs of the animals, the magis- 
 trate was sent for, but we received word that he was so drunk 
 
CHAP. XXII.] VISIT TO THE COAL MINES. 297 
 
 with opium that it ■would be some time before he could come. 
 After several hours the officer arrived. He was a young man, 
 a native of Sz'chuen, with a very eflfeminate and finely chiseled 
 face. Dressed with the most scrupulous care, he was a type of 
 the Chinese exquisite. 
 
 He had made arrangements for men and mules the night before, 
 and now sent off his attendants to find out why they had not 
 appeared. These arms of justice soon returned with the delin- 
 quents. The latter pleaded that their animals were employed on 
 permanent contracts, from which they could not remove them 
 without suffering much loss. " But you must fulfil the demands 
 of the Government," replied the officer. " We cannot," answered 
 the men sullenly. " Halloa there, beat these fellows," cried the en- 
 raged mandarin. Two executioners with peaked hats immedi- 
 ately stepped forward and forced the men to their knees, while 
 others proceeded to apply a few blows with bamboo rods. In the 
 meantime a consideralble crowd had gathered in the temple court, 
 and were beginning to force their way into the temporary hall 
 of justice. "How dare you intrude here?" cried the mandarin. 
 " Drive them out ! drive them out ! " But the people caring as 
 little for tlie executioners as for their magistrate, and heeding the 
 words of neither, continued to press in. The crowd grew larger, 
 and it seemed probable that a long-growing dislike of their man- 
 darin was about to find vent in a riot. 
 
 Just at this moment the crowd opened in the court, making 
 way for Wang, who approached from our quarters on the other 
 side. Wang had formerly been the magistrate at this very place, 
 and the silence which came over the crowd, as well as the defer- 
 ence shown him as he passed, proved that the old man had ruled 
 kindly and well, and that his memory was still held in respect. 
 A few words from Wang put an end to our trouble, and men and 
 animals were immediately forthcoming. 
 
 The small valley of Mun-ta-kau opens into a larger area of 
 the gi'eat plain, and in the middle of this, a rugged hill, rising 
 abruptly from the banks of the Huen-ho, is crowned with the pic- 
 turesque ruins of the temple of Shi-ching-miao. As in some of 
 the ruined castles of Europe, so here the broken sides and tops 
 of cliffs are filled out with heavy masonry to make a foundation 
 for the building upon the most picturesque and commanding 
 
298 ACROSS AMEBIGA- AND ASIA. [chap. xxii. 
 
 point. Passages and rooms are hewn out of the sandstone rock. 
 Ponderous doors of stone guarded the entrance to these rooms. 
 The lands belonging to the temple are tilled by peaple- who in- 
 habit less ruined buildings, but probably a small part of the pro- 
 ceeds is devoted to repairs. I was told that this was the dwel- 
 ling and temple of a formerly wealthy family. 
 
 Proceeding southward, we skirted the foot of the mountains. 
 On our left the great plain stretched away to the eastward. 
 From slight eminences in the road we could see the gate-towers 
 and pagodas of Peking, and the triple roof of the temple of 
 Heaven. On our right were the rounded spurs and knobs of the 
 sandstone hills of the Mun-ta-kau coal field, while over these 
 towered an immense peak of limestone with ragged sides and 
 lofty cliffs. Here on the summit, almost inaccessible, except for 
 stairways hewn in the rock, and perched 1,500 or more feet above 
 the plain, are the cloisters and temples of a Buddist monastery. 
 The mountain is said to be honey-combed with caves. 
 
 Our road now crosses a long, low spur which juts out into the 
 plain. On the southern side of this ridge there are immense 
 quarries of limestone. These have been worked for a great 
 length of time, and over a large area ; and the valley in the 
 sides of which they occur is filled to the depth often of forty or 
 fifty feet, with layers of half-burnt limestone, chert, fragments of 
 coal and ashes — the remains of former kilns. Through this 
 deposit, which is now cemented to a hard concrete, the mountain 
 brook has cut its channel to the limestone below. 
 
 Passing out of this small valley, we came to a town of con- 
 siderable size, called Ta-hwei-chang, or great lime depot. The 
 walls had long been crumbling, till little was now left standing. 
 But dilapidated walls in Chuaa are not necessarily a sign of 
 decay in population or industry. As we proposed to dine at this 
 place, we rode up to the principal eating-house. This was open 
 to the street, and long before our dinner was served up the room 
 was crowded with the curious of all ages, anxious to see, for the 
 first time, and not only to see but to feel of, the queer barbarians 
 of the western seas. 
 
 " Go out, boys," said Ma. 
 
 Upon this the largest lad in the crowd turned to one a little 
 smaller, and exclaimed : 
 
CHAP. XXII.] VJSIT TO rUE COAL MINES. 299 
 
 " Go out, boy — go out. Don't you hear that the lo-yu does 
 not want any boys here ? " 
 
 But this one passing the injunction to a still smaller neighbor, 
 it was repeated in a descending scale, till a little fellow about 
 two feet high picked up the smallest child in the room and thrust 
 him into the street. This turned the joke against us — always a 
 disadvantage to a foreigner in a Chinese crowd. A traveller 
 who has command of the language, together with patience and 
 sufficient wit to put the more demonstrative members of even a 
 Chinese mob in a ridiculous light, has little to fear, provided the 
 crowd is swayed by no stronger motives than mere curiosity. If, 
 however, he resent the great personal annoyance by blows, he 
 places himself in a position of great danger. An instance some- 
 what illustrative of this occurred to us in leaving Ta-hwei-chang. 
 The whole population of men and boys followed us through the 
 streets. From laughing at each other's jokes made at our ex- 
 pense, they proceeded to open ridicule of us, and, regardless of 
 our official escort, began to hoot, and finally to throw missiles. 
 When they had reached this point, Murray stopped his horse, 
 and, turning to face the crowd, raised his hand to motion silence. 
 " O, people of Ta-hwei-chang ! " exclaimed Murray in excellent 
 Chinese, " is this your hospitality ? Do ye thus observe the inj unc- 
 tions of your sages, that ye shall treat kindly the stranger that is 
 within your gates ? Have ye forgotten that your great teacher, 
 Confucius, hath said : ' What I would not that men should do to 
 me, that would I not also do to men ? ' " 
 
 The effect of this exhortation was as remarkable as it was unex- 
 pected by me. In an instant the character of the crowd was 
 changed : the hooting and pelting had stopped to hear the barba- 
 rian talking in the familiar words of Confucius, the old men 
 bowed approvingly, and a number of boys jumped forward to 
 show us the way. This scene will appear more impressive by 
 contrast, if we suppose a couple of Chinamen, followed by a crowd 
 of a few thousand American men and boys, and if we suppose, 
 the two strangers to turn and quote in good English the similar 
 passage of our Lord's sermon on the mount. The reader may 
 form his own opinion as to the success of such an experiment. 
 
 Before sunset I found myself again in Fang-shan, but this time 
 in quarters which had been prepared for us. 
 
300 AOBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxii. 
 
 Among the principal mines which we visited in this neighbor- 
 hood were those of Chang-kau-yii, in the mountains, about eight 
 miles west of Fang-shan. They belong to the family, Chang, 
 one of whose members is decorated with a blue button. We 
 reached this place about noon. As these mines had been worked 
 for a great length of time, I determined to enter them. It was 
 no slight undertaking. After reaching the foot of the inclined 
 plane, I found the galley so low as to be passable only on hands 
 and knees for a great part of the distance. After creeping for 
 more than half a mile, the proprietor, who I believe had never 
 been so far before in his own mine, gave out completely, and I 
 continued my way to the end, accompanied only by the head 
 miner. After penetrating to a distance of six thousand feet, I 
 had little strength left to use in examining the workings, which 
 are conducted in the same manner as those already described. 
 Much timbering is used, though chiefly the wood of fruit trees, etc., 
 which costs at the mine twenty-nine cents per hundred pounds. 
 When I again reached daylight, with the skin nearly gone from 
 my knee s, nearned that tbe ininer^'protect These "jo ints, a'grwBll 
 as the hands, with pads. This was not very consoling information 
 for one who had crept nearly two miles and aTialf without such 
 protection^ ~"~~ 
 
 It was a source of great wonder to the Chinese, as it was also 
 to the Japanese, that a person holding my rank, and acting under 
 an imperial commission, with authority to demand the presence of 
 all of&cials on my route, should subject himself to the hardships 
 which attend a personal examination of a mine. 
 
 The sun was setting behind the mountain clifis when I reached 
 the open air. The owner had prepared an extensive dinner in 
 honor of the occasion. It would perhaps be uncharitable to say 
 that this hospitality was in any way suggested by a desire to 
 have the coal of this mine recommended for the new fleet ; but 
 I always had a suspicion that our friend Too, who was very fond 
 of the good things of the world, had suggested the policy of ap- 
 pealing to my good will through the stomach. In vain I urged 
 the lateness of the hour, and tbe danger of riding over the moun- 
 tain road by night. Our host insisted that we should stay, and 
 promised a procession of torch-bearers to light the way on our 
 return. The dinner was good, as was also the rice wine, and we 
 
CHAP. XXII.] VIBIT TO THE COAL MINES. 301 
 
 talked and laughed and ate and drank until I began to doubt 
 even the ability of the torch-bearers to guide our merry party 
 safely over eight miles of dangerous road. 
 
 It was nine or ten o'clock before we mounted our horses, and I 
 think that with the prospect before us, even Ma envied Wang 
 and Too the chairs, for using which he despised them. With a 
 large number of torchmen we left the mine and started upon our 
 perilous journey. I have given so many descriptions of bad 
 roads that it is only necessary to say of this that it was nearly equal 
 to the worst. Paved with large and polished blocks, it wound 
 along the side of a rocky ravine, and the danger was increased 
 by frequent stair-like descents. We must have presented a re- 
 markable sight, as our party wound along this road, with 
 flaming torches, which lighted up at every instant some new fea- 
 ture in the wild scenery, now a frowning crag towering above our 
 heads, or again the yawning gorge beneath us, and the rushing 
 torrent and waterfalls at its bottom. A wild sight it was, no 
 doubt, and so too thought the inhabitants of the small hamlets 
 which we passed in the dead of night, for we heard tlie barricad- 
 ing of doors. So thought also a lone and frightened Chinaman, 
 whom we found shaking with feai-, and hidden among some boul- 
 ders, holding a pig which had betrayed him by its grunting. 
 Everywhere we passed for a band of Ming-hwo, a class of rob- 
 bers who in town and country make rapid raids in large numbers, 
 and by torchlight. 
 
 In the small hours of the morning our remarkable procession 
 reached one of the gates of Fang-shan. The gates of Chinese 
 cities are locked at dark, and the keys deposited with the magis- 
 trate, and the law prohibits their being opened before daybreak. 
 It required a long parley through' the closed portal with the guard 
 on the inside before they could be induced to send word to the 
 Ya-mun that we wished to enter, and it was nothing but the fact 
 that I was travelling under an imperial commission that caused 
 the gates finally to swing open and admit our weary party. 
 
 The next day we received invitations to dine with the magis- 
 trate of the city. As we traversed the court of the Ya-mun, at the 
 appointed time our ears were greeted with a sound of suppressed 
 chattering, and we could see that all the chinks of the surround- 
 ing windows were occupied by the ladies Of the household. Our 
 
302 A0B088 AMEBIOA AND ASIA. [chap, xxii 
 
 host led us into a room where the table was spread. In accord- 
 ance with Chinese etiquette, he spent some time in persuading 
 each of the guests to take the head of the table, a distinction 
 which each one was bound by the laws of politeness to decline. 
 The host, then standing in that place himself, insisted upon each 
 and all sitting down before him, which of course was persistently 
 declined, as it would have been a breach of politeness for a guest 
 to take his seat first. The dinner began with a cup of hot rice 
 wine. The table was loaded with dishes, which were placed one 
 upon another in tiers, forming a pyramid of Chinese delicacies. 
 There were soups made of birds' nests, of the haliotis, and of sharks' 
 fins; there was beche-de-mer ; there were stews and pates; there 
 were roots of the water-lily ; but it would take too long to enu- 
 merate all the dishes spread before us, of each of which one was 
 expected to taste. Great as is the variety of articles of food in 
 the Chinese cuisine, some things which in other countries are con- 
 sidered most essential are missed by the traveller, and of these 
 none more than butter, bread, and milk. There is a kind of bread 
 which is cooked by steam, and there are flour-cakes fried in oil : 
 they are poor substitutes. A little milk is s old, and women's 
 milk is peddled round thg_citig s mostly for the use of invalids. 
 Foreigners "are shy of patronizing the Chinese milkmen. There 
 is an old story on the coast that at a dinner given by a for- 
 eigner, the host took a servant to task for serving no milk for the 
 cofiee. 
 
 " Boy go catchee milk," said the gentleman. The servant' dis- 
 appearing, soon returned with the answer : " N"o have got." 
 
 " What for no have got ?" 
 
 " ' &at_jow have got too muchee piecee chilo ; th at woman 
 Iiave_die. " replied the boy. By this the servant informed the 
 gentleman and his guests that they had been saved from drinking 
 the milk of either a sow or a woman only by the death of the 
 la tter, and by the birth of a litte r to the former. 
 
 The only unpleasamrteatilreabout our dinner was the custom 
 of every one helping everybody else, so that I could eat nothing 
 which had not made acquaintance with my neighbor's chop- 
 sticks. The intervals between the courses were occupied in eat- 
 ing the kernels of pumpkin seeds, which are so much used in 
 China that they form an unportant item in the trade of certain 
 
cnAP. XXII.] YiaiT TO THE GOAL MINES. 303 
 
 provinces. In peeling these seeds, if in no other way, the long 
 nails of a Chinese exquisite certainly do good service. 
 
 The next day we started on our return to Pekin. The crops 
 were all harvested, and the tall stalks of the sorghum no longer 
 obstructed the view. Hamlets and farm-houses were scattered 
 far and near; the plain seemed Uke one vast field, hroken only 
 here and there by rows of willow trees, raised for the manufac- 
 ture of charcoal. At every farm-house the hard threshing-floor 
 of pounded earth presented a busy scene : laughing groups of 
 men, women, and children were threshing grain, or tossing it in 
 the air to be winnowed ; while others, pushing a long lever, worked 
 the mill which ground it to flour. 
 
 As soon as I reached the American legation I learned that the 
 Government, abandoning the idea of organizing a steam navy, 
 had decided to send the flotilla back to England to be sold. This 
 unwelcome news put an end to my hopes of being able to study 
 the coal fields of the more distant parts of the empire. 
 
 About this time there arrived at Pekin the Corean embassy. 
 
 THE COKEAN EMBASSADOR. 
 
 bringing the annual tribute to the Emperor of China. I had 
 hoped to get from them a great deal of information about their 
 country, and its relations with China and Japan ; but before I 
 was able to do this, a severe attack of the small-pox put an end 
 to my plans for the winter. 
 
 Dr. Pogojefi", of the Russian legation, succeeded in taking the 
 photographs of several members of the embassy, including the 
 
304 
 
 ACEOSa AMERICA AND ASIA. 
 
 [chap, xxil 
 
 chief embassador, whose state costume resembles that of the 
 Chinese court under the Mings. 
 
 The attendants were dressed in white cotton clothes, padded 
 throughout with cotton batting, and quilted. Their hair was 
 arranged in a knot, secured under a cotton covering ; over this 
 they wore broad-brimmed hats of very open horse-hair work. 
 
 ATTENDAHTS OF THE COREAN AMBASSADOR. 
 
CHAPTER XXm. 
 
 JOUENET AXONS THE GREAT WAISL. 
 
 The month of April had now arrived. Two months of confine- 
 ment with a severe attack of small-pox had passed, and now 
 returning strength and the warming days of spring roused me to 
 impatience for action. A journey made in the beginning of 
 winter to the great wall and the confines of Tartary had only 
 served to excite in me a wish to penetrate further into that mys- 
 terious and almost unknown region which occupies the great 
 table-land of central' Asia. My wish was, first to travel as far 
 west as possible upon the plateau, in order to gain some knowl- 
 edge of the nature of the country, and of the character and habits 
 of the people ; and then, after studying the language, to endeavor 
 to reach the plains and valleys, which, lying between the Celes- 
 tial mountains and the Himalaya, were in the dawn of human 
 antiquity the cradle-land of our race. 
 
 I was fortunate in finding in Dr. Pogojefi", of the Russian lega- 
 tion, a companion for the journey. On the morning of the 5th of 
 April we left the northwestern gate of the city. Nearly the 
 whole of our first day's journey lay over the road by which I had 
 begun my trip to the coal fields. 
 
 At Chang-ping-chau a road branches off, leading to the tombs 
 of the Ming emperors, which I had visited on a previous excur- 
 sion. These monuments of one of the most brilliant dynasties of 
 China lie in a large circular valley, which, opening out from the 
 great plain, is surrounded on all sides by limestone peaks and 
 granite domes, a barren and waste amphitheatre. Grand in its 
 dimensions,. and almost awful in its desolation, it is a fitting 
 place for the imperial dead of the last native dynasty. 
 
 Soon after entering the valley the road passes under an im- 
 posing gateway of sculptured marble, and after this beneath two 
 large arched buildings. Some distance beyond these we come 
 to the first of a long series of colossal forms of animals, in marble, 
 20 
 
306 ACROSS AMEBIGA AND ASIA. [chap. xxin. 
 
 ■which, standing on either side of the road, form an avenue of 
 half a mile or more in length. Of these there are on either side : 
 1. Two lions standing. 2. Two lions sitting. 3. One camel 
 standing. 4. One camel kneeling. 5. One elephant standing. 
 6. One elephant kneeling. 7. One griffin standing. 8. One 
 griffin sitting. 9. Tvro horses standing. 10. Six warriors, 
 courtiers, etc. 
 
 These pieces, thirty-six in number, are all colossal, and each is 
 a monolith. In this remarkable avenue the figuries face each 
 other, and in passing between them my wild Tartar horse reared 
 and pitched with something of the terror felt by my mustang in 
 passing through a more horrible avenue of standing carcasses on 
 the American desert.* 
 
 From here the road leads directly across the valley, passing 
 over several marble bridges, now more than half buried under 
 sand and gravel, and enters the grounds surrounding the central 
 tomb. 
 
 At regular intervals, along a curve of a mile or more in length, 
 upon the mountain side, are thirteen great halls, each consecrated 
 to the memory of a Ming emperor. Passing through the grounds 
 of the central one we come to an imposing building, and, ascend- 
 ing the' flight of long steps by which it is approached, we enter a 
 hall, of the size of which I remember only that its width is more 
 than ninety feet, while its length is, I think, about two hundred. 
 The ceiling; from forty-five to sixty fi.et high, is supported by a 
 great number of pillars, distributed in several rows. Each of 
 these columns is a single stick of teak timber eleven feet in cir- 
 cumference ; these were brought for the purpose from the south, 
 and with a land journey of more than thirty miles from Peking. 
 
 Behind this memorial hall there rises an artificial tumulus per- 
 haps fifty or sixty feet high, through which there is built a rap- 
 idly rising and arched passage of white marble, leading to the 
 summit, which is crowned by an inposing marble structure, a 
 double arch, beneath which stands the imperial tablet. This is a 
 large slab, sculptured at the top with the dragon, and standing 
 upright upon the back of a gigantic tortoise. Somewhere in this 
 tumulus lie the remains of the Emperor, but the entrance to the 
 tomb is nowhere marked. 
 
 * See page. 58 
 
Lake loam 
 
 or 
 
 Terrace Deposit. 
 
 Volcanic Rocks 
 of the Plateau. 
 
 Kalgaiv Trachytic 
 Porphyry 
 
 Chinese Coal 
 Measures. 
 
 Mesozoic, 
 
 Limestone. 
 
 Deroiiian. 
 
 Granite 
 
 and 
 
 Metam Orphic Schists, 
 I 1 
 
CHAP, yxiii.] JOURNEY ALONG THE GREAT WALL. 307 
 
 The twelve other imperial sepulchres are said to resemble this 
 one in every respect. 
 
 But let us return to the narration of the present journey. Long 
 before we reached the mountains we could see the dark line of 
 the defile which leads to the Nan-kati pass, and the watch-tow- 
 ers and fortresses and walls, winding from plain to peak, which 
 formed the innermost defences of this important approach to the 
 capital. After a ride of seven hours and a half we reached Nau- 
 kau, our first resting-place, thirty miles from Peking. The next 
 morning, leaving the plain, we entered the narrow valley, winding 
 
 MAliBLE ARCH IH THE NAN-KATJ PASS. 
 
 for several miles through a desolate gorge, enclosed by lofty walls 
 and yellow clifis of limestone. The mountain torrent, which at 
 certain seasons dashes wildly through the valley, makes the con- 
 struction of a durable road almost impossible, and it was oulv 
 with diificulty, and with faith in the sure feet of our horses, 
 that we managed slowly to pick our way through the long and 
 narrow field of sharp-edged boulders and masses of fallen rock. 
 After several miles of this work we came to a point where the 
 remains of an ancient road rising some distance above the bed 
 of the valley was preserved along the mountain side. Ascend- 
 
308 ACROSS AMERIOA AND ASIA. [chap. xxui. 
 
 ing this by a long flight of steps, of highly-polished blocks of lime- 
 stone, granite, and porphyry, we passed through a gateway in an 
 inner branch of the great wall, and came soon after to a beautiful 
 white-marble arch built during the Chin dynasty. This struc- 
 ture is remarkable from the fact that while its blocks are cut for 
 a circular arch, the inner surfaces are hewn to produce a ceiling 
 of semi-hexagonal form. It is interesting also to the student 
 of the Cliinese language, from the fact that the interior contains 
 inscriptions in an ancient Chinese character. As Dr. Pogojeff 
 wished to photograph this monument, we remained hei-e till the 
 next day, quartered upon a poor family who could offer us nothing 
 but their good will and hot water for our tea. The next day, 
 continuing the ascent of the valley, we left the limestone and 
 came into the granite heart of the mountain. Here, at a point 
 where a bold cliff overhangs the valley, there is a Buddist shrine 
 hewn into the face of the rock high above the path. 
 
 At many points in this mountain pass I observed the ruins of 
 an ancient road, which, in its time, must have been built with a 
 great expenditure of labor and treasure. But the mountain tor- 
 rent and the frosts of centuries have left but small traces even of 
 the ruins. Here and there a fragment of a massive arch, or a 
 few rods of roadway paved with large hewn blocks of granite, 
 have been left standing. After traversing about two-thirds of 
 the pass, the way leaves the valley. Here ascending by a fright- 
 ful road through the wildest of mountain scenery — a desolate 
 region of barren and shattered masses of granite, cleft to their base 
 by deep and gloomy chasms — we reached the summit, and stood 
 in full view of the inner branch of the great wall of China. 
 
 The importance of this position led to its being well defended. 
 The wall is built here of hewn rock, from twenty to thirty feet 
 high, parapeted and well paved on the top, and defended by 
 towers at regular intervals of a few hundred feet. This structure, 
 now almost as perfect as the day when it was raised two thou- 
 sand years ago, winds along the mountain crest, climbing every 
 peak, descending steep declivities, and supported at the edge of 
 precipices on bold masses of masonry ; look where one will, its 
 crenulated parapet and gray towers are visible in lines which 
 apparently double and re-double on each other, now standing ou* 
 against the sky on the peaks above us, or again winding along 
 
CHAP, xxm.] JOURNEY ALONG TES QBE AT WALL. 309 
 
 the lower spurs, and crossing the valley beneath our feet. Only 
 the parapet is of brick. Wherever the wall ascends the moun- 
 tain side its top is built in steps to aid the ascent of soldiers. 
 Many of the towers are several stories high, and are provided 
 with loop-holes, and with arched windows. 
 
 A terrific wind was blowing when we reached the summit, and 
 so strong was the blast which whirled through the arched gate 
 of the wall that our horses could barely keep their foothold on 
 the smooth pavement. The descent to Cha-tau is extremely 
 rough. This is an ancient fortress, commanding the northern 
 approach to the pass, and is surrounded with ruins of massive 
 towers and arched buildings. 
 
 Here we entered upon the first of a series of mountain plains, i 
 fringed with loam terraces, occupying the enlargements of the 
 valleys of the Yang-lio and its tributaries. We shall see that 
 these are the beds of a chain of lakes, which once extended for 
 six hundred miles across northern China, and have since been 
 drained, leaving only rivers and creeks to wind along their former 
 bottoms. 
 
 Picking our way over the stony plain, we reached the walled 
 town of Tu-lin. It was already sunset, and without stopping 
 to choose more closely our quarters, we rode into the court-yard 
 of the first inn we saw. I had hardly dismounted when I remem- 
 bered that I had stayed one night at the same house on a former 
 journey. At that time the landlord had brought to me his son, 
 a boy about eight years old, begging that I would cure him. I 
 could not make out what was the matter with him, and would 
 not have known had I been told. In vain I insisted that I knew 
 nothing of medicine. The landlord, believing all foreigners to be 
 physicians and sorcerers, still urged that I should cure him. 
 Finding all protestation useless, I had left some simple pills, with 
 very wise instructions as to how they should be used. The inci- 
 dent had passed entirely from my mind, and now recurred for the 
 first time when I found myself again in the same inn. Heavens 
 protect us ! I thought, if the child has by any chance died, for 
 we shall have the whole town upon us in a mob. I thought the 
 landlord looked very unhospitable as he showed us to our room 
 at the head of the court. When he left I had begun to hope 
 that he had not recognized his former guest. But before long 
 
310 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxm. 
 
 the soand of many voices was heard, and the clattering of feet, 
 which showed that the court-yard was filling. 
 
 Keeping my revolver near at hand I waited, not without some 
 anxiety, for whatever might be coming. Soon the door flew 
 open, and a crowd of men and women entered ; but much to my 
 satisfaction, they were preceded by the very boy in question, 
 led between his father and mother. The child and his relatives 
 immediately went down on their knees, and knocking the ground 
 several times with their heads, expressed in warm terms their 
 gratitude to the " honorable and wise physician " who had per- 
 formed this wonderful cure. 
 
 Now we were besieged in earnest ; the fame of the cure had 
 gone far and wide, and it did not take long to spread the news of 
 the arrival of two doctors through the pretty large circle of 
 suffering inhabitants of Yu-lin. During a good part of the night, 
 and until we left the next morning, our room was a hospital for 
 the blind and the halt, the deaf and dumb, consumptives and 
 epileptics, and many other kinds of suffering humanity. The 
 doctor could of course do little or nothing, and left with fees in 
 the shape of well-earned blessings. 
 
 The great wall with its countless towers is visible several miles 
 off, winding along the crest and over the peaks of the high moun- 
 tains which shut in this valley on the south. Where the Yang- 
 ho, leaving the plain, enters the deep gorge by which it finds its 
 way through the rooky range, a large fortress like a walled city 
 is built upon the mountain side. 
 
 Our road, after passing over several miles of fertile bottom-land, 
 approaches the city of Ilwei-lai (hien), a place which in its day 
 must have had considerable importance. A long and handsome 
 bridge of white marble with many spans here crosses a tributary 
 of the Yang-ho ; but several of the arches are gone, rendering it 
 useless. 
 
 Beyond Hwei-lai the road, rising to the summit of a terrace, 
 skirts the edge of the mountains, and passes through several 
 walled towns, and near one or two which are entirely deserted, 
 their crumbling walls enclosing now only cultivated fields. Be- 
 fore us rises a high, sharp peak with ragged and precipitous sides 
 and crowned with ruins. This is called the Ki-ming-shan or 
 Cock-crowing mountain. A legend relates that two pious sisters 
 
CHAP, xxra.] JOUBNMY ALONG THE GREAT WALL. 311 
 
 vowed, the one to build a convent on the top of the mountain 
 the other to bridge the river below, between sunset and daylight. 
 The sister on the summit fulfilled her vow, but the cock crowing 
 before the other had finished the piers of her bridge, she drowned 
 herself in despair in the river. 
 
 Before reaching the town of Ki-ming-i we skirted the foot of 
 a long mountain called the Pa-pau-shan, or eight precious hills, 
 near the base of which lime was being burned. Passing under 
 the walls of Ki-ming we came to the Yang-ho, at the foot of the 
 Ki-ming mountain. This peak consists of the limestone which, 
 as we have seen, forms the floor of the coal formation, and which 
 here, bending upward with a vertical dip, forms the eastern bor- 
 der of a narrow coal basin, which it overhangs. The western side 
 of the mountain has been honey-combed by the miners, and 
 probably the caving in of these works has done much to give 
 the hill its broken appearance. Although this anthracite basin 
 is here narrowed to very small dimensions, it is either an outlier 
 or a continuation of the coal field of Ta-tung (fu), in Shansi, for 
 the valley of the San-kang-ho is in a synclinal fold, at the east 
 and west ends of which we find respectively the coal of Ki-ming 
 and of Ta-tung. A few miles northwest of Ki-ming the road 
 enters a gorge, by which the Yang-ho finds its way through 
 mountains of limestone and schalstone. The route is quite 
 picturesque, being cut into the rock along the edge of the rapid 
 and foaming river. At the northwestern end of these narrows a 
 small cluster of houses, called Hiang-shui-pu, is the usual resting- 
 place for the middle of the day. Here caravans of camels and 
 mules are rested, while their drivers collect in a large room, 
 which is at the same time kitchen and eating house. Here also 
 we entered, and, sitting down at a rough deal table, ordered our 
 dinner of the Chang-kweite, or, as Abbe Hue calls him, " the Inspec- 
 tor of the chest." There were stewed mutton, and fried mutton, and 
 beef and poultry, chi-tang-chau'er or fried eggs, lau-ping and 
 man-tau, or fried cakes and steamed bread, and vermicelli. There 
 was also pork in various shapes, but our knowledge of the Chinese 
 pig and its habits disinclined us from partaking of its flesh. Ex- 
 cluding this we ordered a little of everything else, and the cook- 
 ing of our dinner began under our eyes. We heard the chickens 
 squeal, and in a few minutes they were thrown through the win- 
 
312 AGB0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxra 
 
 dow to the cook, -who had them dressed and broiling in an incred- 
 ibly short time ; the bread-maker put the lumps of man-tau into 
 the steamer and then busied himself with the lau-ping. Taking 
 a large piece of well-kneaded dough, and making it into a stick 
 a yard long, he drew, threw, pulled and twisted it until it as- 
 sumed the dimensions of a girl's skipping rope, and then doubling 
 and twisting and pulling it again and again, producing a double 
 stub and twist texture, he cut it into small pieces, which after a 
 good deal of flapping and patting became respectable disks ; as 
 he finished each of these he uttered a shout, and with a well- 
 directed aim tossed it some twenty or thirty feet across the room 
 to the cook. In the meantime another man was manufacturing 
 the vermicelli. Seated on a machine, some three or four feet above 
 the cooking range, this man worked a long lever which moved a 
 piston in a cylinder with a perforated bottom ; at every stroke 
 the long white strings descended into a boiling pot beneath, until 
 the cook, judging that the quantity was equal to the demands of 
 our appetite, cut ofi'the material flush with the cylinder, giving the 
 man on the lever time to curl up on the narrow board and smoke 
 his pipe till another customer should need his services. While 
 waiting for dinner the traveller passes his time in drinking large 
 quantities of tea, but during the meal the beverage consists of 
 the strong rice brandy, sometimes flavored with rose leaves, and 
 always taken hot. 
 
 From this place the road, leaving the river, crosses a desolate 
 region of low hills, and then descends into the plains, and after a 
 few miles approaches Siuen-hwa (fu). This is a large city, once 
 of considerable importance, and now interesting to the traveller 
 from the fact that it has some very good inns. 
 
 Our stopping place was outside the gate, but wishing to pre- 
 sent a letter to the head of the Roman Catholic mission we entered 
 the city the next morning. Two broad avennes, intersecting each 
 other at right angles in the centre of the town, connect the four chief 
 gates. At the crossing of these ways there stands a large tower 
 several stories high and highly ornamented ; it is pierced at the bot- 
 tom by a groined arch, coinciding with the crossing of the avenues. 
 
 At the mission building we found only Chinamen, one of whom 
 informed us, in very fair Latin, t hat the father had gone beyond 
 the wall to administer the sacrament. 
 
CHAP. xxulJ JOUBNET along TEE GREAT WALL. 313 
 
 The lowlands of the plain are fertile and well cultivated, but a 
 few miles northwest of Siuen-hwa the road ascends a terrace slope 
 where the surface is stony and sandy, and then enters a region 
 of hills of trachytio porphyry and drifted sand. The rock is 
 amygdaloidal and contains very beautiful varieties of chalcedony. 
 Passing this low spur, the road continues over a sandy plain to 
 Chang-kia-kau, called Kalgan by the Russians, one of the great 
 market towns of the empire, and a fortress of the great wall. It 
 is a long and narrow place, stretching several miles along the west 
 bank of a tributary of the Yang-ho. The stream here breaks 
 through a short and narrow go:yge with vertical sides, forming a 
 natural outlet for the great highway to northern Asia. Here 
 too is a gate of the great wall, and on either side of the gorge the 
 timeworn structure and its towers are visible, climbing the steep 
 slopes, and winding along the uneven mountain crest. Tlie long 
 pull to the top of the mountain is well repaid by the wide view. 
 Climbing to the top of a ruined tower I could see in the north the 
 level outline of the table-land of central Asia ; while to the south, 
 beyond the broad valley of the Yang-ho, the country rises in 
 ridges, one behind the other, the furthest and highest just visible 
 as snow-capped domes. 
 
 The great wall was built about 200 years B.C., as a barrier 
 against the hordes of Tartar cavalry. It was everywhere con- 
 structed of the materials found in the immediate neighborhood. 
 On plains and terraces, which afforded clay and loam, it was con- 
 structed with an earthen core, built up in well-pounded layers, 
 growing narrower toward the top, and faced with large tiles laid 
 flat. The top also was paved with tiles, and defended with a 
 parapet. On mountains of stratified rock the facing was made 
 of masonry, and the interior filled with earth and cobble-stones. 
 Here on the mountain of Kal-gan, where the rock is a trachytio 
 porphyry, which breaks only into most irregular shapes, the wall 
 is of solid masonry, the stones being laid in cement ; its section is 
 here an isosceles triangle, the crest being brought to a sharp edge. 
 Everywhere throughout its length it is defended by towers, which 
 rise from it at regular distances of a few hundred feet. In many 
 places the northern side was defended by ditches and embank- 
 ments, but I do not know whether these formerly existed along 
 its whole length, or whether those places in which I saw them 
 
314 AOBOSS AMEBIC A AND ASIA. [chap. xxin. 
 
 were the sites of ancient attacks, during which these were thrown 
 up for local defence. Every mountain pass and every weak point 
 was defended by a fortified town. The wall is now in very dif- 
 ferent states of preservation, according to the material used. In 
 the valleys, the points where it was originally the most needed, 
 it has crumbled into a mere line of rubbish, which is being rapidly 
 graded down by the plow. 
 
 During the early periods of Chinese history,, when the young 
 nation was asserting its existence against natural obstacles and 
 the aborigines of the country, as well as external foes, it seems 
 to have been a common practice to defend the approaches to the 
 more peopled districts by walls of greater or less length. Fre- 
 quent mention is made to this effect in the earlier histories of the 
 northern provinces. Thus, in the Fang-yu-chi-yau, it is said 
 that Chang-Wang, of the Chow dynasty (1134 to 256 B.C.), built 
 the wall of old Nan-pi, two miles and a half northeast of the 
 present town of that name, as a defence against the San-Sung 
 (ancient Tartars). Nan-pi is in southeastern Chih-li. Again there 
 is an earthwork thirteen miles south of Tien-tsin, which is said to 
 have been built by the chief of the kingdom of Shan-tung, for 
 protection against the northern barbarians. 
 
 The honie of the nomads, chiefly the Hiung-nu (the ancient 
 Turks), was on the plains of the plateau of central Asia. Along 
 the edge of this region the princes of Tsin, of Chow, and of Yau, 
 had built defensive walls.* This was during a time when China 
 was subdivided into petty feudal states. When Tsin-chi Hwang- 
 ti, " the first universal emperor," had consolidated all these con- 
 tending territories, he began the work of uniting all the northern 
 defences. T h e result, after ten years of labor, was a continuo us 
 wall, extending from the gulf of Liau-tung , fifteen hundred miles 
 west, to the mountains of Kan-suh . " It has been estimated that 
 this monstrous monument of human labor contains material suf- 
 ficient to surround the whole globe, on one of its largest circles, 
 with a wall several feet in height." 
 
 Chang-kia-kau is the frontier town on the main highroad to 
 northern Asia, and the point of union of two great channels of 
 northern trade, coming from Han-kau on the Yangtz', and from 
 Tien-tsin on the Pei-ho. This position has made it the starting 
 
 * See note by Klaproth, In " Timkowski's Travels," Vol. I., p. 309. 
 
CHAP, xxin.] JOURNEY ALONG TEE GREAT WALL. 315 
 
 point of the caravans which carry the immense quantities of tea 
 consumed by the eighty or one hundred millions of the inhabitants 
 of Russia. It is also a distributing point for the more varied trade 
 with central Asia, though in this respect it has a strong competi- 
 tor in Kwei-hwa-chung, or Koko-hoton, a market town near the 
 northern bend of the Yellow river. 
 
 Before leaving Peking we had endeavored to obtain passports 
 for Chinese Tartary ; but the Government had declined to assume 
 any responsibility for our safety beyond the limits of the great 
 wall. We now found that without such documents we could 
 get no guides, either among the Tartars or the Chinesd This was 
 however no great privation, as the prospect of being thrown 
 upon our own resources, on a journey which had no definite point 
 in view, added considerably to the romance of the adventure, 
 which is the delight of the explorer. As no Tartars would ac- 
 company us, we were obliged to retain our Chinese muleteers. 
 Besides these I had my Chinese servant, and the Doctor was ac- 
 companied by a Cossack, from the Russian legation, who was 
 both a Mongol by birth, and a Buddist by religion. 
 
 Leaving Chang-kia-kau by the gate of the great wall, we 
 ascended a narrow gorge between lofty cliffs of trachytic por- 
 phyry. Eight hundred or a thousand feet above us the precipice 
 on our left was crowned by the black line and ruined towers of 
 the great wall. For several miles the valley was bordered by 
 lofty hills of porphyry and tufa, with steep slopes and castellated 
 summits, the declivib^es, often ribbed with dykes of younger rock, 
 projecting like walls above the surface. The tufa and porphyry 
 are quarried at several places in slabs and blocks for building. 
 About seven miles from Chang-kia-kau the character of the coun- 
 try changes, and we pass for a short distance between hills of 
 metamorphic schists, rising in sharp-edged pyramids with grassy 
 slopes. 
 
 The valley has a rapid and regular descent, and its bottom is 
 a smooth, even surface of gravel. A little further on, the walls 
 cf the valley are formed of flat-topped hills of gravel, eighty to 
 one hundred feet high. 
 
 Near Tutinza, a small village of Chinese mud huts, the road 
 begins a more rapid ascent for a few miles. After overcoming 
 this, the traveller stands upon the steppes of Tartary, and beyond 
 
316 A0B0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxra. 
 
 the limits of China proper. Here also the great wall rises to 
 the top of the plateau, after making a sharp bend to the north. 
 From a crumbling tower, standing on the very edge of the escarp- 
 ment of the table-land, I obtained one of the fine views which, 
 among the many reminiscences of extensive journeys, stand pre- 
 eminently impressed upon my memory. Stretching far away on 
 either side there was the precipitous edge of the plateau, over- 
 hanging the lowe r country asthe clifls of a bold coast overhang 
 the sea . To the north lay the boundless steppes of Tartary ; to 
 the south the mountains of China. We were here on one of the 
 sharpest boundary lines drawn by nature on our planet. The 
 change, geologically and topographically, from the broken and 
 barren mountains of metamorphic rocks, Devonian limestone, and 
 Triassic coal, to the high grass-clad plains, forming the surface of 
 the comparatively recent volcanic rocks and marine deposits oF 
 Mongolia, is extremely abrupt. Climatically and socially the 
 transition is not less sudden; the plains to the north receive 
 winds which have been drained of their moisture by the broad 
 belts of surrounding countries. Being thus scantily watered, 
 and possessing no fuel but the dung of cattle , they are suited 
 only tb~the subsistence of pastoral nomads, and their herds of 
 sheep, camels, horses, and cows. The habits and status of these 
 wanderers are fixed by nature; there can be no progress, no 
 transition fi-om the nomad life to a higher order of existence, 
 since the very elements of such progress are excluded by the sur- 
 rounding physical influences. 
 
 Nowhere is the influence of nature over the condition of man 
 more marked than here. There is no apparent limit to the length 
 of time that a nomad race might roam over these plains without 
 advancing a step in the social or intellectual scale ; but simple 
 habits, life in the saddle, and a meat diet, have made of them 
 a race of hardy warriors, needing in the past only a Gengis Khan 
 or a Timour to make them shake the world. 
 
 South of this boundary all is difierent. When the early Chi- 
 nese, themselves probably long a nomad people, first entered 
 their present country, they entered also upon a new life. A coun- 
 try suited only to agriculture, it necessarily revolutionized the 
 habits of its settlers. The varied gifts of nature, and the necessity 
 of using them; the obstacles offered by man and nature, and 
 
CHAP, xxin.] JOURNEY ALONG THE GREAT WALL. 317 
 
 the necessity of overcoming them — these were tlie seeds -which 
 were to ripen ; and being planted in a land wonderfully adapted 
 to their growth, out of them has arisen, step by step, a civilization 
 which until recently towered above all others. 
 
 From one ruined tower we could see the winding courses of 
 the great wall, the barrier raised by man twenty centuries ago 
 between barbarism and refinement. Though not always sufficient , 
 it has withstood more than one shock. Tempted by the wealtli 
 61: the em pire, in wave after wave the fierce hordes of the no rth 
 have sp ent their fury and their strength against this w all, and, 
 roTIing~back, have overwhelmed the less resisting nations, even 
 of Europ e. 
 
 I could see that while the general course of the plateau escarp- 
 ment was north of east and south of west, it was as sinuous as a 
 coast line, bending northward in deep bays, or jutting south in 
 long peninsulas, terminating in bold promontories. The belt from 
 ten to thirty miles wide, lying between its base and the moun- 
 tains of northern Chili, is far below the level of the plateau, and 
 has the appearance of a region of low flat-topped hills. The 
 plateau at its edge consists of a black volcanic rock, the decom- 
 position of which furnishes the soil and nutriment for the heavy 
 growth of grass with which the plains are covered. 
 
 The elevation here above the seals 5,400 feet, * and is probably 
 not less than from 3,000 to 3,500 above Chang-kia-kau. From this 
 southern edge the general elevation of the plateau drops off to 
 the northward to the sand desert of Gobi. 
 
 Ifear the tower which has just been described is a small postal 
 station called Hanoor. 
 
 The view inspired me with a wish to travel westward on the 
 table-land, keeping near the edge. This plan seemed to promise 
 both insight into the geological structure of the country and a 
 greater variety of scenery. I knew that Ilanoor was near a car- 
 avan route which, branching off from the post-road, took a west- 
 erly course ; but the only information we could get from the people 
 was, that the first place to the westward was called Borotsedji. 
 As it was already afternoon we determined to make that point 
 our stopping place for the night. Leaving Hanoor with the 
 intention of following the first indications of a route to the west, 
 
 * Fuss nnd t. Bnnge. 
 
318 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. • [chap, xxiir. 
 
 we passed a small lake with no outlet, covered with ice excepting 
 around the edges. In the little open water thus left them were 
 many ducks, pioneers of the annual migration northward. The 
 surface of the country here is rolling, or rather the plateau is 
 covered with knobs, eighty to one hundred and fifty feet high, 
 with rounded tops and broad bases, the profile lines forming 
 unbroken and gently sweeping convex and concave curves. 
 
 Seeing some antelopes in the distance, I left the road with the 
 Doctor and the Cossack to get a shot. The unaccustomed excite- 
 ment put us so far off our guard that when we had finished the 
 fruitless chase we found ourselves .lost. After trying for some 
 time to find the route we had left, which was more an imaginary . 
 line than a beaten road, we struct out in a northwesterly course, 
 determining to keep this till we should find some brook, by follow- 
 ing which we should probably come upon a Mongol encamp- 
 ment. After ascending many knobs and crossing the interven- 
 ing valleys without finding any signs of water, we came upon 
 the top of a large hill, from which the Cossack called our attention 
 to some objects on another summit which he pronounced to be 
 sheep. We thought that we could see them move, and were so 
 sure of the neighborhood of the Mongols that we instantly set 
 out for the spot. On reaching the eminence we found to our 
 great surprise that there were no animals, and that we had been 
 misled by an optical illusion; a few small stones, not a quarter 
 as large as a sheep, had been distorted by an atmospheric effect. 
 After the result of this deviation we determined to adhere 
 strictly to a northwest course. The sun was already sinking 
 near the horizon when we reached the top of the next hill ; and 
 here an unexpected sight met us. The rays of the setting sun 
 were brilliantly reflected from the gilded vanes and balls which 
 decorated the roof of a temple about a quarter of a mile dis- 
 tant. It lay in a broad g'rassy valley, the slopes of which were 
 so regular and gentle that it was impossible to tell where the 
 meadow ended and hill-side began. A narrow brook mean- 
 dered through the meadow, and toward this thousands of sheep 
 and camels, horses and cows, were wandering over the grassy 
 plain. 
 
