(Qarnell HnioeraitH SIthrarg Stifaca, Kftti lock CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 081 227 187 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 924081 2271 87 WESTERN CHINA SCENES ON THE UPPER YANG-TSZE. (1) Liihtn Gorge. (2) Chatig-Chou Pagoda, Western Chi A JOURNEY TO THE GREAT BUDDHIST CENTRE OF MOUNT OMEI BY REV. VIRGIL C. HART, B.D. FELLOW OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY ILLUSTRATED BOSTON TICKNOR AND COMPANY 211 SCtemont Stveet 1888 Copyright, 1888, By Virgil C. Hart. All rights reserved. Snibcnitg Jlnsss: ij6AN Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A. TO THE REV. ERNEST FABER, F.R.A.S. AN EMINENT SCHOLAR, For many years an honored member of the Rhenish Mission at Canton, And to Arthur Morley, M.D., and Rev. H. O. Cady, My fellow-travellers on my West China trip, I most cordially and heartily dedicate these pages, which will recall to them familiar scenes, genial intercmrse, and most delightful experiences. conte:n^ts. OHAPTEB PAGE I. Hankow. — Journey to Ichang. — Scenery. — Arrival. — Hiring a Boat. — Delays and Incidents 13 n. Ichang Gorge. — Scenery along the River. — Tracking. — Rapids. — A Tramp. — Towers. — A Climb. — Fishing 29 III. A Curious Custom. — A Beautiful Retreat. — KwEi-cHEU-Foo. — Book-Selling. — A Scene. — A Wreck. — Wan-hsien, its- Importance . . 45 IV. Poppy. — Ferries. — Fungteu. — A Legend. — Peculiar Customs. — Priests. — A Strange Visit to Tophet. — Chungking 70 V. Chungking. — A Sunday bef.orb the Walls. — Telegraph gives Trouble. — Riot of 1886. — Proclamations. — A Visit. — A Chinese Mansion . 92 VI. A Journey through the Province. — Chinese Inns 114 VII. The Great Brine and Fire Wells. — Our Reception 127 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGB VUr. KuBAL Scenes. — The Valley of Ohented . . 141 IX. Chenteu. — Its Historical Monuments. — Lao- Tsz's Birthplace. — Slavery 151 ■X. Mount Omei 173 XI. Mount Omei (continued) 194 XII. Mount Omei (continued) 223 XIII. Province op Sz-Chuan 276 INDEX 303 LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. Scenes on the Upper Yang-tsze Frontispiece (1) Lukan Gorge. (2) Chang-Chou Pagoda. Paob Map op Western China, Showing the Route Trav- ersed BY Mr. Hart 13 Scenery below Ichang 20 Scenes on the Yang-tsze 38 (1) Month of the Lukan Gorge. (2) Temple near Chungking. (3) Entrance to the Wind-Box Gorge, Kwei-cheu-foo. Pagoda Rock 60 Fungteu-hsien and its Sacred Mountain 70 Chungking and Part of Kiangpeh 90 A Brine-well in Operation 128 The vignette shows a section of the bamboo tubing, with valve. Boring the Brine-wells 140 The vignette represents sections of the boring-rods, showing the methods of jointing, and the cutting-tool. Picture in the Temple at Mount Omei 160 Great Bronze Pagoda at Omei 188 The vignette shows one of the kneeling figures that support tha four comers. The Celebrated Brick Spiral Temple at Wan-Nien-Sz, Mount Omei 210 A Thibetan Tribe Deity found on Mount Omei 222 WESTERN CHINA. CHAPTER I. Hankow. — Joueney to Ichakg. — Scenery. — Arrival. — Hiring a Boat. — Delays and Incidents. Hankow is a very populous town, six hundred and fifty miles from the mouth of the Yang-tsze River. It is the centre of the black-tea trade, and the largest port above Shanghai. It was opened to foreign trade in 1860, and until 1877 was the highest open port on the Yang- tsze ; since then, Ichang, four hundred miles farther west, has also been open to foreigners. Hankow is situated upon the north bank of the Yang- tsze and the east bank of the Han, which here joins the larger river. The great provincial city of Wuchang faces Hankow on the south bank of the Yang-tsze, while across the smaller river is the city of Hanyang. The population of these three cities is at least eight hundred thousand, and together they make the most important inland commercial centre of China. The resident foreign population is about one hundred and seventy ; but in the summer the " English Tea- tasters " bring the number up to two hundred and fifty or more, and at this season the largest sea-going vessels run up to Hankow to load with teas for the United States, England, and Russia. These foreign residents 14 WESTERN CHINA. are mostly English and Russian tea-merchants, the lat- ter having extensive manufactories of " brick tea," for use in Siberia and other parts of Russia. Branches of the London and Wesleyan Missions and the Protestant Episcopal Mission of the United States are established here. The first two came with the open- ing of the port, and have maintained a strong staff of able laborers : the present leaders are Rev. Griffith John and Rev. David Hill, — heroic teachers of Cliris- tianity, bravely working among the millions of this great valley. Here, late in the evening of April 11, 1887, the writer, with Rev. Ernest Paber and Rev. H. 0. Cady, was in the small saloon of an antiquated steamer, the "• Kiang- tung," anxiously awaiting the signals for departure. At ten o'clock a large party of Hankow friends came on board to speak words of encouragement, and bid us God-speed in our dangerous journey and undertaking, — which was the re-establishment of the American Metho- dist Episcopal Mission at Chungking, which had been so tragically closed by the great riot in July, 1886. The day had been stiflingly hot, with a breeze from the southwest as from a heated furnace ; and at evening the sickly puffs, which reached us at rare intervals, were laden with noxious gases from a mountainous pile of refuse which had been dumped upon the bank near our anchorage during the winter, and was now being loaded in boats for the rural districts. At length the machinery groaned, the wheels revolved, and we felt that another link with Western civilization and catholic Christian sympathy had been broken. We awoke at daylight to find the boat anchored and everything enveloped in a thick fog, which did not lift until after eight o'clock. Our American ark, which has JOURNEY TO ICHANG. 15 seen nearly thirty years of perpetual service, was at great disadvantage in contending with the swift current, and our speed was not such as to reflect credit oh a wealthy steamship company or soothe the jealous anxiety of the chief engineer, who is usually very sensitive about the time he makes. Captains, as a rule, are non-committal about the speed and the weak points of their boats. If they make a poor run, it is always owing to " a slight head-wind," " a nasty current," " a double sea," and so on. The distance from Hankow to Ichang is one hundred and sixty miles as the crow flies, but on account of the great bends, it is three hundred and sixty by the river. The captain told us that the trip would take from five to ten days, all depending upon the quantity of water and the frequency of fogs, — never a word about the good or bad qualities of his worn-out tub. After breakfast I noticed that although the engine wheezed and the hull quaked as if the boat were doing its best, the peasants walking on the bank easily outstripped us, and I began to doubt if ten days could bring us to Ichang. At this moment the engineer came on the front deck, and I asked him our present rate of speed, and if we had the prospect of continuing it. In my innocence I had fired a bomb, and was somewhat startled by the pyro- technic explosion which followed. He gave me a cyni- cal look, and turned his eyes to the shore as if to see which way we might be going, and tried to smile as he said : " She is doing well — quite four knots. Why, last year, when the water was high and I had crowded her all I could, I found her falling astern when I came on deck." As the engineer was a frank man, I could but believe him, and soon went to my room in disgust, drew the 16 WESTERN CHINA. curtains, shut the door, and tried to lose myself in sleep. There is a story that on one occasion when the water was high and the " Kiang-tung " was hugging the shore, she was found to he falling astern. All hands were called and ordered to grasp the long grass which fringed the shore, and thus pull the boat along ; by this means a point was rounded. It is the custom of the people living on the shore to crowd down to the water's edge and beg for empty bot- tles and cans, or anything which the officers and sailors will give them. It is curious to watch the nimble mo- tions of the women with their crippled feet under these exciting circumstances. They outstrip the steamer, stand upon some outjutting, tumble-down point of the bank, and frantically call for a yangping, " foreign bottle." When an object is thrown they rush down the oozing bank, thirty feet or more, followed by a pack of ragged boys and girls, and all go plunging about searching for the coveted treasure. Where this custom prevailed the people were civil, and addressed us with some degree of respect ; but where the shore was too abrupt for near approach, the air was rent with shouts of " foreign devil," while mud and clay- were hurled upon the boat from every available point. If these were mischievous outbursts of sarcasm, aimed at the Steamship Company for competing with the native