Yale University Library 39002030978432 "I give rtefe' fi'aoAj. ffr^foiai^ia^ifa^CoUegt in this Coltrnf Gift of FREDERICK T. BRADLEY, '83S. 1929 6&L. Jlh/*. l\r\v';n]k , JJ.Appl'>t:^ JAPANESE GIRLS. quires that the married and unmarried women shall wear distin guishing badges. The girl, with full hair tastefully arranged, with white teeth, and with the free use of cosmetics, and a scrupulously modest costume, is attractive; when married, her eyebrows are immediately shaven off, her teeth are stained jet-black, the orna' ments are removed from her hair, and she becomes repulsive. 44 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. Wherever a city of the living is, there is also a greater city of the dead. The Japanese bury on the hill-sides. Though cremation JAPANESE CEMETERY. is sometimes practised, the body is more generally interred in a sitting posture, cramped within a plain, white, square box, borne to the grave on men's shoulders. All who attend, wear white mourn ing-badges. Women do not appear in the processions. Burial is without pomp and pageantry. A black or gray stone obelisk is raised over the grave. All the cemeteries are crowded, but doubtless this is due to the economy of land required by so dense a population. They are, however, always shaded and green. LAND WELL CULTIVATED. 45 September 28th. — We made an excursion, by boat, to-day, on the bay of Yeddo, to Kanagawa, and its precincts. The Tokaido, the high-road which traverses the island of Niphon, passes through the town. A crowd of both sexes and all ages gathered and stared at our landing. The architecture of Japanese towns and villages is monotonous. The buildings, public and private, are small and huddled together. It was a pleasing surprise to find the railroad to Yeddo in process of construction. It is undertaken by a native company, using only Japanese capital, credit, and labor. By-the- way, the projectors are becoming timid in prosecuting the work, under an apprehension that, when it shall be completed, foreigners will base extortionate claims on any accidental injuries they may suffer. Ascending a high hill, just beyond the town of Kanagawa, we enjoyed our first interior view of Japanese rural scenery. Thence forward we had a path only five or six feet wide, which winds across the plains and around the hill-sides, not on any principle of road-making, but simply for the convenient use of the soil. The hill-tops are covered with majestic cypresses and yew-trees, inter mingled with the chestnut, holly, pine, persimmon, and camphor. At their bases are thick groves of the slender bamboo, which, be sides being highly ornamental, is the most variously useful of all the woods in the East. The althea, the lily, the japonica, the arbor-vitse, the wisteria, the passion-flower, and many other shrubs and creepers, which re quire so much care and labor in our gardens and greenhouses, are luxuriant here. There is no waste, either by rock, marsh, or jun gle ; every hill is terraced, every acre irrigated, every square foot of land covered by some tree, cereal, or esculent. Instead of farms, there are small plots, and each is tilled with cotton, flax, wheat, barley, sugar, beets, peppers, sweet-potatoes, cabbages, turnips, and other vegetables, by a single family, with care equal to that which is bestowed on our flower-beds. No allowance is made for even accidental waste of the crop. The individual wheat-stalk which is bent down by the storm is restored and supported. Each head of rice, each particular boll of cotton, _ is kept in its place until care- WSg*> m mm * fill 'B Hi ' saSHI A JAPANESE GARDEN. MONKS AND MONASTERIES. 47 fully removed by the husbandman's hand. There is no loss of time in gathering the crops into garners ; as fast as the product ripens, it is harvested and immediately prepared for the market. Despotism, though often cruel, is not always blind. A law of the empire obliges every one who fells a tree to plant another. In the midst of this rich and beautiful landscape, within an ehclosure of two hundred acres, stands a Buddhist temple, with an adjoining monastery, surrounded by groves such as Downing might have designed. We came upon the base of the temple by successive flights of steps, each reaching from a platform below to a more con tracted one above. The edifices are constructed of wood, which is generally used in Japan, for greater security against earthquakes. The temple has an overhanging roof and portico, which are unique and graceful. The columns, architraves and cornices are elaborately, though grotesquely carved. The bonzes received and conducted us through the sacred edifices with ceremonious polite ness, requiring us to leave our boots at the door, not as a re ligious observance, but as a regulation of domestic economy. These priests are vowed to celibacy and temperance, and in their ton sure and habit they resemble Carmelite friars, except that their spotless white raiment is not of wool, but of soft silk. The monas tery is divided into numerous apartments by sliding paper doors, but all these were thrown open to us. A fine, clean bamboo mat, two inches thick, is spread on every floor, and serves for " bed and board." There is no other furniture. While we were enjoying our collation in one apartment, the bonzes were taking tea and smoking in the next one. Each bonze, before lifting his teacup or bringing his pipe to his lips, brought his head half a dozen times to the floor by way of compliment to his several companions. We inferred that some of the party were pilgrims, enjoying the hospitali ties of the house. The temple is a square enclosure, with an open corridor on every side. Nearly the whole floor is covered with a dais, in the centre of which is a large altar, with a smaller one on either side. Over each a carved image — the middle one, Buddha ; on his right, the mythological mikado, on the left an apostle or lawgiver. No space is allowed for worshippers. They prostrate 48 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. themselves at the porch, and are content with throwing small coins into the treasury just within the door. A cemetery near the tem ple is crowded with monuments of pilgrim princes and saints. Take away from this temple its pagan devices and emblems, and the whole place would seem to be pervaded with the very spirit of religious devotion. It combines seclusion, repose, and silence with solemnity. The good monks dismissed us with many blessings, after having obtained Mr. Seward's leave to visit him at Yokohama. On our return, we found the bay highly agitated. Discarding the life-boats of the Monocacy, we crossed in a native craft, rowed by a vigilant and active though excited and vehement crew. September ZOth. — A second excursion, this time overland to Kanagawa, southward on the Tokaido. A hundred years ago, no part of the United States, perhaps few countries in Europe, afforded a road equal to this in firmness and smoothness. At intervals, hot TEA-HOUSE ON THE TOEAIDO. tea in tiny cups, with cakes and sugar-plums, was brought out to us by pretty girls, artistes in dance and song. The beverage might not be declined, though we were not allowed to pay for it. In many places we found circular benches arranged under trees five hundred GROUP ON THE TOKAIDO. 49 years old. This frequent provision for rest and refreshment is due to the circumstance that travel in Japan is principally performed by pedestrians, with the occasional use of chairs. Daimios have always used horses, and recently foreigners have introduced vehicles. Vs- ^ t-^'^s" //¦ H. - )K — ¦ — GEOUP ON THE TOKAIDO. The Japanese are a busy as well as a frugal people. Thickly- clustering houses, booths, and work-shops nearly close the road on either side, making it difficult to distinguish where a rural district begins or ends. Occasionally a vacant space opens a beau- 50 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. tiful vista. At the end of twenty miles we sent our carriages back to Yokohama, and proceeded in chairs by a narrow path over a lofty hill, and then came down on the ocean-beach. The feet of our coolie bearers sank deep in the sand, but we enjoyed the re freshing spray which dashed in our faces. Then leaving the shore, and following a rugged mountain-path, we came upon a high plain, where once stood the renowned ecclesiastical capital, Kamakura. Practically speaking, Japan has no ruins. An extensive and hand- TEMPLE AT KAMAKURA. some temple, which still maintains its prestige, is the only monu ment of the ancient city. A few miles beyond this temple, we left our chairs, and, diverging from the road, we confronted a high wooden arch, fantastically painted with bright green, blue and yel low colors. On either side of the arch is a carved bronze demon, fifteen feet high, protected by an iron railing. These figures, de signed to be terrific, are simply hideous. They are plastered over with moistened paper pellets, which have been cast on them by pass ing pilgrims. The adhesion of the pellet is taken as an assurance i :>. THE GREAT STATUE OF BUDDHA. 51 that the monster is appeased, and consents to the visit of a votary. Trusting that the missiles which our bearers had thrown upon the demons had propitiated them in our favor, we boldly en tered the gate. Ascending a solid flight of steps, we reached a paved court, three sides of which are graced with monumental shrines of stone and bronze. On a pedestal six feet high, in the centre of the square, is the gigantic statue of Buddha (famous as the Daibutz), sitting with crossed legs, on a lotus-flower. Though description by measurement is not poetical, we must use it to con vey an idea of this colossal idol. It is fifty feet high, a hundred feet in circumference at the base, and the head is nine feet long | the hands are brought together in front, with thumbs joined; the head is covered with metallic snails, which are supposed to protect the god from the sun. Some travellers find in the face an expres- 52 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. sion of sublime contemplation ; to us it seems dull and meaning less. The statue being made of bronze plates, is hollow; the interior is shaped and fitted as a temple. We are inclined to be lieve that the Japanese have lost their early reverence for the Daibutz ; we find the walls covered with the autographs of pilgrims and travellers. The bonzes invited us to register our own names, and they offer to sell the god to any purchaser for the price of old copper. JAPANESE BONZES. CHAPTEE II. VISIT TO YEDDO.