 Around the temple there were a few houses of brick, and a 
 small village of tents. Toward these we directed our course. 
 
cnAP.xxm.] JOURNEY ALONG THE GREAT WALL. 319 
 
 The inhabitants infoi-med us that the caravan ronte crossed, the 
 creek half a mile further north, and thither we turned our steps. 
 It was nearly dark before we reached the place, but we could dis- 
 tinguish the outlines of a large enclosure surrounding some build- 
 ings, and the loud barking of dogs served as a guide. Fighting 
 our way into the court through an army of savage curs, we found 
 that our pack-train had arrived there, and that we were in Borot- 
 sedji. This was a large establishment for the collecting of wool 
 and hides. The nights were still cold, and the Jcangs or beds 
 were heated. I believe I have not yet given a description of these 
 peculiar Chinese couches. At the end of the room there is a 
 raised platform, about two feet high and eight or ten feet wid e, 
 with a length equal to the breadth o f the room. The whole is 
 constructed of bricks, and has underne ath it a large fire-place, 
 with h orizontal flues extending everywhere immediate ly under 
 t he surface. The top is covered with a coarse hard matting o f 
 split bamboo, and forms the bed of as many people as can be un- 
 co mlortably packed upon it. Every traveller carries his own 
 bedding, unless he wishes to sleep without any. Now, the kang 
 at Borotsedji, although unusually large, presented no more area 
 than was needed by the Mongols and Chinamen, and when we 
 added our party of six we were packed rather more closely than 
 was comfortable. The top of the kang was hot, and as we made 
 up our beds the head of the house added to the fire a liberal sup- 
 ply of dry dung. During the night the heat which collected un- 
 der the blankets was unbearable ; and from a dream, in which I 
 had imagined myself being roasted alive, I awoke to find myself 
 being really stewed. My clothes and blankets were drenched 
 with perspiration, Avhile the eflluvia which steamed off from some 
 ten or fifteen bed-fellows, to whom bathing was unknown, rendered 
 the air insupportable. N"ot less suggestive was the incessant 
 scratching, by which my neighbors kept up a constant fight in 
 their sleep with the countless denizens of their sheep-skin clothing. 
 The next morning we ascended the grassy valley of a small 
 tributary qf Narin Gol. This small stream, rising at the very 
 edge of the plateau, flows northeast by TJvtai, and turning to the 
 south descends from the table-land at Teutai, and passing through 
 the gorge at Chang-kia-kau joins the Yajig-ho. 
 . The country in this part of the route is everywhere cut into 
 
320 ACS0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxiii. 
 
 by valleys, vai-ying in depth fi-om one hundred to several hundred 
 feet. The hill-tops thus formed are flat, and in the same plane — 
 that of the original surface of the plateau — excepting when the 
 erosion has isolated small hills, in which case the present knobs 
 are lower than the general plane. Throughout this region the 
 valleys consist of large and small oval depressions, connected by 
 narrow ravines, and containing either small lakes, or meadows 
 occupying the fiUed-up beds of foniier ponds. The whole surface 
 of hill and valley is clothed with grass. 
 
 This part of the table-land, from the southei-n escarpment 
 northward, consists of an immense development of beds of vol- 
 canic rock, of basaltic and trachytic varieties, which forms a belt 
 of irregular width, of at least a hundred and fifty miles in length, 
 and defines the southern edge of the plateau. After ascending 
 for ten or fifteen miles the valley of the Nai-in Gol, through a 
 succession of meadows, we reached the summit of a ridge which 
 terminated in the southwest in a distant peak. Several miles to 
 the south I could distinguish a long line of towers, which marked 
 the position of the great wall. 
 
 Continuing westward through a series of meadows, connected 
 by the smallest possible brook, we came upon the banks of a little 
 lake which was covered with thousands of ducks. There was, 
 however, no cover, and before we could get within range the 
 whole flock had taken the alarm. 
 
 The valley here turned to the north, and as our object was to 
 keep the general westerly course, we crossed a hill and continued 
 toward the setting sun. The country dropping off rapidly to the 
 west, we found ourselves almost before we were aware at the 
 entrance of a very narrow and winding defile, in which we de- 
 scended rapidly. Two or three miles of this down-hill work 
 brought us suddenly out upon a terrace, beneath which there 
 was spread out before us a broad valley, the fields and villages 
 of which showed us that we had unawares left Mongolia and had 
 ei tered China. The whole aspect of the! country below us was 
 different from that which we had left. Behind us was an un- 
 broken mantle of green, while the region before us was a mass 
 of yellow sand, which was carried by the wind in columns and 
 clouds across the surface. The prospect was certainly uninviting. 
 We had started for a journey among the Tartars of the table- 
 
CHAr. xxiiL] JOUMNEY ALONG TEE GREAT WALL. 32J 
 
 land, and here, almost at the outset, our course had brought us 
 into the valleys of China. 
 
 Continuing the descent, we came through dusty roads and 
 clouds of drifting sand to Tau-li-chuen, a village built of sun- 
 burnt brick, where we passed the night. Here occurred the only 
 instance of dishonesty that happened to me in northern China. 
 While the animals were being packed in the morning we had all 
 left the inn for a few minutes, and on returning had missed a 
 bag containing all the silver we had brought for the journey. 
 This.was too serious a loss to pass unnoticed, and we instantly 
 began a search into every nook and corner of the inn. Not a 
 box or barrel escaped, no room or chest, even in the women's 
 quarters, was too sacred. The fear of having an end put to our 
 journey overcame all scruples of modesty, and amid torrents of 
 abuse, such as only a Chinese woman is mistress of, we turned 
 men and women out of bed to examine mattrasses. Finally the 
 missing treasure was found, hidden behind some barrels. Noth- 
 ing but the rapidity with which we had conducted the search, 
 and the fact that the stolen property was really found in the inn, 
 prevented us from being mobbed by the crowd, Avhich the landlord 
 had collected. 
 
 My experience in China, especially in the north, did not corrob- 
 orate the accepted ideas concerning the dishonesty of the Chinese. 
 In this connection I might as well relate an incident which hap- 
 pened in Peking. Walking one day on the banks of the large 
 ponds of gold-fish, which cover many acres in the Chinese city, 
 I called a ragged boy, the only person in sight, and giving him a 
 Chinese bank-note, of the value of about two dollars and a half, 
 told him to buy two cents worth of bread for me to thi-ow to the 
 fishes, and to bring back the change. The nearest houses were 
 an eighth of a mile distant, and as the boy made his way toward 
 these, the two gentlemen who were with me, and who had long 
 been residents in China, laughingly assured me that I had seen 
 the last of the money. Not unwilling to back my faith in the 
 boy's honesty, I accepted a wager from each of my companions 
 and awaited the result. The boy belonged evidently to thc^ 
 lowest class, and knew perfectly well that we could not recog- 
 nize him among a hundred thousand like him in the city. More- 
 over the amount was to him what fifty dollars would be to one of 
 21 
 
322 ACBOSS AMEBW-A AND ASIA. [chap, xxiii 
 
 the saine class in "New York or London ; and yet he returned 
 with his hands full of bread, and bringing the change. 
 
 In bur journey of the day before wehad made a little too much 
 southing ; on leaving the village we rode' northwest across the 
 fields toward the distant escarpment of the plateau. The far- 
 mers were planting, and plows and harrows of primitive forms 
 were at work in the fields ; among other implements I noticed a 
 machine, something in the shape of a wheelbarrow, to which was 
 attached a hopper, and which was intended for sowing grain in 
 drills. Over the surface of one of the fields which we crossed were 
 scattered small heaps of material which proved to be a mixture 
 of manure and earth containing beans; by planting portions of 
 this in holes a great economy of manure is effected. 
 
 Finding a trail leading northward we followed it into the low 
 and rugged hills, which form the outliers of the plateau, till it 
 entered a ravine, by which we gained the summit of the table- 
 land. For a distance of a few miles we tried to kfeep near the 
 edge of the highland, but finding it broken by deep and impas- 
 sable chasms we were obliged to turn northward. 
 
 Here also we saw how sharp is the boundary Which the escarp- 
 ment draws between the two races. The yellow sandy fieldsof 
 the' Chinese come to the very foot of the precipice, while at the 
 top the grassy plains furnish pasture for the fiocks of the Mongol 
 to the very edge. The Chinese in the valley were ignorant of 
 the Mongol names, of places on the plateau, and even of their 
 existence ; while the nearest Tartars seemed never to have heard 
 of Tau-li-chuen. Upon the plateau we frequently came into the 
 broad tracks of caravan routes, but being ignorant of their des- 
 tination we generally avoided them, laying out a course of our 
 own. In doing this it was necessary to keep a kind of dead 
 reckoning, which I did by using a dioptric compass for bearings, 
 arid by timeing the regular gait of my horse for distances. The 
 results of these observations being transferred to a Mercator 
 basis supplied us with a daily knowledge of our position. 
 
 Supposing that we should now have little trouble in remaining 
 upon the plateau, we followed the general westerly direction of 
 our jom-ney. For a few miles our route lay over the level grassy 
 plains characteristic of this part of the table-land. The decom- 
 posing volcanic rock here furnishes Sustenance to an exceedingly 
 
CHAP, xxui.] JOURNEY ALONa THE GREAT WALL. 32S 
 
 ricli growth of grass, which in the early summer reaches the 
 height of several feet. Before noon it was clear that the country 
 to the west of us was rapidly descending, and we soon came to 
 the brow of a declivity from which we saw spread out heneatli 
 us a broad rolling region dotted with Chinese villages, and culti- 
 vated to the foot of the descent upon which we stood. 
 
 Here again the view was obscured by the clouds of dust which 
 in the cultivated portions of northern China are constantly 
 raised by the prevailing westerly winds, before the crops have 
 reached a height sufficient to protect the surface. The country 
 which we had passed through during the morning was appa- 
 rently used neither by Chinese nor Mongols ; to the former, like 
 every other part of the plateau, it was forbidden ground ; and to 
 the Mongolian herdsmen, the close proximity to the Chinese dogs 
 rendered it probably rather dangerous grazing country. 
 
 The escarpment of the plateau, here several hundred feet high 
 above the cultivated country, stretched away to the north as i'ar 
 as the eye could see. Much as I wished to remain upon the 
 plains of Tartary, I did not dare risk the delays which might 
 shorten our journey westward by making a detour of indefinite 
 length to the northward. 
 
 Regretfully casting, for aught we knew, a last look at the 
 grassy plains, we descended once more to the dusty fields of China. 
 
 The immense mantle of volcanic rock which, spread out with 
 an irregular thickness, varying from hundreds to thousands of 
 feet, forms the southern part of the table-land, has here disap- 
 peared ; and these depressions, into which we seemed forced to 
 descend, represent the surface of the granitic and schistose rocks 
 which form the foundation of the volcanic formation. 
 
 These depressions are bays of the valley system of the Tang-ho, 
 and in them are the head-waters of tributaries of that stream. 
 
 Since the erosion of the volcanic mantle this whole valley sys- 
 , tem has been occupied by a'wide-spread chain of lakes, in which 
 were precipitated the thick deposits of sand and loam which con- 
 stitute the terrace formation already mentioned. 
 
 The surface of these lakes seems nowhere to have risen within 
 several hundred feet of the top of the plateau. 
 
 Following the Chinese road, we came toward evening into the 
 valley of a stream, and to the small tillage of Murh-kwo-chino'. 
 
324 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxm. 
 
 It was the first place we had seen without an inn, and we had 
 much dLfficulty in finding quarters for the night. 
 
 After applying in vain at several places, we came to the most 
 respectahle-looking farm-house, where we were also refused ad- 
 mission. There being no other way, we determined to take 
 possession. 
 
 The farm-house was surrounded by a large enclosure, with a 
 gate-house having several rooms, and in one of these we estab- 
 lished ourselves. Then came the efibrts to dislodge us. First 
 appeared the master of the house, who politely informed us that 
 he had nothing for us to eat, nothing for our horses, that the 
 room was occupied by others, and that his family were on the 
 verge of starvation. His well-rounded person and smooth face 
 added no force to this protest. Then came, successively, a num- 
 ber of men, who all protested and entreated, and finally departed 
 with threats to rouse the population of the village against us. 
 
 Things began to look serious ; but the worst was to come. 
 The shrill tones of a tjoop of women were lieard crossing the 
 court. Headed by the lady of the house, they burst into the 
 room and filled it not only with their persons but with' invec- 
 tives. My experience on the Yangtz' river had taught me that 
 the hardest attack to resist Avould be a troop of Chinese viragos. 
 
 As our best and only ally in the fight with the soldiers at 
 Chang-sha had been the wife of our skipper — the woman who 
 had turned the day in our favor — I now concluded that as We 
 could not fight women we should have to give up our quarters, 
 unless we could make the women fight for us. 
 
 " Leave this house ! " they said. " You are impertinent, red- 
 haired foreign devils ! " " You turtles' eggs ! " " You cross 
 between a drake and a toad ! " " What right have you to come 
 into people's houses when you are not wanted ? " 
 
 It was certainly not easy to answer invocations made with so 
 much earnestness. Opening our bag of silver, I rolled out the 
 large, rough lumps of the metal, and, displaying them, said to 
 her who seemed to be the mistress : 
 
 " Madam, we wish to take nothing by force. We want little, 
 will pay liberally for what we get, and leave in the morning." 
 
 The sight of the money evidently had a soothing effect, and 
 removed us from the suspicion of being lawless characters. The 
 
CHAP. xxiii.J JOURNEY ALONG THE GREAT WALL. 325 
 
 old Avoman then iu a softer toiie informed us that the room wo 
 were in belonged to her son, Avho Avas an " unfortunate." 
 
 " "What is the matter with him ?" I asked. 
 
 The answer was given by a by-stander, who informed us that 
 the young man was an idiot, who spent all his time in wan- 
 dering about the country gathering pieces of stones. I involun- 
 tarily shoved the geological specimens which I had collected that 
 day under a blanket, to hide what might seem to the good people; 
 rather strong evidence of mental aberration on my own part. 
 
 Pointing to the doctor I said to the mother : " My good woman, 
 this gentleman is a physician, and may be able to help your son." 
 
 The effect was immediate, the old woman bounded from the 
 house, and soon returned, followed by a young man, a hopeless 
 idiot. 
 
 The doctor told the mother that it was a case beyond his power, 
 and that he could do nothing. He patted the unfortunate gently 
 on the forehead, and from that moment the poor fellow insisted 
 upon staying near his new acquaintance, every minute motioning 
 to the doctor to put his hand again upon his head. This gentle 
 treatment won the heart of the mother, and through her of every 
 one in the house ; our horses were stabled, and a bountiful sup- 
 per soon appeared. The next morning we found ourselves be- 
 sieged by all the suffering population of the surrounding country. 
 
 The quiet farm-house seemed suddenly transformed into a tem- 
 porary hospital for every form of disease. The patients were accom- 
 panied by friends, and in the tenderness and sympathy shown by 
 these I read a phase of the Chinese character for which for- 
 eigners have never given credit to this phlegmatic race. The doctor 
 did what he could, by confining himself chiefly to diseases of the 
 eye, for which he had brought remedies. 
 
 The people of the house showed their gratitude by steadily re- 
 fusing pay, while others brought offerings in the form of oats or 
 hay, which they forced us to accept. 
 
 As soon as we could get away we turned our steps northwest- 
 ward, and soon came into a broken country, where small isolated 
 hills of volcanic rock seemed to indicate the neighborhood of the 
 plateau. Ascending • an eminence, I could distinguish the long 
 straight line by which the table-land was defined against the" sky, 
 while a few miles to the northeast there lay three small lakes. 
 
326 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxiii. 
 
 Toward these -we continued our journey; they proved to be the 
 Gurban-noor — three lakes, now merely three ponds, surrounded 
 by broad margins of clay, covered with a glistening efflorescence 
 of soda. Hei-e was a small Mongol encampment, at which we 
 triedinvain to get a guide. The people, fearing the Chinese offi- 
 cials, steadily refused even to give us any information. Follow- 
 ing a narrow trail running westward we rose to the surface of 
 the plateau, and immediately descended into a shallow valley, 
 formed by a series of circular plains, which were formerly lakes, 
 but which were now rich meadows connected by a winding brook. 
 
 Riding along the little stream, we came before sunset upon 
 Mongols driving their herds of sheep and cows, and further on, to 
 the encampment of Hoyurtolo-gol. 
 
 Dismounting at the best looking yurt, and leaving my 
 whip outside, in accordance with the custom of the country, 
 1 entered the dwelling, in which were a middle-aged woman, and 
 a girl of about seventeen. To the former I gave immediately an 
 empty bottle, and to the latter a red scarf, and our good reception 
 was insured; the old woman was very good-natured, and the 
 daughter was the most graceful, and I might say the most beau- 
 tiful woman I had seen since leaving Japan. This girl showed a 
 modest ease and grace in exercising the duties of hospitality 
 which astonished me, as she had certainly never before seen a for- 
 eigner. 
 
 These Mongol yurts are circular, generally about fourteen feet 
 in diameter, with a jDortable trellis-frame wall about four feet 
 high. From the top of this frame springs the roof, in the form of 
 a dome ; the whole is covei-ed with thick felt, leaving a circular 
 opening at the top, through which the smoke escapes. The en- 
 trance is a small square opening, protected by a heavy curtain ; 
 and the only furniture is generally a chest, with a small Buddist 
 shrine, and a ritual in Thibetan if one of the sons be a Lama. The 
 ground is covered with felt mats, and the bedding, generally of 
 sheep skins, is stowed away around the circumference. In the 
 centre of the dwelling a small tripod supports the cauldron, 
 which is the only cooking utensil. 
 
 From the frame work of the tent hang pieces of dried meat, 
 and the few other articles of food. Perhaps it was the beauty of 
 our young hostess which inspired us with confidence in the clean- 
 
CHAP. xxiiT.] JOURNEY ALONG THE GREAT WALL. 327 
 
 liness of the place ; but in this we were sadly deceived, for on leav- 
 ing the next morning we felt that we had carried away with us 
 some of the super-abundant inhabitants which infest alike the 
 dwellings of Mongols and of the poorer Chinese. 
 
 Leaving this hospitable encampment we followed the brook in 
 its southwesterly course. 
 
 On either side and before us were everywhere the same flat- 
 topped hills of the table-land, but they are here only the rem- 
 nants of a volcanic mantle, insignificant in thickness, compared 
 with that further east. The valleys here have everywhere cvit 
 through this covering and into the sub-structure of schistose rocks. 
 
 It was now only the seventeenth of April, and yet the whole 
 country was clothed in the full beauty of spring ; while from 
 higher points we could see far away to the south the mountains 
 of Shan-si covered with snow ; around us the flat-topped hills, their 
 sides and the broad meadows between them forming an unbroken 
 carpet of green, were mottled with the flowers of early spring. 
 
 Scattered over the country, herds of cows and sheep, horses 
 and camels, were lazily grazing, while the Mongolian herdsmen, 
 too heavily dressed in skins to walk, lounged listlessly in their 
 saddles, or spurred their horses across the plain to meet and won- 
 der at our cavalcade. The valley led us through a narrow defile 
 between walls of chloritic granite, and out of this into another bay, 
 from which the drainage finds an exit through the Si-ho into the 
 Tang liver. Soon after leaving the gorge the road crosses a lava- 
 stream one or two thousand feet broad, and from sixty to eighty 
 feet thick, through which the rivulet has cut its way. This rock 
 has a beautiful columnar structure, and appears to have flowed 
 down from a neighboring mountain, which has all the appearance 
 of a half-destroyed crater. 
 
 The eruption must have been subsequent to the erosion of this 
 part of the plateau. It was the only instance in which I observed 
 traces of true volcanic action, more recent than that to which the 
 volcanic formation of southern Mongolia owes its origin. Near 
 this point there is a large Chinese cattle-ranche, at which we 
 nooned. 
 
 After a long ride through a rocky country we came, toward 
 sunset and in the midst of a drenching thunder-storm, to the 
 Mongol encampment at Chaganoussu. 
 
328 ACliOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxiii. 
 
 Applying for admission at the principal tent, we were peremp- 
 torily refused by the old woman, the wife of the chief. 
 
 We learned that the men of the place were mostly away on mili- 
 tary duty, and that the women were frightened at the arrival of our 
 strange party. The doctor and I entered the tent with the hope 
 of conciliating the chieftainess by means of presents, but it was 
 useless ; she stormed, and insisted upon our leaving, and went so 
 far as to strike the doctor in the face. 
 
 This act so exasperated my Russian friend that he involun- 
 tarily drew his revolver, at which the old woman gave a howl and 
 bounded out of the tent. Fearing that ' there would be trouble, 
 we formed our party in the open space among the yurts. We 
 had not long to wait ; in a few minutes the woman re-appeared, 
 leading a motley crowd of Chinese and Mongols, armed with 
 sickles and clubs, whom she inspirited with wild gesticulations 
 and loud cries. 
 
 There was something half ludicrous and half serious in the ap- 
 pearance of this novel force, as it rushed down hill toward us, 
 headed by an enraged woman, whose robes and dishevelled hair 
 were streaming in the wind ; and the effect was heightened by 
 the loud peals of thunder and bright flashes of lightning which 
 broke at once the silence and the coming darkness of night. 
 
 The enemy came on and surrounded us bravely enough, until 
 they perceived that instead of being frightened and fleeing we 
 quietly stood our ground and only laughed at them, and that 
 moreover Ave wore revolvers in our belts. 
 
 Being somewhat cooled in their ardor they formed a large 
 circle around us, evidently needing stronger inspiration before 
 beginning an attack. The old woman danced with rage, calling 
 us and her followers all sorts of bad names, but all to no pur- 
 pose ; Ave continued to walk quietly up and down, smoking our 
 pipes, and the attacking force maintained its distance. This state 
 of things might have lasted all night had not the arrival of a Lama, 
 Avho Avas the son of the woman, brought us an ally. Understanding 
 Chinese he soon learned the position of affairs, and pacified his 
 mother sufficiently to gain for us the right of using the tent. The 
 volunteers Avere disbanded, and the only bad result of the battle 
 AA-as a thorough drenching all round. 
 
 Chaganoussu, like most of the lakes of Mongolia, has no outlet. 
 
CHAP, xxin.] JOURNEY ALONG THE GREAT WALL. 329 
 
 Filling the large depressions of valleys, these small bodies ol 
 water receive the drainage of the surrounding country. At some 
 former time, when the precipitation of moisture was probably 
 greater, the valleys contained streams which formed the outlets 
 of the lakes into tributaries of the larger rivers ; but now the 
 rain-fall is hardly equal to the evaporation,, which keeps the water- 
 level below the point of outlet. 
 
 Leaving this lake we passed the dry bed of another, the Hoy- 
 urnoor, and before noon came to a gorge which leads into the 
 valley of the Kir-noor. Before descending we climbed to the top 
 of a neighboring hill to get a view of the country. We were 
 here again on the edge of an escarpment of the plateau. Before 
 us lay a valley seven or eight miles wide, running nearly north 
 and south, lying many hundred feet below us, and nearly sur- 
 I'ounded on all sides by the almost vertical wall of the plateau. 
 
 It is a broad plain, sloping gently from all sides toward the 
 centre, and covered, excepting near the middle, with a heavy 
 growth of waving grass. We could see no water ; but near the 
 centre a large area of glistening white efflorescence reflected the 
 noon rays of the sun with dazzling brilliancy. 
 
 Descending from our lookout we reached the plain, and soon 
 came to the Mongol village of Hoyurbaishin, consisting of houses 
 built in the Chinese manner ; they were the first of the kind we 
 had seen among this people. In return for the hospitable recep- 
 tion we received here, the doctor exercised his knowledge of 
 photography in taking the portraits of the inhabitants. The 
 most patient as well as most delighted sitter was the wife of our 
 host, who made up for her lack of beauty by the gay color of her 
 silk dress, and by tbe amount of silver ornaments braided into 
 her hair. 
 
 Seen from the plain, the face of the enclosing plateau escai'p- 
 ment is ' everywhere marked by parallel, horizontal lines, which 
 are continuous on the same level around the headlands and val- 
 leys of the wall, and are reproduced on the sides of a hill which 
 rises from the plain ; they are visible to the naked eye at a dis- 
 tance of ten or twelve miles, defined where the ascent is gentle by 
 masses of lai-ge and small fragments of rock, and on the steeper 
 declivities by a slight variation in the angle of slope. 
 
 They undoubtedly mark former levels of the lake surface, and 
 
330 ACROSS AMERICA ANH ASIA. [chap, xxiii 
 
 tlie higher ones probably belong to a time when the great chain 
 of ancient lakes existed through north ern China on a scaIe~s"econd 
 only to that of tSe^ orth American Take s. ~ 
 
 The only trees' which we saw after leaving Chaug-kia-kau 
 were two about twenty feet high growing in the rocks at the foot 
 of the plateau wall. The greater part of the plain is covered 
 with grass, supporting large herds of sheep; but, as we ap- 
 proached the recent lake-bed, the surface was cut up by dry and 
 shallow water-courses, with only tufts of grass, between which 
 the ground is bare and cracked. The present lake is a mere pond, 
 bordered by a large area covered with 'an efflorescence of soda. 
 It is said to be drying up ; and the Mongols assert that its waters 
 have flowed into the Te-Hai further west — an apparently un- 
 founded belief, as there is no surface communication between the 
 two lakeSj and the natives on the shore of the Te-Hai were not 
 aware of any increase in its volume. Still it is evident that the 
 waters of the Kir-noor are rapidly disappearing; and the cause, 
 whether temporary, or a constantly operating change in the cli- 
 mate, has been acting at least for several years. 
 
 Among the lakes we have already noticed, the Chaganoussu is 
 also disappearing, and the adjoining Hoyur-noor has for several 
 years only been represented by its dry bed. 
 
 Crossing the plain we forded a small stream of fresh water, and, 
 passing through a marshy tract, approached the western wall of 
 the valley. Here leaving the plain to ascend to the plateau, we 
 passed a deep and gloomy gorge, cut through the table-land to 
 its very foundation. This chasm seems to connect the valley of 
 the Kir-noor with that of the Karaoussu, a tributary of the 
 Tourgen-gol, which flows into the Yellow river. After a gradual 
 ascent of one or two hours we came again among the flat-topped 
 hills and shallow valleys of the, plateau, through which we wound 
 for several miles. Quite unexpectedly we came upon the brow 
 of a precipice, overlooking a broad circular valley several hundred 
 feet beneath us, presenting an unbroken surface of grass, covered 
 with thousands of grazing animals. In the distance the gilded 
 vanes and balls of a Lama temple reflected the rays of the set- 
 ting sun, and gave the place the appearance of an enchanted 
 valley. The sun had set before we found a practicable route for 
 descent through a long and narrow gorge. 
 
CHAP. XXIII.] JOURNEY ALONG THE OREAT WALL. 331 
 
 The hills rising in the valley are of gneiss, overloaded with 
 garnets. It was night when we reached the Lamassery. This i* 
 one of the many temples and small monasteries which are scat- 
 tered through the valleys of Mongolia, subordinate to the few 
 larger ones which are the seats of living Buddas. 
 
 They form the centres of pilgrimage for the immediate neigh- 
 borhood, and are the schools in which the young Lamas get the 
 elements of their religious education. They are well patronized, 
 as it is the custom for almost every family to set apart in early 
 childhood one of its sons for the priesthood. 
 
 This was the last of the Mongol settlements, for the next morn- 
 ing, after rising to the surface of the plateau, we found ourselves 
 among cultivated fields, and soon came into a Chinese village. 
 The fame of the doctor had already reached this place, and while 
 we were at dinner the court of the inn was tilled with people 
 wishing to be cured by the magician from over the sea. Evi- 
 dently there was no lack of faith to helf) the action of medicine. 
 They were chiefly troubled by diseases of the eye, and we were 
 surprised to see the fortitude with which men and boys bore the 
 application of caustic agents to that sensitive organ. 
 
 We had gone but a short distance when we were overtaken by 
 several of the patients bringing bags of oats, which they pressed 
 upon the doctor in return for the services he had rendered. 
 
 During the afternoon we suddenly found ourselves again upon 
 an escarpment of the plateau, and overlooking a broad plain sunk a 
 thousand feet or more beneath us. About . twelve miles broad 
 and eighteen or twenty miles long, it is almost entirely surrounded 
 by the lofty wall of the plateau, fi-om the foot of which its sur- 
 face everywhere slopes gently toward a beautiful lake covering 
 several square miles in the centre. 
 
 ' This valley is in great part cultivated, and the young crops 
 had already covered it with a green carpet. The end nearest us 
 was divided into large farms, containing groups of buildings of a 
 superior class, surrounded by enclosures. 
 
 A long and tedious descent brought us to the plain, and we 
 then found that the buildings we had seen were, at least in part, 
 Chinese Buddist monasteries. We were now in the valley of the 
 Te-Hai, or Daikha-noor. 
 
 The next morning we made a detour to visit the lake, and 
 
332 ACROSS AMEBIOA AND ASIA Lchap. xxiii. 
 
 found its waters salt, but not Ibitter ; it is surrounded by a broad 
 margin covered mtb efflorescence of soda. 
 
 Along the northern edge of the valley arises a lofty mountain 
 ridge, of which the barren peaks tower high above the table-land. 
 
 On the south, perched upon the highest points of the plateau, 
 there are ancient and crumbling watch-towers, commanding a 
 view of the whole plain, and from which signals could be made 
 to the long line of towers of the great wall. They are silent 
 monuments of a time when the shores of these lakes were the homes 
 of an aggressive race, ever threatening a descent into the fertile 
 regions of China. 
 
 In the southwest the valley is apparently open, or divided only 
 by a very low water-shed from the plains of the Yellow river. 
 
 I have shown in another place * that this opening was proba- 
 bly the connecting channel between the large lake which occu- 
 pied the valley of the Upper Yellow river and the chain of inland 
 waters which filled the valley system of the Yang-ho and the 
 San-kang-ho. 
 
 It was here that we first heard of the Mohammedan rebellion, 
 which, after spreading through Kashgar and Yarkand, and 
 through the western and northwestern provinces of China, had 
 now approached to within two days' journey of the Te-Hai. 
 This state of things rendered it useless for me to think of carry- 
 ing out my journey to the Tien-shan, and I decided to return 
 immediately to Peking. 
 
 Leaving the lake, we turned our steps toward the southeastern 
 part of the valley, where a deep gorge cleft through the plateau 
 forms the only place of exit to the east. This was another con- 
 necting link between the ancient lakes, and at a later period formed 
 an outlet by which the waters of the Te-Hai drained into the San- 
 kang-ho ; but now, the evaporation being in excess of the rainfall, 
 the level has sunk below the bottom of the gorge. This defile is 
 cut through the whole thickness of the volcanic formation, of 
 which the black walls rise nearly a thousand feet on either side, 
 while at the bottom they are seen resting on upturned strata of 
 granulite impregnated with garnets. 
 
 At. Ma-an-miau the valley opens to form the broad swampy 
 plain of Fung-ching. Here the high plateau Avail leaves the road ; 
 
 * " Geological Eeaeavchea in China, Mongolia, and Japaii." Smithsonian Institution, 1866. 
 
•3HAP. xxra.] JOUBNET ALONG THE GREAT WALL. 333 
 
 the part which formed the southern side of tlie gorge trends away 
 to the south-southwest, till the steep face of the level outline of 
 its edge is lost in the distance ; the northern wall of the gorge 
 continues a few miles further, and then before reaching Fung-ching 
 bears away to the northeast ; but we have not yet reached the 
 southern limit of the volcanic formation. At a level of perhaps 
 a thousand feet below the surface of the higher table-land there 
 begins a lower plateau, the flat surl'ace of which is two hundred 
 or- three hundred feet above the surface of the valley, and spreads 
 southward from the foot of the escarpment of the higher. Con- 
 sisting of the same volcanic formation as the higher table-land, it 
 was without doubt once the continuation of the latter, the differ- 
 ence of level being due to the occurrence of an immense " fault." 
 
 Toward evening the gray walls of the large town of Fung- 
 ching appeared above the plain, reminding us that we had re- 
 entered China. In the midst of a drenching rain we passed the 
 ruined gate, and traversed in darkness the narrow and muddy 
 streets of the city. In vain we applied at inn after inn ; none 
 would receive us. In spite of the storm a large rabble of men and 
 boys collected around us, growing more and more insolent after 
 every failure on our part to find a resting-place. Tired and ex- 
 asperated, we determined to proceed to the ya-mun and demand 
 assistance from the magistrate. After being several times misled, 
 through the malice of pretended guides, we arrived at the court 
 of justice, followed by an unwelcome retinue of a thousand or more 
 vagabonds. Theoretically every magistrate in the empire, and 
 even the Emperor himself, is obliged to give immediate audience 
 to any one who may sound the great gong before the ya-mun or the 
 palace, but at the present day few Chinamen would be foolish 
 enough to expect an answer to such a summons. 
 
 Knowing that any intimation to the magistrate of the presence 
 of foreigners would be placing him on a bed of thorns till he~ 
 knew that we were housed, and beyond the possibility of involun- 
 tarily creating a mob, which might cause him the loss of his place, 
 we proceeded to take the most effectual means of making him 
 aware of our presence. Riding up to the greaf gong I seized the 
 beater, and with vigorous strokes sent reverberating thrbugh the 
 night air, through court and hall, such peals of barbarous tones, 
 as should rouse his wo-rship, even though he were deep in the 
 
33i AVBOSS AMEBIOA AND ASIA. [chap, xxih 
 
 sleep of opium. Immediately the great gate swung open, and the 
 wire-capped executioners and retainers of the ya-mun hurried 
 out to learn who was so daring as to intrude so summarily into 
 the precincts of justice. 
 
 I demanded instant audience of the magistrate, and in a few 
 minutes a secretary appeared, saying that his master was too ill 
 to be seen. 
 
 Giving him our passports and telling him of our trouble, I de- 
 manded quarters for the night. This produced the desired result ; 
 the magistrate dispatched several bailiffs, who led the way to one 
 of the inns at which we had been refused admission, and, this 
 time we had no trouble in obtaining the best rooms in the place. 
 
 Upon enquiry I found that the aversion to foreigners had ori- 
 ginated in the bad conduct of two who had preceded us. 
 
 Fuug-ching lies upon the head waters of the San-kang-ho. The 
 highly cultivated valley is cut up by rows of willow trees,' raised 
 for charcoal ; and the water of the creek is carried along canals to 
 turn the wheels of mills. After descending the stream for a 
 few miles we rose to the surface of the lower plateau, and came 
 again under the shadow of the great wall of China. Even in its 
 ruins this great structure impresses one deeply, both by its extent 
 ■and its antiquity, as well as by the scenes it has passed through, 
 and the long struggles it has witnessed, perhaps at this very point, 
 between the barbarism of the north and the refinement of the 
 south. 
 
 Climbing one of the ruined towers I had a wide view, extend- 
 ing ovei' the fertile valley of Fung-ching, and across the broad 
 and partially cultivated surface of the lower plateau. Six or 
 seven miles to the north arose the lofty escarpment of the table- 
 land, stretching like a vertical wall far away to the northeast 
 and southwest, and indented with all the sinuosities of a coast 
 line._ In the southeast and east the high peaks of the serrated 
 barrier range bounded the horizon, while the great wall could 
 •be seen trending away east and west, a line of crumbling towers 
 and falling masonry, climbing steep declivities, winding along 
 crooked edges of precipices, or striking in. a straight line across 
 the cultivated plains. 
 
 A ride of a few miles in an easterly course brought us to the 
 eastern edge of the lower plateau. Descending this we bade fare- 
 
CHAP, xxui.] JOUBNET ALONG THE OBEAT WALL. 335 
 
 well to the table-lands of central Asia and entered the sandy and 
 partially cultivated plain of K-\^an-tung-pu. In this quiet village 
 of farmers we found comfortable quarters among people who 
 were eager to show hospitality, and content to gratify their sim- 
 ple curiosity without subjecting us to the annoyance and insults 
 to which the foreigner is always liable in large towns. Every - 
 wher e in China I found the country people civil and kindly dis - 
 posed, contrasting strongly in this respect with the rabble in I 
 cities. 
 
 The plain of Kwan-tung-pu is occupied by a heavy deposit of 
 loam, thrown down in the ancient lakes ; in this deposit a tribu- 
 tary of the San-kang-ho has cut out its course to tlie depth of one 
 hundred ^et or more. From the valley thus fonned, deep and 
 narrow ravines extend on either side, the result of retrograding 
 erosion. One of these chasms, more than seventy-five feet high, 
 with a width of only four feet, between vertical walls of loam, 
 was seen winding in a crooked course for more than a mile up the 
 slope of the plain. 
 
 As we approached the high range of mountains which border 
 the plain on the south we came to the ancient fortress of Chung- 
 hwang-kau, one of the gates of the gi-eat wall, which here climbs 
 the range to wind eastward along its crest. Immediately after 
 passing the gate we entered a deep gorge, by which the mountain 
 is here cleft to its base, and through which -we travelled seven 
 miles between walls of metamorphic schists. This narrow chasm 
 formed another connecting channel in the chain of ancient lakes, 
 and in places its sides still show remnants of the loam deposit. 
 
 Leaving this gorge we entered the valley of the Yang-ho, and 
 soon reached the walled town of Yang-kan. Before entering the 
 gate a large crowd had begun to follow us, and by the time we 
 reached the court-yard of the inn we found it occupied by several 
 thousand people, who, taking time by the forelock, had rushed 
 thither to secure a good view of the " red-haired devils " of the 
 " Western Ocean." While we were eating, the room was crowded 
 with all that could get in, and the paper windows were perforated 
 with innumerable finger-holes, through each one of which an in- 
 quisitive eye was visible. 
 
 Those in our room annoyed us by feeling our clothes, and hair, 
 and beards, or trying on our hats and shoes, which they kindly 
 
336 AOBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxiii. 
 
 passed outside to undergo the inspection and trial of too many- 
 swarming heads and dirty feet. 
 
 Those outside contented themselves with struggling for a place 
 at the door or window, or cracking jokes at our expense, which 
 kept the crowd apparently in good humor. Before sunset we 
 succeeded in clearing the room, and as the crowd resented this 
 we ordered our Cossack escort to clear the court-yard, but with- 
 out the use of arms. The people, taken by surprise, retreated be- 
 yond the gate, which we instantly barred and nailed. Our late 
 visitors, now transformed into a mob, furiously demanded admis- 
 sion, threatening to kill the foreign devils and the landlord. 
 
 Taking turns at guarding the gate, we threatened to shoot any 
 one who should attempt to open it from the inside before we 
 were ready to leave the next morning. Before daylight we let 
 out our pack-train and re-fastened the gate ; but we had not 
 finished breakfast when a noisy mob had assembled in large force, 
 and was trying to push a very small boy through the opening 
 under the door, to undo the fastenings. 
 
 Hardly had the boy got well under when I pounced upon him 
 and drew him in, carrying him in spite of kicks and screams to 
 the kitchen, where I ordered the landlord to give him a good 
 breakfast. The mob shouted that the boy was being killed, and 
 the shrill tones of a woman's voice were soon heard demanding 
 vengeance. When we had finished breakfast we unfastened the 
 gate and rode out, though not without receiving a greeting of 
 stones, sticks, and mud in quick succession ; but we came off with- 
 out further injury than some bruises. 
 
 During the whole of this day our route lay across the plains of 
 the Yang-ho. To the north the plain, rising rapidly, abuts upon 
 the flank of the high range of the mountains along which winds 
 the great wall ; while to the south, over a low range of hills, we 
 could distinguish the snowy domes of the high mountains of 
 Shan-si. 
 
 Leaving the valley and ascending to the surface of a broad 
 plateau of the loam deposit of the ancient lakes, we slept at the 
 village of Ta-kiau. 
 
 On the following day we found this plateau like the plain of 
 Kwan-tung, cut up in every direction by deejD and narrow ravines 
 with vertical walls ; some of these, of very recent origin, had ex- 
 
CHAP, xxm.] JOUBNET ALONG TEE GREAT WALL. 33 Y 
 
 tended across the roads, compelling us to make considerable de 
 tours. 
 
 In places the wagon-road, following the course of such a ravine, ' 
 is sunk from fifty to a hundred feet below the surface of the coun- 
 try, between vertical walls which barely leave room for one cart. 
 
 Stopping for the night at Hwai-ngan (hien), we continued our 
 journey the next day through a long narrow valley, passing the 
 deserted towm of Kiu-hwai-ngan. 
 
 The walls of this place were crumbling, and the enclosed area 
 was under cultivation. 
 
 It is no uncommon occurrence in China to find a town deserted, 
 and a new one built a few miles off, bearing the same name, with 
 the prefix Mu or old. 
 
 Following the little creek we reached a point where the walls 
 of the valley approached each other to form a short and .narrow 
 gorge, which opened beyond into the valley of the Yang-ho. 
 
 There is here a broad sandy plain with little cultivation. Dur- 
 ing the afternoon a violent wind raised the fine sand in clouds, 
 which rendered it almost impossible to find our way, and it was 
 not till night had fallen that we entered the streets of Chang-kia- 
 kau (Ivalgan). 
 
 Wishing to visit the Roman Catholic mission of Si-wan, we 
 passed again beyond the great wall, and ascended the narrow 
 valley of a creek. For eiglit or ten miles our road lay between 
 the steep walls and castellated cliffs of the porphyry mountains 
 of Kalgan, and beyond these, between pyramidal and grass-cov- 
 ered hills of chloritic slates. Everywhere the hill-sides carried 
 terraces of the loam of the ancient lakes ; and as we approached 
 Si-wan the valley widened, and the terraces, assuming larger pro- 
 portions, formed cliffs of loam rising almost vertically from two 
 hundred to three hundred feet above the creek. 
 
 We received a hospitable welcome at Si-wan from the kind- 
 hearted missionary, who seemed well pleased to meet travellers 
 of his own race. Containing almost solely a population of Chi- 
 nese Christians, Si-wan is one of the many monuments of the zeal 
 of the Catholic missionaries, who are scattered not only through 
 China but in every part of the Pagan world. 
 
 Situated some distance from the seat of the magistrate, this 
 small colony attracts but little attention and persecution. Their 
 
338 ACBOSS AMEBIGA AND ASIA. [chap. xxm. 
 
 internal troubles are adjusted by the priest, whose influence 
 rarely clashes with that of the civil authorities, and is then, I 
 believe, generally exerted for good. 
 
 Few new con verts are made in any p art of China, the native 
 Christians being generally, like the few thousand souls around 
 this mission, the descendants of the proselytes of the seventeenth 
 ■ century. 
 
 The mission is neatly built, and the church tastefully deco- 
 rated.- Most of the dwellings of thfe people are excavated in the 
 loam deposit, each house having several rooms, divided by walls 
 of loam left standing, and finished with cement. They are neat 
 and comfortable, and liave the merit of being warm in winter and 
 cool in summer. The rows of doorways and windows, cut in the 
 face of the cliif, reminded me of the pictures of cities in Arabia 
 Petrea. 
 
 At Si-wan I found a man Avhose name figures in one of the 
 favorite books of my boyhood, and whom I had certainly never 
 expected to see ; this was no less a person than Samdad Chiemba, 
 the Lama cameleer of Abbe Hue, and the companion of that in- 
 trepid missionary in his long and dangerous journey through 
 Tartary and Thibet. He was no longer the wayward boy over 
 whose caprices the readers of Hue's charming narrative have often 
 laughed. 
 
 I engaged him as a guide over the rough mountains to the 
 south. To avoid the long detour by way of Kalgan, we struck 
 due south, over the high mountains between Si-wan and the 
 Yang-ho. On one of these ranges we crossed again the great 
 wall, here defended on the north side by three parallel ditches, 
 which may be the remains of local earthworks, thrown up during 
 some ancient engagement. Descending into the valley of Chau- 
 chuer,, we passed several villages excavated in the face of loam 
 terraces, and, on the following day, reached the Yang-ho at Ki- 
 ming, and thence, following the route by which we had come, 
 after an absence of six weeks, we re-entered Peking. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 "WESTEEI*^ POLICY IN CHINA.* 
 
 From time immemorial the Emperor of China has claimed to 
 be the Son of Heaven, and, as such, the sovereign of the race. 
 He recognized no equals, and he could he approached by the 
 representatives of other countries only when they came as tribute- 
 bearei-s and as suppliants. 
 
 The free intercourse which was formerly permitted to "Western 
 countries was abandoned when the rapid advance of European 
 arms in Asia exposed both the designs and the strength of Spain, 
 England, Portugal, and Holland. The Chinese Government, fear- 
 ful for its own independence, adopted an exclusive policy ; and 
 restricting foreign commerce to the narrowest of limits in the 
 part of the empire most distant from the capital, ignored the 
 foreigner except as a trader seeking gain. That which is known 
 as the Opium "War of 1840 added largely to the field open to 
 foreign commerce ; but, as it did nothing toward establishing 
 diplomatic intercourse with the Central Government, it merely 
 rendered more active the policy of retaliation, by increasing the 
 points of contact with a people among whom,not only the cause 
 but, the manner of conducting this unjust war had raised a deep 
 hatred of the foreigner. This would ultimately have led to an- 
 nexation of parts at least of China by European powers, had not 
 the events at Canton in 1856-1858 caused the British and Frencli 
 to carry the war into the neighborhood of the capital. This war 
 led to results which mark a new era, not only in the history of 
 the relations of China to the outer world, but also in the history 
 of Chinese civilization. It may not be amiss to recall briefly the 
 events which led to such a consummation. 
 
 The concessions which had been obtained from the Chinese by 
 the treaties of 1842, 1843, 1844, and 1845, consisted chiefly in 
 opening to trade the ports of Amoy, Foo-chow, Ningpo, and 
 
 * This chapter appeared in the North American Eeview, April, 1S68. 
 
340 ACBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxit 
 
 Shanghai, besides Canton, and in the recognition of consuls 
 established there ; in the transfer of the island of Hong Kong 
 to England, and an indemnification of $21,000,000 for the opium 
 destroyed by order of the Emperor, and for the expenses of 
 the war. In addition to these, the subjects of the treaty powers 
 obtained the right to travel within certain limits, and to lease real 
 estate at the open ports, and at these points the toleration of 
 Christianity was assured. 
 
 These privileges obtained by force were to a great extent 
 counterbalanced by the hostility shown by the Chinese, and the 
 relations of the two races became daily more and more complicated. 
 
