liuiiiititiniiiiutii] 
 
 ASIA 
 
 fi<jiaiM»i4Si 
 
 .:. ELIOT- 
 

 a^atntU HtitttEraltg ffiihrarg 
 
 iltlrara. Kern fork 
 
 CHARLES WILUAM WASON 
 
 COLLECTION 
 
 CHINA AND THE CHINESE 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 CLASS OF 1876 
 1918 
 
DS 508.E42"'" """"""' ""'''' 
 Lptters from the Far East 
 
 3 1924 023 271 590 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924023271590 
 
//3 
 
 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 

 t- 
 
LETTERS FROM THE 
 FAR EAST 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR CHARLES ELIOT, K.C.M.G. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 'THE EAST AFRICA PROTECTORATE,' 'TURKEY IN EUROPE,' ETC. 
 
 LONDON 
 EDWARD ARNOLD 
 
 41 & 43 MADDOX STREET, BOND STREET W. 
 
 lPu&It6ber to the 3n£)ta ©fllce 
 1907 
 
 [All ri£^hts ieserv.:d\ 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION 1 
 
 I. THE RELIGIOUS EAST 30 
 
 II. COCHIN CHINA 44 
 
 III. CANTON 56 
 
 IV. TOWNS AND ROADS 67 
 V. ON THE YANGTSE 75 
 
 VI. HANKOW TO PEKING 83 
 
 VII. PEKING 91 
 
 VIII. EDUCATION AND THE ARMY 100 
 
 IX. CHINESE ADMINISTRATION AND ITS PROSPECTS 110 
 
 X. CHINESE LITERATURE 118 
 
 XI. IN A JAPANESE TRAIN 128 
 
 XII. FAR EASTERN CHARACTERISTICS - - 137 
 
 XIII. JAPANESE LITERATURE - - 146 
 
 XIV. NIKKO 159 
 XV. ISE 167 
 
 XVI. KAMAKURA AND MISAKI- 178 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 VIEW OF THE GREAT WALL Frontispiece 
 
 RECUMBENT STATUE OF BUDDHA To foce page 20 
 
 PAGODA OF TOJI AND TEA GARDEN, KYOTO „ 78 
 
 MONASTERY NEAR PEKING „ 86 
 
 THE WALLS OF PEKING ,, 92 
 
 VIEW FROM THE ALTAR OF HEAVEN, PEKING ,, 94 
 
 TEMPLE OF PRAYER FOR GRAIN, PEKING - „ 98 
 
 FUJI „ 132 
 
 MIYAJIMA - - - ,,134- 
 
 INTERIOR OF CHIONIN TEMPLE AT KYOTO- ,, 136 
 
 STONE LANTERNS OUTSIDE TEMPLE ,, 148 
 
 A TEA HOUSE AND LOTUS-POND - „ 158 
 
 INTERIOR OF TEMPLE OF lEMITSU - „ 164 
 
 TEMPLE AT NIKKO „ 166 
 
 ROOM IN A JAPANESE TEA HOUSE ,, 170 
 
 YASHAMON GATE, NIKKO „ 178 
 
LETTEES FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 / 
 The letters here republished consist of contributions 
 
 written for the Westminster Gazette during a brief 
 visit to China and Japan in the summer and autumn 
 of 1906, together with some additions. I had 
 travelled before in Kashgaria and the frontier pro- 
 vinces of China, reaching them by crossing Asia, but 
 this was my first visit to the coast and the better- 
 known provinces of the empire. The main object 
 of my journey was to obtain some practical know- 
 ledge of the languages and creeds of the Far East, 
 and, in particular, to study the curious development 
 which Buddhism has undergone in those countries ; 
 for it is difficult to form a correct and comprehensive 
 idea of the part which this religion has played in the 
 world by the mere study of Sanskrit and Pali litera- 
 ture. I trust that I may some day be able to publish 
 the result of these and other investigations in a con- 
 nected form. 
 
 Meantime, it is with some hesitation that I re- 
 produce these fragmentary impressions de voyage. 
 But, slight as they are, they seem to me to bring out 
 in relief the fact which struck me most during my 
 travels — ^namely, the distinctness of China and Japan 
 
 1 
 
2 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 from the rest of Asia, and particularly from the 
 Indian and Mohammedan East. This is, of course, 
 obvious the moment it is pointed out, but by a vice 
 of thought as well as of language such words as 
 ' east ' and ' orientals ' are made to apply to all 
 countries from Turkey to the Pacific. The enormous 
 strides which were being made by Japan were long 
 not appreciated at their true value, because she was 
 thought to be an oriental country, and as such unable 
 to overstep the limits which European ideas thought 
 probable for oriental progress ; and at the present 
 day the gist of much criticism on the reform move- 
 ment in China is that the Chinese are not likely to 
 change, because eastern countries are unchanging. 
 It is noticeable, too, that the Calif omian objections to 
 the Japanese generally contain the word ' oriental ' 
 used in a reproachful sense. ' We do not want our 
 children to be educated with orientals,' or ' We do 
 not want these people in our country, because they 
 are orientals,' is the burden of their complaint. It 
 is to be feared that no change in terminology will 
 overcome these racial antipathies, but it is im- 
 portant for the enemies as well as the friends of the 
 Chinese and Japanese to realize that all arguments 
 based on the assumption that they are similar to 
 the inhabitants of the Mohammedan East are falla- 
 cious. Any absolute dichotomy of the Old World 
 into east and west is misleading. Europe has indeed 
 a certain homogeneity in spite of many differences, 
 but even superficial uniformity is wanting in Asia. 
 
 At the present day the world may be said to contain 
 four varieties or provinces of civilization : European 
 (in which word I throughout include Americans, 
 Australians, and the white races generally), Moham- 
 
INTRODUCTION 3 
 
 medan, Hindu, and Chinese. These spheres and 
 systems overlap (India, for instance, is partly 
 Mohammedan), but in a given area it can usually be 
 affirmed that one or other of them is definitely domi- 
 nant. Such fragments of civiHzation as may be 
 found outside them do not appear to have had an 
 independent origin, and the pre-Columbian civiliza- 
 tions of America seem to be a thing of the past as 
 completely as the institutions of ancient Egypt or 
 Babylonia. Of these civilizations, by far the most 
 striking and extensive is the European. Its sphere 
 includes aU Europe, practically all America and 
 Austraha, and parts of Asia and Africa. It is char- 
 acterized by the enormous development of the 
 material and mechanical sides of hfe, and of the scien- 
 tific studies which render them possible. Further, 
 although there are great difierences between the 
 different countries in the degree of their pohtical de- 
 velopment, the rights of the individual are more 
 clearly admitted than in other social organizations. 
 Yet the individual is usually thought of as only a 
 member of a society or movement. In Asia certain 
 personahties may obtain far more complete indepen- 
 dence and power than in Europe ; and Asiatic specula- 
 tion holds up, more frequently than our own, ideals 
 consisting in the perfection of individual isolated 
 character. Trade is generally recognized in Europe as 
 one of the bases of national prosperity, and although 
 military states exist, they are no longer contemp- 
 tuous of commerce. This civilization is also invari- 
 ably associated with Christianity, which must be 
 regarded as an essentially European religion ; for 
 though it arose on Asiatic soil, it was transplanted to 
 Europe almost at its birth, and it was in Europe that 
 
 1—2 
 
4 LETTERS FEOM THE FAR EAST 
 
 its most conspicuous forms, notably the Roman 
 Catholic Church, were evolved. It does not, how- 
 ever, appear that the material, scientific, and moral 
 progress of Europe is due to Christianity. It has 
 been least striking in the countries where the clergy 
 have most power, such as Spain and Russia ; almost 
 every advance of science has been persecuted by the 
 Church, or, when that became impossible, denounced 
 and discouraged ; torture and slavery were tolerated 
 for ages, and the movements for their aboHtion were 
 not mainly religious in origin. 
 
 The Mohammedan sphere includes western Asia, 
 northern Africa, and a little of eastern Europe. It is 
 a remarkable testimony to the penetrating influence 
 of this religion that it is possible to speak of Moham- 
 medans as a unity. They are one in a sense in which 
 Christendom is not. Islam provides the secular as 
 well as the religious law of the lands in which it pre- 
 vails, and creates a community of customs as well as 
 of faith. Mohammedan nations are generally marked 
 by a strong mihtary spirit, accompanied by a dis- 
 inclination for commerce and an indifference to 
 material prosperity. Slavery and polygamy are 
 common. The patriarchal family system found in 
 India and China is not more characteristic of Moham- 
 medan than of European life, though it may occur 
 here and there. The political system nearly always 
 consists of a democracy beneath a despotism which 
 allows surprisingly free play to individual careers, 
 although progressive movements rarely succeed un- 
 less aided from without. Art and literature exhibit 
 a strong Arab influence, and show themselves in 
 special and limited, but by no means unpleasing, 
 forms. The power possessed by Mohammedanism of 
 
INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 converting and drilling semi-savage races, as still dis- 
 played in Africa, renders it a dangerous religion, par- 
 ticularly in view of its doctrine that the temporal and 
 spiritual power ought to be united. It is at its best 
 in India, where, under the double check of a Christ- 
 ian government and a large Hindu population, it 
 is compelled to adopt a reasonable and Hberal tone. 
 It is remarkable that European nations have almost 
 invariably refused to accept Mohammedanism, in 
 spite of the great temptation to apostatize under 
 Turkish rule. 
 
 The Hindu sphere comprises India and some 
 countries to the east of it, but it is noticeable that, 
 though Indian influence has spread as far as Japan, 
 it has made no way at aU towards the west, and has 
 had hardly any effect in Europe. Like the Mohamme- 
 dans, they are a deeply religious people, but the re- 
 Hgion is of a far less aggressive type, and has left its 
 mark on the world in virtue of its speculations and its 
 art rather than its political conquests. Practically 
 the whole of eastern Asia, which includes the majority 
 of the civilized human race, has been influenced by 
 either Hinduism or Buddhism, which is the export 
 form of Hinduism. In India itself the most remark- 
 able feature is the persistence and supremacy of the 
 ancient priestly famihes known as Brahmans, who 
 have succeeded in relegating the miUtary and royal 
 classes to a secondary place in popular esteem. India 
 has hence played a comparatively small part in active 
 politics, and has been constantly invaded, without 
 thereby losing its idiosyncrasies, although the Mo- 
 hammedans have adopted the Perso-Arabic culture. 
 The Hindus as a whole have more aptitude for trade 
 than for war, although, as might be expected in so 
 
6 LETTERS PROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 large an area, warlike races are not absent ; but their 
 chief characteristic as a race is no doubt their keen 
 intellectual activity and inclination towards religious 
 and philosophical discussion, combined with con- 
 siderable artistic gifts. Society is organized on the 
 basis of the family, not of the individual — ^that is to 
 say, the father or grandfather is recognized as head 
 of an establishment composed of his descendants, who 
 live under his rule and do not form separate homes 
 of their own. This idea has not, however, influenced 
 Indian political organizations. 
 
 The Chinese sphere, with which we are more speci- 
 ally here concerned, comprises China itself, Japan, 
 Korea, and Indo-China, but does not extend to the 
 Malay Archipelago. It is clear that in this sphere the 
 unifying and dominating influence comes from China 
 in political institutions, language, written signs 
 (which are not alphabetical), and art. The general 
 character of this region differs from the two last 
 described in many ways. In the first place, the 
 government is remarkably stable. The empire of 
 China has existed in its present form for more 
 than 2,000 years, and, neglecting the legendary 
 beginnings of Japan, the House of the Mikado has 
 certainly been about 1,400 years on the throne. 
 This continuity and stability contrast remark- 
 ably with the ephemeral states and dynasties of 
 India, which have rarely lasted more than a few 
 generations ; nor have the Mohammedan CaHphates 
 had long lives. Then one notices that the people of 
 the Far East are neither aggressive nor fanatical. 
 Until the last decade the Japanese remained re- 
 stricted to their islands, and for the last 2,000 years 
 the history of China is a record, not of expan- 
 
INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 sion, but of the repulse or success of various Tartar 
 invasions. The basis of Chinese institutions is an 
 excellent, sane, prosaic, moral philosophy, which has 
 little in common with Mohammedan theocracy or the 
 incoherent despotisms of India, offsprings of an in- 
 difference to political organization. In no country 
 of the Far East is there a priesthood or religion which 
 has developed political power. The predominant 
 occupations of the people are industry and trade. 
 Except in Japan, the profession of arms is held in 
 scant esteem. Art and literature are weU developed, 
 but are, as in Europe, largely secular, whereas in the 
 Mohammedan and Indian sphere they are primarily 
 rehgious. The idea of the family as a unit is of 
 great importance, and seems to lie at the root of the 
 conception of the state. With this idea is closely 
 connected the practice of ancestor worship, which 
 may be said to be the real indigenous, though often 
 disguised, rehgion of the Far East. Japan presents 
 a good many special features, which will be con- 
 sidered shortly, but differs from China above all in 
 its strong military spirit of a feudal type, which in 
 some points resembles the institutions of mediaeval 
 Europe. 
 
 It will be plain from the above brief remarks that 
 nations within the Chinese sphere do not share the 
 pecuharities of Hindus or Mohammedans, and have, 
 in fact, many of the same aptitudes and aspirations as 
 Europeans, though the difference between them and 
 us in material civilization and development is great. 
 That difference the Japanese are in process of reduc- 
 ing, if they have not already annihilated it. Un- 
 fortunately, this convergence in ideals and in the 
 externals of civilization does not make for peace 
 
8 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 when these races come into contact with Europeans. 
 The Chinese are not popular among foreigners, but 
 are tolerated because they compete in so few ways. 
 The Japanese emigrate less than the Chinese, but 
 are extremely unpopular in the west of America, 
 because they can compete with Europeans in almost 
 all arts and trades, and excel them in many. Yet, 
 in spite of this, there is clearly a great difference 
 between the white and yellow races in a thousand 
 superficial matters appertaining to habits and cus- 
 toms, and also some divergences in character and 
 the fundamental constitution of society. 
 
 It is not easy to define what these are, and the 
 differences which raise barriers between nations 
 may often be slight. It does seem, however, that 
 in China and Japan alike the spirit of individualism 
 is far less developed than in Europe or America. 
 A human being in the Far East is primarily a member 
 of a family or of the state, and is less likely to assert 
 his individual character than among us. Hence one 
 may find incredible conservatism retaining abuses 
 when reform would be easy, and sudden change 
 sweeping away at the bidding of government what 
 one might suppose to be precious heirlooms. In 
 neither case do individualities play so strong a 
 part as in European movements. It is curious how 
 few records of commanding personahties there are 
 in the history of the Far East, with the exception of 
 the distant Confucius, who was one of the least 
 self-assertive of men. Both native and European 
 historians of China seem to think in terms of 
 dynasties rather than of emperors, and India, though 
 far inferior to China in political genius and stability, 
 can show more pohtical personalities of eminence. 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 This question of individuality concerns the moral 
 and intellectual sides of life. On the material side 
 the difference in the standard of comfort is marked. 
 Both Japanese and Chinese can thrive on a paucity 
 of food (in this like the Hindus) and an absence of 
 comfort intolerable to Europeans, and this, if we con- 
 sider them as rivals, is one of their most formidable 
 quahties. No one who knows Russia well can doubt 
 that the dissipation prevalent among Russian officers 
 was one of the chief causes of her collapse in the late 
 war. 
 
 Though China and Japan have much in common, 
 and Japan's debt to China in the past is enormous, 
 the two nations are unlike in many details, and 
 are best treated separately. Let us take China first. 
 It is the stock example of immobility and extreme 
 conservatism. Confucius said, ' I am one who 
 is fond of antiquity, and seeks knowledge there,' 
 and century after century, millennium after mil- 
 lennium, his nation has followed him. All mankind 
 have a tendency to believe in a golden age, and 
 this belief, by the way, is a curious proof that the 
 most mdespread instincts and beliefs of humanity 
 are not on that account true, for if anything in 
 early history is certain, it is that there never was a 
 golden age. But the idea is more firmly fixed in 
 the Chinese mind than among other nations, and 
 with less counterpoise in any idea of progress or of 
 a Messiah. This can only be called limitation of 
 outlook and, to a certain extent, wrongheadedness. 
 
 The explanation, no doubt, is to be largely sought 
 in history. Confucius was rightly alarmed at the 
 symptoms of disintegration which he detected in 
 the feudal governments of his time, and preferred 
 
10 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 the ancient system of rule, which was probably 
 more compact. After his death the chronicles of 
 his country have as a background a long struggle 
 against invading tribes with varying success. The 
 Han dynasty (206 B.C. to a.d. 214), under which China 
 was a great state, was succeeded by a period of 
 disunion, which ended in disruption, the Tartars 
 ruling in the north and the Chinese in the south. 
 Then came another glorious period of reconsolidation 
 and extension under the T'ang dynasty, which was 
 in many ways the most brilliant epoch in the 
 intellectual and political life of China ; but the law 
 of rise and fall, expansion and contraction, which 
 seems characteristic of Chinese history, acted again. 
 Another period of dissension and division ensued, 
 the empire beiag again divided between Chinese 
 in the south and Tartars in the north, until the 
 disorder was brought to an end by the Mongol 
 conquest. The Mongol rule lasted less than a 
 hundred years, and was succeeded by another 
 efflorescence of patriotism and talent under the 
 native dynasty known as Ming, which in its turn 
 decayed and succumbed before a new body of in- 
 vaders, the Manchus, who still rule the country. 
 
 In early times the Chinese were not averse to 
 receiving foreign ideas ; they accepted Buddhism, 
 and with it much Indian art and literature, although 
 Buddhism, with its doctrines of monasticism and 
 metempsychosis, was most distasteful to their ideas 
 of family hfe and of ancestor worship, and has 
 always been opposed by devout Confucianists. But 
 in the Middle Ages communication with India 
 decreased, and there was no civilized country 
 within reach. Nestorian Christians and Moham- 
 
INTRODUCTION ] 1 
 
 medans, indeed, appeared, and were received with 
 toleration. But with this exception nothing good 
 came from abroad. China gave her civiUzation to 
 Korea, Annam, and Japan, but received no equiva- 
 lent in return, and all the Kins, Kitans, Mongols, 
 and Manchus who invaded the empire introduced 
 no new elements of culture worth mention. Nay, 
 time after time, when Chinese culture raised its head 
 and flourished, there came a blow from abroad 
 which threw it back. But the invaders recognized 
 the superiority of the Chinese, for though they might 
 obtain possession of the imperial throne, they 
 adopted Chinese customs, and were lost in the 
 great mass of the Chinese people. One cannot be 
 altogether surprised if, after centuries of these 
 invasions, the Chinese came to regard all foreigners 
 as barbarians, who had nothing to teach but every- 
 thing to learn by respectfully accepting Chinese 
 principles and customs. And this estimate of the 
 outer world with which they came in contact was 
 perfectly true until the arrival of Europeans. It 
 was not intelligent of them to fail to see the difference 
 between Europeans and the Tartar hordes, but it 
 must be remembered that until recently the strength 
 of Europe displayed itself only in an occasional and 
 fragmentary form, and that chiefly in a few seaports 
 which were not the residence of the government or 
 of any large proportion of the educated classes. 
 
 The geographical isolation of the Chinese has 
 been so complete that their remarkable commercial 
 genius failed to break it down. The empire was 
 large enough to trade with itself. Yet in the fifteenth 
 century, under the Ming dynasty, their fleets appear 
 to have reached India and even the east coast of 
 
12 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 Africa, and it may be that, if a Chinese dynasty 
 had continued on the throne, they would have been 
 better disposed towards communications with for- 
 eigners, for the Manchus were no doubt partly 
 influenced by the fear that new ideas might disturb 
 the minds of their subjects and lead to revolts. 
 But there can be no doubt of the existence of the 
 financial and commercial spirit. It is seen in all 
 departments of life, in such curious details, for 
 instance, as old people who take up their abode 
 near a graveyard in order to spare the expense of a 
 long funeral procession. The thrift and industry 
 of the Chinese are beyond all praise, but mercantile 
 methods and ideals have gone beyond their own 
 province, and affect disadvantageously politics and 
 morals. To this must be largely attributed the want 
 of high ideals, of active benevolence, of interest in 
 public affairs, and of patriotism. Confucius said 
 that a man who is not in an office has nothing to 
 do with the conduct of its affairs. Government and 
 administration are regarded as simply a number of 
 business concerns out of which those who handle 
 them make a profit. Specially remarkable is the 
 want of military spirit and of enthusiasm for military 
 achievements. As pointed out below, a change of 
 views in this respect is one of the most noticeable 
 features of the last few years, but hitherto the 
 military profession has been despised as unworthy 
 of the attention of a sage or practical man of 
 business. Something similar may be seen in the 
 United States, or at any rate might have been seen, 
 for there, too, there has been a revival of military 
 sentiment. But seven or eight years ago I remember 
 hearing an American, who held a high official 
 
INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 position, say that he regarded soldiering as a low- 
 down, mean profession. 
 
 Though the Chinese do not take a patriotic interest 
 in public affairs, employment in the government 
 service is the career to which all aspire who can, and 
 is combined in the popular imagination with literary 
 distinction. The hero of the ordinary Chinese novel 
 is a man who passes examinations and obtains 
 government appointments. This somewhat tame 
 ideal is firmly rooted in the popular mind, and the 
 respect and study of literature is as great a character- 
 istic of the nation as conservatism or the commercial 
 spirit. To the former it is nearly akin, for hardly 
 anything original has been produced by Chinese 
 writers for many centuries. Still, it is something to 
 be able to say of a nation that it is always accessible, 
 if not to argument, at least to an apt quotation, and 
 that is true of the Chinese since the time of Confucius. 
 Chinese works are an exception to most Asiatic 
 literature in not being mainly religious. Hardly any 
 except Buddhist translations from the Sanskrit claim 
 a definitely sacred character, and the majority are 
 entirely secular. This gives them a freedom which 
 the doctors of Arabic and Sanskrit never attained, 
 but it is largely counterbalanced by an imitative 
 conservatism, a want of creative boldness, and a 
 disinclination for speculation. 
 
 How feeble is this last power in the Chinese mind 
 may be seen from their philosophy. The earliest 
 philosophers illustrated their ideas by certain 
 diagrams composed of lines intended to represent 
 such conceptions as the active and passive principles 
 in nature, and even to this day Chinese philosophy 
 has not been able to disentangle itself from these 
 
14 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 diagrams as an integral part of science and meta- 
 physics. Religion is similarly entangled with ani- 
 mistic and cosmological ideas, and, except in as far 
 as it is found in translations of Indian Buddhist 
 works, hardly exists in a form worthy of the name, 
 for it is represented either by gross superstitions 
 mainly connected with funeral rites, or by excellent 
 moral treatises in which religious feeling, properly 
 so called, is absent. Moral and political philosophy 
 is, indeed, the department of literature in which the 
 Chinese specially excel. The utterances of their 
 writers on such matters often sound like platitudes 
 when translated, but if one considers the period at 
 which they were undoubtedly composed one can 
 only admire their soundness and originality. The 
 theories of Mencius (372 to 289 B.C.) are pecuHarly 
 interesting. He lays down distinctly that the 
 people are the principal part of the state, and that 
 religion and the Emperor are merely departments of 
 government. 
 
 The poverty of Chinese religious ideas is reflected 
 in their art, for the greatest manifestations of art are 
 intimately connected with religion. The art of 
 Europe is not commonly thought of as mainly 
 religious, yet if all the temples, cathedrals, and 
 rehgious pictures were taken away, what a gap 
 would be left. In Chinese architecture there is 
 little of the sublime or grandiose, and the habit of 
 building mainly in wood encourages the picturesque 
 and useful rather than the imposing. But of such 
 buildings there is a multitude, and the level of taste 
 and talent in the smaller arts — in bronze, porce- 
 lain, carving, lacquer, enamels, and textiles — is high. 
 In painting, if we miss the highest inspiration. 
 
INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 beauty of line and delicacy of colour are conspicuous, 
 and in Chinese caligraphy, the derivative of painting, 
 art is extended to writing more completely than in 
 any other system. 
 
 One might have expected a people with so positive 
 and practical a spirit to make greater progress in 
 science. They were the authors of many remarkable 
 inventions, such as printing and the compass, but 
 they did little in the way of developing their own 
 discoveries, partly from their natural conservatism, 
 and partly, it must be said in their excuse, owing to 
 the unceasing task of repelHng barbarian invasions, 
 only varied by submission to them. But no doubt 
 Chinese science, philosophy, and rehgion do all 
 reveal one great weakness in the national mind — 
 namely, its extraordinary superstition and neghgence 
 of facts. It is true that in many matters, such as 
 medicine and the physical sciences generally, China 
 is merely in the same condition as medieval Europe ; 
 but stiU medieval Europe does not give any example 
 of superstition quite so gross, systematic, and wide- 
 spread as the Chinese Feng-Shui, the science of 
 lucky and unlucky sites, and of the good and bad 
 influences in the earth which affect both the houses 
 of the living and the graves of the dead. This 
 branch of imaginary knowledge has its professors, 
 text-books, rules, and instruments, and is taken as 
 seriously as surveying is in Europe. The Chinese 
 mind is prone to theorizing and systematizing, but 
 only up to a certain point. The theories and 
 systems are rarely thorough and complete, and still 
 more rarely checked by any reference to facts. Self- 
 conceit, respect for antiquity, a long course of purely 
 literary education, administered through centuries to 
 
16 LETTERS PROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 successive generations, a fondness for ceremony, for 
 symbolism, and expedients for ' saving face,' to- 
 gether with a disinchnation for either higher specu- 
 lative flights or a minute examination of facts, have 
 made the Chinese, although a practical, energetic, 
 commercial people, less receptive of science and 
 material progress than many intellectually inferior 
 races. 
 
 I am conscious that, in indicating some sides of 
 the Chinese character, I have emphasized chiefly 
 the bad sides. This is far from being the result of 
 any prejudice against the Chinese, but rather of a 
 feeling that the point about them which requires 
 explanation is why they have not cut a greater figure 
 in the world. In numbers they exceed every other 
 race, even if we reckon all Europeans together as a 
 unit, and their physique is excellent ; they can live 
 anywhere, and certain sections of them are disposed 
 to emigrate ; they are civiHzed, laborious, and excel- 
 lent men of business. Why, then, have so large 
 and gifted a people not conquered the world ? 
 The answer must be found in their mental defects, 
 and perhaps, to some extent, in their virtues, for 
 though in practice modern international ethics 
 assume the contrary, attention to one's own business 
 and an unaggressive spirit are not faults. 
 
 The question of greatest interest presented by the 
 Chinese at this moment is the extent of their power 
 to change and reform their ways. The example 
 of Japan, though it may not be strictly legitimate 
 to argue from it, prepares one for a power of trans- 
 formation which might otherwise seem improbable 
 in so conservative a country, and it is well known 
 that when Conservatives do change they make the 
 
INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 most violent Radicals. There can, I think, be no 
 doubt of the reality of the impression made on the 
 Chinese by the events of the last decade. Enormous 
 as are their self-complacency and their indifference 
 to obvious facts, it has been forced upon their atten- 
 tion that Europeans are their undoubted superiors 
 in material strength, and that they have not at 
 present the knowledge and organization necessary 
 to resist attack. The danger of attack is equally 
 clear. What practical fruit in the way of change 
 and reform will these disagreeable considerations 
 produce ? 
 
 There is no precise parallel in history to aid one 
 in making a guess, for no other country has had the 
 same length of national life. The modern Greeks, 
 Italians, and Egyptians are not reproductions of 
 the ancient states which bore the same names, and 
 the Japanese are a relatively modern people. The 
 Chinese offer the unique spectacle of a state which 
 has a continuous and authentic history of about 
 3,000 years, and has apparently become senile. 
 Can states or individuals rejuvenate themselves ? 
 Does anyone have a second innings ? In favour 
 of the Chinese one may say that national decay 
 is generally accompanied by national disappear- 
 ance ; the race becomes mixed, and the native 
 element loses its distinctive character. But there 
 is no sign of that in China. The race is as numerous, 
 vigorous, and tenacious of its peculiarities as ever, 
 neither has it been worn out by any particular 
 exertions in the last few centuries. An inspection 
 of its long history suggests that the nation is not 
 immovable, but alternates between periods of 
 activity and quiescence, the latter generally accom- 
 
 2 
 
18 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 panied by the rule of foreigners. If the race is not 
 effete, it would be quite in harmony with its record 
 in the past if the decay of the Manchu dynasty 
 coincided with a national Chinese revival. Also, 
 it is a hopeful sign that the will, ambition, and ideals 
 of the Chinese all tend to lead them in the path of 
 progress. They are retarded by their methods, 
 but unlike the Turks, who have few ideals in common 
 with Europeans, they have much the same views 
 about national prosperity as we have, and the 
 sentiments of either race on these subjects might 
 serve as headings for the copybooks of the other. 
 No country in Europe has a greater passion for 
 education, only the education imparted is almost 
 useless. The black side of the picture is the dis- 
 organization of the government, and the difficulty 
 of finding any machinery which can act upon the 
 country as a whole. Also, Chinese conceit has not 
 lost its power for evil merely because the nation 
 admit that they have something to learn from 
 Europeans. There is still the danger that they 
 may think they can learn it very easily, and not 
 take sufficient pains with the lesson. 
 
 The features common to China and Japan are 
 more important than the points of difference, yet 
 the two countries offer obvious contrasts, particu- 
 larly when one comes to definitions and descriptions. 
 China is large, various, and vague ; it is hard to 
 delineate the national character, to state precisely 
 the influences which have produced it, or to say 
 anything which is really true of the whole country. 
 On the other hand, it is exceedingly easy to say 
 things about Japan which are at least plausible. 
 The country is small, and presents a manageable 
 
INTRODUCTION 19 
 
 panorama to the historian and traveller ; its rulers 
 have always kept it singularly well in hand ; it has 
 generally done and known what the government 
 of the time wished it to do and know. 
 
 The circumstances and history of Japan are so 
 different from those of other Asiatic states that 
 they prepare one for a different result. They do 
 not, perhaps, entirely explain the special eminence 
 which the country has attained, but they do make 
 the divergence of its development from the ordinary 
 Asiatic norm perfectly natural. In the first place, 
 the empire is entirely comprised in a group of 
 islands in the temperate zone. This made it 
 practically safe from those barbarian invasions which 
 battered the strength and mixed the races of most 
 Asiatic lands. The wave of Mohammedan conquest 
 stopped further south ; Christian interference in the 
 sixteenth century was checked and controlled. 
 The only serious invasion, that of the Mongol 
 Emperor, Kublai Khan, at the end of the thirteenth 
 century, was repulsed. The people were warlike, 
 and, left thus to themselves, developed a system of 
 feudalism and chivalry rare, if not unique, in Asia. 
 Civil strife is a great evil, but at least it tends to 
 produce a more humane and generous style of combat 
 than the wars of race and religion which have 
 decimated the continent of Asia, for in such contests 
 each party thought the other hardly human. Also, 
 no one could force on the Japanese an alien system 
 of morals, manners, or religion. Secure on their 
 islands, they borrowed what pleased them and no 
 more. Their debt to China is immense, and if we 
 wonder that China lags so far behind Japan to-day, 
 we may also reflect that the institutions, art, 
 
 2—2 
 
20 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 literature, religion, and even language of Japan 
 would offer a very meagre spectacle if all that is 
 borrowed from China were deducted. But, com- 
 bined with this power of borrowing, the Japanese 
 have also a genius for adaptation. Critics some- 
 times reproach them with being imitative, but this 
 reproach forgets that there is no such thing as 
 absolute originality. The inhabitants of the British 
 islands, for instance, did not invent the Christian 
 rehgion, or the Roman alphabet, or the forms of 
 art which they piirsue with most success, any more 
 than the Japanese invented what corresponds to 
 these things ia Japan ; but few European nations 
 have had so great a talent for infusing their own 
 special individuality into what they borrowed with- 
 out spoiling it. 
 
 In the moral sphere there is one special difference 
 between the Chinese and Japanese. Whereas the 
 former give the first place to fihal piety in 
 the Uteral sense, the Japanese lay more stress on 
 the obligation of loyalty to a feudal superior, 
 and ultimately to the sovereign. As the feudal 
 system has now been aboHshed, only loyalty to the 
 throne and patriotism remain. Patriotism is, like 
 feudaHsm, a rare emotion and motive in Asia. The 
 willingness for self-sacrifice is indeed frequent, but 
 it is more commonly associated with religious 
 movements than with love for any one region. 
 This loyalty preserved the House of the Mikado from 
 the dawn of Japanese history till the present day, 
 in spite of the grave danger which contiaually 
 threatened it from ambitious nobles. One aristo- 
 cratic clan after another seized the royal power de 
 facto, but contented themselves with the title of 
 
INTRODUCTION 21 
 
 Shogun, and did not dethrone the imperial family. 
 In China, on the other hand, in spite of the respect 
 professed for the imperial power, the djmasty has 
 been frequently changed, and rebelhon has been 
 constant. With feudalism and loyalty was com- 
 bined, not unnaturally, a strong genius for disci- 
 pline and training. The Chinese love of instruction 
 was transferred from Uterature to practical things, 
 and the Japanese youth was put through an ex- 
 cellent course of moral discipline, in which the 
 austere science of when a man of honour had to 
 perform suicide, and how he should do it, formed 
 an item. Yet there was not, as is so often the case 
 in Asia, any personality, book, or priesthood which 
 cramped the national mind. Shintoism was vague 
 and easy-going. Buddhism and Confucianism were 
 both imported systems. Therefore, though the 
 Japanese were by no means lacking in national 
 pride, and as ready as the Chinese to beHeve them- 
 selves self-sufficient, there was not the same mass 
 of codified prejudice and obstruction to be overcome. 
 In the middle of the nineteenth century the people 
 were wearying of the policy of seclusion, and when 
 the government determined to reverse that policy 
 they met with some opposition among interested 
 pohtical parties, but with none in the great mass of 
 national feeling. 
 
 European estimates of the Japanese character and 
 achievements generally reveal a covert background 
 of jealousy, and even when they are favourable 
 describe the Far Eastern mind as inscrutable and 
 unfathomable. There is, I think, exaggeration in 
 all this. In one sense it is true that every nation 
 is a riddle to the others, and it has even been held that 
 
22 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 men never really understand women. The Japanese 
 character combines loyalty with versatility in a 
 juxtaposition which is unusual, but not inexpKcable, 
 but otherwise it seems to me that most of the 
 oddities which it, like all varieties of human nature, 
 offers may be paralleled in Europe. In social life 
 there is no doubt a great difference of customs, which 
 shows no tendency to diminish, for Japanese women, 
 after having tentatively essayed European ways, 
 seem disposed to retreat again within the bounds 
 fixed for them by native custom, which means that 
 family life becomes a much more intimate afiair 
 than in the west, and less exposed to cosmopolitan 
 influences. But be it observed that, though the 
 Japanese woman does not seem inclined to give her- 
 self the fuU measure of western licence, her position 
 is not like that of the inmates of a harem or zenana. 
 She follows a via media, and is by no means secluded. 
 Seeing that the Japanese are an extremely polite 
 and amiable people, who have given constant 
 practical proofs of their admiration for Europe, it 
 seems strange that Europeans should not hke them 
 better. Yet the fact is, I think, undoubted. In 
 the Far East one generally hears the Chinese praised 
 at the expense of the Japanese. It is clearly sig- 
 nificant that the Power which has concluded an 
 alliance with Japan is also the Power which is furthest 
 distant, and one wonders how many of the excellent 
 Britons who during the late war took a sporting 
 interest in the ' brave little Japs ' would really like 
 closer dealings with them. The aversion felt for 
 them by the Russians and Californians is no doubt 
 mainly political ; they are an unexpected obstacle 
 to various schemes, and it is annoying to be beaten 
 
INTRODUCTION 23 
 
 by outsiders at what one had thought one's own 
 game. But at least two special grounds of irritation 
 are commonly mentioned by Europeans who have 
 to do with Japanese. One is their dishonesty in 
 trade. The testimony to this is so strong that it 
 can hardly be doubted. It appears that Japanese 
 firms are not only wanting in integrity, but that 
 they wiU inflict great damage on those who do 
 business with them for the sake of a very small gain 
 to themselves, and with a total blindness to the 
 value of commercial reputation which they lose by 
 breaking faith ; further, that the quality of the goods 
 they supply is not constant, and tends to deteriorate. 
 The explanation no doubt is that they were till 
 lately a feudal people, whose ideas of honour were 
 exclusively military. The merchant did not enjoy 
 the same consideration and was not bound by the 
 same code as the soldier. In China, on the other 
 hand, a nation of merchants, the value of com- 
 mercial honour is recognized and its standard main- 
 tained, whereas large parts of the army were untU 
 recently a mob of rapscallions. 
 
 Another point which undoubtedly annoys Euro- 
 peans in Japan is the behaviour of iaferiors. There 
 is no lack of politeness ; in no country are bows, 
 smiles, and courteous phrases so superabundant. 
 But Japanese servants and tradesmen insist on think- 
 ing for themselves, and are wanting in that grave 
 unquestioning deference, generally characteristic of 
 orientals, which executes the most unreasonable 
 orders without hesitation or a smile. Disobedience 
 in Japan is clearly only superficial — her generals 
 and rulers are conspicuously successful in securing 
 the execution of their orders — but it is nevertheless 
 
24 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 tiresome in small matters. A waiter asks you if 
 you will have tea or coflfee, and you say tea quite 
 distinctly. But the waiter is a philosopher in his 
 way, and has formed a theory that foreigners 
 habitually drink coffee. He therefore brings you 
 coffee. ' But I ordered tea.' ' You will like this 
 coffee very much,' he blandly observes ; and to get 
 the tea the traveller will have to use great insistence, 
 and to provoke an expression on the waiter's face 
 which seems to say, ' What an oddly bred person 
 you are ! You know that coffee is what you really 
 want.' Similarly I once told a jinricksha man to 
 take me to a railway-station in Tokyo along certain 
 streets which I wanted to see. He went straight to 
 the station without passing through one of them, 
 assuming that I merely wished to reach the destina- 
 tion named, and that my description of the route 
 to be followed was a feeble foreign attempt to teach 
 him the way which he knew much better. 
 
 Of all human judgments, those passed by one 
 nation on another are probably the most fallacious. 
 They are generally based on defective knowledge, 
 and at best on some particulars placed in unduly 
 prominent relief. How often we laugh at some Far 
 Eastern custom, or, rather, at the phrase in which it 
 is described, forgetting that we do substantially the 
 same thing ourselves ! The Chinese system of posthu- 
 mous honours, of promoting and ennobling ancestors 
 after their death, makes the reader smile philo- 
 sophically at the odd ways of distant and backward 
 races. Yet the London Gazette of January 15, 1907, 
 contained a notice from the War Office stating that 
 the King had been graciously pleased to approve of 
 the Victoria Cross being dehvered to the representa- 
 
INTRODUCTION 25 
 
 tives of those who fell in the performance of acts of 
 valour, and who would have been recommended to 
 her late Majesty for the said decoration had they 
 survived. Does this differ much from the Chinese 
 system of conferring honours on the dead ? 
 