— INTERVIEW WITH THE MIKADO. Interview with the Japanese Prime-Minister. — Tremendous Storm. — Some Points of History. — The Mikado and the Tycoon. — Japanese Foreign Office. — Minister Sawa. — The Question of Saghalien. — The Tombs of the Tycoons. — A Speck of War. — The Delmonico of Yeddo. — Sketches of Yeddo. — The Interview with the Mikado. On board the Mowcacij, Bay of Yeddo, October 1st. — On Mr. Seward's arrival at Yokohama, the Japanese Government at Yeddo invited him tea banquet in the palace of the Hamagoten. The Japanese ministry, with other official persons, in all six hundred, were to be present, and the prime-minister was to preside. Mr. Seward excused himself on the ground that the condition of his health and his habits oblige him to forego large assemblies. He wrote, at the same time, that he intended visiting the capital in a private manner, and that it would afford him pleasure if allowed to pay his respects to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This morn ing, we set out on the excursion thus proposed, in the Monocacy, accompanied by Mr. De Long ; we arrived at the anchorage before Yeddo, at five o'clock, expecting to land immediately, under the ship's salute. Since our arrival at Yokohama the weather has been intensely hot, and everybody has been predicting some fearful convulsion of earthquake or tempest. A wind with heavy rain gave us a rough voyage ; but the sea has now calmed, though the rain continues. Mr. Seward, protesting against delay, asked for boats when the anchor dropped. The ladies shrank from exposure; even the 54 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. United States minister became demoralized, and Mr. Seward was overruled ; so here we are, lying five miles from Yeddo, under the guns of a long line of Japanese forts, built on shoals, *midway be tween our anchorage and the city. The naval officers are to give up their quarters to us for the night, in expectation of a calm sea and cloudless sky to-morrow ; an expectation which Mr. Seward desires it to be distinctly understood he does not share. In the mean time they are entertaining us with music and conversation. Yeddo, October 2d. — Mr. Seward was right. We retired at eleven o'clock, to the very narrow " regulation berths," imprisoning ourselves with close mosquito-nets, in the smallest of state-rooms, looking through the open ports at a very silvery moon, bright stars, and a smooth sea, the ship drawing nine feet on an anchorage of three fathoms. Between us and the forts, the harbor was covered with vessels, including a large number of Japanese steamers and other boats, as well as Chinese junks. Some of these lay quite near to us. There was no sleep. At four o'clock in the morning, a phos phorescent wave, pouring through the open ports, deluged our state-rooms. At this juncture, the order came down the hatch way, " Close the ports." The steward informed us that there was " something of a high sea." Wrapping ourselves in our now thoroughly-wetted garments, we rushed into the dark cabin, and there overheard low conversation on the deck, which expressed apprehension of a fearful storm. We were on deck at break of day. The sky wore a copper hue ; the air grew intensely hot ; the barometer fell from 30° 50' to 28° ; a violent wind seemed to come from all quarters, and, in the midst of a deluge of rain, blew the sea from underneath the ship, causing her continually to bound and rebound on the sandy bottom. , It was the typhoon ! Nevertheless, we remained on deck, lashed fast in our seats, preferring the open tempest there to the close and nauseating cabin. The captain was self-collected ; he ordered the top-masts down, and every spar well secured. Three anchors, the ship's entire ground-tackle, were thrown out ; every vessel, and every other object on sea and land, now disappeared from our view. STORM IN THE BAY. 55 With confused fears that some ship might be driving against us, or that we might be dragging toward a lee-shore, we put our engines in motion, to keep the Monocacy up to her anchors. The more juvenile officers, of whom, of course there were many, enlivened the dark and dreary hours by whispered accounts of all the ships Avhich had been wrecked, or escaped wreck, in all the typhoons, and all the tidal waves, and all the earthquakes that have raged in Asiatic waters, or in any other seas, within the memory of man. At twelve o'clock, we were driven from the deck by alarms that the guns were breaking loose from their fastenings, that the bul warks and stanchions were giving way, and the bending masts and spars would crush us. We took refuge once more in the cabin, uncertain whether the ship was parting her anchors, or breaking to pieces in her berth. All the hatchways being closed, exclud ing air except through a convoluted funnel, a lethargy came over us, which made some helpless, and nearly all hopeless. About two o'clock, an officer, anxiously and carefully consulting the glass, said in a low voice, "It is rising," and, after a few seconds more, he ex claimed, " It is the end ! " And so it was. In half an hour we were on deck again. The sky was bright, and the sea, though yet rolling, had lost its violence. But the vessels which had been moored in such dangerous proximity were no longer there. The lee-shore was so near that we wondered at our presumption in having anchored there. At five o'clock, a full boat's crew manned a prize-gig, and with bright and merry oars rowed us around the forts to the wharf of the consulate at Yeddo. On the way we passed a crowded steamer, broken directly in the middle, and hanging across the rampart of the upper fort ; while a dozen vessels were seen half out of water in the shallow and treach erous bay. When we saw the broken walls, overturned trees and fallen buildings on the shore, we were convinced that our anchorage in the bay was the safer refuge, notwithstanding all its terrors. The Monocacy had neither parted a rope nor started a nail, while the consulate had been beaten and shattered on all sides and in every part. Sunset came on ; while there was no rainbow, all the prismatic 56 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. colors and hues were painted on the broken and rolling clouds, as brilliantly and as distinctly as they are ever seen in the " arch of promise " itself. With what grateful emotions did we reflect that the tempest which so often breaks and destroys the stanchest of ships in the Eastern seas, had been in this instance withheld, not only until we had crossed the great ocean, but even until we had found an anchor-: age from which we had beheld the terrific phenomenon without disaster ! Monday, October 3d. — The Monocacy having done her best to rouse the sleepers of the capital by a salute to Mr. Seward, returned down the bay to Yokohama. Thanks to her brave officers and no ble crew, with earnest wishes for their health and promotion. The damages of the consulate have been repaired sufficiently for our comfortable accommodation. We are guests of the minister and the consul. At an early hour an officer came from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to learn when Mr. Seward would make his promised visit. He appointed ten o'clock, to-morrow. Before we go to the foreign office, it may be well to recall* some points of history, in order to make our observations on Yeddo intelligible. The people of Japan, whether indigenous here or derived froa Siberia, assumed political organization, according to their own records, about twenty-four hundred years ago, in the two islandE of Niphon and Kiusiu. They were governed by an emperor, who, being descended from the gods, was divine and absolute on earth, and when he died was worshipped. Not only was his person too sacred to be looked upon by a stranger, but even the sun must not shine on his head. It was sacrilegious to touch the dishes from 3 which he ate. At his death, his twelve wives and all their attend- . ants committed hari-lcari. These attributes are still popularly con ceded to him. As vicegerent of Heaven, he wears the title of Tenno; as sovereign in temporal affairs, he is the Mikado or Emperor. Miako, some thirty miles inland, was his ancient capital, and' 0 a a n >*Wl1ii"r11r*n"f: iii] THE TOMBS OF THE TYCOONS. 65 " That is so," replied Mr. Seward, " and, if the people of Japan are like the people of the United States, you will very soon find out that you can no more sell your own territory to others than you can buy it from them." During the conversation, tea and cigars, and afterward cham pagne and cakes, were served by attendants who crouched on the floor whenever they received or executed a command. After an hour and a half passed, Sawa mentioned the places of special inter est in Yeddo which he thought Mr. Seward ought to see, and ex plained the arrangements which had been made for that purpose ; then, stipulating a private interview with Mr. De Long for the afternoon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs rose and took a graceful leave by bowing and shaking hands cordially with the whole party. Yeddo is a singular combination of compactly-built and densely- inhabited districts, with intervening gardens and groves, appropri ated to civil and religious uses. When in one of those populous districts, it is difficult to conceive that the whole vast city is not built in the same way ; and when in one of the deeply-shaded parks, it is impossible to realize that you are in the heart of a great city. As Sawa had suggested, we proceeded first to Sheba, the spa cious grounds which contain the colossal tombs of the Tycoons who ruled in Japan so many centuries. Some of the tombs are of granite, others of bronze. They surpass, not only in costliness, but in impressive effect, any imperial or royal modern cemetery in the West. The sarcophagus, the obelisk, and the shaft, forms familiar in Western monumental architecture, equally prevail here. The monuments bear no epitaphs, but each is surrounded with many lantern-bearing votive shrines, covered with inscriptions commemorative of the virtues and achievements of the dead, and expressing the affection and gratitude of the princes by whom the tributary structures were erected. The domain is planted with great taste. Each particular tree and shrub has been formed and trained into a shape suggestive of religious sentiment. By the side of the cemetery stands the Temple of Sheba. What with hideous devices of the great red dragon of Japan, with his forked wings, naming mane, and powerful claws, the monstrous ?s JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. TOMBS OF THE TYCOONS. transformations of Buddha into lions rampant and roaring, pea cocks proud and strutting, and sagacious storks stalking and prophesying, the interior of the temple is a weird combination of the mythic and the terrific. Though we have experienced neither menace nor insult, our guard is nevertheless indispensable to protect us against intrusive curiosity. The crowds gather around, and follow us wherever we alight and wherever we go. Perhaps the escort might be needed in case of sudden excitement or tumult, such as is liable to happen in every great city. That was not only a seasonable but a pretty and pleasant break fast which Sir Harry and Lady Parkes gave us at the British lega tion. It did not need the after divertissement of native legerdemain. The zeal and efficiency of Sir Harry Parkes, as minister, are well known. Lady Parkes is not less distinguished for the spirited man ner in which she sustains him in his diplomatic studies and labors. We left the British legation in compact procession, as we had entered it, Mr. Seward and Mr. De Long leading in a pony-carriage, ^^^^S^M .i.-:^- NIFPON-BAS, YEDDO. 68 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. Mr. De Long driving. Three other carriages followed, attended by the consul, and the whole surrounded by the escort. For a time the carriages in the rear had the forward one in full view, while its occu pants, frequently looking back, exchanged greetings. Mr. Seward and Mr. De Long at length reached the high stone bridge, built JmffliMMBHBi % am t ' Wmk »SP MP BEITISH LEGATION, YEDDO. across one of the canals, and famous in Japanese history as the Nippon-Bas. There they became aware that the otber carriages had fallen out of sight. The street which intervened was filled with holiday crowds, drawing huge, painted idols, mounted on low A GROUNDLESS ALARM. 