 Soon after the close of the Crimean war England turned her 
 attention to the accumulating difficulties in China. The immedi- 
 ate cause of the war which soon followed was in itself a good 
 illustration of the intercourse between the proudest and most 
 powerful nations of the West and East. In October of 1856 the 
 native aixthorities at Canton seized a Chinese boat manned by the 
 natives, engaged in smuggling under the protection of a British 
 flag. This act was considered by foreigners to be an outrage, and 
 the Britisli consul demanded instant satisfaction. Governor-Gen- 
 eral Yeh having refused to give an explanation, the British squad- 
 ron bombarded Canton for three days, destroying the Government 
 buildings. France, and for a short time even the United States, 
 through the frigate Portsmouth, joined England in the aggressive. 
 
 Preparations for war were begun on both sides, but the Eng- 
 lish forces destined for China were diverted to aid in suppressing 
 the rebellion in India. After eight months of suspense, inter- 
 rupted only by occasional aggressive acts on both sides. Lord 
 Elgin arrived at Hong Kong, and Canton was declared to be in 
 a state of siege. On the 12th of September, 1857, the declaration 
 of war against England by China put an end to the hopes that 
 the Emperor would disavow the acts of Yeh. In the middle of 
 December the allied British and French forces occupied an island 
 opposite Canton, and bombarded the city) and, after taking its 
 defences by storm, finally took possession of Canton on the 5th 
 of January, 1858. Yeh was sent to Calcutta, where he died a 
 prisoner.* 
 
 * In this resume of events, down to the taking of Canton, we have followed the authoj 
 of the article China " In " The New American Cyclopedia." 
 
CHAP. XXIV.] WMSTJ^BN POLICY IN CIUNA. 341 
 
 After the taking of Canton the allied British and French for- 
 ces turned toward Peking, as being the only point at which the 
 Central Government of China was vulnerable. Arriving at the 
 mouth of the Pei-ho, and receiving no answer to an ultimatum 
 sent to the capital, the Allies took the forts, and advanced up 
 the rive r to Tien-tsin, about ninety miles from Peking . This 
 action resulted in the appointment of Chinese plenipotentiaries, 
 and the conclusion of treaties, in immediate succession, with 
 Russia, the United States, England, and France — creating four 
 new ports, throwin g open the Yangtz'-Kiang to foreign trade , 
 recognizing ministers accredited to the Court of Peking, tolerat- 
 ing Christianity and protecting Christian missionaries, permitting 
 foreigners to travel in the interior, and indemnifying England 
 and France for the expenses of the war. Such a sudden change 
 in the traditional policy of the great empire seemed the begin- 
 ning of a new era for Asia, and a fit subject for the first dispatch 
 through the Atlantic cable. 
 
 But a murderous fire was opened upon the English and French 
 at Taku in June, 1859, while attempting to force their way to 
 Tien-tsin in order to efiect at the capitalthe exchange of the 
 treaties which the Emperor wished to have consummated at Peh- 
 tang on the coast. This appeared to be a disavowal of the en- 
 gagements entered into the preceding year. Whatever may 
 have been the moving spirit with the Imperial Government ya. this 
 afiair, it led to serious consequences, which, though humiliating 
 to the Government, have been undoubtedly beneficial to the coun- 
 try. The American minister, conforming to the wish of the 
 Chinese that he should visit Peking by way of Peh-tang, was 
 conducted to the capital. Although he there met with a friendly 
 reception, he was obliged to return to Peh-tang to effect the ex- 
 change of the treaties. This step made clear the determination of 
 the Government neither to make nor exchange treaties under the 
 ■walls of the capital, and more especially to prohibit all direct 
 communication with the Central Government. There is no doubt 
 that the same would have been the case with the other ministers, 
 had they avoided the mouth of the Pei-ho, and gone overland 
 from the neighboring village of Peh-tang. But the anti- foreign 
 party was so powerful at Peking, that it is doubtful whether the 
 ratifications would not have been the beginning of serious 
 
312 A0E0S8 AMEBIC A AND ASIA. [chap. xxiv. 
 
 troubles ; indeed, the treaties were avowedly granted in order to 
 gain time for preparation to resent the force used in obtaining 
 them. 
 
 The English and French ministers withdrew to Shanghai, and 
 the court of Peking refusing an apology, their Governments, decid- 
 ing to obtain it by force, made preparations for war on a scale 
 which should be decisive. 
 
 An ultimatum, demanding, first, an apology for the attack on 
 the allied forces at the Pei-ho ; second, the ratification and execu- 
 tion of the treaty of Tien-tsin ; and third, the payment of an in- 
 demnity for the expenses of the naval and military preparations ; 
 was rejected by the Emperor. 
 
 In the summer of 1860 the allied forces, accompanied by the 
 Earl of Elgin and Baron Gros, captured the forts on the Pei-ho 
 and advanced to Tien-tsin, of which they took possession, and 
 thence to near Tung-chau, a city twelve miles from Peking. Dur- 
 ing these proceedings the anti-foreign party ruled the weak Em- 
 peror; and when negotiations seemed about to be satisfactorily 
 concluded, the Chinese, by an act of treachery, tried to cut off 
 the forces, and seized Mr. Parkes and several other persons, who 
 were returning under a fiag of truce from an interview with the 
 imperial plenipotentiaries. All negotiations were now stopped, 
 and, as the prisoners were not given up, it was decided to punish 
 such a flagrant breach of faith. Peking was invested, and Yuen- 
 ming-yucn, the summer palace, a few miles west of the city, was 
 destroyed. In the meantime the Emperor Hien-fung had fled to 
 Tartary, a step which aided much the political revolution that 
 threw the reins of government into the hands of his brother, 
 Prince Kung. 
 
 Prince Kung, although very young, exhibited considerable tact 
 and ability ; while the fact that with his first appearance began a 
 new policy gave to him a position with the foreign ministers that 
 would not easily have attached to names better known to them. 
 
 Those of the prisoners who had not died under the hoi-rible 
 treatment they experienced were given up. A gate of the city 
 was surrendered, and the articles of the Tien-tsin convention were 
 signed, embodying the demands of the ultimatum, the opening of 
 the port of Tien-tsin, and the permanent establishment of the min- 
 isters at Peking. 
 
CHAP. XXIV.] WESTERN POLIOT IN CHINA. 343 
 
 The war was over; the anti-foreign party was thrown into the 
 . background, and for the first time the field was open for the action 
 of wise diplomacy in bringing China into the circle of interdepend- 
 ent nations. The manner in which this short and decisive war 
 was conducted tended far more than is generally known to facili- 
 tate the attainment of this object. When the use of force was 
 first decided upon, the British minister, Sir Frederick Bruce, who 
 had succeeded his brother, Lord Elgin, turned his eiforts toward 
 relieving the people from any participation in the sufierings of 
 war, and aiming the blow solely at the Government. During the 
 presence of the troops in the North, their behavior inspired the 
 inhabitants with such confidence that no difiiculty was experienced 
 in obtaining supplies, which were scrupulously paid for. After 
 the taking of Tientsin its population remained confidently at their 
 occupations, and the native committee that had been organized to 
 supply the Chinese army undertook to do the same for the allied 
 forces. Indeed, during the journeys of the writer in the North, 
 he met several wealthy dealers who spoke earnestly of the good 
 times when the foreign troops ofiered a profitable market for their 
 products. By refraining from a bombardment of Peking, and de- 
 stroying instead the widely celebrated summer palace, a blow 
 was struck which humbled the Emperor without the loss of a 
 single innocent life, and without injury to private property. The 
 eifect of this humane course, so directly opposite to the Chinese 
 method of warfare, and indeed to the previous action of foreign 
 armies in the East, was immediately apparent in the treatment 
 which the inhabitants of Peking and its environs extended without 
 exception to unprotected foreigners. And at present there are 
 fe w countries in the world where one can trav el with more safety 
 than in northern Ch ina. ^Z"— ^ / ■^^4 
 
 If the attitude of the people during this war exhibited an in- 
 difference to the most important political questions, and to the 
 interests of the Government, it showed not less a great degree of 
 independence among themselves, as well as an absence of unfriend- 
 liness to Europeans, and proved that our efforts toward the im- 
 provement of our relations with China must be directed as well 
 toward them as toward the Government. 
 
 The great advantages gained by the treaties, and by the war 
 that insured their validity, were the permanent residence of for- 
 
344: ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxtv 
 
 eign ministers at Peking, the opening of the Yangtz', tlie right of 
 travel in the interior for business or pleasure, and, indirectly, the 
 extension of the foreign customs system. To appreciate the full 
 value of these results, it will be necessary to glance at the posi- 
 tion held by foreigners before the war. 
 
 Confined to a few ports, and treating only with the local offi- 
 cials, they were practically ignored by the Central Government. 
 Having no intercourse with the latter, and treated as barbarian 
 traders by the provincial authorities, such a thing as legal redress 
 for injuries was out of the question. Gunboats ready to act on 
 the orders of consuls, or even without them, were at every port, 
 and no time was lost in using force on the slightest provocation. 
 The different provinces were treated as so many independent na- 
 tions, and war was waged at one port while trade was continued 
 uninterruptedly at others. In all these troubles, the Central Gov- 
 ernment shifted the responsibility to the shoulders of the provin- 
 cial authorities — a policy the efiect of which became yearly more 
 evident in the arbitrary action of foreign consuls, and in the inso- 
 lent weakness of the native officials. 
 
 Such a system could not exist without leading to terrible abuse 
 of power by the stronger side, and establishing dangerous prece- 
 dents, which could be used by either party whenever a favorable 
 opportunity offered ; and, worse yet, it formed a school in which ' 
 foreign officials, merchants, and their clerks, shipmasters, and 
 sailors, learned to exercise with impunity the law of might, and 
 to hold the rights, property, and lives of Chinamen as of no value. 
 Wholesale murder was committed almost daily at the ports, 
 where it was a common occurrence for steamers and sailing 
 vessels to run into and sink dilatory boats and junks, often 
 crowded with passengers. Young clerks drove rapidly through 
 crowded streets, without stopping to care for the women and 
 children run over by their carriages, and men of position made 
 their way through thronged thoroughfares by belaboring the 
 heads of the populace with heavy walking-sticks. Such acts 
 were the more cowardly because of the timid and peaceful char- 
 acter of the natives, and the fact that the removal of foreigners 
 from Chinese jurisdiction to the dead law of the consular courts 
 almost insured impunity for every kind of crime. Hatred of 
 the foreigner caused by this state of things, spread through all 
 
CK.VP. xxrv.] WESTERN POLICY IN CHINA. 345 
 
 the provinces that were in close communication with the open 
 ports. 
 
 That such an intercourse must have led to frequent and costly 
 wars, and ultimately to a disintegration of China, and its absorp- 
 tion by European powers, can hardly be doubted; and this dan- 
 ger would have been multiplied with the opening of every new 
 port, and with the increasing influx of lawless adventurers at- 
 tracted by the rebellion. 
 
 But the establishment of direct intercourse between the foreign 
 ministers and the Imperial Government — an intercourse based on 
 a revolution in the policy of the latter — substituted diplomacy for 
 force, and, by causing disputed questions to be referred by both 
 sides to Pekin, reduced the powers alike of consuls and of vice- 
 roys to their legitimate limits. 
 
 Arriving at Pekin at a time when the Imperial Government was 
 reduced to its greatest straits by the rebellion, the ministers were 
 able to give direct proofs of the sincerity of their professions of 
 friendship and good-will, and immeasurable progress was rapidly 
 made in breaking down the barrier of prejudice that had grown 
 up between the two races. But although the just action of the 
 representatives of western powers was soon appreciated at Peking, 
 and was generally met in a similar spirit by Prince Kung and 
 the Board of Foreign AiFairs, obstacles to harmonious action 
 were not wanting on both sides at the treaty ports. In many 
 instances both the consular and the provincial authorities were 
 men who had been educated in the school of the past, and, with 
 them, the traditional method of settling disputes by force was at 
 times resorted to. Too often irregularities committed, now by 
 the foreigner, now by the natives, caused troubles which were 
 not referred to Peking till the use of force had made diplomatic 
 action almost impossible. Unfortunately, too, the disregard 
 shown at times by consuls for the treaties, furnished the Govern- 
 ment with a ready answer Avhen its viceroys were charged with 
 disobedience to instructions sent from the capital. 
 
 The control of their respective subordinates was easier to the 
 embassadors than to Prince Kung and the Ministers for Foreign 
 Affairs. The Central Government, possessing in theory almost 
 unlimited power, was practically fettered in its action by the 
 coiTupt policy of selling its offices, or of paying nominal salaries 
 
346 ACBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxiv. 
 
 and allowing the officials to enricli themselves at the expense of 
 the people and of the revenue— a practice which could not fail 
 to produce endless troubles, by affecting trade adversely, now 
 to the spirit, now to the letter of the treaty. 
 
 The anti-foreign party was not, and perhaps is not yet, wholly 
 crushed; and though apparently daily losing ground before 
 the increasing confidence in western governments, and before 
 the rapidly growing revenue brought into the imperial treasury 
 by foreign trade, and by the honest administration of the foreign 
 custom officers, it necessarily impeded the action of the Prince 
 and his advisers. And even when, after the death of Ilienfung, 
 Prince Kung became Regent during the minority of the young 
 Emperor, the fact that he soon might be held to answer with his 
 head for the administration of the Regency, prevented the use of 
 extreme measures towai-d dilatory provincial authorities. 
 
 Thus in 1863 an accumulation of unsettled disputes with the dif- 
 ferent treaty powers, arising out of persistent disregard of the trear 
 ties at the ports and in the interior, threatened to produce a rup- 
 ture, and to undo by a new war what had been already accom- 
 plished. Fortunately, the West was represented at Peking by 
 men of just and liberal views, free from the prejudice of national- 
 ity and race, who were unwilling to risk, by precipitate action, 
 the future welfare of one-third, of mankind and the interests of 
 the world. At this time, when war seemed imminent, and when, 
 considering the gigantic pi'oportions of the Taiping and Moham - 
 medan rebellions, a war might have indirectly overthrown the 
 ruling dynasty, and resulted in long-continued anarchy, the for- 
 eign ministers framed a co-operative policy, the basis of a moral, 
 warfare. This policy, which was endorsed by the respective 
 home governments, marks a new era in the history of the rela- 
 tions of the West and the East, and will surely be not less impor- 
 tant in its results to us than to that immense nation with whom 
 the nineteenth century is rapidly bringing us into a contact preg- 
 nant with much good or much evil. Originating in the necessity 
 for united action on the part of foreign governments to obtain 
 the observance of the treaties, it binds the ministers to consult 
 together and act in concert on all material questions: thus bring- 
 ing to bear the moral pressure of the whole western world in 
 support of the just demands of each power. 
 
CHAP. XXIV.] WES.TERN POLICY IN KUROPE. 34.7 
 
 As experience has shown that the source of the greatest dangers 
 in the future lies in the Aveakness of the Central Government , as 
 against its provincial officials, the co-operative policy binds the 
 foreign powers to use every peaceful means of strengthening 
 the former, both by encouragement and by moral pressure. 
 One of the first steps in this direction was the guarantying the 
 integrity of China proper, so far as concerned foreign nations, b y 
 t heir agreement neither to demand nor to accept concessions o f 
 territory from the Chinese Governmen t. To strengthen the Gov- 
 ernment within, and to raise China to a military position commen- 
 surate with the rank she should hold in the world, the ministers 
 agreed to encourage a thorough reorganization of her army, to 
 assist her in adopting European discipline and arms, and to fur- 
 nish the officers necessary to introduce these changes. The next 
 and equally important step was, to insure the maintenance of an 
 honest and efficient administration of the foreign customs service, 
 as a means of insuring the revenue necessary to centralized 
 strength. While observing a general neutrality in face of the 
 internal war, the policy called for such defensive action at the 
 treaty ports as might be necessary to maintain treaty rights. 
 
 Each of the treaties of 1858 contained a clause permitting th e 
 subjects of the respective governments to acquii-e land for build- 
 in g-sites at the open ports. For greater convenience the co nsuls 
 of the different treaty powers chose a considerable area for subdi- 
 yision among their countryme n. T hese tracts soon came to be 
 re garded as concessions of territory, forming no longer parts of 
 the Cliinese empire. The security to life and property at the 
 open ports soon attracted thousands of Chinese families flying 
 from their homes before the scourge of the Taiping rebellion ; 
 and thus the foreign settlements, intended by the spirit of the 
 tre aties to furnish homes and places of business to foreign~mer-" 
 c hants, became cities containing vast numbers of n atives,~who 
 rented dwellings from foreign speculators. At Shanghai, the 
 area under the control of foreigners, a nd more or less occupied 
 b y them, covers nearly ten square miles, and is rapidly fillin g up 
 with houses. In 1863 the population of this area was nearly one 
 million. T he exterritoriality clause, which transfer red jurisdiction 
 over foreign ers ill all civil and c riminal cases to their ^sj^ctive 
 consuls, would have been easily extended so as to cover the 
 
348 
 
 A0B0B8 AMEBIC A AND ASIA. [chap. xxit. 
 
 native population, had the idea that the foreign settlements were 
 "concessions of territory been sustained . The first result would 
 have been, that the most flourishing cities of the empire, cities 
 rivalling the largest in the world, would have sprung up on these 
 concessions, concentrating Chinese capital, skill, and enterprise 
 at points beyond the control of the legitimate government. 
 After a few years there would have been British, French, and 
 American cities on the coast and in the heart of China, according 
 to the predominance of the nationalities at the different ports ; or 
 they would have become free cities, like those of the Hanseatic 
 Leao-ue. The immediate interests of speculators — and almost 
 every foreigner -speculated — was to have this concession principle 
 carried out, although unauthorized by the treaties ; and, in the 
 weak condition of the Government, the action of the foreign^ au- 
 thorities, and the necessity of a municipal organization, were rap- 
 idly rendering it an accomplished fact. But the principle was too 
 unjust ; it was sure to lead to serious complications among foreign 
 powers and with the Chinese Government, and was also sure to 
 increase the weakness of the Central Government. In face of a 
 strong opposition from their countrymen, the foreign plenipoten - 
 tiaries at Peking agreed neither to ask nor to accept concessions 
 of territory. 
 
 One of the difficult questions in our intercourse with Oriental 
 nations is that of the jurisdiction over the foreigners, especially 
 in mixed cases. I n the treaties with China, as in those with a ll 
 Ori ental countries, the exterritoriality clause confers authority on 
 consuTFin all legal cases over their respective countrymen . 'The 
 systems of Oriental laws and punishments differ so widely from 
 those of western nations, and there is such general corruption in 
 their adminigtratiqn,^ thatjt would be out of the question to pla ce 
 the lives and property of Europeans under their control. Still some 
 other system than the present is imperatively^emand ed ; for t tte 
 tendency of the p resent method is to impair seriously th e power 
 of the native authorit ies over their own subjects, and t he increa s- 
 ing amou nt of crime committed by foreigners is g rowing beyon d 
 the prop er limits of consular courts. 
 
 It is evidently an outrage upon the spirit of international law 
 that a Chinaman or a Japanese should suffer death for a crime 
 against a foreigner, where for the same acts the latter would be 
 
CHAP, xxn-.] WESTERN POLICY IN CHINA. 3.I9 
 
 punished -with a fine or a short imprisonment. This is a question 
 which will solve itself before long; for China has only the alter- 
 native of gradual reorganization and progress in the track of the 
 civilizatio n with which she is coming every day moi'c and more 
 in contact, or of retrogression and disintegration . She can no 
 longer remain stationary. There is great vitality in the people ; 
 but, unles s it become active in them and in the Gov ernment, 
 we stern fntercourse will be to China a deadly evil. But there 
 are weighty reasons for believing that the vitality of this people 
 will carry the nation onward through the stages of reform that 
 are needed to effect a transition to a higher political condition, 
 and this reform would involve great changes for the better in 
 many branches of its polity. 
 
 The Burgevine imbroglio * proved the danger that might at- 
 tach to the employment of foreigners in the Chinese army, at the 
 same time that the force organized by "Ward and Burgevine de- 
 raonsti-ated the possibility of making brave and efficient soldiers 
 qTChi namen, when acting under proper office rs and paid regularly. 
 The foreign ministers urged strongly upon the Government the 
 necessity of beginning a radical change in the army, by providing 
 bodies of native soldiers with foreign weapons, and having them 
 disciplined by foreign drill-sergeants, and already considerable 
 progress has been made in this direction. Before any nation can 
 make itself respected by others, it must be in a position to enforce 
 internal order, and to maintain its rights against all comers. The 
 present army of China is wholly unable to do either of these things, 
 and is merely a gigantic drain on the resources of the country, a 
 scourge to the inhabitants, and a source of official corruption. 
 Favored as the empire is by its geographical position, a small 
 standing army disciplined and armed after the manner of western 
 troops would be sufficient for any emergency, and would remove 
 the consciousness of weakness — one of the greatest obstacles to 
 general improvement. 
 
 * A few years since, an American, named Ward, acting under a commission from the 
 Imperial Government, disciplined a force of Cliinamen to act against the rebels. Tlie un- 
 daunted bravery of their commander inspired these troops with a courage that carried 
 everything before them, and their success won for them the name of " The Ever- Victorious 
 Braves." After the death of Ward, from a wound in the head, received while leading his 
 men through a bmach in the wall of a rebel city, the command was given to Burgevine, one 
 of Ward's bravest officers. This gentleman, after receiving a serious wound, was made the 
 ■victim of intrigues on the part both of Chinese and foreign officials ; and finding it impossi- 
 ble to obtain satisfaction for his just demands, very lll-advisedly deserted to the rebel cause. 
 Had Bnrgevine's Injury not Impaired his energy, this step would certainly have prolonged 
 the rebellion, and might perhaps have led to the overthrow of the Manchu djTias^. 
 
350 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxrv. 
 
 But the most im portant and most active innovation is the for- 
 eign customs organization, which collects the duties on all foreign 
 e xports and imports. Originating, in 1854, in the appointment 
 - at Shanghai, at the request of the local officials, of three inspeot- 
 oi ;s chosen by the consuls of the three treaty powers, the un- 
 expected increa se of the customs revenue attracted the attention 
 o f the officers of other provinces, and led to the ultimate exten - 
 sion of the system to every open port. From being a foreign 
 governmental aid to the Chinese, it has become an arm of the 
 C hinese Government, and as much a national institution as the 
 customs department in any western country. At each port 
 there is a commissioner, having under his orders the necessary 
 number of clerks, tidewaiters, etc., of different nationalities. 
 Over all these is an inspector-general, appointed by the Board of 
 Foreign Affairs, Avith which he corresponds, and through which 
 he reports to the Board of Revenue. The Government has been 
 fortunate in choosing for its inspector-generals men of great abil- 
 ity and well acquainted with the language and customs of the 
 country; and the present incumbent, Mr. Robert Hart, is evi- 
 dently alive to the importance of the institution as a means of 
 improving every department of Chinese administration. 
 
 Every effort is made not only to maintain thorough honesty in 
 the service , b ut to at tract to it young men of , high intellectua l 
 capacity, and to this end extremely liberal salarie s ai-e paid. 
 T he employes are now taken from among the best grad uates of 
 t he English and America n universities, the former after a severe 
 competitive examination . After studymg th e language l or two 
 years at Peking, with a salary of £400, t hey enter active service 
 as clerks, with salaries increasing with promotion Iro m £600 to 
 £1,200; and when advanced to the rank of commissioners, of 
 whom there are thirt een, they receive, according ' to the port, 
 j£l,200 to £2,000. — — 
 
 It is hoped that in t ime the necessity for employing foreigners 
 _w i^[L disappear, and that the administratioa will pass gradually into 
 jhe jiands of efficient native officials. The Government fully ap- 
 preciates tlie advantages of theTiistitution. Indeed, it could 
 scarcely be otherwise, considering the great increase in the reve- 
 nue derived from foreign trade. A ccording to Mr. Hart, they 
 arc also gradually learning the importance of paying salaries 
 
CHAP. XXIV.] -WESTERN POLIOT IN CHINA. 351 
 
 large enough to ra ise officials above th e necessity of being dis - 
 honest ; and they are realizing, too, the advantages of depart- 
 inentai division of labor, as compared with'the long-es tablished 
 practice of unitin g in one offi cial t he most varied duties — a prac- 
 tice t hat renders any chec k on fraud impossible . If the success 
 ful "working of the customs organization should lead to reform 
 in these two particulars (and there is much reason for believing 
 that it will), the greatest barrier in the way of improvement in 
 other respects will then be removed, and the road to judicial 
 reform will be open. 
 
 Among the great changes that remain to be accomplished, the 
 most neede d are such as would aifect the finances of the empire ; 
 for by insuring a proper collection and application of the revenu e, 
 the provincial authorities would be made dependent upon the 
 Central Government, instead of the reverse as at present, and th e. 
 largest source of official corruption would be removed. The 
 accomp lishment of these changes, and those connected with the 
 ju dicial organization, is a question rather of reform than of rev o- 
 lution . They could be brought about without the overthrow of 
 the existing religious or social organizations, and without any 
 change in the established theory of government. 
 
 Such reforms must be the fruit of the grafting of western 
 ideas on the Chinese stock, and their growth must necessarily be 
 slow. They can flourish only under the patient forbearance of 
 more powerful nations, whose duty and true interest it is to en- 
 courage, and not repress. 
 
 Until ten years ago the decrees issued from the imperial throne 
 taught the people to look upon all foreign nations as barbarian 
 tribute-bearers, and as trembling siibjects of the mercy or wrath 
 of the " Son of Heave n." Now this language has disappea red : , 
 the decrees published in the gazette and sent through the empire 
 speak in becoming terms of Europeans, and generally give to for- 
 eign e mployes the credit they deserve . Kecognizing no equals, 
 and nominally merely tolerating the presence of foreigners, the 
 Government always insisted that in all our intercourse with it we 
 should assume the attitude of suppliants. This stumbling-block 
 vanished after the last war ; and in 1863, acting readily on the ad- 
 vice of Mr. Burlingame, they employed the American missionary. 
 Dr. W. P. Martin, to translate " Wheaton's International Law." 
 
352 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxiv. 
 
 Some of the best scholars in the empire were associated with Dr. 
 Martin as assistants ; and Tung, perhaps the loading scholar of 
 China, a member of the Board of Foreign Affairs, gave constant 
 attention and the finishing touches to this great work, which was 
 published early in 1865. 
 
 That the Government does not look upon this as a mere piece 
 of fancy-work is proved by the fact that coi:)ies are sent to officials 
 in all parts of the empire, especially on the coast, as also by the 
 following circumstance : During the late war between Prussia 
 and Denmark, the Prussian fleet in Chinese waters seized two 
 Danish vessels. One of these was captured while at anchor 
 within three miles of the shore ; in the other instance, the Prussian, 
 while anchored within the three-mile limit, sent its boats to cap- 
 ture the Danish vessel outside these bounds. The translation of 
 Wheaton was not yet published ; but its principles seem to have 
 become familiar to some of the high officials, for the Government 
 instantly demanded the release of the vessels, on the ground that 
 their capture was an infdngement upon the neutrality of the Em- 
 peror. Much to the astonishment of the Prussian minister, the 
 Government quoted in support of its posi ti on decisions exactly 
 covering the cases, and which had been rendered against England, 
 by English law officers, during the war with Am eiica. 
 
 The establishment by Government of a school in which foreign 
 languages and other subjects are taught is another step forward ; 
 for from this school are to be taken interpreters and secretaries 
 for envoys to the West, and for officials at the treaty ports.* 
 
 In looking over the history of affairs at Peking during the last 
 six or seven years one hardly knows which most to admire, the 
 iinexpectedly high degree of intelligence and statesmanship of 
 some of the leading officials, or the wise diplomacy of the foreign 
 embassadors in turning these to account. But the same history 
 exposes the weak points of Chinese administration, and the ex- 
 istence of a public opinion tbat demands to be consulted. For 
 oxample, when Mr. Lay, having, by authority from the Govern- 
 ment, organized a flotilla, entered into an agreement with the 
 commander, Captain Osborne, that he should act only under or- 
 ders from Peking, he transcended not only the limits of his own 
 
 * This Bchool has lately been enlarged in its plan, and is now called the University of 
 Peking. Its president is one of the highest and most learned of the Chinese ministers, 
 .vhile an able corps of professors from the West has been attached to it. 
 
CHAP, xxiv.] WESTERN POLICY IN CHINA.. 353 
 
 power, but likewise those of the Central Government. It may be 
 well to review briefly this transaction, which threatened to lead 
 to disagreeable results. 
 
 The increase of piracy and smuggling along the coast and on 
 the rivers called for action on the part of the Government, unless 
 it were willing to have the police duty of the Chinese waters ex- 
 ercised by foreign men-of-war. The Board of Foreign Aifairs, 
 therefore, authorized Mr. H. N". Lay, the Inspector-General of the 
 Chinese Maritime Customs, to contract for the building in Eng- 
 land of a flotilla of gunboats, which should form a portion of the 
 naval force of the empire, and be officered and in part manned by 
 Englishmen. A fine fleet of eight steamers was accordingly built 
 and sent out to China, and the command, with the rank of admiral, 
 given to Captain Sherard Osborne, one of the best officers of the 
 British navy. 
 
 The agreement between Lay and Osborne contained a pledge 
 to the latter that he should be responsible only to the Central 
 Government at Peking, at the same time binding him to act upon 
 no orders, even from the Emperor, unless they had first received 
 the sanction of Lay. This agreement the Government refused to 
 recognize, not only because it had no wish to put supreme power 
 into the hands of its chief of the customs service, but also because 
 the theory and practice of Government in China required that the 
 authority over the navy should be vested in the viceroys of the 
 provinces in which its services might be needed. Thereupon 
 Captain Osborne, declining to be placed in subjection to provincial 
 ofiicials, resigned his position ; Mr. Lay was dismissed fi-om ser- 
 vice ; and the vessels were sent back to England, where they were 
 sold on account of the Imperial Government. 
 
 Thus was this costly and much-needed squadron lost to China, 
 not simply because Mr. Lay had assumed to make himself the 
 arbitrating medium through which the admiral should receive the 
 imperial orders, but quite as much because of the fear of the Re- 
 gency to assume a responsibility which by custom belonged to 
 the provincial authorities. 
 
 How much greater the powers of the Emperor may be than 
 
 those of the Regency, which will end when the Emperor decides 
 
 to take the reins into his ov/n hands, is a difficult question ; but 
 
 the strong language of censors in memorials to the throne reveals 
 
 23 
 
354 AOBOSS AMEBICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxiv. 
 
 the existence of checks on the imperial will that have their origin 
 in public opinion, whether this be the sentiment of the people 
 generally, as is n^ost likely, or of the large class of literati, or 
 simply of the great body of officials. 
 
 The existence of such a powerful public influence should ad. 
 monish us that the field of our labor is not confined to Peking and 
 the Government alone. Great as is the advance already made, 
 we have on our part to show the people throughout the empire 
 that a treaty is not a mere concession obtained by force, and bind- 
 ing only the conquered. 
 
 How easily public oj)inion concerning us is formed was well 
 shown in the province of Hunan in 1862. An English gunboat 
 at Hankan burned a junk which was conveying soldiers to Nan- 
 king. The soldiers had brutally assaulted an Englishman, and 
 with a precipitation in keeping with the old retaliation policy the 
 junk was burned. But the vessel was j)rivate projierty, having 
 been impressed in Hunan by the braves; and its destruction, 
 instead of being a punishment of the offenders, incensed the whole 
 population of eastern Hunan. Knowing no difierence among 
 foreigners, the inhabitants of that province visited on the heads 
 of the Catholic missionaries the offence of the English gunboat, 
 destroying the missions, and barely allowing the priests to escape 
 alive. So strong was the hatred to^yard the foreigner-^— a feeling 
 first communicated along the great transit route from Cant on, and 
 increased by this blind act of retaliation — that in 1863 the writer 
 found it impossible to penetrate to southern Hunan with safety. 
 
 In strong contrast to this stands the treatment sho wn to for- 1 
 eigners through northern China : all who have travelled in tha t| 
 p^rt of the empire will bear witness to the frien dliness ofthej 
 people . _^^i r'' /Jz/v/ 
 
 It is not enough that the Government at Peking understands 
 the whole meaning of the treaties, the privileges and obligations 
 mutually conferred and exacted, and that it appreciates the im- 
 portance to China of the plans followed and recommended by.-the 
 foreign ministers : it is absolutely necessary that this knowledge 
 should extend to the whole wide-spread body of officials, and 
 further yet to the people at large. The treaties have been pub- 
 lished throughout the empire, and the mandarins ordered to 
 abide by them ; but it requires time for the officials to learn the 
 
CHAP, xxrv.] WESTERN POLICY IN CHINA. 355 
 
 meaning of such innovations. Then, to o, aside from the weak- 
 ness of the Cen tral Government, the local au thorities ha^^e really 
 little power over the"piopre. Ai ToiScial would gladly pay a 
 considerabl e su'm to any foreigne r to bribe him to avoid the 
 limits of his authority, so much do Ihey fear popular diaturb - 
 ances, which they are powerless to quell. The authoiity of the 
 mandarig is, indeed, in great measure dependent on"the forb ear- 
 ance oi tlie peo ple7and is proportionate to higjopularity. I^'ew 
 ollici als, even in sTglit of Feking, venture to resort to extrem e 
 measures. 
 
 From these considerations it appears how much the extension 
 of our intercourse with this race into fields not yet oj^ened by 
 treaties will depend on the manner in which we meet the people , 
 or rathe r upon the policy by which western powers shall regu- 
 late^the actions of their subjects . In China, the axiom, that th e 
 wi ll of the people is the will of Hea ven, and must be observed by 
 the Emperor, the Son of Heaven, has during thousands of years 
 been accepted as a fundamental principle of governmenta l 
 science, and continued disregard of it has always caused tlie 
 overthrow of the aggressive dynasty. This axiom is as powerful 
 to-day as ever , and it is probable that the Emperor would not 
 dare to make a concession antagonistic to the wishes of the peo- 
 ple, and there is hardly a concession which we could now ask for 
 that would not call forth a widespread opposition. 
 
 The foreign trade of China is as nothing compared with the 
 increase which we have a right to hope for ; but this increase 
 will require the introduction of steamers throughout the immense 
 network of inland waters, the construction of long lines of 
 railways and telegraphs, and the devel6pmeht~ of "a gi-eat me- 
 chanical indust ry, on the basis of the boundless resources of the 
 empi re m coal, iron, raw materials, labor, and capita l. 
 
 We have no right to expect that the dense population of China 
 will readily welcome these innovations. The Government canno t 
 force th em on the people ; their introduction can only follow a 
 ' general conviction of the advantages to be derived from tliem. 
 From the Government we may ultimately get the right to reside 
 in the int'erior, and to treat with its subjects for the purchase of 
 property, right of way, etc. ; but even this must be based on the 
 strict observance of the treaties bv foreigners. 
 
356 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [«hap. xxit. 
 
 There is little doubt that by exercising patience the preju 
 dices that arise from ignorance of the principles of political econ- 
 omy will be gradually overcome. The Chinese are so essential ly 
 practical, and they are from childhood such adepts in the art of 
 making commercial combinations, that we may reasonably expect 
 a rapid introduction of the great modern instruments of material 
 prosperity. The opening of the lower Yangtz' t o foreign steam- 
 ers — a step rendered easy by the destruction of native shipping 
 by the rebels — is instructing the native capi talists and the peop le 
 generally in the advantages of steam transit, and many steame i-s 
 a^-e now owned by the former, while native passengers willingl y 
 pay higher fares for the privilege of being carried more quickly 
 than by junks. 
 
 Many, if not all, of the wealthy Chinese merchants at t he open 
 ports appreciate already the advantages to be derived from the 
 introduction of modern improvements, and are ready to advance 
 capital for that purpose, and the opposition of special interests 
 will probably be overcome by driving the wedge gradually; But 
 both the people and the Government must first learn that foreign 
 ideas and improvements are not intended to overthrow the na- 
 tional independence and the imperial authority. 
 
 Thus far nothing has been said concerning the missionary 
 problem, for it should not enter into the question of foreign policy. 
 The zeal which urges the Catholic enthusiast to seek a martyr's 
 crown in the interior is a fruitful source of trouble to France, the 
 champion of the Church. As a religious movement, the Chinese 
 Government views the missionary enterprise with perfect indiffer- 
 ence, but it fears its political bearing s. The authority of the priest 
 too often impairs that of the mandarin, though frequently in favor 
 of justice. Were there danger of more general proselyting, the 
 fear of the extension of priestly power would probably raise an 
 active opposition to the missionaries, but at present the labors of 
 the^latt er are mostly confined to the small cures that have de - 
 scen"aed lrom the past. Few new converts are ma4e beyond tFe 
 chiI ^n"saved'lrom death or ibought frompoor \,2iX^^. (^h^$S 
 
 The work of "tEe 'Protestant missionar ies has thus far done 
 little toward complicating our relations with China. Confined 
 mostly to the immediate neighborhood of the treaty ports, they 
 interfere little with the local authorities, and their success is so 
 
CHAP. XXIV,] WESTERN POLIOT IN CHINA. 357 
 
 slight, and even so doubtful, that the Government now offei's no 
 op position to their teaching . 
 
 in a conversation with Mr. Burlingame, one of the members of 
 the Board of Foreign Afiairs thus stated the views of the Gov- 
 ernment in regard to religion : " Our sentiments are identical 
 with yours, though they are expressed by different signs ; and our 
 religious principles are the same as yours, though they are clothed 
 'ji different forms : that is to say, what you mean by ' Lord ' we 
 call ' Heaven. ' It is not a firmament of stone or vapor that w e 
 worship, but the Spirit who dwells in Heaven . In the popular 
 idolatry we put no faith whatever, but the Emperor makes use of 
 it as an auxiliary power in governing the people. The teachers 
 of every creed agree as to the principles of virtue ; any one of these 
 systems will suffice to deter men from the perpetration of secret 
 crimes, which the law of the land would be powerless to prevent. 
 
 As a proof of our liberality, I may mention that we are 
 
 even now inviting Christian missionaries to become the teachers 
 of our children ; and if Christian churches ever produce better citi- 
 zens than Buddhist, or Christian schools better scholars than the 
 Confucianist, we shall gladly acknowledge their work." 
 
 It is well for China that the western powers have been repre- 
 sented at Peking by statesmen who had the wisdom to inaugu- 
 rate a new policy of this broad character, and the patience to 
 carry it out through all the opposition they encountered. The 
 co-operative policy, framed chiefly by Mr. Burlingame and Sir 
 Frederick Bruce, with the approval of their colleagues, at the 
 same time that it acts as a wholesome check on individual judg- 
 ment, insures as far as possible the observance of the treaties by 
 all parties ; and while it exerts a strong pressure on the Chinese 
 Government, there is just enough diversity in the interests of the 
 treaty powers, and enough of national jealousy, to guarantee 
 that this pressure shall not be used unjustly. 
 
 Of the ministers who worked hand in hand in inaugurating the 
 new policy, none are now in Peking. Sir Frederick Bruce, a true 
 friend of America during its troubles, left China to represent his 
 country at Washington. His death, last year, came at a time 
 when his dispassionate judgment could not well be spared on 
 either side of the Atlantic. How deeply interested he felt in the 
 welfare of China will appear from the following extract from a 
 
358 ACMOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxit. 
 
 lettei- addressed by him, a few weeks before his death, to the 
 writer of this article : 
 
 "I have lost none of my interest in those countries [China and 
 Japan], and sober reflection has only confirmed me in my high 
 appreciation of the qualities of the people and of the statesmen 
 of China. The great fact remains, that since 1860 they have 
 pulled tlirough their foreign difficulties, and have done much to 
 improve their internal condition, without impairing their authority 
 or their rights. We can claim for the 'co-operative policy,' that 
 it contributed largely to that end; that the moderation impressed 
 upon foreign ministers, by their agreement to act togethei-, kept 
 the individual representatives within bounds ; and that the sup- 
 port given to the custom-house system affords the best, and, in- 
 deed, the only hope of assimilating pacifically the Chinese ad- 
 ministration to the emergencies of western intercourse and 
 ideas. I believe that if the policy then sketched out is steadily 
 adhered to, and the Chinese are brought to rely on our friendship 
 and good faith, w e shall have little cause to complain, ancl the 
 march of progress will be soon accelerated. The speed with 
 which changes are effected bears some ratio to the size of the 
 area where the changes are to be introduced, and to the numbers 
 of the nation which it is sought to impress — a truth we are very 
 apt to forget." 
 
 M. Berthemy, also an earnest worker in the framing of the 
 co-operative policy, now represents his country at Washington. 
 
 Mr. Burlingame, after a short visit home in 1865, returned to 
 Peking, where his position as senior member of the diplomatic 
 corps, as well as his strong p-ersonal influence, enabled him to 
 continue the harmonious action among the more newly-arrived 
 ministers, and between them and the Board of Foreign Affairs. 
 The brilliant appointment which he has lately received from the 
 Chinese Government is an evidence both of the high estimation 
 in which he is personally held, and of the successful working of 
 the policy of which he was the most active framer. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 FEOSI PEKING TO NAGASAKI. 
 
 It was now the middle of May, and the season was already 
 advancing beyond the period of comfortable travelling through 
 the Indian ocean and Egypt. This was the route I had chosen, 
 after failing to find a companion for a journey through Siberia. 
 Taking leave of my many kind friends at Peking, I set out on 
 horseback for Tung-chau (fu) on the Pei-Ho. The distance is 
 only about twelve miles over the granite causeway that connects 
 this port with the capital ; but I lengthened the time of the ride 
 by lingering at the bridge of Pa-li-kiao, the site of one of the 
 battles of the last war, where the Tartar cavalry with miserable 
 weapons made a most desperate resistance against the allied 
 forces. 
 
 At Tung-chau I found my baggage already on board the 
 boat, which had been engaged by my temporary companion, a 
 young missionary. 
 
 It may not be uninteresting to the reader to have a slight 
 sketch of the strange career of this person, whom, though in no 
 unfriendly spirit, I must call a i-eligious adventurer. 
 
 While yet a boy, feeling himself called upon to become a 
 missionary, he started without any credentials and without having 
 been ordained. 
 
 Enlisting as a marine, he went with the United States squadron 
 to Japan, and there leaving the service began studying the lan- 
 guage. Having no means of support he opened a tailor shop, 
 and managed to eke out a subsistence, although, as I know by 
 sad experience, he was apt to make one leg of a pair of trousers 
 a couple of inches shorter than the other. 
 
 Failing in his attempt to convert the Japanese he became a 
 merchant, in which he also failed, owing a large amount, in 
 an attempt to overstock the China market with lumber. 
 
 Determined again to become a missionary in a new field, he 
 went to Shanghai, and failing here to get a passport for the 
 interior proceeded to Peking. 
 
360 AGBOSiS AMElilOA AND ASIA. [chap. xxv. 
 
 Dui-ing this time he had learned a little Chinese, and had deter- 
 mined to preach the gospel in the most inaccessible provinces of 
 the west. He had obtained bis passport, and was now on the way 
 to Tien-tsin, the starting point of his journey. He complained 
 bitterly that he had been snubbed by all the missionaries at Pe- 
 king, who had even refused to allow him to pray in their evening 
 meetings. During our boat journey, whether asleep or awake, 
 lie talked constantly and always in Scriptural quotations, 
 whether denouncing the missionaries as " sons of Belial," or 
 complaining of his financial losses, or yet calling down ven- 
 geance upon the Chinese, if they should hesitate to receive his 
 " glad tidings joyfully." 
 
 A monomaniac, he was about to undertake one of the most 
 difficult journeys on the globe, entirely alone, and was going un- 
 disguised through regions where even the Catholic missionaries 
 could hardly penetrate, though perfectly disguised, and always 
 surrounded by their converts. I left him at Tien-tsin, after giv- 
 ing him my camp outfit, confidently expecting that he would 
 never again be heard from. His subsequent career' was remarka- 
 ble : starting with a cart-load of Bibles, he travelled across Chih- 
 li and Shan-si to the Yellow river. 
 
 Here, coming upon the line of engagement between the Im.- 
 perialist troops and the Mohammedan rebels, he was arrested by 
 the former, and sent in a boat down the river to the sea-coast. 
 ISTot daunted by this rebufi", he started from Canton with another 
 load of Bibles, and travelling through the southern provinces of 
 China penetrated into the almost inaccessible region of Yun-nan, 
 where he barely escaped death in several attacks of banditti. 
 The last time that I heard of him he was circulating petitions 
 through the United States for the pardon of Jefierson Davis, 
 having accomplished his missionary work in China, by having, 
 as he characteristically asserted, circulated so many Bibles' in 
 every part of China that the inhabitants of that country can 
 show, at the Last Day, nogood reason why they should not be 
 damned. — ' 
 
 The condition of the Protestant Christian missions in China i s 
 CCTtainlyjiot jromising; during nearly half a c entury a con- 
 sta^tlyjncreasing^eof zealous men has been actively at work 
 at all the_ £enports^Th^y have indeed estaBIi hed sch ools and 
 
CHAP. XXV.] FROM PEKINQ TO NAGASAKI. 361 
 
 churches, and formed congregations which, in the aggregate., 
 may number some thousands of communicants ; they have many 
 native preachers, and distribute countless tracts and Bibles 
 printed in Chinese : but with all this it is extremely doubtful 
 wh ether the number of true conv erts is in any other than an 
 insignificant proportion to that of the communicants. These 
 remarks are ina^e in no unfriendly spirit toward the earnest 
 men who are giving up their lives to a labor which some of them 
 at least feel to be almost useless. One of the most zealous of 
 these men informed me that during an experience of more than 
 twelve years, in which he had been applied to by thousands of 
 natives to administer baptism, he had never yet felt suificiently 
 convinced of the sincerity of an applicant to perform the cere- 
 mony. 
 
 The reasons for hypocrisy among the natives are numerous. 
 In China a population of more than four hundred millions is 
 confined to an area about as large as the United States east of 
 the Mississippi river, and the population treads so closely upon 
 the limits of productivity that widespread famine always follows 
 a year in which the production falls below the average. In such 
 a country, and especially in its cities, the whole course of life is a 
 constant struggle for existence — a struggle in which the need of 
 getting daily food drowns all other considerations. It is therefore 
 not surprising that thousands should apply for admission to a 
 church, when it is well known among the people that its mem- 
 bers are not only never allowed to starve, but have also the 
 preference over their Pagan brethren in obtaining employment. 
 A well-to-do Chinaman who should become a Christian would be 
 held in contempt by his countrymen; but among the poorer 
 people, the necessities of life form a sufficient excuse for nomin al 
 co nversion. 
 