 The Japanese criticism of England is curious. 
 They say that we are dirty, lazy, and superstitious. 
 The charge of dirtiness is based on our failure to 
 take a daily hot bath after the Japanese custom, 
 but the many worthy muscular Christians who 
 take a cold tub every morning will resent this 
 heathen insult. The point in dispute is an excellent 
 instance of how different races may regard the same 
 matter differently, and each consider themselves 
 innocent and the other guilty of the same offence. 
 We think the Japanese wanting in cleanliness 
 because, though they boil themselves daily, they use 
 one after another the same water. 
 
 One reason for thinking us lazy is what appears to 
 the Japanese the excessive number of our hoHdays. 
 If one adds together all the Sundays of the year and 
 all the Saturday afternoons, with a good sprinkling 
 of Thursday afternoons in many places, and such 
 miscellaneous supplements as Christmas, Easter, 
 and Whitsuntide festivities, and bank hoHdays, it 
 will be seen that work ceases during about a quarter 
 of the whole year. Japanese labour is less dis- 
 continuous, for though Sunday is, in imitation of 
 Europe, observed to some extent as a day of 
 recreation, it is not a day when all shops are closed 
 and business comes to a standstill. Besides, a 
 Japanese will frequently work fifteen hours a day 
 without thinking that he has done anything wonder- 
 ful, and a London cab-driver would recoil in alarm 
 
26 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 from the labours of a jinricksha man. Yet 
 Europeans constantly repeat that Chinese and 
 Japanese have no sense of the value of time. There 
 I believe we are wrong, or rather I beheve we are 
 wrong in supposing that our own sense of this value 
 is superior. Until the last few years I have lived 
 mainly in the East, with the result that England 
 had become to me largely a foreign land. When 
 I took up my residence in these islands I imagined 
 that I should find business transacted with an 
 accuracy and rapidity to which I was not accus- 
 tomed. But I found exactly the reverse. It cer- 
 tainly takes longer to furnish a house, bind books, 
 or have a piano tuned in Yorkshire than it does in 
 Turkey or Zanzibar. In Japan last summer native 
 workmen made me a coat and a pair of boots in 
 miraculously few hours, but I lost nearly a fortnight 
 because no European firm in Shanghai or Tientsin 
 could say what steamers were leaving for Japan from 
 any port but their own. The reiterated assurances 
 that there were steamers nearly every day proved 
 quite false, and no attempt had been made to tabulate 
 in one statement the movements of the various lines. 
 It is curious that the Japanese should think us 
 superstitious, for to most people it will seem that 
 there is less religion or superstition in Europe than in 
 Asia. But Japanese visitors have no doubt been 
 impressed by the regularity and dullness of Sunday 
 worship. A Japanese may frequent temples in con- 
 nection -with funeral rites, or on festival days, or 
 during a pilgrimage, all of which occasions are apt 
 to assume something of the nature of a picnic ; but 
 the most pious would never dream of attending 
 morning and evening service, nor would they, as a 
 
INTRODUCTION 27 
 
 rule, find anyone to perform it for them, for in most 
 Buddhist temples the priests are content with a siagle 
 service celebrated about 5 a.m. 
 
 What future are we to predict for the Japanese ? 
 They are not an aggressive people. Their reserve 
 and moderation in international matters deserve the 
 highest praise, and there is probably no other nation 
 which would have kept its head so well after the 
 success of the Russian war. But though their char- 
 acter is compounded with so large a dose of sanity 
 and moderation, of Greek ctoj^poo-wjj, yet they will 
 hardly be able to withstand the pressure of the many 
 influences, geographical, social, political, military, 
 and commercial, which urge them towards expansion. 
 For this purpose they must, I think, be considered in 
 connection with China, for the two peoples have so 
 much in common in their nature as well as in their 
 interests that political differences are hardly likely 
 to dissociate them permanently. 
 
 It is strange that the Chinese, though less pliant 
 and assimilative than the Japanese, are more ready 
 to emigrate. The trade of eastern tropical Asia — 
 that is to say, of Burma, Siam, the Malay States, 
 French Indo-China, Java, the Philippines, and other 
 islands — is mainly in the hands of Chinese colonists, 
 and in some towns, such as Bangkok and Singapore, 
 they are as conspicuous an element in the population 
 as the natives. They are numbered by tens of 
 thousands in Eastern Siberia, Australia, and the 
 western regions of North and South America. These 
 emigrants are drawn almost exclusively from the 
 two provinces of Kwang-Tung and Fu-Kien, in the 
 extreme south of China ; but as all the conditions of 
 the age, notably the increase in facility of com- 
 
28 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 munication both within and outside the empire, tend 
 to encourage emigration, it is probable that other 
 provinces will contribute their quota in the future. 
 Though the Japanese show less taste for residence 
 abroad, yet they penetrate to Hawaii and California^ 
 and they show an inclination to extend and consoli- 
 date their commercial influence over the Pacific 
 region, particularly in those parts where the way is in 
 some measure prepared for them by the existence of 
 Chinese colonies. There is no sign yet that either 
 their own ambition or the force of circumstances will 
 carry either race in the direction of Europe. But that 
 the Chinese and Japanese are destined to become one 
 of the dominant Powers in the Pacific, and to dispute 
 the first place with whatever European and American 
 competitors they may find, seems to me obvious. 
 
 I would not call this ' the yellow peril,' for I do not 
 myself feel the danger. European civilization is not, 
 to my mind, so perfect that any alteration or amal- 
 gamation with other schemes of Hfe would degrade 
 it, or that humanity would be a loser if it does not 
 become paramount in all parts of the globe. No one 
 possesses the necessary impartiality and cosmopoli- 
 tan outlook to be able to decide whether the Asiatic 
 or the Em-opean character is, as a whole, the better. 
 It is, however, perhaps just to say that the greatest 
 achievements of Europeans in art and literature are 
 superior to the greatest achievements of Asiatics in 
 the same spheres, but, then, these achievements are 
 far from being a general characteristic of Europeans. 
 The productive periods are few, widely scattered in 
 time, and confined to few countries. On the other 
 hand, the evils and ugliness of modem European 
 civilization are as obvious as its advantages, and 
 
INTRODUCTION 29 
 
 there is no clearer proof of them than the fascination 
 which the East exercises upon nearly all who come 
 under its speU. The extension of European influence 
 does not mean the distribution over other continents 
 of the beauty and genius of Europe, but merely of 
 the most commonplace aspects of European life and 
 industry. To those who are occupied with the task 
 of organizing new cities and states colonial Hfe may 
 seem the most interesting in the world— and I have 
 felt the passion myself in East Africa — but for those 
 who do not share in this creative joy, and look 
 simply at the results, it must be confessed that 
 America, particularly western America, and the 
 British colonies have added very little to the art, 
 hterature, interest, variety, and pleasure of humanity; 
 nor do I see why it should be considered a calamity 
 if European influence does not become everywhere 
 predominant, or even has to recede in certain spheres. 
 Variety must be for the intellectual and pictorial 
 advantage of mankind as long as the various types are 
 not destructive or evil in themselves. I should be 
 sorry to see the strength and extent of Moham- 
 medanism increased, for it is an intolerant and de- 
 structive religion, which with difficulty frees itself 
 from such evils as slavery. Yet much will be lost to 
 the world — nay, is being lost — with the gradual dis- 
 appearance of Mohammedan states. But Far 
 Eastern, and specially Japanese, civilization can be 
 reproached with no particular evil, and it brings with 
 it a picturesqueness, cheerfulness, and courtesy 
 which must be recognized as good elements. Its 
 fault is not aggressiveness, but rather a too great 
 willingness to learn, which makes it ready to abandon 
 its own good points. 
 
THE RELIGIOUS EAST 
 
 On my way to China and Japan I paid a brief visit 
 to India. It was twenty years since I had been 
 there, and the increase in Eviropean influence was 
 very noticeable. Then no one could travel even on 
 the main lines of railway without his own servant 
 and provisions. Accommodation was uncertain, and 
 most people looked to private friends to provide it. 
 The babel of languages was a practical difficulty 
 even to those who knew Hindustani. Now one can 
 travel alone ia most parts as easily as in Europe, 
 and be fairly sure of finding native officials who 
 speak English, and some kind of food and lodging. 
 All this imphes an increased acquaintance with 
 Europeans and their ways. 
 
 One is struck, too, by the spread of education, 
 and by the prevalence of European ideas and pro- 
 cedure in native politics. As far as results go, these 
 congresses and patriotic movements have not, per- 
 haps, much to show ; but the significant point is that 
 such things would not have entered into anybody's 
 head a few decades ago, whereas they seem quite 
 natural now. The change, though immensely im- 
 portant, is perhaps, quantitatively, not very great — 
 hardly greater than the change which has been 
 
 30 
 
THE RELIGIOUS EAST 31 
 
 wrought in Europe during the same time by the 
 intrusion into Western politics of Eastern questions, 
 which have acquired an interest and proximity 
 demanding of pubhc men an acquaintance with 
 things Asiatic that would have astonished our 
 fathers. In India, despite the eloquence of the 
 Bengahs, I think it is specially among the Moham- 
 medans that the new spirit is noticeable, for anj;" 
 change in the rigidity of Islam attracts attention. 
 They are an influential and formerly ruling minority, 
 jealous of the Hindus, and naturally inclined to sup- 
 port the British Government and strengthen their 
 own position by every means in their power. Such 
 institutions as the coUege at Aligarh are trying to 
 solve the old problem of how to combine Islam with 
 a moderately tolerant and liberal spirit. The com- 
 bination has rarely been made in any independent 
 Moslem state, but may present less difficulty when 
 those who administer the government profess another 
 rehgion. For instance, the Tartars of the Russian 
 Empire are peaceful, teachable folk, but they have 
 lost their energy as well as their fanaticism. Islam 
 is based on the union of the temporal and spiritual 
 power, of the secular and religious life. When it 
 possesses temporal power it is usually vigorous, but 
 intolerant and unprogressive, as, indeed, its prin- 
 ciples logically force it to be, for the teaching of 
 Mohammed was definite and detailed, and, for the 
 theologian, hardly susceptible of variation or liberal 
 interpretation, since the whole code is expressly 
 declared to be a revelation from the Almighty. 
 But when the Mohammedan Church loses temporal 
 power, it is apt to become insignificant. One feels 
 then that the intellectual and spiritual elements in 
 
32 LETTERS FROM THE EAR EAST 
 
 its composition are poor and scanty ; that its strength 
 resides in fanaticism, and the power to enhst the 
 fightiag instincts in the service of reMgion ; and that 
 when it has to act merely as a moral force, as it 
 must in any civilized non-Mohammedan State, and 
 as Buddhism and Christianity habitually act, its 
 influence is small. I find it hard to beheve that 
 Mohammedanism, in as far as it can be separated 
 from warlike Mohammedans, will have much eSect 
 on the world in the future. 
 
 The victory of Japan over Russia has no doubt 
 produced an impression in India. It does not act, 
 as many seem to thiak, as an incentive to revolt, 
 but it has made all Asia see that Europeans are 
 neither inimitable nor invincible. Hitherto there 
 has been a widespread inarticulate feeling, founded 
 partly on fear and partly on contempt, that Euro- 
 peans are ridiculous in their habits, but have at 
 their command some mysterious magic which other 
 nations cannot master, and that hence it is best to 
 submit and go one's own way. But now the spell 
 is broken. The most aggressive and most dreaded 
 of European Powers has been defeated by Japan, 
 and the advantage of adapting European methods 
 to the service of Asiatic interests has become obvious. 
 No sudden or startling revolution may occur, but 
 in time this lesson wiU do more to change Asia than 
 aU our missionary and educational work. 
 
 Still, the features that alter both in individuals 
 and nations are habits and methods rather than 
 character, and there is no sign that the Hindus will 
 become other than they have been for ages, or turn 
 into what we call practical people. 
 India is the land of gods. In no other country of the 
 
THE RELIGIOUS EAST 33 
 
 world is religion so universal, so various ia its mani- 
 festations, so penetrating in its influence. India 
 produced and strangled Buddhism, has admitted 
 Mohammedanism, and fostered countless little sects, 
 but its natural and native faith is Hinduism — that 
 vast growth which no savant can define, and no re- 
 former has ever been able to compass and systematize. 
 Profoundly antagonistic as are Hinduism and 
 Mohammedanism in most things, they agree in taking 
 a religious view of life — that is to say, in literally 
 subordinating the obvious interests and advantages 
 of everyday existence to something beyond, and to 
 the law which it prescribes. There are many re- 
 ligious people in Europe, but comparatively few of 
 them sincerely wish to subordinate this world to the 
 next, or the state to the Church, and those few have 
 never been able to have their way. The ordinary 
 devout European thinks of religion, not as the sub- 
 stratum which gives to the world whatever reality 
 and importance it has, but as something to help him 
 through the troubles of life — a department of govern- 
 ment on a par with the law and education. If 
 Hberally minded, he is apt to say that the best religion 
 is the one which does most good in the world ; if a 
 sectarian, he will argue that his own rehgion does 
 most good, and therefore is the best. This reasoning 
 appeals also to the Chinese and Japanese. Mencius 
 said expressly that the people are the most important 
 element in a nation, and that the deities of the land 
 come second ; but it is mere unintelHgible profanity 
 to Hindu and Mohammedan alike. For both of these 
 religion is not a branch of morals or administration, 
 but the all-embracing whole, of which politics are a 
 very subsidiary part. 
 
 3 
 
34 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 In one sense Mohammedanism cannot be called a 
 great religion ; spiritually, intellectually, and morally, 
 its deficiencies are glaring. It has conquered a great 
 part of the world by not aiming too high, and by 
 appealing to the more barbaric virtues. It en- 
 courages war, the slave-trade, and many other abuses. 
 But although it does not check and bridle the natural 
 violence of semi-civihzed man as thoroughly as better 
 creeds attempt to do, yet it does succeed in imposing 
 its own somewhat imperfect code with unparalleled 
 success and completeness. It controls both the 
 state as a whole and individual citizens ; the religious 
 law is also the civil law of the land, and the percen- 
 tage of the population who obey the precepts of the 
 Prophet in such uncomfortable matters as praying 
 five times a day and abstaining from alcoholic drinks 
 is far larger than that which in Christian countries 
 keeps the more inconvenient commandments. 
 
 The Mussulman is, as a rule, proud of his faith, and 
 regards himself as superior to others merely because 
 he belongs to it. Its unifying power gives a certain 
 resemblance to the lands of Islam all the world over. 
 They have much that is common in art and litera- 
 ture, though communications are bad and do not 
 favour international relations. Most Mussulmans in 
 Turkey seem to belong to the same people, and so do 
 most Mussulmans in India, though in reality many 
 and diverse races have combined to fill the fold of 
 true believers in either country. Newspapers at the 
 present time often speak of the Mohammedan races 
 of India claiming the same rights as the Hindu races. 
 Scientifically the expression is not exact, but it is 
 not so wrong as it seems ; for the use of a common 
 language and common customs does separate the 
 
THE RELIGIOUS EAST 35 
 
 Moslem from the Hindu, and creates a difference 
 which is superficially as striking as racial dis- 
 tinction. 
 
 Hinduism is perhaps not so obviously a great 
 influence as Mohammedanism. It is less miMtant, 
 less missionary, less definite : extraordinarily various, 
 plastic, and versatile. It provides a congenial re- 
 ligion for every class except, perhaps, soldiers, in 
 spite of having a god of war and some military ad- 
 herents. It does not flourish very well out of India 
 and its neighbourhood, but there it seems to be in the 
 blood and bones of the people, even more than Islam 
 among its own followers. If one observes atten- 
 tively Hindu ceremonies, one is struck with their 
 unobtrusive, intimate character. Sacred fairs and 
 processions there may be now and then, but though 
 the temples and bathing-places are thronged with 
 worshippers, it is comparatively rare to see any- 
 thing that seems to a European like a religious ser- 
 vice. A group may be sitting round a priest listening 
 to the reading of some sacred poem, but they appear 
 to be pursuing their pleasure and edification rather 
 than performing a ceremony. All the observances 
 seem private, individual, and mysterious. There is 
 an immense difference between the prayers with 
 which Mohammedans begin the day, ranged in lines 
 Uke troops, and led by their commanding officer, and 
 the morning ablutions of the Hindu. The Ghats at 
 Benares are crowded with bathers in the hours which 
 foUow on sunrise, yet it requires close observation to 
 see that they are performing a religious rite, and not 
 merely taking a somewhat leisurely tub. The 
 Hindu's rehgion is so much a part of him that it 
 becomes, not only to the priest or devotee, but to the 
 
 3—2 
 
36 LETTERS EROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 ordinary man, as natural a part of his daily Hfe as 
 eatiag or putting on his clothes, and much more 
 important. In his own quiet way, he is con- 
 tinually recognizing the presence of the gods, and 
 he sacrifices to them in his home as much as in the 
 temples. 
 
 Nothing shows the reality of Hindu religion more 
 than the fact that people will come from distant parts 
 of Inda to die in Benares, and deliberately breathe 
 their last lying on the bank of the sacred stream just 
 where the extreme ripple washes the riverside mud. 
 Missionaries inveigh against the cruelty of the creed 
 which can recommend such a practice, and the heart- 
 lessness of the relatives who aid and abet it. But 
 the Hindu is simply showing that he has that faith 
 in the Hfe of the world to come which the missionary 
 preaches, but often lacks. A well-to-do religious 
 person in Europe, and equally in China and Japan, 
 dies as comfortably as he can in bed, thinking of his 
 property and his medicine, and committing his future 
 to the care of a Saviour, Amida or other. But 
 people do not delegate their primary interests in this 
 way ; no well-to-do person leaves his business and 
 property in the hands of Amida, but merely his 
 future existence, as to which he cares just enough to 
 be easily reassured about it. But the Hindu is 
 emotionally and philosophically convinced that his 
 existence after death will depend largely on the way 
 he spends the last part of his life. Therefore, as 
 soon as he feels himself growing elderly, he re- 
 tires from business, devotes himself to the things 
 of the other world, and if his piety is fervent or 
 his conscience wiU not be quieted, he dies in the 
 mud of the Ganges as uncomplainingly as a patient 
 
THE RELIGIOUS EAST 37 
 
 takes mud baths to cure a disease. For such a man 
 rehgion is clearly the primary interest. 
 
 Just as religious observances permeate the whole 
 life of a Hindu, so does Hinduism include the whole 
 panorama of human life. It is unlike Mohamme- 
 danism, which selects, drills, blesses, damns, and 
 regards most things as either very good or very bad, 
 those words being used in a somewhat special and 
 theological sense. But though Hinduism can pro- 
 duce codes, rituals, and catechisms by the score for 
 those who want them, yet its spirit and operations 
 are very wide and Catholic, as the multitude and dis- 
 accord of the above-mentioned systems show. At 
 first one is impressed by the simplicity and purity of 
 Mohammedan mosques — the marble, the mosaic, the 
 graceful Arabic inscriptions, the sharp, clear-cufc 
 minarets, no inapt ornament for the religion of the 
 sword. And in comparison the Hindu temple, with 
 its many towers and pinnacles all covered with 
 figures, its sacred bulls and sacred apes that wander 
 undisturbed, its floor swimming with libations 
 or, if it be a shrine of Kah, with blood, seems a 
 dubious and unclean pantheon, if not a pande- 
 monium. It is equally difficult at first sight to be- 
 lieve that the almost wholly naked ministers of these 
 temples are men of education. I remember seeing a 
 man in a temple of Kali who wore nothing but a loin- 
 cloth, and was occupied in beheading sacrificial 
 goats — not an intellectual or spiritual calling even 
 in Hindu estimation. Yet he had a perfect com- 
 mand of English, and spoke sympathetically of 
 BaUiol. 
 
 I know not to what to compare the exterior of 
 these shrines : perhaps to some huge microscope or 
 
38 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 telescope with more than the normal complement of 
 lenses, mu-rors, and wheels. And that is partly the 
 meaning of a Hindu temple : a place where people 
 meditate and examine their own souls and worlds afar, 
 past, present, and to come. It does not suggest the 
 godly discipline of the Mohammedan or even of the 
 Buddhist ; but if one lingers sympathetically in its 
 courtyards, its stones will be found to preach as much 
 philosophy as superstition : the Indian theory of the 
 impermanence and changefulness of all universes, of 
 tjie insignificance of this present span, of the need of 
 fixing the eyes elsewhere. The symbols of birth and 
 death stand on the walls, with no reticence about the 
 origin of life or the certainty of dissolution. The 
 pyramids of stone are teeming with a monstrous 
 brood of bas-reliefs and statues, as pools teem with 
 plants and insects. The demoniac effigies of the 
 destroying powers, with many mouths, arms, and 
 weapons, are ready to slay and devour this pullulat- 
 ing life. All say that death is merely a passage to a 
 new Hfe, and hfe merely an offering presented to 
 death ; that hopes of permanence in heaven, or any- 
 where save in union with the divine spirit, are little 
 less foolish than terrestrial ambitions. 
 
 The finest temples of India are in the south. Here 
 the Mohammedans have done comparatively little 
 destruction, and the Dra vidians, though not, perhaps, 
 more artistic than the pure-blooded Hindus, have 
 a greater talent for grandiose and, some might 
 think, monstrous architecture. Their genius revels 
 in bulk and multitude ; the towers and gateways 
 without, the carved halls and colonnades with- 
 in, surpass in size and profusion of sculpture the 
 holy places of Benares. But plan and proportion 
 
THE RELIGIOUS EAST 39 
 
 are somewhat missing ; one sees the vigour and 
 variety, but not the object or the scheme. 
 
 One of the greatest of these temples is at Madura, 
 on the line from Madras to Tuticorin. Its huge pyra- 
 midal gateways, covered from base to pinnacle with 
 gigantic figures, stand up like rocks among the palm- 
 trees round it, and at night some of its gates are 
 illuminated with countless lamps. It shows none of 
 that decrepitude which so often marks religious 
 buildings in the East. Crowds frequent it for prayer 
 or business, for, as at Jerusalem, the merchants and 
 money-changers have their stalls in the corridors, 
 and sell sacred objects, idols, and rosaries (often made 
 in Birmingham), and all manner of substances to be 
 used as offerings. The more holy parts, where are 
 situated the shrines of Siva and the goddess Minakshi, 
 are inaccessible except to the elect, but acres of dim 
 haUs and colonnades, where a thousand images 
 testify to the omnipresence and metamorphoses of 
 the Destroyer and Reproducer, are open to all the 
 world, including Europeans and sacred cows, though 
 I perhaps insult these holy creatures by coupling 
 their name with the impure infidels who eat them. 
 In one comer may be seen a school where a Brahman 
 is teaching a score of urchins ; in another men are 
 weaving the cotton threads — apparently simple, but 
 really very intricate — which Brahmans wear over 
 their shoulder as a sign that they are twice bom. In 
 another part are sacred stables, where are kept 
 effigies in cardboard or metal of mythical animals on 
 which Siva and Minakshi sometimes take a ride when 
 they are carried in procession. Suddenly one comes 
 out of these dark, mysterious habitations to a tank 
 surrounded by a colonnade. Historical and legendary 
 
40 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 scenes are painted on the walls, among them a repre- 
 sentation of how some pious monarch of old impaled 
 the Jains in his kingdom and extirpated their sect. 
 With horrible fidelity, the artist has represented 
 how the dogs lick up the blood of the impaled 
 but still hving heretics and the birds pick out their 
 eyes. 
 
 In the evening I went to witness a procession which, 
 it was announced, would conduct the goddess Min- 
 akshi from the inner shrine through the outer temple, 
 and display her to the faithful. There seemed to be 
 a reluctance to fix the goddess's movements by any- 
 thing so unhallowed as European time ; she would 
 issue, it was understood, when the moon was in an 
 auspicious position. Therefore, fearing I might be 
 late, I went at nine, and had to wait till eleven, but 
 found an expectant crowd already collected. The 
 halls and corridors of the temple, which were sombre 
 in the day, were pitch dark at night ; hardly did a 
 lamp here and there indicate cavernous depths be- 
 yond, guarded by monstrous deities. The crowd 
 seemed immense ; it heaved and swayed in the dark- 
 ness, calling upon the goddess to come, but she came 
 not, being influenced only by the moon, and not by 
 human wishes. Great bats flew under the arches 
 overhead, and the sacred cows and elephants that 
 pushed their way through the people seemed in that 
 haunted obscurity swollen to the proportions of 
 Leviathan. 
 
 All waiting, however long, must have an end, and 
 at last the great event begins. From the inner- 
 most penetralia sound the reverberations of a drum 
 terrifying in this blackness and nervous tension. So 
 might the first notes at a human sacrifice sound in the 
 
THE RELIGIOUS EAST 41 
 
 ears of the victims. Gates are thrown open, and a 
 wandering light is seen far, far off on the walls of 
 distant arcades. It is the reflection of something 
 luminous advancing. The drums redouble, and are 
 answered by shrill blasts of flutes ; but the music is 
 drowned by the roar that bursts from the crowd and 
 re-echoes Like thunder through the dark halls as the 
 procession comes into view, leaping and quivering 
 down the corridors — a mob of men, young and old, 
 naked except for loin-cloths and the threads hung 
 round their shoulders, pressing in disorderly enthu- 
 siasm round a palanquin that seems half like a boat 
 and half like a bird with beak in front and out- 
 stretched wings at the side. But both the vehicle 
 and the mysterious object reclining in it are so 
 covered with garlands, jewellery, and cloth of gold 
 that it is impossible to say what their shape may be. 
 Dancing-girls and musicians precede the glittering 
 mass and round it are burnt incense that smoulders 
 in heavy wreaths of smoke, and camphor that blazes 
 in sheets of flame. The glare lights up the colonnades 
 with a wild brilHancy ; the bats fly away, and the 
 elephants and cows seem disturbed, but the human 
 crowd press round the palanquin as near as the 
 guardians permit, with hands raised to their foreheads 
 or stretched out in prayer, and voices joining in some 
 psalm of welcome. There is no doubt of the glad 
 and reverent affection of these thousands of wor- 
 shippers. No sovereign could wish for a better recep- 
 tion than that accorded to the thing in the palanquin 
 — but what on earth is it ? If one could see it without 
 its wraps, it would be a little brass doll, but as it lies 
 among its garlands and jewels it is, even in the vivid 
 blaze of the camphor, too indistinct to seem grotesque 
 
42 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 or incongruous, and it is what the emotion of the 
 crowd makes it — something borne from another 
 world in this mysterious hour of the moon, unhuman, 
 yet symboHzing human Ufe and passion, and re- 
 ceiAong with a distant benevolence the reverence 
 and affection lavished on it. What the crowd are 
 worshipping is not the work of their own hands, 
 but the work of their own minds, and they 
 rejoice because they believe they are ia contact with 
 a portion of the universal spirit specially embodied 
 in this image. 
 
 I have dwelt on these aspects of Hinduism and 
 Mohammedanism because it seems to me that such 
 scenes illustrate the difference between the extreme 
 and middle East. In characterizing nations, no ab- 
 solute statements should be made. But we have the 
 words of Confucius taught in every Chinese school : 
 ' To devote oneself earnestly to one's duties towards 
 man, and while respecting spiritual beings, to keep 
 aloof from them, may be called wisdom.' That is 
 not the wisdom of Madura. There are fanatical 
 sects in China and Japan, but religious enthusiasm 
 is no more prevalent in those countries than in Eng- 
 land. Their Hterature and art are largely secular ; 
 one great part of their indigenous religions is com- 
 posed of public morality imperfectly demarcated 
 from poHtical economy, and another great part con- 
 sists of divination and other gross superstitions 
 which are an insanity of the practical instincts as 
 much as a corruption of rehgion. It is most interest- 
 ing to see that China is the only oriental country 
 which has succeeded in bringing Mohammedanism to 
 reason, and in forcing it to accept the position of a 
 creed with no privileges beyond other creeds. This 
 
THE RELIGIOUS EAST 43 
 
 has been done more thoroughly than under Great 
 Britain in India, for there the Mohammedans are still 
 an obviously distinct though not dominant class ; 
 but in Chma the 20,000,000 Mohammedans are for 
 the most part distinguished from the rest of the popu- 
 lation by little except abstinence from pork, which is 
 the staple meat diet of other Chinese. 
 
II 
 
 COCHIN CHINA 
 
 Ever since I was a boy and read about Further India 
 in old geography books, the south-eastern corner of 
 Asia has had a special fascination for me. It is fuU 
 of the most varied associations, some homely, some 
 gorgeous. Cochin China suggests the poultry-yard, 
 and Siam is not yet dissociated from the monstrous 
 twins who made it a familiar word when very little 
 else was known about it in Europe. But it is also 
 the land of the lotus and the white elephant, and 
 somewhere in these parts was the Golden Chersonese. 
 The whole region has been called the silken East, 
 and the name is not amiss. They do make silk 
 there, and the epithet seems to sum up the country. 
 It is not the purple, blood-stained East, with its tales 
 of ancient splendours and the conquests of Moham- 
 medanism, but a quiet gleaming country of steaming 
 deltas and bright waters, rich in silk, lacquer and 
 fihgree work — with its own troubles and tyrants, no 
 doubt, but lying somewhat apart, and left in peace by 
 the great conquerors of Asia. Unfortunately, Fate 
 permitted me to see only the least romantic and most 
 europeanized part of it — namely. Cochin China and 
 its capital Saigon. 
 
 Further India is not a bad name for the whole 
 
 44 
 
COCHIN CHINA 45 
 
 region, for it is in many ways a prolongation of India, 
 but Indo-China is still better, for it expresses its 
 character exactly. It is the place where Indian and 
 Chinese influence combine in varying proportions. 
 The dividing-line is the eastern frontier of Cambodja. 
 In that country, Siam, and Burma, Indian influence 
 is predominant — Indian architecture, Indian re- 
 ligion, Indian alphabets, and Indian literature. Yet 
 one is conscious that it is not merely Indian, but 
 Indian with a subtle modification brought by the 
 penetrating influence of China. To the east of Cam- 
 bodja Chinese influence is predominant ; Chinese 
 hieroglyphics take the place of Indian alphabets, and 
 education is founded on the works of Confucius. 
 Neither the Indian nor the Chinese sphere has been 
 touched by Mohammedanism. A glance at the map 
 will show that Rangoon and Bangkok lie at the end 
 of deep bays far from the main sea-route to the east, 
 and the practical difficulty of reaching either of them 
 from Singapore impresses their remoteness on the 
 traveller. The tide of Mohammedan conquest swept 
 eastwards by Ceylon and the Malay Peninsula, 
 reaching Java, Borneo, and even the Philippine 
 Islands, but it left these quiet backwaters undis- 
 turbed in the profession of Buddhism. 
 
 They even escaped the first waves of European 
 aggression. Like the Mohammedans, the Portuguese 
 and Dutch passed on eastwards, but ultimately 
 France selected Indo-China as her special sphere in 
 Asia ; and when once the resistance of the empire of 
 China was overcome, there was no Power strong 
 enough to oppose her occupation. 
 
 The connection with France is of fairly ancient 
 date. Missionaries — ominous word for Asiatic in- 
 
46 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 dependence — began to settle in the country about 
 1715, and then comes the old story of troubles and 
 massacres, necessitating European intervention. On 
 the whole, the French had been unlucky in Asia. 
 They had been worsted in India owing to considera- 
 tions of European politics rather than the local 
 superiority of the British, and there seemed few 
 openings for them elsewhere. It is not surprising if 
 they tightened their grasp on Annam. After various 
 m^ilitary operations, the King was forced in 1864 to 
 cede Cochin China, which, as a projecting point and 
 the delta of a great river, was more exposed to the 
 visits of Europeans than other parts. Later, after 
 the Franco-German War, the French seemed to be 
 itching for conquest outside Europe. After various 
 disputes and negotiations, in which the King of 
 Annam recognized the Emperor of China as his 
 suzerain and representative, war broke out between 
 France and China, and, as the result of a not over- 
 glorious conflict, Tongking, with all the territory to 
 the south of it, was ceded to France. It is now 
 organized as a colony — Cochin China— and four pro- 
 tectorates — Tongking, Annam, Cambodja, and Laos. 
 The last-named is the mountainous and wild country 
 of the interior. The Kings of Annam and Cambodja 
 govern under the supervision of French residents, 
 but for the purposes of finance and general politics 
 all five divisions are unified under the French 
 Governor-General, whose seat is at Hanoi, in Tong- 
 king. The distinction between Annara and Cochia 
 China is merely political, and indicates no difference 
 of race or customs. The narrow strip running south- 
 wards from Tongking is generally known as Annam, 
 and has still its King. The rich river-lands to the 
 
COCHIN CHINA 47 
 
 south of it, which have been French for more than 
 forty years, are called Cochin China. 
 
 Like most cities in Indo-China, Saigon is situated 
 in the midst of a labyrinth of streams, in this case the 
 branches of the Donnai, which flows into the sea near 
 the mouths of the Mekong. The steamer threads 
 its way through swamps covered with low green 
 shrubs, and arrives at last at a rather commonplace, 
 French-looking town. Europeans exiled to distant 
 lands generally take a pride and pleasure in trans- 
 porting as much of their native land as possible to 
 their new residence, and Frenchmen do this more 
 than others. The heart of the Anglo-Indian is not 
 so much in London as the heart of the French colonial 
 is ia Paris. Saigon is simply a French city ia a bad 
 climate, where everything is unreasonably dear. 
 The native quarters are neither conspicuous nor 
 interesting, and there are no fine native buildiags. 
 Three miles distant is the large Chinese town of 
 Cholon, connected with Saigon by a canal, and 
 containing about 100,000 inhabitants. It is the 
 centre of the rice trade in Cochin China, and in 
 it may be seen pleasure-grounds and temples in 
 far finer style than any the Annamese have built. 
 Not only is China the most commercial and indus- 
 trious part of the East, but the industry and small 
 trade of many ports outside the empire — such as 
 Saigon, Manila, Batavia, Bangkok, and Singapore- 
 is largely in Chinese hands ; and this may be a fact 
 of considerable importance in connection with the 
 awakening and progress of China. 
 
 One sees at once that Saigon is not a British 
 colony. In the centre is an opera-house with cafes 
 round it, ia which the population congregate for an 
 
48 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 hour or two after 6 p.m. to play dominoes and drink 
 strops. These amusements may be frivolous, but 
 what can be more sensible than to take refreshment 
 out of doors at the end of a tropical day, if insects do 
 not dispute the enjoyment of the evening air ? For in 
 the tropics he who sits down to a repast is not always 
 sure whether he will play the greater part as guest or 
 as viand. But it is not merely the fear of mos- 
 quitoes, but an innate aversion to publicity in social 
 matters, that banishes this open-air life from our 
 colonies. When the sun sets, the Briton goes to his 
 club, not for frivolities like sir ops, dominoes, and 
 feuilletons, but for long, serious drinks, long, serious 
 games of bridge or whist, and long, serious articles 
 about The Times and its book-club. Frenchmen 
 like a cercle, but can do without it ; but a British 
 possession has its centre in its club, or, rather, it is 
 an ellipse with two foci — the club and the racecourse 
 — of which the latter, though active only intermit- 
 tently, is a very solemn festival and potent bond of 
 vmion. 
 
 In England I am not much of a motorist ; the ex- 
 pense and speed both alarm me. But in the Far 
 East I became a votary of the car for a time, until 
 the passion left me as suddenly as it had come. I 
 think it was the result of visiting the shrine of 
 Juggernaut, and contemplating the chariot of that 
 deity. On leaving India, I whirled round the island 
 of Ceylon in four or five days, and when I found 
 that the steamer was detained for three days at 
 Saigon, I hired a motor and scoured the country 
 round. The civihzation of the French is excellent 
 for the motorist ; the first thing they do is to make 
 roads and build bridges. There is rarely any diffi- 
 
COCHIN CHINA 49 
 
 culty in getting about their colonies, however un- 
 satisfactory you may find things when you do get 
 anywhere. 
 
 Motoring gives one a new outlook on the world : 
 one feels inclined to classify living things according 
 to their manner of getting out of the way. In the 
 tropics there are rich materials for the study of this 
 new science. The palm for skill and coolness must 
 be given to cats. They walk across just in front of 
 the machine, and then calmly turn round and look 
 at it. Lizards are equally skilful, and their manage- 
 ment of their long tails is beyond all praise ; but 
 they disappear at once into cover, which suggests 
 that they were really frightened. Dogs are in every 
 way inferior to cats, and make a deplorable exhibi- 
 tion of unreasonable temper. Human infants may 
 be classified with dogs ; some simply scream, others 
 shout and throw stones. Elephants behave in this, 
 as in all matters, with dignity and intelligence : they 
 get out of the way, but slowly, calculating very 
 judiciously that neither they nor the motor can afford 
 to provoke a collision. Buffaloes are a pitiful sight. 
 Though apparently stolid and callous, they have, it 
 is said, exquisitely dehcate nerves. At any rate, 
 they fall into a paroxysm of fear ; and as they are 
 generally tied together, two and two, they somehow 
 trip one another up, and tumble down twisted in 
 knots of terrified helplessness. The worst of all are 
 chickens and old women. Neither make any attempt 
 to move to the side, but run screaming immediately 
 in front of the motor, with arms or wings stretched 
 out. After a time some chickens perish and some 
 fly, but the old women make the motor change its 
 course, and then get in front of it again. 
 
 4 
 
50 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 My chauffeur was an Annamite, a lean, brown, 
 lantern- jawed man, with a scanty pointed beard, 
 from which I presume that he was over forty-five, 
 that being the age at which the usage of Cochin 
 China and of the Far East generally, prescribes that 
 a man should begin to grow hair on his face. 
 He drove well, but, like most people in charge 
 of moving objects, from admirals downwards, 
 he disliked all interference with his style and 
 speed of going. When requested to go quicker, he 
 neither said nor did anything until he came to some 
 rugged or crowded spot, and then he drove with 
 sudden indiscriminatiag fury, without a word, but 
 with a look which clearly left the responsibility for 
 what might happen with me. He was a man of 
 many languages, but few words, and generally spoke 
 in monosyllables arranged bilingually — droit, right ; 
 gauche, left ; morts, dead. This last melancholy 
 couple of syllables was prompted by our passage 
 through Annamite cemeteries, new and old, with 
 which these watery plains are covered, for the cult 
 of the dead is still, in spite of Buddhism, the real 
 rehgion of the country ; and every time we passed 
 through a collection of fantastic monuments, the 
 chauffeur said, like a toUing bell, ' Morts, dead,'' or 
 it may have been ' More dead,' but I think the bi- 
 lingual interpretation is more in harmony with his 
 manner. 
 