69 trucks. These crowds were rapidly moving in the' direction of the missing carriages. The guards who surrounded the forward car riage gesticulated, in a manner betokening alarm. Mr. De Long, a Western gentleman, becoming excited, said to Mr. Seward, " There is a fight ; the ladies are attacked ! " With this exclamation, he sprang from the carriage and rushed back at the top of his speed, his long whip in his left hand and a Colt's revolver in his right, determined to effect a rescue. Mr. Seward remained sitting in the little pony-carriage on the Nippon-Bas, attracting a constantly in creasing native crowd. Mr. De Long, scattering the natives right and left, found the carriages in the clear, open street, a hundred rods distant from the bridge and vacant, while, upon the matted floor of a silk-merchant's " go-down," he found the ladies with the consul, sipping tea, a ceremony always introductory here to the cheapening of Japanese crapes and gauzes. Without saying a word, the minister pocketed his revolver, and, lowering his whip in the most pacific manner, walked quickly back to Mr. Seward, whom he found safe on the bridge. Even at this hour of writing, it remains uncertain what was the sentiment which overpowered Mr. De Long at this discovery, whether it was one of satisfaction at finding his protegees in safety, or of mortification at having so impulsively yielded to groundless alarm. Neither the advance-guard, nor the main body of the procession, has been able to discover what was the occasion of the Japanese excitement which produced so much trouble. October 5th. — A busy day, but less eventful. We have visited the Hamagoten and its palace, where Mr. Seward was to have been feasted. The palace, built and ornamented in Japanese style, is luxuriously furnished in the European. One of the saloons is ap propriately called the Cool-room, its walls and ceilings being deco rated exclusively with huge pictured fans, in many different posi tions, and so well executed that you might fancy that you feel the air stirred by their motion. The grounds are as extensive as those of Central Park in New York, and not less elaborately embellished. There are quaint bamboo summer-houses, with pretty scroll roofs, 6 IlKi mm ¥. h00, THE JAPANESE DELMONICO'S. 71 covered with hundred's of creepers, known to us only in our green houses, standing in the midst of lakes well stocked with gold-fish. There are groves of mulberries, chestnuts, persimmons, and oranges. Stately shade-trees, cut and twisted into the shapes of animals, castles, and ships, crown hundreds of high knolls which overlook the smooth bay of Yeddo. From the Hamagoten, we drove to old Osakasa, where we wonderingly examined a temple which surpasses all the others we have seen. Superstition, though abating in Japan, is nevertheless far from being extinct. They show at Sheba, in the court of the temple, a bowlder, in the top of which a deep, smooth, circular basin has been made, which is filled with water, and kept carefully cov ered with a stone lid. It is an accepted belief that this water rises and falls with the ocean-tide. At Osakasa we were required to look with reverence upon two native ponies (one cream-colored, the other brown), both nicely trimmed and groomed, and superbly caparisoned, occupying apartments neat as a parlor. They remain in perpetual readiness for the equestrian exercises of the gods. The beasts are maintained by pious contributions of pilgrims. Ecclesias tics in Japan, as sometimes they do elsewhere, resort to questionable expedients for raising money. The highly-ornamented grounds of Osakasa are rented for tea-houses, theatrical exhibitions, jugglers' entertainments, and other popular amusements. A dinner was ordered for us at a tea-house — the " Delmonico's " of Yeddo. Leaving our carriages with the escort in the streets, and our boots at the door, we were ushered up a very steep, but highly-polished wooden staircase into a chamber, or rather a dozen chambers divided by sliding-doors. Here we sat down on the clean matted floor. A lacquered table was set before each person. It was eight or ten inches high, and large enough for two small covers. Tea in little cups without saucers was served, clear, and piping hot. After the tea, saki, a liquor distilled from rice, fiery and distasteful, was poured from a porcelain vase into such small, shallow, red, lacquered vessels as we sometimes mistake for tea-saucers. Our hostess, a middle-aged matron, was assisted by eleven pretty girls, their ages varying from twelve to sixteen. 72 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. These attendants, by the elegance of their costume and abundance of white cosmetics, had enhanced their beauty to the degree that, in Oriental speech, it would be said that " every one of them was a temptation to the servants of God." One of them went down on her knees beside each guest, and remained there until it was time to bring on, with the tiniest of delicate hands, a new course. Their actions were graceful and modest, their voices bird-like. They manifested childish delight at every compliment we gave them, and their pleasure seemed to rise to ecstasy when permitted to examine our watches, fans, parasols and other articles of dress or ornament. J&SJN- JAPANESE MUSICIAN. A SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. 73 The dinner, however, was rather a self-denying ordinance. There was a vegetable soup flavored with soy, raw fish in thin slices with horse-radish, petty bits of game, various preparations of rice, and many dishes whose composition was unascertainable. These courses were intermingled with sweetened fruits and confec tionery. Saki was offered with every course, and always with great ceremony. All the dishes had one common flavor, which we could not analyze. Even the sugar had this raw, indescribable taste. After the entertainment, the girls, sitting on the floor, each with a rude instrument, in form a compromise between the banjo and the guitar, played and sang, and at intervals rose and danced. Though the airs were not without melody and harmony, they were so crude and monotonous that the highest expert in the " heavenly art " could find no musical meaning in them. The posturing and ges ticulation were artistic, though the dancing was conducted on no rules of the ballet. Great skill was displayed in the dance, the long and heavy dresses of the performers always covering the feet, and most of the time even the hands. Night overtook us before we left this "haunt of delight," and the performers accompanied us from the banqueting-floor to our carriages in the dark street. Their grateful gestures and speaking smiles were intelligible, though their soft and gentle words were not. We needed to drive, with much care through the crowded streets, now dimly lighted with an occasional paper lantern. But our dragoons were men "dressed in brief authority ; " they dashed furiously forward, and, with shrieking shouts and screams, startling myriads of bats from the thatched roofs, they drove the people, returning from their daily occupations, or listening to theatrical amusements, into the open doors or alleys. October 6th. — The day began at Yeddo with an audience given by Mr. Seward, at the consulate. The visitors were Japanese who have acquired some knowledge of foreign nations. Mr. Seward inquired for the Tycoon's ambassadors, Ono Tomogoro and Mats- moto Judaiyu, with whom he had negotiated in Washington. But there has been a revolution. The Mikado, then only a nominal 74 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. sovereign, is now absolute at the castle. The Tycoon is a prisoner of state ; Ono Tomogoro is also a prisoner, nobody knows where, and Matsmoto Judaiyu is a fugitive — some say at Shanghai, others at San Francisco. It seems to surpass Japanese comprehension that a new administration of the Government of the United States has come in, and that Mr. Seward has gone out of place without losing his head or public consideration. While Mr. Seward was holding his audience, the ladies shopped. The Japanese artisans contrive to produce exquisite articles of taste and vertu from cheap materials, and with an infinitesimal proportion of the precious metals. Their modern porcelain is inferior to the Chinese, but they excel in ornamental lacqucr-work and fans of all sorts. Their designs in bronze are exceedingly curious, but their execution inferior to that of Europeans. In painting they are unsurpassed in the imitation of all forms of animal life. With a keen sense of the ludicrous, they may yet come to be employed as caricaturists in our presidential elections ! There is no special manufacture at Yeddo. It is an emporium for the whole empire. We have found it impossible to ascertain the districts in which particular classes of articles are made. The shops are small and closely packed with wares. The indifference assumed by the merchants would be provoking, if it were not for their extreme politeness. If the buyer means to obtain a fair bar gain, he must affect equal reserve and indifference. The entire family look on, half a dozen men and three or four women busying themselves in every sale. Indeed, the house and the shop are one. Four feet square of matting in the centre of the shop is the common dining-room and bedroom. Must they not eat and sleep by turns J The United States minister was recalled to Yokohama last night. Captain Bachelor put the reins of two fine American horses into our hands, to drive in a light New-England phaeton down the Tokaido to, Yokohama. Mr. Eandall conveyed the other ladies in a carriage drawn by Mr. De Long's mottled native ponies. Each car riage was attended by two bettos, quick-footed boys, whose service is to run like coach-dogs by the side of horse or carriage, warning everybody out of the way, and they are ready to seize and hold 0aaw tian nations, in these distant and lonely waters, suggestive ? Mr. Seward answered, "Yes, but deceptive." The German is here lying in wait for his French enemy ; the British admiral is here to intimidate the semi-barbarous races; and the Eussian admiral is guarding the eastern gate of his master's empire, which towers be hind and above Asiatic and European states on both continents. So it is that jealousy and ambition breathe in the notes of this ma jestic serenade. October 14th. — It is because we cannot swim that we fear the deep. It is because we delight in climbing that we admire the high. While the flat is dull, the circle is our chosen form for the beautiful. Thus the amphitheatre, with its circular and lofty walls, was adopted for the Pantheon as well as for the Coliseum ; though it has since been sometimes discarded from the temple, it remains nevertheless universally associated with the stage and the hippodrome. If we must live in a town, give us one which, like Nagasaki, is an amphi theatre, whose base is the sea, and whose towering walls are green and terraced mountains. It was under an inspiration like this that Peter on the mount said : " Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias." The preaching of Christianity here by St. Francis Xavier, in 1549, was followed by such success that, within fifty years afterward, Nagasaki was surrendered by its native prince to the Portuguese, and became at once the see of an episcopate, and an emporium of Portuguese trade. But Xavier little apprehended that the Order of Jesus, which ho was introducing, would become so arrogant and ambitious as to contest with the native sovereign absolute dominion within the empire. The Portuguese Chris tians thus becoming obnoxious to the government, all foreigners were within the first hundred years excluded from Japan, under pain of death, while persecutions more cruel than those of Nero PARTING VIEW OF JAPAN. 