junks for the carrying trade of this rich commercial re- gion, one could almost pardon these rustics if they were to sink the old boat ; but I fear that the ludicrous phase of this subject has not occurred to them, and that the dwellers in this part of Hupeh have little respect for foreigners, — certainly politeness is an unknown quan- tity to them. I found that this was not an unusual occurrence, as the people here had always been abusive in VALIET OF THE YANG-TSZB. 17 this way. It is strange that the officials permit a native company, carrying the great Dragon flag, to be thus in- sulted, although the officers are foreigners and there are occasional passengers so unfortunate as not to wear the pigtail and petticoats. If this practice continues on the upper Tang-tsze, where only rocks are at hand, woe to the passenger who shall attempt to enjoy the beauties of the scenery in the gorges from the saloon deck ! This portion of China has often been described. The geologist, botanist, archaeologist, and ethnologist have crossed and recrossed this rich alluvial basin, teeming with millions of people, and filled to plenteousness with the rich and varied products of a never-impoverished soil. A casual glance at its topography reveals to the trav- eller that it was not always in its present condition. There are too many small lakes, too many water-courses running hither and thither, too many canals and dikes, while the river banks are too low to indicate any great age. I have little doubt that a comparatively short time has elapsed since the blooming garden through which we now wind was covered by a vast sheet of water. The mariner may have sailed directly from Hankow to Kincheu, a distance of one hundred and forty miles, and from Tien-Mun, on the north of the Han, to Siang-yang, south of the Tungting Lake. Here was a great over- flowing reservoir, sending its swirling floods eastward by the so-called Great, or Long, River. The channel is very tortuous, winding toward every point of the compass within a few leagues, and on our course making one bend of thirty miles. This constant change of position gave us excellent views of the prom- inent green hills to the south, while the cities and market-towns were so numerous as to lend a certain 2 18 WESTERN CHINA. picturesqueness to the otherwise monotonous plain, as well as to show the wealth and populousness of this part of Hupeh. The largest market-town, a possiljle rival to Hankow, is Shashi ; it extends some miles along the north bank of the river, the important city of Kincheu being just behind it. Thousands of up-river junks anchored along . the sho're give an appearance of thrift not seen elsewhere above Hankow. English diplomacy was certainly outwitted when Ichang was substituted for this natural commercial centre ; it is the terminus for most of the upper Yang- tsze traffic and most favorably situated for easy com- mercial intercourse with Hunan and regions north and east, aside from its close proximity to the large and interesting city of Kincheu. Both town and city are noted for their hostility to foreigners, who seldom visit them without encountering abuse, or even violence, from the natives. The China Inland Mission has a feeble station here, and the Protestant Episcopal Mission main- tains a branch of the mission at Hankow. Between Hankow and the Tungting Lake, a distance of about one hundred miles, we had observed large fleets of junks, but from that point to Shashi the river was almost deserted, as the fleets find easier and shorter channels in the smaller streams. The Tungting is the largest lake in China, and has several rivers flowing into it ; it joins the Yang-tsze at the populous city of Yoh Chao, and as the lake is the centre of a great tim- ber traffic, many rafts come through the lake into the river and ultimately reach all parts of Central China. The crops and the methods of tillage are the same as in the lower Yang-tsze valley. Rapeseed in full bloom is seen in all directions, and fills the air with fragrance • SCENERY BELOW ICHANG. 19 in the distance are mulberry orchards, the trees laden with large, dark, tender leaves, while here and there are fruit-trees white with blossoms. The river abounds in fish, but few nets are cast ; prob- ably the canals and lakes are well supplied, and the fish are more easily taken there. At Salamis bar, and for some miles, the river was covered with oil, indicating that oil-wells are near at hand. Four-wheeled wagons are drawn along the banks by water buffaloes. These wagons are surmounted by rougli racks ; the wheels are made from heavy planks pegged together, the outer rim being strapped with rough iron ; and as these wagons move they groan and squeak, as does all the machinery in China. A wheelbarrow of a peculiar construction, such as I have not seen elsewhere, is used here for clearing ditches and rough places. It has a small wheel not more than a foot in diameter, placed two or three feet in front of the large wheel and supported by shafts. About forty miles below Icliang we leave the great delta or valley ; beautiful hills slope to the river, while lofty mountains tower in the far distance. We are upon the borders of the mountain land, and shall not see an- other large valley until we reach that of Cheuteu, seven hundred miles to the west. The hills are well wooded, cultivation being mostly confined to the narrow ravines. Farm-houses built of mud, with thatched roofs, are seen on the tops and scattered over the sides of the low hills. Ten miles below Ichang we came abreast with the gorge of the " Tiger's Teeth." Upon the south side of the river a famous natural bridge spans a foaming tor- rent, while two curious and interesting caves are pointed out a short distance above. The forms of the mountains near Ichang are very 20 WESTERN CHINA. curious and interesting. Loft}' summits are seen in the distance in all directions, while near the river are lovely cones and pyramidal peaks. As far as it has been explored this region has great interest for the botanist and geologist, while the entomologist must find it a veritable paradise. As everywhere in the mountainous districts of China, so here are magic streams, fairy dells, and wonderful caves, which are the scenes of mythical and legendary tales without number.; many of these have great interest for the student of folk-lore. In one of these curious caves there are many chambers and wonderful forma- tions of rock produced by the action of water in past ages. The people tell of a strange race, having white faces and red hair, who came down the rapids in ancient times and took possession of these caves and pillaged all the neighboring land. From whence they came and to what race they belonged was never known, but when they were satisfied with their booty they vanished into the land of mystery. Since leaving Shashi the lost shipping has reappeared, and we meet every variety of boat coming from the upper Yang-tsze, rowed by from ten to thirty men, and laden with coal, salt, drugs, charcoal, silk, and other com- modities; while all along the shores an equal number of boats are sailing or being " tracked." Fishing-boats also appear; and on the banks, where the currents run swiftly, men are stationed at intervals, swinging hand nets of a peculiar make. Two bamboos are bent into the form of a snow-shoe, and a pouch net is attached to the large end ; a cross piece is firmly tied three feet from the small end, and is grasped by the fisherman with one hand. The net is plunged into the swift current and swept along by it in a partial curve, and then CITY OF ICHANG. 21 brought gracefully to the bank at the rate of about one sweep per minute. Ichang is situated upon the north bank of the river, and is one hundred and twenty-nine feet above the sea level. The annual rise and fall of the river here is about sixty feet ; in some months it is flooded, but in the spring is quite a distance from the water. Although it was dark before we came to anchor, our arrival caused an excitement, and a line of battle junks lying near the shore saluted us with a fierce cannonading, on account of a military officer who was on board. The amount of powder burned and the din and display made in the re- ception of a third-grade official made me wonder what would be done should the Emperor himself arrive. We had come on a feast night, and all the shore was alive, while the sampan men were wild with excitement. The river was studded with red lights for several miles ; they swept past us in all directions, bobbing up and down with the waves, and circling round and round with the currents ; and the "poor drowned souls might certainly see their way out of Tartarus then, if ever. These lights are made by putting half an ounce of oil in a little four-cornered paper box about four inches in width, in the middle of which is placed a tiny, lighted wick, showing a red, smoky flame. The trade at Icliang is increasing, and were there proper steamers running here at regular intervals they would undoubtedly take the freights now sent to Shashi and Hankow by native boats. Were