 I think too well of the Chinese, as a people, to consider them 
 generally capable of hypocrisy ; but when a native has once de- 
 cided upon this course he goes patiently through a long care er 
 of dgceit, which is well calculated to hoodwink the missionary. 
 
 B y birth and education a thinker, learning to read his_ own 
 language in committing to memory the philosophical writing s, of 
 his own sages, the Chinaman finds no diffi culty in u nderstanding^ 
 and remembering the doctrines of the Bible, and even the sec- 
 
362 A0E08S AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxv. 
 
 taiian tracts which fall into his hands. After mastering these 
 he comes to the missionary, often with a better knowledge of th e 
 questions involved in our religion tlian is show n by many conve rts 
 at home. What wonder, then, if this Icnowledge is taken for sin- 
 cere~belief b y men who are perhaps poorer judges of human n a- 
 ture than any other class. For years a native Christian, or even a 
 whole congregation, will persevere in a career of successful deceit, 
 until some internal dispute brings to light acts of hypocrisy and 
 fraud, involving sometimes even the native preachers, and dis- 
 heartening the missionary. How many millions of money and how 
 many earnestly devoted lives have been thus, misspent. The 
 truth is that the Chinese, tho ugh superstitious, have no religion ; 
 at least none which stands in any relation to a future existence. 
 In eaHy~tinies7~BeTore the density of populatioiThad rendered' 
 them a strictly utilitarian people, and before the religious idea had 
 become almost entirely extinct, the Buddist missionaries, travel- 
 ling from India, like the early spreaders of the Christian faith, with 
 scrip and staff, and undergoing every hardship, found little diiE-. 
 culty in spreading their humane religion over the whole country. 
 
 A few centuries later, the intrepid Nestorian missionaries pene- 
 trated through central Asia into China, and we have the evidence 
 of the inscription at Si-ngan (ful that in the sixth century th e 
 Christian church had obtained a foothold in many parts of th e 
 empire. At present, although the country is full of Buddist tem- 
 ples and Buddist monasteries, they hold no other place among 
 the Chinese than that of supplying the people with priests to pe r- 
 form funeral ceremonies, and to attend to the rites and homes of 
 the dead, and to satisfy the wants of an active superstition no 
 more connected with relisrion than is fortune-tellinsr. The numer- 
 ous monasteries, which are generally richly endowed, also offer 
 places for retreat to persons who wish to leave the world. 
 
 Of Christian descendants of the ISTestorian converts, no trace 
 was found by the Roman missionaries who entered China during 
 the reign of the Ming dynasty, and the converts made by these 
 latter do not seem to have perpetuated the new faith beyond the 
 circle of their immediate descendants. 
 
 A national religious change must pre-suppose that the supplant- 
 ing faith meets some want generally felt among the people. The 
 esta^blishment_of any religion p're-supposes a Avell d"e"fined belief 
 
CHAP. XXV.] FBOM PEKING TO NAGASAKI. 3(j3 
 
 in a future existence, and a feeling of utter dependence upon a 
 Dei ty. That the Chinese hadT something of this religious senti- 
 ment in times -which ante-date their written liistory, seems to b e 
 shown in their State religion, now sunken into a mere form . But 
 the principle which the early philosophers established as the corner- 
 stone of government, that the will of the people is the will of 
 Heaven, has been carried to its natural consequence — the eleva- 
 tion of public welf are to the position of being the highest aim of 
 monarclTaiTd" crtize iu The Chinaman has n o God, and having no 
 be li^n a sy stem of future rewards and punishments, has no fear 
 ot death, and consequently feels none" of those wants which one 
 ^ niust suppose to exist in a convert to Christiani"^ In this re- 
 spect he diiiers from the Japanese and the Polynesian ; the former, 
 while strongly imbued with the religious sentiment, has out- 
 grown in his intellectual progress the doctrines of a corrupted 
 Buddism, while the latter is easily persuaded to exchange th e 
 bloody rites of his superstition for the humane doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity . 
 
 While Japan offers one of the best fields for proselytizing, China 
 is certainly the worst. 
 
 One form of the missionary enterprise — the medical mission — 
 has always commanded the respect and gratitude of the Chinese ; 
 the names of the excellent doctors, Parker and Lockhart, and 
 others, who have spent years in alleviating suffering among the 
 natives, are known far and wide in the empire, and will long be 
 Remembered for the good they have done. 
 
 When I arrived at Shanghai my friend Mr. Thomas Walsh 
 agreed to make the journey homeward with me through Tartary 
 and Siberia in the early autumn, a proposition which I eagerly 
 accepted, as it was already late for the journey via India. 
 
 Therefore I accepted his invitation to pass the summer at the 
 house of his brother, Mr. John G. Walsh, in Nagasaki. 
 
 Unfortunately, Japan was at this time shaken from north to 
 south by its internal and foreign troubles, rendering it impossible 
 for me to travel. But under the hospitable roof of my host the 
 summer passed away pleasantly ; its quiet was broken only by 
 the news of distant battles, and the rumors of threatened attacks 
 uj)on the foreign settlements. 
 
 The political troubles rendering it impossible for Mr. Walsh to 
 
36i ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxv. 
 
 leave his affairs, the time of our departure was delayed until well 
 on in October. 
 
 In the meantime we made extensive preparations for a winter 
 journey through a country of whose resources we knew nothing. 
 
 I fear that my readers will accuse us of an undue regard to 
 luxury in travelling, should I enumerate the quantities and varie- 
 ties of provisions and drinkables which were boxed up for our 
 journey, and stowed away on the brig which was to take us to 
 Tien-tsin. 
 
 At the last moment, fearing lest the provisions already pre- 
 pared, which were enough for forty instead of two, were not suf- 
 ficient, Mr. Walsh sent on board an additional quantity and sev- 
 eral cases of wines for the sea voyage. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE TABLE-LAND OE CE2^TEAL ASIA. 
 
 At last we bid good-bye to Mr. J. G. Walsh and other good 
 friends, and sailed out of the bay. 
 
 After several days of delightful weather we came in sight of 
 the Corean island of Quelpart, and entered the Yellow sea. 
 
 During several days, nothing of interest occurred, excepting 
 that the sea seemed alive witli immense numbers of Medusae. 
 The great discs of these animals, of two feet and more in diame- 
 ter, were everywhere visible, floating like drab umbrellas near 
 the surface, and as far as the eye could penetrate the clear blue 
 waters. The vessel often cut a way through great masses of 
 them, leaving hundreds of their broken forms in its wake. 
 
 During several days we passed through this immense shoal 
 of jelly fish, which must have covered an area of thousands of 
 square miles. 
 
 We were not deprived of an opportunity to study the habits 
 of animal life within the walls of our vessel ; the brig had been 
 for a long time in the tropics, and had become thoroughly in- 
 fested with cockroaches ; they seemed to rival in numbers the 
 Medusae outside ; the floor, the ceiling, and the berths swarmed 
 with them. After throwing several bushels of these unwelcome 
 passengers into the sea, we were forced to conclude that, in so 
 doing, we only made room for fresh and more hungry swarms 
 from the hold. They were always first at table, turning up in 
 every article of food, and sure to appear upon the most delicate 
 morsels. 
 
 I had often heard that the favorite amusement of the animals 
 was to gnaw ofi" the toe-nails of sailors ; and, indeed, after my ex- 
 perience on this journey, I am ready to believe anything of them, 
 even the assertion that they form the principal ingredient in 
 India soy, as they certainly were largely represented in our food. 
 
 A violent storm prevented our rounding the promontory of 
 
366 AOnOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxti. 
 
 Shan-tung, and drove us north between the coast of Corea and 
 the peninsula of Shan-tung, where we lay for several days before 
 we could enter the gulf ofPe-chele and reach the mouth of the 
 Pei-Ho. Here we disembarked and forwarded our supplies by 
 boat to Pekinor, making the journey ourselves on horseback. 
 
 At the capital we were so fortunate as to make an addition to 
 our party in the person of Mr. St. John, Secretary of the English 
 legation. While waiting for the preparations which our new 
 companion had to make, we passed our time in getting carts, 
 which we had enlarged to admit of sleeping, and in having our 
 clothes lined with fur. Gen. Vlangali, the Ilussian minister, kindly 
 placed a Cossack at our service for the journey, besides supplying 
 us with numerous letters of introduction for Siberia. 
 
 On the morning of the twelfth of November we left the hos- 
 pitable gates of Mr. Burlingame's house to set out upon our long 
 journey across the table-land of central Asia, and through 
 Siberia and Russia to the Atlantic ocean, through countries of 
 which no one of our party spoke the languages. 
 
 As the gorge of ISTan-kau is impassable for carts, we had ours 
 taken to pieces and packed upon mules, as were all our supplies 
 and baggage ; it was quite a ride from the rear to the front of our 
 long and straggling caravan. Stopping the first night at Sha- 
 ho, we made an early start next morning ; but before reaching 
 Nan-kau Walsh's horse fell and sprained the ankle of his rider so 
 badly that I feared we should have to give up the journey at its 
 first stage, or take my friend back and leave him at Peking. But 
 not daunted afthe idea of making the longest land journey on 
 the globe in a crippled condition, and disregarding present pain, 
 Walsh insisted upon being carried in a chair to Kalgan, where 
 our carts were to begin their work. 
 
 At Nan-kau we bought a wooden chair, which, slung between 
 two poles and cari-ied by strong men, formed a very convenient 
 means of travelling. 
 
 Four flays' journey from Peking brought us to Kalgan ; here we 
 were detained four days in perfecting a contract with _ the Mon- 
 gols, who were to take us to Tviachta. !As we were bearing dis 
 patches, the Chinese Government had given us passports for Tar- 
 tary, without which it would have been impossible to obtain either 
 guides or camels. Finally, on the 21st of ISTovember, at four 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] THE TABLE-LAND OF CENTRAL ASIA. 367 
 
 o'clock in the afternoon, we left Kalgan in a lieavy snowstorm 
 the ascent to the summit of the plateau being too steep for camels 
 to draw the carts, this work was clone by horses as far as Boro- 
 tsedji which we reached at daylight. Here we found our camels, 
 twenty-six in number, including those taken as reserves in case of 
 accident. 
 
 The first work was the organization of the caravan, the carts, 
 of which there were four, one for each, including Peter the Cos- 
 sack, were intended for sleeping-places, as it was our intention to 
 travel seventeen hours out of the twenty-four, stopping only once 
 to eat. The vehicles, mounted on two wheels and without 
 springs, were covered wilh a housing of felt less than three feet 
 wide and about seven in length ; they were closed with a door on 
 one side, and furnished with abundant blankets and furs, and fitted 
 with pockets without number ; the long shafts in front were slung 
 iu loops suspended from the saddle of the camel, and a guide 
 mounted on another animal accompanied each cart. The bag- 
 gage was packed on eight or ten other camels, each animal having 
 its nose pierced and fastened by a cord to the saddle of the one 
 before it, the foremost being led by a mounted cameleer. 
 
 The ascent to the summit of the plateau, here between five 
 and six thousand feet above the sea, brought us into a region of 
 intense cold, which was rendered almost insupportable by a 
 strong north-northwest wind. The thermometer, which at Kal- 
 gan had been ranged near the freezing point, stood here at ten 
 degrees below zero (F). 
 
 The wind, having a clear sweep over the plains lying between 
 us and the Arctic region, blew with unbroken force, obliging us 
 to take shelter in the carts, while the preparations were being 
 made for starting. Finally, when all was ready, the cameleers, 
 enveloped in immense masses of sheepskin robes, mounted their 
 animals and formed into line. During the first two or three days 
 our whole time was occupied in endeavoring to find the best 
 means to keep from freezing to death, a fate against which I saw 
 we had not taken sufficient precaution in our preparations. After 
 beins for hours in the carts there would be not more than three or 
 four degrees difierence between the inner and outer temperature. 
 
 Although the vehicles were an excellent defence against the 
 wind, the temperature of every object on the inside equalized 
 
368 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxvi 
 
 itself with that of the outer air.- Woollen blanketa and furs be- 
 came so cold that it was impossible to touch them with the nak ed 
 hand. Sometime during the first night our route emerged from 
 the flat-topped hills of the volcanic region of tlie plateau, and en- 
 tered a country of gravelly plains, crossed by low granitic 
 ridges. It was not until the fourth day of our caravan journey 
 that we were able to summon courage to iace the fierce wind and 
 clear cold outside. Feeling a necessity for exercise we mounted 
 our Tartar horses, and, leaving the caravan, galloped in the direc- 
 tion of a small column of smoke rising from the neighboring 
 hills.- Reaching the top of a small eminence we saw in the val- 
 ley beneath us a collection of yurts, from which herds were mov- 
 ing away to graze. A loud and fierce barking of dogs showed 
 that we were already discovered, and as we approached the en- 
 campment a score of these savage brutes offered us battle, and 
 we should certainly have been worsted had not their masters 
 come to our assistance. 
 
 I had taken the precaution to bring an empty bottle, and a pa- 
 per of needles, which we immediately presented to the good wo- 
 man of the tent. AVe had not long to wait for her gratitude to 
 show itself. Putting a large cauldron over the fire she threw in 
 some tallow, and after this had melted, poured in a quantity of 
 water, to which as soon as it had begun to boil was added a libe- 
 ral quantity of brick tea with salt, and small pieces of the fat of 
 a sheep's tail. When this was done and a handful of parched 
 millet sprinkled over the surface, the good woman served it up in 
 wooden cups, putting into each one a lump of cheese, about the 
 size of an egg. We stood almost aghast, frightened at the hospita- 
 ble offering which our presents had called forth ; and, indeed, a 
 decoction of tallow, tea, fat, salt, and cheese is certainly a formida- 
 ble compound for a western palate. But notwithstanding tiie 
 epithets with which we reviled the mixture, in a language t'oi?fri> 
 nately unintelligible to our hostess, the cups wei'e repeatedly filled, 
 and_as oftea emptied. Bef ore we had left Mongolia this Tartar 
 tea had really become a favorite beverage, with all of us. 
 
 We"wefe~iK)w in a rolhng country, or rather the true plateau, 
 cut up by water-courses and the beds of generally empty lakes. 
 Riding to the top of a hill we could distinguish our caravan 
 winding along the bottom of the great valley, and some two or 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] THE TABLE-LAND OF CENTRAL ASIA. 36S 
 
 three miles ahead of us. Descending into this depression, we soon 
 cut the tracks of the camels and cart-wheels, which we had no 
 difficulty in following. A great change had taken place in the 
 weather, a light south wind keeping the mercury all day above 
 freezing. Low hills of limestone and gypsum rose on all sides 
 from the valley plain. The sides of these hillocks, covered with 
 crystals of selenite from the gypsum beds, glistened in the sun- 
 light as though encrusted with diamonds. In the distance a hori- 
 zontal line marked the limit where the cliffs of the table-land shut 
 in the broad valley. 
 
 On the morning of the 2Vth wc awoke in a rough country, among 
 the hills of Mingan, a mass of metamorphosed sandstone, quartz- 
 ite, and limestone in highly-inclined beds. These hills, rising 
 like an island from the table-land, and several hundred feet above 
 its surface, are barren masses of rock interspersed with patches of 
 grass-covered soil. The western base sinks into the broad valley 
 of Olannoor, while to the northwest we descended to the great 
 steppe of Tainchin Tala. 
 
 This broad plain, which has suffered but little from erosion, 
 has a surface of gravel and sand, with scattered patches of grass. 
 Pebbles of chalcedony, agate, and cornelian, are strown among 
 the gravel. The table-land, at least along the whole line of our 
 joui'ney, is utterly destitute of trees, and the first and only per- 
 ennial which I saw was a low thorny bush, which appears on the 
 Tamchin Tala, and other equally barren soils. From the hill-tops 
 one overlooks an immense area of plains or undulating country, as 
 boundless and unbroken as the ocean. In the summer this is 
 covered with a waving mass of tall grass, forming a green man- 
 tle, which toward the distant hoi'izon becomes a deep blue. In 
 the winter the scene is entirely changed : the plains and low hills, 
 yellow from the color of the gravel and dead grass, have all the 
 appearance of a boundless desert. But little snow falls on the 
 table-land, and that little soon disappears, drifted into depres^ 
 sions, or evapora ted by the intensely dry atmosphere. But the 
 little snow that falls is one of the worst enemies of the traveller. 
 Frozen into a fine, sharp sand, it is driven with cutting violence 
 before the strong north wind, blinding for the time men and 
 animals. Lifted by the whirlwind from the ground, it sweeps over 
 the surface in eddying clouds, sinking or rising with the varying 
 
370 AOBOSS AMMBIOA AND ASIA. [chap. xxti. 
 
 force'of the blast, now covering, deeply ,lavge areas, and soon leav- 
 ing them again a barren surface. Seen during one of these bovr 
 rans, the same plains, which in the summer resemble the smiling 
 savannas of the tropics, have all the appearance of an ice-sea, 
 lashed by the fierce snow-storms of an Arctic winter. 
 
 When we came up with our caravan we found it already en- 
 camped, and we began the process of cooking our single daily 
 meal. We were in the habit of stoppi)ig about an hour before 
 sunset, to give the animals a rest of six or seven hours out of the 
 twenty-four. 
 
 One large tent answered for the whole party. In the middle 
 the Mono-ols put up their tripod and cauldron, and another fire- 
 place for our own cooking. We now spread over the country, 
 one party in search of snow, the other to forage for argols. It 
 was not always an easy matter to find enough of either of these 
 articles, both of which were absolutely necessary for cooking. 
 
 Our great forte was in the production of soups ; to this all our 
 energies were directed, and it was made the subject of countless 
 experiments. 
 
 Obtaining a kettle of water by melting snow, we first put into 
 it suc h frozen vegetables as Ave had brought from Kalga n, and 
 then such fresh meat as mutton, horse, or cow, as we could get 
 from the Mongols, without bemg over-scrupulous as to the man- 
 ner of its death ; adding to these a pound or so of fat of the 
 sheep's tail, and allowing th e whole to cook, we put into the caul- 
 dron one tin each of the following canned provisions": peas, beans, 
 ox-tail soup, mock-turtie soup, Jb'rankfort sausages, salmonj_ancL 
 tomatoes. How this compound would taste in civil ization- it 
 would be hard to say, but no dinner at the Trois Freres, o r at Del- 
 monico's, ever disap23eared with greater relish than was shown at 
 tliQse four o'clock meals on the steppes of 'I'artary ; And they 
 were well-earned, for although we had to work hard in cooking 
 them, we often had to work still harder to keep from freezing 
 while eating them. The tent offered slight protection against 
 the cold winds, and the argol fires gave no warmth at the dis- 
 tance of a few inches. 
 
 Consequently, in a strong wind, with the mercury at 20 or 30 
 degrees below zero, we were obliged after every few mouthfuls 
 to jump up and run an eighth of a mile or so to renew the circula- 
 
CUAP. XXVI.] TEBS TABLE-LAND OF CENTRAL ASIA. , 371 
 
 tion. Owing to these interruptions the evening was generally 
 far advanced before we reached the bottom of the liberal caul- 
 dron. Even this ample dish was not always sufficient to satisfy 
 appetites of twenty-four hours' growth, which had been whetted 
 by the cold air and constant exercise. As it was only by rare 
 accident that we were able to get a cup of Mongol tea in the 
 morning, we studied various methods of keeping coffee in a fluid 
 state during the night. 
 
 To effect this each one made a bottleful of boiling coffee, 
 which was rolled carefully iu a large blanket ; after this had bofii 
 heated and folded, and re-heated until it was Bcorohing hot. Then 
 thrusting the precious bundle under his fur cloak, each man rushed 
 to his cart, and, diving under the bedclothes, carefully hugged his 
 ch.arge all night. 
 
 Even a baby could not have been treated more tenderly. In 
 this way we generally succeeded in having a bottle of iced coffee 
 on awakening in the morning ; but woe to the unhappy man 
 made restless by an over-hearty dinner ; his neglected bottle, to 
 which he looked for consolation, would be frozen, perhaps burst, 
 or, at the very best, the coffee was a mass of needles. 
 
 On the morning of the 28th we were still traversing the Tam- 
 chia Tala. There was no wind, and the thermometer stood at 24 
 degrees. As the morning wove on we could see that we were ap- 
 proaching a change in the character of tlie surface. 
 
 Before noon we had reached the edge of a cliff which formed n 
 perpendicular wall, 150 or 200 feet high, overlooking a large do 
 pression like the abandoned valley of a river or of a long lake. 
 The exposure in the cliff showed the plateau here to consist of 
 horizontal strata of coarse and fine sandstones with calcareou? 
 cement, containing many fragments of chalcedony and agate. 
 On the bank of a small creek stood a small collection of yurts, 
 which seemed more permanently established than are generally 
 the habitations of this wandering people. Aft^r travelling- 
 several miles in this valley, which must be very beautiful in 
 summer, we arose to the table-land on the opposite side. The 
 country was here rolling, and evidently well covered with grass 
 in summer. Hardly had we put up a tent before a number of 
 women and children appeared with baskets of argols, which they 
 gave to our cameleers. The children had several strings of 
 
372 ACROSS AMEBIC A AND ASIA. [chap. xxti. 
 
 agates, which they parted with for some pieces of brick tea. 
 The gift of the argols was not prompted by pure hospitality, as 
 I had supposed. 
 
 While our Mongols were cookiilg their mess, the new-comers 
 sat with eager eyes just inside the door of the tent. Our camel- 
 eers had a cauldron filled with large pieces of beef, which I 
 strongly suspected of having belonged to the frozen carcass of a 
 cow we had passed that morning. Almost before the meat was 
 warmed through, our guides seized enormous pieces, and began 
 the meal by cramming into the mouth as much of one corner of 
 the piece as they could get in, and then sawing off the rest just 
 outside the lips. Their throats seemed made of india-rubber,' so 
 rapidly did one large piece disappear after another. 
 
 Indeed it is hard to understand why the Tartairs are endowed 
 with molars. Altogether carnivorous, they used their teeth, so far 
 as I could discover, only for tearing their food. In cooking, no 
 part of the animal is lost, and they are not over-careful as regards 
 cleanliness in preparing their meat for the pot. 
 
 Every novr and then our chief cameleer, taking a piece, gen- 
 erally one of the poorest, from .the cauldron, tossed it across the 
 tent to the ravenous assemblage of women and children. 
 
 Although most Mongols carry a pair of chop-sticks slung in 
 their girdle, they can only be for ornament, as I certainly never 
 saw them used. 
 
 Our chief cameleer was a Lama, and had travelled not only 
 through Tartary and northern China, but had been to the shrine 
 of Tsongkaba, and had knelt before the Grand Lama at Lhassa. 
 Fat, and with as jolly a face as even a priest could wish, our 
 good natured Lama, while telling the beads of his rosary , or re- 
 peating the monotonous Euddist formula, wore an expression of 
 most perfect contentment— might have sat as model for a statue 
 of Budda in the Nirvana. 
 
 The next morning was comparatively pleasant, with a south- 
 west wind and the thermometer at IT degrees. The road lay 
 through an uneven country, among low granite hills. During the 
 afternoon we crossed the boundary between Inner and Outer 
 Mongolia. This limit is marked by rough piles of stones. Thus 
 far we bad been travelling through the land of the Sunite 
 Tartars, while north of the boundary we would be in the coun- 
 
CHAP. XXVI.1 THE TABLE-LAND OF CENTRAL ASIA. 373 
 
 try of the Kalkas, under the rule of the 'Khans of Tushetu and 
 Tsetsen. 
 
 The Sunites are looked down upon hy the Kalkas, who border 
 them on the north and on the southwest. There may be some 
 reason in this contempt, as I certainly saw no encampments among 
 them which looked as prosperous as those I had passed through 
 in my journey along the southern part of the plateau. 
 
 Thus far we had rarely seen encampments of moi-e than five 
 or six yurts, and the herds looked small, and their owners had 
 the appearance of extreme poverty. Near our camp, which was 
 a few miles north of the boundary, I picked up a piece of petrified 
 wood, a thing appai-ently of not uncommon occurrence in this re- 
 gion! In Peking, several pieces of silicified wood were shown 
 me under the name of han-hai-shi or gobi stone. 
 
 In looking for snow I came not far from our camp upon a wel), 
 at which large numbers of animals were being watered. It was 
 dug in an isolated depression, was only a few feet deep, and 
 walled with stone. 
 
 The morning of November 30th opened with a northwest wind 
 and the thermometer at 15 degrees. On getting out of the cart 
 we found ourselves in a hilly country, near the j)lace marked on 
 maps as Arshantyi ; the hills consist mainly of clay slates. After 
 traversing these for some time we came upon a broad, dry, gravelly 
 water-course, which, descending to the west, below low granite 
 cliflfs, widens out in the valley of the Ulannoor. These granite 
 hills are perfectly bare of soil, and devoid of any vegetation, with 
 the remarkable exception of two or three stunted trees, growing 
 in crevices of the rock. These were the first and only trees which 
 we saw on the plateau. , 
 
 On emerging from the ■\'alley Ave came into a country of high 
 terraces of clay. Near this point we expected to find a large 
 town, as nearly all maps have a place marked at this point with 
 the name of Gashun ; we consequently set out to explore for it 
 on horseback. 
 
 After passing the first hill we saw a large herd of hwang-yang 
 quietly grazing in the valley below us ; but being to the wind- 
 ward of the herd they soon scented us, and a troop of several 
 hundred dashed over the hills at a rapid rate, and were soon out 
 of sight. After a further ride of two or three miles we came 
 
374 AOB0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxvi. 
 
 upon the object of our seai-ch, which, instead of being a large vil- 
 lage, consisted of only two or three yurts. Still, we breakfasted 
 luxuriously on Tartar tea and lumps of boiled fat of sheep's 
 tails. This part of Tartar sheep is considered a great delicacy 
 through all Asia, and is re ally almost equal to marrow . The 
 tail of this animal in Tartary attains a wei ght of from thirty to 
 fifty poundg, Qif pureJat. Seen from behind, the animal is all tail ; 
 and, when the appendage attains its largest dimensions, it becomes 
 necessary to attach a contrivance, by means of which the animal 
 can conveniently carry his own tail without allowing it to drag. 
 This is sometimes effected by suspending it upon a kind of wheel- 
 barrow, or upon two sticks, which at one end are fastened to the 
 sheep, and at the other dragged upon the ground behind him. 
 This growth of fat seems to be peculiar to the table-land, for it 
 is said that the same breed, when taken to India, soon loses this 
 peculiarity. It may perhaps serve the same purpose as the 
 hump of the camel, that of supplying in time of plenty an abun- 
 dant store of fat, upon which the animal can subsist through a 
 season of deep snow, when it would otherwise starve. 
 
 When the English troops occupied Afghanistan, the soldiers 
 became so partial to the tails of these sheep that they discarded 
 almost entirely the lean . The result was a congestion of faTln _ 
 the intestines, Ayhicji caused a great mortality in the arm y. For- 
 tunately we had not heard of this fact when we travelled in 
 Tartary. 
 
 At Gashun we bought of the good woman of the tent a libe- 
 ral supply of cream, put up like immense sausages. As it was 
 frozen it was easily carried, slung to the saddle, without danger 
 of being churned into butter. 
 
 On the morning of the 1st of December the thermometer 
 stood at 3 degrees below zero. All the morning, our road lay 
 over hills of metamorphio slates and limestone in vertical beds, 
 striking N.E., S.W. 
 
 The beds of limestone, being least susceptible of disintegration, 
 form ridges 100 to 150 feet above the intervening slate out-crops, 
 thereby producing parallel valleys, containing in the season ponds 
 or lakes. Descending from these hills we entered a large valley 
 with broad, terraced slopes, gently inclining toward the centre, 
 and, crossing this, we came on the northern declivity upon a 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] TEE TABLE-LAND OF CENTRAL ASIA. 375 
 
 line of conical hilla of basaltic lava, between 100 and 200 feet 
 higli. They rose' like isolated towers from the gently-sloping 
 surface of the terrace, but detached from the plateau, the cliff 
 line of which lies a few hundred yards further noi'th. 
 
 We were obliged to go into camp several hours earlier than 
 usual, iu order to wait the return of our chief cameleer, who had 
 gone to hunt for two camels which had strayed away. 
 
 Although secured by strhigs passed through the nose, tho 
 camel will sometimes tear out the flesh, and, once away from the 
 caravan, Avill often give his pursuer a good chase. Still, the 
 Tartar or Bactrian camel is far more docile than his brother of 
 Egypt and southwestern Asia. Much larger than the southern 
 camel, he is provided with a heavy coat of long hair, and with 
 two humps, which, after a season of grazing, stand upon his back 
 great cones of fat, forming the most comfortable of saddles. 
 
 Most people are accustomed to associate the camel only with 
 tropical climates. 
 
 The Bactrian species is of little use during the hot season, 
 while during the coldest winter it performs nearly all the labor 
 of transportation in central Asia, in countless Caravans these 
 patient annuals traverse, in every direction, the frozen deserts of 
 the table-land, and descend into the region of deep snows and 
 intense cold of southern Siberia. 
 
 Their broad, spongy feet, more pliable than the palm of the hu- 
 man hand, and armed with claw-shaped nails, are adapted only to 
 walking over sand ; rocky or gravelly surfaces soon wear out the 
 thick skin of the footj while on mud or ice they find no foothold. 
 
 The life of the camel in northern China, where large numbers 
 ai'C used in the transportation of coal, is one of torture. Toiling 
 day .after day over the rough rocks or smooth pavements of the 
 mountain roads, and hardly fed at all, its feet worn to shreds, 
 and its humps hanging in loose bags over the side, the Chinese 
 coal camel is as much an object of pity as a Broadway stage- 
 horse. 
 
 Even in many parts of Mongolia tho caravan routes are grav- 
 elly, and wearing to the camels. 
 
 While waiting for the return of our Lama we witnessed the 
 operation of re-soling or rather patching the soles of a camel's 
 foot, where a hole about an inch in diameter had been worn 
 
376 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxvx. 
 
 through to the quick. The animal being thrown on his side, and 
 all four feet bound tightly together, and his head tied back near 
 the humps, was held motionless. After cleaning out the wound, a 
 piece of raw cow-hide, perfectly fresh, was sewed to the skin of 
 the foot, two or three stitches being taken on each side of the 
 piece. The hind feet seemed to suffer most, and the operation 
 has to be renewed every few days. 
 
 While roaming among the hills, not far from our camp, we 
 came to a well, at which immense herds of camels, hoi-ses, oxen, 
 sheep, and goats, were being watered. To us the most interest- 
 ing and novel part of the assemblage were the young camels ; 
 even the smallest showed the staid and sober bearing of its race, 
 and none of the exuberant friskiness common to young colts and 
 calves. 
 
 The next morning opened with clear, quiet cold of 8 degrees 
 below zero. During the day we crossed two broad valley de- 
 pressions. From the highest ground the flat outline of the 
 plateau was visible in every direction, excepting to the south of 
 us, where the horizon was broken by the hills we had lately 
 passed through, which rise perhaps 1,000 feet above the neigh- 
 boring table-land. 
 
 Although the thermometer marked several degrees below zero, 
 we experienced no inconvenience from the cold, partly owing to 
 the absence of wind, and partly to the clear sun. I doubt 
 whether any one, who has not wintered on the plains in the in- 
 terior of a northern continent, can appreciate the feelings which 
 led the early inhabitants of central Asia to love and worship the 
 sun. In the intense cold of an elevated region, the plains of which, 
 unprotected by forests, are open to the almost perpetual blast of 
 the polar wind, life would be unbearable without the quickening 
 influence of an unclouded sun. The atmosphere of central Asia 
 is intensely dry, because the winds reach it from every direction 
 only after having deposited their moisture on the broad belt of 
 lowlands and the high mountain peaks which intervene between 
 the table-lands and the oceans ; thus, especially in winter, the sun 
 rises, runs through its daily coarse, and sets, an unobscured orb, 
 whose rays, suffering a minimum of refraction, arrive at the sur- 
 face with a greater degree of warmth than would obtain in more 
 moist regions in the same latitude. 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] THE TABLE-LAND OF CENTRAL ASIA. 377 
 
 Often in this journey, in travelling nortliward, facing the 
 strong Arctic winds, with a thermometer at 10 and 20 degrees 
 below zero, while almost ready to drop from the saddle, owing to 
 stiffness from cold, I have turned my horse to face the sun, and 
 have felt in a few minutes the Avarmth of its rays stealing gently 
 through my veins, like an influx of new life and fresh vigor. 
 
 The heavy icicles formed by condensations of the breath njion 
 the beard would gradually loosen, and the mask of ice, which 
 sometimes formed a protection to the face, would slowly disap- 
 pear. How often have I tlien felt that, had I been born a no- 
 mad, I should have fallen down to worship the great light-giving 
 god of day, as he was adored by the earliest bards of our race, 
 the authors of the Vedas. 
 
 During the night there fell two inches of snow, and when we 
 mounted our horses in the morning we had to face a fearfully 
 cold wind and the eddying clouds of snow, which, driven like 
 sand, fairly cut the face with its sharp edges. It was a hard day 
 for man and beast. The long train of camels faced reluctantly 
 the blinding force of the storm, and we made but little progress. 
 
 During the afternoon the plain began gradually to descend, 
 and finally ended among low ridges of granite. 
 
 During the night the storm increased in violence till it blew a 
 very hurricane, rendering all thought of starting out of the 
 question. 
 
 The cold also increased to such an extent that there was dan- 
 ger of freezing, even in the carts. When dayliglrt came our 
 blankets were covered with half an inch of snow, from the con- 
 densed moisture of the breath. For some time past our bedding 
 had become frozen stiff as boards, from the same cause. ^During 
 the 4th December the thermometer stood at 16 degrees below 
 zero, but the continued force of the hurricane kept us encamped. 
 
 We were here at a small Mongol village called Buteryn Chelu, 
 half-way between Kalgan and Kiachta. We passed the day in 
 the Mongol yurts, endeavoring to thaw out and dry our blankets 
 and furs over the argol fires. The next day, with the thermo- 
 meter still at 16 degrees below zero, but with an abated wind, 
 we continued our journey among low hills of granitic and meta- 
 morphic rocks, among which I observed beds of dolomitic lime- 
 stone, impregnated with flakes of graphite. 
 
378 AGBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxvi. 
 
 In the afternoon we encamped at a place called Huvi, among 
 some hills of trachytic porphyry, identical in character with that 
 of Kalgan. 
 
 For several days we had seen before us a mountain peak, 
 which in the clear atmosphere of the plains seemed so near that 
 we each day thought to pass it before night ; but each morning 
 it stood still beyond us, towering higher than on the previous day. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 6th we approached the base of this 
 picturesque peak, which is called the Bogdo Oola, or sacred moun- 
 tain. From a broad terrace, which forms the foot-slope of this 
 peak, a large valley was visible in the southwest, threaded by a 
 winding frozen river, the Russ Gol. 
 
 While crossing this plain an accident occurred which might 
 in several ways have produced serious results. A cameleer in 
 charge of the carts had fallen asleep in the saddle, and the ani- 
 mals, taking advantage of this, had strayed on to uneven ground, 
 where they could browse, while lazily moving forward. In mak- 
 ing a short descent one of the carts was upset, breaking one of 
 the shafts. We all rushed to the spot, and while attempting to 
 right the vehicle a violent altercation arose between the owner 
 of the cart and the Mongol whose stupid negligence had caused 
 the accident. The foreigner, finding that strong English produced 
 no impression on the Mongol, endeavored to enforce his meaning, 
 by well-directed lumps of ice, which fell harmlessly upon the 
 quadruple thickness of sheep-skins which encased the cameleer ; 
 not so, however, when returned with increased force upon the 
 simply woollen-clad foreigner. In self-defence the latter now 
 drew his revolver. It happened that a considerable number of 
 Mongols from a neighboring village were standing by, laughing 
 at the unequal odds of the battle; but when these saw the pistol 
 they drew their long knives, to use them on the side of their fel- 
 low-countryman. Our situation seemed to ' be growing very 
 serious, Avhen another matter called for the attention of all par- 
 ties. 
 
 Frightened by the noise, the camel drawing St. John's cart had 
 turned and fled. Dashing at full tilt over the rocky plain, we 
 could see the cart, now swaying from side to side, now bounding 
 high in the air. Soon the wheels left the body, and the contents 
 of the cart were seen flying in all directions. 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] THE TABLE-LAND OF CENTRAL ASIA. 379 
 
 This turn of affairs Avas so ludicrous that oven the owner of 
 the cart could not help laughing lustily. But when it occurred 
 to him that all his money, in gold, for the long journey through 
 a strange land, was in one of the slender cloth jDockets of the 
 vehicle, the matter appeared in a more serious light. Twenty or 
 thirty Mongols were already in advance of us picking up the 
 scattered articles, and there seemed no likelihood of recovering 
 the money. When we readied the cart we found the pocket 
 torn and the treasure gone. It was of course natural to suspect our 
 visitors of having appropriated the coin to their own use, and it 
 ■was proposed that we should forcibly search them — certainly not 
 a very easy thing to be accomplished with impunity by four for- 
 eigners, upon two score of Mongols, in the heart of central Asia. 
 
 While we were discussing the matter among ourselves a loud 
 shout was heard from a strange Mongol, Avho was digging all 
 alone some distance back in the track of the cart. 
 
 Hurrying to the spot, he pointed out a pile of shining sove- 
 reigns, which would have been an immense fortune to him, but 
 which he had carefully gathered together out of the sand, in 
 which they had been buried by the blankets dragging behind the 
 cart, and which he triumphantly handed over to the owner. Not 
 one was missing. St. John rewarded the man liberally ; and from 
 that time we all of us had a higher opinion of the honesty of thi.s 
 people. Theft, I believe, is a thing of rare occurrence among 
 this simple people ; they will over-reach in bargains, but the 
 Buddist commandment — " Thou shalt not steal " — is, perhaps, 
 more generally observed than is that of our own religion in more 
 .civilized countries. 
 
 The next day was passed in repairing the carts. Although 
 the thermometer stood at 17 degi-ees, the absence of wind ren- 
 dered the day not unpleasant ; but owing to the bad road, and 
 the weak condition of one of the carts, we made but little progress. 
 Encamping early, we lay over till the next mornino;. 
 
 When I awoke in the morning the thermometer was at 20 de- 
 <Trees below zero, and the fierce blasts of wind which whistled 
 around the carts, causing them to sway to and fro, bespoke a 
 hard day's work. It was too cold to remain inactive in the carts, 
 between the icy blankets ; and the resistance offered by the north 
 wind rendered it very difficult to walk for any considerable length 
 
380 AOEOSS AMERICA AND A8IA. [chap. xxvi. 
 
 of time. Our only resource in such places was to mount our 
 horses, which were already much fatigued by travelling seventeen 
 hours daily. 
 
 None but animals born on these plains could have endured 
 the hardships of this journey ; but the large Mongol ponies, cov- 
 ered with a long, shaggy coat of hair, followed patiently the carts, 
 to which they were tied at night, and carried us during the greater 
 part of the day. 
 
 For a whole week at a time getting no other water than the 
 little snow that they CQuld pick up when our route passed a drift, 
 and, excepting a handful of barley, no other food than a litjile frozen 
 grass, which they picked up during the hour before sunset, these 
 patient brutes served us well through the whole of our journey 
 to the Siberian frontier. 
 
 Toward evening we came suddenly to the brow of a hill, 
 from which we overlooked the Lamasery town of Churin Chelu. 
 
 The light of the setting sun was reflected back from the gilded 
 spires and balls of the temples, producing an effect as startling 
 as it was unexpected in the middle of the Gobi desert. The 
 place has perhaps a hundred houses, many lai-ge yurts, and 
 several fine temples. The houses are built of wood, brought 
 from Urga, beyond the northern edge of the plateau. As we 
 passed the village the streets were filled with Lamas, in their col- 
 ored dresses, and the evening air bore the sound of the chanted ves- 
 pers from the temples. The next day was very cold — 20 degrees 
 below zero, and a strong north wind. It seemed as though we 
 could not possibly reach Siberia without having some parts of 
 our bodies frozen. Long and swinging icicles hung from the 
 shaggy coats of camels and horses, producing a strange tinkling 
 sound at every step. During this morning the ice accumulated; , 
 on my whiskers and beard until it hung in a mass nearly a foot • 
 long and of no inconsiderable weight. Even the mouth-piece of ' 
 my pipe became fixed in the ice formed on my moustache. Turn- 
 ing my back to the wind, a few minutes' exposure to the sun re -f 
 moved these ici cles, which formed again after travelling a short dis- 
 tance. 
 
 During the day we passed through a small village, in which the 
 yurts were very large, and had wooden vestibules. Entering one 
 of these dwellings, we found it very roomy and warm. It was 
 
CHAP. XXVI,] THE TABLE-LAND OF OENTBAL ASIA. 381 
 
 occupied by two Lamas, who gave us tea in return for tobacco. 
 They were much interested with my pipe, which represented the 
 head of a heavily bearded Zouave, and which they took to be a 
 portrait of myself — a rather doubtful compliment. We had al- 
 ready passed the middle of the desert, and the country had now 
 a general ascent toward the north. The great table-land of cen- 
 tral Asia forms a shallow trough-like depression, beginning in the 
 region~between the Tienshan and the Kwen-lun mountains, and 
 extending northeast to the Kin-gan mountains of western Haii- 
 cliuria and the Amoor river. Its northern and southern limits ar e 
 fe^ectrvely the Altai mountains and the bold escarpment with 
 which It faces northern China. 
 
 From these edges, which have a general elevation of 5,000 and 
 6,000 fe et above the sea, the surface has a general descent toward 
 the centre, where the altitude of the plains is between 2,000 and 
 3,000 feet. The general width of the table-land is about 500 
 miles. The sandy plains, which through the whole length oc- 
 
 cupy the centre of t his shallow trough with a_width of 100 miles 
 or more, form a dreary "waste, called the Gobi deser t. But as 
 we leave this, going north or south, we traverse the great grassy 
 plains which alone render this country habitable, and from 
 which it gets its name — the land of grass. It is a continental 
 basin, having no drainage to the sea, and few streams. In the far 
 west the rivers, formed by the melting snows of the Tienshan 
 and Kwen-lun, find their way into Lake Lop, which has no outlet 
 except by evaporation into the dry atmosphere. 
 
 At no very remote geological time this region was the bed of 
 an extensive sea, which during one period of its existence formed 
 part of an ocean, extending over much of Siberia, Tartary, west- 
 ern Asia, and eastern Europe, connecting the Polar sea with the 
 waters of the Caspian and Mediterranean. The elevation of the 
 plateau was, perhaps, the first step in the series of natural causes 
 by which the area of this great body of water was gradually 
 diminished till it was replaced by dry land. 
 
 On the 10th we camped on the plain of Borudzurintala, over 
 which we had travelled all day. 
 
 The surface was covered with abundant dead grass. The next 
 morning we found ourselves in a hilly country. Flat-topped hills 
 of volcanic rock seemed to indicate the existence on the northern 
 
382 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxn. 
 
 edge of the plateau of- a volcanic region, corresponding to that of 
 the southern escarpment. 
 
 The next day the country had changed its character, and we 
 found ourselves ascending a broad valley, with sweeping vertical 
 and horizontal curves, bordered by round-topped hills of clay 
 slate. 
 
 The surface of hill and valley was clothed with grass, which 
 during the season must grow to a considerable height. 
 
 The soil of the valley and hill-slopes was a rich black earth, 
 different from anything seen on the rest of the plateau. We were 
 here in the Horteryn-Daban (Daban -mountain). During the 
 following night we felt, from the motion of the carts, that we 
 were going down hill, and morning found us descending a flat 
 gravelly plain or valley, enclosed between hills from 300 to 500 
 feet high, which were remarkable for their pyramidal form. 
 
 The sides of some of these were clothed with pine forests, 
 which, though a novel sight to us, gave an air of gloom to the 
 country. 
 
 Among these hills, at the junction of the valley we were descend- 
 ing with that ot the Tola river, lies the town of Urga, or Kuren, 
 the seat of one of the four or five living Buddhas, who, subject to 
 the Talai Lama, rule the inhabitants of Mongolia and Thibet. 
 
 There is a Russian consulate at Urga, and as we had letters of 
 introduction to M. Chischmareff, the consul, we directed our steps 
 toward his house. This was a large, two-story building, con- 
 structed of logs, hewn to a plain surface, outside and in, well 
 painted without, and with a carefully furnished interior. Before 
 reaching the consulate I was taken by surprise by our chief camel- 
 eer, who, rushing up to me, began to rub my face vigorously with 
 snow, but I soon learned that my nose was frozen, and that the 
 object of the washing was to thaw out the frost. 
 
 M. Chischmareff being absent, we were politely received by his 
 wifs, and the secretary, M. Borzakosky. I soon began to feel the 
 effects of having frozen my nose, and it was many days before I 
 was freed from the pain and the swelling. 
 
 On the 13th we took a walk through the city, which has a pop- 
 ulation of 16,000, of which one-half are Lamas. 
 
 The present Grand Lama is as usual a Thibetan, and only sixteen 
 years old. 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] THE TABLE-LAND OF CENTRAL ASIA. 383 
 
 The palace in which he lives has a roof highly ornamented with 
 gilded spires and balls. 
 
 During our walk we saw many large huildings, most of them 
 of unfamiliar shapes, and one built exactly like a yurt, but of 
 great size, being, I should think, thirty or forty feet high, and sixty 
 or seventy feet in diameter. Entering one large temple we 
 saw an immense image of Budda apparently of wood, covered 
 with sheets of gilded copper. The proportions are well pre- 
 ser\'ed throughout the statue, and some idea of its size may be 
 formed from that of the great toe, which was more than eighteen 
 inches in length. This image, though well finished, does not com- 
 pare, as a work of art, with the statue of Budda in repose at 
 Kama kura, near Yeddo. In front of this, as well as of the other 
 temples, there were many cylinders, or praying machines, which 
 were easily set in motion by turning a crank, each revolution 
 accomplishing in the way of prayer an amount of work which 
 if done verbally would require some hours. 
 