99 were visited on the teachers and converts alike. A few Protestant merchants from Amsterdam, renouncing their religion, joined the government in the persecution of the Christians, and were per mitted, under humiliating surveillance, to replace the Portuguese at Nagasaki. This truly pitiable colony was found here on the arrival of the United States squadron in 1853. It was understood, at that time, that the Christian faith had been effectually extirpated by the massacres at Papenburg. The world was astonished, how ever, in 1867, by a discovery that the Christian religion was still living in the province of Nagasaki, and that a large number of natives were condemned to death or servitude for their clandestine adherence to that faith. The Western nations interposed in their behalf. The government contented itself with forcibly deporting twenty-seven hundred of the offending Christians from their homes, and distributing them through the more distant provinces of the empire. This new persecution being thus arrested, it is manifestly the intention of the government now to adopt the principle of uni versal toleration. It would be pleasant to dwell on the hospitalities of Mr. and Mrs. Mangum, and on the courtesies of the foreign fleets. Yellow Sea, October 15th. — Leaving Nagasaki yesterday morn ing, we carefully examined Coal Island and the other islands which close the magnificent harbor. Nor did we omit to notice that marvellous rock, which, having been dropped nobody knows how or from where, is lodged like a wedge between two naked natural abutments. Our parting view of Japan was a sunset glimpse of the Goto Group, the western outpost of the Island Empire. It is hardly more satisfactory to quit Japan after a residence of only twenty days, than it would have been to leave it altogether unvisited ; nevertheless, there is Peking before us, " a bourn from which no traveller " can " return " later than November, and so we must onward. Let us set down our memories, such as they are, while they are fresh. Although society in Japan is divided, as it is in every other coun try, into high classes and low classes, classes wearing two swords, 100 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. classes wearing one sword, and classes wearing no swords at all, yet the people are universally docile and amiable. We saw not one act of rudeness, and heard not one word of ill-temper, in the country. Heaven knows that, in the arrogant assumption by foreigners of superiority among them, the people have provocations enough for both ! One of the Japanese ambassadors to the United States in 1867 was robbed at Baltimore of a richly-mounted sword. Neither he nor his government made any complaint. Mr. Seward for tunately recovered and restored it, with a national apology. Foreign residents in Japanese cities are often timid, jealous, and suspicious. Some are prone to exaggerate inconveniences into offences. Others are dogmatic and contemptuous. Even one of the most generous of American citizens, when driving Mr. Seward through the streets of Yeddo, could not forbear from cracking his whip over the bare heads of the native crowd. Mr. Seward endured this flourish silently, but he vehemently and earnestly implored his impetuous friend to spare a litter of sleeping puppies which lay in the way. Women and children shrieked as they caught up the mangled brutes behind the carriage-wheels, but the relentless charioteer only said : " It will never do to stop for such things ; let them learn to keep their streets clear." Intimidation and menace naturally provoke anger and resentment. European and American fleets are always hovering over the coasts of Japan. Though the eye of the Japanese is long and curved, it sees as clearly as the foreign eye, which is round and straight. Human nature is the same in all races. Who could wonder if the Asiatics fail to Jove, where they are taught only to fear ? It would be manifestly unfair to judge the Japanese by the standard of Western civilization. Measured by the Oriental one, it cannot be denied that it excels the Asiatic states to whose system it belongs. The affections of family and kindred seem as strong here as elsewhere. There is no neglect of children ; there is no want of connubial care ; no lack of parental love or filial devotion. Nor is it to be forgotten that, in regard to domestic morals, we are giving the Japanese some strange instructions. On this very ship on which we have embarked, there is a German merchant who, after a JAPANESE CIVILIZATION. 101 short but successful career in Yokohama, is returning rich to his native land ; with him his child, a pretty brunette boy, two yeare old. The father brings him to us to be caressed. We ask, "Where is the Japanese mother ? " "I have left her behind ; she would not be fit to bring up the boy, or to be seen herself in a European country." No one denies that the Japanese have both the courage and the politeness which belong to an heroic people. They are ac cused of practising fraud, cunning, and cruelty in war. Are they more vicious in this respect than other pagan or even Chris tian nations ? Do not the records of war on our own soil contain a melancholy catalogue of similar crimes? Are not the pages which record Napoleon's great campaigns sullied by deeds alike unworthy of our race? The Japanese are sanguinary in civil war. Are they more so than the French were in their first great Eevolution ? The painstaking culture which extends from the water's edge to the mountain-verge; the tedious manipulation practised in mech anism ; and the patient drudgery of the coolies in the cities, in labor elsewhere performed by domestic animals, show that the Japanese are industrious. Though the empire has, from its earliest period, been isolated from the civilized world, yet the silks of that country were found among the richest freights of Yenice. A Japanese bazaar is seen in every modern European city ; and there is no drawing-room, museum, or palace in the world, which is completely furnished without Japanese fabrics. They have no legislature, yet they have uniform laws, and these laws are legibly inscribed on tablets at every cross-road and market place. Although science and literature in the West have borrowed little or nothing from these islands, the Japanese are nevertheless a reading and writing people. We hardly know whether Boston, Philadelphia, or New York shop-windows display greater number or variety of maps, books, charts and pictures, than the stalls of Yeddo, Osaka, or Miako. Japan is populous, whether we allow it twenty millions, as some of our missionaries do, or fifty millions, as the prime-minister 102 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. claimed in his conversation with Mr. Seward. Nevertheless, men dicity, though unrestrained by law, is less offensive than in Naples, or even in New York. It would be a curious study to inquire how and when the se vere feudal model of the middle ages of Europe obtained a place in Japan, or how it has continued so long among a people so mer curial, and yet so thoughtful. While in theory the Mikado is sov ereign proprietor, the whole domain practically belongs to the daimios, who are rich. The revenues of many of them are not less than the public revenues of some of the States of our Federal Union. Though the peasantry are poor, we nowhere heard a complaint against rents or taxes, or the price of labor. Moreover, the Japan ese, while they encourage immigration, never emigrate. We infer from 'these facts that, if not a happy people, they are at least a contented one. They were a religious people when they accepted the Mikado, and gave him their reverence. They must have been a religious people, when they accepted from the Mikado the teachings of the Sintu sect ; they must have been a religious people, when the doc trines of Buddha supplanted so generally the dreamy mysticisms of the earlier faith. Xavier found them a religious people, willing to accept the teachings of Christianity. But the religious age in Japan has passed. Confucian philosophy has undermined all myth ological creeds, and left the Japanese a nation of doubters. Gov ernment now makes no provision for the support of religious orders. Their revenues, derived from ancient foundations, are diminishing. The priesthood is as inoffensive as it is poor. It may be expected that under this toleration the Christian faith will now, for the first time, come into public consideration in Japan in the way it ought to come, that is to say, in connection with the science, literature, and art, and the political, moral, and social institutions of the Western nations. The Japanese are less an imitative people than an inquiring one. They are not, however, excitable concerning the events of the day, but rather diligent in studying what is useful. All their dramatic representations are didactic ; and, though they have a fondness for JAPANESE SOCIETY. 103 legerdemain, they enjoy it not because it is amusing, but because it makes them think from power to product, from cause to effect. The most unpropitious feature of Japanese society is the gross- ness of the popular sense in regard to woman. Among the . com mon people neither sex maintains decency in dress, and they use the public bathing-houses promiscuously. In Japan, as elsewhere throughout the East, there indeed is marriage, but it is marriage without the rights and responsibilities of that relation. This de basement of woman has tainted and corrupted the whole state. We are obliged to conclude that domestic virtue has not a promi nent place in the morals of Japan, although some glimpses which we have had of life in the upper classes have inclined us to believe that among them vice is not altogether free from restraint. Japanese history derives many of the institutions and much of the science, literature and morals of the country, not from China, but from ancient Corea, which seems to have taken precedence of China in civilization, as the Pelasgian civilization took precedence of the Grecian. The Japanese may, however, be considered as a distinct and independent Mongolian race, which has matured its own civilization, without having been deeply affected by intrusion from any quarter. In this respect the Japanese seem to have en joyed a fortune like that of the Aztecs of Mexico. That people had developed a unique civilization, and were maturing it, when they came into conflict with European nations. The Mexican nation went down under the violence of the shock, and altogether disappeared. The Japanese had in like manner effected and were maturing a civilization of their own when they were reached by the Western nations. More advanced than the Aztecs, they more clearly apprehended the danger of the contact, and with great promptness and decision they effectually resisted and defeated European intervention. Having thus isolated themselves, they remained so nearly three hundred years. If they did not advance during that time, they did not fall back. That isolation, however, has at last come to an end ; steam, the printing-press, and