there a through line of boats to Chungking, and Shashi made an open port, the up-river traffic would be greatly increased. There is already much excitement over the proposal to open the river to Chungking during this year. A steam- ship company has been formed, and a steamer is expected 22 ■ WESTERN CHINA. at Shanghai at an early date. But the treaty is not very- clear, and the Chinese officials will find some means of thwarting the enterprise or delaying action until some outside pressure is brought to bear on i;hem. An official commission will be sent to visit the region and report upon the feasibility of the project. The report will be adverse, and a thousand unforeseen obstacles will be reported to the ministers at Peking. The foreigners residing in Ichang are an English con- sul, a physician, two missionary families, two Catholic priests, a commissioner of cnstoms, and a few customs men. Scarcely any buildings have been erected in for- eign style, the Imperial custom-house being in an old tumble-down temple, with the commissioner's office in the rear. The Roman Catholics have an extensive establishment and a large school, in connection with which are ten students of divinity. The Scotch Pres- byterians established a mission here in 1877 ; they have a few. converts, a chapel in the native city, and two day schools. Although Ichang is a prefect or foo, and has about forty thousand inhabitants, besides a large boat popula- tion, the streets are not crowded, and one sees few evi- dences of activity or wealth. At the same time, the beauty of the scenery, the many delightful excursions in the neighborhood, and the communication with the outside world by means of steamers makes a residence here endurable, at least. Objects made of the fossil " pagoda stone " are sold in Ichang ; they are nicely carved, but if the buyer is not an expert he may pur- chase the imitations, which are numerous. "We were detained nine days in Ichang, all of which time was spent in hiring a boat and making it ready for our journey. The Sz-Chuanese boatmen regard all for- HIEING A BOAT. 23 signers as treasure-houses, and begin by demanding of them three times the price they would ask of a native for the same service ; thus boat hiring is a tax on one's leisure, diplomacy, and patience. Our teacher, or interpreter, was despatched at once to find a boat suited to our needs and bring back a report as to price. This report is sure to be made in the interest of the captain of the boat, and that of the teacher as well; for he considers his services indispensable, and will not fail" to act accordingly. He returned to say that the officials were taking all the good-sized boats to convey machinery to Chenteu. We make a mental discount on this statement. He then adds that he has found a boat at two hundred and sixty-eight dollars which can be made ready in a few days ; possibly by waiting some days another boat can he found at less price, but he is very doubt- ful about it. Of course the captain knew that we had not come thus far to turn back, and that time, which meant noth- ing to him, was of value to us ; and the few dollars which we could save on his price by haggling with him was a fortune to In'm, and probably half the worth of his whole craft. These boatmen, after bringing down an official from the West, will wait from two to six months for an official to go up, or will return without a freight. Their expenses in port are simply the cost of the rice they eat, and on the voyage up they fre- quently pick up travellers who will pay their board and five cents a day to the boatmen, who do the work of beasts. We knew that our teacher had simply given us the " opening mouth price," which means little, and went ourselves to see the captain and the boat. We were 24 WESTEEN CHINA. politely and frigidly received by an emaciated opium- smoker, who could be agreeable or otherwise, as his interests demanded. The boat was seventy feet long and eleven wide, per- fectly fiat and turned up at the stern. It was not new, nor old; had recently been oiled; partitions were out and doors down; but it was profusely carved and grotesquely decorated. About one half of it was enclosed and di- vided into four rooms, leaving the half toward the bow open ; here, at night and in rainy weather, bamboo mats are spread to protect twenty-five sailors, who lounge about with or without' clothing as their fancy or the •weather may determine, and who use bedding or not as their simple tastes may indicate. In the centre of this open deck, extending its whole width, is a pit four feet wide and three feet deep, in which are a furnace, kettles, coal, bricks, store-room, and pantry. This is presided over by a diminutive being with sore eyes and small pigtail, with just sufficient intellect to boil a pot of tea and steam a caldron of rice and jump on deck in trying times to "holler" with the best on board. Here he stands full sixteen hours a day, washing, wiping, rattling chopsticks, fanning, blow- ing, scraping kettles, punching the fire^and wiping his eyes, — an indispensable being, the glory of every craft ! After inspecting mast, boards, ropes, and the numer- ous odds and ends proper to a fully equipped junk, to see that everything requisite^was there, we came to the real business of our bargain. The captain demanded eight days to prepare for a journey of less than a month, and said that he must have thirty sailors for tracking and rowing, aside from those he could pick up on the way to pull us up the rapids. "We then came to the price, and the " cutting down " which is the custom all BARGAINING FOB A BOAT. 25 over China. He fell at last to two hundred and fifty-two dollars, and from that we could not move him. We left to seek another boat, and found one grimy and dirty, with a large hole through the side. The captain already knew what we required, and as we stepped upon the front deck he uncoiled his long, coarse, and glossy black queue and met us with a freezing salutation. He was of the bull-dog type, with high cheek-bones, a long jaw, and an evil eye, — a man who would turn pirate or rob a shipwrecked crew for half an inducement. After many tiresome preliminaries he said, " You can have this boat for four hundred and twelve dollars." In very polite language we replied that we should prefer to buy a boat and crew. A grim smile came over his face as we rose and left him. We found no boat better than the first, and having spent an entire day in further negotiations we took it at two hundred and five dollars. An imposing document was then drawn up, in which each point of our agree- ment was distinctly mentioned; but when the captain signed he reduced the number of sailors to twenty-seven, and we afterward found, as is usual in Chinese docu- ments, that a mental reservation had been made here, for the number of sailors must have included the cook, wife, child, and the dog, since we could never muster, all told, more than twenty-five. To tliis reduction we stubbornly objected, but he knew our necessity and was unyielding. Another half-day was spent in unavailing efforts to bring him to our terms, and then the papei's were signed and we had our boat for Chungking, — a distance of four hundred miles. The unnumbered objections, quibbles, and evasions practised by that meek, emaciated captain are too nu- merous to be recorded. I have described somewliat 26 WESTERN CHINA. minutely this business affair, which should have been concluded in an hour, that my readers may have a faint idea of the difficulties attending the transaction of busi- ness with a people who are quick-witted, disposed to take every advantage of the necessities of others, and without the least conscience in keeping or breaking a written engagement, unless the arm of power be at hand. I am describing the ordinary Chinaman under ordinary circumstances. The time drew near for our departure, and we were snugly settled on board, flattering ourselves that the trifling annoyances incident to the preparations for such a journey would now give place to a series of magnifi- cent day-dreams and lovely night-visions amid the glories of gorges and thundering cascades. But the star of felicity had not yet risen above the horizon. A Sz-Chuanese woman, who had been instrumental in bringipg down from Chungking to Kiukiang a number of orphan girls after the riot, was attached to our party on her way home. Between Hankow and Ichang she gave birth to a son ; and a foceign lady who was on board, and took some interest in the woman, told us that she found her in bed while the infant was lying on the iron deck, nearly dead. When she remonstrated with the motlier, she replied that it was of no account as she had three sons at home. At Ichang the woman was taken by our cook to a na- tive hotel, and the next morning the child was found dead. Before the inhabitants were astir the cook and the teacher conveyed the little body to the most conven- ient receptacle, which I doubt not was the swift, muddy river. The hotel-keepei- was furious, and demanded large sums of money from the cook, besides some slight hu- miliations of kotows, or very low bows, and a purifyin" A FEMALE JONAH. 