 Thus I sped through living and dead Cochin 
 China, decreasing, I regret to say, the number of 
 fowls, but sparing, in spite of very great provocation, 
 the old women. The country is rather flat and 
 rather dull, but neither as flat nor as dull as one at 
 first supposes. Spires and pinnacles are wanting, but 
 
COCHIN CHINA 51 
 
 two signs tell one that one is already in the Far East 
 — blue clothes and umbrella-like hats. In India 
 white is the prevalent colour of attire, but somewhere 
 between India and Cochin China people exchange it for 
 blue, which thenceforth becomes the standard colour 
 right on to Japan. The inner meaning of the change 
 is, I think, that people cease to wash much ; white 
 garments require numerous ablutions to keep them in 
 even moderate cleanliness, but a Chinaman's old blue 
 suit, Hke the person of its owner, has little f amiharity 
 with water. In many places Chinese run laundries, 
 but they probably rarely wash themselves, just as 
 librarians rarely read. The broad hat, again, is a 
 head-dress as characteristic of a certain region as the 
 turban or fez. It colours the landscape surprisingly : 
 a bright green rice-field and a blue man in a broad 
 yellowish hat — there you have before you the typical 
 country scene of the Far East. Equally character- 
 istic is the paper umbrella, which sometimes replaces 
 the hat. The leisured classes, who can afford to keep 
 their hands idle, let their nails grow long and carry 
 an umbrella or sunshade ; those who Kve by manual 
 labour cut their nails and wear their umbrellas on 
 their heads. 
 
 The country is very green ; everywhere one sees 
 rice and sugar-cane. There is some beautiful forest, 
 but more of cultivated than of wild nature ; trees 
 are planted in avenues by the roads or along the sides 
 of the many rivers, which are crossed by numerous 
 and excellent bridges, often elaborate iron structures. 
 The towns are collections of unpretentious houses, 
 and generally contain as a centre a large covered 
 market built by the French, and there are sure to be 
 ample government buildings. One is struck by the 
 
 4—2 
 
52 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 great mimber of European officials, and the excellent 
 accommodation erected for them. The French start 
 a new colony by making a lucid, though perhaps 
 somewhat theoretical, statement of what it will re- 
 quire in the way of laws, officials, and buildings, all 
 of which they proceed to supply at once. We, on 
 the contrary, supply them only as required, and that 
 somewhat grudgingly. 
 
 The inns are sometimes Chinese and sometimes 
 French. Now and again one sees country houses of 
 some size, consisting of a gateway and a yard sur- 
 rounded by buildings on three sides, which suggest 
 that there are a fair number of opulent natives. The 
 interior of such houses is decorated with Chinese 
 inscriptions and painted treUis-work. The furniture 
 consists of platform-like objects, which serve in- 
 differently as beds, seats, and tables. At the end of 
 the principal room may often be seen a richly deco- 
 rated coffin, presented to the head of the household 
 by his offspring ; for in the Far East it is thought a 
 very deUcate attention to make such an offering to 
 a middle-aged person. The only religious edifice I 
 saw was a pagoda in a wood, as brilliantly coloured 
 and strange of shape as if it had been some huge 
 fungus. It was composed mostly of open courts 
 crowded with figures of imaginary animals, and with 
 the mysterious paraphernalia of the diviner's art. 
 One felt one was in the realm of the fanciful and 
 magical rather than the really artistic. Otherwise 
 there are few native buildings except the aforesaid 
 cemeteries. Their number is, perhaps, not without 
 significance, for though Cochin China has not a par- 
 ticularly gorgeous past, and is not particularly de- 
 crepit at present, still, it was once a more vigorous 
 
COCHIN CHINA 53 
 
 country than now, and does well to venerate its 
 ancestors. 
 
 It is strange how little is known of the history of 
 these regions. Across Indo-China, especially on the 
 frontiers of Siam and Cambodja, are scattered huge 
 masses of ruins without a history. They are not to 
 be numbered among the puzzles of architecture, like 
 the monuments of Easter Island and Mashonaland, 
 for their character appears to be quite clear. They 
 are Hindu temples variously assigned to the seventh 
 or eleventh centuries of this era, and in any case not 
 of extreme antiquity ; but the curious thing is that 
 almost all our knowledge comes from an inspection 
 of the monuments themselves, and that we have 
 hardly any record accessible of either their erection 
 or their desertion. Much the same may be said of our 
 knowledge of Hindu civilization in Java and other 
 islands, attested by such gigantic ruins as Boro- 
 Bodor ; but though the labours of French and 
 Dutch savants are shedding some light on the history 
 of Indian influence in the countries lying to the east 
 of India, we know surprisingly little about it con- 
 sidering how numerous are its architectural remains. 
 It must have extended on the mainland across 
 Burma, Siam, and Cambodja, and in the islands 
 (arriving, possibly, by another route) at least as far 
 as Java and Bali, It is interesting to notice that 
 Hinduism has been at one period a veritable mis- 
 sionary religion Hke Buddhism, but also that it has 
 died out everywhere but on its native soil. This is 
 not surprising ; Hinduism is a matter, not so much of 
 dogma as of temperament, idiosyncrasy, and even of 
 blood, for the Brahmans are the hereditary intellec- 
 tual aristocracy of India. In its own country it 
 
54 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 overcame and outlived Buddhism — -a far more logical 
 and better organized system. But its doctrines were 
 so liberal, or at least so multifarious, that it had 
 difficulty in producing a creed or a church, and it 
 thrived or died with the dynasties that protected it. 
 The languages of Annam and Cambodja seem allied 
 to that of Pegu, an ancient kingdom now confounded 
 with Burma, but once distinct. In the middle comes 
 a wedge of Siamese, which accords with the known 
 fact that the Thai or Siamese descended from 
 southern China into the northern part of their present 
 kingdom in the thirteenth century. Buddhism was 
 introduced among them from Ceylon, and they prob- 
 ably spread this new and purer form of religion to 
 Cambodja at the expense of the Hinduism or hindu- 
 ized Buddhism which they found existing there. 
 But though the people whom the Siamese invaded 
 may have been united by a common Hindu civiliza- 
 tion, they were probably of many races, and included 
 Mongols, Malays, and the Khmers of Cambodja, 
 whom some have thought to be a Caucasian type. 
 The origin of the Malays and the manner of their 
 dispersal are stiU matters of dispute. They are 
 spread over the islands of the South Seas and Indo- 
 Pacific even to Madagascar, and here and there on 
 the extreme ends of Asia, such as the Malay Penin- 
 sula. Some have supposed they were a people of 
 the mainland driven before invaders into the sea ; 
 others, and as it seems to me more justly, that they 
 arose on one of the larger islands and roamed across 
 the ocean, touching here and there the edges of the 
 continent.* Their present distribution shows they 
 
 * The most recent theory, however, is that the Munda-Nikobar- 
 Mon-Khmer-Khasi-Malacca languages form, with the Indonesian, 
 
COCHIN CHINA 55 
 
 must have possessed extraordinary power of move- 
 ment and endurance, and it is not likely that a beaten 
 race retiring unwillingly from the land before the 
 pressure of its enemies would have had the vigour to 
 spread across a vast ocean and perform voyages of a 
 magnitude without precedent in those ages. 
 
 I did not grudge the maU-steamer the somewhat 
 excessive patriotism which made it stop three whole 
 days in this French possession. On the fourth it 
 reluctantly started for Hong-Kong, and slowly 
 disengaged itself from the labyrinthine river. The 
 Annamite chauffeur burst into dissyllables at my 
 departure, bilingual as usual — ' Merci, thank you,' he 
 said ; ' au revoir ; good-bye.' 
 
 Melanesian, and Polynesian languages, one huge family, which 
 stretches from the Panjltb to Easter Island, the stream of migra- 
 tion having started from the extreme west of the whole tract. 
 See P. W. Schmidt, ' Die Mon-Khmer Volker,' Arch, fw Anthro- 
 pologic, Band V., 1906. 
 
Ill 
 
 CANTON 
 
 HoNG-KoNU is certainly a striking example of what 
 European enterprise can do. When it was first 
 occupied by Great Britain in 1841 it was a barren 
 rock with a population of about two thousand, and 
 of no importance. It is now one of the greatest 
 centres of the East : its population is nearly forty 
 thousand ; the tonnage of its shipping and the value 
 of its trade are reckoned by milUons ; its steep 
 cUffs are studded with public and private build- 
 ings ; its harbours, quays, docks, and arsenals are 
 among the finest in the world, and it has been 
 so thoroughly drained that it has become a sana- 
 torium instead of a notoriously unhealthy place 
 as formerly. The one power against which engineers 
 and doctors are helpless is the typhoon, the rotating 
 cyclone which devastates these seas. The Jesuits 
 of Siccawei, near Shanghai, have an observatory 
 which is largely occupied with foretelhng the date 
 of these whirlwinds, but no protection against them 
 has been devised, and last August much damage 
 and loss of hfe was caused by one which visited the 
 colony. 
 
 Although Hong-Kong is a gratifying object of 
 contemplation to the patriot, economist, and 
 
 56 
 
CANTON 57 
 
 politician, it cannot be said to possess any special 
 interest as a spectacle of men and manners. To 
 see that one must go to Canton, the great Chinese 
 city a few hours distant on the mainland, which 
 was long the only port with which Europeans were 
 allowed to trade. It has not, however, on that 
 account become cosmopolitan, Uke the ports of the 
 Levant, but, in spite of centuries of European inter- 
 course, remains in its life and customs purely 
 Chinese. 
 
 The evening steamer from Hong-Kong reaches 
 Canton about dayhght, but the first view is dis- 
 appointing. The river winds between fields of rice 
 and vegetables, but its banks and the city are 
 hidden in a mist. This mist is maialy due to the 
 smoke of countless breakfast fires kindled on land 
 and on boats, and is the first sign of the dense 
 population inhabiting these plains. 
 
 Nothing strikes one more on approaching Canton 
 or any town in the south of China than the 
 river hfe. According to a Chinese tradition boats 
 were originally imitations of floating leaves, and 
 as they lie massed together, stretching from the 
 banks almost to mid-stream, and leaving only a 
 narrow passage for traffic, they certainly resemble 
 the carpet of vegetation which obstructs sluggish 
 water. They are of all shapes, sizes, and colours : 
 junks with sails hke butterflies, painted house-boats 
 belonging to rich Chinese, floating hovels inhabited 
 by floating lepers and beggars who pick up a living 
 by fishing up corpses and selUng them to the sur- 
 viving relatives : salt-boats, rice-boats, fruit-boats, 
 and duck-boats. All these vessels are not merely 
 engines of transport, but the residences of an am- 
 
58 LETTERS PROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 phibious popTilation, who pay neither ground-rent 
 nor water-rates, but pullulate by myriads on the 
 borders of land and water, and, like the frogs, keep 
 up a ceaseless noise and motion. They mostly 
 belong to a tribe called Tanka, and are said to be 
 the descendants of an aboriginal race driven from 
 the land by the advance of the Chinese, and still 
 forbidden to intermarry with other classes. Crime 
 accommodates itself to this floating world, and as- 
 sumes an aquatic guise. It is, perhaps, only in 
 China — that museum of customs — that piracy still 
 flourishes. It has been driven from the frequented 
 coast, but the daily papers attest its continued exist- 
 ence on the waters of the West River. It has its 
 romantic side, and can boast of as honourable tradi- 
 tions as any other branch of the noble art of helping 
 oneseK to other people's property ; for when the 
 Ming dynasty fell before the Manchus in the seven- 
 teenth century, Chinese independence was kept alive 
 for some years in the south by the pirate chief 
 Koxinga. The Manchus, a nation of horsemen, were 
 powerless against this marine adversary, and he died 
 in possession of the title of King of Formosa, from 
 which island he had expelled the Dutch. 
 
 Life in Canton is most active on the banks of 
 the river. In these uncertain and heaving regions 
 of planks, pontoons, and floating bridges, there is 
 perpetual war and collision between the armies of 
 importing and exporting coohes, all vociferating, 
 and all carrying burdens seemingly much too heavy 
 for the bearers and too large for the narrow passages 
 through which they somehow force their way. 
 Canton is like an ant-hill, and the resemblance 
 increases as one is carried in a chair — the only 
 
CANTON 59 
 
 means of locomotion in use on land except the 
 feet — through streets so narrow that two chairs 
 have some difficulty in passing. The eaves of the 
 houses on either side nearly touch, and the interval 
 is often bridged by wooden platforms or covered 
 by screens, so that large parts of the town seem like 
 a huge roofed building pierced by many passages. 
 Chinese shops are mostly one-story high, and rarely 
 have any windows. The side facing the street is 
 open, and serves for door and counter. Through 
 these alleys, and in and out of these shops, streams 
 incessantly a crowd so multitudinous and mobile 
 that one loses all count of individuals, and is con- 
 scious merely of the agitated mass of human beings 
 running to and fro Hke the ants, and carrying their 
 wares or purchases. Through the fronts of the 
 shops can be seen dim vistas of workrooms stretch- 
 ing backwards, one behind the other, where people 
 are carving, weaving, writing, or hammering ; and 
 as far as the eye can reach, indoors or out of doors, 
 there are always people working or moving, and every 
 piece of work requires a great many workmen. It 
 is equally rare to see a man idling or working alone, 
 and though the industry is enormous, one does not 
 feel sure that the output is commensurate with the 
 labour. 
 
 The covered streets are naturally dark, but the 
 obscurity is lessened by the brilliancy of the shops 
 and their contents. Chinese use an extraordinary 
 number of articles made of paper, gilt or painted 
 with the crudest and most gorgeous colours- 
 lanterns, fans, umbrellas, scrolls, and armfuls of 
 artificial flowers. Besides this there are piles of 
 fruit and vegetables, green, yeUow, and red, fish, 
 
60 LETTERS EROM THE EAR EAST 
 
 fowls, and other eatables, which, if not always appe- 
 tizing, are generally highly coloured. But perhaps 
 the most picturesque feature is the amount of 
 writing. The Chinese are essentially a Hterary 
 nation, and wherever one goes one sees printed 
 matter, which implies in this country bright colour 
 and artistic shape. On the walls are stuck bills 
 containing advertisements and government notices. 
 Every shop is adorned with ornamental inscrip- 
 tions, and from ropes stretched across the street 
 hang down every few yards scroUs of many colours, 
 so arranged as to make a contrast between the 
 inscription and the background. 
 
 I am quite content to drift through these populous, 
 many-coloured streets, but the guide objects to my 
 aimless musing and gazing, and insists that it is 
 the duty of every tourist to inspect the execution- 
 ground. Though I protest I have no desire to see 
 anything so gruesome, he carries me thither through 
 mean and dingy alleys until we reach a pottery, 
 where the sentences of the law are carried out. I 
 wonder what is the connection, which seems his- 
 torical, between the potter's field and deeds of 
 blood. Here all that one notices is the shabbiness 
 of the locahty, and a lively imagination is required 
 to call up scenes of bloodshed and torture. But 
 though the surroundings are commonplace, there is 
 an element of uncertainty in Chinese executions 
 which must m.ake them a most exciting form of 
 gambhng, only there are no prizes to be won. In 
 some cases the local authorities have summary 
 jurisdiction, but as a rule executions require imperial 
 sanction. The list of condemned is sent periodically 
 to the Emperor, who puts a vermilion mark against 
 
CANTON 61 
 
 the names of those who are to be immediately 
 executed. The whole batch are then led out, not 
 knowing whose turn for punishment has come 
 until the names are read. If a condemned criminal 
 escapes the imperial red pencil three times he is 
 pardoned. It seems not to be iaiown by what 
 principles the Emperor is guided in making his 
 selection, but at the end of the year he burns a list 
 of the condemned, which is supposed to go to the 
 pov/ers of the other world as a report of the way 
 in v/hich he has discharged his duties. 
 
 Orientals are generally thought to be barbarous 
 in their punishments, but the Siamese have a most 
 considerate method of execution. As in China, the 
 criminal is decapitated with a blow of a sword, 
 kneeling, and with his hands bound behind his back, 
 but the special feature of a Siamese execution is 
 that while he is thus waiting a man who appears 
 to be the headsman comes in front of him and begins 
 to sharpen a sword. While the poor wretch's 
 attention is absorbed by what he thinks the pre- 
 parations for his punishment, the real executioner 
 steals up behind and beheads him while he least 
 expects it. But it would seem that the efficacy 
 of this device must depend on its being very rarely 
 used. 
 
 My guide has a remorselessly consecutive mind, 
 and on leaving the execution-groimd insists that I 
 must visit Hell. I again protest, but am again 
 overruled, and consent to go on the understanding 
 that we do not stop ' too muchee long,' a condition 
 which many lost souls would be glad to make. 
 Hell ui Canton means a presentment of the infernal 
 regions established by a paternal government for 
 
62 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 the terror of evil-doers and the promotion of true 
 religion and virtue. Round the courtyard of a 
 temple are arranged ten pens, answering to the 
 divisions of the under world, and presided over by 
 as many kings, under whose superintendence devils 
 subject the wicked to various tortures, such as sawing 
 asunder and boiling ia oil. All this is represented 
 by figures of nearly life size. The artists have 
 concentrated their talent on making the torturers 
 look ferocious, and have paid little attention to the 
 physiognomy of the victims, with the result that 
 the latter show no signs of agony, and a miserable 
 sinner who is being disembowelled looks as uncon- 
 cerned as if he were having his hair cut. These 
 representations of Hades were introduced under 
 the Sung dynasty in the eleventh century, and the 
 common people beheve that every large city on earth 
 has its infernal counterpart below, in which wicked 
 citizens wiU be tortured tiU their sins are purged 
 away and they are ready for another birth. It is 
 even supposed that magistrates who have behaved 
 well on earth will be appointed after death to a 
 similar position in the next world. More philo- 
 sophical is the story which makes the torturing 
 devils say to the condemned : ' Do not blame us. 
 We are only your own bad actions in bodily shape.' 
 The temples in South China, especially those 
 belonging to the Taoist religion, are strange places. 
 Some few are beautiful, but most are simply gro- 
 tesque. There are no forbidden, inaccessible shrines 
 as in India. A foreigner may go everywhere and 
 look at everything without interference from any- 
 one but beggars. The idols are usually gigantic 
 dolls, often with wax faces and long hair and beards. 
 
CANTON 63 
 
 The central figures are attended by others, repre- 
 senting servants, winged horses, and various magical 
 creatures, all gigantic and ludicrously inartistic, 
 for in modern rehgious art China stands even lower 
 than the Catholic countries of southern Europe. 
 Yet the altar vessels, particularly the great incense- 
 burners, are generally of good and sometimes of 
 exquisite workmanship. As one looks at these 
 personages of wax and pasteboard, one feels as if 
 one had wandered by mistake on to the stage of 
 a pantomime intended to be seen by night and at a 
 distance, but dismally absurd in the light of day. 
 Even stranger is the scene when a funeral passes 
 through the streets. The procession generally in- 
 cludes paper effigies of dragons and figures said to 
 represent the secretaries of the King of the Dead, 
 and gods, men, and dragons move on together in 
 a fantastic pageant. 
 
 The Chinese are probably the most superstitious 
 and least religious people in the world. In a mosque 
 or Indian temple one is struck with the real religious 
 fervour of the worshippers, though it may assume 
 strange external forms. But here, though the 
 shrines are thronged on market-days, and the wax 
 dolls are surfeited with offerings of candles, incense, 
 and paper fiowers, few are ever seen to pray. Most 
 of the visitors come to ' get luck,' or consult diviners, 
 who have stalls round the temple courts, and decide 
 human affairs by a sort of ecclesiastical tossing-up. 
 After some ceremonies two pieces of wood are thrown 
 into the air, and the way they fall indicates the 
 answer to the question asked. Others inquire how 
 to cure a sick relative, and receive from a priest 
 a magic number corresponding to a prescription. 
 
64 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 which is said to be generally innocuous, though its 
 character is determined, not by the nature of the 
 malady, but by occult reasons. Women may be 
 seen offering small figures to the Queen of Heaven. 
 The date is registered, and the goddess is supposed 
 to send a son within a suitable period. 
 
 After emerging from the Temple of Hell I firmly 
 vetoed my guide's proposal to inspect the prisons, 
 and visited instead a rich Chinese to whom I had a 
 letter. Externally the house was so unobtrusive 
 as to be almost invisible ; one merely noticed that, 
 unhke the shops round it, it had not an open front. 
 Inside it was a complete and agreeable change 
 from the crowded streets. With that topsy-turvy- 
 ness of which foreigners often complain, the streets 
 were covered and dark, but the house was open and 
 light. In fact, I do not know if it should be called 
 a house in a garden or a garden in a house. Passages 
 and pavilions were inextricably mixed up with a 
 fantastic rockery, out of which grew small trees, 
 mostly distorted into the shapes of birds and animals, 
 and so intricate were the winding paths that the 
 area seemed to be twice its real size. The rooms 
 and paviHons were clean and decorated with land- 
 scapes painted in sober colours, diversified here 
 and there with inscribed vermilion tablets. Chinese 
 houses look to our eyes hard and bright. Every- 
 thing is painted, lacquered, or covered with silk, 
 but neither cushions nor carpets are much used. 
 There were no flowers in the garden, but out of a 
 miniature lake nearly covered with the broad round 
 leaves of the lotus rose a few red blossoms. 
 
 Canton is surrounded by a wall, and from the 
 top of a five-storied pagoda built on this rampart a 
 
CANTON 65 
 
 good view can be obtained over the city. But most 
 Chinese towns do not look well from such points of 
 vantage. In other oriental countries the houses 
 are generally grouped round some conspicuous 
 edifices, mosques, temples, or palaces, but here 
 the uniformity of the architecture is almost un- 
 broken. The most conspicuous edifice in Canton is 
 unquestionably the Roman CathoHc cathedral ; next 
 comes a tall pagoda of many stories, elegant but 
 not imposing, and one notices a number of solid, 
 impressive blocks, which are neither palaces, forts, 
 nor temples, but pawnshops. The rest of the city 
 is a collection of curved roofs, as varied in detail 
 and ornament as the boats on the river, but, Hke 
 them, making an effect simply as a mass, not as 
 units. A large Chinese house or temple does not, 
 as a rule, mean a large building, but a collection of 
 buildings distributed over successive courtyards, 
 and, as a rule, the decoration of these buildings is 
 lavished on the roofs, little attempt being made to 
 raise or ornament the sides. China has few old 
 monuments. Stone is used for paving streets and 
 for foundations, but comparatively rarely for super- 
 structures, which are generally of painted wood 
 with roofs of coloured tiles. Hence the towns look 
 modem and all much the same. To appreciate them 
 one must not take a general bird's-eye view, but 
 plunge into the streets. There, amidst much that 
 is filthy and grotesque, one finds many exquisite 
 details, particularly in coloration, just as Chinese 
 landscapes, if seen from a train, appear wanting 
 in distinction and variety, but on nearer examina- 
 tion disclose lakes, hills, and rivers of rare beauty. 
 My guide, as I have said, had an appetite for 
 
 5 
 
66 LETTERS FROM THE PAR EAST 
 
 horrors, but I am glad that I did not refuse to visit 
 what he called the City of the Dead. It proved to 
 be a mortuary establishment for the temporary 
 housing of coffins, and consisted of a series of court- 
 yards enclosing pleasant flower-gardens. On each 
 garden opened a row of apartments consisting of a 
 bedroom behind and sitting-room in front. In 
 the bedroom stood a coffin, with a wash-hand stand 
 and some simple furniture of the most modern make ; 
 in the sitting-room a chair, and in front of it a table 
 bearing a cup of tea and some ornaments. If a 
 corpse is to be removed to some other town for 
 interment, or if the astrologers and diviners decide 
 that it would be inauspicious to bury it immediately 
 after death, it spends the interval in this ghostly 
 hotel, and the bedroom furniture, the chair, and the 
 tea are for the use of the spirit, which until interment 
 is not able to go to the next world. If such ar- 
 rangements were discovered in some Babylonian 
 tomb six or seven millenniums old it would not be 
 surprising, but to find them in the twentieth century, 
 with cheap, new bedroom furniture and a modern 
 hotel biU for the ghost's entertainment, is truly 
 prodigious. 
 
 I express my astonishment to the guide. He 
 professes entire scepticism, and says he thinks men 
 die Uke cattle, and that Buddhism, Christianity, 
 and Taoism are aUke folly. But on being pressed, 
 he admits that if for some reason his father's corpse 
 could not be buried at once, he would, in compliance 
 with old custom and general opinion, take a room 
 for him here. 
 
IV 
 
 TOWNS AND EOADS 
 
 In speaking of Canton I have not dwelt on a striking 
 but disagreeable feature of Chinese towns — namely, 
 their extreme filth. The fact is that many parts 
 of Canton are quite clean, though many others are 
 very dirty, and it is vmfortvmately these other 
 parts which are imitated in most cities of the empire. 
 I will not attempt to describe this filth and want 
 of sanitation ; it is not agreeable to see, smeU, or 
 write about. I will merely say, with one of those 
 literary allusions of which Chinese are so fond, 
 that there is probably no city in the empire where 
 the foreigner does not wish for the return of Han 
 Yii, a sage of whom it was written, ' Wherever he 
 passed, he purified.' But, unfortunately, he has 
 long been dead, and there remains only a beautiful 
 epitaph on him saying, ' Above in heaven there 
 was no music, and God was sad, and summoned him 
 to his place beside the throne.' 
 
 Of aU the various forms of rubbish which infest 
 the streets of towns, there is only one which is less 
 exuberant in China than in the west — namely, 
 scraps of paper. The Chinese have an almost 
 superstitious respect for all written or printed matter, 
 and count it little short of impiety to tear it or tread 
 
 67 5—2 
 
68 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 on it. Boxes are set in the streets into which people 
 put any old paper they may have, and the contents, 
 together with any other scraps that may be found 
 lying about, are collected and reverently burned 
 by men who are paid by benevolent societies or rich 
 individuals. 
 
 After all, I dare say a Chinaman might maintain 
 that EngHsh towns are really dirtier than Chinese. 
 You have only to commit any crime, including 
 dirtiness, on a sufficiently large scale, and people 
 will be impressed by the grandeur of your exploits 
 rather than by their villainy. If, hke the Chinese, 
 you make a mess in the streets, you are denounced 
 as a nameless and shameless disgrace to humanity. 
 If, on the other hand, you pollute a whole district, if 
 you blacken the earth, blight the trees, and hide the 
 sky with factory smoke, you get called nothing worse 
 than an industrial centre or an emporium. It is 
 strange that these filthy Chinese towns are not more 
 unhealthy. Nevertheless, all authorities are agreed 
 that the population is unusually dense, that the 
 people are long-lived and strong, enduring privations 
 and recovering from illnesses which would kill 
 Europeans, and that, in spite of what appears to a 
 foreigner the unbearable discomfort of daily life, 
 cheerfulness and contentment are the rule. This 
 is a high character to give a country, particularly 
 a country of enormous extent like China ; and the 
 good quahties seem to accompany the Chinaman 
 wherever he goes, for he can accommodate himself 
 to aU climates and all civilizations, though he 
 obstinately maintains his own customs and rarely 
 abandons the idea of going home. 
 
 Walking in a Chinese town is often a difficult 
 
TOWNS AND ROADS 69 
 
 operation, because the various shops encroach on 
 the thoroughfare as much as their owners choose. 
 Chinese law recognizes the right of every householder 
 over the road in front of his door without imposing 
 any obHgation to keep it in repair. It is a fortunate 
 thing that it is to the interest of merchants that 
 passers-by should stand in front of their shops, for 
 otherwise they would soon block up the whole street. 
 But all the streets are not full. Sometimes one is 
 surprised by passing suddenly out of a busthng 
 business quarter into deserted and ruinous squares 
 that seem to have been abandoned a hiuidred years. 
 Such places are in many cases results of the Taiping 
 rebellion, which devastated the south of China and 
 the valley of the Yangtse. It was during this 
 rebeUion that Nanking lost its celebrated porcelain 
 tower. Suchow, near Shanghai, has preserved its 
 pagodas, but the buildings near the city wall remain 
 in a ruinous condition, and have never been re- 
 paired. 
 
 If the roads are not good inside the city, they are 
 much worse outside. It is almost impossible to 
 imagine anything more uncomfortable for locomo- 
 tion than a Chinese paved way, constructed by some 
 benevolent monarch of antiquity, but so disjointed 
 and broken by the wear of ages that its flagstones 
 have become a weariness to the feet and an in- 
 tolerable curse to wheeled vehicles. It is only in 
 wet weather, when one is glad to find any firm 
 support in the sea of liquid mud, that such stones 
 justify their existence at all. But the ordinary 
 Chinese road is a much humbler affair, quite devoid 
 of any paving or macadamizing, and merely a path 
 between two fields, with a strong tendency to turn 
 
70 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 into a ditch. It is singular that in a country where 
 commercial instinct is so strong, and where people 
 move about so much, these bad communications 
 should be tolerated. One reason is that all land is 
 private property, and it would be against Chinese 
 ideas that the government should interfere with an 
 individual's management of that portion of his 
 property which happens to be a road ; another is 
 that in many parts the real highways of the empire 
 are found in the netwo'rk of rivers and canals covering 
 the whole district. This makes the leisurely trans- 
 port of merchandise independent of terrestrial con- 
 ditions, but those for whom this method of pro- 
 gression is too slow will find all locomotion on 
 land most difficult and precarious, especially in wet 
 weather. Outside the foreign settlements anything 
 which can be called a carriage is very rare. For 
 natives there are heavy carts and wheelbarrows ; 
 for foreigners the commonest vehicle is the jinricksha. 
 This conveyance, though so conspicuous a feature 
 in the Far East, is said to be the invention of a 
 missionary in Japan about thirty years ago, and not 
 a native institution. 
 
 Even more comfortable than a jinricksha is that 
 genuine Chinese institution — a chair borne by two 
 or more bearers. Though somewhat narrow and 
 cramping to the limbs, it has one advantage — that 
 one is almost invisible within it. The curiosity and 
 prying ways of the Chinese are intolerable to most of 
 us. They will almost mob a European in the street, 
 surround his railway-carriage, hold their children up 
 to the window to see the strange animal, and poke 
 their heads in to get a better view. This conduct 
 hardly indicates respect, but it is not meant to be 
 
TOWNS AND ROADS 71 
 
 nearly as rude as it seems, for there is no privacy in 
 Chinese domestic life ; no one has any nerves, and 
 no one minds any amount of observation or noise. 
 Nay, rather, they like it, and miss it when it is absent. 
 Chinese who have been requested to spend the night 
 in their employer's premises at Shanghai instead of 
 returning to the native quarter have declared that 
 they could not sleep because it was so quiet. 
 
 My own experience of Chinese has been very 
 favourable. As servants they are excellent, both for 
 remembering and foreseeing ; and I have found 
 others, not only those who have a smattering of 
 European education, but members of the middle 
 class ignorant of aU languages but their own, quite 
 civil and ready to explain things to the foreigner. I 
 have even been offered refreshment gratis by a China- 
 man. It happened in this wise : I was overcome 
 with hunger when visiting a remote Buddhist temple 
 where there were no means of buying provisions. 
 The priests, I confess, were not hospitable, though 
 hospitaHty is one of their duties. They behaved like 
 the priest and Levite in the parable, and, so to 
 speak, passed by on the other side, and spoke of the 
 merits of fasting. But an artist who was regilding 
 the beUy of the Buddha of the Future behaved like 
 a good Samaritan, and shared his meal with me. It 
 may be that he belonged to a peculiarly Hberal- 
 minded class of men, for the Chinese proverb says : 
 ' The image-maker does not worship the gods ; he 
 knows what they are made of.' I learnt from my 
 friend and benefactor many curious facts as to idol- 
 making, of which fascinating trade I very nearly 
 made myself an apprentice. One is that the Buddha 
 of the Future is one of the most expensive images. 
 
72 LETTERS FEOM THE FAR EAST 
 
 because the Chinese represent him (for what reason 
 antiquarians have never been able to discover) with 
 a huge protuberant abdomen and fat cheeks wreathed 
 in smiles. Then, again, a conscientiously made idol 
 is not complete when the outward form and features 
 are finished. Bags of white and red silk, representing 
 the human intestines, have to be put into the hollow 
 of the body, and also packets of precious and mys- 
 terious substances. Then a living animal, such as a 
 centipede or a mouse, is introduced and immured, so 
 as to give life to the image. The eyes are left blank 
 until the divinity has been placed in the position 
 which he is going to occupy in the temple. Then the 
 pupils are painted in, and the process of god-making, 
 or deification, is complete. 
 
 A Chinese town is naturally full of interest and 
 variety for a stranger, but one cannot help feeling that 
 those for whom the charm of novelty does not exist 
 must lead somewhat dull Hves. The incessant in- 
 dustry of Chinese existence, often begun before sun- 
 rise, leaves Httle time for amusement, although 
 markets and fairs offer an agreeable combination of 
 business and pleasure. After working hours, a well- 
 to-do Chinamen may frequent concerts or theatres, 
 and perhaps before doing so dine with friends at a 
 restaurant. 
 
 There is no subject about which it is so difficult to 
 reconcile European and oriental taste as music. To 
 nearly all Europeans both Chinese and Japanese music 
 sounds like irritating discord. Yet Confucius set 
 great store by it, and it is related that after hearing 
 certain classical compositions he could not distin- 
 guish the taste of meat for three months — a remark- 
 able result, and the frivolous westerner will be liable 
 
TOWNS AND ROADS 73 
 
 to think that he was thoroughly upset. Modern 
 music is divided into sacred and popular. The former 
 is chiefly used in the imperial ceremonies, and is 
 described by the few who have heard it as plaintive 
 but not unpleasing. Popular music is noisy and 
 monotonous. In many states of mind it is intoler- 
 ably irritating, and the best I can say for it is that, if 
 one abandons oneself to its influence with sympa- 
 thetic receptivity, one may feel a certain excitement 
 and rhapsody of fanaticism. It often has the tremu- 
 lous, throbbing passion which one finds in Wagner, 
 but never a vestige of the flowing melodies of Beet- 
 hoven or Mozart. 
 
 The theatre is the national pastime of China. 
 There are several in every large town, and bands of 
 strolling players visit the country villages. Except 
 in the matter of dresses, which are gorgeous, httle 
 is needed in the way of properties ; a haU and a 
 stage are all that are required, and even the hall is 
 not necessary if the weather is fine. No scenery of 
 any kind is used, nor is there any attempt to make 
 the action seem real. Dead bodies walk off the stage, 
 and sometimes hardly take the trouble to die pro- 
 perly. Hence Europeans generally find Chinese 
 plays intolerably dull, the more so as even those who 
 are weU acquainted with the language cannot under- 
 stand the stilted and artificial style used in declama- 
 tion. But the Chinaman looks at the whole thing 
 from another point of view. He does not go to see a 
 spectacle or to hear fine language, for in China the 
 drama is expressly excluded from literature, and 
 actors and their descendants may not compete for the 
 literary examinations. No great poets have written 
 dramas, as^in Greece and India. Hence delineation 
 
74 LETTERS PROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 of character or even a good plot is not expected. 
 The performers are reciters rather than actors in our 
 sense, and all that is expected of them is that they 
 should make a story seem real by their gestures and 
 intonations. These seem to us somewhat exagger- 
 ated, but they clearly satisfy the audience, who 
 show great enthusiasm over such things as a child 
 crying or the voice of an angel heard gradually de- 
 scending from heaven. It would seem that, contrary 
 to the common belief of Europeans, Chinese plays 
 are not very long, and, as a rule, take less than an 
 hour to act. The performance is inordinately long, 
 and may last all day or several days ; but it is com- 
 posed of a number of short pieces, which succeed one 
 another without intervals. Some of the learned 
 maintain that the drama was first introduced under 
 Kublai Khan and the Mongol dynasty, but according 
 to a Chinese tradition a monarch of the T'ang 
 dynasty paid a visit to the moon, and brought back 
 with him this new style of entertainment, which may 
 perhaps account for the extraordinary character of 
 the Chinese theatre. 
 
V 
 
 ON THE YANGTSE 
 
 China has shown more reluctance to accept rail- 
 ways than any other country, but has yielded at last, 
 and several lines have been laid or are under construc- 
 tion. They do not, however, materially assist 
 locomotion near the coast except in the north, and 
 the longest track at present open runs from Peking 
 to Hankow, on the Yangtse, with a prospect of exten- 
 sion southwards to Canton. In a country with so 
 many navigable rivers and canals these internal 
 railways are more useful to commerce than com- 
 munications between the coast and the interior ; 
 and Hankow, though 600 miles from the mouth of 
 the river, is for all practical purposes a seaport. 
 
 It is hard to beheve that Hankow is accessible by 
 rail from Calais with hardly any break. At present 
 the connection is somewhat theoretical, on account 
 of the international difficulties which obstruct free 
 passage between the Russian and Japanese spheres 
 in Manchuria. But the lines are there. The Sibe- 
 rian Railway has a branch running from Harbin to 
 Niu-Chwang and Port Arthur. Another line runs 
 from Mu-Chwang to Tientsin and Peking, whence 
 one can proceed to Hankow by the railway which I 
 shaU describe. 
 
 75 
 
76 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 Wishing to see as large an extent of China as might 
 be possible in a short time, I determined to take a 
 steamer from Shanghai to Hankow, four days' 
 journey up the river, and then go on by train to 
 Peking. The trip is worth taking, though one does 
 not pass many remarkable places ; and Nanking, 
 which is considered to be on the Yangtse, is really 
 some miles from the bank, and not accessible while 
 the steamer stops. The Yangtse somewhat reminds 
 one of the Volga, but is much larger and more 
 picturesque. The lower reaches are naturally the least 
 interesting, for the broad flood of yellow water is 
 almost a sea, and one has only a distant vision of low 
 banks ; but a little further upstream hiUs appear, 
 and, though the river is still a couple of miles wide, 
 the steamer generally hugs the bank. 
 
 The scenery is surprisingly green, and at the end of 
 a torrid summer shows no trace of yellow. Not only 
 the plains but the mountains are clothed in a bright, 
 light verdure pleasant to the eye, and suggesting great 
 fertility. Yet rivers in China are by no means re- 
 garded as blessings. The Hwang-Ho is even known 
 as ' China's Sorrow,' for the sudden changes of its 
 course cause untold destruction to Mfe and property, 
 and the earliest traditions relate how ancient sages 
 struggled to regulate its wayward waters. The 
 Yangtse, though larger, is less dangerous, because less 
 capricious, but one can see that its annual rise (which 
 was at its maximum when I made my journey) is as 
 much a danger as a benefit to agriculture on its banks. 
 For this the agriculturists themselves are partly to 
 blame. In other countries the land liable to inunda- 
 tion would be left uncultivated ; but in this teeming 
 industrious region houses are built not only on the 
 
ON THE YANGTSE 77 
 
 high-water mark, but even below it, and one passes 
 a succession of partially submerged dwellings, where 
 the inhabitants sit disconsolately on the roof, and 
 even more disconsolate cattle wade in the water. Still, 
 the steamers and junks on the river, the villages on 
 the shore, and the bustle of the river ports, bear em- 
 phatic testimony to the commerce and general pros- 
 perity of the province. 
 