 It has often been asserted, perhaps oftener now than formerly , 
 that the ritualism of the European Church is a d irect offshoot of 
 Thibetan Lamaism. The resemblance is so strong in a majority 
 of the details of both that Abbe Hue, a Roman missionary, wel l 
 v ersed in the history and religion of Thib et, could find no better 
 way of accounting fo r the similarity than by supposing it to be 
 an artifice of satan, invented to bring disgra ce upo n the holy 
 Church. 
 
 But these praying machines are a refinement which not even 
 the extremists of the west have adopted. Even the simple crank 
 motion has been improved upon by the ingenious Lamas, who 
 attach the cylinders to wind-mills and water-T\heels. The wor- 
 shipper, setting one of these in motion, goes on bis way with the 
 assurance that every revolution of the cylinder completes a large 
 number of prayers for his benefit. The advantages of this over 
 the rosary, which they use also, are obvious. 
 
 The Buddist faith was introduced into Mongolia directly from 
 Thibet, and probably at a time when the religion had already 
 received those characteristics which distinguish the Thibetan 
 form so widely from the Indian, Chinese, and Japanese. The en- 
 grafting ,of Brahminical doctrines upon the simple teachings of 
 Budda was the earliest csorruption of the faith, and to this were 
 
384 A0B0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxvt. 
 
 added in China many of the superstitions of that conntry ; and 
 finally, reaching Japan, this accumulated burden was further di- 
 versified by the dogmas of Sintuism. Under the control of no cen- 
 tral head, the corruptions of these branches have multiplied many 
 fold, and the church has split into many sects. But the early 
 establishment in Thibet of a hierarchy, controlling church and 
 ^tate'iinHer the immediate rule of an incarnate Budda^ insured a 
 vitality which does not yet seem to be on the wane . Although 
 irTMongolia the religion of Bndda has become corrupted by pre- 
 existing Shamanism, it still retains more of original purity than 
 among the other branches. The observations of Abb6 Hue show 
 that in Thibet, even at the present day, the original teachings of 
 Budda are followed by a large number of priests and monks 
 with a zeal not found elsewhere. In the monasteries and hermit 
 cells of the mountains of Thibet there exist to-day countless 
 monks and hermits, who, living lives of the most rigid asceticism, 
 seek crowns of glory through life-long mortification of the flesh. 
 In principle we have here the exact counterpart of one of the 
 earliest outgrowths of Christianity, in which was nurtured that 
 zealous devotion to the Church which accomplished so much in 
 spreading the faith, and which marked the period of its greatest 
 vitality. 
 
 The influence of the humane doctrines of JBudda, from a soci al 
 poi nt of view, is most marked among the Mongolians, who se 
 character they seem to have moulded as much as Mohammed ajv 
 ism has "that of the Kirgis tribes further west. To-day we wo uld 
 not recognize in the Mongols the race which, under the leader - 
 ship of Grengis-Khan and his descendants, overthrew the dynas- 
 ties of all Asia and of eastern Europe, sen ding terror even to the 
 shores of the Atlantic. Thispeople, once a scourge tohuma nity, 
 is now per haps the most peaceable upon "the glo| )_er„ 
 
 The Chinese^ourt, mindful of their struggles with these north- 
 ern neighbors, has craftily taken advantage of the influence of 
 Buddism upon their character. During centuries it has fostered 
 Lama Buddism, encouraging in every manner the multiplication 
 of Lamaseries and monasteries; thus, 'by largely increasing the 
 number of priests (who are not allowed to marry),ithas, at the 
 same time, diminished the population, and subdued the warlike 
 character of the race. 
 
CHAP. xxTi.] THE TABLE-LAND OF, CENTRAL ASIA. 385 
 
 At the same time it keeps up a constant drain upon the male 
 population to supply the Chinese army with soldiers, who are deci- 
 mated in rebellions and wars witli foreigners. But the draft into 
 the priesthood operates the most powerfully in keeping down 
 popuTatlon! At present, in every family, one and often several 
 of the males become Lamas at an early age. This immense 
 army of drones lives, of course, off of the substance of the re- 
 maining population. The Lamas pass their time in Lamaseries, 
 or in roaming through Tartary and Thibet, serving the wants of 
 the native superstitions, and practising all the arts of a crafty 
 priesthood. The numerous festivals which take place at the 
 monasteries attract immense crowds of the devout laity, who 
 often return to their homes impoverished by the offerings of 
 large herds and treasure which they have been called upon to 
 make. 
 
 On the 14th of December we left Urga for Kiachta. The turn 
 in the road brought us into a valley tributary to the Tola. Some 
 distance before us two buildings of great size, one on each slope, 
 commanded the valley. They are built on high terraces ; and one 
 of them, constructed in the Thibetan style of architecture, which 
 was slightly inclining toward the top, was certainly the most 
 sepulchral and gloomy structure I had ever seen. 
 
 From this valley we passed over a high and steep hill, where 
 the carts had to be drawn by oxen led by women. 
 
 The next day, while riding in a temperature of 20 degrees be- 
 low zero, we saw coming toward us a train of camels and carts, 
 in front of which rode two Europeans. These proved to be Mr. 
 Papoff, of the Russian legation of Peking, and his bride, a Russian 
 lady, whom he was now taking to China. Mounted on a good 
 horse, and thoroughly protected by furs, this lady assured us that 
 she did not dread either the cold or the hardships of the long 
 journey that lay before her. 
 
 Fortunately, by going south, they escaped facing the almost 
 constant north wind, which is the most disagreeable part of the 
 climate. 
 
 The next day, with the thermometer at 22 degrees, we passed 
 throuf^h several fine valleys clothed with grass, and enclosed be- 
 tween rounded hills, whose northern slopes were covered with 
 
 pme forests. 
 35 
 
386 
 
 AGB0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxvi 
 
 On the 1*7* we awoke in a country of plains and hills, the 
 latter having the appearance of an archipelago of small rocky- 
 islands' rising out of an extensive steppe. We encamped at 
 Bain Gol, and were soon visited by a large number of Mongols. 
 Considering the sameness of life, of climate, and pursuits, which 
 exists throughout Mongolia, it is remarkable that this people 
 should show the diversity of types of faces that we find among 
 them. 
 
 Certain characteristics are common to them all. Of medmm 
 stature, rather above that of the northern Chinese, they had the 
 almond eyes, prominent cheek-bones, the scanty beard, without 
 side-whiskers, which are all marked points of the Mongolian race. 
 There is, perhaps, more diversity in the nose than in any other 
 feature. 
 
 Among the women at Bain Gol I noticed some with regular, 
 and others with really aquiline noses, though in general the nose 
 had so little prominence that, when looked for in the profile, it was 
 entirely hidden by the prominent cheeks. If I were asked to de- 
 fine the difierence between tlie Chinese and Mongolian face, I 
 
 MONGOL PKmCB. 
 
 MONGOL CAMBLBBB. 
 
 should say that the features were the same, though more delicately 
 chiselled and softened down in the Chinaman ; and in China this 
 difierence increases, until in the southern provinces we find the 
 same features formed in a much more efieminate mould, while 
 the people are also much smaller in stature. 
 
 While we were at Bain Gol several trains of small carts, drawn 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] TEE TABLE-LAND OF CENTRAL ASIA. 387 
 
 by oxen, passed us on their way south, carrying millet, which 
 seems to be the only grain used by the Mongols. 
 
 During the summer the transportation is carried on almost en 
 tirely by oxen. 
 
 During the next two days the mountains bordering our route 
 appeared to be higher ; and in the forests, with which they were 
 covered, there appeared an increasing number of deciduous trees, 
 particularly the white birch. 
 
 The Mongol villages through which we now passed had a 
 more permanent character than those of the plains, the houses 
 being more generally built of logs, and surrounded with some 
 cultivated land. 
 
 "We were now crossing the eastern extension of the Altai 
 mountains ; and on the morning of the 21st, as we emerged from 
 the forest on the northern slope, the Mongols called our attention 
 to a group of houses and spires, which lay on the opposite side 
 of a broad plain stretched out before us. This was the double 
 city of Kiachta and Mai-mai-chin. 
 
 About noon we reached the latter town, which, lying on the 
 Mongolian side of the frontier, is entirely Chinese in character, as 
 it is also the principal frontier market-town of the empire. In 
 traversing its narrow streets, between rows of Chinese houses, 
 and threading our way among neatly-dressed Chinamen, we 
 could almost imagine ourselves again south of the great wall. 
 
 Entering a large open place, we found several cai'avans, some 
 encamped, others just coming or leaving. After some little de 
 lay, in having our passports examined by Chinese oflBcials, we 
 were permitted to pass the wall which separates the two towns. 
 One can hardly imagine a sharper line than is here drawn. On 
 the one side of the stockade-wall the houses, churches, and peo 
 pie are European, on the other Chinese; wit h one s tep the trav- 
 eller pas ses really from Asia, and Asiatic customs and languages 
 into a refined Eurojpean society. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIL 
 
 SIBERIA. 
 
 Our first step after reaching Kiachta was to present our pass- 
 ports and letter to M. Pfaffius, commissioner of the frontier. From 
 this gentleman and his wife we had a cordial reception, and an 
 invitation to dinner the next day. The Russian minister to 
 China had kindly written in advance of our coming, and we found 
 that M. Garnier, with whom I had travelled the previous year to 
 Peking, had prepared quarters for us at the town of Troitzkozavsk, 
 about four miles distant, whither we immediately went. It was no 
 easy task to transform ourselves into the semblance of decent 
 Europeans ; for nearly six weeks we had been unable to make 
 any change of clothes, and our only ablutions had been an oc- 
 casional wash of face and hands with greasy soup, as a preventive 
 against chapping. 
 
 Our long exposure to the intense cold of the plateau rendered 
 the heat of Russian houses almost insupportable. By opening 
 the wind-wheel ventilators, which pass through the upper panes 
 of the double-glazed windows, we reduced the temperature to 45 
 degrees, but even this was at first oppressive. Soon after our ar- 
 rival we were told that the bath-house was heated ; we were 
 shown into an outer room, and after undressing, into another 
 filled with steam. In one corner a large oven, containing a 
 quantity of cobble stones, had been heated for several hours ; 
 into this a servant dashed a pailful of water, which immediately 
 becoming steam, filled the room. This process of bathing, which 
 was at first so disagreeable as to be almost painful, we soon 
 learned to regard as a luxury, and there is certainly nothing more 
 refreshing. The next day, after paying the Mongols, and dis- 
 charging the Cossack, we drove over to Kiachta to dine with Mr. 
 Pfaifius, and after dinner sat down to cards, the principal amuse- 
 ment of the country. 
 
 Among the company was Colonel Buthets,who was sent by his 
 
CHAP. XXVII.] SIBERIA. 389 
 
 Government in 1842 to the United States, to engage Mr. Whistler 
 as chief engineer of the railroad between St. Petersburg and 
 Moscow. Colonel Buthets, who was now working gold placers, 
 informed me that 27:100ths of an ounce of gold to a ton of earth 
 is considered rich. 
 
 His workings, which are in the district east of Kiachta, are in 
 and near the beds of mountain creeks. The earth is here almost 
 alway frozen, and the gold can be gained only by breaking up the 
 ground in winter, and working it in summer, after the exposed 
 heaps have thawed. / <"i«^^ ^*vfc*v»i a,, LtK~.f4, C ^o/i a» /(t-^^\ 
 
 When associated with much clay, it is cojiminuted by passing 
 it with a stream of water through a revolving drum, in which it 
 remains a longer or shorter time, according to its consistency ; 
 from this it passes over tables of variable form, where the gold is 
 collected. The valleys on the northern slope of the Yablonoi 
 mountain seem to abound in auriferous localities. In the valley 
 of the Olekma river, a tributary of the Lena, the water, eoniined 
 under a heavy pressure every year by ice, bursts its covering, 
 flows over and freezes upon the surrounding country, until toward 
 the end of winter the accumulation of frozen overflows have a 
 thickness of from ten to twenty feet. This covering, and the 
 fact that the earth between it and the pay-dirt never thaws, render 
 the working very diflicult. 
 
 The thickness of the ice-bed is often diminished by keeping 
 long, parallel trenches open over the ground which it is proposed 
 to work in summer. Much of the water flows ofi" through these 
 ditches, which are alternately cleared of the constantly forming ice. 
 
 This tendency to form frozen inundations • is very common 
 among the Siberian rivers. Rising in the south, and flowing 
 from'warmer to colder latitudes, their lower and middle courses 
 are frozen, while the head-waters are still open. The ice forms 
 in shallow places clear down to the bottom of the stream, while, 
 for a hundred miles or more above, the river, covered by a thick 
 sheet of ice, is in the condition of a tube with its Tower end 
 closed. Under the enormous pressure thus brought to bear, the 
 water bursts from its confinement, overflowing it s ban ks where 
 they are lowest^ covering gradually the whole valley with accu 
 mulating thicknesses of ice. In this way I have "seen a ravine 
 gradually filled to the depth of twenty feet by the congealed 
 
390 A0B088 AMEBIOA AND ASIA. [chap, xxvit 
 
 waters of an insignificant rill. T^^&^ax^Aj^&_^2^^^^i^}lJ'^^'^^^~^ 
 "cEaracter of The ground, form ajgreat obstocle to the develop^ 
 ment of tte rich gold fields of northeastern Siberia. Some of the 
 g^id ontETs region Ts said to have a fineness of 980-1000. 
 
 "While at Troizkozavsk we visited the bazaar to buy furs for 
 our journey through Siberia. The skin most generally used by 
 gentlemen is that of the genette, or American raccoon. It is 
 imported mostly from the United States. A superior robe of this 
 costs about 200 roubles, which is equal to $150. The fur of the 
 sable is worth from 25 roubles upward apiece ; the finest quali- 
 ties readily bring 60, 100, or even 200 roubles. 
 
 In this bazaar we saw English iron, which is m-uch used, and 
 costs about 23 per cent, more than Russian ; it is brought from 
 China through Mongolia. The average cost for freight from 
 Tung-Chau, the head of boat navigation on the Pei-Ho river, to 
 Kiachta, is about $60 per ton. 
 
 A considerable quantity of American tobacco, under the name' 
 of "Maryland," is imported for the manufacture of ladies' ciga- 
 rettes, while the material for men's smoking is brought from 
 Turkey, although a good deal of inferior tobacco is raised in 
 different parts of Siberia. 
 
 On the Russian Christmas Day we drove over in the evening 
 to dine with M. Pfaffius. As there is rarely enough snow for 
 sleighing in this part of Siberia, south of Lake Baikal, the inhabit- 
 ants rely altogether upon wheeled vehicles. This evening St. 
 John and myself drove alone. We had hardly gone over half 
 the road when a break in one of the. wheels brought us to a 
 stand-still. While we were trying to repair the damage, our 
 attention was suddenly attracted toward a group which Was 
 approaching, and which evidently took a marked interest in us. 
 The bright moonlight, which illuminated the open plains far and 
 near, revealed to us several wolveS, which were rapidly approach- 
 ing. Suddenly they stopped on a small eminence close at hand, 
 as if to take a good look at us. Their large, shaggy forms, 
 clearly defined against the sky, were anything but a pleasant 
 sight, considering that we had neither arms to fight, nor means 
 of getting away. Instantly our memories recalled the long- 
 forgotten stories of Russian wolves, including that of the mother 
 who saved the lives of herself and one or two children by throw- 
 
(SAP. XXVII,] SIBERIA. 391 
 
 ijig out of the sleigh, one by one, the other members of her 
 family. Dashing toward the group, we waved our hands, and 
 shouted a duet, which took our visitors so completely by sur- 
 prise that they turned tail, and trotted off at a quick pace, stop- 
 ping, after the manner of wolves, every few rods, to look back. 
 
 The ease with which this victory was accomplished, surprised 
 us quite as much as our chorus did the enemy. We lost a 
 long-cherished respect for Russian wolves, as completely as Europe 
 did a few years since for the Russian bear. I afterward took 
 occasion many times to question into the authenticity of those 
 Russian wolf stories which, with us, have passed almost into 
 household words. At the risk of being classed among those un- 
 poetic iconoclasts who would even leave Romulus and Remus un- 
 suckled, I am compelled to say that I never found a Russian to 
 whom these terrible tales w ere familiar. 
 
 At dinner we met, among others, a gentleman who was by birth 
 a full-blooded Buriat Mongol, and whose face was marked by the 
 extremest characteristics of his race ; he was well educated, and 
 struck me as in no respect inferior to the European gentlemen by 
 whom he was surrounded. After dinner the whole party drove 
 over to the club at Kiachta, a large building with rooms for 
 dancing, conversation, reading, and billiards, and the inevitable 
 buffet, which everywhere in Russia assumes an importance un- 
 known elsewhere. The company, of both sexes, seemed to divide 
 their time between dancing and playing at cards, with rather 
 stronger inclinations to the latter. Among the dancers was an 
 ofBcer who had lost one leg in the Crimea, a circumstance which 
 did not prevent his going gracefully with wooden-leg and crutch 
 through a quadrille. During our stay at Kiachta we accepted an 
 invitation from Major Muravieff, nephew of the former Governor- 
 General, to accompany him to his head-quarters at Kudara. 
 This officer, to whom we were indebted then, and subsequently, 
 for many favors, was in command of the Cossacks, along 600 
 miles of the frontier. The distance was about forty miles, which 
 we traversed in little over three hours. There being no snow on 
 the ground, we travelled in a " tarantass," a four-wheeled vehicle, 
 constructed on the principle of the buck-board wagon, being a 
 box slung on long poles in lieu of springs, and drawn by as 
 many horses harnessed abreast as the passenger chooses to pay 
 
392 A0B088 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxth 
 
 for. We found a large village surrounding the well-built and 
 elegantly-furnished quarters of our host. The inhabitants are 
 all Cossacks, part of the frontier guard established by Peter 
 the Great, for the double purpose of settling and defending the 
 outskirts of the empire. Being at the same time soldiers and 
 farmers, they enjoy with their families many privileges guar 
 anteed to them by the edicts of their founder, and his successors. 
 The number of this population under the command of Major 
 MuraviefP was about 17,000 souls. 
 
 We arrived at Kudara during a festival, and in the evening 
 went with the Major through the village to see the amusements 
 of the people. Hearing a sound of music and singing in one of 
 the houses, we went in. In the unheated vestibule a shower of 
 snow was falling, caused by the continuous condensation of the 
 moisture which found its way through the cracks of the inner 
 door from the crowded room within. Entering this latter, we 
 passed at once from a temperature of 30 degrees below zero to 
 more than 100 degrees above, and found ourselves in an assem- 
 blage of Cossack men and women, who gave a hearty greeting 
 to their commander. A national dance was just beginning, and the 
 three prettiest belles of the room were detailed to select us as 
 partners. This dance begins with a slow promenade of the 
 ladies, who then separate and choose partners, with whom they 
 march up and down the room, each lady chanting the praises of 
 her companion, winding up by kissing him on the forehead and 
 each cheek, and singing at the same time : " Therefore I will kiss 
 him thrice, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," an 
 invocation rather adapted to take away from the individual em- 
 phasis of the salutation. They then separate, and the men in their 
 turn choose their partners, and after praising their beauty and 
 excellence, repeat the kissing, which seems to be the chief end of 
 the ceremony. The music and songs of the Cossack are full of 
 melody, though of a weird and barbaric kind. 
 
 While at Kudara, Major Muravieff organized for our amuse- 
 ment a white-hare battue, from which we brought back several 
 good specimens of the fur of this arctic animal. The next day we 
 returned to Troitzkozavsk. 
 
 The eve of the Russian IsTew Tear we spent at a ball, at the 
 house of Mr. Sabasnikoff, the leading merchant of Kiachta. 
 
CHAP, xxni.] SIBERIA. 093 
 
 Here we saw so much refinement and elegance, as well as beauty, 
 among the ladies, that it was difficult to remember that we were 
 in eastern Asia, and on the confines of Tartary. Here, too, we 
 enjoyed the same dance which we had seen at Kudara. "While 
 at Troitzkozavsk I passed much time in studying the collection 
 of Mr. Nicholas Popoff, a gentleman to whom I am indebted for 
 much interesting information concerning the mineralogy of 
 eastern Siberia, and from whom I obtained a choice suite of the 
 beautiful aqua-marines and topazes of Nertschinsk. Mr. Popoff 
 has also a large and very complete cabinet of the insects of north- 
 eastern Asia. 
 
 We had been detained for nearly a month at Troitzkozavsk, 
 waiting for lake Baikal, 180 miles distant, to become permanently 
 frozen. It is generally the middle of January before the ice 
 forms to a thickness sufficient to prevent its being broken up by 
 the wind s. On the 15th we learned by telegraph that sleighs had 
 already crossed the lake, and after bidding good-bye to our many 
 hospitable friends we started for Irkutsk. 
 
 Henceforth our journey was to be made by post, and to facili- 
 tate our progress Mr. Pfaffius kindly furnished us with what are 
 called crown passports, which are intended only for officials 
 travelling on Government business. These papers insure the 
 immediate furnishing of relays and horses, while travellers who 
 have only the ordinary passport are subjected to constant delays 
 and extortion, and are everywhere at the mercy of grasping post- 
 masters. 
 
 M. Gamier, having business in Irkutsk, decided to accompany 
 us, taking with him his Cossack cook. This region partakes to a 
 great extent of the dryness of the atmosphere of central Asia. 
 The mountains lying to the north condense the moisture brought 
 from the Arctic ocean, leaving but little to be precipitated on the 
 plateau and its northern declivity, and this in the intense cold 
 falls in dry, flat crystals to a depth of only an inch or two. The 
 first part of our journey had consequently to be made in wheeled 
 vehicles. When we were ready to start we found the cook too 
 drunk to keep his seat upon the baggage, and after he had rolled 
 out once or twice, at the risk of being left on the road, we hit 
 upon the expedient of tying him to his place. 
 
 The first stage of our journey brought us to the Selenga river, 
 
394 AOSOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxtii, 
 
 whose frozen surface enabled us to change our wagons for sleighs. 
 The valley of the Selenga is broad, and bordered with high terra- 
 ces, which seem to form a continuation of the northern edge of 
 the plateau of Tartary, and to connect this with the plains of 
 Siberia. Ther e is considerable cultivation in this valley, notwith- 
 standingj he factthat th e mean annu al temperature is the freezing 
 point ofjivat ei. After two days and nights we came in sight of 
 lake Baikal. This great inland sea, more than 400 miles in 
 length, and enclosed between lofty walls, burst on our view at 
 sunrise, a sheet of glistening ice, whose opposite cliffs, about 
 thirty miles distant, seemed to be within cannon-shot, so deceptive 
 is the clear atmosphere of this country. For several miles from 
 the shore the surface was very rough. The ice of previous freez- 
 ings, driven landward by the wind after each breaking -up, was 
 piled in rugged masses of white and transparent green. Beyond 
 this broad belt, which looked like the tumultuous waves of an 
 angry sea, extended a clear expanse of fresh, dark ice, out of which 
 the cliffs of the opposite shore appeared to rise, their base and the 
 "white rough border being hidden by the convexity of the earth. 
 
 This country was visited on the 31st of December, 1861, and 
 January 1st and 2d of 1862, by a violent earthquake. A flat 
 alluvial tract on the shore of the Baikal, near the mouth of the 
 Selenga, was submerged, drowning the herds and population, 
 and converting the land into a bay of the lake. The shock, 
 which was felt severely at Irkutsk and Kiachta, was noticed 
 south of Urga in Mongolia, and seems to have been perceptible 
 over the distance of "700 miles from north to south. 
 
 After travelling a few miles along the brow of the bluff we 
 came to the post-house at Posoloskoi Monasturi. This house is 
 an ancient turreted building, erected in memory of an officer who 
 was murdered by the Buraets about the middle of the iTth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 The journey across the lake was the most exciting stage of our 
 trip. At first we bounded at a rapid rate over the rough border, 
 between great blocks of ice, whose transparent green gave them 
 the appearance of immense crystals of aqua-marine. We came at 
 last upon the smooth ice, the dark glassy surface of which stretched 
 away as far as the eye could reach. Over tliis the horses bounded 
 at a terrific pace. "We seemed to be gliding in some mysterious 
 
CHAT. XXVII.] SIBERIA. 395 
 
 manner along the surface of a calm sea, and the strangeness of 
 our situation was occasionally heightened by loud reports, which 
 echoed like thunder through the air. These were caused by 
 cracks, which are repeatedly forming in cold weather, cleaving 
 tHe^TcY~surface for many miles. We were several times obliged 
 tolnaEe~idetou"rs to avoid these, where they were either too wide 
 to jump with the" sleigh, or where one side had been raised two or 
 three feet higher than^the other. In the middle of the lake an 
 enterprising Russian had established a restaurant upon the ice, 
 where we took a welcome dinner. 
 
 When we reached the opposite side we were detained for some 
 time waiting for the moon to rise, as our road lay for several 
 miles further along the shore of the lake, where travelling in the 
 dark was not considered safe. By the time the moon rose a 
 number of other travellers had collected at the station, and as 
 we left terra firma we found a procession of five or six sleighs. 
 The one occupied by St. John and myself, being the lightest, 
 was allowed the rather doubtful honor of taking the lead, to test 
 tlie strength of the surface. The route was by no means free 
 fi-om danger ; the water of the lake having sunk, the ice in many 
 places remained without other support than its own stifiness ; 
 and the hollow sound which reverberated beneath us, as we 
 passed over these places, while it gave a timely warning to those 
 behind us to profit by our experience if we should disapi^ear, was 
 by no means re-assuring to us. Two or three times the covering 
 broke and horses and sleigh went through, bringing up, fortu- 
 nately, however, in each case, on a second sheet of ice, which had 
 formed two or three feet beneath. These accidents sometimes 
 happen in places when an under sheet has not had time to form. 
 Few years pass without some lives being lost in crossing the 
 lake. 
 
 Daybreak found us travelling over the inhabited plains, on the 
 eastern side of the Angara river. Here, for the first time, we 
 witnessed one of the most beautiful phenomena in nature — a 
 Siberian mist. A thick haze filled the atmosphere, and disap- 
 peared with almost the first rays of the rising sun. As it lifted 
 like a dissolving veil, a feathery coating of ice crystals covered 
 every object far and near; the surface of the endless fields of 
 snow, our sleigh, the backs of our horses, the clothing of the 
 
396 ACROSS AMEBIOA. AND ASIA. [chap, xxvri. 
 
 driver, and the forest from the roots of the trees to the tips of 
 the smallest twigs — everything that the eye fell upon was cov- 
 ered with a downy coating of these flat crystals, reflecting every- 
 where the rays of the sun, like a universal incrustation of dia- 
 monds. The telegraph wires over our heads had the appearance 
 of a jewelled cord an inch thick. No description can convey an 
 idea of the enchanting appearance of this scene, which was visi- 
 ble but a few minutes, and then vanished with almost magic 
 suddenness before the first warmth of the sun. This phenomenon 
 is apparently caused by the evaporation of the overflowing water 
 of the Angara into an atmosphere of a far lower temperature. 
 
 Before noon we came in sight of Irkutsk, and soon entered the 
 streets of this city, which is the capital of eastern Siberia. Here, 
 also, we found that a letter written by General Vlangali, from 
 Peking, had insured us a good reception. We were taken by 
 our new friends to a large and elegantly furnished house, which 
 we were told was entirely at our service. 
 
 Colonel , the chief of police, after accompanying us to 
 
 our quarters, kindly placed his valet at our disposal during our 
 stay. 
 
 On the day ol our arrival we paid our respects to General Sala- 
 schnakofl', the acting governor-general, and afterward to his wife, 
 who we found spoke English with remai'kable fluency. We also 
 formed immediately a circle of acquaintances in the society of 
 Irkutsk, which made our sojourn in that city extremely pleasant, 
 besides giving us the means of judging somewhat of the social 
 condition of a country which is considered the frozen tomb alike 
 of Russian criminals and political reformers. 
 
 At Irkutsk our party was compelled to break up. Mr. Walsh, 
 having pressing business in St. Petersburg, left us about a week 
 after our arrival, and made the journey with an ofiicer of high 
 rank who was travelling as courier. Mr. St. John left a few 
 days later in company with our friend. Major Muravieff, who also 
 travelled in the same manner. Not being pressed for time, and 
 wishing to stop at several points on the route, I remained behind, 
 prolonging my stay in Irkutsk to nearly three weeks. 
 
 The Russian conquests in northern Asia, begun by the daring 
 robber Termak Timofeyef, and continued partly by the advance 
 of an adventurous population and partly by organized warfare, 
 
CHAP. xxTii.] SIBERIA. 397 
 
 would foi-m a chapter in history full of national romance, pvosent- 
 ing many points of resemblance with the history of European 
 conqviest in America. 
 
 In 1579 the Russian family Stroganof, who had received froaa 
 the Czar a large tract of land on both sides of the Ural moun- 
 tains, applied to the robber Yermak for assistance against the 
 Finnish Khan Chutschun, who ruled the country of Sibir, lying 
 eastward on the Tobol and Irtisch rivers. Yermak, accepting 
 the proposition, led his adventurous band of Cossacks of the 
 Don i nto a^^^'ar, which resulted in the subjection of the Khanate 
 Siberiart(r the Czar in 1587. The cities, Tobolsk, Tiuracn, 
 Pelymsk, and Beresov, were founded and settled by Europeans. 
 The spirit of conquest and adventure, once aroused, impelled the 
 Cossacks ever further eastward, while hunters and traders, follow- 
 ing qnickly in the steps of the conquerors, established settlements, 
 which coniirmed Russia in possession of the territory. Already, 
 in the beginning of the 17th century, the city of Tomsk had b(;- 
 gun to exist as a frontier village. With an increased force the 
 Cossacks pushed further and further toward the Pacific, found- 
 ing Kuznetsk, Yeniseisk, Irkutsk, Selenginsk, and Nertschinsk, 
 and never resting till they had reached the shores of Belirings 
 straits. 
 
 At this period hunting, fishing, and trade in the valuable furs 
 of the country, formed the basis of Siberian industry and woaltli. 
 
 This immense region, Avith an area of more than 7,000,000 
 square miles, stretching from the Ural mountains to the Pacific, 
 and from the Altai mountains to the Arctic ocean, is not every 
 where the frozen and inhospitable region that it is generally 
 supposed to be. In the western part the Barabinsky steppe 
 traverses it from north to south, a broad tract ot lowland extend 
 in g from the Arctic ocean to the Aral and Caspian sea s. ' 
 
 Within the limits of Siberia this plain is variable in character : 
 grassy prairies alternate with reed marshes, fresh lakes with salt, 
 and rich tracts of arable land with extensive forests of birch, ash, 
 tillia, and conifers. Parts of this region are said in spring and 
 summer to present the grandest of park scenery, where wooded hills 
 rise from grassy plains covered with the most brilliant flowers. 
 In these forests t he birches often attain a diameter of fourfcet. 
 and a height of a hundred and fifty, and the pine much greater 
 
398 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxvn. 
 
 dimensions. Large areas are covered to the de pth of more tha n 
 two feet with a I'ertiie Ijlack soil resting~on" clayT^nd yieldin g 
 I rom live to ten-fold. Grain ripens as far nortE as ther623. par- 
 ■ allel o^ latitude, the southern boundary of Siberia being about 
 51 degrees N. 
 
 South and east of this steppe the terraces of the north flank of 
 the Altai mountains border the plain, jutting far into it like the 
 bold headlands of a sea-coast. Here the tributaries of the Yen- 
 essei, the Obi, and the Irtisch, rise among "great forests of birch, 
 pine, and -willo-w ; and' poplars, elms, and Tartarian maple " over- 
 hang their banks. 
 
 As we go north from the Arctic circle we pass from boundless 
 forests of firs into a region of salt steppes and endless swamps, 
 where the soil is perpetually frozen to the depth of hundreds of 
 feet. Here " the sui-face itself, not thawed before the end of 
 June, is. again ice-bound by the middle of September, and deep 
 snow covers the ground nine or ten months in the year. " " H^re 
 endless snows and ice-covered rocks bound the horizon, nature 
 lies shrouded in almost perpetual winter, life is a constant conflict 
 with privation and with the terrors of cold and hunger — ^the 
 grave of nature, which contains only the bones of another world. 
 The people, and even the snow, smoke, and this evaporation is in- 
 stantly changed into millions of needles of ice, which make a 
 noise in the air like the sound of torn satin or thick silk. 
 
 " The reindeer take to the forest, or crowd together for heat, and 
 the raven alone, the dark bird of winter, still cleaves the icy 
 air with slow and heavy wing, leaving behind him a long line of 
 thin vapor, marking the track of his solitary flight. The trunks 
 of the thickest trees are rent witha loud noise, masses of rock arc 
 torn from their sites, the ground in the vallies is rent into yawning 
 fissures, from which the waters that are underneath rise, giving off 
 a cloud of vapor, and immediately become ice. The atmosphere be- 
 comes dense, and the glistening stars are dimmed. The dogs out- 
 side the huts of the Siberians burrow in the snow, and their howl- 
 ing at intervals of six or eight hours interrupts the general silence 
 of winter." * 
 
 The climate of Siberia may be divided into winter and summer. 
 In the far north the thermometer sinks in winter to 70 degrees 
 
 * Mrs. Somerville, (juotins Admiral Wrangel. 
 
CHAP. XXVII.J SIBERIA. 
 
 39,9 
 
 and even 120 degrees below zero. Even in the neighborhood of 
 Irkutsk, where the mean anmial temperature is one-half a degree 
 below the freezing point, the mean for the winter is zero, the 
 thermometer at times sinking to below VO degrees. The waters 
 of the Lena are covered alread y, in the end of Sep tember, with 
 two feet of ice , and the Tobol and Irtisch are generan?T rozen 
 Txom the 20th of October to the 20th of April. ~~ 
 
 "~^* with returning spring thFI-ays of the sun" traversing the 
 clear atmosphere produce almost a magic change in the appear- 
 ance of nature. The melting snow is rapidly followed by bud- 
 ding foliage and blooming flowers, the prairies are covered with 
 grass, and the planted grain springs up and hastens to maturity ; 
 m an incredibly short time a vast ice-bound region is converted 
 into a blooming garden. The summers are favored by a con- 
 tinued absence of frosts. Even at Yakutsk, in 62 degrees K lati- 
 tude, the thermometer stands often at 77 degrees in the shade, 
 and wheat and rye produce from fifteen to forty-fold, while dur- 
 ing the winter the mercury is constantly frozen during two to 
 three months.* 
 
 It is a country where extremes of climate and of animal 
 and plant life meet. In this connection Erman, in his " Travels in 
 Siberia," says : " M. Turchaninov had discovered not less than 
 1,000 phanerogamous plants in the neighborhood (Irkutsk), many 
 of them of unknown species. In spite of the climate, t he flora of 
 Irkutsk is richer, than that of Berlin, exhibiting the plants of 
 warmer countries intermixed with those of the Arctic regionsT" 
 
 " The wild peach of Nerchinsk is a true apricot (Pncniis Arme- 
 niapa), and contains a very agreeable kernel in a fleshless envel- 
 opes, while in the very vicinity of these products of a more 
 favored climate we find the Siberian stone-pine and the dwarf 
 birch of the polar circle in the highlands. The same holds good 
 with regard to the fauna of the Trausbaikalian districts. We see 
 the Tunguze mounted on his reindeer, pass the Buraet with his 
 camel, and discover the tigers of China in the forests where the 
 bear is taking his Avinter sleep. * * * * it would hardly be 
 possible to point out any other country on the earth combinino- 
 such remote extremes of physical character and condition." 
 
 The population of Siberia, estimated at 4,270,938 souls, consists 
 
 * lira. Someryille, " Physical Geography." 
 
400 AOBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, sxvii. 
 
 for the greater part of settlers and exiles of Russian origin. The 
 remainder is made up of representatives of most of the fragments 
 of tribes and races which, successively crowded off from the 
 table-land, have sought refuge in the wilderness of northeastern 
 Asia. 
 
 According to their capacity, these remnants of races are either 
 sinking out of sight before the contact with European civilization, 
 or are leaving their aboriginal habits and rising in the social scale 
 under the tolerant government and fostering influence of their 
 conquerors. Some of these tribes Avhich have been long subject 
 to Russian influence, especially the Mohammedans, are among 
 the best elements of the population. 
 
 Russia, having no capital puiiishment, has long been in the 
 habit of banishing its criminals of all kinds to Siberia, the dis- 
 tance of exile beyond the Ural mountains being generally pro- 
 portionate to the degree of crime. -Those ofiences which in Eu- 
 rope are punishable by death, are here expiated by labor in the 
 mines of the far east. Thus, even treason is made to benefit the 
 State, the offenders being- compelled to perform the work of re- 
 claiming an immense part of the empire, and of laying the foun- 
 dation of a state which is destined to rise to a position of great 
 commercial impqrtance. Some crimes were made pu.nishable by 
 life-long labor in the mines, but the extent of the penalty, in the 
 greater number is limited to the restricting of the offender to a 
 certain district, beyond which he is not allowed to wander, but 
 within which he is free to labor in his own behalf, unhindered, 
 but under the surveillance of an ever-active police. The absence 
 of serfdom in Siberia has, perhaps, always nearly compensated 
 for the lower standard of morality which must always exist 
 among a population where the convict element predominates. 
 
 The political agitators of Russia, and of Poland, have long 
 supplied Siberia with a superior element of involuntary popula- 
 tion; and the refined society which the traveller meets within 
 the cities owes its existence in great part to this source. These 
 exiles were often voluntarily accompanied by their wives and 
 families, thus bringing with them the social cultivation of the 
 highest circles in Europe. Instances of this devotion on the part 
 of Polish women are of such common occurrence as scarcely to 
 invite notice. During my stay at Irkutsk, when the Polish rebel- 
 
CH-VP. xxvii.] SIBERIA. ^01 
 
 lion was furnisliing- exiles by tens of thousands!, tlic wives and 
 families of tlie wealthier prisoners frequently arrived, ready to 
 sign papers by which they condemned themselves to undergo 
 the same life and hardships and complete isolation from the rest 
 of the world, indeed to submit themselves and their children to 
 the same fate as their husbands, so long as these should live. A 
 still more touching thougli rarer instance occurred in the case 
 of two young ladies, who had been engaged to Polish officers 
 condemned to life-long labor in the mines. They arrived at 
 Irkutsk, and entreated for permission to be married to the ofB- 
 cers, and to sigu the papers which would for ever cut them off 
 from the world, and condemn them also to perpetual prison-life. 
 Their petition had to be submitted at St. Petersburg, and no 
 decision had arrived when I left. 
 
 The descendants of these exiles become firmly attached to the 
 countiy. When they can afford it they travel through Europe, 
 many of them going thither several times. Whenever I ques- 
 tioned Siberian ladies as to their attachment to the country, they 
 invariably replied that, although they were very fond of making 
 long journeys to Paris and Italy, they would never choose for 
 their home any other country than Siberia. And the attachment 
 is even stronger with the peasant, who, next to his God and the 
 Emperor, reverences the soil of his birth-place. I must confess 
 that, having myself a strong partiality for climates where an in- 
 tensely cold and clear atmosphere is rendered cheerful by an 
 unclouded sun, I could appreciate this affection for a land where 
 the snows of such a winter bury the germs of vegetation far be- 
 low the surface, but not so deep as to prevent it from converting 
 the country into a blooming garden in summer. Nor is the social 
 life with all its gayety to be left out of consideration. 
 
 The long-continued influx of political offenders, and the large 
 number of Government officials, form in every city an extensive 
 circle of cultivated society, which manages to compensate for the 
 severity of the climate by a continued round of amusement. In 
 Irkutsk, masquerades, the theatre, dinners and balls at private 
 houses and at the club-rooms, left little to wish for in the way of 
 enjoyment. 
 
 I was struck with one peculiarity of Siberian society, whic'c 
 however did not extend below the merchant class — this was the 
 
402 ACSOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxtii 
 
 appareiitly greater amount of care bestowed upon the education 
 of women. They seemed to be generally much better trained, 
 not merely in music, but in foreign languages, and in the general 
 branches of education. 
 
 The bracing climate, and the great and varied resources of this 
 sparsely-peopled country, have developed in its European pop- 
 ulation a spirit of enterprise which resembles ip many respects 
 that which is building up the States on our Pacific coast. Manu- 
 factories of cloth and linen, of glass and iron, have long been 
 established, and numerous similar branches of industry are every- 
 where springing up. Mines of gold and silver, of copper, iron, 
 and salt are worked by Government and by private enter- 
 prise. There are extensive fisheries in the rivers and lakes, and 
 the area of cultivated land is yearly increasing. During the 
 s ummer, steamboats ply on all the large streams and on lak e 
 Bai kal, rendering it possible to go from St. Petersburg to th e 
 mouth of the Amoor by steam, across the entire breadth of the 
 great continent, with less than a thousand miles of transit by . 
 wagon. During the winter the roads are covered with long 
 trains of sledges, by which the internal commerce and the trade 
 between China and European Russia is carried on. Some idea 
 of the commerce of Siberia may be formed from the sales at the 
 fair of Irbit, which in 1859 amounted to 42,628,200 silver roubles. 
 At Petropaulowski, on the Ishim, the central point for the trade 
 with central Asia and western China, the imports in 1843 
 amounted to 825,481 silver roubles, and the exports to 715,926. In 
 1858 the imports from Tashkend amounted to 602,319 roubles, 
 and the exports to 485,400. In 1862 the imports at this place 
 amounted to 2,741,000 roubles, and the exports to 1,787,691 ; the 
 difierences between the value of exports and imports being j)aid 
 in Russian money. At Kiachta, in 1862, the value of imported 
 tea amountedto more than eight and one-half million roubles.* 
 
 * The I'ollowmg table shows the imports and exports at Kiachta for 1862 : 
 
 IMTOETS. Koiibles (silver). 
 
 Tea 7,851,445 
 
 Biick Tea, 897,311 
 
 Cattle, 128,950 
 
 Sugar, 104,322 
 
 Leather, 49,118 
 
 Cotton stuffs, 27,274 
 
 Furs, S>4,51S 
 
 expohts. Eoubles (silver). 
 
 Cloth 1,951,767 
 
 Cotton fabrics, 1,485,976 
 
 Furs, , 
 
 438,6.36 
 
 
 154,452 
 
 Jnchtn, 
 
 139,5,39 
 
 Metal "wares, 
 
 58,097 
 
 Grain, 
 
 56,569 
 
 Woollen wares, 
 
 55,969 
 
 Flax and Hemp fabrics, . 
 
 28,674 
 
 Coral ornaments, 
 
 19,524 
 
CJLSP. xxvn. SIBERIA. j^03 
 
 It certainly is a remarkable fact, that of two shi p ments of the 
 same tea from Han-kau, the one going by sai ling vessel to Eng- 
 land and St. Petersburg, and the other by the long land route — 
 t hrough China on boats and mules, through Tartary on cam els, 
 t hrough Siberia on sleighs, and through Russia by railroad — that 
 which has taken the land route costs the same, or leas, iii ^tT 
 Petersburg as that which has gone by sea . Tliis is owin ^ in part 
 to the excess of duty at the Atlanti c port of Russia over that on 
 t he Siberian frontier, and partly, perhaps, To the fact that th e t ca 
 which takes the ocean route requires more manipulation before 
 shipment than the other. 
 
 The tea trade alone between China and Europe is very large, 
 and seems, when taken in connection with many other reasons, to 
 warrant the belief that the near future will see a railroad along; 
 this, important route . It would be almost impossible to over-esti- 
 mate from a national commercial point of view the benefits which 
 would follow its construction. At its two ends would lie the 
 most densely-peopled market-lands of the world, while hardly a 
 hun dred miles of its whole length would be in regions which arc 
 not already productive. Its easterly division would traverse the 
 fertile and closely-occupied lowland of China and cross the Yangtz' 
 and Yellow rivers, the chief commercial arteries of the empire, 
 near their outlets to the sea. It would pass over the plateau of 
 central Asia, a grazing land which from the most ancient times 
 has supported immense herds of cattle. And the Siberian link 
 would provide an inlet and outlet to a country Avhich has all the 
 resources, agricultural and mineral, necessary to the formation 
 of a great state, and where these resources are already undergo- 
 ing a rapid and healthy interior development. The distance from 
 Shanghai to Kazan, the eastern terminus of the Russian railroad, 
 is about 4,600 miles, and the total distance from Shanghai to St. 
 Petersburg -5,600. 
 
 At the Chinese end an altitude of about 5,000 feet above the 
 sea would have to be overcome in ascending to the summit of the 
 plateau. This elevation is distributed over about 125 miles. 
 
 The plateau itself presents no engineering difficult ies, and a grad- 
 ual desce nt from the northern edge could be obtained" th r ough th e 
 valle ys of the Tula and Orkhon to lake Baikal . Nor are there 
 any important obstacles on the plains of Siberia and in the passes 
 
404 AOBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. Lchap. xxvir. 
 
 of the TJral moiintains, unless such may exist in the teiidency of 
 the rivers to form extensivejrozen overflow s. Aside from inter- 
 national diflBculties, the construction of such a road -would, not- 
 n^ithstanding its greater length, seem to be a simpler problem than 
 that of the now nearly finished Union Pacific line, for the Euro- 
 pean-Asiatic road, besides connecting the two greatest markets 
 of the world, would be sure of an immediate and extensive way- 
 traffic, because in the vast regions it would traverse all the ele- 
 ments necessary thei'eto already exist. 
 