the electric telegraph, have brought the Western nations on all the shores of Japan. It is manifest that the two distinct and widely- 104 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. different civilizations cannot continue in such near contact. The great problem now is, whether the European civilization can be extended over Japan, without the destruction, not merely of the political institutions of the country, but of the Japanese nation itself. The Japanese are practically defenceless against the West ern States. If they are to be brought completely into the society of those nations, it must either be by the application of force, or by that of persuasion and encouragement. The interests of both re quire that the latter mode should be adopted, but it yet remains to be seen whether Western civilization has reached such a moral plane as to secure its voluntary and peaceful adoption. There is much of discouragement in the prospect. Few station ary or declining nations have been regenerated by the intervention of states more highly civilized. Most such have perished under the shock. On the other hand, there are some reasons for hope. Man kind seem at last to have risen equally above the theory that uni versal conquest is beneficent, and above the theory that it is pos sible. Commerce has largely taken the place of war, and it is now universally felt that interest and humanity go hand in hand. It is the distinction of the United States, and we may hope fortunate for Japan, that they have come to the front of the Western states as tutors of the decaying Asiatic nations. If the tutorship of the United States in Japan is to be made successful, it must be based on deeper and broader principles of philanthropy than have heretofore been practised in the intercourse of nations — a. philanthropy which shall recognize not merely the distinction of strength and power between nations, but the duties of magnanimity, moderation and humanity — a philanthropy which shall not be content with sending armies or navies to compel, but which shall send teachers to. instruct, and establish schools on the American system, in which philosophy, politics and morals, as well as religious faith, are taught, with just regard to their influences in social and domestic life. CHAPTEE IY. THE COAST OF CHINA. Woosung. — TJ. S. Ship Colorado. — Shanghai. — European "Concessions." — A Mandarin Procession. — Chi-Tajen and Sun-Tajen. — European and Chinese Civilization. — For eign Prejudices against the Chinese. — The Shan Tung. — The Yellow Sea. — The News from France. — Chee-Foo, the Newport of China. — A Rough Voyage. Woosung, October 17th. — A respite from politics, philanthropy and morals. Why should we not allow ourselves to see things in the natural way, not to say that there is little more to be learned of the nature of the millstone, by looking into it, than there is by studying its surface ? A great ocean-sight was reserved for us on the Yellow Sea. Just at sunrise this morning, unnumbered whales appeared off the larboard bow, first throwing up glittering fountains of spray, then rolling their great, glossy, black backs upward, then with their huge forked tails waving adieu as they plunged under the waves. The 6hoal waters of the Chinese coast have the hue of the Missouri, and give the Yellow Sea its name. We have crossed the great estuary of the Yang-tse-kiang, and arrived at Woosung, the outer haven of Shanghai, fourteen miles below that city. The country is on all sides a low plain, without landmark. Only three days ago, we left Japan, green as if it were June ; here the fields are dry and brown. We have October with out its mellowness, and yet Shanghai is only one degree south of Nagasaki. Are islands always warmer and more genial than con tinental shores? Did Sancho Panza understand this when he THE "CONCESSION" AT SHANGHAI. 107 stipulated for an island instead of a government on the main land? Many' American and European merchant-ships are riding at anchor around us, while the river near its banks is crowded with native junks and fishing-smacks, not to speak of a fleet of thirty or more high and awkward, lazy-looking, small Chinese sloops-of-war, in all carrying two hundred guns. They display at their mast heads figured and ornamental yellow bunting enough to cover their decks. How pleasant it is to us to recognize the United States flag-ship Colorado, sitting gracefully in the midst, as if calmly sur veying the naval array ! We have counted her guns, though we have no need to count her stars and stripes — we know that they are all there. Our glasses have failed to discover our old friend Admiral John Eodgers, but we know that he must be there. Who else could have ordered that double line of seamen in dark blue to cheer Mr. Seward as we are passing, and that band to strike up the inspiring strains of " Hail Columbia 8 " Shanghai, October 18th. — Consul-General Seward and a dozen other Americans, with kind consideration, took us from our anchor age, and brought us by steam-yacht to the " Bund." Let no one, however, infer from this date that we have arrived in China. Shanghai, as we have thus far seen it, seems to us less like an outpost of the Central Flowery Kingdom, than a town on our native shores. This hospitable mansion of Eussell & Company, all the other houses, this quay, this street, all the streets, this bridge, these churches, these banking-houses, warehouses, and steamers, these carriages and horses, these men and women, all that we have seen on the river or on shore, are European ; for so they call here whatever is foreign, whether it has come from one side of the Atlantic or from the other. This is, in short, the "Concession." We have enjoyed our first drive in the country, that is to say, an excursion of six miles through the " Concession." Is the air of constraint which the natives here wear in presence of foreigners due more to fear than to hate ? These contracted concessions, made 108 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. by the government to foreigners, remind one of "the liberties,'' so called, which were drawn round jails in Europe and the United States before the abolition of imprisonment for debt. " You are safe within them; we guarantee nothing outside of them." Neither party looks with pleasure on "the Concession." The foreigner wants it enlarged; the native dislikes it altogether. While writing these not very profound reflections, we were summoned to the great gate of "the Compound," to see for the first time a mandarin procession. MANDARIN PEO0E88ION. It is the custom of a mandarin, when he moves abroad on social or official visits, to be attended by as many retainers as he has, or can hire. He proceeds, dressed in silken robes, in a sedan-chair, CHI-TAJEN AND SUN-TAJEN. 109 with a square, glaring, scarlet canopy, borne by coolies, over his head. Fantastic groups go before and behind the chair, dressed in faded finery, carrying umbrellas of all forms and colors, huge gilded maces and staves, banners, flags, and pennons, incomprehen sible, but fiery red and ragged. A straggling company of musi cians leads the procession, while others mingle with it promiscu ously, all beating and banging on noisy gongs, clattering sticks, and deafening drums. The procession in the present case was of double dignity and importance : it conveyed two mandarins instead of one. Falstaff 's " tattered prodigals," although he had "misused the king's press," were less grotesque. We thought that as the man darins approached they appeared unbecomingly eager to show them selves. We did them injustice. Leaning from their chair-windows they bowed low and gesticulated reverentially as they passed us. To our surprise, we recognized in their persons Chi-Tajen and Sun- Tajen, survivors of the late lamented Burlingame in the great Chi nese embassy which visited the United States in 1868, and which took final leave of Mr. Seward at his residence in Auburn. " Wot I look at," said Samuel Weller, " is the hextraordinary and wonderful coincidence." Chi-Tajen and Sun-Tajen, since they parted with us, have spent two years in accomplishing their eastern voyage around the world, and they have reached Shang hai on the very day we have arrived here in our western circum navigation ! The pageant passed quickly by, and we returned to our cham ber. How absurd this exhibition had seemed ; how differently it made the ambassadors appear here, from the show they made abroad 1 " Yes," said Mr. Seward, " it is even so ; it is an evi dence of the decay of the empire. States, like individual men, re tain their pride long after they have lost the means to support it." Somehow it happens that, wherever we go, the resting-places of the dead attract our attention before the homes of the living. The peculiarity of burial here is, that the tombs rise in great hil locks, everywhere in the cultivated fields, and even in the gardens. So far as we have observed, the monuments are few, cheap, and inelegant. 110 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. Shanghai, October l§th. — Shanghai is immensely agitated con cerning the recent massacre at Tien-Tsin. We find European vol unteers, a hundred strong, drilling for defence against an appre hended Chinese invasion of " the Concession." Mrs. Seward, the consul-general's wife, has just presented those volunteers with a standard of colors. Everybody is astonished at Mr. Seward's rash ness in going to Peking at the very moment they understand that all the foreign legations there are coming to this port for protec tion, under the guns of their respective nations. Admiral Eodgers, with his staff, called upon Mr. Seward to-day. Although it is im possible for the Colorado to ascend the Pei-ho to Tung-Chow, he considers it his duty to visit the capital personally. He has ar ranged to accompany Mr. Seward there next week. Mrs. Warden, our hostess, last night had the entire foreign society of Shanghai at a ball, which, although given in honor of Mrs. Seward, the bride, had been postponed until our arrival. Gentlemen largely predominate in European Shanghai. The recent arrival of so many American ladies was deemed a social event. Our lady-friends at home will be interested in knowing that all China furnishes not one mantua-maker or milliner. The dresses for the ladies come on orders from Paris, London, or New York. Native women have no need of European costumes. The work here of the seamstress and tailor is done exclusively by men. They come to your house and execute your commands quickly, patiently, and cheaply, and in doing so they faithfully copy every pattern you give them, and omit nothing. We are inclined to think that the story of the American merchant who ordered a dozen pairs of yellow nankeen pantaloons, and, sending as a pat tern a pair which had been torn and patched, received twelve pairs similarly patched in execution of his order, is not altogether an invention. The contrast between European and Chinese civilization was presented sharply to us this morning in our passage from open European Shanghai, with its population of three thousand, to the native town of Shanghai, with its one hundred thousand inhabit ants, shut up within a circular wall twenty-five feet high, and two CUSTOM-HOUSE. SHANGHAI. 