 Most countries have some characteristic form of 
 architecture which plays a part in the landscapes. 
 In Mohammedan lands it is the minaret ; in England, 
 the village steeple ; in China, the pagoda. Pagodas 
 are circular or octagonal towers, always of an odd 
 number of stories, generally seven or nine. They are 
 said to have been originally modifications of the 
 Indian shrines built over Buddhist rehcs ; but in China 
 they have in modern times lost this special religious 
 significance, though they are often seen in the neigh- 
 bourhood of temples. When complete, they are 
 sometimes faced with coloured tiles, and bear hanging 
 on each story rows of bells which ring in the wind ; 
 but, though beautiful objects from a distance, they 
 are generally in woefully bad repair, and shrubs may 
 be seen growing on the roofs. Chinese Buddhism, 
 though corrupt, is fortunate in having one good 
 feature which cannot be destroyed by doctrinal de- 
 generation. A real love of nature and a feeling that 
 a holy life is most easily led in peaceful and beautiful 
 scenery has caused picturesque buildings to be 
 erected in picturesque places, especially on moun- 
 tain-sides ; and the hills which bound the Yangtse 
 show many clusters of monasteries, pagodas, and 
 temples overhanging the river. In one place, near 
 Kiu-Kiang, a precipitious rock rises out of mid- 
 
78 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 stream, with religious edifices climbing up its steep 
 sides. 
 
 Perhaps the Yangtse looks at its best when one of 
 the comparatively narrow gorges is seen by moon- 
 light. It then resembles a Chinese painting, or, 
 rather, one sees the source from which many painters 
 drew their inspiration. The silhouettes of the hills 
 and rocks stand out clearly above the swirling tide, 
 and the riverside towns are marked by rows of hghts 
 burning, not only on shore, but on the numerous 
 boats lying below the city walls. Illuminated 
 pagodas, with their many stories outHned in red, 
 green, and yellow lamps, remind one, even in the 
 dark, that one is in China. 
 
 Hankow has been called the Chicago of the Far 
 East. For some reason, most places where people 
 make money are uninteresting, and it is no exception 
 to this rule. The surrounding country is flat, and 
 when the river is in full flood the city is only an inch 
 above the water, which seems a perilously narrow 
 margin. But commercially the position is superb. 
 By means of the upper reaches and tributaries of the 
 Yangtse, the city receives the trade of western and 
 south-western China, while the railway which has 
 been constructed to Peking taps the northern dis- 
 tricts. Strictly speaking, Hankow (or Han mouth), 
 though the name commonly used by Europeans for 
 the whole locality, is one of three cities clustered 
 round the confluence of the Han and Yangtse. 
 Across the Han is Han-ying, while on the southern 
 bank of the main river is Wu-Chang, regarded by the 
 Chinese as the most important of the three places, 
 and the residence of the Viceroy for Hunan and 
 Hupei, the two provinces lying north and south of 
 
ON THE YANGTSE 79 
 
 the Po-Vang Lake. The present Viceroy, Chang 
 Chih Tung, has the reputation of being one of the 
 ablest men in China, and of having prevented a 
 general massacre of foreigners during the Boxer 
 troubles. He is said to be now doing his best to 
 introduce reforms which will enable China to com- 
 pete with European nations. The provincial troops 
 have been reorganized and armed with weapons and 
 equipments, imitated from Japanese models. Edu- 
 cation on modem lines is actively encouraged, and an 
 exhibition illustrative of commercial processes and 
 products has been opened. It is said to be visited by 
 crowds of interested spectators, but I was not able to 
 see it ; for among the many reforms introduced, pro- 
 vision for crossing the Yangtse in rough weather is 
 not included. The country is occasionally visited by 
 severe storms, in which the great river is as dan- 
 gerous to ordinary boats as any sea, and there are no 
 bridges and no vessels of sufficient strength to keep 
 up communication. It is, perhaps, not fanciful to see 
 in these violent storms which suddenly break up fine 
 weather an analogy to the national character. The 
 ordinary Chinaman is a placid and stolid person, who 
 appears to have no nerves and an infinite capacity for 
 work ; but not only is he ready on occasion to mas- 
 sacre foreigners (for which several reasons may be 
 assigned), but missionaries and others acquainted 
 with country hfe unanimously testifyto the frequency 
 of violent quarrels between families and villages 
 arising out of most trivial incidents. 
 
 Not being able to reach Wu-Chang, I contented 
 myself with visiting Han-ying, which is, among other 
 things, the seat of the provincial mint and of a large 
 Buddhist temple. One of the characteristic irregu- 
 
80 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 larities of the Chinese empire, and one of the greatest 
 difficulties for the traveller, is that most provinces 
 have their own currency, which outside their boun- 
 daries is exchangeable only at a considerable dis- 
 count. European banks issue special notes for 
 Shanghai, Hankow, Tientsin, etc. ; and native coins 
 not only vary in different provinces, but are often 
 not accepted at their face value even in the provinces 
 where they are coined. This is because economy in 
 the amount of silver used, as compared with the 
 amount paid for by government, is one of the many 
 ways by which viceroys supplement their inadequate 
 emoluments. Then, again, Chinese accounts are 
 kept in taels, which are supposed to be ounces of 
 silver, and do not correspond to any existing coin, 
 which is a source of confusion. But even the 
 equivalence of the tael to an ounce of silver is not 
 really uniform throughout the empire, for 98 taels, 
 according to the reckoning of the imperial Treasury, 
 is equivalent to 102 taels at Shanghai, and to 
 100 ounces by standard weight. Those who are 
 acquainted with Turkey will see in this a resemblance 
 to the variations in the value of the piastre in 
 different towns. 
 
 The Buddhist temple at Han-ying is a good speci- 
 men of these edifices as found in south and middle 
 China. It probably contains more gold than the 
 mint. Even the purer Buddhism of Burma and 
 Ceylon is not entirely free from the conviction that 
 gilding is as efficacious as charity for covering a 
 multitude of sins, and wealthy devotees spread the 
 precious leaf over as many yards of images and 
 temple wall as their means permit. Though the 
 Buddhist temples are less grotesque than those of 
 
ON THE YANGTSE 81 
 
 the Taoists, I have seen few in China which are even 
 partially successful specimens of religious art. The 
 great gilt images arrest attention, and in those 
 copied most closely from Indian models the linea- 
 ments sometimes retain the gracious calm which 
 marks the traditional representations of the Buddha. 
 But when drawing on their own fancy the Chinese 
 seem to associate the divine Avith comic joviaHty, 
 and gods and saints look like Rabelaisian monks 
 after an ample dinner. This is particularly notice- 
 able in temples where, as at Han-ying, there is a hall 
 containing five hiindred images of Buddhist worthies, 
 often, but most incorrectly, styled by Europeans the 
 five hundred genii. They are really a collection of 
 all sorts of notabilities — Chinese, Indian, and other 
 — who have done anjrthing which by a charitable 
 interpretation could be regarded as pious. Among 
 them is a European, generally said to be Marco Polo, 
 though the learned are not agreed on this point. 
 But what is most striking is the more or less comic 
 appearance of all the images ; they are not heavenly 
 — hardly even edifying. On the other hand, all the 
 ornamentation of the temples is strictly proper ; it 
 has neither the power nor the obscenity of Indian 
 imagery. A prominent decoration is generally a 
 figure of Kwan-yin, the goddess of Mercy, surrounded 
 by a large sculptured or embossed landscape. The 
 deity has often been compared to the Madonna, but 
 the resemblance, though striking, is accidental, for 
 the child which she sometimes carries in her arms is 
 not her own offspring, but a gift, which she is ready 
 to bestow on worshippers desiring sons. She is the 
 protectress of travellers, and the landscape round her 
 image represents wayfarers in peril by land and sea 
 
 6 
 
82 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 to whom she offers aid. In one such sculpture I 
 have seen a representation of a steamer with reahstic 
 figures of seasick passengers. 
 
 On returning, I passed along a broad and very 
 excellent raised road built by the Viceroy round the 
 Chinese part of Hankow, and a model of what 
 Chinese roads might be, but, considering the climate, 
 somewhat exposed. Suddenly there came a storm 
 from the north, sweeping down with an unnatural 
 combination of dust and rain. Now, the carriage- 
 folk were in rickshaws with hoods that acted as sails, 
 most of the pedestrians were driving strings of pigs, 
 and nearly everybody was carrying paper fans or 
 paper umbrellas. When the storm burst, confusion 
 ensued. The rickshaws drove before the blast, the 
 fans and umbrellas flew, the pigs squealed and bolted, 
 and what with rickshaws, umbrellas, and pigs, a 
 great part of the crowd was driven headlong down 
 the steep sides of the road. I count it a reward of 
 my piety in visiting the shrine of Kwan-yin that I 
 returned safely to my hotel. 
 
VI 
 
 HANKOW TO PEKING 
 
 There are two trains on the line from Hankow to 
 Peking — the express and the slow train. They may 
 be compared to two of China's sacred animals, the 
 dragon and the tortoise. Alluring time-tables show- 
 ing the speed of the express may be seen in Shanghai ; 
 it is glorious in advertisements, like the dragon in 
 waU-paintings, but, as far as my experience goes, it 
 is, Hke the dragon, mythical. On reaching its lair 
 at Hankow, one finds merely a tradition that it was 
 once run as an experiment, and a pious hope that it 
 may run again ' when circumstances permit.' It 
 remains to take the slow train, which has obvious 
 analogies to the tortoise. It is real and very de- 
 liberate. It takes three days to go to Peking, and 
 stops every night about six o'clock, and waits till 
 the next morning. 
 
 When in memory I review this long journey, it 
 seems to me that the whole time I travelled through 
 a field of rice, barley, millet, or other grain, and, 
 really, this impression is hardly an exaggeration of 
 the facts. Excluding towns, villages, and cemeteries, 
 the train probably does not pass through a mile of 
 uncultivated country in all. The plain is parcelled 
 out into fields, divided, not by hedgerows, but by 
 
 83 6—2 
 
84 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 inconspicuous boundaries, which do not interrupt the 
 appearance of continuous cultivation ; and even the 
 sides of the hills are cut into terraces, on which rice is 
 grown. Two or even three crops of rice are raised in 
 some localities during the year, and it is said that 
 when the plants are young the water in which they 
 grow is utilized for fattening small fish. North of 
 the Hwang-Ho a tall variety of millet is the principal 
 grain, and, owing to its great size, gives an appear- 
 ance of luxuriant fertihty to the country; whereas 
 rice-fields, though of a beautiful and delicate green, 
 have an uncomfortably swampy look. 
 
 It is surprising that a country which seems one huge 
 granary should have a notoriety only too well deserved 
 for famines and starvation. There are various reasons 
 for these periods of scarcity : the rich soil is not 
 found everywhere ; in some districts the ground is 
 unpropitious, and supports fife only in return for 
 unremitting industry and favourable weather. In a 
 climate where extreme heat and cold alternate, as 
 in North China, a slight excess or irregularity in the 
 seasons may suffice to freeze or parch all the crops. 
 But the commonest causes of famine are, no doubt, 
 destructive inundations, which may deprive the 
 most fertile districts of their entire stock of food- 
 stuffs, and the difficulty of communication and 
 transport. Produce is not easily or quickly dis- 
 tributed, and one province may be left starving 
 while its neighbour is enjoying superfluity. 
 
 Chinese towns, unless fortified, rarely form a con- 
 spicuous feature in the landscape, and during all the 
 journey south of the Hwang-Ho human buildings seem 
 represented by big or small villages, of which, indeed, 
 there is no lack. On their outskirts are little shrines. 
 
HANKOW TO PEKING 85 
 
 too low for a man to enter, dedicated to the deities of 
 Earth ; and not far off is the village cemetery, 
 generally a collection of simple mounds without 
 stone monuments, but noticeable in this country of 
 monotonous cultivation. The position of a cemetery 
 is aU-important in China, for the welfare of the dead 
 is supposed to be affected by all sorts of physical 
 influences, such as slopes, wind, and water. A hill 
 facing the south is considered the best position. A 
 less pleasant mortuary arrangement, which is chiefly 
 found in the southern provinces, is a brick erection 
 called a baby tower, into which the poorer classes 
 throw the bodies of children who are thought too 
 young to be buried. It would appear, however, 
 that these towers are not a method of infanticide, 
 as has sometimes been stated. A charitable associa- 
 tion cleans out the towers from time to time, and 
 disposes of the bodies. 
 
 The Hwang-Ho, an evil-looking yellow stream, 
 curling in vicious eddies along that part of its sandy 
 bed which it has selected as its course for the moment, 
 divides the journey from Hankow to Peking into two 
 parts, and is close to the southern boundary of the 
 province of Chihli, or Direct Rule, so called because 
 the capital is in it. North of the river we come into 
 the land of the loess, a loose light soil of prodigious 
 fertility and the joy of the agriculturist, but ex- 
 tremely annoying to other people. Some geologists 
 style it a subaerial deposit, or, in plainer language, 
 the dust of ages, supposed to have been swept down 
 to these regions from the steppes of Mongolia. 
 Others think it is a sediment marking the bottom of 
 an old sea. The simple traveller feels inclined to 
 think that it supports either theory, according to the 
 
86 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 weather. When it is dry it fills the air with a fine, 
 penetrating powder, which sometimes produces a 
 sort of dust fog, and when it is wet it creates an ooze 
 worthy of any sea-bottom, besides turning the roads 
 into rivers. Owing to the Hghtness of the soil, the 
 roads quickly wear away, and sink several feet below 
 the level of the surrounding fields, and the heavy rain 
 running into them forms a rushing torrent. I have 
 only seen the changes of weather that occur in the 
 hot season, but it is easy to imagine how extreme are 
 the variations between summer and winter. Yet on 
 the whole northern China is a more picturesque and 
 interesting country than the south. The mountains 
 are more sharply cut, and often fantastically serrated ; 
 on the banks of rivers and even the sides of roads 
 the soft earth is worn into sharp, strange curves, and 
 the buildings produce more effect, particularly the 
 walled cities. Most of them have long since grown 
 too big for their walls, and have, so to speak, boiled 
 over, the enclosed space becoming Httle more than 
 a large citadel ; but the ramparts remain, and supply 
 just that element of size and grandeur which is 
 generally wanting in Chinese buildings. 
 
 The journey from Hankow to Peking is un- 
 doubtedly monotonous, but it is by no means life- 
 less. There are crowds of people everywhere — in 
 the carriages, on the platforms, in the fields, on the 
 roads, when roads can be seen. I wonder why 
 Europeans often say that all Chinese look alike. It 
 is a most thoughtless assertion, for the expression 
 and physical type vary as much as in any European 
 country. The explanation may be that people 
 look at Chinamen's backs instead of their faces. 
 Seen from behind, the pigtail does impart a certain 
 
HANKOW TO PEKING 87 
 
 uniformity to the human head. In China there 
 are no curly locks or burnished baldness, and though 
 one may sometimes see a greyish pigtail, thin and 
 pathetic, as a rule aU variations of colour are obliter- 
 ated with dye. Almost everybody's hair is black, 
 and almost everybody's clothes are blue. Among 
 the poorer classes a dull indigo is the usual colour. 
 The weU-to-do show more variety, but various shades 
 of blue silk are commonly worn, particularly a light, 
 bright slate colour. An elegant costume often 
 comprises a harmony of blue shades, and the labour- 
 ing classes produce the same effect by patching their 
 garments. White is only worn by mourners, and 
 children wear nothing at all, sometimes remaining 
 stark naked tiU they are seven or eight years old. 
 The prevalent blue is somewhat modified in wet 
 weather. Labourers then wear great-coats made 
 of straw, and the whole population turn out with 
 gigantic paper umbrellas, which are generally yeUow 
 or reddish. People working in the fields often wear 
 a hat made like an umbrella, and are themselves 
 the living stick which supports it. 
 
 Women also, though they go abroad sparingly, 
 add colour to a Chinese crowd. It is reaUy not 
 necessary to go to China to see a Chinese lady. The 
 reader has only to imagine one of the beauties de- 
 picted on screens or porcelain come to fife. The 
 face is brilhantly painted, and all individual expres- 
 sion is hidden by a fixed smile. One can hardly say 
 more of the dresses than that they are as brilliantly 
 coloured as the faces. Even if the ground colour 
 be sombre, it is relieved by flowers and ribbons 'of 
 bright red, green, and yellow, and the general effect, 
 though hardly artistic, does not offend the eye. I 
 
88 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 fancy this represents the tastes of the middle classes. 
 Ladies of the upper classes do not show themselves, 
 and probably wear more subdued colours. Though 
 the Manchu djraasty could make the male popula- 
 tion of China wear pigtails, they have not been able 
 to stop the women deforming their feet. K'ang-Hsi, 
 the second Manchu Emperor, forbade the insane 
 practice, but had to withdraw the order four years 
 later, and an edict by the present Empress Dowager 
 does not seem to have had much effect. Chinese 
 ladies still insist on converting their feet into ' golden 
 lilies,' as the distorted organs are termed, and many 
 men of liberal ideas would hesitate to marry a 
 woman with natural feet. The prejudice is extra- 
 ordinary, for no reason can be given for the practice, 
 and it is not followed by the ladies of the imperial 
 family and other Manchus, so that it is hardly neces- 
 sary for social prestige. 
 
 Chinese platforms are not picturesque by daylight, 
 but after dark in the Ear East paper lanterns add 
 a touch of romance to the most commonplace 
 scenes, and when a train arrives at a large station 
 to spend the night, it is met by the representatives 
 of fifteen or twenty inns carrying white flags, whereon 
 are embroidered the name and praises of their estab- 
 lishments, and huge coloured lanterns as splendid 
 as Chinese characters and painted monsters can make 
 them. As the railway provides no accommodation 
 for the night, not even a lamp, I had on one occasion to 
 entrust myself to these gentlemen, a somewhat risky 
 proceeding, as my Chinese was of the most theoretical 
 and literary description. After examining the 
 various flags, I determined to patronize the Hotel 
 of Concentrated Fragrance, being moved to this 
 
HANKOW TO PEKING 89 
 
 choice not so much by the name of the hostelry as 
 by the physiognomy of its representative. 
 
 Now, I know that the reader thinks I shall say 
 that the Hotel of Concentrated Fragrance deserved 
 its name only too v/ell, and I admit I thought that 
 it would myself, but beyond a faint aromatic odour 
 it was quite devoid of smell, and I shall always 
 remember with gratitude the kindness and comfort 
 which I enjoyed there. Like most Chinese buildings, 
 it was not a siQgle house, but a series of partially 
 covered courts divided from one another by pavilions. 
 Along the side ran a continuous passage, opening 
 into these courts, not by ordinary doors, but 
 by perfectly round apertures, which produced a 
 very strange effect. The three pavilions for the 
 reception of guests were composed almost entirely 
 of glass, so that everybody could see what everybody 
 else was eating or doing. Round the courts were 
 ranged rows of wine- jars, some white, some red, bear- 
 ing great seals on their mouths. Another method of 
 preserving and carrying wine is to put it in wicker- 
 work baskets lined with oiled paper. The paper is 
 tough and watertight, but the European mind cannot 
 get over the oddity of carrying liquid in a basket. 
 
 Preparations were being made for a dinner-party 
 when I arrived, and I had to wait for my own repast ; 
 but the transparency of the pavilions enabled me 
 to pass the time by watching all the details of a 
 Chinese entertainment. It was apparently a birth- 
 day-party, and the preliminary ceremonies were of a 
 quasi-rehgious character. Paper figures of strange 
 animals were burnt in a brazier, and the company 
 prostrated themselves before a table bearing fruit 
 and red candles, which seemed to serve the double 
 
90 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 purpose of a sideboard and altar. But these solemn 
 proceedings did not last long, and the entertainment 
 soon became free and easy. The guests threw off 
 their upper garments, and some sat naked to the 
 waist. The noise of loud and general conversation 
 was increased by a game called Chai mui, resem- 
 bling the classical micare digitis, about which one 
 used to be asked questions in scholarship papers. 
 Two guests look one another in the face, so as not 
 to see their hands, and at the same time each ex- 
 tends as many fingers as he chooses and shouts out 
 what he thinks is the total number extended by 
 both himself and his adversary. Whenever anyone 
 guesses rightly, the opponent has to stand drinks. 
 
 My own meal, when at last ready, proved to be a 
 sumptuous affair, and was, I think, largely com- 
 posed of the leavings of the birthday-table. Every- 
 body in the hotel who was not engaged at that 
 festivity came to watch me eat, and many bene- 
 volent persons, seeing my very imperfect control 
 of the chop-sticks, insisted on stuffing the food into 
 my mouth with their fingers. The table was 
 covered with about twenty Httle plates or saucers, 
 mostly containing rice, with shreds of chicken, fish, 
 or duck. Besides this there were sauces innumerable, 
 and a dish of eggs which did not at first inspire con- 
 fidence, for the yolk was black, and what should have 
 been the white was yellow. However, I was made 
 to eat them, and found them to be Kke all the rest 
 of the dinner — excellent. On this and on aU other 
 occasions when I have tried Chinese cuisine, I have 
 found it very good ; but it is full of surprises, and 
 lest the element of topsy-turviness should be lacking, 
 a meal generally terminates with a dish of soup. 
 
VII 
 
 PEKING 
 
 Those who knew Peking some years ago tell those 
 who visit it now for the first time that what they 
 see nowadays is a new city — reformed, drained, 
 chastised, and europeanized — and not the old 
 Peking, whose dirt and magnificence alike defied 
 description. But even in these degenerate days 
 those who are acquainted only with the cities of 
 the Near and Middle East — such as Constantinople, 
 Cairo, Samarcand, and Delhi — will stand agape 
 with astonishment when they first see Peking — its 
 waUs, its tiles, its gilding, its ruins, and its filth. In 
 no city of the world is there so much gold and bright 
 colour to be seen. Its distribution is not uniform, 
 for there are plenty of sombre alleys ; but in most 
 of the mercantile quarters the shops are adorned 
 with four gilt dragons, which stretch out their 
 necks over the entrances ; the sides of the houses 
 are covered with trelHs-work, which is sometimes 
 gilt and sometimes painted vermiUon, while red, 
 blue, green, and yeUow are scattered with a lavish 
 hand on walls and roof. The colour of a roof, 
 however, is a matter of rank, not of taste ; and 
 yeUow tiles, though common, are always a sign 
 that the building they cover is an imperial resi- 
 
 91 
 
92 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 dence or a temple founded by an emperor. Yet, 
 in spite of modem improvements, this blaze of 
 colour rises literally out of the mire. Dunghills 
 are piled up against the golden shops, and the 
 vermihon treUis-work may be hidden by miserable 
 hovels erected a foot from it. 
 
 Peking is not like Canton or the ports of southern 
 China. It has something that suggests the cities 
 and markets of Central Asia, the dust and solitude of 
 the steppes. Even in the broad and bustling 
 thoroughfares one has this feeling of loneUness and 
 great space, where men may pass and wander and 
 remain unknown ; but it is even stranger to meet 
 a string of camels in a deserted street near the walls, 
 or to find in the centre of the city a desolate field 
 and a huge ditch, which was once a lake or part of 
 a canal, but is now a series of stagnant pools, half 
 overgrown with shrubs. 
 
 Of all the monuments of Peking, none is more 
 remarkable than the wall which surrounds it. This 
 rampart is a triumph of architecture in its own 
 way, for in all dimensions except length it excels 
 the Great Wall of China itself. It is supported at 
 regular intervals by buttresses, and over the gates 
 which pierce it, and in other places, are erected 
 square towers with two or three curved roofs and 
 rows of windowless apertures — strange buildings, of 
 little use in either peace or war, that seem to watch 
 the city with mistrustful, hostile eyes. Peking, 
 like Stamboul, has shrunk, and the outermost 
 quarters are in many places depopulated. But it 
 is not so much this which makes the wall look lonely 
 as its massive proportions and simplicity. It has 
 no kinship with the tiled and gilded pagodas, but 
 
PEKING 93 
 
 seems to be the handiwork of another race : a 
 monument of some bygone miUtary system, battered 
 by newer artillery and no longer impregnable, but 
 still imposing, as it coils round the city like some 
 wounded leviathan — lonely, sullen, and implacable. 
 
 Peking is a city of horsemen. In a street of 
 Canton a horse would be very like a bull in a china- 
 shop, but here riders perched on high saddles may 
 be seen everywhere, as well as carriages and strings 
 of horses laden with burdens. When traffic is regu- 
 lated at all, the arrangement is the opposite of ours. 
 Horses and vehicles go at the side of the road, foot 
 passengers in the middle. It is said that the Manchu 
 pigtail is an imitation of the horse's tail, worn as a 
 sign of respect to the animal to which they owe so 
 much ; and the acknowledgment, if true, is merited, 
 for the conquests of both the Mongols and Manchus 
 were undoubtedly due to their efficiency as cavalry. 
 A large part of the population of Peking is composed 
 of these races. It is not always easy to tell a Manchu 
 from a Chinaman, though they have generally harder 
 and duUer faces ; but the women can be recognized 
 at once by their feet, which are not cramped, but 
 are allowed to grow naturally. They are also taller 
 and more stoutly built than the Chinese women, 
 and show in their bearing that independence which 
 they are said to enjoy in their family circles. It is 
 to this race that belongs that formidable old lady, 
 the Empress Dowager — ' Old Aunt Buddha,' as she 
 is irreverently termed in Chinese slang. 
 
 If one looks at Peking from an eminence — say the 
 Drum Tower in the north of the city — one sees at 
 once that it is not a collection of houses which has 
 gradually grown up, but a camp laid out by imperial 
 
94 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 order. To the south lies the Chinese town ; to the 
 north of it are three cities, each with its own wall, 
 one inside the other like boxes in a puzzle. The 
 innermost is the Forbidden Red City, or imperial 
 palace ; round this lies the Imperial City, inhabited 
 chiefly by the dependents of the palace ; and round 
 the Imperial City, in its turn, lies the Tartar City, 
 still called in Mongol Khambalu, the Cambaluc of 
 Marco Polo. An imperial taste for splendid build- 
 ings is also evident. The Mongol and Manchu could 
 not conquer the inveterate Chinese habit of filling a 
 park with pavihons or shrines instead of building one 
 large castle or temple, but they managed to break 
 away from the monotony of recurved roofs, as a 
 goodly prospect of towers and pinnacles bears wit- 
 ness. The religious architecture of Peking is much 
 more Indian than that of southern China, for the 
 Mongols brought with them the Lamaistic form of 
 Buddhism, which is more under Indian influences 
 than other sects of the same religion which have 
 developed in China. The Manchus evidently do not 
 share Chinese indifference to overcrowding. Every 
 house has a courtyard, with at least one tree growing 
 in it, and hence, when one looks down on the city in 
 summer, it seems half buried in a forest. Through 
 it run at intervals broad roads, spanned here and 
 there by ornamental arches ; and there are numerous 
 empty spaces corresponding to the squares or parks 
 of European towns. 
 
 As in other parts of China, one is struck with the 
 number of placards and the amount of writing to be 
 seen in the streets. This wall literature is really a 
 form of popular journalism. The placards contain 
 ofiicial notices, advertisements rivalling in their 
 
PEKING 95 
 
 variety and enthusiasm the productions of British 
 soap-makers, private notices like the agony column, 
 and all manner of appeals to the public on religious, 
 moral, and political questions. It was in this way 
 that the cause of the Boxers was advocated, and that 
 the government showed its approval or disapproval 
 of their doings. Fans are another means of dissemi- 
 nating news and ideas. It is said that cheap fans 
 bearing pictures of massacres of Europeans were 
 widely circulated in order to stir the people to further 
 bloodshed. 
 
 The buildings of Peking, when examined in detail, 
 do not behe the promise made by their distant pros- 
 pect ; but, whether temples, towers, or pavilions, 
 they aU seem deserted and sinking into decay. 
 Similar buildings in Japan are usually full of native 
 visitors, who are perhaps sightseers rather than pil- 
 grims ; but, at any rate, their presence ensures that 
 ancient monuments are kept in good condition. 
 But in Peking this spirit is totally absent ; temples 
 are visited only when a fair is held in them. On 
 other days, unless there happens to be a monastery 
 attached, the doors are closed, and it may be hard to 
 get in. No repairs are made — not even those de- 
 manded by safety. The galleries of the Drum Tower 
 mentioned above threaten speedy collapse. The 
 best-preserved edifice is, perhaps, the Temple of 
 Confucius, near the northern wall, a beautiful spot 
 where the marble courts and shady trees create an 
 academic calm not unworthy of the philosopher 
 who said : ' Reading without thinking is labour lost ; 
 thinking without reading is dangerous.' A fine 
 marble staircase leads up to the shrine. Steps for 
 mortal feet are cut only at the sides. The middle 
 
96 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 part, richly carved with dragons, is reserved for the 
 use of spirits. Inside the decoration is red and 
 gold, but there are few ornaments except inscriptions, 
 and no images at all. Behind the altar is merely a 
 tablet of vermilion lacquer, bearing in golden char- 
 acters the name of Confucius, and above is an in- 
 scription in four large characters, ' The model teacher 
 of ten thousand ages,' drawn by the Emperor K'ang- 
 Hsi himself. Chinese writing is almost a branch of 
 painting, and cannot be compared with our western 
 scribbling. The imperial family have always been 
 proud of their skill in caligraphy, and the present 
 Empress Dowager, in spite of her advanced age, is 
 still renowned for the firm and artistic touch with 
 which she draws gigantic hieroglyphics. In the side 
 halls by the principal gateway are preserved the 
 oldest known monuments of Chinese civilization — 
 ten stone drums, probably made about 1000 B.C., 
 which were discovered in the province of Shensi 
 in the seventh century of this era. On them are 
 inscribed ten odes, in archaic Chinese characters, 
 describing a hunting expedition. 
 
 Considering the antiquity of China, it is remarkable 
 how few fragments of ancient building or sculpture 
 have been preserved. With the exception of these 
 drums, no monuments have been discovered, to the 
 best of my belief, earlier than the first century B.C. 
 The habit of building in wood is, of course, the cause 
 of the loss, but it is probable that remains will some 
 day be found underground near the course of the 
 Hwang-Ho and the Wei River, which is known to 
 be the line above which the Chinese advanced from 
 the west. Though the Chinese allow their buildings 
 to go to ruin, it must be said to their honour that 
 
PEKING 97 
 
 they are zealous in preserving ancient relics, and 
 even write very excellent and learned books about 
 them. 
 
 More remarkable than the Temple of Confucius, 
 though perhaps not more beautiful, is the enclosure 
 in the south of the city known as the Temple or Altar 
 of Heaven, where the Emperor offers annual sacrifices 
 to Heaven and his ancestors. It is a park of cypress- 
 trees and acacias, in which are kept the oxen used for 
 sacrifices. One is first shown the Hall of Fasting, 
 where the Emperor spends the night before the 
 ceremony, which takes place at dawn. It is, as befits 
 its purpose, artistically ascetic, and contains only 
 a throne and a magnificently carved screen. A little 
 further on is another group of buildings, where the 
 sacrifice is offered. The most southerly of them is a 
 white marble platform, rising in three terraces, and 
 surrounded by three balustrades. The offeriags are 
 actually burnt in a furnace faced with green tiles, 
 which stands a little way off, but this platform is 
 generally called the altar. It is so arranged that 
 when the Emperor kneels in the middle he is sur- 
 rounded by nine concentric circles, and is, so to speak, 
 the centre of the universe, with only heaven above 
 him. Before him to the north extends a fine of build- 
 ings, some of white marble, some red, some gilded, 
 terminating in another marble platform, on which 
 rises the Temple of Prayer for Grain* — a tower-like 
 structure, with three roofs of deep bright blue. All 
 this is set against the dull green of the surrounding 
 trees, and it would be difficult to find anywhere a 
 more gorgeous harmony of colour. 
 
 * More accurately, the Temple of Prayer for a (Good) Year. 
 
 7 
 
98 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 And yet when one looks at these buildings, the 
 impression which overpowers aU others is not their 
 beauty, but the marks of neglect and decay. Grass 
 and small shrubs grow between the stones of the 
 marble platforms and on the blue roofs. The paths 
 are almost obliterated by weeds ; the courtyards look 
 like meadows. The marble is chipped, the tiles 
 broken, the red wooden pillars and walls are cracked 
 and scratched. Indeed, the whole scene suggests 
 not so much a neglected modem building as a well- 
 preserved old building overgrown by a jungle. 
 When the Emperor comes, an effort, no doubt, 
 is made to set the place in order, but I am told 
 that they merely cut off the plants growing between 
 the stones, and do not take the trouble to uproot 
 them. 
 
 It might naturally be supposed that this neglect 
 springs from a total indifference to the buildings and 
 the ceremonies performed in them, but that is not so. 
 The Temple of Prayer for Grain was rebuilt about 
 twelve years ago at a cost of millions, and with great 
 artistic skill. The cause is rather the peculiar atti- 
 tude of the Chinese mind to national questions, par- 
 ticularly such as concern the Court, and is of wide 
 application. It seems natural that the Temple of 
 Heaven should be regarded as a national iastitution, 
 like Westminster Abbey or the Shrines of Ise in 
 Japan. But such an idea never enters a Chinaman's 
 head. In his opinion, it is theEmperor's business to 
 look after the place, and only European tourists 
 seem to think of visiting it. And the Emperor — or, 
 rather, his Court — do no more than is necessary for 
 their own annual ceremonies ; and as these take place 
 at night or at the first break of day, many imperfec- 
 
PEKING 99 
 
 tions pass unnoticed. If as a result of all this a 
 building collapses, it will, if indispensable, be re- 
 placed regardless of cost ; and though the Chinese 
 are excellent men of business, it will not occur to 
 anyone that it would have been cheaper to have 
 averted the disaster by using ordinary care. 
 
 7—2 
 
VIII 
 
 EDUCATION AND THE ARMY 
 
 There is great talk in China at present of reforms 
 and representative government. Boards and Com- 
 missioners are appointed to study foreign constitu- 
 tions, armies, and systems of education. Every one 
 is reporting on something or other, and the officials 
 of the empire seem likely to turn into living Blue 
 books. I am not sure that all this indicates a real 
 desire to do anything, for I have been an official 
 myself, and I know that the object of asking for a 
 report on a question is generally to get rid of it. 
 When I was a member of the British Embassy at 
 Constantinople, it was the custom to refer troublesome 
 matters, whenever it was possible, to His Majesty's 
 Consul-General at Bagdad. It looked as if a thorough 
 inquiry was being instituted, and one was certain to 
 hear no more of the business for two months at least. 
 I suspect that the Dowager Empress has somewhat 
 similar motives when she sends liberal-minded 
 officials to Europe to make a careful and prolonged 
 study of our institutions. 
 
 There is, however, no doubt that a conviction is 
 spreading, or has spread, all over China that the 
 empire in its present state cannot cope with Euro- 
 peans, and that radical changes are imperative for 
 
 100 
 
EDUCATION AND THE ARMY 101 
 
 the national safety. Such changes are now being 
 made in more than one sphere, and are Ukely to bear 
 more sohd fruit than the talk about Parliaments. 
 One important aspect of the national life which is 
 being revolutionized is education. The outward 
 sign of this is the number of schoolboys in khaki suits 
 and European caps with peaks in front, and their 
 lessons have altered with their costume. This 
 means even more in China than it would elsewhere. 
 The old system of examinations was the embodiment 
 of Chinese respect for the classics and antiquity. It 
 was the means by which the whole public service was 
 recruited, and the only avenue to rank and position. 
 It has now been abolished, and apparently come to an 
 end without protest or difficulty. It is true that the 
 change was mere abolition, which is easier than the 
 introduction of unwelcome novelties, but still it 
 shows that the Chinese are capable of giving up their 
 most venerable ideals and deep-rooted prejudices. 
 
 There are now three educational estabHshments 
 bearing the name of University — at Peking, Tientsin, 
 and Tai-yuan-fu ; but though a new curriculum of 
 teaching is in force, no definite decision seems to 
 have yet been taken as to what shall replace the 
 old examinations. It is not to be expected or 
 wished that the principle of appointing officers 
 according to the merit shown in examinations should 
 be abandoned, for it is ingrained in the Chinese 
 character and by no means an evil. But at present 
 the examination halls are empty and the temples 
 of Confucius are deserted ; for their worshippers 
 used to be composed mainly of those who came to 
 pray for success in the schools or to oflEer thanks 
 for obtaining a degree. We have no right to laugh 
 
102 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 at the old Chinese curriculum. It was exclusively- 
 literary, and not unlike the training in Latin verse 
 which formed so large a part of our fathers' education, 
 but it had at least the merit of being in Chinese and 
 not in a dead language. 
 
 Since the above was written the newspapers report 
 that imperial edicts have been issued declaring that 
 the old Confucian learning is the fundamental factor 
 in education, and that western knowledge is only 
 auxihary to it ; also raising Confucius to an equal 
 rank with heaven and earth. This latter order is 
 a striking example of Chinese ideas as to the rela- 
 tions between the State and religion, but the spirit 
 of the edicts seems sensible enough. What the 
 patriotic Chinese want is not European civilization, 
 but Chinese civilization vivified by adaptations of 
 European methods ; and if you must put new wine 
 into old bottles, you may reasonably protect the 
 bottles by every means within your power, including 
 deification. 
 
 We here see signs of a struggle between reformers 
 and conservatives which makes the educational code 
 chaotic and self -contradictory. But progress is being 
 made. The modem course of studies includes mathe- 
 matics, geography, anatomy, and, in some cases, 
 English. In all the schools which I visited wall- 
 maps and large diagrams of the human body were 
 conspicuous. It is a right instinct which has led 
 to this selection, for the great fault of the Chinese 
 mind is its proclivity to gross superstitions, which 
 give themselves the airs of science, though ignoring 
 all the facts of the subject with which they profess 
 to deal. Such false sciences are Chinese medicine, 
 and, above all, Feng Shui, or geomancy — the science 
 
EDUCATION AND THE ARMY 103 
 
 of lucky and unlucky sites. It is not too much to 
 say that the ordinary Chinaman takes magic for 
 science, and science for magic. The selection of an 
 auspicious site for a grave, in accordance with certain 
 laws as to slopes, levels, watercourses, and wind, 
 seems to him an operation as serious and mathe- 
 matically certain as the calculation of an eclipse. 
 But if Europeans predict from an examination of the 
 soil that minerals will be found in a certain district, 
 he believes that they have magic spectacles which 
 enable them to see underground. Until this mental 
 vice is altered, much progress in any direction is 
 clearly impossible. It seems to affect every depart- 
 ment of Chinese Hfe except business. In money 
 matters there is no superstition or disregard of facts. 
 