27 mass. He was satisfied in some way, and the woman sought refuge elsewhere. When we were ready to leave, our captain refused to receive so unfortunate a person on his junk. At length the affair was settled, as we thought ; but at two o'clock in the morning we were aroused, and a peremptory de- mand made upon us for her removal. Where ? was now the question, for these boatmen are the most superstitious people in the world, and nothing (except perhaps an extra fifty aollars) could have induced the captain to allow the woman to enter his junk. Reports from the shore convinced me that the city would soon be con- vulsed with excitement if some drastic measures were not taken at once, and possibly Her British Majesty's consul would be dragged from his bed to face a howling mob. My teacher, who was the son of a Honan official, and formerly connected with a newspaper in Penang, was tlie only person whom I dared to trust in this emergency. Thanks to this true son of Han, before daylight the poor bewildered woman was led to a farmhouse a stone's throw from the main street, where, for a mere pittance, she could remain a few weeks. I went with the consul to see the woman and verify the statements of the teacher, and after placing sufficient funds in the hands of this gentleman for all emergencies, — unless it were to pay an indemnity for any disaster that should come to the community through her presence, — I returned to the boat believing that our troubles were ended. Alas ! tliere was our most important servant, the cook, now twisting and groaning, now in spasms, and again in a flood of tears, with his head tightly bound up in a white cloth. Dr. Morley, of Hankow, had joined our party, and was called on for a diagnosis. We could 28 WESTERN CHINA. only learn from the sufferer that his heart was paining him frightfully, and he must go on shore and could not make the trip with us. My own boy had been ill for some days, and was lying by the hatch beneath which the cook's boxes were stowed. Surmising the cause of the sudden illness I gave my boy orders to allow no one to approach the hatch in my absence ; I. then gave the cook some paternal advice and went off to the hills ou the opposite shore. These simple precautions proved effectual. It was as I suspected; the cook had been seized with a sudden fancy for the woman we had left, and, forsooth, his heart was bursting with grief ! but we must have a. cook, and it was our duty to save the vir- tuous Sz-Ghuanese from a scandal. CHAPTER II. ICHANG Gorge. — Scenery along the Biver. — Tracking. — Rapids. — A Tramp. — Towers. — A Climb. — Fishing. After mauy delays the old sail was hoisted with much ado, and in the twilight we sailed across the little river, only to anchor about two hundred yards from the spot we had left ! Not half the crew had crawled out from the opium dens ; the captain and his confederates had not yet loaded a sufficient number of iron kettles to ped, die by the way ; and the bales of cotton which were to be smuggled into Sz-Chuan were not yet on board, while rice and even ropes were taken on at the last moment. It makes the Anglo-Saxon blood boil to see men sit in indolence to the last possible moment, then, after two or three finishing smokes, and a last cup of tea, delib- erately taken, rise with great effort to perform a trifling act. Max Miiller says that nothing puzzles the mere savage more than our restlessness ; our anxiety to acquire and possess, rather than to rest and enjoy. The same remark largely holds good with the more civilized Chinaman. An Indian chief is reported to have said to a European : " Ah, brother, you will never know the blessing of doing nothing and thinking notliing; and yet, next to sleep, that is most delicious. Thus we were before our birth, thus we shall be again after death." I feel confident that if our captain thought anything, his thoughts must 30 WESTERN CHINA. have run in some such channel. But let us be merciful ; life at its best must be somewhat of a burden to these half-fed, badly used sons of toil. Late at night the last article was on board, and our maudlin crew were snugly roUefl together, heads and feet, before our cabin doors ; and with the first glimmer of a beautiful dawn there was a tearing down and stow- ing away of awnings and awning frames, a screeching of orders from every quarter, while we heard alongside the splash and swash of two huge yiulos, or immense oars, handled by twenty men. We were off in company with a fleet of freighting junks, which we were destined to see each morning and evening, and at every rapid or town, for many days to come. Rarely we led them, but were generally far behind, coming up to the rapids only in time to take the fifth or even tenth turn with the extra trackers required for the ascents. At length we are in the Ichang gorge, with the cool and gentle April breeze in our faces ; its grandeur cannot be painted with word or brush. The wide river has nar- rowed to two hundred yards, and flows as quietly as the Hudson ; while on eitlier side tower cliffs of limestone, slate, conglomerate, and granite, to the height of fifteen hundred to three thousand feet. At this season there are few eddies, and the regular current flows in graceful curves, while the water is fortunately low and not rising. The gorge is ten miles in length and displays the gran- deur of the Omnipotent Power with overwhelming force. These walls are filled with geologic wonders, while from their thin but rich covering of soil a myriad species of trees, shrubs, and plants spring forth. Looking above, one soon grows dizzy in counting the strata of rocks piled one upon another. The majestic walls and col- umns, with block upon block placed in order, are as the SCENERY ALONG THE RIVER. 31 work of demigods in imitation of the work of the great World Builder. Here and there are clefts a thousand feet high and a hundred feet wide. Pretty cones stand up, carpeted with grass and shaded with firs, — a mass of living green ; these tiny parks, with their lovely climate, furnish a home to numerous exultant birds aud insects. These -treasure palaces are built too high and too broad for easy comprehension, and these glories of Nature so richly strewn fatigue the eye and exhaust the mind, even as a festal board too bounteously spread satiates desire and destroys the relish of the appetite. Looking backward, the mighty stream is hidden from view by grim, projecting walls, and sweeps on in silence, vexed now and then by some bolder rocks which refuse to move from their everlasting foundations, even after ages of angry surging. Looking onward, a lofty curtain screens the winding flood from view as it struggles for broader freedom. Yonder a tiny silvery stream issues from a dark gorge ; not two yards in widtli it pours itself in a spark- ling stream over a shelving rock, makes a leap of a hundred feet, and divides itself, as by magic, into two streams, again subdivides into four, and falls, half liquid and half spray, a score of feet, when it gathers itself again into two parts, and finally plunges, a unit, into a basin by the river's brink. On the more sloping shelves small patches of wheat, barley, and peas ai-e seen, carried as high up as the rude art or enterprise of the native can take him. Trees of many kinds twist their roots over rough and smooth rocks, into narrow fissures where a handful of earth has lodged ; flowering shrubs cling to every crevice ; while ferns and blossoms hang from the damp, over-jutting bowlders. 32 WESTERN CHINA. Everything we see around us has a fascinating in- terest. Even tlie clumsy junks, rowed by fifty men or more, rushing into view as by magic, and lost as quickly, seem in some way to be a part of Nature's lineaments. The men are screaming as they row ; one stands in their midst with his hands on his hips ; he looks daggers at this file and then at that; he stamps his feet and yells, and pitches their screaming on a higher key ; each man bends to the oar with all his force until the long, clumsy timbers bend and creak ; now comes a lull, and the great sweep turns the boat to the middle of the current. We spent our first night above the gorge at Hwanglin temple. The cultivation of the poppy commences at Ichang, but owing to the ruggedness of the country its cultiva- tion does not become general until the first rapid is passed. Above this. point, eighteen miles from Ichang, the country assumes a quite different form ; the moun- tains recede and are less rugged, and a large variety of grains and fruits are grown upon them in all available places and in more favored situations even to their tops. Huge blocks of granite in all shapes lie scattered and piled ill heaps along the shores, while the river's bed and solid croppings are limestone. From whence they came and by what forces were brought, are questions for geologic investigation. They strike one as queerly out of place, children driven by cruel fate from their distant home and stranded hopelessly on the shore to be washed and worn by rising and receding floods. For four or five miles above the first rapid navigation is difiicult and dangerous, on account of the swiftly rushing counter-currents, which are very numerous near the banks, while rocks rise above the water in the middle of the stream. A wide, smooth, deep current EAriDS. 