 During the present century a spirit of enterprise, especially in 
 the working of gold deposits, has caused the accumulation of 
 large fortunes in many parts of the country. This has been at- 
 tended to a certain extent by the extravagance and the vices 
 which were for years prominent in California and Australia. The 
 two great evils of the country, which run through all_£la55eSj 
 are gainbling and drinking to excess. I know of no nation in 
 ~-\vl]Tcird runkenness assumes such frightful proportions as in thi^ 
 eastern part of the Russian empire . During my stay in Irkutsk 
 a gentleman told me7in illustration of this fact, that immediately 
 after a reduction of the Government tax on spirits, thirty-five 
 men and women in a village of 500 souls had killed themselves 
 with drinking in one week. Another instance, related to me by a 
 Siberian lady, was, that one of her female servants, liaving ob- 
 tained leave of absence under pretence of visiting her dying 
 mother, had gone directly to a drinking shop, where she lay 
 four days in an incessant state of drunkenness. But another most 
 absurd example was one which came under my own observation. 
 
 The reader will remember that on leaving Kiachta we were 
 obliged to tie the cook fast in the cari-iage. M. Garnier, having 
 decided to return to Troizkozavsk, had taken the precaution to 
 send this man the day before with a note to the chief of police, 
 requesting that the bearer might be put in prison until he should 
 be sent for. When everything was ready for the journey, and 
 M. Garnier had taken his place in tlie sleigh, the cook arrived 
 under special charge of a policeman, and perfectly sober. My 
 friend was delighted at the success of his manoeuvre, but having 
 forgotten some small article of baggage he sent the man into his 
 room for it. Entering the house about a minute afterward, I 
 found the rascal just putting down empty a decanter which a 
 
CHAP, xxvn.] SIBERIA. 405 
 
 few minutes before had been nearly full of our choicest brandy. 
 The fellow had made the best of his opportunity, and before the 
 sleigh started was of course as drunk as when we left Kiachta. 
 
 I was told that in Ivamtchatka the inhabitants are in the habit 
 of using a fungus in their liquor, which not only increases the 
 intoxicating effect, but has also the advantage that as soon as a 
 man begins to get sober a glass of pure water will make him as 
 drunk as before. 
 
 It is said that in delirium tremens the Russian, instead of being 
 tormented with visions of snakes, and other animals, sees only 
 little devils of the conventional type. " He has seen the little 
 devils," is a common phrase in explaining that a man is in the 
 last stages oi^runkeiftiess. 
 
 The vice of gambling seems to be even more widely spread than 
 that I have just described, since it pervades not only all classes, 
 but both sexes. The Siberian ladies are great adepts at cards, a fact 
 which my companions and myself learned to our cost on the very 
 threshold of the country. After dinner, soon after our arrival at 
 Kiachta, we each of us, in the course of an evening, lost to our 
 hostess at whist nearly the whole sum which, for the purpose of 
 avoiding the appearance of singularity, we had calculated on 
 devoting to play. During the whole game the lady kept up a 
 constant fire of sparkling conversation, but was such an excellent 
 player that, while our attention was constantly diverted, she kept 
 the run of the cards perfectly, and had at the close every detail 
 in her memory. 
 
 It is hardly considered proper for ladies before marriage to 
 play for money, but they certainly make up for the privation 
 immediately after. Many of them begin in the morning to make 
 their calls, and drive from house to house till they happen at 
 some friend's to find a gathering large enough to form a party at 
 their favorite game of hazard stut-kolka. Even at balls the band 
 plays to almost empty dancing-fioors, the stronger excitement of 
 the card-tables drawing away nearly all the guests. One lady 
 told me that, although she was very fond of cards, she played 
 them quite as much in self-defence as for the pleasure, " because," 
 she added, " while my husband is losing at the club, I am just as 
 likely to be winning from his opponent's wife." 
 
 In a country where gambling is so universal, one expects to 
 
406 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. fcHAP. xxvn 
 
 find every foreign and native device that has been invented for 
 games of chance, but I was told of one for which I think none 
 will dispute the honor of invention with the Siberians. In 
 the prisons, where gaming is strictly forbidden, the inmates resort 
 to the following curious means of indulging in their favorite 
 propensity. Each man carries in a corked quill a select speci- 
 men of an insect, which he is never at a loss to find without 
 going further than his own clothing. The game consists in put- 
 ting these animals in the centre of a circle chalked on the table, 
 and betting as to which will first reach the circumference. Each 
 man knows his own racer, which he has trained with care, feeding it 
 in certainly the most afiectionate manner by holding the open 
 end of the quill against his wrist or temple. 
 
 The habits of luxury in Siberia seem out of all proportion to 
 the salaries of the official class, which are so absurdly small that 
 they will scarcely buy the common necessaries of life. The offi-__ 
 cial corruption which prevailed throughout the empire during 
 the reign of !N"icholas, and which still exists, is owin g a.lrnost 
 entirely to this insufficiency of pay . 
 
 During my journey I incurred a lasting debt to the Siberians 
 for their hospitality. I could not help thinking that this was 
 extended to me quite as much in my character of an American as 
 individually. It was pleasant to meet everywhere with an expres- 
 sion of the most cordial feeling toward the United States, and 
 I was often surprised to hear in this distant part of Asia a very 
 just appreciation of the causes and probable results of the war 
 which was then going on at home. Everywhere there existed the 
 strongest sympathy for the North, and a general good feeling had 
 become widely spread in every part of the empire by the 
 accounts of the cordial reception which the Russian fleet had 
 met with in the United States. The position occupied by the 
 slavery question in our struggle had something to do in influenc 
 ing the feelings of a nation in which the emancipation of serfs 
 had recently become an accomplished fact ; somewhat was due 
 also to the many points of resemblance between the rebellion in 
 America and the one then being crushed in Poland. 
 
CHAPTER XXVm, 
 
 SIBERIA. 
 
 Mt departure from Irkutsk was delayed several days, owing 
 to tte difficulty in obtaining a comfortable kibitka, or travelling 
 sleigh. This vehicle is of all sizes, entirely open, or with a hood 
 behind, or completely covered. It has only a single pak of long 
 runners, and, to prevent upsetting, is provided with a guard- 
 frame, which, starting from the body of the sleigh in front, 
 spreads out some twelve or eighteen inches from the sides at the 
 back end. As soon as the vehicle tips, this framework touches 
 the ground, and must break before it can capsize. 
 
 Every part of the kibitka is thoroughly braced, in a manner to 
 secure the greatest possible strength, as well as lightness, with- 
 out too great rigidity ; precautions which are absolutely neces- 
 sary, since these sleighs are expected, before wearing out, to 
 make several journeys of from two to four thousand miles, at the 
 rate of ten and sometimes even of fourteen miles per hour, over 
 roads that are anything but smooth. 
 
 Expecting to travel alone I waited until I found a very light 
 sleigh, which was not much more than wide enough for one per- 
 son. 
 
 The postal service in Russia is, in many respects, the most per- 
 fect in the world, considering the immense network of roads it 
 covers on both continents. In some parts of the empire it is 
 given under contract to private enterprise, but through Siberia 
 it remains in the hands of Government. Relay-stations are 
 established at distances of from eight to fifteen miles, under the 
 charge of postmasters, whose duty it is to provide horses and 
 attend to the mails. 
 
 There are three ways of travelling — by buying a ticket as pas- 
 senger with the mail conveyance ; by purchasing a common order 
 for horses ; or, finally (if travelling on Government business), by 
 havin<T a Government order, which cannot be bought. In the 
 
408 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap. xxvn. 
 
 first of these methods, which is very cheap, costing only 1^ kopeks 
 per werst, the traveller is obliged to go directly through, and is, 
 moreover, likely to he associated with not over-pleasant com- 
 pany.* In the second, with the common permit, he is exposed 
 to the extortion of postmasters, and to delays which may lengthen 
 his journey by weeks, unless he satisfies the greed of these offi- 
 cials. 
 
 The much-coveted Government order admits of no delay, and 
 requires the furnishing of horses in preference to everything but 
 the imperial mail. The traveller is allowed as many horses as he 
 is willing to pay for, at the rate of 1^ kopek each per werst east 
 of Tiumen, and west of that point at 3 kopeks each. Through 
 the kindness of the Governor-General of eastern Siberia I ob- 
 tained a Government order, which relieved me from, the anxiety I 
 had felt at the prospect of a long journey through a country of 
 whose language I knew nothing, and where at every station I 
 would have been exposed to the most annoying delays and impo- 
 sitions. 
 
 Before taking final leave of Irkutsk, I would express my deep 
 sense of obligation to the Governor-General of eastern Siberia, 
 to the Chief of Police of Irkutsk, and to Count Paul Anosoff 
 for their private hospitality, no less than for their official assist 
 ance, without which my journey would hardly have been possible, 
 and also to Colonel Reingard and M'r. Andre Razguildieff. To 
 Prince Krapotkin I am indebted for much valuable information 
 concerning eastern Tartary and western Manchuria, countries 
 through which he had travelled in disguise. 
 
 On the evening of the 6th of February I left Irkutsk, and 
 started on my lonely journey westward. Following the Russian 
 custom, I had my baggage spread out . over the bottom of the 
 sleigh and covered with a quantity of straw, and placing over 
 this a Japanese mattrass and a number of fur robes, I secured a 
 bed which was both soft and thick enough to deaden the shocks 
 of rapid travelling over a rough road. A number of large pillows 
 were placed at the back, to raise and support the shoulders and 
 head, fo r the Ru ssians- ha ve dis covered that a half reclining po s- 
 ture is themost convenient m tra velling , smce eveiy muscle is at 
 
 * The kopek being eqnal to two-thirds of a cent, and the werat to two-thirds of a mile, 
 the fere by post is equal to l>f cents per mile. 
 
UHAP. xxvm.] SIBERIA. 409 
 
 rest, and yet the elevation of t he_head jermits a view of the sur - 
 ro unding scenery . "^ """ 
 
 Having learned by our rough experience in Tartary how ne- 
 cessary it is to clothe one's self in the manner which the natives of 
 the country have found to be the best, I had taken every Russian 
 precaution against the cold, and had encased myself in an outfit 
 which I can recommend to travellers as a sure protection in the 
 most extreme climate. 
 
 Over a pair of thick and loose woollen trousers and a woollen 
 shirt I put on the close-fitting robe worn by the peasants, reach- 
 ing from the neck nearly to the ankles, and made of sheep-skin, 
 with the wool inside, and over this a loose robe of the fur of 
 the Arctic fox, with the hair also on the inner side. My feet 
 were encased in very loose boots made of felt, and reaching nearly 
 to the knee. A Chinese skull-cap of felt, with fur lappets, pro- 
 tected the head and ears, while a long knitted comforter, covering 
 the whole face below the eyes, after being crossed behind the 
 neck and tied under the chin, protected the nose, throat, and lungs. 
 On getting hito the sleigh the traveller puts on over all his other 
 garments a wrapper of deer-skin, with the hair outside to break 
 the force of the wind, and furnished with loose sleeves and a col- 
 lar, which when raised envelops the head and face. Lying down 
 and putting his feet and legs in a large wolf-skin bag , he pulls over 
 him a fur sleigh-robe which reaches nearly to the chin. He is now 
 ready to defy the greatest severities of even a Siberian winter. 
 
 The cold, which had been increasing every day, seemed on the 
 first night out of Irkutsk to have reached a more intense degree 
 than I had yet experienced, and before midnight my hands and feet 
 were nearly frozen. At the first station I stufled my boots with 
 dry bay, and was fortuiiate enough to find a woman with aji am- 
 j)le mufi", which I bought for a few roubles, and found to be p)re- 
 ferable to any gloves. After this, during the whole journey, I 
 never for a minute sutt'ered from cold. The nose is always the 
 most difficult part of the body to protect ; but by pulling the com- 
 forter about an inch forward, and holding it there_till it stifiens 
 with the frozen breath, the whole face is kept warm by the heat 
 of the breath. 
 
 Findinf myself thoroughly defended against Jhe severity of 
 the weather, I now began to enjoy the wonderful night-scene 
 
410 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxtiii. 
 
 ■which surrounded me. Three bounding horses carried the sleigh 
 at almost railway speed over the road, dashing in rapid succession 
 through groves of trees, through fields and forests,; and over the 
 hills and valleys of an uneven country, whose face was covered 
 with a deep mantle of snow, rounding and softening all its out- 
 lines, and illuminating the whole scene with the tender light re- 
 flected from its pure surface. Overhead the stars shone with 
 flashing lustre through an atmosphere whose purity is equalled 
 only on the higher and dryer parts of the earth. After a time 
 I allowed myself to yield to the call of the system, for sleep, feel: 
 ing that protected as I was there was no danger. 
 
 On awakening I was not a little startled at being unable to 
 open my eyes. Feeling of the lids I found them perfectly sensi- 
 ble, but the lashes were frozen together and to the edge of thg 
 comforter. After fruitless attempts . to force them apart, , I 
 enveloped my head in the collar of the outer cloak, and grad- 
 ually succeeded, by breathing, in raising the temperature suf- 
 ficiently to thaw the icy chains. On looking at the thermometer 
 I found the mercury frozen, and even the brandy in my bottle had 
 assumed an oily consistency. At the station we reached before 
 sunrise I got out for breakfast. Having been warned of the 
 impossibility of getting any decent food outside of two or three 
 large cities, I had taken an abundant supply of tea, coffee, and 
 sugar, and dinners for twenty-four days in the shape of twenty- 
 four plates of soup, each one frozen into a separate cake, and 
 enough bread to last for several days. Almost every Russian 
 house owns a samovar, or urn, for boiling water, which is heated by 
 charcoal in a tube extending from top to bottom. This is the only 
 thing, excepting plates and glasses, and other rough table-ware, 
 that the traveller can count upon at Russian inns, or at least in 
 Siberia. The samovar was heated, and in a few minutes from the 
 time of my arrival I had made a sufiicient breakfast on six or 
 seven large glasses of tea and a couple of slices of dry bread, and I 
 adhered to this bill-of-fare during the rest of the journey. There is 
 jiothing so refreshing and so sustaining in a cold climate as good 
 
 ]5IaeOea . Its^ti mulating effect is both gentler. and far more 
 
 lasting than that of spirits^ On the way from Kiachta toTCrkutsk 
 we had stopped to make tea at every station, and the temptation 
 was very strong for me to continue the habit ; but an easy calcula- 
 
CHAP, xxvin.] SIBERIA. 411 
 
 lion showed that a delay of half an hour at every relay -would 
 lengthen my journey by more than a week, and I resolved to 
 confine myself to three stoppages daily. 
 
 The spirit thermometer outside of the station marked 45 
 degrees, or ahout 70 degrees below zero of Fahrenheit, while 
 within doors the heat could not have been less than 85 or 90 
 degrees (F. ), involving a plunge from extreme to extreme which 
 is not only uncomfortable but dangerous. In entering these 
 station-houses it is necessary to leave in the sleigh the outer deer- 
 skin robe, as the low temperature of the fur would cause it to be 
 drenched with the condensing vapors of the hot rooms to an 
 extent that would render it as stiff as a board on re-exposing it 
 to the outside air. I was now entirely among strangers ; my 
 only companions, the drivers, changed at every relay with their 
 horses ; and understanding, as I did, nothing of the language, the 
 long journey loomed up before me like an impracticable task, an 
 endless succession of strange postmasters, and I resolved if pos- 
 sible to take in some Russian as a fellow-passenger. 
 
 During the morning of the second day, just after I had entered 
 the court-yard of a station, the postmaster appeared, and to my 
 delight addressed me in German. 
 
 " You are going through to Moscow ?" he asked. 
 
 " Yes," I replied. 
 
 " Could you take a fellow-traveller ?" 
 
 " I have every wish to be accommodating ; still it depends upon 
 vv^ho the traveller may be." 
 
 " Oh ! I will guarantee her sociability." 
 
 " Her ? the traveller is a woman, then !" 
 
 " Yes, sii'," replied the postmaster, " a young lady who is 
 travelling westward on very pressing business, but whose kibitka 
 has broken down, and I am unable to give her another. The only 
 alternative she has, if you will allow her an alternative, is between 
 travelling in your sleigh or in that of a Russian priest who has 
 just arrived." 
 
 " How is it possible," I asked, with astonishment, " that any 
 lady could hesitate in choosing between a perfectly strange for- 
 eigner and a man of God ? " 
 
 The postmaster disappeared to gain some further light on this 
 strange proceeding. 
 
412 A0B0S8 AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxviii; 
 
 ISTow, in making a resolution to take the first respectable travel- 
 ler I could find, I had made an express reservation against lady 
 passengers ; but here was a prospect of being wedged into a nar- 
 row sleigh I did not know how many days and nights, with'a wo- 
 man of whose appearance or proportions I had not the slightest; 
 idea. It was certainly an alarming prospect for a bachelor. But be- 
 fore I had time for further meditation the postmaster re-appeared, 
 and with a half-suppressed smile remarked that the lady preferred 
 the stranger, as she was not partial to Russian priests. There 
 was no getting out of it; and with the best grace possible, under 
 the circumstances of my ignorance of her size, I sent the land- 
 lord to assure the lady that I should be delighted to have her 
 share my sleigh. After her baggage had been carefully stowed' 
 with mine in the bottom of the kibitka, and her own bedding' 
 distributed over mine, my fellow-passenger aj)peared, but wrapped 
 in such quantities of fiirs and' so closely veiled that itwas'im- 
 possible to judge of either her age or appearance ; but just before 
 getting into the sleigh she raised her veil to' salute me, and per- 
 haps also to take a good look at her travelling companion, and 
 in doing so exhibited a young and reriiarkably beautiful face. I 
 inwardly congratulated myself upon not having adhered to a reso- 
 lution which would have deprived me of so charming a' compan- 
 ion. People may say what they will, but whether in Siberia or 
 in a !N"ew York street-car,- I have observed that a pretty face 
 commands more willing attention than a plain one. After travel- 
 ling for half a mile or more I broke the silence by some common- 
 place remark in German. My companion shook her head. " She 
 speaks French," I thought ; " all Russian ladies speak French ; " 
 so 'I repeated what I had said in that language. Again she 
 shook her head. " Perhaps she understands' Italian ; the Russian 
 ladies .-ire great musicians, and generally' study Italian ; " so I re- 
 iterated my attempt in Tuscan, and then in English. But each 
 time there came that ominous shake of the head. I was now in 
 despair ; the idea of travelling for days, or perliaps weeks, with a 
 companion, but without' having a single expression in common, 
 was'too aggravating to' be bonie. I knew one Russian word — that 
 for horse. Leaning forward I pointed to the animals and ' called 
 dut""loshada! loshada!" The effect was electric. She saw that 
 it was the only word between us, and the whole ridiculousness 
 
CHAP, xrrar.] SIBERIA. 413 
 
 of our situation presented itself to her mind as it had to mine. After 
 a hearty and musical laugh, she talked for some time in Russian, 
 and the ice which had threatened to separate us was at last broken. 
 
 I think it was during this day, or the following one, that our 
 road lay along the brow of one of the lofty terraces which flank 
 the Altai mountains on the north. The country on every side 
 was covered with a dense forest. On our right hand it was de- 
 pressed far below us, and the eye ranged over the unbroken sur- 
 face of the wilderness, which extended to the horizon, and as I 
 knew contimied like a boundless ocean ever further and further 
 northward till it reached the limit of trees around the pole. 
 These northern solitudes still inspire one with something of the 
 mysterious fascination which we see in the ideas of the ancients 
 concerning the Hyperboreans, and the Arimasps, who fought 
 with the Griffons for golden sands in this land of perpetual night. 
 From where we stood there was but a single transition between 
 us a nd the pole, one vast and gloomy forest, giving way at its 
 northern limit to perpetual ice. Although the forest disappeared 
 under a distant horizon, i could trace in my mind its changes 
 toward the north ; birches and maples becoming ever fewer, their 
 places supplied by lofty pines, and these dwindling in stature and 
 at last giving way altogether to the more hardy firs of the Arctic 
 swamps, and these in turn yielding to the polar tundras which 
 cover the frozen tomb of the mammoth. 
 
 During the day we came to a long and steep descent from the 
 terrace. Already, before we reached the brow, the driver whipped 
 up his horses, and in going down the hill kept them on the run. 
 The road'was as smooth as glass, and our speed terrific ; but as 
 soon as the traces began to slacken, or the sleigh to swerve in the 
 slightest, the driver again used the whip. This is unavoidable 
 on hills where the smooth surface is frozen so hard that the run- 
 ners take no hold upon the snow, and is the only way of avoiding 
 either being upset or going down hill backward, dragging the 
 horses. I must confess that this coasting experience on the first 
 long declivity fairly made my hair stand on end. When the 
 sleigh struck in the deep cross-trough (with which every long 
 descent ends in Siberia) it bounded two or three feet into the air, 
 leaving my companion, myself, and all our baggage mixed up in 
 an almost inextricable mass. 
 
414r ACBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxnir. 
 
 For many days the journey was devoid of remarkable incidents. 
 Travelling uninterruptedly day and night, and leaving the sleigh 
 only long enough to take our three slight meals, I kept few 
 notes, and lost altogether the run of dates. The general appear- 
 ance of the country,' it s succession of great f orests, of hills and 
 pl aing, of the valleys of great rivers where cultivated fields lay 
 hidd en under the white cloak of winter, its countless villages 
 bimed in snow up to the roofs of the houses, with excavated 
 streets — all these remain impressed upon my memory rather like 
 a vision of an enchanted land than as the real scenery upon an 
 actual jour ney. 1 remember one or two terfiETe snow-storms 
 which fell with blinding force and with a fierce wind. 
 
 The moon waxed full and waned, and still my companion occu- 
 pied her place in my sleigh. When she would leave I had as yet 
 no idea ; I was not anxious that it should be soon. In the mean- 
 time I made progress in Russian. Every day added a few words 
 or phrases to my vocabulary, until finally we were able to bring 
 a little language to the aid of conversation, which was at first 
 kept up only by signs. It was sometimes not easy to make out 
 whether my companion was asleep or awake, especially in the 
 early morning, nor was it an easy t^sk to make preparations on 
 my own part for finding this out. In the first place, there was 
 the usual necessity of thawing out one's eyelashes ; it was only 
 after this, and pulling down the great collar of the outer 
 robe, and rolling over on the left side, that I caught sight of my 
 companion, or rather a mountain of shapeless furs towering 
 beside and above me, and with a small spiral column of vapor 
 issuing from the top like that which betrays the wintering- 
 place of a bear. How was one to know whether sleep or wakeful- 
 ness existed under these motionless robes. The mother of invention 
 taught me a ready expedient : lighting a cigarette I pufFed vigor- 
 ously till I felt sure that every fold and crack was penetrated by 
 the ai'oma. It was a sure test ; for my companion, like all Russian 
 ladies, was passionately fond of smoking, and never could resist 
 the temptation. K she was awake, a gentle movement was soon 
 perceptible, ending after a while in the appearance of a small 
 handTvith a cigarette, stretched out to be lighted. In this way thie 
 itime passed smoothly enough, which is more than I can say of the 
 iroad ; the endless succession of cross-troughs sent us bounding 
 
CHAP, xxvm.] SIBERIA. 415 
 
 every no^ and then into the air to come down with a shock that 
 entirely destroyed the equilibrium of our arrangements, which 
 required very delicate adjustment in a sleigh not more than three 
 feet and a half wide at the back and two in front. 
 
 But it is now time that I should relieve my companion from 
 the rather embarrassing position which she must hold in the 
 reader's mind, when considered simply as the co-occupant of a 
 strange gentleman's sleigh during so long a journey. Her 
 strange history, which I learned in part from her, I will give as I 
 afterward heard it more fully stated at St. Petersburg. This 
 lady was the daughter of a noble family of "Warsaw, of which 
 she and a brother were the only children. The latter had be- 
 come an officer in the Polish army, and had been made prisoner 
 imder circumstances which caused him to be convicted of high 
 treason and sentenced to life-long ■ labor in the frozen mines of 
 eastern Siberia. This punishment, which seemed to the aged 
 parents and sister more awful than death, was rendered more 
 painful by the fact that no communication could be held with the 
 exile, who might fall under the fatigues of the long and terrible 
 journey across Asia. In order to give comfort and companion- 
 ship to her brother during his journey, and to bring back news 
 of his safe arrival, this girl, scarcely eighteen years old, formed 
 the resolution to accompany him, a point which she carried 
 against all opposition. In company with a large number of 
 political exiles and convicts of every class, this young woman, 
 who had hitherto seen nothing but the comforts of home and the 
 gayeties of a brilliant capital, made the long and terrible journey, 
 wading for months through the snows of Siberia, exposed daily 
 and nightly to the hardships and filth of the prison stations, and 
 surroimded by scenes of suffering. After seeing her brother 
 arrive safely at his destination, without waiting to recover from 
 the fatigues she had gone through, she started immediately on the 
 long journey to Omsk on some busmess connected with the exile's 
 condition, and it was on this trip that the breaking of her sleigh 
 threw me into her company. This devotion, and the circum- 
 stances by which it was surrounded, cannot but recall to the 
 reader the touching story of Elizabeth, whose life was in the 
 same land, and whose journey was partly over the same road. 
 
 Wishing to rest for a few hours at Omsk, I drove to a hotel and 
 
416 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxviii. 
 
 ordered dinner. During the meal a soldier arrived and de- 
 manded my passport. To my horror I now remembered that I had 
 left this behind, at a station some distance off. In its stead I 
 handed over the Government order for horses, and told the officer 
 that I was travelling from Peking to the United States on official 
 business. With this information he departed. Before long he re- 
 appeared, stating that the chief of police had himself been in Pe- 
 king, and would be happy to see me. Accompanying the police- 
 man I proceeded through the city, and was brought into a large 
 public building, and in this into a room which I instantly perceived 
 to be a police court. About fifty men and women of the lowest 
 class were standing in a circle, while at a table there were seated 
 several clerks, and an officer in the uniform of a colonel. After 
 informing me that this officer was the chief of police, my guide 
 went up to him and whispered something in his eai-. Very much 
 to my surprise, the man who had invited me on the score of hav- 
 ing been in Peking merely looked up, and after a long stare went 
 on with the business in hand. Not having been asked to sit 
 down, I walked to the nearest chair and seated myself, but was 
 immediately forced by a Cossack to stand up. Being indignant 
 at this treatment I went up to the chief of j)olice, and finding 
 that he understood neither English, French, nor German, told 
 him in broken Russian that as he ha d been in Peking he pro- 
 b ably spoke CEinesei "In the best mandarin that I could muster 
 I explaihed the loss of my passport, and demanded to know"why 
 he had brought me thither to be treated as a co mmon c riminal. 
 
 Not understanding a word of what I said, the official became 
 furious, and ordered me into arrest. As the prison-keeper started 
 to take me from the room I shook him off, and demanded 
 of the clerks whether any of them spoke German. As one of 
 them gave me a nod, which was intended not to be seen by. his 
 master, I turned to him and said, " Tell the chief of police that 
 I am bearing dispatches from the United States minister at 
 Peking to my Government at Washington, and that he will be 
 held to account at St. Petersburg for every hour I am delayed." 
 The old man after some hesitation . interpreted my language. 
 The chief of police answered that he did not believe it ; that I was 
 there witliout any passport, and had been travelling in company 
 with a sister of an exile ; in short, that he believed me to be a 
 
CHAi'. xxviii.] SIBERIA. 417 
 
 dangerous character. If I was carrying dispatches, why did I 
 not show them ? Taking from my pocliet a large envelop ad- 
 dressed to the home Government, and bearing the seal of the 
 legation, I handed it over to the official, who made a move to 
 break the seals ; but on second thought handed it back to me after 
 merely examining the outside. I was now allowed to depart, 
 though without any apology for the treatment I had received. 
 This unpleasant episode was the only official annoyance that I 
 underwent on the whole journey. 
 
 My companion having stopped at Omsk, I was now alone. 
 The country from this point on, and, indeed, the whole region of 
 the Obi river and its tributaries, is much more thickly peopled 
 than eastern Siberia. We were continually passing. through vil- 
 lages where the streets Avere cut out of the deep snow, which 
 had drifted over the roofs of the houses. These Russian villages 
 consist altogether of log houses, generally not more than one 
 story high. As the heavy frosts throw the buildings out of pos i- \ 
 tion, the older ones are often so inclined to one side that it is 
 often no easy task to cross a room where the smooth and greasy 
 floor is sometimes at an angle of from fifteen to twentyrfive de- 
 grees with the hor izon. In the waiting-room of the post-houses 
 the walls are generally decorated with one or two coarse prints, 
 either of a religious character or representing the exploits of 
 Yermak ; one corner always contains a picture of some saint, 
 gilded in the Byzantine style. In the inscription under one pic- 
 ture of the twelve apostles, the artist had made a slight mistake, 
 by placing the two before the one, thus making it read " The 21 
 Apostles." A lamp always hangs before these shrines, and no 
 Russian e'^r enters the room without immediately facing them 
 and making three times the sign of the cross. 
 
 It would be' difficult to find a country in which the people are 
 more superstitious than in Russia. JSI o Russian maiden will be 
 left alone withTier lover in a room where there is a picture of a 
 saint; to meet a priest on leaving a house, is an omen of evil, 
 which can be charmed away only by throwing a pin at him, if 
 you are a woman, or by spitting on his beard, if you are a man. 
 The aversion (which we find in other countries) to beginning 
 any ent erprise on Friday, and to making th e thirteenth perso n 
 at tabic , here assumes an importance unknown el sewher e, and a 
 27 
 
418 A0B03S AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxviii. 
 
 Russi an will instantly leave a room where three lights happen to 
 be on one table. 
 
 At Tiiimen 1 remained over one day. Unfortunately the great 
 fair; which is held here every year in January, was now finished, 
 and the visitors which I had hoped to see from many parts of 
 Asia, had departed. The only consolation I obtained for this 
 loss was a dish of sterlet, a species of sturgeon peculiar to the 
 rivers of western Siberia and to the tributaries of the Caspian. 
 It is certainly the most delicious of all fishes , and is perhaps 
 the greatest delicacy in the markets of St. Petersburg. 
 
 Not long after leaving Tiumen the road entered upon the gen- 
 tle ascent of the eastern flanls of the Ural mountains. This range 
 is so low, and its approach, especially from the east, so easy, that 
 I reached Ekaterinburg without appreciating the fact that I was 
 near the summit of one of the most celebrated mountain ranges 
 of the world. 
 
 At Ekaterinburg I presented letters of introduction to Colonel 
 Lenartzen, the director of the mint. A cordial reception ex- 
 tended to me by this gentleman induced me to remain for several 
 days, in order to make some interesting excursions in the neigh- 
 borhood. . The first day was passed in visiting the mint, where 
 only coj^per is coined, and afterward in the stone-cutting estab- 
 lishments belonging to Government and to private individuals. 
 In the imperial establishment are made the gi'eater part of those 
 vases, tables, and columns of malachite, jasper, aventurine quartz, 
 and porphyry, which adorn the palaces of Europe. In the pri- 
 vate workshops smaller objects of ornament are made from the 
 many beautiful minerals of Asia ; the chief of these are malachite, 
 rhodonite, lapis-lazuli, aqua-marine, topaz, and quartz in all its 
 forms, of agate, chalcedony, jasper, bloodstone, amethyst, and clear 
 and smoky rock crystal. 
 
 , On the second day, in company with Colonel Lenartzen, I drove 
 out to the nearest gold-washings, about nine wersts from Ekater- 
 inburg. The country is so slightly undulating as to be almost a 
 plain. The placers are in the small swampy depressions occupied 
 by rivulets. Here, under a covering of about ten feet of sand 
 capped with peat, there lies a bed about two feet thick of auri- 
 ferous sand, which is very clayey, and contains large quantities 
 of fragments of chloritic and greenstone schists, quartz, diorite. 
 
CHAP, xxvni.] SIBERIA. 419 
 
 etc. This material, after being thawed (in winter), is throwr 
 upon a large circular iron plate, called chashha, perforated with 
 holes one-half inch in diameter, where, in order to clear the gravel 
 ind fragments from the auriferous clay and sand, it is submitted 
 to the attrition of heavy iron rakes, moved by a vertical shaft, 
 which rises through the centre of the perforated table. On this 
 table, which had rather more than ten feet diameter, about two 
 thousand puds are worked in ten hours. 
 
 This preparatory process, which has for its object merely the 
 separation of coarse gravel and rubble from the pay-dirt, is per- 
 formed, where this is comparatively free from clay, in revolving 
 perforated cylinders or botchka. From both machines the sand, 
 with its gold, after passing through the holes, is brought upon a 
 kind of graduated inclined plane, something like a German liegeder- 
 herd, consisting of a series of short inclined terraces of boards, 
 upon which the finer gravel and sand, after falling from the pre- 
 vious machine, is manipulated with scrapers for the purpose of 
 concentrating the gold. The success of this second process de- 
 pends entirely upon the skill of the workmen, whose duty it is to 
 keep the mass from accumulating, and the clay from settling into 
 a stiff bed, over which the gold would escape ; for this purpose 
 he uses a broad wooden hoe and a spade. The greater part of 
 the gold remains on the upper terrace. The sediment remain- 
 ing upon the different terraces is removed three times a day to a 
 small liegeder-herd (the same that is used for trials), and is here 
 Avashed to its final separation. The yield for the day was about 
 one solothnik of gold per 100 puds of the pay-dirt. 
 
 At the placers of Biriasowsk, near Ekaterinburg, the average 
 yield is 23 dolias per 100 puds, an amount which pays when the 
 auriferous deposit is not more than three feet and a half below 
 the surface. 
 
 A chashha twelve feet in diameter is said to be capable of 
 working about 7,000 puds in eleven hours. In the Ural they are 
 preferred to the revolving cylinders, because they require much 
 less power to turn them. The latter machine is used chiefly in 
 eastern Siberia, where its capacity is estimated at 20,000 puds 
 of sandy earth daily. The tailings are not allowed to contain 
 more than 12 dolias to the 100 puds. 
 
 I have inserted in the Appendix a table showing the statistics 
 
420 ACROSS AMEBIC A> AND ASIA. [chap. xxvm. 
 
 of production in tbe private gold washings during twenty years 
 in Trans-Baikalia. From these returns it will aj)pear that the 
 total product of the district from 1843 to 1863 was about 905 
 puds of gold dust, which (considering that experience has 
 shown this to have a fineness of .885, and that the value of pure 
 gold is rectoned at 13,500 roubles per pud) would give 10,812,- 
 487 roubles. On this amount the royalty exacted by Government 
 was 1,213,444 roubles, besides a further tax of 233,052 roubles. 
 The average yield for the whole period was 85 dolias per 100 
 puds, or .00002577. In all there were employed 33,347 meii, 
 which, if the returns are correct, would give only 324 roubles j)er 
 man. The probability is that the amount returned is considerably 
 below the product. The very large royalty exacted by Govern- 
 ment upon the gross product is a serious obstacle to the develop- 
 ment of the Siberian gold fields, as it renders it impossible to 
 work deposits which will not pay at least 20 per cent, more 
 than the cost of production, in order to cover Government 
 demands and interest on capital. And the number of placers 
 which would pay without these taxes must be many times greater 
 than of those which can bear them. 
 
 Certainly immense areas of auriferous sand, which would other- 
 wise be workable with a large profit, are practically shut out from 
 development, keeping withdrawn from circulation large amounts 
 of gold which can be illy spared in the present condition of Rus- 
 sian finances. 
 
 During the year 1864 Colonel Buthets produced at his placer, 
 cast of Kiachta, seven puds of gold, worth 84,000 roubles, at a 
 cost of 51,000 roubles, leaving a net gain of 31,000 roubles. On 
 this the Government royalty and tax amounted to 9,000 roubles, 
 being nearly eleven per cent, upon the gross product, and nearly 
 thirty upon the net. 
 
 On the third day of my stay at Ekaterinburg I started on an 
 excursion to the iron and copper works of Nijni Tagilsk, north of 
 Ekat'eirinburg, on the eastern flank of the Ural mountains. Here 
 are the extensive mines and smelting works belonging to the 
 Demidoflf family. The iron ore is obtained from an immense 
 mass of magnetite, surrounded by greenstone. Contaiumg very 
 generally a small amount of ii-on pyrites, it has in places copper 
 ores, principally malachite and red oxide, to an extent which ren- 
 
CHAP. XXVIII.] LIBERIA. 421 
 
 ders tliem useful only as a flux for the siliceous copper ores. The 
 average yield of this ore is about 53 per cent, of iron. 
 
 The copper mine is near the iron mountain, and being in lime- 
 stone, near the contact between this and the greenstone is per- 
 haps a contact deposit. The outcrop contains much magnetic 
 iron associated with the different copper ores, which is a very 
 general phenomenon in copper deposits at the contact between lime- 
 stone and hornblendic rocks. The ores are here mostly oxidized, 
 though containing some sulphurets, and occur in a siliceous 
 gangue. The average yield is 2.72 per cent, of copper. This 
 mine has furnished the greater part of the malachite for which 
 the Ural mountains have long been famous. 
 
 Through the courtesy of Mr. Nietki I was shown through the 
 works, and had an opportunity of seeing the process of manufac- 
 ture of the celebrated Russian sheet-iron, which has, I believe, 
 never been described. 
 
 The magnetic ore is roasted at the mine, in heaps of 10,000 or 
 15,000 tons, to remove the little sulphur it contains. It is then 
 smelted in charcoal blast furnaces. After being puddled, the 
 iron is rolled into plates about 2^ feet long, 5 inches wide, and ^ 
 inch thick. These, after being heated in a furnace with a very 
 reducing flame, are quickly brushed, to remove any foreign sub- 
 stance that may have fallen upon them, and are then passed be- 
 tween rolls, the upper one of which is unconnected with the 
 lower, rolling only by friction. By the time the sheet is cooled 
 it is about fifteen inches wide. Pa,ckages of three sheets are now 
 laid in the furnace, and then rolled again, after the upper sheet 
 has been brushed, and charcoal powder thrown between them to 
 prevent adhesion. If thin iron is desired, the sheets are subjected 
 to a thii-d heating, in packages of four or six, and re-rolled, after 
 which they are trimmed to the proper dimensions. They are 
 now sent to the forge, where they are heated and hammered 
 three times, in packages of from sixty to eighty. After the. first 
 hammering each sheet is swabbed with a wet mop to harden 
 the surface ; it is said that tar is sometimes used for this purpose. 
 
 Two packages, one hot and one cold, are now mixed in alter- 
 nate sheets, to produce the greenish color in cooling, ahd the 
 mixed package is then passed backward and forward under a 
 large hammer, and after this is again mixed and re-hammered. 
 
422 ACROSS AMEBIGA AJW ASIA. [chap. xxTtii. 
 
 The superiority of the Russian product is due in great part to 
 the cleanliness of the work, and to the carefulness. and skill of the 
 workmen. Every sheet that is at all spotted is thrown into the 
 second or third class, and the diflPerence in value between .these 
 and the first quality is deducted from the pay of the workmen. 
 The clippings of the sheets are worked up into fine iron, and loss 
 of material by the whole process is reduced to from 12 to 15 per 
 cent. 
 
 The fire-proof bricks used in heating-furnaces are made from a 
 fine quartz sand, which is merely sprinkled with lime-water before 
 being moulded and burned, a method of making fire-bricks which 
 might be very useful in many cases to our own raetalurgists. 
 
 Formerly the large population employed at the Demidoff and 
 adjoining works was in a condition of serfdom. Only a short 
 time had passed since they had been emancipated, and yet the 
 superintendent informed me that the labor had already improsfid 
 at least 30 per cent. / H / - T».^>.c^~<^i^''^^ j 'v^c^. i^Mi,^ 
 
 Formerly the proprietors were obliged by law to maintain the 
 old and infirm, indeed to support all the unproductive part of 
 the population ; but now, this duty having devolved upon the 
 freedmen, it forms an incentive to habits of sobriety and economy. 
 
 On leaving Ekaterinburg I took in as fellow-passenger a Rus- 
 sian, who was going to Nijni Novgorod. Almost imperceptibly 
 we reached the summit of the Ural mountains, a fact which I 
 should not have known had not my companion called attention 
 to a small monument which marked the boundary between Asia 
 and Europe. The descent on the western side of the range is 
 much more perceptible than that toward Asia, and presents a 
 great number of fine views over the valleys of the small streams 
 which flow toward the Volga. 
 
 My companion was a true Russian. Every time that we passed 
 a church or a cross, even though in the midst of conversation, he 
 would suddenly stop and repeat a short prayer, while he crossed 
 himself three times. The fear of missing an opportunity to per- 
 form this ceremony kept him constantly employed in spying out 
 the church towers and steeples of towns we wefe passing through, 
 or of villages lying ofi" the road. 
 
 Every time we met a group of exilies he Would stop the driver, 
 and, a:fter distributing here and there a few kopeks, he repeated 
 
CHAP, xxrriiij ^IBERIA. 423 
 
 the same ceremony. I did not learn whether this was his 
 habit through life ; if it was, he must often have been like the 
 English statesman, who, falling into the habit of touching every 
 post he passed, often imagined that he had missed one, and was 
 then sure to be an unhappy man till he had returned and 
 touched it. 
 
 During the whole journey from Irkutsk I had passed at inter- 
 vals groups of exiles, but near the boundary of Siberia they were 
 both more frequent and numerous. Made up of representatives 
 of every class of society, from prince to peasant, these unhappy 
 people dragged slowly forward on the long journey to the land 
 of their impiisonment. A number of them were gathered around 
 the monument which marks the line between Asia and Europe. 
 
 The joy which I felt on seeing this sign of a rapid approach to 
 familiar places, and home, was almost taken away by the thought 
 of the widely-different feelings with which these exiles must re- 
 gard what was to them an emblem of separation from the world 
 and all that is dear. I afterward learned that an intimate friend, 
 one of my fellow-students, having been implicated in the Polish 
 rebellion, had been exiled to Siberia, and there is every probabil- 
 ity that we passed each other on the road. 
 
 We were now traversing a country in which the population 
 grew denser, and the cities and towns more frequent, with every 
 day's journey westward till we reached Kazan, in the valley of the 
 Volga. I would willingly have stayed some time in this ancient 
 capital of the Mongol empire in the west ; its inhabitants are for 
 the most part descendants of the Mohammedan subjects of the 
 Khans, who still adhere strictly to their ancient faith, and rank as 
 the best elements of the population. 
 
 A joui-ney of less than two days from Kazan brought me to 
 Nijni IN'ovgorod, the eastern terminus of the Russian railroads. 
 
 Exclusive of stoppages at Ekaterinburg and Tiumen, I had 
 made the journey from Irkutsk to this point in twenty-two days 
 and a half; or, excluding the delays in changing horses and eating, 
 Xhad travelled 3,112 miles in 352 hours, being an average rate 
 of 8.8 miles per hour. The same journey is often made by officers 
 travelling as couriers in fifteen days. 
 
 I had just time to make arrangements to take the train, and in 
 half an hour after my arrival I was being whirled rapidly toward 
 
424 ACBOSS AMEBIOA ^ND ASIA. [chap, xxvni. 
 
 Moscow. Thence I -went by railroad to St. Petersburg and Paris, 
 and through England, and by steamer to New York ; thus finish- 
 ing an eventful journey of five years' duration, around the world 
 in the northern teniperate zone. In this journey nearly 17,000 
 miles of my wanderings Avere by land, 6,000 of these being accom- 
 plished on horseback. 
 
 Although the journey described in tlie foregoing narrative was 
 confined to the northern temperate zone, during it very nearly the 
 greatest possible extremes of climate were met with. . On the 
 deserts of the Gulf of California the thermometer ranged for 
 weeks as high as 120 and 126 degrees (F.) in the shade, and 
 nearly 160 degrees in the sun ; while in Siberia it fell to 70 degrees 
 below zero — extremes differing by 230 degrees. The maximum 
 occurred in America in Lat. 32 degrees N., and the minimum in 
 Asia 63 degrees IST., or at points differing only 21 degrees of lati- 
 tude. ~^ 
 - In this narrative of a comprehensive journey I have endeav- 
 ored to convey to the reader a general idea of the leading char- 
 acteristics of countries and peoples which are but little known 
 to us, but with whom the match of events shows we are rapidly 
 coming into a more and'more intimate contact. 
 
 If we look at a map of the world with reference to the inevit able 
 future of the northern temperate zone, we shall find its greatest 
 cultivable areas divided between two great sectiSHS'^'TmSnkind, 
 the Anglo-Saxon an d the Sclavonic. And these also are the 
 areas which admit of a sure inci-ease of population to a point 
 compared with which the present numbers are almost as nothing. 
 
 An eminent English geographer has calculated that, consider- 
 ing the l-ate''o^rTncrease~irf fKe United States, the area of culti- 
 vable land in the two Americas, and the capacity of that area for 
 supporting life, it is possible that within a little more than three 
 centuries the poj)ulation of North and South America will be be- 
 tween tw^_andjhree_thausa^ 
 
 And in view of the relative rate s of increase and absorption 
 now ruling among the different races on these continents","lt is_ 
 probable that at some future p eriod its f)opulation. will be in so 
 far homogeneous that it will speak one language, and have one 
 foi'm'oi' government^ f "^'^ 
 
 A similar calculation applied to the eastern continent would 
 
OHAP. xxvm.] SIBERIA. 425 
 
 point to a not less, wonderful expansio n of the S claYonio race, 
 from the Baltic sea to the Pacific ocean. L eaving out of con- 
 sideration allthe'rest of its territory, Europea rTEussia possesse's7 
 ^south of the latitude of Moscow, a, i^ion of Th e^most fertil e 
 ' agricultural land, whose extent and productiveness are so great 
 that It Is not too much to say that it is capable of supporting a 
 pop ulation four times as large as that of China. Until recently 
 -the tendency of the political and social organization of Russia 
 has been to prevent a rapid increase of population; hut the 
 recent political reform, and the growing network of railroad 
 and steamboat communication, are infusing a new life in the 
 empire, and there is no reason to doubt that facilities for expan- 
 sion will be followed there, as elsewhere, by a growth in the ratio 
 of increase of population. It will be strange if, within the next ten 
 or twenty years, Russia, which is by nature the granary of Europe, 
 does not come into a competition with our western States, which, 
 perhaps, not even the utmost exertion on our part will enable us 
 to hold out against. /'-"--- ' - u, - ^ - . ^ . , 
 
 When we consider the immense extent of this empire, and its 
 / capacityforp6pulatioh,~wealth, and power, and then co mpare with 
 'it the~SBiaH: extent of western "Eiirope, split up into small nation- 
 a lities, with an overflowing population dependent on the ea st 
 "a ndwesTfor its supply of food, the belief of the Pan-slavist seems 
 " afinost prophetic ; Russia, more than America, " hangs like a 
 th uii der croud" over its western neighbors. 
 