 An interesting feature in this educational move- 
 ment is that about 13,000 Chinese students are 
 being trained in Japan, partly at the expense of the 
 Chinese Government. The professors of the Tokyo 
 University say that they are intelhgent and anxious 
 to learn ; but as they mostly belong to well-to-do 
 families, they have a superfluity of money, and are 
 inclined to dissipation. The Chinese, on the other 
 hand, complain that they learn more than was 
 bargained for, and come back not merely advanced 
 Radicals, but members of secret political societies. 
 It is thought that the experiment will be discon- 
 tinued as far as Japan is concerned, and that the 
 next batch of students will be distributed in various 
 European countries. 
 
 It is remarkable, too, how many temples in China 
 are being turned into schools and lecture-halls. 
 The popular conscience is not at all scandahzed by this 
 use of sacred buildings, which by common custom 
 
104 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 are used as guest-houses. Lectures seem to appeal 
 to the Chinese in much the same way as theatres, 
 and the entertainment is conducted in somewhat 
 the same style. It consists of a number of short 
 discourses lasting from ten to twenty minutes, often 
 illustrated by lantern slides or cinematographs. 
 Tea is handed round in the intervals. A lecture 
 which I attended was densely crowded. We began 
 with something light to start us cheerfully on our 
 way — ^namely, a brief discourse on flying-machines, 
 in which the orator said that the wings of his elo- 
 quence, like those of the engines he described, were 
 not strong enough for a long flight, which was con- 
 sidered a very well-turned phrase. Then came a 
 more serious oration on the constitution of the United 
 States, illustrated by pictures of President Roosevelt 
 and prominent citizens, which were received with 
 roars of laughter and loud personal criticisms. The 
 third item was a lecture on European systems of 
 insurance — a dry subject, but listened to with ap- 
 parent interest. 
 
 The educational movement has a moral side also, 
 particularly as regards opium-smoking. Pubhc 
 opinion is divided on this point much as about 
 drinking spirits in Europe. There is a sincere desire 
 for the prohibition of vice, counteracted by a ten- 
 dency to condone or defend moderate indulgence, 
 which needs no explanation. The abolition of opium- 
 smoking forms part of the programme of most re- 
 formers, and the question has now been taken up in 
 imperial edicts. A grave responsibility would be 
 incurred by any European country which should 
 insist on the right to import opium, but there is 
 some reason to fear that the Chinese Government 
 
EDUCATION AND THE ARMY 105 
 
 will merely stop the importation of the drug, and 
 not its cultivation, in China. 
 
 The other most noticeable change is the growth 
 of a military spirit and the improvement in the 
 training and equipment of the troops. The Chinese, 
 as opposed to their Manchu and Mongol conquerors, 
 are not a mihtary nation, and it is rather curious 
 that pekin should have come to be used in French 
 for a civiHan or civilian attire. There is no military 
 aristocracy, no glamour about the profession of 
 arms, and no fighting spirit. Though the Manchus 
 were a warhke race, in this, as in other matters, 
 Chinese ideas have gained the upper hand, and the 
 military class have had to accept the position which 
 popular sentiment assigned to them. But in the 
 last few years the Chinese have come to under- 
 stand that they must be a military nation if they 
 are to be an independent nation. The common 
 sense of Confucius taught that it is unworthy of 
 a civiHzed people to keep a standing army and ex- 
 pend enormous sums on a machine which is only 
 rarely used ; but now all Europe cries in many 
 languages, ' If you don't learn how to fight, I'll 
 eat you up.' That is the real gospel of the west. 
 The Far East does not take Christian missions very 
 seriously. It has come to the not altogether un- 
 natural conclusion that Christianity is a part of 
 European politics, not a detached system, like 
 Buddhism. But it does believe the Powers of Europe 
 when their every action says, ' As long as we exist, 
 there shall be no safety in the world for unarmed 
 nations,' and it is putting the message into practice. 
 
 The old Chinese troops were incredibly bad. I 
 remember seeing a detachment in Central Asia, 
 
106 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 near Kashgar, about fifteen years ago, effete and 
 weakly in physique, without discipline, and carrying 
 queer medieval weapons : some had matchlocks 
 and some battle-axes, but banners were even more 
 numerous than arms. The examinations for the 
 army were equally antiquated, for the candidates 
 were selected according to their skill in archery. 
 Even in this the standard was not very high. At 
 least, there is a story of a general who, in an hour 
 of peril, invoked the aid of the God of War. In 
 response to his prayers a very small and rotimd 
 deity appeared, who introduced himself as the 
 Target God. The God of War was too busy to at- 
 tend, he said, so he had come on account of the 
 peculiar esteem he had for the general. The general 
 asked how he had been so fortunate as to secure this 
 good opinion, for he knew he was not thought much 
 of in military circles. ' In the days when you prac- 
 tised archery,' replied the Target God, ' you never 
 once hurt me, and I have always been grateful to 
 you.' 
 
 But the old state of things is rapidly passing away. 
 In most large towns soldiers may be seen in business- 
 Uke khaki uniforms, copied from the Japanese, 
 with modern arms and accoutrements, but with 
 more private judgment in the matter of hats than 
 military men are wont to allow. The weak poiat 
 of the new army would seem to be a want of uni- 
 formity and centralization. The troops are practi- 
 cally raised and armed by the viceroys, and the 
 result depends on each viceroy's tastes and willing- 
 ness to spend money. Hence most paper statistics 
 are worthless, for a statement of mere numbers 
 does not show how many of the troops are a mob 
 
EDUCATION AND THE ARMY 107 
 
 and how many trained men. A recent telegram 
 from Peking contained a most important annomice- 
 ment as to the gradual nationalization of the army. 
 Yuan-Shih-Kai, the Viceroy of Tientsin, is said to 
 have surrendered much of his direct control over 
 the troops in his provinces, retaining only two 
 divisions under his own orders, and handing over 
 the rest to the Minister of War. Other reforms, such 
 as an army audit and a central clothing department, 
 are promised, and it would seem that real progress 
 is being made in the creation of a national army. 
 Unfortunately, an apprehension is felt that under 
 the new system pay may be allowed to fall into 
 arrears. That apprehension is characteristic of 
 China. One of the secrets of Yuan-Shih-Kai' s 
 success was his system of prompt payment, due to 
 the fact that he had a special and somewhat unusual 
 interest in his troops. When that special interest 
 ceases to exist, when the troops are the hobby of 
 no one in particular, but merely a part of the great 
 imperial estabhshment, it will be to the Chinese 
 mind very extraordinary if their pay is issued 
 regularly. It was mentioned as a wonderful sign 
 of the times that Yuan-Shih-Kai had appeared in a 
 mihtary uniform, such a costume being, according 
 to old-fashioned notions, almost a disgrace for a 
 high official. Some young officers are now asking 
 if they shall not cut off their pigtails, which certainly 
 contrast somewhat oddly with their European 
 uniforms, and the question is not unimportant, 
 for it shows a readiness to abandon a national 
 custom which might not have been expected. 
 
 Though I think that a heavy moral responsibihty 
 rests with Europe for forcing militarism on a peaceful 
 
108 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 people, yet I gladly admit that there is at least one 
 good feature in the military movement — namely, 
 that it is creating a supply of properly trained 
 doctors, and thus beginning to reheve the Chinese 
 of that farrago of superstitious twaddle which has 
 masqueraded among them as the science of medicine. 
 The manual of medical jurisprudence at present in 
 use by coroners and others was composed in the 
 thirteenth century, and teaches such arts as how to 
 determine the relationship of two people by mixing 
 drops of their blood and watching how the fluid 
 behaves. 
 
 Those who are best acquainted with the East 
 are generally of opinion that no great change ever 
 happens there ; that, though disasters are annually 
 prophesied, the creaking machine still goes on, and 
 neither collapses nor is improved. StiU, I think 
 that China is on the eve of great changes, though 
 how great or how rapid they may prove I do not 
 presume to foreshadow. The Chinese are not like 
 the Mohammedan races of the Nearer East, who 
 are mostly warriors, with an ingrained hatred of 
 European civilization. On the contrary, they are 
 a nation of merchants, with a keen eye to business, 
 and in many ways of great pliancy and adaptabihty. 
 Their aversion to foreign methods is due to their long 
 isolation, and to the fact that until the arrival of 
 Europeans they were always in contact with inferior 
 races. Whatever were the fortunes of war with 
 the various Tartar invaders, whether they con- 
 quered or were conquered, Chinese civilization 
 assimiliated them, and was not appreciably altered 
 by Mongol or Manchu institutions. China, as the 
 proverb says, is a sea which salts all the rivers that 
 
EDUCATION "AND THE ARMY 109 
 
 flow into it. But now that they reahze their own 
 weakness, as they evidently do, in two such impor- 
 tant matters as education and the army, there is 
 no reason why their inteUigence and business 
 capacity should not effect a thorough reorganization. 
 The example of Japan should, perhaps, be cited 
 with caution, for the political conditions of the two 
 countries are, and always have been, very different. 
 Still, it does justify one in thinking that the 
 nations of the Far East are capable of passing through 
 chrysalis periods of suspended activity and then 
 expanding into a new and different life. 
 
 But I would not vsdsh to leave the impression that 
 I see a clear road open for progress and reform in 
 China. On the contrary, I foresee aU sorts of diffi- 
 culties arising out of the political conditions of this 
 singular country, on which I will touch in my next 
 letter ; but apart from that, the temper of the 
 Chinese, their overwhelming conceit and self-com- 
 placency, is not reassuring. They admit at last 
 that they must learn from Europe, but they will 
 probably soon think themselves perfect at their 
 lesson, and not be willing to follow the patient and 
 thorough method of the Japanese. Nothing in the 
 history of Japan strikes me more than the thorough- 
 ness of the training and preparation which they 
 imposed on themselves, and the way they first 
 tried their hand at war with China, and then, when 
 they knew their strength by practice, engaged in 
 the contest with Russia. 
 
IX 
 
 CHINESE ADMINISTRATION AND ITS 
 PROSPECTS 
 
 In my last letter I spoke about the growing feeling 
 in China that changes are necessary, but also indi- 
 cated that, though the temper of the people is on 
 the whole favourable to reform, the path of the 
 reformer is by no means smooth and easy. It is 
 specially hard to forecast the future, for the condi- 
 tions which influence it may themselves be altered. 
 For instance, will the present dynasty continue ? 
 Chinese ideas of loyalty are pecuHar, and have abso- 
 lutely nothing in common with the Japanese and 
 Turkish notion of obedience due to a particular 
 house. On the contrary, there have been about 
 twenty djniasties since the Christian era, and there 
 is no pretence of continuity about the succession. 
 If a sovereign can seize the imperial throne by suc- 
 cessful war, or any other means, he will be obeyed by 
 the people as long as his rule gives satisfaction, for it 
 is a maxim that a ruler has duties which he must per- 
 form, as much as rights which he can enforce. It is 
 written in the classics that emperors who lose the 
 confidence of the people lose the empire, and all the 
 youth of China learn this saying. Now, it cannot 
 be denied that there is at present considerable 
 
 110 
 
CHINESE ADMINISTRATION 111 
 
 dissatisfaction with the Manchu dynasty. It is 
 true that the difference between Manchu and Chinese 
 has ceased to be acute, and that the court very 
 wisely do what they can to minimize it in such ways 
 as openiQg to Chinese posts formerly reserved for 
 Manchus only. StiU, there is a general feeling that 
 the present rulers are not Chinese, and, further, 
 that they have not managed the business of ruling 
 very well. There have been several prophecies 
 of the downfall of the dynasty, which has already 
 lasted 262 years, the life of the longest djrnasties 
 since the Christian era being about 300. 
 
 We do right to emphasize the conservatism of the 
 Chinese, their veneration for the past, and their con- 
 viction that modern foreign inventions cannot 
 possibly be superior to the wisdom of their ancestors. 
 But, while remembering this, we must not lose sight 
 of things hke the Taiping rebellion. For fourteen 
 years, from 1850 till 1864, an adventurer of indifferent 
 character held the southern and central part of 
 Chiaa against the government, and, but for the assist- 
 ance rendered by Gordon, who trained and led the 
 imperial troops, he would probably have succeeded 
 ia establishing himself as a rival of the Manchu 
 dynasty, or, indeed, in ousting it altogether. It is 
 noticeable, too, that this adventurer seems to have 
 been inspired by some distorted form of Christianity, 
 a fact which did not hinder the people from follow- 
 ing him. No doubt in the Boxer movement the 
 government saw a force which might probably be 
 hostile to the dynasty, and took pains to conciliate 
 it. China, according to the universal testimony of 
 experts, is full of secret societies, which provide the 
 necessary mechanism for hatching a conspiracy— 
 
112 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 such as the celebrated Triad Society and the Ko-lao 
 Society, which flourish although membership is a 
 capital ofEence. 
 
 Another peculiarity of China is the loose cohesion 
 between the different parts of the empire and the 
 want of organic unity. The provinces are not limbs 
 moved in co-ordination by one head. It is a common- 
 place that Asiatic despotisms when analyzed prove 
 to be a democracy beneath an autocracy, but in 
 China this seems to be admitted to some extent 
 in theory as well as in practice. Thus Mencius, 
 second only to Confucius in authority, said : ' The 
 people are of the highest importance, the gods come 
 second, the sovereign is of lesser weight.' And this 
 is not a mere phrase. The government rarely try 
 to force distasteful measures on the people, as is 
 constantly done in Russia and Turkey ; and one 
 not infrequently hears of public opinion asserting 
 itself in such ways as successfully resisting an illegal 
 tax or insisting on a case being retried if the popular 
 conscience is not satisfied with a magistrate's 
 decision. 
 
 The government of the provinces is supervised by 
 viceroys, who generally have two provinces under 
 them. Provided they send regular and sufficient 
 money to Peking, they are allowed to be practically 
 independent, and their prerogative includes such 
 powers as raising troops and coining money, rights 
 which the central authority reserves to itself in most 
 parts of the world. Below the viceroys are governors 
 of provinces, tao-tais (or chiefs of circumscriptions), 
 and district magistrates. These last are the officials 
 who are directly in contact with the people. It 
 would appear that there are less than 1,500 of them 
 
CHINESE ADMINISTRATION 113 
 
 in the eighteen provinces, and if the population of 
 those provinces is, as generally reckoned, about 
 380,000,000, it would seem that each magistrate 
 has to look after something like 250,000 people. 
 Magistrates have, however, as a rule, attached to 
 them a number of candidates for employment, men 
 who have passed the prescribed examinations, but 
 are waiting for a vacancy. These, and still more 
 the bands of runners and lictors who hang about a 
 provincial Yam^n, have a bad reputation for squeez- 
 ing the people and doing Httle ; but even if they 
 offered effective assistance, government by so few 
 hands would obviously be impossible without effec- 
 tive co-operation offered by the people themselves. 
 The problem is solved by the institution of headmen, 
 who are held responsible for the maintenance of 
 peace and good order within their boroughs or 
 villages, and who are allowed to take fees, though 
 they receive no salaries. Also, guilds or societies, 
 formed for benevolent or rehgious purposes, are 
 numerous, and undertake a great deal of the work 
 which in other countries would be dealt with by 
 the sanitary or poor laws. Schools are usually 
 estabhshed by voluntary associations. 
 
 The variety in customs which is inevitable in an 
 empire of such large extent is naturally increased 
 by this system of government. Not only do usages 
 differ in various parts of China, but the spoken, 
 though not the written, languages are different. 
 There are at least eight so-called dialects, which are 
 reaUy languages as separate as French and Italian, 
 though the pecuhar system of writing obUterates 
 the distinction between them. It may, indeed, be 
 wondered that disruptive and centrifugal tendencies 
 
 8 
 
114 LETTERS PROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 have not been more prevalent in the empire, but on 
 the whole the unity of manners and customs is greater 
 than might be expected, and though it is often 
 dangerous to attribute any particular custom to 
 China generally, still. Chinamen from Canton, 
 Sse-chuen, and Peking are undoubtedly all China- 
 men, very different from other nations, and in 
 comparison with those differences very like one 
 another. The diversity of language is counter- 
 balanced by the identity of writing, which annihi- 
 lates not only space, but time ; for, since each Chinese 
 hieroglyphic represents a single idea which the 
 reader can pronounce according to the fashion of 
 his dialect, it is possible to read the works of Con- 
 fucius in modem Chinese, though had they been 
 written alphabetically the language would be as 
 different from modern Chinese as Anglo-Saxon is 
 from modern English. Among an intensely literary 
 people like the Chinese, who always honour scholar- 
 ship, even if they do not possess it, the existence of 
 a common writing and a common literature, religious 
 as well as secular, is a matter of no little moment. 
 Also, there are no laws restricting movement in 
 China. Passports are unknown, and people can 
 and do go wherever they please in pursuit of their 
 business. Then, again, it is a rule of Chinese 
 administrations that an official can never be em- 
 ployed in his own province, but must always serve 
 in one of which he is not a native. This naturally 
 renders home rule aspirations impossible, and 
 famiharizes people with the idea that government 
 is not provincial. 
 
 Hence China presents the spectacle of an immense 
 mass of humanity held together by very loose 
 
CHINESE ADMINISTRATION 115 
 
 political ties, but cemented by common customs 
 and traditions to which the people are deeply 
 attached. This feehng is intense and bred in the 
 bone. So far, therefore, it is superior to any transi- 
 tory efEervescence of national sentiment. But it 
 seems wanting in passion. It has not the glow of 
 Japanese patriotism or of Mohammedan fanaticism. 
 Hence, although we find Chinese national sentiment 
 performing prodigies of prejudice, we do not find it 
 performing prodigies of valour. More than this, 
 pecuniary considerations may overcome national 
 scruples — at any rate, if the issue is not very direct. 
 In 1900, Chinese coolies from Shantung were per- 
 fectly ready to work for the Allies, and it is said 
 that the same thing happened in 1860. If one 
 considers all this — the occurrence of such move- 
 ments as the Taiping rebelUon, the loose system of 
 government, and the readiness to help other nations 
 who are fighting against China — it is plain that 
 there is something more than conservatism in the 
 Chinese character. 
 
 On the other hand, it is clear that if in some ways 
 contact with foreigners acts as a disintegrating force, 
 it has sometimes the opposite effect, and calls into 
 operation the national power of combination into 
 guilds or societies for a particular object. A remark- 
 able instance of this is the recent boycott of 
 American goods, which extended from Canton 
 certainly as far north as Suchow, and perhaps further. 
 The United States Government had enacted severe 
 regulations restricting the immigration of Chinese 
 into California, and these regulations were harshly 
 enforced, which was not strictly reasonable, since the 
 right of American citizens to enter China was main- 
 
 8—2 
 
116 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 tained. Ten years ago such proceedings would have 
 passed unnoticed, for it is not the way of the Chinese 
 Government to protect the interests of its subjects 
 abroad. But on this occasion the populace took 
 up the matter, doubtless on suggestion, and refused 
 to buy American goods until an ameUoratioa of the 
 obnoxious rules was promised. 
 
 One cannot help fearing that the system of bribery 
 universal in China may do much mischief at the 
 present crisis. The custom is universal and not 
 denied, though, of course, it would not be manners 
 to mention it. A viceroy actually receives about 
 £1,300 a year, whereas his out-of-pocket expenses 
 probably amount to between £10,000 and £15,000. 
 The objection to the system does not lie mainly in 
 its injustice. The value of every office, inclusive 
 of these perquisites, is accurately known, and an 
 official who should try to extort more than custom 
 authorizes would soon find himself in trouble. A 
 more insidious evil is that every transaction in which 
 an official engages is regarded by him as primarily 
 a means of making money. Hence viceroys look 
 to the minting of coins and equipment of troops as 
 methods for filling their pockets, and there is a great 
 danger — nay, almost a certainty — that when they 
 have to provide anything at the public expense, 
 aU concerned will endeavour to take their commis- 
 sion not only by overcharging, but by buying 
 inferior articles which are not worth the price 
 nominally paid. Connected with this is the Chinese 
 idea of ' face,' or ' saving face,' which means that 
 in pubHc as well as in private life a disaster or 
 disgrace can be removed by an explanation which 
 is transparently untrue, but which makes appeal to 
 
CHINESE ADMINISTRATION 117 
 
 some traditional sentiment, and is accepted by every- 
 body as a decent fiction. Thus, after the Boxer 
 troubles the Emperor was praised for his filial 
 piety, because, when he might (as was assumed) 
 have continued a successful contest, he preferred 
 to conclude peace and spare his elderly aunt the 
 trouble of moving from one palace to another. 
 After the Japanese war many parts of China re- 
 mained in ignorance of the defeat, and were under 
 the impression that Japan had been beaten. 
 
 At present the Japanese clearly desire to undertake 
 the poHtical and military education of China, both 
 by receiving Chinese students in Japan and by train- 
 ing the army and navy in China. Their efforts have 
 met with considerable success, and there are many 
 Japanese instructors, both in schools and various 
 branches of the public service. Japanese journals 
 complacently state that the mission of Japan is to 
 civilize not only China, but Asia, and point to the 
 employment of Japanese in Siam. They clearly 
 have many advantages which Europeans can never 
 obtain. They understand the Chinese character 
 better, and the masticated food which they serve out 
 is more digestible to the Chinese stomach than crude 
 European viands. But, on the other hand, the 
 Chinese have for many centuries maintained towards 
 the Japanese an attitude of superiority — an attitude 
 founded on no substantial claim, no doubt, but still 
 part of the national character. It is not, therefore, 
 likely that anything Hke patronage on the part of the 
 Japanese wiU be agreeable to them. 
 
X 
 
 CHINESE LITERATURE 
 
 It is not surprising that the Kterature of the Far East 
 has inspired less interest and admiration than its art. 
 Some study is necessary even to understand it, and 
 to appreciate it requires considerable training and 
 sympathy with native ideas. Yet some acquaint- 
 ance with it is imperative for every one who would 
 have a just idea of Chinese and Japanese life. China 
 is the most literary country in the world. Educa- 
 tion, consisting in a knowledge of the Confucian 
 classics as tested by competitive examinations, has 
 been hitherto the only means of obtaining office and 
 rank. Probably in no other part of the world do 
 people write so much, or strive so generally to make 
 what they write conform to their canons of style. 
 In Japan the ancient literature is shghter and less 
 influential, but the output of books and written 
 matter is large, and literary style is sought after and 
 appreciated. 
 
 Whatever opinion one may form of the merits of 
 ancient Chinese Hterature, there can be no doubt of 
 the influence which it has exerted in eastern Asia 
 Not only in China proper, but in Korea, Annam, 
 Cochin China, and to a considerable extent in Japan, 
 it has not only afforded almost the only intellectual 
 
 118 
 
CHINESE LITERATURE 119 
 
 pabulum of the population (for Buddhist literature 
 is little read except by priests), but has also pene- 
 trated and coloured the whole life of the official 
 classes and the administration of the state in an 
 unusual manner. Now, the population of China, 
 including the outlying territories, is reckoned at 
 400,000,000 at least, and 30,000,000 more may be 
 added for Korea and Indo-China, whereas the popu- 
 lation of all Europe is only 392,000,000. Hence it 
 will be seen that, without counting Japan, this 
 hterature has influenced and moulded a larger 
 number of the human race than all the Hteratures of 
 Europe, including the Bible. 
 
 The classics, of which one hears so much in Chinese 
 writings, consist of two collections, generally known 
 as the four books and five classics. They consist 
 chiefly of sayings attributed to Confucius and Mencius, 
 and of various ancient writings collected by Confucius. 
 This philosopher deHberately preferred to be an editor 
 and arranger rather than an author, and the only 
 work which has come down to us from his own pen 
 is the ' Spring and Autumn Annals,' a very jejune 
 chronicle of his native state of Lu. Still, as it was he 
 who selected and arranged most of the ancient Chinese 
 literature now in existence, he is entitled to the promi- 
 nent place which he holds in the national esteem. The 
 two chief compilations which he made are the Shu 
 King, or book of history, a collection of historical 
 documents ; and the Shih King, or book of odes, 
 an anthology of popular songs. The remaining two 
 classics are the Book of Rites, a somewhat later 
 compilation, incorporating the materials and opinions 
 of Confucius, and the Book of Changes. I do not 
 propose to enter into a discussion of this last work, 
 
120 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 which is certainly the most mysterious offspring ever 
 produced by human pen. Not only has nobody ever 
 been able to translate it to the satisfaction of any- 
 body else (that sort of thing is not uncommon 
 among sinologues), but there is not even an 
 approximate agreement as to what it is about. One 
 authority thinks it is a moral treatise, a second an 
 almanack, a third a dictionary of Chinese and some 
 prehistoric tongue. The Chinese themselves simply 
 venerate it, and feel like the old Scotch lady who was 
 asked if she had understood the minister's somewhat 
 metaphysical sermon : ' Hech, sirs ! I would na 
 presume.' 
 
 This literature has not found much favour or ad- 
 miration in Europe. It consists partly of moral senti- 
 ments enunciated in a style which makes them seem 
 platitudes, and partly of somewhat trivial details 
 respecting the life of the ancient sages, such as that 
 Confucius always had ginger on his table, and wore 
 a nightshirt half as long again as his body. Also, 
 the observance of propriety, etiquette, and ceremony 
 is continually enjoined in a manner which seems 
 formal and pedantic. But it must be remembered 
 that most of these maxims were uttered at a time 
 when they were not commonplaces, but rather para- 
 doxes. 
 
 The object of Confucius was to introduce peace 
 and order into the mob of contending Chinese 
 states, torn by mutual quarrels and internal dissen- 
 sion, and though he did not achieve his object during 
 his hfetime, still, during the two and a half mil- 
 lenniums which have elapsed since his death his 
 system has had a success without parallel. Order 
 and stability have been maintained in China some- 
 
CHINESE LITERATURE 121 
 
 what at the expense of mobihty and progress, but 
 the ideals and maxims of the classics are excellent in 
 their essence, and perhaps would commend them- 
 selves more to Anglo-Saxon readers if they were 
 differently translated. Thus the phrase ' The supe- 
 rior man ' — the Confucian ideal character — has some- 
 thing priggish about it, but in general idea, and even 
 in many details, the Chinese words which it renders 
 correspond to ' gentleman.' 
 
 Professor Giles somewhere tells a story of a Cam- 
 bridge Don who asked him if the Chinese had ' any- 
 thing in the nature of poetry.' He justly repHed by 
 quoting a question once addressed to him by a Man- 
 darin — ' Are books known in your honourable 
 country ?' He might also have rephed that the 
 Emperor Ch'ien Lung wrote 33,950 pieces in ' the 
 nature of poetry,' and has apparently inspired the 
 present Mikado of Japan, who was announced some 
 time ago to have composed 27,000. There is no 
 stopping a hterary emperor ; but in the case of ordi- 
 nary Chinese no doubt the pubhc and the pubHshers 
 enforce some kind of limit, and poems, though 
 numerous, are generally short. None consist of more 
 than a few hundred Hnes, compositions Uke the Indian 
 and Greek Epics being entirely unknown ; and in 
 modem times twelve lines has come to be regarded as 
 the model length. 
 
 Poems of four lines, if artistically constructed, 
 are also much admired, and are known as ' stop- 
 shorts,' the idea being that they awake a train 
 of thought which continues after the words cease, 
 or outline a picture which the reader has to fill 
 up. The beginning of such poems should be quiet 
 and conventional, and only the fourth line should 
 
122 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 reveal the real situation as a surprise. The following 
 is considered a perfect example : 
 
 ' The birds have all flown to their roost in the tree : 
 The last cloud has just floated lazily by : 
 But we never tire of each other, not we, 
 
 As we sit there together, the mountains and I.' 
 
 {Trans. Giles.) 
 
 These lines are by Li-Po, perhaps the most famous 
 of Chinese poets, who lived under the T'ang dynasty 
 (a.d. 600 to 900), which was for poetry the Augustan 
 age. The older productions, such as the classical 
 odes, though interesting on account of their age and 
 the simple vigour of their language, seem — at any 
 rate, to foreigners — somewhat too primitive to deserve 
 the high value which the Chinese attach to them ; and 
 poems written after the T'ang, composed as they are 
 in archaic language and with archaic rhymes, tend 
 to become more and more like the Latin verse 
 written by modem scholars. The best Chinese 
 poetry has something about it which recalls Horace 
 — the same ease and accuracy of expression, resulting 
 from careful workmanship and long polish, and a 
 love of court life and the beauties of nature judici- 
 ously blended. One may add, too, that it is very 
 bacchanalian. Most Chinese poets have sung the 
 praises of the wine-cup, and Li-Po, after writing a 
 poem in which he described himself as carousing 
 with the moon, got drowned in a river while attempt- 
 ing to embrace the reflection of his boon companion. 
 
 It will have already dawned upon the reader 
 that the Chinese, though their literature is strictly 
 indigenous and owes hardly anything to foreign 
 influences, are not so much creative as critical, 
 editorial, and bookish. They excel in those forms 
 
CHINESE LITERATURE 123 
 
 of writing which depend upon treating everyday 
 themes with a literary touch, such as essays and 
 letters intended for pubHcation. Essays of all 
 lengths and on all sorts of subjects have been pub- 
 lished in abundance for the last 1,200 years, and 
 the composition of one has always been a principal 
 part of the ofl&cial examinations. ' We like our own 
 compositions, but other men's wives,' says a proverb, 
 which sounds as if it ought to be French, and testifies 
 to the prevalence of authorship, if not of moraHty. 
 One finds litterateurs writing with a pleasant vein of 
 humour, as weU as with a Hghtness and sureness of 
 touch most unusual in Asia, on such subjects as 
 book-coUecting, gardening, and cookery. Yiian Mei, 
 a literary epicure of the eighteenth century, treated 
 this last subject with a delicacy and dignity worthy 
 of BriUat-Savarin. More extraordinary in point of 
 time is Chwang Tsu, a brilliant writer of the fourth 
 century B.C., whose paradoxical and somewhat 
 flippant style has deprived him of the place in the 
 Chinese canon which his hterary gifts certainly 
 deserve. 
 
 If Chinese poems are short, Chinese novels are 
 immensely long. They resemble, not simple novels, 
 but the works of those French novehsts who record 
 in a series of tales the fortunes of an entire family. 
 Some are historical, some supernatural, some 
 pictures of life and manners. One of the most 
 popular and still generally read is the ' Komance 
 of the Three Kingdoms,' a tale of war and adventure 
 founded on the political events of the troublous 
 times about the third century of this era. Equally 
 celebrated is a massive work generally known as 
 the ' Dream of the Red Chamber.' It is in twenty- 
 
124 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 four volumes, and is pronounced by those who have 
 read it to be excellent in its delineation of character, 
 pictures of hfe, and in all things except its porten- 
 tous length. More moderate in this respect, for it 
 is only in four volumes, is a romance called Yii 
 Chiao Li, which has been translated into French. 
 It is a problem story. The hero falls in love with a 
 beautiful poetess, and also with a most fascinating 
 lady who masquerades in male attire, and steals 
 his affections from the poetess while supposed to be 
 merely his friend. Which shall the hero marry ? 
 One sees the alternatives before the European 
 novelist — an accident, a suicide, a murder or 
 violent row (though this highly probable result is 
 not favoured by refined writers), a woman's sacri- 
 fice of herself, three people leading grey, dismal 
 hves, with a tendency to drink or philanthropy. 
 Which of these courses did the Chinese writer 
 select ? None of them. The hero simply married 
 both the ladies, and they all Uved happily ever after. 
 A Chinese friend once told me the plot of another 
 novel which treated of the married state. It was 
 a problem story, but it regarded conjugal relations 
 in the light of circumstances which must be new 
 and surprising to the most experienced reader of 
 French novels. The hero, a magistrate in a certain 
 provincial town, had to try a most baffling case, 
 where there was a corpse with an agonized expres- 
 sion, which, along with other indications, pointed to 
 murder, but no wounds and no evidence as to who 
 was the culprit or how the deed was done. Now, 
 in that town there was an excellent rule that if a 
 magistrate could not discover a murderer he had 
 to pay the penalty of the law in his own person, 
 
CHINESE LITERATURE 125 
 
 and thus satisfy the demands of justice. So our 
 friend lay awake half the night, and talked in his 
 sleep the other half, until his wife insisted on know- 
 ing what it was aU about. When she heard she 
 simply asked, ' Did you look under the pigtail ?' 
 He had not, but when he did so he found there a large 
 brass-headed nail driven into the brain of the 
 deceased, and he soon proved that it was the un- 
 fortunate gentleman's wife who had dispatched him 
 in this way. 
 
 The murderess was sliced to death by the slow 
 process, and the magistrate was decorated with 
 buttons and titles ; all the province swore that there 
 never was such a Daniel before. But when the 
 first blush of triumph was over, he did not feel 
 happy. It began with mere curiosity. How had 
 his wife, whom (hke most husbands) he had never 
 thought particularly inteUigent, solved as soon as 
 she heard it a problem which had defied male 
 ratiocination ? She could not explain how she 
 had been so successful, and curiosity passed into 
 anxiety. He thought much and long, and the more 
 he thought about it, the less he hked it, for she had 
 been a widow when he married her. A terrible 
 suspicion entered his mind, and allowed him no rest. 
 At last, in the exercise of his authority, he contrived 
 to have the body of his wife's first husband exhumed, 
 and when with trembling fingers he felt under the 
 pigtail, there he found, driven into the brain, a large 
 brass-headed nail of precisely the same pattern as 
 that which he had seen under the pigtail of the other 
 corpse. 
 
 Now, here was the moral dilemma. Natural ties 
 and gratitude for no ordinary service made the 
 
126 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 idea of handing over his wife for trial seem monstrous. 
 But on the other hand the claims of justice received 
 no mean support from the vision of the brass-headed 
 nail which might be threatening his own cranium 
 at any moment. What did he do ? The novelist 
 apparently left the decision to the reader's moral 
 sense. My friend seemed to think that justice and 
 fear of the nail carried the day. 
 
 Big as are the novels of the Chinese, the real 
 colossi of their literature are their dictionaries, 
 compared to which the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' 
 with aU its supplements, is but as a pocket edition. 
 The largest of all, said to have consisted of 22,877 
 volumes, was so gigantic that it never was printed, 
 on account of the expense of cutting the wooden 
 blocks used by Chinese printers. Three copies were 
 made, which all fared badly, the last being burnt 
 at Peking in the troubles of 1900. But those who 
 hke sohd reading can still console themselves with a 
 relatively brief treatise in 1,628 volumes. This 
 work is one of the five thesauri published under 
 the auspices of K'ang-Hsi, the second Emperor 
 of the present dynasty. Besides general encyclo- 
 psedias, there are numerous literary concordances 
 and dictionaries, or alphabetical manuals for special 
 sciences and arts such as medicine or agriculture. 
 History also receives careful but prolix treatment. 
 
 The enormous extent and comprehensiveness of 
 these dictionaries bear testimony to the love of 
 information in China. If we take the great ency- 
 clopaedias of the Ming dynasty, compiled at the end 
 of the fourteenth century, or even those of K'ang- 
 Hsi at the end of the seventeenth, it must be ad- 
 mitted that in bulk and completeness they are 
 
CHINESE LITERATURE 127 
 
 superior to anything published in Europe at the 
 same period, and, takiag into account the mutual 
 ignorance of the East and West, the Chinese works 
 can hardly be said to be inferior in accuracy. For 
 contemporary purposes all these books are, of 
 course, useless except for historical and literary 
 matters, the Chinese having hitherto obstinately shut 
 their ears to the teaching of modem science, but 
 there is no reason why, with their admirable industry 
 and power of arrangement, they should not collect 
 and codify the most recent information on all sub- 
 jects. 
 
XI 
 
 IN A JAPANESE TRAIN 
 
 A foreigner's first impression about life in Japan 
 — not about scenery or buildings, but the practical 
 details of everyday existence — is that most things 
 are small. The railways, in particular, seem like 
 toys, and when one is stowed away in a sleeping-car 
 one feels that if one stretched out one's legs one would 
 kick the end out. But an Englishman should re- 
 member that when one lands at Liverpool one 
 finds the English train looks absurdly small com- 
 pared with the gigantic locomotives and cars that 
 ply on the other side. The little Japanese trains 
 are serviceable and busy : they are generally full, 
 and the expresses are often crowded with more 
 passengers than can be seated. When this happens 
 I observe that Japanese husbands sit down and let 
 their wives stand. Very good for domestic disci- 
 pline, no doubt. Chivalry does not flourish in 
 Japan, but women are not secluded as in Moham- 
 medan countries : they are treated somewhat like 
 children and kept in their places, but not hidden. 
 Even in thejwell-to-do classes women can travel 
 alone, and in the lower classes the sexes associate 
 with freedom, if not with equality. 
 
 It^has been noticed that Japanese manners are 
 
 128 
 
IN A JAPANESE TRAIN 12» 
 
 different on the railway from what they are else- 
 where. The traditional maxims of etiquette never 
 contemplated such surroundings, and for once 
 conduct is regulated by human nature, not by pre- 
 cedent. This is perhaps why Japanese seem rest- 
 less in trains. No philosopher thought of saying 
 that the sage is never in a hurry to get out before 
 the train stops. That so active a race should be 
 restless is hardly surprising. Their calm and im- 
 passivity in ordinary social intercourse is the result 
 of training, not of temperament. In a train they 
 are for ever opening and shutting the windows and 
 drawing the blinds up or down. If they have room 
 they walk about, lie down, or spread out repasts of 
 many cups and dishes over as much space as they 
 can command. Tea is provided in most trains, and 
 both men and women smoke, though the govern- 
 ment, in its paternal care for the national health, 
 has made a law forbidding the use of tobacco to 
 persons under twenty. But the operation is per- 
 formed on so minute a scale that one would think 
 it harmless, even to those of tender years. The 
 bowl of a pipe just holds a pellet the size of a pea, 
 and one filling yields exactly three whiffs, with the 
 result that more time is spent on preparation than 
 on enjoyment. 
 
 The conductors supply shppers as well as tea, for 
 the Japanese mind tends to regard a railway-carriage 
 as a house. Many passengers arrive wearing 
 wooden clogs, which create a surprisingly loud 
 clatter on the platforms. These clogs are worn 
 with only a thick white stocking, and can be taken 
 off and resumed in a minute, whereas a boot is a 
 
 most inconvenient article in Japanese life, for custom 
 
 9 
 
130 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 orders that they must be taken off on entering a 
 house. Yet men of the upper and middle classes 
 wear European clothes, from an ideg, that it denotes 
 education and civilization. This seems to me a 
 woeful mistake. Apart from the question of boots, 
 the native dress — an easy robe bound round the 
 waist with a girdle — is far more comfortable and far 
 more picturesque than coats and trousers, which are 
 not graceful at the best, and seem to bring out all 
 the bad points in Japanese figures. One has to 
 get accustomed to the habit of changing or re- 
 adjusting garments in public. It is done with con- 
 summate skill and without any exposure that could 
 shock the most refined British philistine, but it is 
 certainly surprising to see an elderly gentleman 
 divest himself of a tweed suit in a first-class carriage, 
 nor do the conventional senses feel happy when 
 in similar publicity a lady imparts nature's nourish- 
 ment to a child three or four years old. 
 