83 usually flows in the centre at about eight knots an hour. We are near the right bank, and have eighteen men on shore at the end of three hundred feet of bamboo rope. Tlie boat veers first to one side, then to the other, rocking backward and forward, while a man sits by our cabin door, beating a small drum as though his life depended upon the number of strokes per minute. All is confusion* on board, while the half-naked men on shore pull like mules, jumping from rock to rock like cats. One, more agile than the others, clambers upon sharp, rocky peaks to dislodge the entangled rope, ready at a moment's notice to cast aside his shirt, his only garment, to plunge into a boiling " rush " and loosen the rope from a sharp jutting reef. The men catch a word and repeat it in chorus for a minute, then give a long and heavy groan, and end with a short, sharp " chuck, chih." A man called the " whipper " follows the straggling team, whose duty it is to urge them on at the difficult places ; he carries a bamboo stick and applies it to the rope at a proper time, never or seldom striking a man. He sometimes rushes ahead, kneels down and " kotows" to the team, beats the ground, runs back and flies along the line as though he would flog every one; but his fran- tic movements end in a few blows, on the taut rope, and several sharp yells which are caught up by the frantic team, while a few taps on the drum brings all this exuberance of energy to an abrupt end. In the centre of the prow of the boat is fastened a long stick of timber which extends back into the boat from ten to fifteen feet and even further out beyond the prow, where it tapers to the size of a large oar. It turns from side to side as if on a pivot, and is managed 34 WESTERN CHINA. by means of ropes. It is called a " sweep," and its use is to turn the boat in the rapids and swift currents where the rudder is not of sufficient power. A sailor, who is a very important personage, is near the " sweep," and not only governs that by signs with his uplifted hands, but also, at the same time, directs the crew or head man on the shore. When a thousand feet or more of rope is out he makes these signs to com- mand a start or a stop, or to increase or lessen the speed. We have also a mammoth yiulo on each side of the boat ; these are used in rounding bends or cliffs where there are no accessible paths on the shore, as well as in crossing the river and its estuaries. Our men are all Sz-Chuanese, and their language, while suf- ficiently intelligible, is somewhat peculiar. There is a fascination in this reckless, excitable life, in which conventionalities are forgotten, and these toil- ing thousands live in almost archaic simplicity. I begin to feel the spirit of abandon creeping over me, and am quite at home in my new surroundings. The constant sway and rock of the boat soothes me ; the sudden jerks at the mast and the terrific uproar of the frantic men wake me from my day-dreams ; while the danger from breaking ropes and spinning whirlpools is sufiBcient to keep up a gentle nervous excitement. I had wondered why we had so much bamboo rope on board, for our house is covered with immense coils of it, while every boat we see is piled with stacks of rope and cable. At the rapid I saw the need for this, when a thousand and more feet were dragged out by a hundred men, and drawn over sharp rocks, or through holes worn a foot deep by constant friction. Here also are im- mense depots for ropes of all sizes and lengths, while half the population are making them. Hemp or coir DANGEEOUS POINTS IN THE RIVER. 35 rope is not used, as it would be more costly and less serviceable. Agents of the " Life Saving Association " are seen at all dangerous points. The enth'e length of the Yang-tsze is patrolled end guarded by its boats ; at convenient stations are its houses, in which are an overseer, bed- ding, clothing, medicine, and coflBns, with a fleet of boats at hand. This purely benevolent institution is the result of the efforts of an official of the present or the preceding dynasty, who was wrecked near Chinkiang, where the central office is located. An annual report is made, showing the number of persons saved from drown- ing, number of bodies recovered and buried, medicine and clothing dispensed, and the amount of money re- ceived and spent. We also met a so-called gun-boat, — a mere cockle-shell, not able to carry more than three or four men, which indicates the safety and peacefulness of the upper Yang-tsze. The amount of traffic seems very unimportant, — not half that of the Poyang Lake or Grand Canal. We reached the Tatung rapid about noon on the 25th, and as there were several junks ahead of us we waited two or three hours for our turn to pass. The boat in front of ours parted her cable in the middle of the rapid, and drifted down a half-mile or more. Our captain went on shore and drummed up about fifty men and boys, — as hard-looking a set as could be found " within the four seas," — whom he promised the smallest wages, and paid grudgingly when tlie work was done. Our hauling line is lengthened and lowered to the foot of the mast, to which, as well as to the cross timber, a very long cable is made fast and thrown out; then, all being ready, we swing into the foaming flood. Our two teams of seventy-five men and boys yell and pull : the 36 WESTERN CHINA. boat advances inch by inch, swaying and trembling as the billows strike her ; tlie ascent of three hundred feet is made in half an hour, and we congratulate ourselves on the achievement. , Meanwhile we had found it pleasanter to walk along the shore and rest in the shade of the bowlders while the boat was drawn up. There is an abundance of granite here, somewhat veined with hornblende. The trumpet tree was in full bloom, and the gentian in flower, but the wheat-fields were not very promising. At evening, in rounding a rocky point, the floods broke upon us with such force that our rope snapped, or our men lost their footing and let go, and we expe- rienced the sensation of describing some eccentric cir- cles. Poor tired fellows! They had worked hard all day, pulling and screaming, wading streams, and clam- bering over rocks like a pack of greyhounds ; as soon as their supper of rice and coarse vegetables was eaten they stretched themselves upon the deck and were soon in the land of dreams. Now all is quiet while I write ray journal for the day, except the tireless, rushing flood, which eternally thun- ders around the bowlders a few rods ahead and boils over to the opposite bank in great whirlpools. The night is perfect ; the great stars are placid as the blue vault itself, and the new moon has just disappeared behind the high black crags. For here the queen of heaven drops not " down behind tlie sky," but behind the Lukan gorge, which towers fifteen hundred feet above us. We are alone with the mountains and river ; a few temples, like white specks, are perched on distant peaks ; no boats are near, no splash of oars, no voice of man or beast is heard, no rustling wind ; there is no sound save the solemn, rhythmic roar of pent-up waters. A CLIMB. 37 On the morning of the 26th we found that one of thd worst rapids was just before us. A strong west wind detained us at our anchorage, for it is impossible to track through the gorges, and with a head wind the men cannot make progress against the swift current with oars and pikes. With Mr. Faber I climbed the nearest hill to the height of a thousand feet. For about three hundred yards the bank was strewn with rugged granite blocks, climbing over which we found a path leading in circles, past a few poor hamlets, up a steep defile. After searching we spied a narrow trail and plunged into a thicket in which grew some stately pines, while in the more open spaces there were peach and apricot trees laden with half-grown fruit, and pumalo-trees in luxu- riant bloom. After a time we lost our way and strug- gled toward a well-wooded wady ; for some distance dark-green orange-trees and the thick-leaved pepa pushed up into the light, borne down by creepers ; the honey- suckle concealed the sides of the ugly bowlders ; the firs and arbor-vitae shaded little grottos in which were some tiny streams, and near them a yariety of young ferns had begun to unroll their tender fronds. Higher up the mountain was barren, and we had difficulty in scaling the pulverized rocks. At length we saw a single house upon a ridge, and going there found two men and a boy scratching about among a handful of stunted vegetables and buckwheat. They were as much startled at sight of us as though beings from the moon had fallen before them ; but a word in Chinese allayed their fear, and they gradually came near to us. My silver watch-chain excited their curiosity, and they inquired as to its use ; when they caught sight of the watch their admiration exceeded all bounds, and they 38 WESTERN CHINA. decided that by its aid- 1 could see one thousand li, or three hundred miles ! When I explained to them that it was a watch, and in motion, they were entirely in- credulous, and gave me a look that plainly said, " You cannot fool us so easily." After some persuasion the middle-aged man allowed me to place it at his ear; it was well worth our climb to see the broad grin which broke over his sunburnt face when he heard the tick. Then the old man of seventy came up,and finally the small, coy grandson, who naturally listened more than once. ■ They followed us as we descended the opposite side of . the mountain, and directed us to a cold spring flowing from a rock; when the lad observed our awkward mode of drinking he ran to an oil-tree and plucked a couple of large leaves, from which he deftly fashioned cups with great dexterity. I then tried to shape the cups, with no success ; at this the little fellow laughed, and no doubt congratulated himself that in some things he could excel the man with the " living clock." At last our boat was off, and after an hour of yelling, pulling, backing, and swinging, and the breaking of a rope, we reached the entrance to the famous Lukan gorge, a picture of which makes the frontispiece to Captain Blackistone's attractive book. But we now saw something which he did not see, — telegraph poles. What strange objects in this weird place ! Why should modern science intrude upon this enchanted region? Why cannot modern inventions be left to commonplace • locations ? The brown donkey tethered under the ledge we have just passed is much more in harmony with sleepy China than is the " lightning wire." We had a fair breeze, and in two hours had passed the gorge, having rushed through a world of grandeur with- out having time to analyze its beauty. At five P. M. we SCENES ON THE TAN6-TSZE. (1) Mouth of the Lvkan Gorge. (2) Temple near Chungking. (3) Entrance to the Wind-box Gorge, Kwei-cheu-foo. TOWN OF TSIN-TAN. 39 were at another rapid, close by the small town of Tsin-tan, which lies scattered over lovely hills on the left bank. On April 27, by great exertions, we made five miles in thii'teen hours, passing from Tsin-tan to the city of Kwei-cheu. At this season there are three rapids at the first town and two at the last. In the course of these five miles we had our full share of excitement and in- cident. We waited an hour to see a clumsy junk hauled over one rapid ; we were closely wedged between two ragged rocks when crossing the river; our right yiulo was broken ; the men lost their hold upon the rope and we drifted down a rapid, to be swept back by a return current, — a sufficient variety in five miles. Tsin-tan is clean and attractive for a Chinese village, and is built on a rock. The people live by pulling boats up the three rapids, fishing, and cultivating a few acres of sterile soil. Half the town is given up to opium sa- loons for the accommodation of boatmen and passengers. Tlie farmers and water-carriers here bear their burdens differently from those on the lower Yang-tsze. A frame of bamboo is made to fit over the shoulders, and^s held in place by a strap under the arms. A large circle, also of bamboo, is attached to this frame just behind the neck ; into this a tub, crock, or basket is fitted, as the burden may require. A heavy club, with a handle at one end and a spike at the other, is carried, by which the weight is supported when rest is needed. Long lines of men and. women are seen scaling the dangerous ledges and carrying heavy loads up and down the mountains in this manner. The ordinary carrying pole is little used. Just above Tsin-tan we entered the Mitan gorge, and as the precipitous sandstone ledges come straight down to the water's edge there is no opportunity for tracking ; and we were detained until a breeze would take us 40 WESTERN CHINA. through. This gorge is short, but very grand in its effect. At the western end, on the left bank, are several caves which were dug out and inhabited by the aborigi- nes, called Man-tsz, " barbarians." These are now de- serted; but north and west of Ohenteu, the capital of Sz-Chuan, there are numfei-ous tribes living under almost identical conditions. Every three or four miles are seen from three to five round white towers, erected in conspicuous places ; they are called yien-tung or yien-tui, which means " smoke towers." They are signal stations, and originated in the time of the Cheu dynasty, five hundred years before the days of Confucius, who lived in the sixth century b. c. At that time a system of these stations was maintained throughout the empire, by means of which news was quickly carried from point to point, as well as signals given when important events occurred. The sign used was a fire which was made of wolf-ordure, and tradition says that the smoke from the towers always rose straight into the heavens. These towers of the past are reli- giously maintained, even where the electric wire is stretched above them ; slowly, but surely, however, mod- ern science is supplanting the rude methods of ancient greatness. The air is stifling with heat, even when pure ; but at evening, when at anchor and surrounded by junks which almost touch us, the fumes from the opium-pipes and the various unpleasant odors from the cooking all around us force us to close our windows and endure a condition of semi-torture. The cook in the nearest junk is scarcely four feet from my head : he washes and scrubs, fires and fans, while coolies are sprawling on the deck in every direction ; one, entirely nude, lies within a foot of the furnace and steaming rice-kettle. These rascals, almost INEXPENSIVE LIVING. 41 beasts in their habits, work like beavers all day ; we will not complain if they eat four meals a day and drink tea each time the old tea-jar comes in view. The morning of the 28th dawned with a glorious sun- rise ; the air was delicious, and the trees and plants clothed all our world in the freshest of verdure. I sent my teacher to the city with letters to a half-dozen different localities ; he was charged ten cents for mail- ing the package, with a promise of " wine money " to the postman at Ichang. Whenever we mail a letter in China we write on it a promise of " wine money " to be given to the letter-carrier, the amount varying with the distance. This, like all Chinese customs, has a raison d^Stre ; it is a hegjthy inducement to honesty and despatch, and with- out it there is much doubt as to whether the letter would be delivered. My teacher brought back two and three quarter pounds of luscious cherries which had cost four cents, a quantity of fresh eggs at four and a half cents a dozen ; and from an old woman who hobbled down the moun- tain side we bought a basket of tender bamboo sprouts for one cent, and had a delicious dish from them. The fine mandarin fish is sold at two cents a pound ; and these items serve to indicate the small cost at which one can live on " the fat of the land." Kwei-cheu is a walled city, well supplied with officials, but it has no trade and not more than six thousand inhab- itants. In the evening Dr. Morley astonished the Chinese by leaping from his cabin window into the swift current, diving from rocks, and swimming against the stream. He received an enviable amount of praise, but I content my- self by remarking that he is young and venturesome. We have now reached the Sieh rapid, — called Yeh by Blackistone, — and as ten boats precede us we must take 42 WESTERN CHINA. our turn, as but one boat can possibly pass at a time. The Chinese, so ingenious in many ways, seem to be far behind themselves in overcoming the difficulties at the rapids. A post on which to wind the cable, on a promi- nent point above the rapid, would be a great improve- ment ; while a capstan and wheel would take the boat up in half the time consumed in the present method. Tins rapid is called " the forth-bursting." Just here a sudden curve in the river confines it to half its usual width, and it then rushes forth over a ledge of rocks. It is the most dangerous fall we have seen; the water seems to be at least two feet higher in the centre than at the sides of the stream, and whirls along at ten miles an hour. Two days ago the river rose ten feet, but for- tunately for us has since fallen quite as much. These sudden or even continued floods, which occur from March to August, are due to violent or continuous rains in the province of Sz-Chuan, — which is the most cloudy and rainy district of the empire, — and not to the melting of snow and ice in Thibet, as many have supposed. While awaiting the movement of the fleet I went on shore and picked my way to the foot-hills, leaping from one piece of red sandstone to another for a quarter of a mile. A little river came thundering down the ravine, whirling its jasper-green waters over beds of beautifully tinted stones, worn round and smooth. Above the rap- ids a little town is perched upon its banks. Ascending the first foot-hill on the east of this stream we came to a colliery, where we found several abandoned shafts and a number of seams of coal in process of excavation. These seams were horizontal with the bank, about two feet wide and six high, and only worked to the level of the entrance. I explored one of the shafts for about fifty MOUNTAIN CLIMBING. 