112 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA, and one-third miles in circumference. We do not think that any youth of our own day, however vigorous his arm, however strong the sling or heavy the pebble he might use, could reduce that wall, which was built doubtless in the time of Kublai Khan, but we would not answer for its standing against such an arm or weapon as that which brought down the giant of the Philistines. The town was easily captured by the English in 1843. When we had passed within the gates, and saw the narrow streets, and the crowded structures,, built of the most combustible materials, we wondered what can be the Chinese idea in keeping up the wall, which, in case of conflagration, must render escape impossible. Native Shanghai, like the foreign settlement, is built on an alluvial soil, and is insa lubrious, though reclaimed many centuries ago. This city is the seat of an immense inland trade, in which the tropical products of Southern China, with the hardier ones of Central China, are ex changed over the Yang-tse-kiang and the Imperial Canal for the tim ber, cattle, cereals, wool, and other products of Northern China, Mon golia, Mantchooria, and Eussia. The annual exports of the town- exceed in value the whole mineral production of the United States. It need not be said, therefore, that its merchants are shrewd, in dustrious and prosperous. It is marvellous how they have crowded so small an area with warehouses, manufactories, shops, gardens, theatres, dwellings, and temples. All these are built on a scale so small and mean, that, though each structure proves adequate to its purpose, it is only a miniature model or a toy. Nevertheless, the people of the town manifested much pride in showing us their con tracted dwellings built or exquisitely ornamented with cedar and other fragrant woods, their miniature lakes filled with dwarf moun tains which sometimes rise to the enormous height of thirty feet, and which the Chinese imagination magnifies into a range of Him alayas. We found there, besides tea-houses vastly finer than any in Japan, numerous guildhalls elaborately ornamented, in which boards and other associations of merchants and manufacturers daily congregate to discuss matters of trade, and such politics as they have. With all this, there is not one street accessible by car riage of any kind. The visitor is even obliged to leave his sedan- A DISAPPOINTMENT. 113 chair at the gate, and make his way through crowded lanes at most six or eight feet wide. Surface drainage is used, and the streets are so offensive and disgusting that every European in the " con cession " warns the stranger against going there. Contrary to what we saw in Japan, the native Chinaman shows not the least emulation or imitation of Western customs and man ners. All his ways manifest a spirit of self-assertion and indepen dence, if not a contemptuous one. We now comprehend the puzzle of the Chinaman in San Francisco. The scenes which the European avoids here by taking refuge within the "concession" are con tinually present with him wherever he moves in San Francisco. It is probable that the contact will work an improvement in Chinese morals and manners there, sooner than the separation will bring out that result here. But we eschewed philosophy for to-day, and here we have fallen into it again. Shanghai, October 20th. — A renewal to-day of yesterday's Chinese procession, but with a sequel. Chi-Tajen and Sun-Tajen visited Mr. Seward, and announced to him the success of their diplomatic labors in Europe, condoled with him on the death of Mr. Burlingame, thanked Mr. Seward over and over again for the aid they had received from him in their mission, and dwelt long and gratefully on the hospitalities which they had enjoyed in the United States. Mr. Seward inquired their lodgings, and expressed his intention of returning their visit. They thanked him, but insisted that he should not do so. They said, " We are living in a Chinese inn, in the old city. Neither the tavern nor the city is worthy or fit to receive you." When he persisted, they replied : "No, no, we will come to you here, but we are unable to entertain. Even when we were with you at Auburn, and you promised to come to China, we thought how unworthy we were to receive such a visit. Now, since we have compared so much that we have seen abroad with what we are at home, we know this better." It is a disappointment to us. What we want to do is to study China and Chinese ways. This study is the last one that can be 114 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. made among the foreign population of Shanghai. . In that circle, Chinese affairs are generally ignored. With the exception of an occasional philanthropic observer, they talk in that society chiefly of French defeats and German victories, of London fashions, Oxford boat-races, and American inferiority to Europeans in diplomatic and consular etiquette. If they talk at all of China, it is against the Burlingame Treaty, with asseverations that it is an utter absurdity to expect any good thing to come out of China, except through blockade and bombardment. Possibly, this is an exaggeration resulting from the massacre at Tien-Tsin, and represents the tran sient rather than the settled opinion of the foreign population. Happily this distrust of the Chinese does not affect or disturb trade. A large part of the coasting-trade of China , is in foreign hands, and is conducted chiefly by the Shanghai Steam-Navigation Company. That company has built wharves one thousand feet long, which are covered with warehouses, here called "go -downs." From these wharves the company dispatches eighteen coastwise steamers, an average of one per day. These are chiefly American- built, and they enter all the treaty ports of the empire. How miserable the prejudices to which we have adverted seem to us, in view of the fact that this immense development of foreign naviga tion and commerce is not only permitted by the Chinese Govern ment, but is encouraged by it ! It seems the more unreasonable when we reflect that now, after more than twenty years of international intercourse, the United States have not one griev ance against the Chinese Government unredressed, or one demand unsatisfied. It is pleasing to meet, here, " John Brown's soul marching on." At Mrs. Warden's ball, a colored man named Butler was received on a footing with the other guests. This Mr. Butler, who is equally modest and intelligent, is a native of Washington, and was born a slave of Commodore Eodgers, the father of the present admiral. He is here superintendent of the "go-downs," and charged with the entire freighting business of the Shanghai Steam- Navigation Company, receiving for his services a salary of four thousand dollars. ON BOARD THE SHAN TUNG. 115 Steamship Shan Tung, October 22d. — " Situated as we are and circumstanced as we are," it seems to us that we are out on a picnic, which, though it threatens to be long, promises much of interest. We have left Mr. and Mrs. Eandall at Shanghai. At eleven o'clock last night, Mr. Warden, whom we have found as wise as he is kind, drove us to the " Bund," where we were received by the aforesaid superintendent Butler, who had set ship and shore ablaze with an illumination of Chinese lanterns in honor of Mr. Seward. With this magnificent display, we were brought on board this pretty steamer which remains still attached to the wharf. It is one hun dred and fifty feet long and twenty-four feet across the beam ; its state-rooms and cabins are more spacious than those usually found on our rivers and lakes at home, and we enjoyed in them a sounder sle3p last night than the excitement and hilarity at Shanghai had before allowed us. At six this morning — "The ship was cheered, The harbor cleared, Merrily did we drop — " down the river to Woosung, where a friendly summons from the Colorado brought us to, and Mr. Seward received her salute of fifteen guns. Under this friendly fire, Admiral Eodgers came on board the Shan Tung with an attendance of seven officers, a guard of twenty-seven marines, and the brass band of his flag-ship. With this gallant accession, we have crossed the bar at the mouth of the Yang-tse-kiang, here thirty miles wide, and are once more afloat on the Yellow Sea, bound for the now much-dreaded colder regions of the north. Taking up the Shanghai newspaper, we read the news of the overthrow of the Second Empire of France, and the establishment of a provisional government at Paris. Everybody asks Mr. Seward, "Will Prance now restore the Orleans dynasty, or will it be the elder branch of the Bourbons ? " He answers, " I think France will henceforth be a republic, not because the country is prepared for it, but because it has at last 116 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. both sufficiently tried and exploded monarchy and imperialism." " This," said one of our friends, " is a bold prophecy to make under the shadow of an empire which is five thousand years old, while the MOUTH OF THE YANG-TSE-KIANG. republic is only an experiment of one hundred years in America and in Switzerland." He replied : " The first Napoleon predicted that, within fifty years, Europe would either be Cossack or repub lican. Monarchies and empires are of the past. The republic is the institution of the present and future." " By the deep, twenty -four fathoms." Deep water this, though the waves still glisten with the yellow sands of the great river. The ship rocks, and we rest. Yellow Sea, Latitude 34° 30', Sunday, October 23d.— Although we certainly did lose one whole day on shipboard on the Pacific, and although it seems to us that we waste much time on shore, we find nevertheless, on counting the weeks, and measuring the dis tances, that we are moving rapidly. Only last Sunday, we entered the Yellow Sea from Japan. To-day, after a week of observation and festivity at Shanghai, we have made one-third of our long ON THE YELLOW SEA. 117 projected voyage to Tien-Tsin. Who can reckon on the seasons ? We came on board, prepared with furs and blankets, and shrinking with fear of tempests. Nevertheless, the heavens are smiling, and the Yellow Sea is smooth as Owasco Lake. The band, perhaps because we are travelling in the hemisphere of the heathen, has brought no sacred music. Happily, it has not forgotten its lessons from the opera. So we were awakened and brought to the deck this morning by the " Dies Irse " chorus from " Faust." For even ing we have stipulated for the prayer in " Der Freischiitz." Al though we have.no missionaries on board, we have come to regard Sunday at sea as a day of rest, even more privileged and happy than at home. We have offered from the deck thanks for our own preservation as grateful, and prayers for friends at home, we trust, as fervent, as those which may be made there to-day, "for per sons going to sea." We have just passed the mouth of the Hoang-ho — the Yellow Eiver — the second of the two great rivers of China. Steamer Slian Tung, October 24th. — We rounded this morning the noble granite promontory Shan Tung, which is the most eastern landmark of China proper, and gives its name to one of the most extensive of the eighteen provinces which constitute the empire. It is the water-shed between the Gulf of Pe-chee-lee and the basin of the Yellow Eiver. It is across the western end of this promontory that the Imperial Canal bears the exchanges of Southern and Central China with those of the metropolis and the outlying prov inces of Mantchooria and Mongolia. Besides some fishermen's huts on the beach, we saw only one structure on the promontory, a Buddhist temple. The whole coast of the promontory is held sacred in China as pertaining to the birthplace of Confucius. The appearance of a troop of soldiers winding down the moun tain-side reminded us that the Tien-Tsin massacre has been followed by profound apprehensions of foreign war. A lonely, basaltic rock towers above the sea at the foot of the promontory — a monument that the land once came there, and that the wasting ocean has cut it off. But this monument, like all those erected by human hands, CHINESE JUNKS. 