 In the matter of dress the women are no doubt 
 the wiser sex, for they have now definitely aban- 
 doned European costume. Why they wear such 
 large sashes is a mystery that the male mind had 
 better leave alone, but in colouring one seems able 
 to trace the working of a sensible though rather 
 melancholy theory, inasmuch as brilHancy decreases 
 with age, and each stage of Ufe wears more sombre 
 garments than the last. Babies are radiant in red 
 and orange. In a young lady this exuberance is 
 toned down to a gown of bluish-grey with a large 
 bright sash, and then the colour gradually dies 
 out. There are none of those ample, gorgeous 
 dowagers who brighten our English homes. The 
 old women look shrivelled, dress in dark clothes 
 
IN A JAPANESE TRAIN 131 
 
 with no ornaments, and sometimes cut their hair 
 short. 
 
 There is no place in the world where age is 
 honoured more than in the Far East, but it is 
 remarkable how few fine-looking old men one sees 
 there. Races differ very much in their power of 
 enjoying this St. Martin's summer of beauty. The 
 Mohammedan peoples of the Nearer East have a 
 genius for producing magnificent old men, due to a 
 combination of large frames, full beards, and flowing 
 robes. In Europe we have the beards, but are poorly 
 off in the way of dignified costumes. Africa is the 
 continent of the young ; a middle-aged African falls 
 into deplorable physical decay, and no mental or 
 moral energy resists the bodily ruin. The Far 
 Easterns are not in quite so bad a case ; they live 
 long and retain their faculties, but the scanty beards 
 and shrivelled appearance of the old men do not 
 suggest to our eyes vigorous age. 
 
 A comer seat facing the engine seems the best 
 place for admiring scenery from a train, but in 
 Japan such corners do not exist, for the seats run 
 along the sides of the carriage, leaving a passage 
 down the middle, and you have to look straight 
 right or left, seeing through or over your opposite 
 neighbour as best you can. This makes it difficult 
 to have a wide view ; but there are not many to be 
 seen in Japan, and the Japanese rarely build houses 
 or towns on points of vantage that command large 
 prospects. A fine panorama, for instance, can be 
 seen from several points near Nikko, but not from 
 the town or temples. Yet the people have a real 
 love for scenery, as is attested, among other things, 
 by the crowds of visitors who go to see celebrated 
 
 9—3 
 
132 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 views. When I was at Matsushima, a monster 
 party of tourists filled all the hotels. They went 
 about in twelve boats by day, all towed in a line 
 behind a single steamer, and on returning at night 
 were met by a procession and a brass band. This 
 did not pretend to be more than amusement, but it 
 is pretty clear that in miost of the excursions, called 
 pilgrimages, love of an outing in pleasant scenery is 
 the principal motive. 
 
 The celebrated Adews of Japan are mostly water 
 scenes — the inland sea, the islets of Matsushima, the 
 shores of Lake Biwa, and the Bay of Omura, near 
 Nagasaki. In all of these the beauty consists not so 
 much in the general effect or the grandeur of the 
 rocks and waves as in the details — the graceful shapes 
 of some promontory or island, seen through a temple 
 gateway or under the boughs of a spreading pine, for 
 the pines are not straight, as in Europe, but divide 
 and spread, so that their long branches and scanty 
 leaves make a good foreground for a peaceful sea- 
 view. It is strange to find the pine and bamboo 
 growing side by side, yet the sight is characteristic 
 of Japan, and if one may permit oneself the fancy, 
 this unexpected union of feathery grace and rather 
 sombre strength has its counterpart in the national 
 temper. Even if there is no sea or lake in the 
 scenes that one recalls with most pleasure, there 
 will generally be foxind a waterfall, or a river running 
 im^der blossoming trees, and the ground is rarely 
 level. Except the plains around Tokyo, most parts 
 of Japan are covered with hills or motintains. The 
 greatest of these, of course, is Fuji, but it is often 
 hidden by clouds, at any rate in autumn, and I 
 myself have only seen it once for an hour or two 
 
IN A JAPANESE TRAIN 133 
 
 after dawn. Lafcadio Heam says somewhere that it 
 is like a lotus-bud, and the comparison struck me as 
 singularly just, for the cap of snow and the glaciers 
 descending from it change colour in the morning sun 
 and exactly resemble the red tip and streaks seen 
 on the bursting lotus-bud just before it uncloses. 
 
 Japan is an ideal land for travelling. I know no 
 country in the world where there is in the same space 
 so much that is beautiful and interesting, and, what 
 is even rarer, so much courtesy and kindness to 
 strangers. All the principal sights are easily acces- 
 sible by rail, and one ought, perhaps, to be thankful 
 that there are still districts to which every European 
 does not go. The deterrent is not so much difficulty 
 of locomotion as the uneuropeanized Japanese 
 hotel, of which I will speak hereafter. It has none 
 of the ordinary terrors of bad inns, such as dirt, 
 vermin, or incivility, but it practises a monastic 
 severity in such things as food and heating. Where 
 there are no railways a jinricksha is the ordinary 
 vehicle, or, in hilly country, a sedan-chair. Horses 
 are not exactly rare, but the people show little sign 
 of caring for either riding or driving. There are one 
 or two ancient highways, such as the famous Tokaido, 
 leading westwards from Tokyo, along which the 
 daimyos of the west used to come to pay their re- 
 spects to the Shogun ; but most roads seem just good 
 enough for taking produce to market. They are often 
 shaded by picturesque avenues. The country looks 
 prosperous. One notices the absence of pasturage 
 and sheep, and, compared to China, of great stretches 
 of grain-growing land. But all available land is 
 cultivated, though often it is only the hollows of the 
 valleys that can be used. 
 
134 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 Villages are frequent, and suggest about the same 
 standard of comfort and tidiness as English villages, 
 but there are hardly any large houses or signs of a 
 class higher than substantial farmers. Formerly the 
 territorial daimyos lived in their country seats, but 
 few of these are now kept as residences. The 
 majority have become the property of the state, and 
 are used as barracks or schools. It is strange how 
 easily the social system was changed, for such old 
 observances and privileges withstand revolutions 
 better than thrones, and even in France the nobility 
 did not give up theii' chateaux. But in Japan the 
 feudahsm which was the social life of the country 
 fifty years ago seems to have vanished. The existing 
 peerage is an entirely new creation. The nobles are 
 not territorial, and reside mostly in Tokyo, having 
 few tastes or duties that take them to the country. 
 They are largely officials, and receive pensions from 
 the government, which exercises some supervision 
 over their marriages ; for the Japanese carefully 
 studied European institutions before they remodelled 
 their own, and doubtless noticed the inveterate pro- 
 clivity of peerages to marry Americans. Yet, pos- 
 sibly, the power of the old nobility has not been 
 destroyed so thoroughly in reahty as in appearance. 
 One still hears of clans as an influence in Japanese 
 pontics, and is told that nearly all the prominent 
 modem statesmen are members of four great 
 daimiates, which formerly had almost royal powers 
 in the south-eastern districts. 
 
 Architecture plays very little part in Japanese 
 landscapes. It borrows more beauty from nature 
 than it imparts, and it rarely dominates. A gateway 
 or a bridge may add a finish to a view, but in town 
 
J '__.^(lj^j' 
 
IN A JAPANESE TRAIN 135 
 
 and country alike imposing buildings are rare. The 
 most conspicuous are the castles, such as that stiU 
 to be seen at Nagoya. They were mostly erected 
 in the sixteenth century, and probably imder Portu- 
 guese influence, which seems indicated by their 
 moats, but the general appearance is altogether 
 un-European, since they have four or five black 
 recurving roofs, rising in tiers one above the other, 
 divided by strips of white waU and rows of windows. 
 Pagodas, similar to those in China, may be seen here 
 and there, but, with these and a few other exceptions, 
 Japanese architecture is unobtrusive. Even the 
 Mikado's palaces at Kyoto are severely plain outside, 
 and many temples would be better described to a 
 European as ornamented gardens. Such a garden 
 has gateways, flights of stairs, avenues, tombs and 
 images, towers and paviHons ; but though one may 
 see wonderful vistas through the trees and statues, 
 and have glimpses of gilded interiors, it is rare to 
 find a building which is remarkable apart from its 
 surrovindings, and very often the whole place is 
 hidden by trees and invisible at a Mttle distance. 
 
 The interior decoration is perhaps more successful 
 in Buddhist temples than in secular buildings, be- 
 cause the altar forms a centre which gives a meaning 
 and harmony to the accessory ornaments. A fine 
 effect is produced by leaving the greater part of a 
 dark wooden haU comparatively simple, and accumu- 
 lating a mass of gold on the furthest wall opposite 
 the entrance-door. But even in the imperial palaces 
 the extreme bareness of the reception-rooms de- 
 stroys their beauty to my eyes. Perhaps when in 
 use they may look better. When empty they are 
 simply a series of halls with beautiful matting 
 
136 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 and marvellously painted or gilded walls, but no 
 furniture. The result, I think, disappoints both 
 the eye and mind. One searches in vain for a 
 centre and a meaning. I would not deny that most 
 European rooms are over-furnished, and that 
 Japanese show a better instinct in displaying a few 
 works of art in a space where they can be admired 
 without crowding or competition. But haUs like 
 those at Kyoto, though meant as a supreme effort of 
 ornamentation, seem to me unsatisfactory. They 
 are settings which enclose nothing, and they do not 
 suggest that they lead to anything beyond. The 
 defect, no doubt, is connected with the weakness of 
 Japanese sculpture as compared with Japanese 
 painting and carving, or, to put it in another way, 
 with the difficulty of using wood artistically for large 
 buildings. 
 
XII 
 
 FAR EASTERN CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 The Far East has a peculiar spell which obliges 
 almost every one who writes about it to discuss the 
 characteristics of its inhabitants. People write 
 tomes on Egypt and India without troubUng about 
 the psychology of Egyptians and Hindus, but some 
 real or imaginary enigma in the Far Eastern soul 
 incites almost everybody to analyze and formulate its 
 special quahties. Hence we have many luminous 
 and interesting descriptions of the working of the 
 Chinese and Japanese mind which are perfectly 
 correct, but are for all that misunderstood, not only 
 by the readers, but by the authors themselves, 
 because it is assumed that the mental phenomena 
 described are racial peculiarities, and not defects or 
 oddities common to the whole human race. The 
 reader sits in his easy chair and peruses a long cata- 
 logue of defects : want of truthfulness, of charity and 
 profundity, of true religious feeling, subUmity, and 
 originality ; and he feels, with more or less conscious 
 self-satisfaction, as the author had felt before him, 
 that all this is very extraordinary, and that he himself 
 belongs to a superior race, which never fails in 
 honesty or sympathy, is profound in its ideas, a 
 monopolist of real religious feeling, sublime in its 
 
 137 
 
138 LETTERS FROM THE EAR EAST 
 
 art, and, above all, original in everything. Thus the 
 author of that excellent book ' Chinese Character- 
 istics ' (himself an American) gives as one of the said 
 characteristics intellectual turbidity. There is no 
 doubt a good deal of turbidity in the Chinese mind, 
 but is it unknown in America ? In Great Britain, at 
 any rate, not only mental turbidity, but a hatred of 
 clear thinking and lucid statement, is one of the 
 strongest national characteristics, and an average 
 British Cabinet contains enough intellectual tur- 
 bidity to supply a whole Chinese mob. 
 
 In going about the world, I have noticed that we 
 make two criticisms of all foreign countries ahke : 
 that they are lands of contrast, and that the inhabi- 
 tants are Mars. In one sense all men are Uars, for 
 it is impossible (or, at any rate, it would involve an 
 immense loss of time, as well as great social irritation) 
 to make statements so accurate and uncompromising 
 that they could be regarded as the whole and mere 
 truth ; so each nation selects for statement that part 
 of the truth which it thinks most indispensable and 
 least incongruous with its other ideas. Chinese, for 
 instance, appear to us extrem^ely inaccurate, and 
 their looseness in such matters as time and distance 
 is most annoying to the Anglo-Saxon mind. Yet 
 the motive is in many cases amiable — namely, a 
 desire to say what is pleasant ; and, take them all 
 round, I would as soon trust a Chinaman as an 
 Englishman. In this country we have a love of com- 
 promise, especially noticeable in such serious matters 
 as politics and religion. Here, again, the motive is 
 amiable — the desire to avoid friction and not to 
 quarrel about what is of minor importance. But to 
 minds differently constituted it may seem that logic 
 
FAR EASTERN CHARACTERISTICS 139 
 
 and consistency are sacrificed in the process, and that 
 no honest man can belong to a British poUtical party 
 or to the Anglican Church. And as for lands of con- 
 trast, most countries are that — certainly this country 
 quite as much as China or Japan. The origin of this 
 feeling of contrast lies largely in the desire to charac- 
 terize a nation in a word or phrase. It proves im- 
 possible, and the baffled epigrammatist says there 
 never was such an inconsistent, jumbled place in the 
 world. 
 
 If one has to cram Japanese nature iato a phrase, 
 perhaps the best is to say that they are a nation of 
 artists. Exceptions to the sweeping statement start 
 up at once. The women blackened their teeth in 
 old Japan, and do so still in country districts ; the 
 national sense of art has made no attempt to struggle 
 with the uglier aspects of commerce — smoky chim- 
 neys, hideous buildings, and still more hideous ad- 
 vertisements. But if one takes artist in the sense, 
 not of an aesthetic dreamer, but of one who likes to 
 complete each task with its own appropriate and 
 workmanKke finish, which cannot be wholly wanting 
 in beauty, then I think we may justly describe the 
 Japanese as artists, remembering that this all-round 
 artistic feeHng and sense of symmetry is not likely to 
 favour any large outburst of genius, which is just 
 what is lacking in Japan. 
 
 Another side of this artistic feehng is the 
 enormous power of culture and seH-trainiag, not 
 merely on traditional hnes, but in many directions. 
 The amusements and accomplishments of old 
 Japan, such as the tea ceremonies, were merely 
 an elaborate training in postures, motions, and 
 language. The skill — and for Japanese the in- 
 
140 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 terest — lies in performing a perfectly simple action, 
 such as tea-drinking, in a prescribed methodical 
 manner, in turning a meal into an exercise in. 
 artistic drill. The difference between this and a 
 European game is that there is no competition and 
 nothing to be won. The object and the prize is self- 
 control — not merely self-restraint, but command of 
 one's personality, and power to make it act a certain 
 part. And this is exactly the power which the 
 Japanese have shown in real life, when they decided 
 that they must alter their political and social institu- 
 tions, and did so. 
 
 All this merely amounts to the old and obvious 
 statement that the Japanese are Asiatics who can 
 imitate Europeans, and that is the root of the matter. 
 This is what really differentiates them from other 
 Asiatics, far more than the Bushido of which we have 
 heard so much, or any particular moral system. 
 Most races of Asia have the spirit of discipline and a 
 readiness to sacrifice individual lives for ideals which 
 are often religious, but from pride or negligence or 
 mere stupidity they do not assimilate European 
 methods. Had the Turks been willing to do this, 
 they would have conquered all Europe by to-day, 
 and the Chinese would have conquered aU the world. 
 The Japanese are a more intelligent people than the 
 Turks, and more flexible than the Chinese. The 
 religions and laws which they have at various periods 
 respected have not held them in bondage, and the 
 vicissitudes of their history have impressed on the 
 national consciousness that no authority is infallible. 
 However great the present devotion to the Mikado 
 may be, he was admittedly a helpless puppet during 
 many centuries. Yet the innate national sense of 
 
FAR EASTERN CHARACTERISTICS 141 
 
 discipline has never been undermined. It remains, 
 not sworn to the allegiance of any traditional cause, 
 but, so to speak, a mercenary — ready to train itself 
 for the service of the cause that pays best. The 
 origins of the Japanese race are not very certain, but 
 if, as has been surmised, it is a hybrid between Mon- 
 gols from the mainland of Asia and the Malays of the 
 Archipelago, the psychology of the nation is ex- 
 pHcable, for the light, changeable, artistic Malay 
 temperament is steadied by the discipline and stoli- 
 dity of the Mongol. 
 
 One wonders what further transformations this 
 plastic, teachable nature may accept or impose on 
 itself. The reserve and moderation shown by the 
 people after the success of the late war are remark- 
 able ; they have not lost their head, and know that 
 the conflict has been for them not merely a victory, 
 but a serious trial. They feel they have gone through 
 an economic crisis, and they desire to strengthen 
 their commercial, financial, and industrial position. 
 Means are not wanting : trade with China, enter- 
 prises in Korea and Manchuria, new lines of steamers 
 to South America and AustraHa. But such expan- 
 sion, aided by the increasing number of foreign mer- 
 chants and tourists who frequent Japan, may affect 
 military and artistic talents, and turn them into other 
 channels. 
 
 It is even harder to summarize the Chinese 
 character. The most obvious fact about the nation 
 is its isolation, which is more surprising in a huge 
 empire than in a small group of islands like Japan. 
 The original Chinese, coming from the west, occu- 
 pied and assimilated all the area around them, 
 in most parts stopping only when heat or deserts 
 
142 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 made the country unsuitable for their settlement. 
 In early times, at any rate, they were not indisposed 
 to learn from others, for they absorbed much Indian 
 art and culture. But subsequently communication 
 with India became interrupted ; the conquests of the 
 Mongols and Manchus brought in nothing new from 
 the outside, and when Europeans began to appear, 
 it seemed to the Chinese as absurd to imitate them 
 as it would to the inhabitants of London to wear 
 pigtails. Yet, paradoxical as the suggestion may 
 seem, it may be doubted if Chinese ideas are really 
 so alien to our own as those of races nearer home, 
 such as the Turks and Moors. These nations live in 
 or close to Europe, and yet remain total strangers to 
 European life, with military and religious ideals of 
 their own, and an almost complete indifierence to 
 commerce. But there is no such radical difference 
 between the ideals of Europe and the Far East. The 
 people of those lands are neither warHke hordes nor 
 fanatics. They build the roofs of their houses first, 
 and in a thousand small matters do things, as it seems 
 to us, backwards or inside out ; but in the broad out- 
 lines of their scheme of life, such as care for material 
 prosperity, trade, and money-making, fighting in 
 moderation, impatience of priestcraft, they are unlike 
 Hindus and Moslems, and more Hke Europeans. This, 
 alas, does not mean that they can get on better with 
 Europeans than these other races, for similarity of 
 interests and aspirations is too often only a cause of 
 rivalry and jealousy. 
 
 One of the chief differences between the Chinese 
 and Japanese is that the former have been hitherto 
 a commercial, the latter a miUtary, nation, though 
 now the Chinese are learning war and the Japanese 
 
FAR EASTERN CHARACTERISTICS 143 
 
 commerce. This difference has had far-reaching 
 consequences. The military nation is naturally amen- 
 able to discipline ; it will manoeuvre to order. But 
 commerce favours the growth of individual enter- 
 prise, or of voluntary guilds and companies. Hence 
 the looseness of Chinese organization, the want of 
 real control in spite of nominal autocracy, and the 
 want of sentiment. The Japanese easily thinks of 
 the authorities of his country as feudal lords and 
 leaders ; for the Chinaman they are the heads of big 
 business concerns, in which he has little interest. 
 
 One aspect of Chinese character of which we 
 naturally think is the motive or idiosyncrasy which 
 leads to occasional attacks on foreigners. It does 
 not appear that the Chinese are really a cruel people ; 
 the stories of torture, when carefully examined, do 
 not show that they are worse than other Asiatic 
 races. They are somewhat callous, and not disposed 
 to active benevolence, but equally little to wanton 
 barbarity. These racial troubles are comparable to 
 the attacks made on Jews in Russia and on negroes in 
 the southern States. In the last case the attacking 
 mob is composed of people whose mental furniture 
 is the same as our own, yet they commit barbarities, 
 such as burning negroes alive, which seem contrary 
 to our nature. The psychology of crowds and of 
 individuals is not the same, and the best crowds are 
 only semi-civilized. In aU these cases of racial con- 
 flict the provocation is similar — fear of a race of alien 
 habits and temper which is in some way formidable ; 
 for the Jew is formidable in Russia as a usurer, and 
 the negro in America for his numbers. The Chinese 
 prejudice against foreigners (very similar to our own 
 prejudices which make many people look down on 
 
144 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 an educated Babu as a nigger) has made equal asso- 
 ciation between the races impossible, and Europeans 
 have only too readily accepted the position of in- 
 vaders and aUenators of Chinese soil. One cannot 
 visit a European concession, or Legation Street in 
 Peking, without feeling that the foreigner is an even 
 more aggressive intruder than in the European 
 quarters of Constantinople. He has not only brought 
 his own laws, but he has his hand on the land. 
 
 Even the missionaries produce the same impression. 
 In the past China has not been inhospitable to foreign 
 creeds, for Buddhism, though often opposed because 
 its monastic teaching cut the root of Chinese ideas 
 about family hfe, obtained a firm footing, and there 
 are 20,000,000 Mohammedans in the empire. But 
 these reUgions did not separate themselves politi- 
 cally, whereas Christian churches and schools are 
 extraterritorial, under the jurisdiction of foreign 
 states and not of the Chinese authorities, who have 
 no legal right to enter them. The analogy of eastern 
 Europe obliges us to say that it is not surprising if 
 sinister motives are ascribed by the ignorant classes 
 to communities who segregate themselves from the 
 ordinary life of the country, or if accusations are made 
 similar to the curiously persistent story that Jews 
 sacrifice Christian children. Nor is the outlook for 
 the future altogether hopeful. One cannot blame 
 the Powers for insisting on adequate protection for 
 their legations in a state which has shown itself 
 incapable or reluctant to undertake this duty, but 
 there can be no doubt that the presence of foreign 
 troops in Peking is likely to prove a constant irritant 
 to the growing sense of nationality. It is some con- 
 solation to notice that the sentiments which find 
 
FAR EASTERN CHARACTERISTICS 145 
 
 expression in placards, tracts, and other appeals to 
 popular sentiment are less menacing than they were 
 some years ago. The language used to-day, if not 
 exactly friendly to foreigners, counsels circumspec- 
 tion, and says, in effect, Let us learn their tricks 
 before we make an end of them. 
 
 10 
 
XIII 
 
 JAPANESE LITERATURE 
 
 Though Japan may justly claim to be the most 
 remarkable country in Asia, and though it has 
 produced an enormous mass of writings, it cannot 
 be said that the compositions of Japanese authors, 
 whether in prose or verse, have added anything of 
 value to the literature of the world. This is remark- 
 able, because most great Asiatic nations have been 
 great in literature, and China has dominated the 
 whole of eastern Asia for the last 2,000 years 
 simply by imposing the writings of ancient Chinese 
 sages as the one canon and norm of civiliza- 
 tion. Japanese literature, on the other hand, has 
 hitherto been unknown outside Japan, and has never 
 exercised the faintest influence on any other country, 
 not even on Korea. 
 
 As the development of Japan has been very 
 different from that of other Asiatic countries, it is 
 interesting to notice that the literature is also 
 different, and presents decided characters of its 
 own, although it has been strongly influenced by 
 Chinese models, and some of it is actually written 
 in Chinese. It is an essentially secular hterature, 
 whereas most Asiatic literatures have grown up 
 around sacred books. Japan has nothing of this 
 
 146 
 
JAPANESE LITERATURE 147 
 
 kind except some collections of myths and early 
 chronicles, which may be compared to the Eddas, 
 but make no pretension to compete with the scrip- 
 tures of the Hindus, Mohammedans, or Buddhists. 
 No doubt the absence of such works is one reason 
 why Japan had no message for the surrounding 
 nations. It also goes far to explain her free and 
 imtrammelled development. 
 
 The best literature of Japan seems to have been 
 produced in the period when Kyoto was the seat of 
 government, from about a.d. 800 to a.d. 1186. The 
 next four centuries were a dark age, in which com- 
 paratively Httle was written, but the Tokugawa epoch, 
 from 1603 to 1867, in which Japan was ruled by 
 the Shoguns of that family and closed to all the 
 world, sent forth a literary flood of enormous volume, 
 though mediocre quality, nor has the supply been 
 diminished under the present regime. 
 
 The older Kyoto hterature was largely composed 
 by women. One reason for this singular circum- 
 stance may be that men wrote in Chinese, which 
 was regarded as the proper vehicle for serious 
 compositions, leaving the vernacular to the feebler 
 sex. But it is remarkable that the Chinese about 
 this time called Japan the Queen Country. At 
 any rate, this feminine influence is no doubt largely 
 responsible for the gossipy lightness of touch to be 
 found in the writings of this period, a Kghtness by 
 no means incompatible with another quality often 
 associated with gossip — interminable prolixity. This 
 style is sometimes called Zuihitsu, or following the 
 pen ; that is to say, jotting down whatever passes 
 through the mind — ^anecdotes, sentiments, descrip- 
 tions of scenery, estimates of people — so that the 
 
 10—2 
 
148 LETTERS FROM THE PAR EAST 
 
 composition seems sometimes almost a novel, some- 
 times a diary, sometimes impressions de voyage. 
 Such are the Pillow Sketches of Sei Shonagon, 
 who was maid of honour to the Empress about the 
 year 1000, and left an account of her hfe in the 
 palace, wherein can still be read not only the loves, 
 jealousies, and intrigues of the court, but even the 
 quarrels of the imperial cats and dogs. She had a 
 habit, found in other Japanese writers, of making 
 lists of pleasant and unpleasant things, which is not 
 so dull as it sounds. Among dreary things are a 
 brazier where the fire has gone out and a nursery 
 where a child has died — a touch of pathos which is 
 strangely European. Among unpleasant things she 
 counts a dog who barks at your lover when he comes 
 to pay a clandestine visit, and a man who sings the 
 praises of another woman. Among pleasant things 
 we find to be asked the way by a handsome man 
 who stops his carriage to speak to you. It may 
 be surmised that she was not more strait-laced than 
 was indispensable for a maid of honour of the period. 
 
 Somewhat similar, inasmuch as they are literary 
 records of trivial everyday events, are the 'Tosa 
 Nikki,' a narrative of a journey from Tosa to Kyoto 
 in A.D. 935, and the much later works of Kenko, 
 an amiable ecclesiastic of mundane tastes, who wrote 
 a collection of sketches and essays, and said, among 
 other things, that you can have too much furniture 
 in a room, too many pens in a stand, too many trees 
 in a garden, but you can't have too many books. 
 He also said that nothing opens a man's eyes so 
 much as travel, no matter where — a remarkable 
 sentiment for a Japanese in the fourteenth century. 
 
 The practically unanimous testimony of critics 
 
JAPANESE LITERATURE 149 
 
 admits that these works, if compared with similar 
 productions from other countries, cannot be classed 
 as literary masterpieces. Their authors had not 
 the skill to avoid being diffuse and trivial. But 
 they seem to me of real interest, as showing how 
 different was the Japanese spirit from that of other 
 Asiatic people even a thousand years ago. One 
 cannot imagine the Pillow Sketches being written 
 in Arabic or Sanskrit. They are in no way akin to 
 the Arabian Nights or Indian tales and dramas ; and 
 though they are more like the compositions of the 
 Chinese, who have also a talent for essay- writing, they 
 are freer and seem to have originated independently. 
 
 It would seem, too, that the Japanese novel is 
 not derived from the Chinese,* for romances were 
 written in Japan about a.d. 1000, if not earlier, 
 whereas critics consider that the earHest Chinese 
 novels date from the thirteenth century. Nor is it 
 difficult to explain their independent origin, for the 
 transition from a gossipy diary wherein conversa- 
 tions are recounted to a novel which is a biography 
 of the hero is not difficult. A celebrated romance 
 of this kind is the Genji, also the handiwork of a 
 lady, and written about the same time as the Pillow 
 Sketches. It follows the fortunes of its hero from 
 birth to the age of fifty-one, through fifty-four books. 
 No European appears to have been bold enough to 
 read the whole of this gigantic work, but it would 
 seem that here, too, the literary talent is moderate. 
 Still, the general plan and conception, the idea of 
 making the interest of the work depend on the 
 description and development of character rather 
 
 * The Japanese drama also seems to be independent in origin, 
 and is superior to Chinese theatrical compositions. 
 
150 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 than on adventurous and supernatural incidents, 
 indicates a tone of mind which is rare in Asiatics. 
 
 Perhaps the novehst Bakin is almost the only 
 Japanese author whose name has penetrated to 
 Europe. He flourished in the first half of the nine- 
 teenth century, and wrote an immense number of 
 novels, mostly very long. European and native 
 taste appear to differ fundamentally about the 
 merits of his works, for while his countrymen 
 admire his fertility of invention, his learning, his 
 wealth of language, characters, and incident, we 
 find his style obscure, and his plots so complicated 
 that it is impossible to keep count of the characters 
 and their doings. Most Europeans give the palm 
 among modem writers to Ikku, who lived about the 
 same time as Bakin, and wrote a humorous book 
 which has been compared to Pickwick and to 
 Gil Bias. It describes the travels and Rabelaisian 
 escapades of two Japanese making their way along 
 the Tokaido, the great highway of old Japan ; but 
 for the native mind it has, though admired, not the 
 same charm as more ornate literature. 
 
 As in China, there is a strong tendency to cramp 
 literature by forcing it into certain moulds, both of 
 thought and style. This is peculiarly noticeable in 
 poetry. In matters of literary proportion the Far 
 East — both Chinese and Japanese — seems bewitched. 
 A novel cannot be too long for them, a poem can 
 hardly be too short. Almost all Japanese poems 
 follow one of two models, one consisting of five lines, 
 containing in all thirty-one syllables, and the other 
 still shorter, consisting of three lines and seventeen 
 syllables. Also, the use of Chinese words (roughly 
 corresponding to words of Latin or Greek origin 
 
JAPANESE LITERATURE 151 
 
 in English) is considered incorrect in poetry. Re- 
 duced to such narrow limits of space and diction, 
 Japanese poets have evidently a very restricted 
 field. Anything like narrative, rhetoric, connected 
 thought, or dramatic situations, is impossible. A 
 poem is necessarily a mere motto or vignette record- 
 ing an impression. It is in words the exact ana- 
 logue of those Japanese paintings which depict a 
 single spray of flowers or a bird, and it is clearly a 
 product of the same genius which delights in dwarfing 
 trees and keeping a pine a hundred years old in a 
 porcelain pot. The most exquisite workmanship is 
 lavished on these delicate morsels, and the best of 
 them are veritable carved gems in words ; but clearly 
 this practical aboHtion of all other kinds of poetry, 
 and the enforced dwarfing of possible Homers 
 and Valmikis to the five-line limit, must have been 
 disastrous to the national genius — or, rather, there 
 can have been hardly any national genius for 
 poetry to aUow it. Also, even more than in China, 
 verse became merely an elegant accomphshment. 
 People wrote Tankas (as the five-hne poems are 
 called) by the thousand, with the aid of poetical 
 dictionaries Hke the classical Gradus, and both the 
 ideas and their expression became stereotyped. The 
 following Tanka from the Kokinshiu is perhaps a 
 good sample of its class : 
 
 ' Do I forget thee 
 Even for so brief a space 
 As the ears of grain 
 On the fields of autumn 
 Are lit up by the lightning's glare V 
 
 (Trans. Giles.) 
 
 That is not much longer than the scene which it 
 photographs, but it is detailed in comparison with 
 
152 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 the three-lined poems, or Haikai, which are not only 
 impressionist, but so elliptical and enigmatical as 
 to be uniatelligible to a foreigner. Thus, when a 
 Japanese writes — 
 
 ' That single note — 
 Did the moon sing ? 
 Cuckoo,' 
 
 he is under the impression that he has produced a 
 poem, and he means that, hearing a single note on 
 a moonlight night, he looked out of the window, 
 and, seeing nothing but the moon, at first thought 
 that luminary was singing, but ultimately adopted 
 the saner view that the sound came from a cuckoo. 
 
 Of quite late years, it is said that a reaction has 
 set in against the exclusive use of these tiny poems, 
 and that more liberty and variety in both arrange- 
 ment and diction is becoming the fashion. It does 
 not, however, appear that any poet of genius, or 
 even of particular talent, has arisen, and much the 
 same must be said of the prose-writers. The crop 
 of books and articles on political, philosophical, 
 religious, and scientific subjects, all the themes 
 which occupy serious magazines in Europe, is large, 
 and bears eloquent testimony to the Japanese powers 
 of assimilation and imitation, but the faciHty of the 
 writers is more remarkable than their profundity 
 and originaHty. The hterature which Japan has 
 hitherto produced suggests that the race is not 
 gifted for letters as it is for art and politics. It is 
 remarkable that Buddhism, which inspired so many 
 architects, painters, and craftsmen, has produced 
 hardly any religious books in Japanese, and that 
 there is no adequate expression either in prose or 
 verse of the patriotism and loyalty which the people 
 
JAPANESE LITERATURE 153 
 
 undoubtedly feel. Their oratory, too, is said to be 
 indifferent. 
 
 The deficiencies of Japanese literature are perhaps 
 connected with the character of the Japanese lan- 
 guage, which may be worth a moment's considera- 
 tion here, for the speech of so vigorous and progressive 
 a people is likely to extend considerably its sphere, 
 and the time may come when even Californian 
 schools will have to teach it. It is a composite 
 language, not unlike EngHsh in the proportions of its 
 mixed vocabulary. There is a native substratum 
 which is sufficient for the affairs of everyday Hfe and 
 also for poetry, but besides this there has been, and 
 still is, a steady influx of borrowed Chinese words. 
 They correspond to the Latin, French, and Greek 
 elements in English, and are indispensable, not only 
 for the formation of abstract terms and for all literary, 
 scientific, philosophical, and political discussion, but 
 also for poHte and elegant conversation. ' 
 
 It might have been supposed that the same national 
 tendency which restored the Mikado and Shintoism 
 to power would have shown itself in the purification 
 of the language and the development of the purely 
 Japanese element. But, strange to say, the result has 
 been the opposite. The Japanese f OTind that they sud- 
 denly required equivalents for an enormous number of 
 scientific and political words and phrases in use in 
 Europe or America, and so strong was the instinct 
 that these expressions must be rendered by Chinese 
 and not by native words that the Chinese element in 
 the language increased more rapidly than at any 
 previous period. Thus, such a phrase as survival 
 of the fittest is translated by Yu-sho-rep-pai—litev- 
 aUy, ' superior wins, inferior loses ' — and it is obvious 
 
154 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 to a Japanese that the laws of art and propriety- 
 require that all these words should be Chinese. As 
 Chinese is a rigidly monosyllabic language, whereas 
 in Japanese words of five, six, or more syllables are 
 plentiful, we obtain the singular result that, the more 
 abstruse the subject discussed, the shorter are the 
 words employed. You may babble about the 
 weather in sesquipedalian words, but not about 
 higher subjects ; and Mr. Herbert Spencer's most 
 imposiag definitions seem naked, shivering, and un- 
 fledged when rendered in the austere monosyllables 
 of Cathay. 
 
 The non-Chinese part of the language appears to 
 be akia in its general structure to Korean and to the 
 great group of aggluttaative languages, comprising 
 Turkish, Hungarian, Finnish, Mongol, and Manchu, 
 whose home is in Central Asia. The resemblance in 
 structure seems to me considerable, and a comparison 
 of the oldest Japanese and oldest Turkish would 
 probably yield interesting results. Most of these 
 languages have an unhappy power of building up 
 elaborate verbal forms, particularly gerunds, with 
 the result that, though they may be excellent as a 
 means for simple and direct conversation, they are 
 apt to become intolerably complicated for literary 
 purposes. It is with diffidence that I criticize a 
 language of which I have only a smattering, Hke 
 Japanese ; stiU, even a smattering of Chinese enables 
 one to see with what force and point its pregnant 
 monosyllables may be marshalled, and it is equally 
 clear that this conciseness and significance are missing 
 in Japanese sentences. The genius of the language 
 is far lighter and more playful than that of Turkish, 
 but this makes it, not shorter and clearer, but 
 
JAPANESE LITERATURE 155 
 
 simply less logical and more pleonastic, diffuse, and 
 sprawling. 
 
 This is not a grammatical treatise, and I wiU not 
 pursue the subject further, except to invite any reader 
 whom it may interest to examine some of the hteral 
 translations in Chamberlain's ' Handbook of Collo- 
 quial Japanese.' He will find, I think, that the 
 sentences are monstrously long, imperfectly co- 
 ordinated in their various parts, and spht up into 
 Uttle phrases in a way which interferes with their 
 continuity. There is a constant tendency, for in- 
 stance, to say, not ' The thing is good,' but ' As for 
 the thing, it is good.' Also, the simplest verbs, hke 
 ' to be ' and ' to do,' appear in a surprising variety of 
 forms, four or five syllables long, which yet appear 
 to have very Kttle verbal force, seeing to what an 
 extent it is possible to pile them one on the top of the 
 other. Nor does the excessive use of honorifics, 
 which affects even the verb ' to be,' show a good 
 sense of linguistic and literary proportion. I am 
 obliged to conclude that the language of the Japanese 
 is, as a vehicle of composition, very inferior, I will 
 not say to European tongues, but to Chinese or 
 Arabic ; and it is probably a correct instinct which 
 leads them to use Chinese as much as possible when 
 treating difficult themes. But let us give honour 
 where honour is due. Japanese is creditably de- 
 ficient in the vocabulary of cursing and swearing, 
 and the sound is hght and musical. 
 