43 feet, but found nothing but darkness within. The coal is a fair quality of anthracite, and is drawn from the pits in bamboo baskets placed on low sleds. A number of men were pulverizing the fine coal and mixing a gen- erous proportion of earth with it, after which they added water enough to make a paste, which they moulded into bricks and thus sent it down the river. At the anchor- age the price of coal was seventeen cents for one hun- dred and forty pounds. With some difficulty I rounded the collieries by fol- lowing a sort of natural tunnel, and suddenly found myself on the verge of an Alpine-like valley which hugged the little stream for some miles. For a better view, and in order to test a new aneroid, I climbed a sand- stone cap five hundred feet high ; once there a second cap led me still up, until the aneroid registered 1,050 feet above the river ; the mercury standing at 100° at nine a. m. From this height a bold, rugged cone came into view, and I began its ascent ; the way was difficult, but Nature supplied many shrubs and plenty of long grass to which one could cling, and my boots were strong. The beaten track was the hardest to climb, being too dry to afford a good foot-hold. As in the journey of life we often find ourselves rising faster by a rough and thorny path than by more attractive ways, so here I found it better to take the rough one every time. A few flowering shrubs smiled upon me, and their sweet fragrance pervaded the heated air ; lizards of various kinds were here and there, on decayed logs and stones, and their bright eyes meeting my gaze for a moment, they darted out of sight ; locusts and cicadas encour- aged me by piping in their shrillest tones, until a fortress of bowlders covered with thorns and briers prevented my further ascent. 44 WESTERN CHINA. I had now reached an elevation of fifteen hundred feet, and descending two hundred, I again took an upward trail around a red sandstone cliff which was barely the width of my foot in some places. A fresh breeze was now blowing up the sheer precipice, and with the aid of my umbrella acting in some sort as a balloon, I climbed to the top without accident, and was proud to find that I was eighteen hundred feet above the river and two thousand above the sea. Descending, I struck down through groves, fields, and orchards of pear and peach, and in some places was forced to be on the alert tof^ avoid the farm dogs, which are as cunning as foxes and bold as lions. We next sail through the Wu-shan gorge, which is very picturesque and quite unique in some ways. The moun- tains are cultivated in places in the narrow pass, but for the most part precipitous ledges rise straight up from the water's edge, to the height of seventy-five feet. They are of gray sandstone, flat, or nearly so, on top, while the smooth face is cut into irregular channels by the little rills of water in time of heavy rains, and the friction of the pebbles which are washed down. In some instances these fissures were quite four feet deep and two wide ; during severe storms they make a charm- ing effect, — hundreds of little white falls plunging into the yellow river within a distance of a few rods. It is impossible to conceive how the poor villagers hereabouts can live and thrive as they seem to do, unless the fishing is good. I saw fishermen standing in every available point upon the rocks, regularly swinging their hand-nets. Blackistone says that he saw fishermen all along the river, but never saw one catch anything ; the same writer says that the porpoise does not go above Ichang, but Mr. Faber saw one above Chungking. CHAPTER III. A Curious Custom. — A Beautiful Retreat. — Kwei-cheu- Foo. — Book-Selling. — A Scene. — A Wreck. — Wan- HsiEN, ITS Importance. Whenever we are to ascend a dangerous rapid, — and nearly all are so considered by the native Itinerary, and probably are at certain seasons of tlie year, — a boatman brings out an old rusty four-barrelled blun- derbuss, rams the barrels full of powder, picks in fuses, and stations himself at the side of the boat for the most serious business connected with the ascent. As the boat strikes the first fierce breakers, one barrel is discharged into the water ; the gun is then dropped upon the deck, and the sailor tugs for a while at the ropes ; when we have swung around, and ploughed and plunged sufficiently with little progress, he drops his work, whatever it may be, fires another fuse and ex- plodes the half-ounce of powder into the foam ; the third and fourth chambers are likewise emptied if the business is continued long enough. This may seem a curious and useless custom to those unacquainted with the Chinese ideas of demonology, but once having mastered this branch of their intricate religious system, it will appear to be the most natural and necessary proceeding. Malicious spirits are in and around all dangerous places, and ready to do all manner of mischief. They can be frightened by terrific sounds ; ergo, in passing all such spots the Chinaman naturally 46 WESTEEN CHINA. yells, beats a gong, explodes fire-crackers or powder in any form. At worship, at weddings, funerals, in times of severe sickness, the greater the noise the more likely the demons are to hide themselves. The water is crowded with snch demons, and they are either fright- ened or propitiated by the boatman. During the day several reports of cannon were heard, and immediately after each one a beautifully constructed paper boat came in sight and passed down on its religious voyage. It was yellow, about fifteen feet in length and three or four wide ; six men stood on the bow in the attitude of com- mand, — three in blue, two in white, and one in yellow ; it carried a red lantern and had several ornaments in red; it whirled round and round in the great eddies, but did not capsize. At all this cost the poor villagers try to appease the wrath of the dragon king. The results of these superstitions are various ; the following circumstances which came under my own observation may interest my readers. Some years since I was startled by an aged teacher who had been in the church several years. He rushed into my study, exclaiming, "A great calamity has befallen me!" After many questions we elicited the following story from the frightened man. A near neighbor of his had just lost a small child from scarlet fever, and had brought the dead body into the teacher's house and laid it on his bed, and then pro- ceeded to destroy the crockery and furniture of the house. He did not mourn for these losses ; but to have the dead child placed in his bed was a great sin against him unless he had caused the child's death, while it would be a terrible calamity to have brought about the sickness and death of the child. At length we learned the reasons which led to this desecration of his home. A SUPERSTITION. 47 In the fourth moon of the present year he had decided to build a small board house on a vacant lot in the city of Kiukiang ; but a neighbor of his on the east, who wished the lot to remain as a playground for the chil- dren of the precinct, and a place for drying clothes, did not approve his plan. He proceeded to influence the minds of all the neighborhood against the teacher, and his most effective accusation was that " Christians bear a wonderful talisman by which they can repel evil influ- ences and inflict terrible calamities on others." He assured the neighbors that if this Christian were allowed to build his house, three or four of their children would die during the present summer. When the teacher was ready to begin to build, this man told him that if he commenced work from the 1st to the 11th of the month, those who lived on the east would be injured ; if from the 11th to the 22d, those on the west would suffer. He waited until the 18th, and began to build. His house faced the south, and could not be objected to on the score of disturbing the fung-shui, or " luck" (for during this year all houses should be built to face the south or north). When his house was nearly completed it happened that an infant in the third house to the west sickened with scarlet fever. The father of the child called a ti sin, " astrologer ; " the characters " yin mao shen " for the present year are baneful ones in the cycle. The astrologer brought a compass and placed it in the front door of the house in which the sick child lay, and de- clared after investigation that the southwest corner of the teacher's house was in direct line with the character " mao " upon the face of the compass as it pointed from the door of the house where the child was. He decided 48 WESTERN CHINA. that the new house was the source of malignant vapors. Alter this step the next in order was to call a sorcerer to exorcise the evil influences. He decided that the dirt should be