119 is not destined to endure. It is already broken, and the sea is flowing through it. Fishing-smacks flock like gulls around the base of the promontory. The junk is an odd-looking affair. It lies low in the water. All its timbers are quaintly carved, and it is painted as gayly as if designed for a regatta. Practically speaking, it is a double-ender, and its awkwardly-rigged and ill-shapen rudder distinguishes it OHINESE FISHING-SMACK. from • all other sea-craft which have been built since Noah's ark. On either side of the bow there is never wanting a huge eye. We asked a Chinese seaman the significance of that ornament. He promptly replied, "Junk no have eye, no can see!" It is a re markable coincidence that not only the boats but the houses of the Alaska Indians are furnished with eyes. Although China has never been a maritime power, and is not likely soon to become 120 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. one, it has an internal navigation which has never been and never can be equalled elsewhere. Personal coincidences thicken. This morning, one of the marines communicated to Admiral Eodgers, through the offices of William Freeman, that he was not unknown to Mr. Seward. The admiral promptly instituted an inquiry, which resulted in the marine's coming to the quarter-deck, and being recognized there by Mr. Seward as a soldier who served on the escort which attended him through Alaska last year, and that his knowledge of Mr. Seward had begun in his having been put on guard at his house in Washington, on the night of the President's assassination. Need we say that he was glad to renew his acquaintance with one who had been a defender on two such memorable occasions ? Steamer Shan Tung, October 26th. — Bearing westward from Shan Tung, we after some hours entered the harbor of Chee-foo, nearly surrounded by hills. Thus far we have seen nothing sub lime, nor even any thing picturesque in China. The northern shores are only more pleasing than those about Shanghai, because they are slightly elevated and slightly undulating. Naked and barren at this season, one might well mistake the region about Chee-foo for the California coast. The United States war-steamer Benicia saluted us as we entered , the harbor, and her officers came on board. Chee-foo is one of the last-opened ports of China. The foreign settlement numbers only one hundred. The native population is variously estimated at twenty-five thousand to eighty thousand. The agent of the Steam- Navigation Company received us on a well-constructed stone wharf, and has entertained us in the kindest manner. We have made an excursion in chairs to an eminence that overlooks the town and harbor, and found there a ruin, but were unable to deter mine whether the structure was a temple, an observatory, or a watch-tower. From its dilapidated walls we counted two hundred vessels of all sorts and sizes anchored in the bay, although Chee-foo confines itself exclusively to the coast-trade. In this trade, pressed tea prepared for the Eussian market in the form of bricks, and A STORM AT SEA. 121 scarcely more nutritious, is the chief article. A large and delicious native grape cultivated here is highly esteemed in all the cities of China, but no wine is made. Descending the hill, we enjoyed the walk on the smooth sand- beach. Chee-foo is a summer resort of foreigners — the Newport of China. The bungalows, however, are now vacant. One of them, which was built by a missionary, cost ten thousand dollars. The gentlemen of our party, having recovered their land-legs, and been furnished with stout native ponies, made a scrub-race on the beach. The admiral, " who carries weight for age," was dis tanced by the consul-general. Our friends at home will bo pleased to learn that the whole party furnished themselves here with pon gees, suitable for wear in the tropics, at twenty-five cents a yard. We left Chee-foo at eight in the evening, and at eleven o'clock we " caught it." As we kept near the coast, the sea was shoal and sand-colored. A strong land-wind arose and blew the water into ridges thirty or forty feet high, and our course obliged us to travel continually in the trough. The wind increased to a gale, and the steamer rocked. How she did rock! Those two of our naval friends who were left in a condition to do any thing, declare that they counted twenty-four rollings of the steamer from one side to another in sixty seconds. It must be confessed, however, that Lieutenant Wheeler and Mr. Pillsbury are somewhat suspected of waggery. But it must also be remembered that, at the time they made this solemn declaration, they supposed themselves to be very nearly in articulo mortis. Only the admiral kept his feet, Mr. Seward, with feet braced, being lashed in his chair to strong iron stanchions at the centre of the middle deck. The ladies were packed, wedged, and wadded in their berths. " Admiral," asked Mr. Seward, " is this rolling and tumbling a customary experience of yours?" "No," answered the admiral with not less than his usual gravity, " this vessel has a motion entirely unknown to me." " Captain," said Mr. Seward to the master of the Shan Tung," is this rolling a chronic habit of your ship ? " " No," replied the captain, " she only practises it in the Gulf of Pe-chee-lee." Most of the Colorado's marines, and all the musicians except two, were 122 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. helpless. Nothing that was loose remained in place; furniture, trunks, bags, and boxes, bundles of pongee and baskets of Chee-foo grapes, went sliding and jamming and punching, backward and forward, and every way, until our pretty dancing-room gave a heterogeneous clattering worse than a seance of the Davenport brothers. In all this noise, confusion, and danger, it may well be imagined there was no sleep at night, no breakfast in the morning, and no lunch at noon. The storm abated and the sea began to subside at three o'clock. At four, the good admiral required such of the musicians as were sound or convalescent, to play selections of Offenbach, by way of enticing sea-sick passengers from their state-rooms. But even "La Belle Helene" and "La Grande Du- chesse " alike failed in this sad and trying emergency. There was neither talking, nor dining, nor wining, until we dropped anchor at nine o'clock in the open roadstead of Taku. Here in that road stead we are now, waiting for the tide to carry us over the bar at the mouth of the Pei-ho Eiver. There is little show of commerce about us. As yet we see no land, and only a dozen vessels, like our own, riding at anchor. We are having a first experience of cold. The mercury has fallen to 50°. Ten o'clock. — "We have dined. The pilot has come on board. The musicians are playing their notes, and we are writing up burs. We hope that the dance which we have left for that purpose will keep on till the tide changes. CHAPTEE Y. UP THE PEI-HO RIVER. Month of the Pei-ho. — Chinese Forts. — American Guns. — The Most Crooked and Mean of Rivers. — Chinese Dogs. — A Misunderstanding.— Captain Wang. — Our Flotilla. — The City of Tien-Tsin. — Aspect of the Country. — Our Boat Life. — Absence of Ani mals. — A Messenger from Peking. — A Chinese Trader. — Tung-Chow. Pei-7w River, October 27th. — We passed the bar at three this morning, having only twelve feet water, while the Shan Tung draws twelve feet four inches. Thanks to the sandy bottom, we have come safely over. With the exception of our peeps into the native cities of Shanghai and Chee-foo, we have so far only seen Europe in China. Now China and the Chinese have opened them- • selves to us. Taku is the outer port of Tien-Tsin, and is forti fied. Though the works are not remarkable for construction, they have proved very effective defences by reason of the marshes which prevent the near approach of an enemy. We counted one hundred and fifty guns in position, some of which are of Amer ican make. The forts seem not strongly garrisoned. It was im possible for us to ascertain whether the wide-spread settlements . through which we passed after crossing the bar, and which contain a population of half a million, are one great city, or a hundred or more busy villages. But we learn that, statistically regarded, Taku consists of three villages, Taku, Siku, and Sangku. A leading business is the trade in salt, which is made on the sea-shore, and deposited in large quantities on the banks of the rivers. The channel is crowded with junks, while only one, two, or three for- 124 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. eign vessels ascend or descend it daily. We might well know that we have attained a higher latitude. The dwelling-houses here are built, not of wood, but of adobe walls, with chimneys ; the streets as narrow as those of old Shanghai. As we advance up the river, we can distinguish farms, with spacious and comfortable dwellings and out-buildings. The Pei-ho seems the most crooked and mean of all rivers. Only such a people as the Chinese could have made such a stream a channel of continental commerce. It is about as wide in most places as our steamer is long. It flows over alluvial sands ; the water is used for irrigating the flat plain. To us, who are novices here, the cultivation seems successful, and even marvel lous ; nevertheless, we are informed that this is the most barren region of the empire. The cereals and vegetables are not different from those of New York and Pennsylvania, though more various. They have white, tulip-shaped cabbages, turnips of many kinds and sizes, peas, lentils, wheat, Indian-corn, oats, millet, beans, lettuce, and onions ; occasionally rice, potatoes, and sweet-potatoes. Approaching Tien-Tsin, we find the old familiar obstruction of the " overslaugh " near Albany. The boat goes around every five minutes, and sometimes, at a bend in the river, suddenly converts itself into a bridge. It is doubtful whether we shall reach Tien- Tsin until another flood. To increase our discomfort, it began to rnin at one o'clock at night, and it still pours, and the mercury in both thermometer and barometer is falling. Tien-Tsin, October 28th. — Persevering all night, through all obstacles, we reached and grappled "the Bund" of the foreign set tlement at noon. Here steam-navigation ends. We must stop and see what next. Tien-Tsin seems worthy to be the entrepot of foreign commerce, as it is at the head of inland navigation. To estimate its trade, one has but to look at the flags of all nations on the merchantmen and men-of-war, in the crowded and contracted harbor. These flags were successively dipped and our own na tional steamship, the Ashuelot, saluted us as we worked our way to the wharf. The French naval commander and the British and Eussian consuls have already come on board with friendly greet- A MELANCHOLY NIGHT. 