 Another very curious point about the Japanese 
 language is its system of writing. It first borrowed 
 the Chinese hieroglyphics, and then, by using a 
 certain number as phonetics to represent various 
 recurrent monosyllables, gradually developed two 
 
156 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 syllabaries which are practically alphabets. It is 
 remarkable that, having gone so far, it did not go 
 further and extend the use of the alphabetical or 
 syllabic principle, and even more remarkable that a 
 proposal to introduce the Roman alphabet, which 
 found favour some years ago, entirely failed, and has 
 now few supporters. The main body of the writing 
 is still composed of Chinese hieroglyphics, which 
 are supplemented by the syllabaries in cases of doubt 
 or difficulty — as, for iastance, when foreign names 
 have to be represented or the inflections of Japanese 
 words. Chinese, having no inflections of any kind, 
 made no provision for expressing them. A given 
 hieroglyphic means ' put,' and cannot be varied ; 
 but the Japanese verb oku, ' to put,' can assume such 
 forms as oita and okanakereba. Spelling is one of the 
 most difiicult things in the world to change, as is seen 
 nowhere more lamentably than in English-speaking 
 countries, where every praiseworthy attempt to 
 improve our monstrous and ridiculous orthography 
 is stifled by the opposition, not only of prejudice, 
 but, alas, of learning. But the case of Japan is 
 strange. The Japanese child has to learn two sylla- 
 baries and several thousand characters before he 
 can read. An ordinary newspaper requires about 
 6,000. The use of these characters is by no 
 means easy. In Chinese the matter is relatively 
 simple. Each character is a picture with one mean- 
 ing and sound of its own. But in Japanese only prac- 
 tice enables the reader to know whether a given 
 character should be read in the Japanese or the 
 Chinese way, there being generally both native and 
 borrowed words for every idea. It is as if one had 
 in Enghsh signs which were read ' man ' and ' word 
 
JAPANESE LITERATURE 157 
 
 when found separately, but when put together were 
 pronounced ' anthropology ' ; or as if one wrote 
 ' £ s. d. man,' and read it ' financier.' 
 
 It seems amazing that the Japanese, who showed 
 such unusual speed and thoroughness in introducing 
 many reforms, should not have changed this cum- 
 brous system, but it holds its ground. One good 
 point it has — ^the beauty of the characters as artistic 
 designs. The nation feels not unjustly that some- 
 thing of the fine art of hfe would be lost if it ceased 
 to cultivate the manual and mental dexterity re- 
 quired to trace and decipher these full, sweeping 
 curves, beside which mere letters seem meagre and 
 expressionless. Also, it is a most siagular fact that 
 children in Japan are said to learn to read as quickly 
 as in Europe, despite the enormous difference in the 
 amount to be acquired. It would seem that at a 
 certain age the mind can assimilate almost an5rthing 
 in the way of language or writing with equal ease, 
 though it is probably necessary that the knowledge 
 should be imparted in the course of everyday life, 
 and not merely as a school lesson. But the definite 
 objection raised by most Japanese to the substitution 
 of an alphabet for the Chinese hieroglyphics is that 
 the literary language would be unintelligible if only 
 the sound were indicated, which, of course, implies 
 that it may be unintelligible if read aloud. The 
 number of words with the same sound, especially 
 those borrowed from the Chinese, is very great, and 
 cannot be paralleled in European languages. Thus, 
 according to the dictionary, there are twenty-nine 
 separate words pronounced sho and twenty-six 
 pronounced Ico. Among the latter are the first 
 and second titles of nobility, corresponding to Duke 
 
158 LETTERS PROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 and Marquess, which are exactly similar in sound, 
 but are written with different characters. Nor is it 
 only monosyllables that are so various in meaning. 
 The dictionary registers five words shoseki, signifying 
 respectively 'penmanship,' 'library,' 'high rank,' 
 ' nitrate of potash,' and ' evidence.' The problem of 
 writing phonetically is clearly more difficult than in 
 other tongues, and probably the first step required 
 is to simplify the literary style and approximate it to 
 ordinary language. 
 
XIV 
 
 NIKKO 
 
 Japan owes much of its beauty to its vegetation. 
 The dominant flowers succeed one another, and 
 month by month impart a new tone and character 
 to the landscape. First comes the plum-blossom, 
 then the cherry-blossom, then the wistaria, azalea, 
 and lotus. When I was there in September the pre- 
 vailing tint seemed to be given chiefly by a tree with 
 red blossoms, called ' the flower of a hundred days,' 
 and red wild-lihes repeated the same note of colour 
 in the grass. This combination of dark red and green 
 is very characteristic of Japan, and no doubt these 
 flowers suggested the idea of erecting red temples in 
 green woods, as may be seen at Nara, Nikko, and 
 elsewhere. I do not know what is the correct name 
 of the flower of a hundred days. One of the diffi- 
 culties of describing Japan is that one has no words 
 for the commonest flowers and trees. The Japanese 
 names are mysterious ; the scientific names not much 
 more illuminating, and generally repellent, for the 
 language of science and poetry rarely agrees. The 
 convolvulus and lotus can perhaps flower in both 
 worlds, but it is hard for mere literature to praise the 
 lezpedeza and the eulalia, euphonious as the latter is. 
 It is unfortunate that the finest tree of Japan can be 
 
 159 
 
160 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 called nothing shorter or easier than cryptomeria — 
 an ungainly vocable with vague botanical associa- 
 tions, and, to my mind, slightly suggesting a moss. 
 Yet if beauty has any claim to be called some- 
 thing easy to say, the tree deserves as popular and 
 direct a name as the pine or elm. It rises straight 
 from the ground, often not branching till high up, 
 and leaving a clear shaft of some hundred feet, 
 spreading into a crown of dark foliage above. A 
 fine tree for avenues, leaving air and space, and not 
 hampering the road with its boughs, but resolutely 
 tracing the border with a row of tall, inflexible 
 trunks. In Europe we think of Japan too much as a 
 country of chrysanthemums and cherry-blossom, and 
 forget this background of great, straight, sombre 
 trees. 
 
 Nikko is the place where the cryptomeria is seen at 
 its best, both in avenue and forest, and it merits the 
 oft-quoted Japanese encomium, ' Do not say splendid 
 (Kekko) until you have seen Nikko.' It unites the 
 beauty of nature and art, and its art, though it 
 cannot be said to compete with the greatest tri- 
 umphs of architecture, is perfect in its own way, and 
 marks the culmination of a style. The chief monu- 
 ments are tombs and mortuary temples, not unhke 
 those in the Shiba Park at Tokyo, but more magnifi- 
 cent and more impressive, since the surroundings 
 have more natural grandeur. 
 
 Nikko lies to the north of Tokyo, on the eastern 
 slope of the mountain range which forms the back- 
 bone of the main island. It was discovered by a 
 medieval saint and mountaineer called Shodo Shonin, 
 who spent his life in scaling the surrounding peaks 
 and building temples in what then seemed inacces- 
 
NIKKO 161 
 
 sible altitudes. Nowadays the railway has annihi- 
 lated the hardships and much of the interest of the 
 journey, but in Shodo's time there were no roads, 
 and he had to contend with torrents, snowdrifts, and 
 perhaps active volcanoes, to which the legend adds 
 dragons and devils. Nikko must have attained some 
 celebrity when leyasu died in 1616, for, after due in- 
 quiry, it was found to be the best resting-place in all 
 Japan for his masterful old bones, which were trans- 
 ferred there. This leyasu, as Europe by now knows, 
 was the Shogun who founded the Tokugawa dynasty, 
 and began the regime of feudalism and isolation which 
 lasted until 1857. The present era has witnessed the 
 reversal of his principles and work, but he is still 
 reverenced, and the ascetic, domineeriag face repre- 
 sented in his portraits incarnates one aspect of the 
 national spirit. The systematic thoroughness with 
 which he closed and arrested development is only 
 another side of that discipline and growth according 
 to order which of late has displayed itseU in dehbe- 
 rate expansion and regulated progress. Some years 
 later his grandson lemitsu, after strengthening and 
 perfecting his system by such unamiable measures 
 as rigorous espionage and the persecution of Chris- 
 tianity, was also buried at Nikko. Since then no 
 prince has been judged worthy to join the retrograde 
 but strenuous pair, and they Ue, as they would 
 probably wish, far from the bones of enlightened 
 reformers. 
 
 Though the railway now runs to Nikko itself, 
 there still remains a much finer approach through two 
 avenues of cryptomerias, no less than twenty miles 
 long, which unite about four miles from the town. 
 These immense perspectives of ancient trees are a 
 
 11 
 
162 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 fitting introduction, not to the Japan of geishas and 
 butterflies, but to the Japan that remembers civil 
 strife and despotic rule ; also to the Japan of the 
 Russian war. The rest of the landscape is rather 
 sombre — forests, waterfalls, and mountains. It is 
 somewhat like the Balkans, but the vegetation is 
 different. In late autumn the maple-leaves are said 
 to display surprising colours ; now, in September, all 
 is dead green. From any point of vantage one can 
 see that the whole district is a mass of mountain spurs 
 descending to a plain that stretches towards the sea, 
 and, looking down on them, one understands the 
 Chinese notion that the dragon is the spirit of nature 
 which dwells in mountains and streams ; for these 
 tangled ridges resemble a heap of petrified reptiles, 
 flat-bellied, crouching monsters, with crests and claws 
 and projecting vertebrae. The sound of water is 
 heard everywhere. The tourist is urged to visit half 
 a dozen waterfalls, and through the forest pour 
 torrents in broad grey, stony beds that break its green 
 uniformity. According to the canons of Japanese 
 art, which prescribe a time for everything, it is proper 
 in the month of September to allude to moonlight on 
 water. The cold, still September moon (for it is not 
 warm in these mountains) seems to make the rush 
 of water more audible, and the whole scene becomes 
 an impressionist sketch in ink : black avenues and 
 groves of tall trees intersected by white roads and 
 torrents. 
 
 On arriving at Nikko, one drives up a long street 
 of curio shops, and then reaches a river. Here is 
 the first intimation that we are not on ordinary soil. 
 The river is spanned by two bridges — one an every- 
 day bridge, for all the world ; the other the sacred 
 
NIKKO 163 
 
 red bridge reserved for the use of deities and the 
 Mikado. It fell into such bad repair that even the 
 light feet of the spirit world began to find it unsafe, 
 a,nd it is now in process of reconstruction. 
 
 Though the mausoleums are close to the further 
 bank of the river, they are invisible, and from no 
 point of view do they play any part in the general 
 landscape. As I have said before, Chinese and 
 Japanese architecture rarely takes the form of single 
 edifices which create an impression by their size and 
 shape, but rather of paviHons distributed over parks 
 and gardens. They are often picturesque, thanks 
 to their surroundings as much as to their own merits, 
 and are frequently erected on different levels, and 
 connected by flights of steps, so that the whole must 
 be judged somewhat as we judge the interior of a 
 mansion — as a harmonious suite of courtyards, halls, 
 staircases, and corridors. This is certainly the case 
 at Nikko, although there the buildings themselves 
 arrest the eye on account of their wonderful colour. 
 Imagine one of those lacquered boxes or cabinets 
 which one not infrequently sees in collections of 
 Japanese art swollen to the size of a house, and you 
 have a description without exaggeration of one of 
 these amazing structures. When I saw them they 
 had been freshly painted, but the lacquered panels, 
 so rarely seen in Europe except on small objects, 
 must at all times produce a peculiar effect. The 
 ground colour is mostly black, picked out with a 
 good deal of gold and vermilion, which naturally 
 dominate in the general impression ; and in places 
 other colours, such as white, blue, and green, are used. 
 There are two mausoleums — one of leyasu and one 
 •of lemitsu. ''"The former is undoubtedly the more 
 
 11—2 
 
164 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 gorgeous, but the latter is perhaps more artistically- 
 arranged. 
 
 You enter by a vermilion portico (vermilion is so 
 common here that it ought to be what grammarians 
 call a constant epithet of buildings), guarded by 
 gigantic effigies of tutelary deities. Every gateway 
 seems to have these divine watch-dogs. Through 
 the portal one has a pleasant view of a walled garden, 
 such as may be sometimes seen through the archways 
 of Oxford colleges, with a granite water-basin under 
 a beautiful canopy, and rows of stone lanterns, such 
 as are generally set round Japanese tombs to light 
 lost ghosts. Either some special favour of nature 
 or a refinement of the gardener's art has struck a 
 nice balance between primness and disorder. The 
 flowers in the walls suggest age without decay, and 
 not, as in Chinese buildings, ruin and neglect. On 
 the left a flight of steps begins to ascend the hill 
 among the cryptomerias. At the top of the first 
 flight is another red portico, with statues of the gods 
 of wind and rain. Then follows a much longer flight, 
 where for an instant one loses sight of the temples 
 and sees nothing but the stone steps and the forest. 
 Immediately before the shrine is a third gate with 
 more gigantic deities, this time the four heavenly 
 kings, who are each of a different colour, and guard a 
 quarter of the world. After this comes the principal 
 building, which is not much larger in appearance 
 than the others. It is generally called the mortuary 
 temple, but its purpose is not very clearly defined. 
 It is not a tomb, but partly an oratory where prayers 
 are said for the soul of lemitsu, partly a memorial 
 chapel where he is half deified. 
 
 The light inside is at first perplexing. There is 
 
NIKKO 165 
 
 little illumination from without, but almost every- 
 thing is of gold — ceilings, walls, and ornaments. 
 There are rows of golden vases, books in golden bind- 
 ings, effigies in gold of gods, birds, and flowers, which 
 gradually take shape as the eye becomes accustomed 
 to this golden obscurity. The grave is some way 
 higher up the hill, at the top of more steps, and is a 
 simple bronze dome with gates in front, but not 
 roofed over. The same arrangement of gorgeous 
 porticoes and chapels leading up to an unoma- 
 mented tomb is also foimd in leyasu's mausoleum 
 and in the Shiba Park. The moral is obvious : thus 
 far shall thy pomp follow thee. 
 
 The mausoleum of leyasu is much the same in 
 arrangement, but is more magnificent in decoration, 
 and comprises more buildings. There is a pagoda of 
 five stories near the entrance, and in the first court- 
 yard are storehouses, a stable, a library, and a cistern 
 of holy water, mostly gorgeous with gold and ver- 
 mihon. Above this court rises a stone terrace on 
 which stand more towers and temples, and two gate- 
 ways leading to an inner court and the shrine. To 
 describe these buildings would be merely to repeat 
 words Hke gold, vermilion, and a blaze of colour; 
 but the reader must picture to himself piles of carved 
 woodwork, lacquered or painted, with a background 
 of dark green trees. The most remarkable of all the 
 structures are, perhaps, the two gateways. They are 
 mainly white and gold, and seem to be carved in 
 ivory, whereas the surrounding buildings are mainly 
 vermihon and black ; and this variation in colour 
 makes the gates noticeable even in this monotony of 
 magnificence. It is worthy of remark that the orna- 
 mentation of Nikko by no means shows that sim- 
 
166 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 pKcity and reserve which is generally supposed to be 
 the rule in Japanese art. One is told that the 
 national taste has a delicate austerity which regards 
 single figures or flowers as more artistic than groups 
 or bouquets. But this is not true here. The two 
 gateways are covered with a profusion of carving : 
 flowers and patterns, Chinese sages and children 
 playing, all manner of real and imaginary animals, 
 lions, eagles, dragons, unicorns, and phoenixes, that 
 bewilder and distract the eye. 
 
 When one's first astonished admiration of the 
 temples is over, I think one wonders whether they are 
 quite in harmony with their setting. The great trees 
 and the rushing waters seem to demand a simpler 
 shrine, and these glittering pavilions would be better 
 in some Buddhist paradise of light and lotuses. 
 How do they stand the wind and the rain ? But 
 Japanese art is essentially decorative, and as a 
 decorative arrangement nothing could be more effec- 
 tive than the background of sombre green, which 
 gives distinctness to the fantastic ovitlines and bril- 
 liancy to their colours. And then the great trees 
 remind one that the place is a mausoleum, which one 
 might otherwise easily forget, and add a solemnity to 
 the steps that lead from the temple to the tomb — ■ 
 that cold, plain-spoken staircase that says : ' Your 
 friends may pray for you as much as they like to all 
 the powers of heaven and hell, but you must come 
 up here alone and fare as you deserve.' So perhaps 
 criticism is unnecessary, and merely ' preaching a 
 sermon to Buddha ' — the polite Japanese equivalent 
 for teaching your grandmother. 
 
'-, 
 
XV 
 
 I S E 
 
 The shrines of Ise are one of the great national 
 centres of Japan. Little of religion, as we under- 
 stand it, is to be seen there, but they are a living link 
 with the past, and they offer, not spiritual benefits, 
 but opportunities for expressing patriotic feeling. It 
 was to these temples that the Mikado sent embassies 
 announcing the declaration of war with China and 
 Russia, and the popular veneration for them is 
 shown, not only by the crowds of pilgrims which they 
 attract, but by the sad end of Viscount Mori, who was 
 assassinated in 1889. He was Minister of Educa- 
 tion, and the late Professor Max Miiller gave an 
 amusing description of how he paid a flying visit to 
 Oxford in order to inquire between two trains what 
 would be the best religion for Japan to adopt. This 
 dangerous familiarity with sacred things emboldened 
 him, when inspecting the Geku temple at Ise, to push 
 aside with his stick a curtain which concealed the 
 mysteries of the inner shrine. For this unpardonable 
 offence he was assassinated by a fanatic, who 
 perished in the tumult which ensued, but has since 
 his death received almost divine honours from the 
 populace for avenging the insult offered to the deity. 
 This fanatic left behind him a statement of his 
 
 167 
 
168 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 motives, for the assassination was deliberately 
 planned, and did not take place until some time after 
 the sacrilege. He was not moved by ordinary re- 
 ligious zeal, but thought that such an insult to the 
 gods would result in some national calamity if not 
 avenged, and therefore he considered it his duty as a 
 good citizen to avert the danger which threatened his 
 country. 
 
 The worship of Ise represents the purest form of 
 Shintoism — that strange ancient religion of Japan 
 which seems to offer nothing that can satisfy the 
 emotional or scientific cravings of modern man, but 
 yet survives and thrives, supported alike by popular 
 superstition and official favour. Its existence would 
 seem incredible had we not in the past something 
 similar in the deification of Roman emperors — a 
 religion which nobody could believe and almost 
 everybody practised. In the Middle Ages, when 
 Buddhism was powerful, most Shinto temples were 
 served by Buddhist priests, and lost their distinctive 
 character, but it is said that in Ise the ancient rites 
 have always been maintained uncontaminated. 
 
 Ise is the name, not of a place, but a district, and 
 the sacred locality is more precisely the town of 
 Yamada. It lies in the peninsula which stretches 
 southwards from Kyoto, and enshrines the oldest 
 memories and traditions of Japan. Here is the land 
 of Yamato (still a patriotic name for Japan, much 
 like Britain), where the first Emperor, Jimmu, is said 
 to have landed, coming from Kiushu across the 
 Inland Sea. It is a hilly district, opening into plains 
 close to the coast. The valleys are laid out in rice- 
 fields, but most of the country consists of wooded 
 hills, fit cover for shy ancestral gods. Scattered here 
 
ISE 169 
 
 and there are tumuli of ancient kings. Until 
 recently these were neglected and allowed to become 
 almost effaced, but under the present regime they 
 have been repaired, and a modern mausoleum has 
 been erected in honour of Jimmu. It must be con- 
 fessed that there is something, not exactly artificial 
 - — for the sentiments and results are obviously 
 real — but volitional, about all this Shinto reAdval, 
 the demonstrative loyalty to the Mikado, and the 
 much-talked-of Bushido. None of these things are 
 inveterate national habits, like the Confucianism of 
 China. About fifty years ago the Japanese came to 
 the conclusion that the best thing for them to do was 
 to revive the worship of the Shinto gods and honour 
 the Mikado, and they proceeded to train their minds 
 accordingly as methodically as they rearmed their 
 troops. 
 
 Yamada is a pilgrim town. Most Japanese visit 
 it once in their Uves, and custom allows children and 
 apprentices to play truant and start off to the holy 
 city on a clandestine pilgrimage, which is at once 
 discovered and condoned. There is no difficulty 
 about the journey. In modern Asia holy places are 
 a godsend to railways, whatever they may be to 
 worshippers, and though Mecca and Lhasa still exact 
 a tribute of weary feet. Juggernaut must give to a 
 certain company in third-class fares almost as much 
 as his priests receive in alms. Japanese deities are 
 extremely susceptible on many points, and will not 
 tolerate carriages in their precincts, but they seem to 
 have no objection to trains. The Geku temple is 
 almost opposite the railway-station at Yamada, and 
 the approach to it looks like the entrance to any 
 public garden. Nor is there any religious restraint 
 
170 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 about the town. It is a place of hotels and theatres. 
 The pilgrims do a little praying by day and amuse 
 themselves at night, and, as has been observed, 
 Shintoism does not inculcate any particular system 
 of morality. But though pilgrim hotels do not wish 
 to make their guests practise austerities, they are, 
 like all Japanese hostelries, a trial to European flesh. 
 ' Shall I not take mine ease in mine inn ?' It is 
 hard to do it in Japan. On the doorstep stand rows 
 of boots and sandals, and before crossing the 
 threshold you must put your own footgear with them 
 and enter in stockings ; for the interior of every 
 Japanese house is carpeted with mats of the finest 
 straw, spotless as damask table-linen, and resplen- 
 dently yellow. There are no permanent rooms or 
 solid walls. Portions of the interior space are 
 screened off with sliding paper partitions, but these 
 can be moved at will. The outer wall seems one 
 large window, which looks out on a trim garden ; 
 flowers are few, but there are some trees with red 
 blossoms, some trained pines set here and there 
 where they produce the best effect, and a httle lake 
 where golden carp lazily flap their large fins. Inside 
 the prospect is less attractive. For ornament there 
 is a vase with a single flower ; for furniture a pile of 
 rugs in an alcove, and a table eight inches high. One 
 seems to be living in two dimensions. Like the people 
 painted on porcelain vases. Now, I have few 
 western prejudices, and can do without the European 
 chair, but I like to live in three dimensions, and to 
 have something to sit on. Turks have sofas, China- 
 men seats of various kinds, and even natives of Africa 
 have stools. But among these little people, when 
 one is invited to sit down, one finds only bows and 
 
ISE 171 
 
 smiles and an exquisitely polished floor. One feels 
 that one has become a human flat-fish, or, at least, 
 that one is expected to behave as such : to glide like 
 a sole over the polished floors, and bring one's hps 
 down to the little footstools, whereon are served 
 tasteless little portions of what looks Hke gruel in 
 saucers and egg-cups. It is gratifying to find that 
 anthropologists attribute the national shortness to 
 this habit of sitting on the floor, for perhaps the 
 Japanese, who are quite capable of trying to add a 
 cubit to their stature by taking thought, will reform 
 their ways, and adopt attitudes more comfortable to 
 themselves and their guests. But they will have to 
 grow much larger before their houses lose that lilli- 
 putian daintiness which at first pleases but then dis- 
 concerts Europeans. When sleeping at Yamada, I 
 was awakened by a noise which at first I took for an 
 earthquake : the room quivered with the vibrations 
 of repeated shocks. It proved to be, not an earth- 
 quake, but a large green grasshopper, at least six 
 inches long, which was banging itself against the 
 paper walls and shaking the whole doll's house. Yet 
 the physical strength and determined character of 
 the people who live in these frail tenements and eat 
 this unsubstantial food are beyond dispute. But I 
 am forgetting the shrines of Ise. 
 
 There are two of them — the Geku, or outer temple, 
 already alluded to ; and the Naiku, or inner temple, 
 which is of even greater sanctity. It lies outside the 
 town, some distance from the Geku, in a wood, and 
 is dedicated to the Sun goddess, from whom the 
 Mikado is beHeved to be descended. In the holy of 
 hohes is no image but an ancient mirror, the emblem 
 of the goddess, and so sacred that not even the priests 
 
172 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 may look at it. It is kept in many bags, and when 
 the outermost begins to show signs of wear another 
 is put on, but the inner coverings are never opened. 
 Offerings of food and clothes are presented periodi- 
 cally before the shrine. At the entrance of the wood 
 horses or rickshaws have to be abandoned. Shinto 
 gods must be approached on foot, and sometimes 
 sticks and great-coats have to be discarded. Near 
 the entrance is a river, where pilgrims bathe, and 
 then the road leads up into an open space, which 
 might be an ordinary clearing in a Russian or Cana- 
 dian forest. On the right is a stable, containing a 
 sacred horse of very ordinary appearance ; on the 
 left, a covered stage, where priestesses perform a slow, 
 rehgious dance, with archaic posturings. All round 
 are building materials — piles of planks and poles, 
 heaps of thatch and sawdust. As structures the 
 temples are not old, and they are pulled down and re- 
 built every twenty years. The antiquity consists, not 
 in the fabric, but in the faithful reproduction of every 
 joint and measurement of a model which must date 
 from the earliest period of Japanese history. Im- 
 mense care is taken in selecting the wood and thatch, 
 which must be perfect of their kind, and when the old 
 temple is pulled down the wood of which it was built 
 is cut up into splinters, and finds a ready sale among 
 the devout. 
 
 Beyond this clearing a winding way leads to the 
 temple itself, which, as usual in Japan, consists of 
 several buildings. It stands on a low mound, but 
 is hidden by the surrounding walls. Huge crypto- 
 merias shade the road and sacred precincts, and 
 beneath their leaves and hanging moss the air seems 
 dank and misty. Within the first enclosure is a 
 
ISE 173 
 
 second, marked off by a simple fence of white wood, 
 which none may pass except priests and members of 
 the imperial family, for princes are supposed to be 
 kinsmen of the gods, and within this fence stand 
 the shrines — plain, thatched, wooden buildings. 
 Bunches of white paper streamers and bundles of 
 sacred twigs hang before them, but there are hardly 
 any other ornaments. The pilgrims see nothing but 
 wooden sheds — 
 
 ' Et caligantem nigral formidine lucum,' 
 
 ' and the grove dark with a horror of gloom.' Yet 
 the whole place is a monument of prehistoric luxury 
 and labour. The pebbles that pave the courts are all 
 of one size and shape ; the poles and planks are fault- 
 less in grain and Hne ; the twigs are selected with 
 incredible care — above aU, the buildings have a re- 
 moteness and inaccessibihty more impressive than 
 any decoration. The awe of the crowd that dare not 
 pass the simple wooden fence is infectious, and the 
 sacred sheds among the great trees seem to belong to 
 another age and another world. They preach neither 
 doctrine nor morality, and inspire merely the vague 
 fear which made Confucius say one should respect the 
 gods, but keep aloof from them ; but they look like the 
 abode of some primeval power that might exact 
 human labour or life as an offering, and reward the 
 sterner virtues. In such a place might Brennus or 
 Vercingetorix have worshipped the deities of the 
 Druids ; on such altars might a chieftain sacrifice his 
 firstborn to save his country. 
 
 It is extraordinary that this ancient, unreasonable, 
 unemotional worship should flourish among one of the 
 most artistic and progressive races of the twentieth 
 
174 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 century, among people who found universities and 
 writearticles on comparative religion — people whom, 
 in other aspects, one associates with flowers and 
 butterflies and graceful, dainty art. Yet I think 
 that its unemotional simplicity is an expression of 
 one side of Japanese nature, for it is not in the gilded 
 shrines of Buddhism that was forged the temper that 
 beat the Russians. 
 
 In saying this, I do not mean to deny that 
 Buddhism is a powerful influence in Japan — more 
 powerful, perhaps, than Shintoism ; for Shintoism is 
 an expression rather than a mould of national feeling, 
 whereas Buddhism is directly didactic. Lafcadio 
 Heam has shown in several papers how profoundly 
 Japanese thought and feeling are penetrated by its 
 doctrines, particularly the theory of rebirth and suc- 
 cessive existences, which is forced into conformity 
 with native ideas about ghosts and ancestor worship. 
 Nevertheless, in spite of the prevalence of these 
 ideas, it does not appear that Buddhism is strong as a 
 directive and guiding force in Japanese life ; one 
 hears much more of past and future births than of 
 following the law of the Buddha in the present exist- 
 ence. 
 
 One sect, the Zen, or contemplative school, seems 
 to have played some part in forming the character 
 of the military class in the feudal period. It may 
 seem strange that this peculiarly dreamy doctrine 
 should have appealed to soldiers, but the mysterious 
 exercises of meditative rapture which it taught were 
 based on a mental discipline which began by insisting 
 on the necessity of controlling the mind, and drilling 
 it to resist aU influences which could captivate or 
 alarm. The transition from the priestly to the miU- 
 
ISE 175 
 
 tary use of meditation is seen in the story of the 
 Buddhist priest who, when seized by brigands and 
 threatened with death, simply absorbed himself in 
 his religious exercises, and so impressed his captors 
 with his indifference to danger that they let him go 
 free. The contempt of life and pleasure is as much 
 a part of a soldier's duty as of a priest's. 
 
 The Zen is still much respected in Japan on 
 account of its connection with art, literature, and 
 thoughtful asceticism, but is perhaps becoming a 
 trifle old-fashioned. The most active and in some 
 ways the most interesting sect is that known as 
 Shin Shu, also as Monto. Japanese Buddhist sects 
 are numerous, and illustrate the national proclivity 
 to add an individual stamp to borrowed ideas. They 
 fall into two classes — those introduced from China, 
 and those developed independently on Japanese soil. 
 The Zen is perhaps the most conspicuous example of 
 the former, the Shin Shu of the latter, and as it is a 
 purely Japanese invention, its popularity is easily 
 explained. The liberties which it takes with the 
 doctrines of Buddhism are surprising. Little atten- 
 tion is paid to the founder of the religion or his teach- 
 ing, and adoration is tendered almost exclusively to 
 Amida, an ideaHzed Buddha, who is Lord of the 
 western paradise, entrance to which after death is 
 obtained by faith in him. The doctrine is thus prac- 
 tically theism and justification by faith. The ex- 
 ternals of the sect also indicate a new direction. 
 Most temples and monasteries are built in the 
 country or suburbs (unless the growth of the larger 
 cities has enclosed them), and are clearly the dwell- 
 ings of recluses who wished to keep apart from man- 
 kind as far as their ministry permitted, and dwell 
 
176 LETTERS FEOM THE FAR EAST 
 
 on the edge of humanity. But the temples of the 
 Shin Shu are situated in the midst of towns, and are 
 not endowed, but maintained by voluntary sub- 
 scriptions ; their priests marry, eat flesh, and are 
 hardly distinguished from the laity. Of late years, 
 at any rate, they have shown a most laudable in- 
 clination towards works of charity and practical 
 philanthropy, which has perhaps been stimulated by 
 the example of European churches. It is interest- 
 ing, too, to notice that they are beginning mis- 
 sionary work in China, and, after the example of 
 Europeans, claiming extraterritorial rights for their 
 temples. 
 
 Although there is no proof that the special doc- 
 trines of the Shin Shu owe their origin to Chris- 
 tianity, Christian influence does seem to have 
 affected its recent developments, and may be traced 
 in the language of contemporary religious periodicals- 
 Many people, not Christians themselves, told me that 
 the present generation is more favourably disposed 
 towards Christianity than the last. It has ceased to 
 be regarded as a foreign rehgion, and public opinion 
 recognizes that a good Japanese may belong to it just 
 as well as to any of the Buddhist churches. This is 
 said to be largely the result of the Russian war, in 
 which Christians showed that they were not a people 
 apart or wanting in the national enthusiasm of other 
 Japanese. On the other hand, the national pride is 
 offended by the idea of European clergy coming out 
 on missions to the heathen, and a purely Japanese 
 church would have far more chances of success than 
 evangehzation conducted by foreigners. But seeing 
 how the Japanese have transformed Buddhism, 
 Christians may well feel misgivings as to the modifi- 
 
ISE 177 
 
 cations the faith might suffer at their hands. The 
 Roman Cathohc church in many ways appeals to 
 Japanese aesthetic feehngs more than Protestantism, 
 but the idea of belonging to an institution directed 
 from Europe by a foreign chief is repugnant to the 
 majority. 
 
 12 
 
XVI 
 
 KAMAKURA AND MISAKI 
 
 Neither Tokyo nor Yokohama can be considered 
 beautiful. For the defects of the latter Europeans 
 are largely to blame, but even the purely Japanese 
 quarters of Tokyo are somewhat uninteresting. The 
 excellent photographs produced by native artists 
 cannot make the panorama of the capital anything 
 but a dull expanse of roofs, like a grey lake, out of 
 which grow tall chimneys like hideous rushes in far 
 too great profusion. The earthquake gods, defenders 
 of the country's beauty, render it dangerous to build 
 brick shafts as in Europe, but human ingenuity has 
 unfortunately circumvented the difficulty by erecting 
 tall iron tubes, which vomit as much smoke and are 
 even uglier. Also, telegraph wires and posts are 
 extraordinarily conspicuous in the streets. The old 
 conflict between rehgion and science took the form 
 of a Uteral collision in Japan, for the high cars used 
 in Shinto religious processions got entangled in the 
 network of wires above the streets. Theology lost. 
 The height of the cars was reduced, and the wires 
 were not moved. Probably the Japanese, in their 
 first enthusiasm for ciAdKzation, regarded all the 
 mechanism of science as honourable and lovely, and 
 made no attempt to hide it. Poles and wires are 
 
 178 
 
KAMAKURA AND MISAKI 179 
 
 arranged in prominent and complacent avenues down 
 the immense thoroughfares of Tokyo, which are prob- 
 ably the longest in the world, but commonplace in 
 their architecture. It is cosmopolitan in the worst 
 sense : a generalized European type, whose creations 
 have a soulless uniformity, suggesting no particular 
 national character and no particular purpose. The 
 most interestiag and beautiful parts are comparatively 
 open spaces, Hke the Uyeno and Shiba Parks and the 
 grounds of the Asakusa temple. In all these it will 
 be noted that we have the characteristic Japanese 
 combination of architecture and nature — ^not archi- 
 tecture pleasing by itself. 
 
 But the eye meets unexpected pleasures. One 
 does not look for beauty in an umbrella-shop, but 
 when Japanese umbrellas — quite cheap paper 
 articles, but of delicate colour — are opened out and 
 displayed in rows, the effect is quaint and pretty. 
 And then one picturesque feature is universal and 
 ubiquitous — writing. The large signboards and in- 
 scriptions are not so brightly coloured as in China, 
 and one observes with regret that of the many 
 varieties of Japanese writing the only ugly one is the 
 simplest and plainest, the Katakana, whose use is 
 said to be on the increase. Still, the graceful curves 
 of Chinese hieroglyphics may be seen spreading over 
 almost ever shop. But though the old-fashioned, 
 common things like umbrellas, lanterns, and sign- 
 boards, may be picturesque, the streets of Tokyo, 
 Osaka, and other large towns, suggest that among 
 the Japanese of to-day commercial and scientiiic 
 instincts are growing at the expense of art. 
 
 The increasing and eminently successful care 
 bestowed on commerce is most remarkable. It is 
 
 12—2 
 
180 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 surprising that a people who for years have been 
 steeped in military ideas and despised trade should 
 be found ready to devote to mercantile matters the 
 same grave attention and power of organization 
 which they have previously confined to the art of war. 
 Yet it is clear that the Japanese have no intention of 
 remaining a purely or chiefly military nation, and 
 in the very flush of victory their chief preoccupation 
 seems to be the establishment of their flnances and 
 the expansion of their trade. The growth of this 
 solid, serious business spirit testifies to the versatility 
 of Japanese genius, and also to the sound common 
 sense in which it is rooted. The finances seem to 
 have been conducted during the period of the war 
 with remarkable skill. The country is not ex- 
 hausted : it was reported that the deposits in the 
 Tokyo savings banks had increased by £6,000,000 
 during the first six months of 1906, and 183 new 
 companies were formed, with an aggregate capital of 
 £25,000,000. Such an increase argues a sound finan- 
 cial basis. 
 
 The special features of Japanese commerce appear 
 to be power of co-operation and government support. 
 Though Japanese merchants have a poor reputation 
 for loyalty in commercial dealings, yet the spirit of 
 combination which leads to the formation of guilds 
 and associations for the most various objects in aU 
 parts of the Tar East disposes them to common 
 action, and the support of government often adds 
 coherency and vigour to such action. During the 
 Tokugawa period, when the islands were closed to 
 the rest of the world, the government had a mono- 
 poly of foreign trade. It bought from the Dutch, 
 and sold to Japanese. Such simple methods of pro- 
 
KAMAKURA AND MISAKI 181 
 
 cedure, are, of course, nowadays things of the past, 
 but the idea of conducting commercial enterprise 
 under the patronage and direction of the state seems 
 more natural both to the government and to the mer- 
 cantile commimity than in Europe, and is a powerful 
 method for pushing trade. 
 
 The South Manchurian Railway Company has 
 been formed with official assistance, not only for 
 the prosecution of traffic by land and water, but 
 for warehousing and for mining. It is supported by 
 powerful combinations of merchants organized for 
 the purpose of pushing Japanese wares in Manchuria, 
 and also for- bringing the raw produce of Manchuria 
 to Japan, and there working it up. The Yokohama 
 Specie Bank is extending its branches and operations, 
 which are already multifarious. Trade with China 
 is said to have increased by £3,000,000, and Japanese 
 shipping on the Yangtse is second only to that of 
 Great Britain. Owing to its proximity, and the many 
 ties which unite the two countries, the Chinese 
 market is hkely to occupy Japanese commerce for 
 some time, though it will not monopolize it. Lines 
 of steamers to the South Seas and the coast of South 
 America, which are being started at present, indicate 
 that the nation is beginning to feel the wider ambi- 
 tions of extended commerce, and the joy of sending 
 argosies over equatorial oceans. 
 
 But it is to be feared that this growth of the com- 
 mercial spirit is blunting the artistic sense of the 
 nation : recent monuments erected ia Tokyo are 
 neither satisfactory nor promising, and the influence of 
 science is not more aesthetic than that of commerce. 
 The Japanese have mastered all the developments 
 and complications of engineering and electricity, but 
 
182 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 they have not imparted any of the national grace 
 and daintiness to apparatus and engines, which 
 are in Japan even more ungainly than elsewhere. 
 The command of hand and brain which served them 
 so well as artists secures equal excellence in the prac- 
 tical applications of mechanics, and their intelhgence 
 shows a strong inchnation in this direction at the 
 present moment. It is often said with some dis- 
 paragement that the Japanese have made no great 
 discoveries in science. It would be very extraordi- 
 nary if they had, for it is surely no mean achievement 
 to have started with a tabula rasa, and within fifty 
 years have assimilated the whole practical science of 
 Europe on the large scale shown by their army, navy, 
 telegraphs, and railways. For theoretical research 
 there has hardly been time. But they clearly have 
 a real aptitude for some of the physical sciences. If 
 they have shown no great originality, they at least 
 do good research work, and they make excellent 
 doctors. Having had occasion to employ one, I can 
 answer, not only for their skill, but for the confidence 
 which they inspire in the patient — a confidence 
 which I think one would not feel in an Arab or Hindu, 
 though he might be equally well educated. 
 
 Historical science languishes, and it is extremely 
 curious to hear that the government dehberately 
 discourage it. From a practical point of view, I 
 am not sure that they are wrong, for familiarity with 
 the ways of governments certainly breeds contempt. 
 A good history of Japan is a thing still to be written, 
 but sound and harmless knowledge in other branches 
 is supported. Attention is paid to the scientific 
 sides of agriculture and fisheries, and one of the 
 most interesting excursions which I made was to 
 
KAMAKURA AND MISAKI 183 
 
 the Marine Biological Laboratory at Misaki, founded 
 on the model of the establishments at Naples and 
 Plymouth for the study of marine zoology. 
 