dug away from that corner-stone and a charm written upon it to counteract the evil influences. A request was made to this effect, and granted. A cock was quickly caught, and the blood from his comb was mixed with wine, and with this mixture enigmatic char- acters were scrawled upon the stone. In about three hours' time his neighbor returned, saying the ceremony was insuflficient and there must, be another. An adept in such matters came; he ordered all the pillar stones to be dug about, charms written upon them, a quantity of money-paper and fire-crackers burned, and the litany read. The same day a rice-cake seller strolled i into the house of the sick child, and told the people that devils were tormenting it ; that the soul of the child was crushed beneath one of the pillars of the Cliristian's house. He ordered the pillars to be hewn and charms written upon them, declaring that after this ceremony there would be great peace. But upon the 26th the child was worse, and an astrol- oger was again called. He ordered eight cash of great virtue to be folded in red paper in two packages of four each. He wrote charms upon them and buried them under the second outside pillar on the west and the second pillar of the second row upon the east. The fol- lowing day the carpenter came to finish the work upon the house, but was forbidden ; he might come the next day ; the following day they decided he must wait seven days. Upon the 29th the neighbor came and said that he had been advised to remove three layers of tiles in the west centre of his house. This was done. Next NUMEROUS TEMPLES. 49 day it was necessary to remove the first pillar stone that was laid ; this was done, and a board placed underneath the pillar. About two hours later the man came and said he had been advised to have the house torn down, and if it were done his child would surely get well. This was a little too much for a Chinaman to endure, but the teacher proposed that the man who advised this should come and promise that the child would get well if this were done, and further, agree to defray half the expense of rebuilding the house ; but the man did not come. The next day the child died, and the father brought it and placed it upon the teacher's bed. When this news was brought to the teacher's school- room he was beside himself with fear, for there also came rumors that preparations were being made to drown him. He hastened to us for protection, after having been refused admittance to the magistrate's yamen. As he was a member of our church, we con- cluded to go with him and ask the magistrate to hear his story, and send a guard to remove the child from his house and protect his property. After some hesitation this was done, and not long after the new house was completed without further trouble. After this long digression let us return to our jour- ney. The numbers of temples upon the picturesque peaks near the river seem very disproportionate to the sparse population, to whom it must be a heavy tax to support all the mummery of their religion ; but they do not complain of this. From an almost perpendicular cliff issued a large stream of green water, only about three feet above the surface of the river, yet in its fall there was much noise and the water was dashed into foam. Such torrents were frequent, as were also those rushing out of narrow 4 60 WESTERN CHINA. canons, pouring their jasper-colored streams into the river with such force as to change its color for some distance. I picked my way up one of these little can- ons, along the smooth side of the torrent, holding on by jutting rocks and pulling myself along by twigs growing in the crevices. Fortunately I found a rock in a cool, shady spot about fifteen feet above a deep, clear pool ; from tliis spot I could see five distinct falls and pools, the highest of which was not more than sixty feet. The gorge was narrow and dark, quiet and cool ; the great world was shut out, and the only sound was the plash of the waters on the smoothly worn stones. The highest fall was grand enough to excite the imagination, and the smaller cascades and curiously wrought forms of the solid rock beautiful enough to tax the descriptive powers of a Wordsworth or a Bryant. The river rolled on at my feet, tlie cliffs and mountains towered to the sky above me, and hushed in awe I murmured, " Many, Lord my God, are the wonderful works which Thou hast done ! " At W.u-shan-hsien .two secretaries came on board to copy our passports, as ft is the first city in the province of Sz-Chuan. It is small and unimportant, exporting a little hemp and lumber, and importing cotton and foreign goods from Hankow. On May 2 we made an early start, and at the break- fast hour were waiting our turn to be pulled up the rapid preceding Wind-Box gorge. Tliis is the shortest regular gorge, but quite famous ; the cliffs are imposing, thougli not equal in grandeur to those of Wu-shan. The river narrows to one hundred or one hundred and fifty yards, and flows in a smooth, regular current, except in time of floods. The wind came in gusts, and through care- CITY OF KWEI-CHEXJ. 51 lessness in handling the boat we were several times in dangerous positions. We reached Kwei-cheu-foo early in the afternoon, going up on the south side of the little sand-bank below the city, celebrated for its brine well or spring. The salt water seems to be on its surface, and is dipped up in buckets. The island is above water only from Jan- uary to May, and the manufacture of the salt is confined to those months. There is sufficient brine to supply about one hundred and twenty pans, and about one million five hundred thousand pounds are made. A great part of this is sent down river and usually sells for three cents a pound. This is an enormous amount from one well, and gives an easily acquired revenue to the hungry officials. A large quantity of coal is mined not far from the east gate, which sells at ten cents for one hundred and thirty poimds. It is broken up, mixed with water and dirt, moulded into bricks, and exported to Hupeh. This city is further celebrated for its vermicelli, which is considered the best in the empire ; it is very small and white, is in great demand, and brings about six cents a pound at the factories. Kwei-cheu is surrounded with walls, and has four gates; the circumference of the city is not far from two miles, and it is said to have forty thousand inhabi- tants. Til ere are two fine mosques here and about five hundred Mohammedan families ; also a Roman Catholic church, said to date from the time of Kanghsi, A. D. 1662. Three priests and one hundred families belong to this communion. The telegraph office has ten operators, the chief of whom told me that the average work was ten messages a day! — one operator for each message, and the office 52 WESTERN CHINA. open from eight A. m. to nine p. m. Telegraphing in China is both amusing and provoking. At Nanking I wished to send a despatch to Chinkiang, a distance of forty-five miles. I entered tlie oifice at eight a.m., to find two opera- tors in bed in the public room. It required some per- suasion to induce the younger man to get up. I asked him to put the message in Chinese, the price being but half that for English. When he had written it I found he had used enough superfluous characters to make it more expensive than in my own tongue ; this being remedied, I asked him how soon I should get a reply. He stared at me and said, "Do you want an answer ?" Now this was certainly amusing, as my message read, " What time does the steamer ' Puh-Wo ' leave Chin- kiang ? " At length he told me it would come " about one o' clocks." I presume he wished to say in one hour ; but it did not come while I remained, and I gravely doubt its having come at all. All boats passing Kwei-cheu are compelled to pass a customs inspection, and it is noted for its irregular tax, called li-kin, which is a provincial tax enforced by the Viceroy and levied on all goods. It grew out of the dis- tress in the late rebellions, and has never been remitted. The regular tax, the shui-li, goes to the central government. The detention occasioned by this examination by two sets of officials often amounts to two days, so we consid- ered ourselves fortunate to be passed in thirty-six hours. If the Roman tax-gatherers were as low, ill-bred, and " cheeky " as these men, they merited the hatred they received. The fat, jolly chief of the li-kin staff esti- mated that about fifty junks were examined daily ; this would make the. daily trade up and down the river amount to tliree thousand tons, not including the local traffic, which is very considerable in some places. BOOK-PEDDLING. 53 "We had provided ourselves with a quantity of picto- rial literature, — illustrated Scriptures, stories of Bib- lical personages, and small illustrated books. These were from the recently organized Cliinese Book and Tract Society, which is under the efficient management of the veteran Dr. Williamson. They are edited by my esteemed companion, Ernest Faber, who has used the best material ; while the pictures are the finest that could