 'i"he expansion from the west and from the east to the opposite 
 fshores of the Pacific of two races and a civilization hitherto 
 intimately connected with the Atlantic coasts, is already marking 
 out for the Great ocean a most important part in the early future. 
 Into this future history another element seems dest ined to enter ; 
 Jjnean the part that will be taken by the Chinese and Japan^eJ 
 peoples . 
 
 The imm ense resources of China in coal and iron and other 
 minerals, in labor and the means of supporting life, and in the 
 conform ation of its surface, are elem ents wfiicK' in the present 
 and^oming age cannot be idle . The utilizing of~theSe resources 
 cannot fail to be followed by the same results there as elsewhere, 
 raising the nation by which they are developed to a position of 
 autEpnty in the"w6rl3!^sTffilrs'. There seems to me to be little 
 
426 AGBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [chap, xxvm 
 
 doubt that this result will be accomplished by the Chinese peo- 
 ple. In every direction we see in this race evidences of that 
 vitality which has made of them a great nation, and which has 
 kept them erect through all the vicissitudes of the rest of the 
 world through long ages, which have witnessed the destruction 
 and scattering of races and the rise and fall of great empires. 
 This vitality is becoming apparant in a new and equally import- 
 ant direction : th e Chinese are showing themselv es to be essen- 
 tiall y fitted to be colonizers, and as such they seem already t o 
 be resolYJng a grea-t geographical problem.. They are showing 
 themselves capable of peopling and making useful to the wo rld 
 th"e" vast extent of the peninsular and island territory of Further 
 India and Australasia. Here they exhibit the same energy as at 
 home, and that too in clim ates where neither the native Malay 
 inhabitants will, nor the European labbrer can. endure fatigue. 
 Throughout these regions, wherever they optein a foothold, they 
 absorb both the trade and the indus try which supports^ it. 
 
 In a lar ge English machine-shop at Singapo,r^j-the owners hav e 
 subs tituted entirely Chinese for English workmen, finding the for- 
 mer more sober ai]j_enjjiring. and after instructioiT even better 
 mechanics. In this same English col ony, ChiJaeseTapTtafists are 
 sa idL . to^ve driverf the ir EuTo^ean _riYairalmost or quite out ot 
 the fiel d. In the Sandwich Islands, of six sugar plantations ex- 
 pected to produce, in 1865, 20,000 tons of sugar, two were owned 
 by Chinese ca pitalists an d workedbyChinese labor. In our 
 own western territories, where they"aretoatect worse'than dogs, 
 this race is obtaining a foothold, and is destined to assume a 
 political im portance pregnant with great good or great evil . 
 The introduction of this labor upon the Pacific railroad is certain 
 togiv^ he Chinam an the sa me incentive to emigrate from h is 
 over-crowded country as that which impels the across 
 
 the Atlantic. 
 
 Excepting our ignorance as to the results of amalgamation be- 
 tween the European and the Mongolian races, and the danger of 
 the formation of caste if such a mixture does not take place, I see 
 no reason why such an immigration should be followed by other 
 than the most desirable consequences. Ther e are many parts of 
 Cent ral and South A merica better adapted to a"t 3 Linese popula- 
 tion than to any other. And the same remark might apply to 
 
CHAP, xxviii.] SIBERIA. 427 
 
 the far north, for they show the same energy i n the extreme cold 
 on the Siberian front ier. The day of the first meeting of a 
 through train o n the Pacific raih' oad with the Chinese- American 
 steamers was the beginning of a ne w era m the history of the 
 Pacific w orld. This line across the continent and across the ocean 
 is surely but the beginning of a great network, which on the new 
 jiBaps or^e very decade will measure the growing enterprise of our 
 {own c ontinent, of the Pacific, and of eastern and northern A sia. 
 Thus there is being completed a grand cycle in the history of 
 civilization. The compass, printing, gunpowder, the use of coal, 
 a nd a vague knowledge of some subtle fluid in the air and earth — 
 all these had their origin among a people on the western shores 
 of the Pacific. Long applied in the land of their birth, in their 
 simplest forms, to their simplest uses, these instruments of civil- 
 ization have travelled westward around the globe during 600 
 years, becoming perfected, and building up sciences and arts which 
 give command over time and space, over force and matter, until 
 now the only step that remains to complete the circle and the 
 cycle is their engraftment on the stock from which they sprung. 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 Extract rnoM Report op Consui, Harvet, op Ningpo, to Sm F. Bruce, os 
 THE Kbbellion. 1862. 
 
 Thkeb months have elapsed since Ningpo fell into the hands of the 
 insurgents ; and from the hour of its capture to the moment when I am 
 penning these lines, not one single step in the direction of a "good govern- 
 ment " has been taken by the Taipings— not any attempt made to organize 
 a political body or commercial institutions — not a vestige, not a trace of 
 anything approaching to order, or regularity of action, or consistency of 
 purpose, can be found in any one of their public acts ; the words " govern- 
 mental machinery," as applied to Taiping, have no possible meaning here ; 
 and, in short, desolation is the only end obtained — as it has always been 
 wherever the sway of the marauders has had its full scope, and their power 
 the liberty of unchecked excesses. I feel that this is but a melancholy 
 result to liave to report ; and this sad account may, probably, not prove 
 satisfactory to, or be concurred in, by those whose minds have been deceived, 
 and their ardent imaginations carried away by exaggerated expectations, 
 such as " regeneration of the Empire," " redemption of China," " introduc- 
 tion of Christianity," and " salvation of the people." But to those who, 
 like myself, were not influenced by these imaginary hopes, and who judged 
 of Taipingdom in sober sense and dispassionately, the last three months 
 probation is by no means startling, the experiment having produced exactly 
 what was expected — ruin, desolation, and the annihilation of every vital 
 principle in all that surrounds the presence, or lies under the ban, of the 
 Taipings. 
 
 It is palpable that a party which, after ten years' full trial, is found to 
 produce nothing, and to destroy everything, cannot pretend to last, or be 
 admitted, even indirectly, into the comity of nations ; and that, on the con- 
 trary, it deserves to bring upon itself the well-merited opprobrium of all the 
 enlightened classes of society. 
 
 These may appear strong expressions, but it seems to me that the time 
 has at length arrived when, to speak of the Taipings, and to judge of their 
 acts, the utmost freadom of opinion and of expression should be excused by 
 public functionaries in China ; on that account, therefore, I consider I am only 
 fulfilling a duty in passing my judgment, such as it is, and whatever may 
 be its worth, upon this extraordinary movement. I repeat, I have no bias 
 
APPENDIX I.] ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. 420 
 
 one viay or the other ; and, indeed, I should state that personally I haye 
 received every mark of courtesy and proper regard from the Taiping 
 chiefs ; and, further, I have found in oflaoial dealings with them a rough 
 and blunt sort of honesty quite unexpected and surprising, after years of 
 public intercourse with the imperial mandarins. Nevertheless, the Tai- 
 pings, -with theii" frank demeanor and bluff energy, have a fume of blood 
 and a look of carnage about them, from which I, for one, recoil with horror. 
 
 With these prefatory remarks I shall now reply, as well as I am able, to 
 the^ several points mooted in your Excellency's dispatch, and respecting 
 which your Excellency is desirous of having my opinion. In doing so, I 
 would respectfully remind your Excellency that the information required 
 has been obtained with difficulty from the naturally suspicious Taipings, 
 who, amongst their peculiarities, possess a power of concealment and gene- 
 ral secresy quite wonderful to meet in China. I think, however, I may 
 well rely on the correctness of the following statement. 
 
 The first pomt has reference to the payment of the Taiping troops. The 
 insurgent soldiery do not, as an established rule, receive pay ; they live like 
 pirates on whatever they can obtain in the shape of booty, either in kind 
 or specie. If the capture of a city has produced a rich harvest of plunder, 
 the men benefit generally in the prize ; if, on the contrary, the town has 
 yielded little profit, the Taipings wait for better days with exemplary 
 patience. The neighboring districts are then (and indeed in almost all 
 instances) made to contribute to the support of the army. The country 
 about Ningpo, for example, was compelled to remit its quota of tribute in 
 the shape of rice, pigs, fowls, vegetables, and the like farm produce, to feed 
 the troops. The peasants, forced to send in these supplies, were seen by 
 me bringing provisions, etc., into the city with chains and ropes round 
 their necks in token of servitude. That the Taiping soldiers live upon 
 what they can get may be inferred clearly from the invariable answer made 
 to me a dozen times, and which, I remember, was likewise given to Mr. 
 Consul Parks in my presence. On questioning decently-dressed Taiping 
 soldiers as to how they liked their profession, the reply has ever been the 
 following: "Why should I not like it? I help myself to everything I 
 choose to lay hands upon ; and if interfered with I just cut the man's head 
 off who so interferes " — at the same time making a motion with his hand as 
 if he were sawing off a head. This being an answer often heard, and the 
 motion being a notorious one with the chiefs in the city, I submit both as 
 apt illustrations of Taiping institutions, and of their reckless contempt for 
 human life. 
 
 The Taipings possess a regular embodied force, a draft from whieli 
 forms the nucleus of the body of men sent upon any special service or 
 expedition, such nucleus being composed of old and well-tried rebels of 
 several years' standing ; anct the remaiuder of the' armed force, in each case, 
 being younger recruits, or peasants pressed into the service. The corps 
 wliicii attacked and captured Ningpo might have had one old rebel in ten 
 in ils formation, the veterans serving principally to keep in a proper state 
 
430 ACROSS AMmiGA AND ASIA. [appendix i. 
 
 of submission tbe younger volunteers or pressed men, as well as to inspire 
 courage to tliose who might recoil from their duty, such inspiration being 
 particularly Taiping in its nature. Another peculiarity of the rebels is 
 their habit of drafting from one province to another the inhabitants of 
 conquered districts — the policy of which course being self-evident, I 
 need not enlarge upon it. I should imagine that at the present hour, in 
 ■the city of Ningpo, more than twenty different dialects are spoken among 
 the rebels — dialects pertaining to distant provinces and districts — in the 
 same manner that, I suppose, the Ningpo dialect is now becoming familiar, 
 hundreds of miles from the port, to ears that were never intended or 
 expected to receive it. What prosperity can the most sanguine expect 
 under such rule, when the men of the soil are driven into exile and misery, 
 leaving behind them their houses in ruins, and their wretched families to 
 die of starvation? 
 
 It is notorious that their forces are swelled considerably by all the bad 
 characters of the districts they pass through, and who, being under no 
 possible moral control (except so far as military obedience and a pseudo 
 discipline are concerned), commit every excess known, and, let me add, 
 almost iTuknovu to the human mind. These are delicate matters to allude 
 to ill a public dispatch, but my meaning will be sufficiently clear, when I state 
 that the conduct of some of these monsters to women and young girls is such 
 that no pen, however guarded, could convey an idea. Jn regard, therefore, 
 to your Excellency's query as to their behavior to the young women who 
 fall into their hands, I have too good cause to know that it is horrible 
 beyond belief- or descripli(m. Your ■ Excellency is doubtless aware that 
 marriage is strictly forbidden amongst the Taipings, ,and forms, with 
 opium-smoking, a capital offence; and if .the latter habit, or vice is oi"ten 
 winked at, it would be next to impossible for an ordinary rebel to live with 
 a wife or a concubine. The- standing .orders are, that marriage will only 
 be allowed when -the empire has been conquered; until which .time the 
 penalty for marrying or cohabiting with a woman is death. As a com- 
 pensation, however, and, I presume, as a reward for valor, it appears that 
 in captured towns and cities, where the population have not had time to 
 resort to flight, three whole days are given to the Taiping soldiers to do 
 whatever they please — to commit any excess, and to perpetrate -ev^ry 
 abomination under the sun; after which, not a single woman is permitted 
 to remain in the city. I think these statements will suffice,- and I need 
 proceed no further upon this distressing topic. 
 
 Their great aim — I should say their chief condition of success — is .to 
 strike terror :- first 'by numbers, and secondly by the tawdry harlequin garb 
 worn by them, and which (however incredible it may seem) has such, a 
 strange effect on the minds of all classes of people in this country. ,.Tonr 
 Excellency will perceive in this unaccountable effect another instance oi 
 the perversion of thought, and of -the opposite mode of analyzing, and ac- 
 counting for causes and effects ruling with the Chinese race iu contra- 
 distinction to Europeans. With us the burlesque costume, -and other 
 
APPESDix I.] ACItOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. 43X 
 
 ridiculous devicss of the Taipings, would only tend to raise a smile ; but 
 I firmly believe that this dress, per se, baa'aa effect the very reverse on the 
 ignorant and somewhat primitive inhabitants of this country, and is half 
 the battle with 'the rebels, as they well know.' Their long, shaggy, black 
 hair again adds to the wikbicss of their look; and when this fantastical 
 appearance is accompaniajl by a certain show of fiiry and madness, it is 
 really little to be wondered at, if the mild Chmcse, constituted as we know 
 them to be, either take to flight or submit tamely. 
 
 Able-bodied men, as stated above, are compelled to serve in their ranks, 
 whatever may have been their previous calling in life ; for after the loss of 
 their properly some of them have no option left but to fight or to starve. 
 Soinetimes, also, respectable denizens are under the absolute necessity of 
 joining the Taiping flag, solely because they find that in conquered dis- 
 tricts such a compromise is unavoidable, in order to save renmaints of prop- 
 erty, and very frequently to place their necks out of jeopardy. It is simply, 
 in all instances, a forced subjection. I do not myself believe that the in- 
 surgents have had the voluntary allegiance of half-a-dozen respectable 
 Chinese since they first appeared at Kanking in 1853. I will even go 
 further, and express my conviction that not one single respectable (Jhiba- 
 man has ever gone over to the Taipings of his own. free will and accord. 
 How could this be possible? The respectable Chinese are an orderly, 
 shrewd race of men, and they must feel, and are convinced, that property, 
 confidence, and a good name can never follow in the footsteps of brigand- 
 age, however extensive the scale upon which it may be carried on. 
 
 The military tactics of the Taipings are of the simplest, and the most 
 primitive in their action ; indeed, I doubt whether the word " tactics " can in 
 any way be applied to their uniforai mode of warfme. Kumbers, as I have 
 already remarked, is the first consideration with them ; and these they 
 pour into anygiven place, or upon any spot selected as a prize. Before the 
 main -bodies appear, however, spies and emissaries are sent secretly to feel 
 the way, and to spread false reports; and in the midst uf the panic and 
 alarm-caused by these reports and intrigues, the spies set fire, if they are 
 able,-to detached buildings, and often to entire streets, in and- out of the 
 city. Should these emissaries be seized and beheaded by the mandarins, 
 others are deputed by the rebels to take their place without delay, when 
 ■similar manoeuvres are again commenced, until cither the mandarins or the 
 eity ijopulation take to flight, or, as in the case of Ningpo, such thorough 
 demoralization is created that the place falls an easy prey to the insurgents. 
 •Meanwhile, run-away villagers have not failed to rush in, breathless, with 
 exan'gerftted reports of the numbers and doings of the Taiping forces seen 
 by them. In the confusion, afew rebels appear in the distance, their gaudy 
 multi-colored dress having its usual strange effect, and their melancholy 
 shouts and yells striking terror in the hearts of the timid Chinese. If, then, 
 the game has been so far successfully played out, and the coast appears 
 pretty clear, very little remains to be done ; hundreds and thousands of 
 insurgents rush wildly on to the goal; armed with knives, spears, and 
 
432 ACROSS AiTEIilCA AND ASIA. [appexd:x ii. 
 
 fowlins-pic-ces, carrying, of course, everything before llicm. It is then, 
 and then only, that the chiefs, or leaders, or princes, appear for the first 
 time ; for these are seldom or never heard of, nor is their immediate action 
 seej),' until the highroad has been opened by the skirmishers— called in 
 Shaiighae marauders. The late events at that port show, I think, the 
 coircclncss of the above account. In the repeated attacks upon Bhanghae, 
 the supposed marauders were, in accordance with the universal usage of 
 the Taipings, thro-wn in detachments in advance, burning villages, and 
 creating panic, the chiefs, of course, remaining behind, watching the result 
 of the game, which then, I am happy to say, turned out, as we know, to 
 have been a losing one, thanks to Sir James Hope and our volunteers. I 
 think the Shanghae lesson will have a salutary effect on the Taipings, for 
 they are in painful dread of hard blows, notwilhstanding their spiritual 
 origin and pretensions. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 Religious Beaeinq oi' the Eeeellion. Br Eev. W. MfiunEAD. 
 
 ILvviNa lately resided at Nanking for a month, in the prosecution of my 
 missionary work, and mingled with all classes of the insurgents, the follow- 
 ing is a record of my impressions as to the religious bearing of the move- 
 ment. The whole oast of it is determined by the character and influence of 
 the Chief, who is, therefore, the first object of attention. 
 
 The Chief. — His usual name is the Heavenly Prince. He is about fifty 
 years of age, and resides in a palace within the city, which is commonly 
 designated the Heavenly Court. He is never seen beyond its walls. The 
 ]jalace has been built during the last three years, and is still far from being 
 finished. It is divided into two main courts ; in the outer of which there are 
 a large number of male attendants, none of whom, however, are admitted 
 inside. Within this latter circle only females are allowed, who perform 
 every kind of manual labor. The Prince is said to have about thirty wives, 
 and at least double that number of concubines, to whom accessions are made 
 from year lo year. Over the whole his aged mother presides, while his son, 
 who is now thirteen years of age, has been taken, as a matter of policy, into 
 ■equal sovereignty with himself. Previous to the Prince's arrival at Nan- 
 king, he was on free and intimate terms with many of his immediate adher- 
 ents ; but since that time he has assumed imperial dignity with a high hand, 
 and treats even the next to him in authority in a formal and distant manner. 
 Notvrithstandiug his seclusion, he is the head and soul of the movement. All 
 fear hiiB, and feel that he is indispensable to its continuance and success. 
 Though much is left to the conduct of his subordinates, the whole takes its 
 inspiration and direction from him. He holds levees of the kings and chief 
 
ArrEOTix II.] ACIiOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. 433 
 
 men at stated times ; but it is only Kau-Waug, bis cousin and Primo Minister, 
 ■who can go freely into bis presence. Of tbe business done at tbe public levees, 
 religious worsbip is a large element, wbicb consists in kneeling and chant- 
 ing several doxologies to God, combined with tbe Imperial anthem to 
 himself and bis son, who is always seated at bis side. The former were com- 
 posed by different foreign missionaries, with a few alterations ; and the latter 
 is an ascription of long life, equivalent to the phrase " May the Heavenly 
 Prince live for ever ! " At times also tbe Prince delivers to them a set discourse 
 of a purely religious nature, exhorting them to piety toward God, faith in 
 Christ, union with each other, and diligence in propagating the gospel. Tbe 
 different kings are at liberty to speak to bim on these occasions only through 
 his Prime jMinister, and the conversation is generally carried on in bis native 
 dialect, which obtains in a small district of Canton. The profession and 
 apparent belief of the Prince is that be is the veritable second son of God, in 
 common with Christ, and in conti'a-distinction to other men. Christ, in bis 
 estimation, is not possessed of Divine nature, but was commissioned, like 
 himself, to accomplish a certain object ; and looking at Christ only in this 
 point of view, he claims fraternal personal relationship to him. There is, 
 according to his creed, a true Heavenly Father and Mother, a veritable 
 Heavenly Brother (Christ) and Sister, with all of whom he individually 
 sustains a peculiar family connection, and into that circle bis own son has 
 been received in the same absolute and entire sense. This, with many 
 other things, be says he has ascertained by special Divine revelation, with 
 which at various times be has been largely favored. That it is really so is 
 maintained by many zealous adherents, while it is questioned and denied by 
 others, though not in an open and public manner. Tbe Prince announces 
 that he has been appointed to institute a new Heavenly Kingdom, in which 
 idolatry and the Mancbus are alike to be destroyed, and the worsbip of the 
 Heavenly Father and Christ to be observed. His position and that of his 
 son in tbe matter is, tliathavingan immediate divine commission entrusted 
 to them, they are to be honored and obeyed accordingly. In the proclama- 
 tions that are used, tbe authority of the Heavenly Father and Heavenly 
 Brother is always prominently introduced, as forming the rule of action in 
 whatever relates to the order of the court, or to tbe operations that are be- 
 ino- carried on. Sometimes Scripture is referred to in these by direct quo- 
 tation, and it is held to be no violation of its teachings, when the visions of 
 dreams said to have been accorded to tbe Chief, bis son, and several of his 
 former kings, are brought forward as of equal importance in any matter. 
 
 With regard to bis personal appearance, he is described as being of a large 
 stature, with a flowing black beard, and having bright, intelligent, and pre- 
 possessing features. However absurd many of bis doings and sayings 
 seem to be, so as even to suggest the idea of his partial insanity, he im- 
 presses those acquainted with bim with a sense of surpassing ability, pene- 
 trating in his ideas of men and things, and mentally as well as physically 
 persuading every one of his right and title to the place he occupies. His 
 professed, and witliout doubt, real object, is to introduce a state of things 
 28 
 
434 ACROSS AMERIGA- AND ASIA. [appendix ir. 
 
 very diiferent from -what lias hitlierto obtained in- China. Being thoronglily 
 opposed to all idolatrous systems and practices, he suppresses the whole 
 wheresoever his influence extends. Buddhism and' Taouism obtain no 
 place in his creed or in his favor. Confucianism, as' now taught, is discour- 
 aged and held in abeyance. He has undertaken, persohallj', to revise the 
 Confucian classics, and to erase alike from the text and commentary what- 
 ever is opposed to his views. 
 
 Other supervisions of long established customs are in progress, but they 
 ■Want a sufficient field to carry them out, and time to attend to them, from 
 the pressure of public business. 
 
 As to' the kind of Christianity lie proposes to introduce, and his manner of 
 doing it, the Bible will form the basis of instruction ; his own religious lit- 
 eratui-e, at present comprising thirty or forty volumes, being also taught as 
 the necessary exponent and complement of the sacred volume. Literary 
 examinations are held during the year at Nanking, attended by about two 
 hundred students. These are trained in the above volumes, and write essays 
 on themes connected with or taken from Scripture. According to tlie'ir 
 apparent proficiency in Bible knowledge is their position, both in a civil 
 and military point of view, determined. 
 
 The essays that have been published betray the erratic influence of the 
 Prince's dreams and visions far more than the result of Bible study. Though 
 they cont-ain much that is good and true, a large part is, like the volumes in 
 question, a tissue of falsehood, designed to promote the Chiefs own selfish 
 bbject, and deserving the severest reprobation. 
 
 I asked the Prime Minister, on seeing these things, if he believed them. 
 He replied that he did not ; but though the book was issued under his name, 
 he was obliged to let it pass, as it was the determination of the Prince to do 
 so. These things, indeed, are only the transcript of the Prince's sentiments 
 bearing upon his Heavenly pretensions and' the elevation of the eastern 
 king to heaven, who was murdered by his "orders in cold blood. Those who 
 write such essa3'-s have told me that they are no expression of their own 
 private belief, but they are the mere echo of what they have read In the 
 authorized ritual of the dynasty. The successful essayists thus elevated'to 
 office are to be called upon to instruct those around them, and so, from the 
 highest to the lowest, an influence is to go forth for the enlightenment or 
 renovation of the mass. 
 
 Foreign missionaries are not wanted to do the work of evangelists ' or 
 pastors: first, because the Chinese are too proud to be taughtby foreigners, 
 and it is supposed they are self-sufficient to do it ; again, because mission- 
 aries are too divided in their opinions and conduct in relation to each other, 
 and also their presence would interffere with the Prince's 'way of christian- 
 izing his people, which, the Premier assured me, Hvas a primary idea with 
 him. As to the desolation and destractio'n attendant Upon the movement, 
 it is alleged that they are by no means an essential element of it ; only pos- 
 itive orders are given out as received by the Heavenly Prince to extermin- 
 ate the powers that be, and therefore all who submit to tliese and oppose 
 
APPENDIX u.] ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. 435 
 
 him come ia for their share of the punishment. At the same time they 
 aver that much of the evil that talces place is not committed by them, bul 
 by local bands ever ready for mischief. 
 
 The Kings. — There are ten of these at present, and the number may be 
 increased at pleasure. They are all Canton orKwang-si men, and consist 
 of those who have long been connected ■with the movement, who have 
 become distinguished in the course of it, and who may be relied on for the 
 future. They are described as " brethren of the same womb " in relation 
 to each other, in contra-distinction to their chiefs, who are thus one with 
 Christ, and to the people at large, who are so among themselves. Their 
 appointment comes from the Prince, and their principal work is the active 
 conduct of the war. They have each a large number of officers and men 
 under them, whom thej' augment by impressing country people when out 
 in the field. They proceed on service by direction of the Prince, with 
 whom, through the Prime Minister, they maintain constant correspondence, 
 and contribute to his support from the spoil they have taken in fight. 
 They are just so many generals under him as the head, and their duties 
 and responsibilities are of a corresponding kind. They have not distinct 
 provinces assigned to them to subdue and govern, but, while aggrandizing 
 themselves, are severally and unitedly promoting the imperial interests of 
 their Heavenly Prince. Whether at home or in the field, the religious 
 department is alike attended to by these kings ; they each take their pari in 
 observing the prescribed ritual with the humblest around them ; it consists 
 in "saying grace" at meals, and in chanting the doxologies on Friday 
 night, which forms the commencement of their Sabbath — not that these are 
 scrupulously performed, though enjoined ia the regulations of the service' ; 
 but the matter is attended to so often as to be a well-known thing, through 
 their means, equally at home and in the camp. On conversing with several 
 of the kings on the point, they are always forward in Identifying themselves 
 with us. They claim to be Christians in common with ourselves, and when 
 any difference is alluded to in our opinions and practices they generally 
 excuse it by saying that we have been longer acquainted with the subject, 
 or that their customs are required by the nature of the case, at least by the 
 orders of their chiefs. As to the influence of religion on their hearts and 
 lives, that can hardly be expected in the manner we contemplate it. Their 
 previous training, the imperial regime under wliich they are placed, and 
 their absorbing attention to public affairs, preclude all idea of any genuine 
 Christian experience on their part. At the same time, they may be re- 
 garded as being as much under the power of religion, in the form it has 
 assumed among them, as the Chinese generally are under ths power of any 
 religion whatever. Their pressing thought— and they say they have no 
 time to think of other things — is the promotion of their political interests. 
 They are for the most part indifferent scholars, and, besides, lack opportu- 
 nity for learning what practical Christianity is. 
 
 In a political point of view, these kings occupy, in relation to the people, 
 a place similar to the high mandarins of the present Government; and there 
 
136 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [appb^-dix n. 
 
 is, undoubtedly, more truth, more life, more reality in the religious faith of 
 the former than in that of the latter. 
 
 The Officers and People. — The former are very numerous, and rank in, or- 
 der after a well-established and organized system. Public offices, large and 
 small, exist in connection with every royal palace; and according to the 
 dignity of those who preside oyer them, have they subordinates and servants 
 in turn. In these offices it is required that the usual religious ceremonies be 
 attended to for the instruction of all parties. Every Friday flags are hung 
 out at different places, intimating tliat to-morrow is Sundaj^ and ought to be 
 solemnly kept. It is by no means to be disregarded. About midnight guns 
 are fired to apprise the attendants at each office tiiat the Sabbath is ap- 
 proaching, and calling them to worship. This is done by all in connection 
 with such establishments kneeling in a public hall, and chanting the doxol- 
 ogies ; while small squibs are fired off, gongs beaten, candles lighted, and a 
 written prayer is burned on the occasion, expressive of gratitude and praise 
 to God. The whole talies up very little lime, and much resembles the cere- 
 monies in use among their heathen countrymen. On asking the Prime 
 Minister as to the reason of all this, he said that such was the idea of the 
 Heavenly Prince, and that rites of this kind were considered necessary to 
 supply the vacancy caused by the overthrow of idolatry. Without any of 
 tliese things, the people, it is remarked by him, would not know how or 
 what to worship. One consequence of the system of instruction and wor- 
 ship thus pursued is, that there is a widespread knowledge of the funda- 
 mental truths of religion, such as the name of God, his overruling provi- 
 dence, the necessity of all men honoring him alone, and obeying his com- 
 mandments ; together with the name of Christ, his relation to the Father, 
 his incarnation and atoning death, resurrection, and ascension; the happi- 
 ness of heaven, and the miseries of hell, etc. 
 
 During my resideiice at Nanking, and on mywayup, I largely engaged 
 in public preaching, and privately talked with numbers on these subjects, 
 and found them more or less familiar themes, in perfect contrast to my pre- 
 vious experience among the heathen Chinese. My chief object was to en- 
 force the legitimate influence of what they already knew, just as has to be 
 done in our native land. 
 
 While surrounded by numbers of people listening to what I had to say, I 
 have frequently witnessed officers on horseback passing by, who at first 
 looked rather suspiciously at the unusual spectacle, but having stopped and 
 heard for a time they soon appeared pleased, and said it was the true doc- 
 trine that I was preaching. I mention this not to imply any heartfelt ap- 
 preciation of the truth in their case, but to show they professed a nominal 
 acquaintance with it as a distinctive element of their system. So in regard 
 to their adherents at large : their knowledge of Christianity, and their habit 
 of repeating a few doxologies were only a necessary effect of the circum- 
 stances in which they are placed, and it could not be expected to bo other- 
 wise. Many of their older adherents, however, appear sincerely to believe 
 in the Chief and his religious system. 
 
APPE^-DIx II.1 AGHOSS AMEBIC A AND ASIA. 437 
 
 With respect to the origin and character of these men and officers, by 
 far the greatest part of them have been kidnapped. Many have long been 
 in the service, and on being tallced to about their friends and relatives, some 
 lamented that they could not return to them; others were indifferent, 
 having been for years accustomed to the present state of things, and seeing 
 no prospect of a change for the better. 
 
 The lower the scale that my investigations went, as to the circumstances 
 and condition of the people, I found them groaning in deep misery. They 
 had been dragged from home, and knew nothing of their families, whether 
 dead or alive. They were grievously oppressed, in their view, by bard 
 task-masters, and were compelled to > labor with no other payment than 
 theu" food. Many a curse did they utter in secret against their rulers, but 
 they had no means of escape, no means of redress. 
 
 The more active part of the community were generally young men, and 
 of the whole there was a large proportion of boys. These are employed as 
 attendants upon the head men in the various offices, and it is expected that 
 they will grow up under the regime better fitted to carry out its objects than 
 those more advanced in life. This principle has already been in operation 
 for several years, and isi yielding good fruits to the dynasty. The moral 
 and religious character of all classes is just such as might have been ex- 
 pected in the circumstances. Marriage is allowed in the case of public 
 officers, who may have one or more wives, according to their rank. What- 
 ever abuses may take place on the part of the common soldiers when a town 
 is sacked, prostitution is severely punished at head-quarters, and It is im- 
 jjossible for it to be practised to a large extent, owing to the smallness of 
 the female population in the rebel cities. It is necessary to observe that at 
 such places there is no population whatever, in the proper sense of the 
 term. All are connected with the different public offices. Their names 
 are duly registered. They are under martial law, and require passports on 
 every occasion. Various things strongly prohibited in the rules, such as 
 tobacco and opium-smoking, wine-drinking, etc., are in general use, though 
 perhaps not so publicly or so extensively as elsewhere. It is said that at 
 present they must be connived at. The ruthless manner in which the 
 temples are destroyed, and the idols desecrated, might suggest the idea of 
 something like a Mahommedan spirit of iconoclasm among the insurgents. 
 In the case of the Chief It is acted out on similar grounds to those alleged 
 by the Islamic imposter, namely, dreams or visions, or Divine revelations ; 
 and with their adherents it is much the same— either Inspired by blind 
 faith in their respective leaders, or simple obedience to orders, while a love 
 for reckless destruction may be considered as more the actuating motive 
 than aught else. Those things which were once held to be sacred having 
 been dishonored on various occasions without harm, the idea is entertained 
 that it may be done with impunity again ; but it is not to be supposed that 
 the destruction is caused by a feeling of hatred and opposition to idolatry, 
 or by any intelligent obedience to a Divine command, on the part of the 
 rebels at large. It is enough that the Heavenly Prince has ordered it ; and 
 
43S ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [appendix n. 
 
 in conaection witli him llie tiling must be done — otherwise the disobedient 
 will sulfer. As to the destruction of life and property that takes place when 
 a town or city is seized, it is to be accounted for in this way : the soldiers 
 get no pay, and the spoil which then falls into their hands is deemed a 
 lawful equivalent. It is said to be a Chinese statute, that for three days after 
 the capture of a place the soldiers are at liberty to do what they please. 
 A most unreasonable degree of power is given to ofQcers of almost every 
 grade, so that they can kill and destroy in a summary manner. When 
 resistance is shown on the part of the inhabitants, it is retaliated in this 
 wa.y, too often exemplified ; and again, all parties in search of spoil hesitate 
 not to use fire and sword, should they meet with disappointment or refusal. 
 
 On speaking to the principal men of the cruelty and folly of these pro- 
 ceedings, they say that they cannot altogether help it. They try to prevent 
 these evils, and not unfrequently punish with death those who commit 
 them; yet were they absolutely to put them down, it might injure their 
 cause with their adherents. Besides, they own that it is the judgment of 
 God upon the people for having sided with their enemies and allowed them- 
 selves to be deceived by the devil. As to the consequences of these thiugs 
 in the destruction of trade, and the alienation of the people, the former does 
 not much concern them in the meantime ; while in regard to the latter the}' 
 say that they lament it, but if the people will not submit they must die. 
 Altogether, they think themselves to be so much under the protection and 
 guidance of the Heavenly Father that he is directing and prospering them 
 even in the course of desolation they have pursued for years. In all this 
 the common soldiers have little to say — they are mere instruments in the 
 hands ot others ; it is the career now before them ; it is followed out by their 
 commanders, and must be, at their peril, by them also. They are already in- 
 ured to it, and their worst passions are gratified by a life of plunder, sensu- 
 ality, and vice. Tliough without any understanding of, or sympathy with, 
 spiritual Christianity, they find no difficulty in complying with its outward 
 forms, and professing its inward faith, just as in other lands under more fa- 
 Aored circumstances. 
 
 General Conclusions. — 1. In a secular point of view the movement at 
 present is only destructive. It breaks up all domestic and social ties ; it 
 annihilates trade, alike native and foreign ; it scatters large and flourishing 
 communities, and blasts the peace and prospects of the empire. Its pro- 
 gramme as to the future is grand enough. Were it to be carried out, an era 
 of unparalleled and unthought-of progress would commence in the history 
 of China. Every branch of Western industry and civilization would be en- 
 couraged and promoted, the resources of the country largely developed, and 
 the social, intellectual, and moral advancement of the people sought after in 
 an attainable form. AH this has been iiroposed'by the Prime Minister, a 
 man of moderate ability, who is undoubtedly sincere in his ideas, and has 
 acquired them during a long residence at Hong Kong, in connection with 
 foreigners. The whole has been approved and ordered to be placed on rec- 
 ord by the Heavenly Prince as in contemplation when peace is restored. 
 
APPENDIX m.] ACBOSS AMERICA AND ASIA. 439 
 
 Meanwhile there is little prospect of this last being the case. Apart from 
 the question whisther the insurgents are likely to succeed in the end, there 
 seems to be a lonjr interval between the present and the final issue on either 
 side. They are, in a Chinese aspect, a very formidable power, which the 
 authorities find it difficult to cope with. The reason of this is evident, but 
 it lies more in the scope of political men to enter into it. Then again, even 
 should the rebels eventually succeed, it may well be doubted if they have 
 the energy, enterprise, and intelligence to carry out their plans. Consider- 
 ing that in the outward progress of civilization in China the above improve- 
 ments must be made, it will only be necessary to interest the people in them 
 by direct foreign influence. The men and means are to be found in the coun- 
 try in abundance, and these rightly employed would work out great results. 
 For this end we do not consider a change of dynasty at all requisite. It is 
 evident that the one now existing is far superior in its ruling qualities to 
 whatever else we see in the field, the rebel administration being at least no 
 improvement upon it. 
 
 2. In a religious point of view, the movement at present is no less de- 
 structive. Its first aim is the subversion of the old religions, root and 
 branch. To the extent of its influence, this is the case everywhere. The 
 temples are demolished, the idols dishonored, and the worship of heaven 
 and earth, ancestors and sages, proscribed and abandoned. The systems 
 of JBhud and Tao are declared null and void, and only so much of the Con- 
 fucian doctrine as is consistent with the rebel creed is to be retained for 
 use. In regard to the future, it is proposed to Christianize the empire by a 
 process truly Chinese, and perhaps effectual in a mere nominal light. The 
 means in operation for the purpose will, we fear, be productive of vast mis- 
 chief, and only serve to introduce a spmious kind of Christianity. The 
 designs of the Chief, at best, are to make the profession of the Christian 
 religion as general as any of the present forms of religion. Having little 
 idea of a spiritual character and requirements, the change he would inau- 
 gurate would be superficial in the extreme, and, as in the political regime, 
 while outwardly there might bo a difference in the state of things, there 
 ■would be little radical alteration. Still, in view of all, we look with 
 anxiety upon the movement, lamenting its errors and abominations, yet 
 disposed to think that Providence has a wise and gracious end to serve by 
 it." 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 The pollowing Notes on the AomourTnnAL Pkoduotions ov Chihi.i aee extracted 
 TKOM the valuable Eepoet OF Mn. Consul Gibson to the Beitish GovERii- 
 mbnt. Blue Book, China, No. 4. 18C4. 
 
 AGKICUXTURB. 
 
 JVahire and Yield of Crops.— The agricultural productions of this province 
 are very inferior, both in quantity and quality, to the produce of the centra] 
 
440 ACE0S8 AMEBIC A AND ASIA. [APrEND:x in. 
 
 and soutlaem provinces of the Empire. Tlie following sorts of grain are 
 generally cultivated in the Tien-tsin district, viz., wheat, millet, barley, 
 peas, Indian corn, and rice. The price of rice, most of which is imported 
 from the south, regulates the grain market. Wheat, which regulates the 
 market at home, is here of comparatively little importance. 
 
 The table annexed will show the value of the various sorts of grain most 
 common in this district. 
 
 TABLE SHOWING THE MARKET PRICES OP THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF GRAIN 
 
 CULTIVATED IN THE TIEN-TSIN DISTRICT. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF GRAIN. PRICE IN MEXICAN DOLLARS. 
 
 Winter Wheat 3.50 per 133>i lbs. 
 
 Sprins " 3.40 " 
 
 Buck " 8-25 " 
 
 Bearded " 130 " 
 
 Barley 1-13 " 
 
 WhiteMiUet l-SO " 
 
 Tellow " 1.50 " 
 
 Eed Barbadoes Millet 2-00 " 
 
 White •' " 2.00 " 
 
 White Millet, Garge) l.TS " 
 
 yellow " ." l.To " 
 
 Green Peas, (large) 3.40 " 
 
 Black " " 1.80 " 
 
 Green " (small) 2.00 " 
 
 Hempseed 3.50 " 
 
 Indian Corn 1.50 " 
 
 Rice 5.50 " 
 
 TFAeat — ^Wheat is not extensively grown in this district. The two varie- 
 ties most common, however, are winter wheat (T. hybernum) and branded 
 wheat (T. turgidum) ; spring wheat (T. aestivum) is scarce. The soil, in 
 most places, is too light for wheat. An acre of land yields from twenty-five 
 to fifty quarters of wheat, according to quality. 
 
 MMet. — Millet is very extensively cultivated in this district. There are 
 numerous varieties ; hut the Kao-liang or Barbadoes millet is the most 
 common. The light sandy soil seems to agree well with this grain. The 
 yield on an acre of average land is about 1,300 lbs. ■ The poor people live 
 on millet to a very large extent. A. highly-intoxicating W'ine is extracted 
 from fermented millet, and extensively used in this and other districts. The 
 stalks of the Barbadoes millet contain a great deal of woody matter, and are 
 much used for fuel. Fences are often constructed of them. 
 
 Barley.— 'Ba.xle.j is not uncommon. The yield of barley on an acre of 
 average land is about 1,400 lbs. or 50 quarters. 
 
 Peas.— Peas are cultivated largely in this district. An acre of land pro- 
 duces about 1,600 lbs. of peas. A small quantity of peas was exported in 
 1862, and there is a large local trafllc in this produce. 
 
 Indian Corn. — Indian corn is extensively grown in this neighborhood. 
 The grain is generally ground into flour, and largely consumed by the poorer 
 classes. An acre of indifferent land will yield about 800 lbs. of Indian 
 corn ; an acre of good land double that quantity. 
 
APPBNBix m.] ACROSS AMEBIGA AND ASIA. 44I 
 
 i?ic«.— This district is not suitable for rice cultivation ; nevertlieless, iu cer- 
 tain localities rice is grown. It is, however, very inferior, both in size and 
 color to the rice imported &om the south. An acre of ground yields about 
 1,200 lbs. of rice. 
 
 'F<'(7etoJ?««.— Vegetables are largely cultivated. The " pai-tsai " (called by 
 foreigners the Shan-tung cabbage) excels in flavor, though not in size, any 
 English vegetable of the same class. Its price in the market is about %d. 
 per lb. Parsley and turnips are spoiled in the cultivation. The carrots and 
 sweet potatoes are uniformly good. The arrow-root plant (Maranta arun- 
 dinacea) is cultivated in the southwest part of this province. The arrow- 
 root made from its tubers is palatable, but coarse and dark colored. The 
 potato of Europe is grown successfully in this district ; it exhibits no symp- 
 toms of disease, and sells at the rate of five shillings per 1333^ lbs. Many 
 other sorts of vegetables abound, but those enumerated are the most com- 
 mon ; all, however, are equally cheap. 
 
 Mustard. — Mustard is cultivated largely. Native mustard is very strong 
 and pungent, but very coarse and dark colored. 
 
 Bhubarb. — Rhubarb is also grown ; it is used medicinally. A small quan- 
 tity was exported last season. 
 
 Castor Oil Plant. — The castor oil plant is also cultivated, but spariogly. 
 The berries are used as medicine. 
 
 Fruit. — Fruit of all kinds to be met with in a temperate climate is plenti- 
 ful and cheap, but is sadly defective in flavor as compared with English 
 fruit. The apples and pears are flavorless. The peaches are bitter, but the 
 natives generally pull them before they are ripe. Walnuts, chestnuts, and 
 dates [jujubes] abound. The grapes are remarkably good. Three varieties 
 are common in the market, viz : 1st, a very small round grape ; 2d, a very 
 large grape, rather sweet to the tasle ; and 3d, a full round grape which 
 tastes a little tart. In autumn all the three sorts are very cheap. 
 
 Hay. — Hay can be bought in the market, but it is very inferior stuff. The 
 food of horses consists generally of hard unnutritious chopped straw mixed 
 with millet, Indian corn crushed, or barley. 
 
 Horses.— The. native horses are small and ugly, but remarkable for their 
 quality of endurance. Their height is about twelve hands, head dispropor- 
 tionately large, ears long, neck short and massive, chest broad and ample, 
 body short, legs strong and sinewy. The native horse requires no atten- 
 tion, or rather receives none. He eats anything, and lives anywhere. A 
 good native horse costs about five pounds at Tien-fsin, but in the so-called 
 desert of Gobi, where he is reared, only about one pound ten shillings. 
 
 Black Cattle.— The cattle, in common with the horses, come from the 
 Gobi. There are two breeds : the one large and somewhat coarse, the 
 other small and fine. The large breed resembles much at a little distance 
 the Highland bullock; the small breed are generally spotted red and while, 
 and are not unlike the Ayrshire breed. 
 
 The beef exposed for sale in the market is good. Its quality might, how- 
 ever, be improved by better feeding and treatment, but the Chinese under- 
 
442 ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. [appendix iv. 
 
 stand notking about tlie rearing of stock. Beef costs in the market about 
 2d. per lb; ' , 
 
 Sheep. — The sheep also came from the desert of Gobi. The breed sent down 
 from Mongolia is almost always the large long-eared, broad-tailed sort. The 
 Mongolians have another much finer breed, but they do not find their way 
 down to Tien-tsin. The quality of the mutton is good, but equally with 
 the beef might be improved. It costs in the market about 2J^d. per lb. 
 
 Pigs. — The breed of pigs in this district is exceedingly inferior. Pork is 
 abundant, but of bad quality. This is entirely owing to the fact that the 
 pigs are not properly fed. There is no attention paid to them whatever. 
 Their food consists of anything they can pick up. 
 
 Poultry. — The breed ,of poultry is good. The fowls are large, abundant, 
 and cheap. Ducks and geese are reared in great numbers, and the market is 
 well supplied with them at a cheap rate. In winter, hares, partridges, 
 pheasants, land grouse, wild duck and teal abound in the market ; and in 
 their season, quail, and a most diminutive though highly delicate little 
 bird, called by the natives the " iron bird," from the color of its plumage. 
 
 Together, the agricultural productions of this district are numerous and 
 important. The population is large, but the means of living are abundant 
 and cheap, and there is much less destitution in this than in many other far 
 richer districts of the Empire. 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 Akaltses of Chinese and Japanese Coals, made for E. Pumpeut bt Mr. James 
 A. Macdonau), M.A., of the Sheffield Laboratobt, Yale College. 
 
 In the following analyses, each determination is the mean of two closely 
 agreeing ones. For the water determination, the coal was pulverized and 
 heated in an air-bath at 110 deg. C. until it gave a constant weight. A por- 
 tion was then ignited in fragments, in a closed crucible, to determine the 
 " volatile matter." The ash was estimated in the usual manner by inciner 
 ation. 
 