 The journey to Misaki is a pleasant but rather 
 lengthy excursion, for the railway takes one only part 
 of the way, and the rest has to be done by rickshaw 
 or by water. To the south of Yokohama hes a Uttle 
 peninsula containing some well-known seaside 
 resorts, such as Kamakura and Enoshima, but other- 
 wise somewhat out of the world, and peopled by 
 fishermen, professors, and strange deities with their 
 priests — an odd mixture, but perhaps characteristic 
 of Japan. The way hes through Kamakura, one of 
 the many old capitals, and celebrated for its Dai- 
 butsu — a gigantic bronze statue of Amida, fabricated 
 in the thirteenth century. I must confess that I am 
 somewhat a heretic in the matter of this famous 
 image, which has received unreserved praise from 
 most writers. Striking it certainly is — a great medi- 
 tative figure seated in an avenue — but I do not feel 
 that it expresses ' the soul of all the East,' or that it 
 is one of the greatest masterpieces of Buddhist art. 
 Probably those who have praised it with most enthu- 
 siasm came to Kamakura from America, and as a 
 contrast to Chicago its calm would no doubt seem 
 impressive. But those who come to Japan from the 
 other side, as I did, will probably agree that the face 
 is wanting in force and intelligence. Indian sculp- 
 ture keeps the head of such images erect, and makes 
 it plain that in meditation the mind, though self- 
 centred, is active within. But in the Daibutsu the 
 head and shoulders droop forward, and I cannot get 
 rid of the feeling that the image is dozing — an 
 amiable priest nodding over an unusually long litany 
 
184 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 It is seen to its greatest advantage from outside the 
 garden, where the head appears rising above the 
 trees ; seen from in front, it does not look its real 
 height — fifty feet — but this is no fault of the artist, 
 but a pecuKarity of all great statues. It would 
 seem that when the eye sees an unusual object it 
 assesses it simply according to bulk, not according to 
 shape — that is to say, it takes note that a colossus is 
 not particularly large compared to a building, rather 
 than that it is gigantic compared to a man. 
 
 Even the largest statue in Japan, the Daibutsu of 
 Nara, which is in an open hall, fails to impress at first 
 sight, though one gradually reahzes its proportions by 
 comparison. When I saw it, it was undergoing re- 
 pair, and I wondered what was moving on the face. It 
 was a man, and as the face is sixteen feet long, and the 
 workman crossing it was not much more than five 
 feet high it is not surprising that he looked like an 
 insect. The images that appear really gigantic are 
 those which are dimly seen. Such are the great re- 
 clining Buddhas in Cingalese caves, where the feeble 
 lamps carried by the guides are insufficient to light 
 up the whole figure at once, and suggest an im- 
 mensity of mysterious bulk. Very imposing, too, is 
 the statue of Maitreya, in the Lama temple at Peking. 
 It is nearly eighty feet high, and extends through 
 two stories of a somewhat dim temple. As a work of 
 art it is mediocre, but the worshippers kneeling at 
 its gigantic feet have a distant vision of a powerful 
 and benevolent face, and, as seen from the upper 
 galleries, the priests and candles in the depths down 
 below look pathetically minute and helpless. 
 
 The country about Kamakura and all the neigh- 
 bourhood of Tokyo and Yokohama is disfigured by 
 
KAMAKURA AND MISAKI 185 
 
 another kind of gigantic images, which modern Japan 
 honours with deplorable assiduity — namely, adver- 
 tisements. Nowhere in Europe or America are these 
 eyesores more impertinently prominent, not only in 
 towns and railway-stations, but in coimtry scenes 
 which would be beautiful without them. The size 
 of the things is monstrous : inscriptions legible half 
 a mile off cover the side of a hill with the praises of 
 some soap or mouth-wash ; a bottle twenty feet high 
 bids you drink freely of a certain beer ; and a colossus 
 in evening dress offers pills which will cure you if you 
 take too much of it. It is hard to beheve that the 
 Japanese of to-day are essentially artistic, when they 
 not only tolerate but revel in these vulgarities. 
 
 Fortimately, the advertisements stop long before 
 one reaches Misaki, probably because the inhabitants 
 are poor fishermen who don't want pills, and have not 
 money enough to buy beer. For some way the road 
 rmxs by the sea, passing a series of capes which offer 
 all the combinations of rocks, pines, and waves, of 
 which Japanese art is so fond, and then strikes in- 
 land. The cottagers in this part of the world en- 
 courage plants to grow on their roofs, which become 
 veritable flower-gardens or fields of waving grass. 
 The ground below does not seem very fertile ; there 
 is plenty of wild and, doubtless, uncultivable land. 
 But clearly it is a country of sailors rather than agri- 
 culturists, as the crowd of boats in every bay testifies. 
 
 The laboratory of Misaki is a pleasing mixture of 
 science and romance, for it is an old castle, with well- 
 authenticated ghosts. It seems a thousand pities 
 that the Psychical Research Society cannot utilize 
 this unusual combination. It is so rare to find 
 together a noted haunt of ghosts and all the materials 
 
186 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 for bottling and preserving them scientifically. A 
 sudden douche of picric acid is recommended for 
 killing and ' fixing ' shadowy marine organisms, and 
 at Misaki there is every opportunity for trying its 
 effect on a marine ghost. In the Middle Ages the 
 owners of the castle committed suicide rather than 
 faU into the hands of their enemies — the men with 
 the sword, and the women by throwing themselves 
 into the sea. By daylight the castle wears a decor- 
 ously scientific aspect, and presents a view such as is 
 usual in laboratories — microscopes under bell-glasses, 
 tanks of hving coral, and rows of glass jars, out of 
 which pickled octopuses and other marine monsters 
 gaze malevolently on still living anatomists. But on 
 certain nights even stranger sights may be seen. The 
 drowned beauties rise out of the sea, and headless men 
 wander on the shore. Another interesting collocation 
 of old and new is the shrine of the goddess Benten, a 
 marine deity and one of the seven gods of luck, which 
 is in a cave close to the laboratory. Fishermen do not 
 fail to propitiate her before putting out to sea, and 
 it is thought that professors do just as well to ac- 
 knowledge her existence by an offering before com- 
 mencing their researches. 
 
 Japanese in the past have shown more aptitude for 
 mjrthical zoology than for the severer aspects of the 
 science, and it is evident that strange beasts had a 
 special fascination and interest for them. As all 
 critics have observed, their pictures of horses, cats, 
 and dogs are poor, but in delineating birds, insects, 
 and things with many Umbs and queer shapes, they 
 have the life-giving touch of true sympathy. They 
 are the only people I know who have treated the case 
 of the jelly-fish with insight, and written a story 
 
KAMAKURA AND MISAKI 187 
 
 about his sad failure in life with appropriate illustra- 
 tions. The jelly-fish, it seems, was not always such 
 a hopelessly flabby personage as now. He had 
 never, perhaps, a backbone, and he certainly had 
 not much brain, but still he had legs and a tail, 
 and went his own way with a will of his own, 
 instead of lolloping through hfe in his present 
 aimless fashion. One day the wife of the dragon 
 who rules at the bottom of the sea fell ill, and stuck to 
 it that nothing could cure her but a meal of monkey's 
 Uver. So the jelly-fish was sent o£E post-haste to catch 
 a monkey, and actually succeeded in persuading one 
 to get on his back and set out on a cruise across the 
 sea. But that was the extent of his diplomacy. 
 Once started, he couldn't hold his tongue, and told 
 the monkey what he, or rather his liver, was wanted 
 for. The monkey grasped the situation, and be- 
 haved with great intelligence. He would be de- 
 hghted to be of service to the sea-dragon and his 
 queen, he said, but the jelly-fish had taken him un- 
 awares without explaining what was wanted, and so 
 he had not thought of bringing his Hver, but had left 
 it hanging on a tree. It was a troublesome sort of 
 thing, he said, and he didn't take it out with him to 
 dinner, as a rule, because it had a way of making 
 itself ill; but if the jelly-fish would turn back he 
 could get it in a moment. The fooHsh creature 
 agreed, and landed the monkey, who, after climb- 
 ing up a safe tree, explained the situation with some 
 humour. So the jeUy-fish went back empty-handed 
 — or, rather, empty-backed — and had not even the 
 wit to invent a plausible story, but confessed his own 
 stupidity and told the simple truth. For this he 
 received such a thrashing that all his bones were 
 
188 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 
 
 broken, and he has ever since remained a helpless, 
 feckless lump of jelly. 
 
 A similar story is of curiously wide distribution, 
 and is told on the coast of East Africa, of a monkey 
 and a shark. From a scientific point of view, per- 
 haps, it is more plausible if told of a jelly-fish ; for a 
 shark, having a well-furnished inside of his own, 
 would hardly have been imposed on by the monkey's 
 yarn, whereas the jelly-fish, having no Hver at aU, 
 might think it was something that could be left at 
 home Uke an umbrella. 
 
 THE END 
 
 BILLING AND SONti, LTD., PRINTKBS, GUILDFORD 
 
Telegrams : 4 1 and 43 Maddox Street, 
 
 ' Scholarly, London.' Bond Street, London, W., 
 
 January, igoy- 
 
 Mr. Edward Arnold's 
 
 List of New Books. 
 
 MEMORIES. 
 
 By Major-General SIR OWEN TUDOR BURNE, 
 G.C.LE., K.C.S.L 
 
 Demy 8vo, With Illnstrations. 15s. net. 
 
 Sir Owen Burne joined the 20th Regiment (now the Lancashire 
 Fusiliers) in 1855. He came in for the end of the Crimean War and 
 served throughout the Indian Mutiny, receiving two steps in rank 
 for gallantry in the field. Not long afterwards he became Military 
 Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Hugh Rose. He was 
 Private Secretary to Lord Mayo until his assassination, and made 
 a personal report on that tragic event to the Queen. Later he 
 became Secretary in the Political and Secret Department of the 
 India Office. He was also Private Secretary to Lord Lytton, 
 when Viceroy, and served ten years as a member of the Council 
 of India. 
 
 An interesting chapter of Sir Owen's reminiscences deals with the 
 year 1873, when, as Political A.D.C. to the Secretary of State for 
 India, he assisted Sir Henry Rawlinson in taking charge of the 
 Shah of Persia during his visit to England. Copious extracts are 
 given from His Majesty's diary, which has come into Sir Owen's 
 hands. 
 
 The book is a lively record of a distinguished career, freely inter- 
 spersed with amusing stories, and illustrated with photographs of 
 some noteworthy groups. 
 
 LONDON : EDWARD ARNOLD 41 & 43 MADDOX STREET, W. 
 
2 Mr. Edward Arnold's List of New Books 
 
 SOME PROBLEMS OF EXISTENCE. 
 
 By NORMAN PEARSON. 
 
 Demy 8vo. 7s. 6d, net. 
 
 Dealing with such Problems of Existence as the origin of life, 
 spirit and matter, free will, determinism and morality, and the sense 
 of sin, Mr. Pearson lays down as postulates for a theory which 
 philosophy and religion may be able to accept, and which science 
 need not reject— (i) the existence of a Deity; (2) the immortality of 
 man ; and (3) a Divine scheme of evolution of which we form part, 
 and which, as expressing the purpose of the Deity, proceeds under 
 the sway of an inflexible order. The author's method is well calcu- 
 lated to appeal to the general reader, though some of his conclusions 
 as to the past and future of humanity differ considerably from 
 popularly received opinions on the subject. 
 
 SIX RADICAL THINKERS. 
 
 By JOHN MacCUNN, LL.D., 
 
 Pj'JOFESsoR OF Philosophy in the University of Liverpool. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 6s. net. 
 
 These brilliant essays possess an exceptional interest at the 
 present moment when Liberal and Radical principles bulk so largely 
 in the political arena. The six main subjects of Professor MacCunn's 
 volume are Bentham and his Philosophy of Reform, the Utilitarian 
 Optimism of John Stuart Mill, the Commercial Radicalism of 
 Cobden, the Anti- Democratic Radicalism of Thomas Carlyle, the 
 Religious Radicalism of Joseph Mazzini, and the Political Idealism 
 of T. H. Green. 
 
 LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST. 
 
 By Sir CHARLES ELIOT, K.C.M.G., 
 
 Author of 'Turkey in Europe,' 'The East African Protectorate,' etc. 
 
 Demy 8vo. With Illustrations. 8s, 6d. net. 
 
 This is an exceedingly interesting series of letters on the political 
 and social situation in India, China, Japan^ and the Far East 
 generally. 
 
Mr. Edward Arnold's List of New Books 3 
 
 A PICNIC PARTY IN WILDEST 
 AFRICA. 
 
 By C. W. L: BULPETT. 
 
 JSeing a Sftctcb ot a Timintcr's ttrip to some of tbe "Olnftnown llJllatcrs 
 of tbe Tappet mile. 
 
 Demy 8vo. With Illustrations and Map. 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 The object of the expedition described in this book was to survey 
 the Musha and Boma plateaux, which lie between the River Akobo 
 and Lake Rudolf. It was organized by Mr. W. N. McMillan, an 
 experienced American traveller, and was remarkably successful, 
 though the fact that one of the caravans marched thirty-eight days 
 on half-rations, largely through a country flooded by incessant rain, 
 shows that the excursion was very far from being altogether a picnic. 
 Mounts Ungwala and Naita were ascended, and hundreds of square 
 miles of previously unexplored country were surveyed and mapped. 
 The accounts of the abundance of game will make the sportsrrian's 
 mouth water. 
 
 A considerable amount of the descripton of scenery and life on the 
 Nile and Sobat is extracted from the journal of Mrs. McMillan, who 
 accompanied her husband. Many of the illustrations are from 
 drawings made on the spot by Mr. Jessen, cartographer of the 
 expedition. 
 
 TIPPOO TIB. 
 
 Zbe Storg of a Central Bftican Despot. 
 
 Narrated from his own accounts by Dr. HEINRICH BRODE. 
 
 Demy 8vo. With Portrait. los. 6d. net. 
 
 In the course of a prolonged residence at Zanzibar as consular 
 representative of Germany, Dr. Brode became intimately acquainted 
 with the celebrated adventurer Tippoo Tib, and succeeded in 
 inducing him to write the story of his life. This he did, in Swaheli, 
 using Arabic characters, which Dr. Brode transcribed for translation 
 into German. The material thus supplied by Tippoo Tib has been 
 expanded by Dr. Brode into a remarkable picture of Africa before 
 and during its transition into the hands of the white man. 
 
4 Mr, Edward Arnold's List of New Books 
 
 THE PRINCES OF ACHAIA AND THE 
 CHRONICLES OF MOREA. 
 
 a StuOB of ©rcece in tbc ilRi&aie ages. 
 By Sir RENNELL RODD, G.C.V.O., K.C.M.G., C.B., 
 
 Author of * Customs and Lore of Modern Greece,' * Feda, and other Poems/ 
 ' The Unknown Madonna,' ' Ballads of the Fleet,' etc. 
 
 2 Volumes. Demy 8vo. With Illustrations and Map. 25s. net. 
 
 In this masterly work Sir Rennell Rodd deals with a curiously 
 interesting and fascinating subject which has never been treated of 
 in English, though a few scanty notices of the period may be found. 
 It is gratifying to know that the British School in Athens has of 
 late turned its attention to the Byzantine and Prankish remains in 
 the Morea. Meanwhile this book will fill a great blank in the 
 historical knowledge of most people. 
 
 THUCYDIDES MYTHISTORICUS. 
 
 By F. M. CORNFORD, M.A., 
 
 Fellow and Lecturer at Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 
 Demy 8vo. los. 6d. net. 
 
 This is an important contribution to the study of Thucydides. 
 Having attributed the causes of the Peloponnesian War almost en- 
 tirely to commercial factors, Mr. Cornford shows how Thucydides, 
 free from modern ideas of causation, unfolds the tragedy of Athens, 
 led by Fortune at Pylos, by the Hybris and Infatuation of Cleon and 
 Alcibiades, to the Nemesis of Syracuse. The book will be found 
 interesting by all students of history. All passages from Greek 
 authors are quoted in English in the text, which can be understood 
 without reference to the Greek in the footnotes. 
 
 GREEK LIVES FROM PLUTARCH. 
 
 Newly Translated by C. E. BYLES, B.A., 
 
 Formerly Exhibitioner of St. John's College, Cambridge. 
 
 Crown 8vo. With Illustrations and Maps. is. 6d. 
 
 This is an entirely new translation abridged from the Greek. 
 Although primarily intended for the use of schools, it should be 
 found acceptable by the general reader. 
 
Mr. Edward Arnold's List of New Books 5 
 
 THE NEXT STREET BUT ONE. 
 
 By M. LOANE, 
 
 Author of * The Queem's Poor.' 
 
 Cvown 8w. 6s. 
 
 Like its predecessor, this book is not only a mine of interesting 
 and amusing sketches of life among the poor, but, in its more serious 
 aspect, a remarkable and most valuable corrective of many widely 
 prevalent and erroneous views about the habits ot thought and ethics 
 of the poorer classes. 
 
 A HUNTING CATECHISM. 
 
 By COLONEL R. F. MEYSEY-THOMPSON, 
 
 Author of 'Reminiscences of the Course, the Camp, and the Chase,' 'A Fishing 
 Catechism,' and 'A Shooting Catechism.' 
 
 Foolscap Svo. 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 This, the third of Colonel Meysey-Thompson's invaluable hand- 
 books, will appeal to hunting men as strongly as the previous 
 volumes did to lovers of rod and gun. The information given is 
 absolutely practical, the result of forty years' experience, and is 
 largely conveyed in the form of Question and Answer. The arrange- 
 ment is especially calculated to facilitate easy reference. 
 
 AT THE WORKS. 
 
 a StuOg of a flottb Countrg a;ou3H. 
 By LADY BELL, 
 
 Author of 'The Dean of St. Patrick's,' 'The Arbiter,' etc, etc. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 In this little book Lady Bell has entered upon a new branch of 
 literature. It is not a novel, but a description of the industrial and 
 social condition of the ironworkers of the North Country. 
 
6 Mr. Edward Arnold's List of New Books 
 
 INDIVIDUAL OWNERSHIP 
 
 AND THE GROWTH OF MODERN 
 
 CIVILIZATION. 
 
 Being HENRI DE TOURVILLE'S ' Histoire de la Formation 
 Particulariste,' translated by M. G. Loch. 
 
 Demy 8vo. 
 
 The articles which are here presented in the form of a volume 
 were contributed by the author to the French periodical La Science 
 Sociale over a period of six years ending in February, 1903. His 
 death occurred within a few days of his completing the work. 
 M. de Tourville, after showing that the transformation of the 
 communal into the particularist family took place in Scandinavia, 
 and was largely due to the peculiar geographical character of the 
 Western slope, traces the development of modern Europe from the 
 action of the particularist type of society upon the fabric of Roman 
 civilization. 
 
 MEMORIES OF THE MONTHS. 
 
 FOURTH SERIES. 
 
 , By the Right Hon. Sir HERBERT MAXWELL, Bart., F.R.S. 
 
 Large crown 8vo. With Photogravure Illustrations, js. 6d. 
 
 This fresh instalment of Sir Herbert Maxwell's delightful 
 ' Memories of the Months ' will be welcomed by lovers of his 
 descriptions of country life. 
 
 NEW EDITION. 
 
 LETTERS OF 
 MARY SIBYLLA HOLLAND. 
 
 Selected and Edited by her son, BERNARD HOLLAND. 
 Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. 
 
 To this, the third, edition of these attractive letters, Mr. Bernard 
 Holland has added a large number of new letters, which were not 
 included in the second edition, having been found or contributed 
 since the date of its publication. The book is now in its final and 
 complete form. 
 
Mr. Edward Arnold's List of New Books 7 
 
 THE REMINISCENCES OF 
 LADY DOROTHY NEVILL. 
 
 Edited by her Son, RALPH NEVILL. 
 
 Demy 8vo. With Portrait. 15s. net. 
 
 SIXTH IMPRESSION. 
 
 There are very few persons living whose knowledge of English 
 Society is, literally, so extensive and peculiar as Lady Dorothy 
 Nevill's, and fewer still whose recollections of a period extending 
 from the day of the postchaise to that of the motor-car are as graphic 
 and entertaining as hers. In the course of her life she has met 
 almost every distinguished representative of literature, politics and 
 art, and about many of them she has anecdotes to tell which have 
 never before been made public. She has much to say of her intimate 
 friends of an earlier day— Disraeli, the second Duke of Wellington, 
 Bernal Osborne, Lord Ellenborough, and a dozen others — while a 
 multitude of more modern personages pass in procession across her 
 light-hearted pages. A reproduction of a recent crayon portrait by 
 M. Cayron is given as frontispiece. 
 
 PERSONAL ADVENTURES AND 
 ANECDOTES OF AN OLD OFFICER. 
 
 By Colonel JAMES P. ROBERTSON, C.B. 
 Demy 8vo. With Portraits. 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 The phrase ' a charmed life ' is hackneyed, but it may be used 
 with peculiar appropriateness to describe Colonel Robertson's 
 military career. ' The history of my nose alone,' says the cheery 
 old soldier in his Preface, 'would fill a chapter,' and, indeed, not 
 only his nose, but his whole body, seem to have spent their time in, 
 at all events, running a risk of being seriously damaged in every 
 possible way. The book, in fact, is simply full of fine confused 
 fighting and hair-breadth escapes. 
 
 Joining the 31st Regiment in 1842, Colonel Robertson took part 
 in the Sutlej Campaign from Moodkee to Sobraon. He was in the 
 Crimea, and throughout the Mutiny he commanded a regiment of 
 Light Cavalry, doing repeatedly the most gallant service. The 
 incidents of life in Ireland and the Ionian Islands during the in- 
 tervals of peace are worthy of ' Charles O'Malley,' and are described 
 with something of Lever's raciness of touch. 
 
8 Mr, Edward Arnold's List of New Books 
 
 THE AFTERMATH OF WAR. 
 
 an account of tbe IRepatriation of 3Boete ana IWativee In tbe ©range 
 
 ■River Colong. 
 
 By G. B. BEAK. 
 
 Demy 8vo. With Illustrations and Map. 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 The author, after serving nearly two and a half years in the South 
 African War, was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Orange 
 River Colony Repatriation Department, and subsequently Assistant 
 Director of Relief under the Government. His information is thus 
 not only first-hand but unique. The book is illustrated with some 
 extremely interesting photographs. 
 
 ' The book is sure to become a standard work, for it throws a flood of light 
 upon and solves many of the knotty questions of that period which have agitated 
 men's minds at home and abroad.' — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 PATROLLERS OF PALESTINE. 
 
 By the Rev. HASKETT SMITH, M.A., F.R.G.S. 
 
 Editor of * Murray's Handbook to Syria and Palestine,' 1902 ; 
 
 Large crown 8vo. With Illustrations. los. 6d. 
 
 The late Mr. Haskett Smith was a well-known authority on the 
 Holy Land, and in this book he personally conducts a typical party 
 of English tourists to some of the more important sites hallowed by 
 tradition. 
 
 ' The reader is not only charmed by the pleasant experiences and the interest- 
 ing discussions of the pilgrims, but at the same time he acquires a great deal of 
 information which would otherwise have to be sought in a combination of 
 cyclopaedia, " Speaker's Commentary," and guide-book.'- — Tribune. 
 
 POLITICAL CARICATURES, 1906. 
 
 By Sir F. CARRUTHERS GOULD. 
 
 Super royal ^to. 6s. net. 
 
 The change of Government, with the consequent variety of political 
 topics, very greatly enhances the attraction of this new volume oi 
 cartoons by ' Sir F. C. G.' If the increased acerbity of political 
 relations is found to be slightly reflected in these later cartoons, the 
 many fresh and interesting studies are no less happily handled than 
 those produced under the Conservative regime. 
 
Mr. Edward Arnold's List of New Books 
 
 NEW FICTION. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 6s. each. 
 
 THE SUNDERED STREAMS. 
 
 By REGINALD FARRER, 
 
 Author of 'The Garden of Asia' and 'The House of Shadows.' 
 
 BENEDICT KAVANAGH. 
 
 By GEORGE A. BIRMINGHAM, 
 
 Author of 'The Seething Pot' and 'Hyacinth.' 
 
 THE GOLDEN HAWK. 
 
 By EDITH RICKERT, 
 
 Author of * The Reapek ' and ' Folly. 
 
 fourth impression. 
 
 THE LADY ON 
 
 THE DRAWINGROOM FLOOR. 
 
 By M. E. COLERIDGE. 
 
 SECOND IMPRESSION. 
 
 THE MILLMASTER. 
 
 By C. HOLMES CAUTLEY. 
 SECOND IMPRESSION. 
 
 QUICKSILVER AND FLAME. 
 
 By ST. JOHN LUCAS. 
 SECOND IMPRESSION. 
 
 THE BASKET OF FATE. 
 
 By SIDNEY PICKERING. 
 
 OCCASION'S FORELOCK. 
 
 By VIOLET A. SIMPSON. 
 
10 Mr. Edward Arnold's List of New Books 
 
 ABYSSINIA OF TO-DAY. 
 
 Sn account ot tbe ffivst Mission eent bg tbe ameticau Government 
 to tbe Ifting of Iftlngs. 
 
 By ROBERT P. SKINNER, 
 
 Commissioner to Abyssinia, 1903-1904 ; American Consul-General ; Fellow of the 
 American Geographical Society; Soci dou Felibrige. 
 
 Demy 8vo. With numerous Illustrations and Map. 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 The object of this American Mission to the Emperor Menelik 
 ■was to negotiate a commercial treaty. The Mission was extremely 
 well received, and the expedition appears to have been a complete 
 success. The picture drawn by Mr. Skinner of the Abyssinians and 
 their ruler is an exceedingly agreeable one ; and his notes on this 
 land of grave faces, elaborate courtesy, classic tone, and Biblical 
 civilization, its history, politics, language, literature, religion, and 
 trade, are full of interest ; there are also some valuable hints on the 
 organization and equipment of a caravan. 
 
 WESTERN TIBET AND THE 
 BRITISH BORDERLAND. 
 
 By CHARLES A. SHERRING, M.A., F.R.G.S., 
 
 Indian Civil Service ; Deputy Commissioner of Almora. 
 
 Royal 8vo. With Illustrations, Maps and Sketches. 21s. net. 
 
 During the last few years Tibet, wrapped through the centuries 
 in mystery, has been effectively ' opened up * to the gaze of the 
 Western world, and already the reader has at his disposal an 
 enormous mass of information on the country and its inhabitants. 
 But there is in Western Tibet a region which is still comparatively 
 little known, which is especially sacred to the Hindu and Buddhist, 
 and in which curious myths and still more curious manners abound ; 
 and it is of this portion of the British Borderland, its government, and 
 the religion and customs of its peoples, that Mr. Sherring writes. 
 
 The book contains a thrilling account by Dr. T. G. Longstaff, 
 M.B., F.R.G.S., of an attempt to climb Gurla Mandhata, the highest 
 mountain in Western Tibet, with two Swiss guides. 
 
Mr. Edward Arnold's List of New Books n 
 
 LETTERS OF 
 GEORGE BIRKBECK HILL, 
 
 D.CL., LL.D., Hon. Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. 
 
 Arranged by his Daughter, LUCY CRUMP. 
 
 Demy 8vo. With Portraits. 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 Dr. Birkbeck Hill's ' Letters ' form, with a few connecting links 
 written by his daughter, an autobiography whose charm lies in its 
 intimate portrayal of a character which was, in its curious intensity, 
 at once learned, tender, and humorous. He wrote as he talked, and 
 his talk was famous for its fund of anecdote, of humour, of deep 
 poetic feeling, of vigorous literary criticism, and no less vigorous 
 political sentiment. As an Oxford undergraduate, he was one of the 
 founders, together with Mr. Swinburne, Prof. A. V. Dicey, and 
 Mr. James Bryce, of the Old Mortality Club. He was intimately 
 connected also with the Pre-Raphaelites. At college, at home, on 
 the Continent, or in America, everywhere he writes with the pen of 
 one who observes everything, and who could fit all he saw that was 
 new into his vast knowledge of the past. His editions of ' Boswell's 
 Johnson,' of ' Johnson's Letters,' and ' The Lives of the Poets ' 
 have passed into classical works. But that his writings were not 
 exclusively Johnsonian is abundantly shown by such books as the 
 Letters of Hume, Swift, General Gordon, and Rossetti, as well as 
 by his ' Life of Sir Rowland Hill,' his ' History of Harvard 
 University,' and various collections of essays. 
 
 LETTERS TO A GODCHILD 
 
 ON THE CATECHISM AND CONFIRMATION. 
 By ALICE GARDNER, 
 
 Associate and Lecturer of Newnham College, Cambridge ; Author of ' Friends of the 
 Olden Time,' * Theodore of Studium," etc. 
 
 Foolscap 8vo. 2s. 6d. net. 
 This series of actual Letters written to an actual Godchild on the 
 subject of Confirmation is intended for parents and teachers who 
 either feel that some of the instruction to be derived from the 
 Catechism is obscured by archaism of style and thought, or who 
 desire something in the way of a supplement to the Catechism. It 
 is not intended to take the place of works of formal religious in- 
 struction. 
 
12 Mr. Edward Arnold's List of New Books 
 
 TRANSLATIONS INTO LATIN AND 
 GREEK VERSE. 
 
 By H. A. J. MUNRO, 
 
 Sometime Feliow of Trinity College, and Professor of Latin in the University 
 
 OF Cambridge. 
 
 With a Prefatory Note by J. D. DUFF, 
 
 Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 
 Medium 8vo. With a Portrait. 6s. net. 
 
 These translations were originally printed for private circulation in 
 the autumn of 1884, a few months before the author's death. They 
 were never published, and for years past the price asked for the 
 book second-hand has been high. It has therefore been decided, 
 with the consent of Munro's representatives, to reprint the work, so 
 that those who are interested in Latin Verse and in Munro may 
 acquire a copy at a reasonable price. 
 
 NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION. 
 
 THE QUEEN'S POOR. 
 
 TLite as tbeg fln& tt in ITowii anb Counttg. 
 
 By M. LOANE. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 Sir Arthur Clay, Bart., says of this book : ' I have had a good deal of ex- 
 perience of "relief " work, and I have never yet come across a book upon the 
 subject of the " poor " which shows such true insight and such a grasp of reality 
 in describing the life, habits, and mental attitude of our poorer fellow-citizens. . . . 
 The whole book is not only admirable from a common-sense point of view, but it is 
 «xtremely pleasant and interesting to read, and has the great charm of humour.' 
 
 NEW EDITION, ENTIRELY REWRITTEN. 
 
 PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS. 
 
 By C. LLOYD MORGAN, LL.D., F.R.S., 
 
 Principal of XJniversitv College, Bristol ; 
 Author of ' The Springs of Conduct,' ' Habit and Instinct,' etc. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 4s. 6d. 
 
 For this edition. Professor Lloyd Morgan has entirely rewritten, 
 and very considerably enlarged, his well-known work on this impor- 
 tant subject. He has, in fact, practically made a new book of it. 
 
Mr, Edward Arnold's List of New Books 13. 
 
 MISREPRESENTATIVE WOMEN, 
 
 AND OTHER VERSES. 
 By HARRY GRAHAM, 
 
 Author of 'Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes,' 'Ballads of the Boer War,' 
 ' Misrbpresentative Men,' ' Fiscal Ballads,' ' Verse and Worse,' etc. 
 
 Foolscap 4^0. With Illustrations by Dan Sayre Groesbeck. 5s. 
 
 Admirers of Captain Graham's ingenious and sarcastic verse will 
 welcome this fresh instalment, which contains, among the ' other 
 verses,' a number of ' Poetic Paraphrases ' and ' Open Letters ' to 
 popular authors. 
 
 THE LAND OF PLAY. 
 
 By MRS. GRAHAM WALLAS. 
 
 Crown 8vo. With Illustrations by Gilbert James. 3s. 6d. 
 
 The four stories which make up this delightful children's book are 
 entitled ' Luck-Child,' ' The Princess and the Ordinary Little Girl,' 
 ' Professor Green,' and ' A Position of Trust.' 
 
 A SONG-GARDEN FOR CHILDREN. 
 
 a Collection ot CbllDren's Songs 
 
 Adapted from the French and German by 
 
 HARRY GRAHAM and ROSA NEWMARCH. 
 
 The Music Edited and Arranged by 
 
 NORMAN O'NEILL. 
 
 Imperial 8vo. Paper. 2S. 6d. net. 
 
 Cloth, gilt top. 4S. 6d. net. 
 
 This is a charming collection of forty-three French and German 
 songs for children translated and adapted by Capt. Graham and 
 Mrs. Newmarch. It includes nine songs arranged by J. Brahms tor 
 the children of Robert and Clara Schumann. 
 
14 Mr. Edward Arnold's List of New Books 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF SKIN DISEASES 
 AND THEIR TREATMENT. 
 
 By ARTHUR WHITFIELD, M.D. (Lond.), F.R.C.P., 
 
 Professor of Dermatology at King's College ; Physician to the Skin Departments, 
 King's College and the Great Northern Central Hospitals. 
 
 Crown Svo. With Illtistrations. 8s. 6d. net. 
 
 This book is designed especially to meet the needs of those who 
 have to treat the commoner skin diseases. While giving short 
 descriptions of the rarer forms, the chief attention is bestowed on 
 those more frequently met with. The diagnostic features of the 
 "various eruptions are dealt with in detail, in order that they may 
 give help in determining the lines of treatment. The more recent 
 work in clinical pathology, both microscopical and chemical, is for 
 the first time brought into use in an English text-book. The book 
 is freely illustrated with original photographs. 
 
 THE CHEMICAL INVESTIGATION 
 
 OF GASTRIC AND INTESTINAL 
 
 DISEASES BY THE AID OF 
 
 TEST MEALS. 
 
 By VAUGHAN HARLEY, M.D. Edin., M.R.C.P., F.C.S., 
 
 Professor of Pathological Chemistry, Universitv College, London ; 
 
 And FRANCIS GOODBODY, M.D. Dub., M.R.C.P., 
 
 Assistant Professor of Pathological Chemistry, University College, London. 
 
 Demy Svo. 8s. 6d. net. 
 
 This book opens with a description of the method of obtaining 
 gastric contents, and the estimation of the capacity of the stomach. 
 The various Test Meals employed in diagnosis are next described. 
 The macroscopical examination of the gastric contents and conclu- 
 sions to be drawn on inspection are discussed, and a short descrip- 
 tion of the microscopical appearances follows. The chemical 
 analysis of the gastric contents is then given. The Organic Diseases 
 of the Stomach are all separately described, with specimen cases of 
 analysis to illustrate them. The Functional Diseases of the Stomach, 
 which are more frequently met with in ordinary practice than the 
 Organic Diseases, are also very fully given. The chemical methods 
 employed in the investigation of Intestinal Diseases are then de- 
 scribed with great fulness, four types of Test Meals being given. 
 
Mr. Edward Arnold's List of New Books 15 
 
 A GUIDE TO DISEASES OF THE 
 
 NOSE AND THROAT AND THEIR 
 
 TREATMENT. 
 
 By CHARLES ARTHUR PARKER, F.R.C.S. Edin. 
 
 Demy 810. With 254 Illustrations. i8s. net. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE PREFACE. 
 
 ' To acquire the necessary dexterity to examine a patient systemati- 
 cally so as to overlook nothing, to recognise and put in its proper 
 place the particular pathological condition found, and finally, but 
 chiefly, to treat both the patient and the local abnormality success- 
 fully, seem to me the three most important objects of a course of 
 study at a special hospital. This book, which is founded on lectures 
 given at the Throat Hospital with these objects in view, is now 
 published in the hope of helping those who are either attending or 
 have attended a short course of study at special departments or 
 special Hospitals for Diseases of the Throat and Nose. ..." 
 
 THE DIAGNOSIS OF NERVOUS 
 DISEASES. 
 
 By PURVES STEWART, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P., 
 
 Physician to Out-Patients at the Westminster Hospital, and Joint Lecturer on 
 
 Medicine in the Medical School ; Physician to the Royal National Orthop.^dic 
 
 Hospital; Assistant Physician to the Italian Hospital. 
 
 Demy 8vo. With Illustrations and Coloured Plates. 15s. net. 
 
 This book, which is intended for the use of senior students and 
 practitioners, to supplement the ordinary text-books, discusses the 
 most modern methods of diagnosis of Diseases of the Nervous 
 System. The substance of the work, which is illustrated by original 
 diagrams and clinical photographs, nearly 200 in number, was 
 originally delivered in lecture form to students at the Westminster 
 Hospital and to certain post-graduate audiences in London and else- 
 where. The subject of Nervous Diseases is approached from the 
 point of view of the practical physician, and the diagnostic facts are 
 illustrated, as far as possible, by clinical cases. 
 
1 6 Mr. Edward Arnold's List of New Books 
 
 MIDWIFERY FOR NURSES. 
 
 By HENRY RUSSELL ANDREWS, M.D., B.Sc. Lond,, 
 M.R.C.P. Lond., 
 
 Assistant Obstetric Physician and Lecturer to Pupil Midwives at the London 
 Hospital; Examiner to the Central Midwives Board. 
 
 Crown 8vo, With Illustrations, 4s. 6d. net. 
 
 This book is intended to supply the pupil midwife with all that is 
 necessary to meet the requirements of the Central Midwives Board, 
 and to be a practical handbook for the certificated midwife. 
 
 ALTERNATING CURRENTS. 
 
 21 XTejtabook tor StuDents ot Engineering. 
 
 ^ 
 
 By C. G. LAMB, M.A., B.Sc, 
 
 Clare College, Cambridge, 
 
 Associate Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers; Associate of the City 
 
 and Guilds of London Institute. 
 
 Demy 8vo. With Illustrations. los. 6d. net. 
 
 The scope of this book is intended to be such as to cover approxi- 
 mately the range of reading in alternating current machinery and 
 apparatus considered by the author as desirable for a student of 
 general engineering in his last year — as, for example, a candidate for 
 the Mechanical Sciences Tripos at Cambridge. 
 
 A MANUAL OF HYDRAULICS. 
 
 By R. BUSQUET, 
 
 Professor A l'£cole Industrielle de Lvon. 
 
 Translated by A. H, PEAKE, M.A., 
 
 Demonstrator in Mechanism and Applied Mechanics in the University of Cambridge. 
 
 Crown 8vo. With Illustrations. 7s. 6d. net. 
 
 This work is a practical text-book of Applied Hydraulics, in which 
 complete technical theories and all useful calculations for the erection 
 of hydraulic plant are presented. It is not a purely descriptive work 
 designed merely for popular use, nor is it an abstruse treatise suitable 
 only for engineers versed in higher mathematics. The book is well 
 illustrated, and is full of Arithmetical Examples fully worked out. In 
 these examples, no knowledge is assumed beyond that of simple 
 arithmetic and the elements of geometry. 
 
ill