 I. Tatsaii mine (43 feet seam), near Chaitang. Hard anthracite. Decrep 
 itates very slightly, and yields a little HO in a closed tube. Specific 
 gravity, 1.57. ' • 
 
 Carton 89.81 
 
 Volatile matter , 3.08 
 
 Water g.eT 
 
 Ash 4.44 
 
 100.00 
 
APPENDIX IT.] ACROSS AMKBIC A, AND ASIA. 443 
 
 II. Futau mine, Ohaitang (west of Peking). Bright, bitumiaous, cokjng 
 coal, yielding a little HO in tlie closed tube. Specific gravity, 1.30. 
 
 Carbon gg ™ 
 
 Volatile matter jl'g^ 
 
 "^«ter ^.'!!!!!!!!!l!"!;;il!;!!;!!; olso 
 
 ^^^ 1.94 
 
 100.00 
 
 III. Chingshui (near Ohaitang, west of Peking). Soft bituminous coal, 
 coking in a tube, and giving some HO. Specific gravity, 1.37. 
 
 Carton 8j 3j 
 
 Volatile matter 5 q3 
 
 "^ater ..!!..!!.'.'!!!.'!! o!36 
 
 ^^"^ 12.TO 
 
 100.00 
 
 IV. Teyili mine (near Muntakau, "(vest of Peking). Soft, crumbling 
 anthracite. Gives some HO in a closed tube. Specific gravity, 1.74. 
 
 Cirbon 80.75 
 
 Volatile matter 5 43 
 
 Water 2.42 
 
 ABh... 11.40 
 
 100.00 
 
 V. Tashitung mine (Fangshan, southwest of Peking). Hard anthracite, 
 coated with some carbonate. Decrepitates, and gives off some HO in a 
 closed tube. Specific gravity, 1.84. 
 
 Carbon 86.62 
 
 Volatile matter 4,64 
 
 Water 2.64 
 
 Ash , 0.10 
 
 100.00 
 
 VI. Kwei (first mine above Kwei, on the upper Tangtz' in Hupeh). 
 Rather a soft coal. When heated in a closed tube gives off HO, and a 
 slightly bituminous odor, without decrepitating. Specific gravity, 1.44. 
 
 Carbon 85,63 
 
 Volatile matter 4.10 
 
 Water 0.38 
 
 Ash 9.89 
 
 100.00 
 
 VII. Mine of Siangtung (in Hunan). Hard, fine-grained anthracite. 
 Gives off HO, and decrepitates violently in a closed tube. Specific gravity, 
 
 1.65. 
 
 Carbon 96.21 
 
 Volatile matter 0.65 
 
 Water 1.45 
 
 Ash '. 1.69 
 
 100.00 
 
444 ^ GBOSS- AMEBIC A AND ASIA. [appekdix it. 
 
 VIII. Another coal from Siangtung. Hard anthracite. Gives HO in a 
 closed tube, and decrepitates but slightly. Specific gravity, 1.61. 
 
 Carbon 94.59 
 
 Volatile matter 1.18 
 
 Water 1.65 
 
 Ash S.58 
 
 100.00 
 
 IX. Laicha Ho (Southern Hunan). Hard anthracite. Yields HO and 
 considerable sulphur on heating in a closed tube. Specific gravity, 1.47. 
 
 Carbon 88.27 
 
 Volatile matter 2.03 
 
 Water 0.80 
 
 Ash 8.01 
 
 100.00 
 
 X. Hangchau (Southern Hunan). Rather soft, bituminous coal, coking 
 in a closed tube. Specific gravity, 1.68. 
 
 Carbon 71.80 
 
 Volatile matter 15.89 
 
 Water 0.65 
 
 ABh 11.68 
 
 100.00 
 
 XI. Mine near Fangshan (southwest of Peking). Hard anthracite. Yields 
 HO, and decrepitates in a closed tube. Specific gravity, 1.83. 
 
 Carbon 90.02 
 
 Volatile matter 2.63 
 
 Water 2.20 
 
 Asb 5.10 
 
 100.00 
 
 XII. Coal from Tatung, in Shansi. Clean black, moderately hard, bitu- 
 minous, coking coal. Decrepitates slightly. Specific gravity, 1.30. 
 
 Carbon 65.30 
 
 Volatile matter 28.69 
 
 Water 1 47 
 
 Ash 4.54 
 
 100.00 
 
 XIII. Co.al from Douy (island of Sagalien). Clear black, bituminous, 
 coking coal. Specific gravity, 1.31. 
 
 Carbon 6T.51 
 
 Volatile matter 22.98 
 
 Water S.5I 
 
 Asli 6.00 
 
 100.00 
 
APPENDIX IV.] ACROSS AMERICA AND ASIA. 445 
 
 XIV. Coal from Iwanai (island of Yesso). Clear, smooth, black or 
 brownish coal. Gives off HO, and cokes in a closed tube. Specific gravity, 
 1.26. 
 
 Carton 60.26 
 
 Volatile matter 29.72 
 
 Water 2.30 
 
 A6ii 7.72 
 
 100.00 
 
 XV. Yingwo mine (Fangshan, southwest of Peking). Soft, crumbling 
 anthracite. Yields considerable HO, in a closed tube. Specific gravity. 
 
 Carbon 77.53 
 
 Volatile matter 3.63 
 
 Water 2.50 
 
 Ash 16.29 
 
 100.00 
 
APPENDIX V. 
 
 Statistics of the Private Gold Placets of the Province of Tkans-Baikal — 1843-1 8fj3. 
 
 REMARKS. 
 
 The royalty and additional tax are 
 only very approximate. 
 
 Experience has shown that the mean 
 fineness of the Gold of this district is 
 85-90th?. 
 
 1 Poiide=40 Funds. 
 
 1 Fuiul = !(') Solothniks. 
 
 1 S<)lotlinik=iHi Delias. 
 
 A Botclika is a rcvolviii;^ perforattnl 
 cylinder. 
 
 A Rntara is an inclined trough wilh 
 a perforated iron plate at ils upper 
 end mucli lilve a. fixed " roclier." 
 
 A Cliaslia is u basin with a Hat iron 
 hot cm, round and about 10 feet dianv 
 c:er, in whicli the gravel and stones 
 are separated from the clay hy revolv- 
 ing arms that radiate hori/onially 
 fi'om a vertical shaft in the centre of 
 the basin. 
 
 Botchka is used for very sandy pay 
 dirt, and the Chisha for clayey mate- 
 rial. 
 
 The tailings must not contain more 
 than 12 Delias, average per llO Poudes 
 of tailings. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Acacia trees, 6. 
 
 Adventure on the Colorado Desert, 63. 
 
 Agricultural prodactions of Northern China, 
 
 439. 
 Ainos of Tesso, 170. 
 Aino race, 89. 
 Ainsa meteorite, 6. 
 Alcocic'S ascent of Fusiyama, 129. 
 Altai Mts., view from, 413. 
 Altar, 51. 
 
 American Desert, 3. 
 
 Analysis of Chinese and Japanese coals, 442. 
 Angara Eiver, 395. 
 Anosoff, Coant, 408. 
 Anthracite at Kwei and Pah-tung, 245. 
 Apache Pass, 5. 
 
 Arlkawa, 143. 
 
 Arizona, a grazing country, .32 ; geographical 
 description of, 8 ; geological outline of, 8.; 
 influence of climate and vegetation on 
 scenery of, 13 ; labor in, 29 ; ash-trees in, 
 40 ; little arahle land in, 32 ; prospects of, 
 30 ; rein of terror in, 17 ; social condition 
 of, 29 ; yegetation of, 10 ; route from, to 
 Lohos Bay, 31; metallurgical needs in, 31; 
 fuel in, 31 ; Mexican labor in, 32 ; wages 
 in, 32 ; more grazing than agricultural 
 land in, 32 ; closing scenes in, 45 ; depart- 
 ure from, 50.- 
 
 Asamayama, eruption of, lOT. 
 
 Ashburner, Mr. W., 67. 
 
 Asia, western policy in Eastern, 127. 
 
 Atmosphere, dryness and transparency of, 
 in Arizona, D. 
 
 B 
 
 Baboquiveri Mts., lo. 
 Baboquiveri Mts. and Plain, 36. 
 Bactrian camel, 375. 
 Baikal, journey across Lake, 394. 
 Balngol, Mongols of, 380. 
 Bath i° Japan, the, 137. 
 
 Bell's hand of robbers, 56. 
 
 Benson, Mr. E. S., 77. 
 
 Be roe, phosphorescence of, 77. 
 
 Berthemy, M., 358. 
 
 Bikunins, W. 
 
 Biriasowsk, gold-washinga of, 419. 
 
 Blake, Mr. W. P., 67. 
 
 Blakestone, Capt., 237. 
 
 Blast furnace on Yesso, 154. 
 
 Blodgett, Rev. Mr., 282. 
 
 Bogdo oola, 378. 
 
 Border-life, 57. 
 
 Borudzurin Tala, plain of, 381. 
 
 Borzakosky, M., 382; 
 
 Brazos Eiver, 3. 
 
 Brewer, Mr. W., 67. 
 
 Brooks, Mr. C. W., 67. 
 
 Brower, Mr., 77. 
 
 Bruce, sir P., 269. 
 
 Budda, colossal statue of, 80 ; statue of, at 
 Urga, 383. 
 
 Buddlsm enters Japan, 92 ; in China, 166 ; in 
 Japan, 162; in Mongolia, 166, 383; in 
 Thibet, 106 ; sketch of, 162. 
 
 Buddist Monastery at Eang-Shan, 285; re- 
 semblance between, and Eoman Hitaal, 
 165, 167; Temple in Mongolia, 318. 
 
 Buiiios, 116. 
 
 Burgevine, General, 221. 
 
 Burgevine imbroglio, 349. 
 
 Burlingame, Mr., 269. 
 
 Burning the dead among the Tumas, 61. 
 
 Buteryn Chelu, 377. 
 
 ButhetS, Colonel, 388. 
 
 C 
 
 Caborca, 51. 
 
 Cacti, 3. 
 
 Cactus, giant, 39. 
 
 Cahuabi, Papago village of, 38. 
 
 California, growth of, 66; journey through 
 
 southern, 66. 
 Camanche country, 3. 
 Camanches, depredations of, 4. 
 
448 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Camel of Mongolia, 375. 
 
 Canal, imperial, 21T. j, 
 
 Canoa, 1 ; massacre at tlie, 46. 
 
 Canton, climate of, 209. 
 
 Caravan-routes radiating from China, 213. 
 
 Carisso Creek, 65. 
 
 Carter, Mr., 70. 
 
 Castes, l". 
 
 Central Asia, ancient sea of, 381; climate 
 of, 376; dimensions of plateau of, 381; 
 journey through, 365. 
 
 Cemetery of Nagasaki, 193. 
 
 Cereus giganteus, 10, 33; fruit of, 39. 
 
 Cerro Colorado, 36. 
 
 Chaganoussu, incident at, 327. 
 
 Chaitang coal, analysis of, 443 ; coal-field 
 of, 291. 
 
 Chang-kau-yu, coal-mine of, 300. 
 
 Chang-kia-kau, 3i3. 
 
 Chang-ping (ohan), 288. 
 
 Cliang-sha (fn), adventure at, 231. 
 
 Clia-tau, ancient fortress of, 309. 
 
 Cliau-chuen, 338. 
 
 Chih-li, plain of, 267. 
 
 China, general opinion of, 204 ; geographical 
 sketch of, 207 ; Sinian system of moun- 
 tains in, 207 ; hydrography of, 207 ; climate 
 of, 208 ; relation of structure of, to civili- 
 zation, 208 ; plant life of, 209 ; products of, 
 209; animals of, 210; mineral productions 
 of, 211 ; routes of travel and commerce, 
 211; routes for trunk-railways in, 213; 
 caravan-routes radiating from, 213 ; coal 
 in, 245 ; scarcity of timher in, 216 ; infan- 
 ticide in, 261 ; as a source of emigration, 
 262; state-religion of, 27,8; relation he- 
 tVeen ofilcials and people in, 297 ; ancient 
 ■walls of, 314; ancient lakes of Northern, 
 330; Western policy in, 3.39; war of 1857 
 against, 310; campaign of 1860 in, 343; 
 retaliation policy in, 344; establishment 
 of co-operative policy in regard to, 346 ; 
 causes threatening disintegration of, 348 ; 
 foreign-custom service of, 350 ; needed re- 
 forms in, 361 ; adoption of international 
 law by, 351 ; regency of, 353 ; influence of 
 public opinion in, 354;. foreign innova- 
 tions in, 355 ; missionary problem in, 356 ; 
 Sir P. Bruce's ideas on, 357 ; missions in, 
 360 ; Nestorian missionaries in, 302 ; value 
 of resources of, 425 ; grain of Northern, 
 410. 
 
 'Chinese, foreign prejudices against, 204; 
 cities, great extent of, 221 ; as emigrants 
 and colonizers, 247 ; on the Central Pacific 
 Itailroad, 252 ; in California, 252 ; in Java, 
 253 ; in Singapore, 251 ; civilization, 
 sketch of, 256 ; personal character of, 261 ; 
 prospective relations of, to America, 263 ; 
 
 mining, 292 ; dinner, 303 ; honesty of the, 
 331 ; treaties, advantages gained hy the, 
 343 ; merchants and foreign improvements 
 inj 356. 
 
 Chinese Government, principles of, 258; 
 necessity of strengthening the, 347. 
 
 Chinese labor, applicability of, in Arizona, 
 33. 
 
 Chinese Rebellion, causes of, 211 ; Eebel- 
 lion, organization of, 433. 
 
 Ching-pai-kau, 290. 
 
 Chingshui coal, analysis of, 443; coal and 
 iron furnace at, 298. 
 
 Chin-kiang, 217. 
 
 Chischmareff, M., 383. 
 
 Choisiu, Prince of, 122. 
 
 Christianity, extinction of, in Jiq)an, 115; 
 
 ' influence of, on Japanese liistory, 90. 
 
 Chronology of Japan, 90. 
 
 Chung-hwang-kau, fortress of, 335. 
 
 Churin Chelu, lamasery of, 380. 
 
 Classes in Japan, 117. 
 
 Climate, extremes of, met in this journey, 
 424 ; of Mongolia, 376. 
 
 Closing scenes in Arizona, 45. 
 
 Coal at Chaitang, 391 ; at Kwei, 215 ; at Mun- 
 ta-kau, 296 ; at Pah-tung, 245 ; fields of 
 Hunan, excursion to the, 227; measures 
 of Central China, 245 ; -mine, descent into 
 a Chinese, 300 ; -mines of Chih-li, visit to, 
 287; onTesso, 181. 
 
 Coals, analysis of Chinese and Japanese, 442. 
 
 Cooohead, crater of, 69. 
 
 Colorado City, curious, origin of, 00; Desert, 
 j ourney across, 63; Eiyer, caiions of the, 61. 
 
 Confucianism in Japan, 93, 163. 
 
 Co-operative policy in regard to China, 346. 
 
 Corea, first mention of, 91. 
 
 Coreans, 303. 
 
 Cox, Eev. Josiah, 237. 
 
 Coyote gold placers, 63. 
 
 Cunningham, Mr. E., 266. 
 
 Daibutz, excursion to the, 79. 
 
 Daikhanoor, 331. 
 
 Daimios, relation of, to the Government, 115. 
 
 Daishi, Temple of, 83. 
 
 Dalai Lama, 93. 
 
 Deoima, 98 ; Dutch factoiy of, 194. 
 
 Desert, American, 3; difiicult journey on 
 the, 43 ; elflorescences on the, 9 ; heat on 
 the, 41, 57 ; -life, 41 ; mummies on the, 68 ; 
 of Gobi, 381 ; of the Colorado Eiver, 63 ; 
 of the Papa'goria", 38 ; sand-storm on the, 
 59 ; -scenery, 40 ; starving on the, 43 ; the 
 heart of the,' 67 ; Williams' adventures on 
 the, 64. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 44C 
 
 Dick, Mr., 8-26. 
 Diseases ^ Japao, 138. 
 Douy coal, analysis of, 414. 
 Dust-storm, great, at Nagasaki, 138. 
 Dutch persecution of Japanese Christians, 97. 
 
 E 
 
 Earthquake in Siberia, 394; of 1854, 107: 
 
 shock at Koyasn, 107. 
 Efflorescence of salts on the desert, 9. 
 Ekaterinburg, arrival at, 418. 
 El Paso, 5. 
 Esan, volcano of, 152. 
 Espionage in Japan, 117. 
 Exterritoriality clause, dangers of the, 347. 
 
 Fang-shan (hien\2S4; coal district of, 300 ; 
 anthracite, analysis of, 443, 444, 445 ; cave 
 of, 283. 
 
 Farming in Japan, 79. 
 
 Fergusson's explorations for road in Ari- 
 zona, 31. 
 
 Flurl, trachytic porphyry at, 378. 
 
 Footmen running in Japan, 101. 
 
 Forests of Tesso, 173. 
 
 Fort Buchanan, 13; exciting journey to, 23. 
 
 Fort Yuma, 60; joumey to, 52. 
 
 Fresnal, village of, 40. 
 
 Fuel, scarcity of, In Arizona, 31. 
 
 Fung-ching, adventure at, 333. 
 
 Futau CoaT, analysis of, 443; coalmine, 291. 
 
 Fuziyama, ascent of, by Sir R. Alcock, 129; 
 first sight of, 76; view of, 129. 
 
 Gadsden Treaty, 29. ^ 
 
 Cambucinos, 39. 
 
 Gamier, M., 388. 
 
 Cashun, 373. 
 
 Gaudaloupe Mountains, 4. 
 
 Gaultheria on Tesso, 178. . 
 
 Geographical sketch of China, 207. 
 
 Geology of tbe -west coast of Tesso, 184. 
 
 Gengis Khan, 95. 
 
 Gibson, report of Consul, on productions of 
 Chihli, 439. 
 
 Gila Eiver, 9 ; high temperature of the, 69. 
 
 Gobi Desert, 381. 
 
 Gold in Siberia, 389 ; manner of washing on 
 Tesso, 173 ; method of washing in Sibe- 
 ria, 419; production of Trans -Baikalia, 
 446. 
 
 Gold-washings, ancient, on Tesso, 174 ; near 
 Ekaterinburg, 418 ; near Kiachta, 389 ; of 
 Trans-Baikalia, 420. 
 
 Jolden armor on the desert, 64. 
 
 " Golden Mountain" of Peking, 272. 
 
 Congensama, the Usurper, 97; unrepealed 
 law of, 93. 
 
 Gordon, Major, 221. 
 
 Gorogio, 110. 
 
 Grains of China, and prices, 410. 
 
 Granite Causeways near Peking, 268; in 
 Nan-kau Pass, 308; Mountains, barren- 
 ness of, 9 ; of the Tangtz', 242. 
 
 Great Wall at Kalgan, 313; description of 
 the, 313; inner branch of the, 308 ; journey 
 along the, 305 ; outpost towers of the, 332 ; 
 view from the, 316, 334. 
 
 Grosvenor, murder of Mr. H. C, 19. 
 
 11 
 
 Hachiogi, silk district of, 102; town of, 103. 
 
 Hakodade, 99; arrival at, 143; departure 
 from, 193 ; metamorphic tufa at, 184. 
 
 Hall, Mr. F., 101. 
 
 Hamajime, volcanic rocks at, 183. 
 
 Hangohau coal, analysis of, 444. 
 
 Hankau, arrival at, 224. 
 
 Hanoor, 317. 
 
 Hanyang, 3-4. 
 
 Hara-kiru, 156. 
 
 Harris, treaty of Mr. Townsend, 99. 
 
 Hart, Mr. Robert, 350. 
 
 Harvey, report of Consul, on Chinese Rebel- 
 lion, 423. 
 
 Hattamoto class, lis. 
 
 Heintzelman mine, 36; journey to, 17. 
 
 Hiang-shui-pu, inn at, 311. 
 
 Hiung-nu, the, 314. 
 
 Honolulu, departure fi-om, 74 ; entrance to, 69. 
 
 Horteryn Daban Mountains, 3S3. 
 
 Hoyurbaishin, 329. 
 
 Hunan coals, analyses of, 443. 
 
 Hwai-ngan (hien), 337. 
 
 Hwei-lai (Uen), 310. 
 
 lanthina, 74. 
 
 Ichang (fu), 240. 
 
 Ichang-gorge, 241. 
 
 Ichinowatari, lead mines of, 145. 
 
 Indian agents, dishonesty of, 35; raid upon 
 the Santa-Rita, 14 ; treaties, 35 ; wars, 
 cause of, 36 ; wars, how they are begun, 16. 
 
 Indians, cause of troubles with, 33 ; demoral- 
 izing trade with, 35; effect of upon min- 
 ing, in Ai-izona, 31 ; Papago, 7 ; Papago, 
 their country, 37 ; past treatment of, 33 ; 
 present necessities of, 33 ; policy proposed 
 in reference to the, 33 ; Papago, 37 ; Tuma, 
 CO; incremation among, 61; Pueblo, 61; 
 Moijui, 61. 
 
i50 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Indians, terrible weapons of, 25; depreda- 
 tions of, at Arivacca, 41 ; the problem of 
 the, 33 ; their relations to the Jesuits, the 
 Mormons, and the Hudson Bay .Com- 
 pany, 34. 
 
 Inosima, 129; cavern at, 130; excursion to, 
 128. 
 
 Irkutsk, departure for, 303; arrival at, 396; 
 departure from, 407. 
 
 Iron, manufacture of Eussian sheet, 421. 
 
 Iron-sand onTesso, 134. 
 
 Irrigation, 6. 
 
 I soya, iTC. 
 
 Isse, temple of the sun-goddess at, 112. 
 
 Iwanai, l^T; coal, analysis of, 443. 
 
 Iwaounobori, ascent of, 178 ; excursion to 
 Solfatara of, 178. 
 
 Janin, Mr. H., 67; Mr. L., 67. 
 
 Japan, departure for, 68; scenery on the 
 coast of, 110; Western policy, 156; farm- 
 ing in, 79; geographical sketch of, 83; 
 etymology of the word, 85 ; geological 
 sketch of, 85 ; climate of, 86 ; flora of, 87 ; 
 animals of, 88 ; causes repressing popula- 
 tion of, 89; races of people on, 89; eth- 
 nology of, !)0; chronology of, 90; Bud- 
 dism introduced into, 92 ; Confucianism 
 introduced into, 92; Christian intrigues 
 in, 96 ; Xavier's career in, 96 ; political 
 influence of early missionaries in, 96 
 persecutions of early Christians in, 97 
 Dutch persecutions of Christians in, 97 
 Russian embassies to, 98 ; Perry's expe- 
 dition to, 98 ; Perry's treaty with, 08 ; the 
 treaty ports of, 99; Masonry in, 103; 
 scenery on the coast of, 110; nuns in, 
 111; espionage in, 117; classification of 
 people in, 117 ; bathing-houses in, 133 ; 
 social evil in, 133 ; diseases in, 1.38 ; goitre 
 in, 139; physicians in, 139 ; cemeteries in, 
 140 ; cremation in, 140 ; festivals in, 140 ; 
 di-unkenness in, 141 ; mines in, 145 ; re- 
 ligions of, 158; Buddhism in, 162; aban- 
 doned metallic deposits of, 190; sea, voy- 
 age through the, 192 ; value of labor 
 in, 121. 
 
 Japanese language, 82 ; alphabets, inventor 
 of, 84; dinner, 84; food of, 88; history, 
 90; language, 112; foreign estimate of, 
 133 ; characteristic features of the, 134 ; 
 religious character of the, 134; houses, 
 135; neatness of the, 136; baths of the, 
 137 ; physicians, 139 ; treatment of the 
 dead, 140; wrestlers, 140; strength of, 
 140 ; jugglers, 140 ; theatre, 141 ; mines, 
 145; religions, 158. 
 
 Japanese Government, the anthor engaged 
 by the, 67 ; early policy of, 78 ; our flrst 
 interview with, 100 ; organization of, 115 ; 
 balance of power in, 119 ; policy of, to- 
 wards princes, 186. 
 
 Java, Chinese in, 253. 
 
 Jesuits, their success with the Indians, 34. 
 
 Jinmu, the Mikado, 90. 
 
 Jones, murder of Mr. Eichmond, 48. 
 
 Judd,X)r.,70. 
 
 Kadzu-ya-ohi-kungo-no-kami, 100. 
 
 Kagosima, bombardment of, 124. 
 
 Kafgan, 313, 366. 
 
 Kalkas Mongols, 373. 
 
 Kai-fung (fu), bursting of the Tellow Elver 
 
 at, 244. 
 Kaiyanobetz, coal on the, 181. 
 Kakumi, mines at, 131. 
 Kamakura, 80 ; temples of, 81. 
 Kannschatka, curious custom in, 405. 
 Kanagawa, lOl. 
 Kanesawa, 81. 
 Kau-liang, 267. 
 Kawasaki, 82. 
 Kazan, arrival at, 423. 
 Kiachta, arrival at, 387 ; ball at, 392 ; trade 
 
 of, 402. 
 Kimball, Dr. j. p., 67. 
 Ki-ming, coal at, 311. 
 Ki-ming-shan, legend of the, 310. 
 Kin-gan Mountains, 381. 
 Kin-sha-kiang, 237. 
 Kir-noor, valley of the, ,329. 
 Kiu-kiang, 222. 
 Kobi, iron-sand at, 154. 
 Koboe, origin of the title of, 96. 
 Kokushi, council of the, 116. 
 Komangadake, ascent of, 147 ; view of, 169; 
 
 volcano of, 146. 
 KoyaSU, adventure at, 106. 
 Krapotkin, Prince, 408. 
 Kublai Khan's expeditions against Japan, 
 
 95. 
 Kudara, Cossack town of, 391. 
 Kumaishi, beds of pumice at, 184; pumice 
 
 cliffs at, 188. 
 Kung, Prince, 342. 
 Kunnui, 172 ; gold placers of, 172. 
 Kuren, 382. 
 Kurosiwo, TO- 
 Kwan-tung-pu, 3.35. 
 Kwei (Chan), coal-field of, 245 ; coal, analysis 
 
 of, .443. 
 Kwei-liwa-chung, market town of, 315. 
 Kwen-lun Mountains, 381. 
 
451 
 
 Laicha Ho coal, analysis of, 444. 
 
 Lama, Grand, of Urga, 382. 
 
 Lamas of Mongolia, 331. 
 
 Lamasery of Cliurin chela, 380. 
 
 Language of Japan, ii-2. 
 
 Lapidary work to 'h^ Ural Mountains, 418. 
 
 Lay, Mr., 352. 
 
 Lead mines of Ichinowatari, 115 ; Yiu'up, 
 
 189. 
 Leang-hiang (Men), 284. 
 Lenartzen, Colonel, 418. 
 Libertad, harbor of, 31. 
 Lime-kilns of King-tan, 234. 
 Limestone, great thickness of, on Yangtz, 
 
 212; of the Nan-kau Pass, 308. 
 Liu-kiu-chan, bridge of, 283. 
 Live oaks, dwarfed, of Arizona, 10. 
 Llano Estacado, plant and animal life 
 
 npon, 3. 
 Lobos Bay, ronte from Tubac to, 31. 
 Lockhart, Dr., 363. 
 Lop Lake, 381. 
 Lucan Gorge, 244. 
 
 m 
 
 Ma-an-miau, 332. 
 
 Macdonald, Mr. J. A., analyses of coals 
 by, 443. 
 
 Mai-mai-chin, 387. 
 
 Marble arch in Nan-kan Pass, 30T. 
 
 Marco Polo, 93, 283. 
 
 Martin, Dr. W. P., 351. 
 
 Masonry in Japan, loa. 
 
 Massacre at the Canoa, 45. 
 
 Maui, Island of, 89. 
 
 Maximowitch, Mr. C, 128. 
 
 Medusae, 365. 
 
 Mendicant Japanese monks and nuns. 111. 
 
 Mesas, structure and character of, 10. 
 
 Mesquit, lO. 
 
 Metan Gorge, 244. 
 
 Meteoric Iron at Tucson, 6. 
 
 Meteorite, Ainsa, 6. 
 
 Metzkis, iiT. 
 
 Mexican labor, uncertainty of, 32; in Ari- 
 zona, 32. 
 
 Mexican women, kindness of the, 44. 
 
 Mexicans, treachery of the, 49. 
 
 Mlagawa, Mr., 143. 
 
 Miako, 91- 
 
 Miautsz', 246. 
 
 Mikado, the office of, 93. 
 
 Mikados, female, 94. 
 
 Ming dynasty, tombs of the, 305. 
 
 Mingan, metamorphic rocks of, 369. 
 
 Mines, abandoned, in Japan, 190; of Yesso, 
 wages at, 146. 
 
 Mineral productions of China, 211. 
 
 Mining in China, 292; on Yesso, 145; wages 
 in Arizona, 32. 
 
 Missionaries in Japan, intrigues of early, 96. 
 
 Missionary problem in China, 356. 
 
 Molokai, Island of, 69. 
 
 Mongolia, arrival in, 316; volcanic rocks of, 
 317, 320 ; Biiddist temple in, 318 ; hospi- 
 tality in, 320 ; influence of the Chinese in, 
 326 ; lava stream In, 327 ; Lama temple in, 
 330; winterjourneythrough, 307, 387; our 
 caravan in, 367; severity of winters in, 
 307 ; gypsum beds in, 369 ; terrific snow- 
 storm in, 369 ; grassy plains of, 369 ; our 
 food in, 370 ; broad-tailed sheep of, 374 ; 
 basalt in, 375 ; camel of, 375 ; climate of, 
 876; praying-machines of, 383; Buddism 
 in, 383 ; policy of Chinese Government to- 
 wards, 381. 
 
 Mongols, tea-soup of the, 368 ; Sunite, 372 ; 
 Kalkas, 373 ; honesty of the, 379 ; horses 
 of the, 380 ; characteristics of the, 386. 
 
 Moquls, ruins of ancient towns of, 11. 
 
 Moscow, arrival at, 424. 
 
 Muirhead, Rev. W., on the Chinese Eebel 
 lion, 433. 
 
 Mummies on the Desert, 58. 
 
 Muntakau anthracite, analysis of, 443; coal- 
 field of, 296. 
 
 Muravieff, Major, 391. 
 
 Murh-kwo-ching, incident at, 324. 
 
 Murray, Mr., 288. 
 
 Nabunanga, 90. 
 
 Nagasaki, arrival at, 192 ; city of, 193. 
 
 Nan-kau Gorge, 288, 366 ; Pass, 307. 
 
 Nanking, city of, 217; fall of, 231. 
 
 Neck-pniow, 104. 
 
 Newberry, J- S., csplorations of, 61. 
 
 Nietanai, infusorial earth at, 154. 
 
 Nijni-Novgorod, 423. 
 
 Nijnl-Tagilsk, iron and copper ores of, 420. 
 
 Nuns in Japan, 111. 
 
 o 
 
 Odaszu, l'i'6. 
 
 Olannoor, valley of, 369. 
 
 Omsk, incident at, 416. 
 
 " One-eyed Jack," 02. 
 
 Oosima, Mr., 143. 
 
 Oosima, volcano of, 70. 
 
 Open ports of Japan, 99. 
 
 Opium, use of, in China, 240 ; -war, 339. 
 
452 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Osborne, Captain Sherard, 352; death of 
 
 Captain, 216. 
 Otoshibetz, ITO. 
 Oussu, solfatara of, 175. 
 Ousubetz, penitentiary at, 187; village of, 
 
 181. 
 Overland Coach, 1 ; drawn hy wild horses, 
 
 4; journey, dangers and fatigues of, 4. 
 Oyama Mountains, excursion to, 101. 
 
 Pacific Ocean, 68; stormy experience on, 
 
 75. 
 Pagodas of China, S30. 
 Palagonite tufa on Yeeso, 184. 
 Pa-li-kiao, hattle of, 359. 
 Paio-Verde, 10. 
 Papago Indians, 7, 37. 
 
 Papagoria, excursion to the, 36. 
 
 Pa-pau-shan, lime in, 311. 
 
 Parker, Dr., 363. 
 
 Partido system in mining, 32. 
 
 Pecos River, 3; scenery heyond, 4. 
 
 Peiho, arrival at the, 266. 
 
 Peking, analyses of coals of, 443; and its 
 neighborhood, 266; departure for, 266; 
 granite causeways near, 268 ; ariival at, 
 268 ; city of, 270 ; " Golden Mountain" of, 
 272 ; Drum Tower of, 272 ; Temple of Ag- 
 riculture at, 272 ; Altar to Heaven at, 272 ; 
 walk on the walls of, 271 ; beggars of, 273 ; 
 market of, 274; Temple of Heaven, de- 
 scription of, 275 ; lapidary work of, 279 ; 
 curiosity-shops of, 280; hook-stores of, 
 280 ; cemeteries near, 283 ; tombs of the 
 Mings near, 305 ; fall of, 342 ; university 
 of, 352. 
 
 Perry's expedition to Japan, 98. 
 
 Perry's treaty with Japan, 98. 
 
 Persecutions of early Christians in Japan, 
 97. 
 
 Petroleum at Yamukshinai, 170. 
 
 Petropaulowski, trade of, 402. 
 
 Pfaffius, M.,388. 
 
 Pliallic symbol at Koyasu, 109. 
 
 Physalia, 74. 
 
 Picacho del Diablo, 7. 
 
 Pine forests of Arizona, 10. 
 
 Plains, natural roads upon the, 4 ; structure 
 of, in Arizona, 6. 
 
 Plateau of Central Asia, ascent of, 316. 
 
 Pogojeff, Dr., 303. 
 
 Popoff, collections ofMr. N., 393. 
 
 Portugal, intrigues of against Japan, 97. 
 
 Poso-Verde, 42. 
 
 Poston,' C. D,, explorations of, 29 ; murder 
 of Mr. John, 49. ' 
 
 Prairie dogs, 3- 
 
 Precious metals in Arizona, 30. 
 Priapus at Kamakura, 81. 
 Princes, policy of imperial Government to- 
 wards, 186. 
 
 Pueblo Indians, 61. 
 
 Quitovac, 53. 
 
 Q 
 
 R 
 
 Raiden, promontoiy of, 177; rocks of the, 
 183. 
 
 Railroad, route for, across Asia and Europe, 
 403. 
 
 Ranches, 1- 
 
 Razguildieff, Mr. A., 408. 
 
 Rebellion, Mohametan, in China, 332; the 
 Tai-ping, 217; religions bearing of the 
 Chinese, 432 ; report of Consul Harvey on 
 the Chinese, 438. 
 
 Recent strata at Otoshibetz, 170. 
 
 Red River, fine scenery on the, 2. 
 
 Rein^ard, Colonel, 408. 
 
 Religions of Japan, 158. 
 
 Reventon, 45. 
 
 Rhodes, wonderful escape of Mr. W., 46. 
 
 Rhysostoma, 74. 
 
 Rice cultivated on Yesso, 191. 
 
 Richardson, murder of, in Japan, 111, 123. 
 
 Rio Grande, 5. 
 
 Rocky Mountain sheep, 59. 
 
 Routes of travel and commerce in China, 211. 
 
 Ruins of towns and acqueducts in Arizona, 
 10. 
 
 RUSS Col, 378. 
 
 Russia, prospective growth of, 425. 
 
 Russian embassies to Japan, 9S. 
 
 Russian sheet-iron, process of manufac- 
 ture of, 421. 
 
 Sagalien coal, analysis of, 444. 
 
 Saguara, lo, 38. 
 
 Sales mines, 53. 
 
 Salinas River, 9. 
 
 Samdad Chiemba, Abbe Hue's guide, 338. 
 
 San Domingo, 53. 
 
 Sand-storm on the Desert, 59. 
 
 Sandwich Islanders, condition of, 73; curi- 
 ous superstition among, 70. 
 
 Sandwich Islands, sketch of, 71; we arrive 
 at the, 69. 
 
 Santa Cruz Elver, 7; valley of, 6. 
 
 Santa Rita, abandonment of the, 27; mines, 
 arrival at, 7 ; mountains, 6, 7 ; valley, 12 ; 
 mountains visible from Tucson, 5. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 453 
 
 San-tau-pien, 24c. 
 
 San Xavier del Bac, aucieut mission of, 7. 
 
 Saric, ii- 
 
 Selenga, river of, 393. 
 
 Sha-ho, bridge of tlie, 2SS. 
 
 Shanghai, city of, 203; climate of, 209. 
 
 Shang-te, worsliip of, 878. 
 
 Shansi coal, analysis of, 414. 
 
 Sheep, broad-tailea, of Mongolia, 374. 
 
 Sheet-iron, manufacture in Eussia, 421. 
 
 Shi-ching-miau, 897. 
 
 Shimadza Saburo, 123. 
 
 Shiribetz, extinct cone of, 175; valley of 
 the, 177. 
 
 Shiribucoa River, isi- 
 
 Shl<abe, sulphur springs at, 150. 
 
 Siang River, 230. 
 
 Siang-tan, market town of, 231. 
 
 Siang-tung anthracite, analysis of, 443. 
 
 Siau-icu-shan, 222. 
 
 Siberia, departure for, 3G6 ; Journey through, 
 3S8-423; houses of, 388; gold in, 389; 
 character of rivers of, 389 ; furs of, 390 ; 
 English iron in, 390 ; cost of freight from 
 China to, 390 ; American tobacco in, 390 ; 
 wolves of, 390 ; society of, 391 ; national 
 dance of, 392 ; earthquake In, 394 ; frozen 
 mists of, 395 ; Russian conquest of, 396 ; 
 geographical sketch of, 397; population 
 of, 399 ; system of exile to, 400 ; refined 
 society in, 400 ; industries of, 402 ; trade 
 of, 402 ; vices of, 404 ; winter-travel in, 
 407 ; cost of travel in, 408 ; winter travel- 
 ling-dress in, 409 ; intense winter cold of, 
 410 ; postal stations of, 410 ; scenery in, 
 413 ; Russian superstitions in, 417 ; meth- 
 od of washing gold in, 419. 
 
 Sierra Nevada, 65. 
 
 Si-gol, S27. - 
 
 Silver ill the Papagoria, 38. 
 
 Silver Island, an. 
 
 Silver ores in Arizona, metallurgical char- 
 acter of, :31. 
 
 Simabara, 97. 
 
 Simmons, Dr., 143. 
 
 SImonoseki, attack of the Allies upon, 123. 
 
 Sinian system of mountains, 86, 240; in 
 China, 207. 
 
 Sintuism, 158. 
 
 SintU festival on Tesso, 159 ; temple near 
 Hachiogi, 105. 
 
 Singapore, Chinese in, 254. 
 
 Siogun, the, 94; the office of, 110. 
 
 Siuen-hwa (fa), city of, 312. 
 
 Si-V^an, visit to the Roman mission of, 337. 
 
 Skeletons on the Desert, 65. 
 
 Skunope, village of, 147. 
 
 Social conditionof Arizona, 29. 
 
 Sonoita, 53. 
 
 Solfatara action on the Iwaounobori, 179; 
 
 of Esan, 152 ; of Iwaounobori, 178. 
 Sombrero Hills, 9- 
 Sonora, journey tlirough, 51 ; productions of 
 
 Northern, 51. 
 Springs, warm, of the Ousuhetz, 187; warm, 
 
 of Yurup, 190. 
 Sterlet, 418. 
 St. John, Mr. F., 3G6. 
 Sulphur on the Iwaounobori,' 179 ; works at 
 
 Esan, 154 ; works of the Iwaounobori, 181. 
 Sunite Mongols, 372. 
 Surface of Arizona, efTect of climate on 
 
 the, 9. 
 "Surprise," burning of the, 216. 
 
 Susaki Bay, 76. 
 
 T 
 
 Tachi, Mr., 143. 
 
 Ta-hwei-chang, adventure at, 298. 
 
 Taikoon, office of, 116. • 
 
 Tai-koonate, origin of the, 94. 
 
 Taikosama, 96 ; policy of, 115. 
 
 Tai-ping, 236. 
 
 Tai-ping-kau, 238. 
 
 Tai-ping Rebellion, 217. 
 
 Tajitos mine, 63. 
 
 Tajo mine, 38. 
 
 Takeda, Mr., 143. 
 
 Ta-kiau, 336. 
 
 Taku, defeat of the Allies at, 341. 
 
 Tamchin Tala, Steppe of the, 369. 
 
 Tartary, Steppes of, 316. 
 
 Tashitang anthracite, analysis of, 443. 
 
 Tashkend, trade of, with Siberia, 402. 
 
 Ta-tsau anthracite, 291. 
 
 Tatsau anthracite, analysis of, 442. 
 
 Tatung coal, analysis of, 444. 
 
 Ta-tung (fn), coal of, 311. 
 
 Tauism, 167. 
 
 Tau-li-chuen, incident at, 321. 
 
 Tea, routes of transportation of, 213. 
 
 Tea-trade, overland to Eussia, 403. 
 
 Te-hai, valley of the, 331. 
 
 Temple of Daishi,visitto the, 82; of Heaven 
 
 at Peking, 275. 
 Temples of Kamakura, 81. 
 Terrific snow-storm in Mongolia, 369. 
 Texas, surface of Northeastern, 2. 
 Teyih anthracite, analysis of, 443. 
 Tienshan Mountains, 381. 
 Tien-tsin, 266. 
 
 Tinaje Alte, terrors of the, 59. 
 Tinajita Mountains, 6. 
 Tiumen, 418. 
 Tokaido, journey oij the, 109 ; scenery alons 
 
 the, 110. 
 Tomarigawa, 188. 
 
454 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Toshibetz, 1T2. 
 
 Totohoke, 152. 
 
 Trachytic porphyry, at Kuri, 378; near 
 Kalgan, 313 ; origin of, on Tesso, 184. 
 
 Trachytic rocks of the Iwaounobori, 179 ; 
 of Kalgan, 315 ; on Yesso, 177. 
 
 Tsin-chi Hwang-te, 314. 
 
 Tsung-li-yamun, Intemew with the, 2S7. 
 
 Trans-Baikal ia, gold prodaetion of, 446. 
 
 Tubac, 5; village of, 7. 
 
 Tucson, arrival at, 5 ; distance from Indian- 
 ola. Fort Yuma, and Guaymas, 30 ; mete- 
 oric iron at, 6 ; transparency of the atmos- 
 phere at, 5. 
 
 Tung-ting Lake, 230. 
 
 Tung-tse, 239. 
 
 Tutinza, 315. 
 
 Uraga Channel, 1'7. 
 
 Uraf Mountains, ascent of, 418. 
 
 Urga, Lama-tpwn of, 382. 
 
 Vegetation of Arizona, 10. 
 
 Velellae, 74. 
 
 Vlangali, Gen., see. 
 
 Volcano Bay, 160. 
 
 Volcanic action, recent, on the Desert, 58; 
 ■cones on Volcano Bay, -170; rocks at Ha- 
 majime, 183 ; rocks capping hills in Ari- 
 zona, S. 
 
 w 
 
 Wages iP Arizona, 32. 
 
 Walsh, Mr. J. G., 192, 363 ; Mr. T., 363. 
 
 Wang-ping-tsun, 293. 
 
 Wani, 162. 
 
 Ward, General, 349 ; death of, 231. 
 
 Washburn, accident to Mr., 40. 
 
 Washinoki, 169. 
 
 Water, scarcity of, in Arizona, 9. 
 
 Western policy in China, 339; in Japan, 
 
 126. 
 Whitney, Professor J. D., 67. 
 Williams, the Frontiersman, 52 ; plot of, 62; 
 
 Btory of, 54. 
 Williams, Dr. S. W., 282. 
 Wodowara Bay, 80 ; excursion to, 128. 
 Wosatsube, 151. 
 Woshimanbe, 175. 
 
 Wrestlers in Japan, 140. 
 Wuchang, 224, 226. 
 Wuh-yuen, the statesman, 246. 
 
 Xavier's career in Japan, 96. 
 
 Yamabushi, m. 
 
 Yamukshinai, petroleum near, 170. 
 
 Yang-fang, 288. 
 
 Yang-ho, head-waters of the, 323; valley of 
 the, 293. 
 
 Yang-kau, incident at, 335. 
 
 Yangtz'-kiang, journey up the, 215; ship- 
 wrecked on the, 215 ; scenery on the, 223 ; 
 boat-journey on the Upper, 229 ; Ichang 
 Gorge on the, 241 ; Devonian limestone 
 on, 242; granite on the, 242; rapids of 
 the, 242 ; Lucan Gorge of thei, 244 ; Mitaii 
 Gorge on the, 244; coal-measures on, 245. 
 
 Yeddo, entrance to the Bay of, 76 ; Govern- 
 ment, and foreign powers, 120 ; visit to, 
 131. 
 
 Yellow Eiver, turned by the Eebels, 220: 
 Sea, voyage over the, 203. 
 
 Yermak, 396. 
 
 Yesso, animals of, 88 ; coal and other forma- 
 tions on, 86 ; west coast of, 176 ; Trachy- 
 tic rocks on, 177 ; Gaultheria on, 178 ; coal 
 on, 181 ; marine productions of, 182 ; ge- 
 ology of west coast of, 184; geological 
 changes on, 184 ; contrast between impe- 
 rial and princely territories on, 186 ; rice 
 cultivated on, 191 ; coal, analysis of, 445 ; 
 first journey on, 143 ; flora of, 87 ; forests 
 of, 172 ; government method of colonizing, 
 175 ; manner of winning gold on, 173 ; Ee- 
 bellion in, 94; second journey in, 169; 
 subdivision of, 144. 
 
 Yin and Yang, 287. 
 
 YingWO anthracite, analysis of, 445. 
 
 Yochau (fu), 230. 
 
 Yokohama, TO- 
 
 Yoritomo, 94 ; policy of, 115. 
 
 Yoshitzune, 89, 95. 
 
 Yu-lin, incident at, 309. 
 
 Yuma Indians, beautiful women of the, 60. 
 
 Yunonai, hot springs and poi-phyry at, 177. 
 
 Yurup, Aino village of, 170 ; lead mines and 
 rocks at, 189 ; warm springs of, 190. 
 
 Yuwao, Mr., 143.