125 ings. The foreign settlement is small, but, contrasted with the native suburbs, makes a very respectable appearance. October 2§th. — We have had a jar in our party. With dismal, cold weather, and with muddy streets on the land, we necessarily remain on board. A Strauss waltz, suggestive of a dance, was struck up by the band after dinner, probably at the request of the younger officers at the foot of the table. Eeflecting on the excitement produced at this moment, not only in China, but throughout the world, by the recent massacre of Christians in this very place, Mr. Seward remon strated against the festivity. The young people reluctantly acqui esced, but they arc consoled this morning by his admission that we had a noche triste. We have had a busy day. The gentlemen have secured a fleet of flat-bottomed sail-boats with crews, in all numbering one hun dred men. All the party have been engaged in preparing stores and packing, intending to embark this evening. Meanwhile, Mr. Seward, with the admiral, has been entertained with an inspection of the Ashuelot. mm. CHINESE DOGS. 126 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. The foreigners in China have not forgotten, among the humani ties, their interest in the canine race. Dogs of every kind have come on board, as if appreciating the sympathies of civilization — the Newfoundland dog, the Australian hound, the Eussian blood hound, and the universal black-and-tan terrier; but, far prettier than all those very familiar friends, are a pair of spaniels, purely bred from Chinese stock, which have come in the staff of the Eus sian consul-general. They are small, and of a pinkish-brown, without a black hair. There is a tradition that Charles I. received the progenitor of this race, in England, as a present from the Em peror of China. It is that identical dog lying on the hearth-rug that Horace Walpole describes as a " plumy wreath." Ten 6 'clock at night. — " The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft aglee." The boats did not come to time. This afternoon a chair was provided for Mr. Seward, and a Mongolian pony for each one of the suite who chose. This animal, like our Canadian pony, has great strength and endurance. Supposing that the plan for the ex cursion was fully understood by all, Mr. Seward went ashore and sat down in his chair, on "the Bund." At this moment, some one asked Mr. George F. Seward if he were going to ride. He an swered, " No." On this, the inquirer informed Admiral Eodgers that Mr. Seward was engaged, and would not ride. The whole party at this moment galloped off, leaving Mr. Seward sitting in his chair, surrounded by his eight coolie bearers, not one of whom 6pake or understood a word of English. They waited for orders in Chinese, which, although Mr. Seward could give in English, there was no person to interpret. At the first turn in the road, the equestrians looked back for their chief. He was not there. Inquiry being made, the admiral answered that Mr. Seward was not coming out. This satisfied them for the time, but on further reflection a doubt arose whether he had so capriciously changed his purpose. So the whole party, THE PEI-HO SQUADRON. 127 under apprehensions for his safety, returned on their track for a rescue. They found him at a distance of half a mile from the Bund, pressing on with his eight coolies and a mounted guide. After this faux pas, we passed over a broad plain covered with crumbling tombs and neglected graves, and then came to a high outer wall, which stretches across from the Chinese city to the bank of the river. The wall was erected during the last combined British and French invasion. It is an earthwork with a narrow, shallow moat, a glacis twenty feet wide, and a frail parapet with frequent embra sures, which impart to it an ornamental effect. The admiral says that the work would be of no use as a defence, but he has not a high estimate of Chinese military science. However that may be, the glacis furnished us a delightful ride, with beautiful vistas, through the parapets, across the bastions and under the crowning martello towers. The Chinese know as well how to utilize their temples as we know how to improve our churches for hospitals in time of war. Attracted by massive portals and high outer walls, we crossed the plain to examine a Buddhist temple, standing on a slight elevation and overlooking the river. We found it had been long ago con verted into a powder-magazine. Certainly the place is a fitting one. Miles around it is one vast suburb of the dead. Adieu, Shan Tung, with your morning martial promenades, your recherche dinners, your quiet card-parties, your evening con certs and balls, your rollings, your pitchings, and your groundings and your tumblings ! When shall we see another seaman like Captain Hawes? Hail to thee, flat-bottomed boat number four of the Pei-ho squadron, with thy single main-sail, thy four poles, and thy one tow-rope ! Hail, Captain Wang, and your meek and patient four ! Whatever perils await us under your conduct, we are insured at least against a watery grave. Shall we describe the flotilla ? The admiral has numbered and registered the vessels, one, two, three, up to fifteen. They vary in dimensions, and, though coarsely, are all strongly built. Each has one cabin, less than five feet wide at the floor, and one raised bunk 128 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. behind it for sleeping-room. It has cost some care to distribute among the boats a party so large and so very much mixed. Num ber one leads. It bears the Stars and Stripes, and carries the United States consul-general, Mrs. Seward, and their Chinese ser vants. Number two, without colors, bears the two other ladies ; and number three is the flag-ship of Admiral Eodgers, his secretary, and servants, and floats the national ensign taken from the Colorado. Number four, under a broader flag, carries Mr. Seward and the BOATS ON TnE PEI-HO EIVER. faithful- Freeman. It is the largest ship in the fleet, thirty feet long, and twelve feet beam. Of the whole fleet, only number four has a stove, and this is borrowed from the Ashuelot. Its cabin, there fore, is our writing-room. Wang tells us this boat is an inheritance from his father, and has been in constant use fifty-four years. Number five carries Mr. Middleton and Mr. Eodman ; numbers seven and eight, officers of the admiral's staff; number nine is the dining-room of the party ; numbers ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, THE CITY OF TIEN-TSIN. 129 fourteen, and fifteen, have on board, the band, the marines, stores, and baggage. Each boat has its sunken cabin with a dark hold under the forward deck, which is occupied by the crew. The cabins are en closed with upright slabs, removable at pleasure. They are old and full of crevices, and exclude neither the rain nor the cold. The boat has a single mast forward of the cabin and before the cabin-door, on which a small cotton sail is rigged with' a single reef, upon a bamboo-spar. When the wind does not serve, the boatmen resort to poles. When they grow tired of this, they betake them selves to the banks, which are neither paved nor graded. Attach ing the towing-line to the top of the mast, they make a loose knot on the other end, and throw it over their shoulders. Thus har nessed, they draw the boat up the stream. Each boat has four coolies, and we pay for the whole voyage, including all the costs and charges, six dollars a day for each boat, if wc travel only by daylight, and nine dollars if we travel day and night. Our naval friends have a mess-boat of their own ; the rest of the party use the dining-room. Of course, these parties entertain each other. The musicians and the marines are supplied with their navy-rations, and the coolie3 take care of themselves. We started with a fair wind this morning, and, as we passed the shipping, our band made the acknowledgments we owed to the foreign vessels, by playing first " Hail Columbia," then " God save the Queen," the " Marseillaise," and all the other national anthems. The friendly ships and the consulates on shore lowered their flags, and gave us cheers and encouraging salutations. It was not doubtful that the gallant officers regarded our ascent to Peking, at this painful juncture, as an adventure not altogether free from danger. The serpentine voyage of three miles brought us to the Chinese city of Tien-Tsin, enclosed within a stone-wall forty feet high, sur mounted with watch-towers, and four miles in circuit. Suburbs, densely inhabited, crowd the river on both sides. The population is stated to us here at a million and a half. Travellers generally estimate it at half a million. We may well accept the higher figure, 130 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. for such a scene of crowded though silent activity we never saw. Except the charred walls, broken towers, and shattered battlements of the Eoman Catholic cathedral and convent lately destroyed, there is not one massive or pretentious structure. Narrow streets divide monotonous blocks of one story and two story buildings. Every small space is filled with countless, moving multitudes. There is no ferry, but the bridge of boats is crowded with a mass of men and boys such as " Fulton Ferry " presents on a holiday. Chinese boats choke the channel. We thought wc never should get through the town, but we did. We saw an army of ten thou sand men, infantry and cavalry, enter the city as we passed the western gate. At a distance the array was imposing, but, as we neared it, we discovered a woful lack of uniformity, as well in dress as in arms and equipments. The infantry arm varied from a wooden club of three feet long, to a matchlock with a seven-foot barrel ; the music thoroughly discordant, but the yellow banners were fre quent, gay, and gorgeous. The march was as straggling and dis orderly as the return of the troops from Bull Eun to Washington. It is notorious that, since the massacre, the Chinese have been gathering a large army at Tien-Tsin. Foreigners say it is a prep aration for war ; Chinese official persons, on the contrary, assure us that it is a precaution against further outbreaks here. It is too early, however, for us to speak on this exciting topic. On the west side of Tien-Tsin, as on the east, the plain presents a vast and cheerless field of sepulture. Leaving this behind us, we come through cultivated fields, with vegetable-gardens hanging over the water's edge. Here we are planting our stakes and tying up for the night, in such order as the admiral directs. He has posted a guard around us. No one passes without giving the countersign, and each passing hour is called as the hushed night rolls on. It is cold, and we shrink into our cabins to meditate as we may on the strange scenes and men around us. On the Pei-ho, October 30th. — Thanks to our commissary who procured, and thanks to the generous friends at Tien-Tsin who lent us the blankets and furs, we have enjoyed a comfortable sleep AN ANCIENT PAVEMENT. 131 in our most uncomfortable of boats. We waked in a drizzling rain, the thermometer at 38°. In such an atmosphere, comfort is impossible without exercise, which can only be obtained by walk ing on the slippery clay banks of the river, for, although it is a canal, it has no' towing-path. The Imperial Canal, the greatest work of that kind in the world, leaves the Pei-ho at Tien-Tsin, crosses the Yellow Eiver, and debouches into the Yang-tse-kiang, but it has lesser slack water and other contrivances, which extend the navigation to Canton. The Pei-ho Eiver at Tien-Tsin is navi gated eighty miles to Tung-Chow, the appointed terminus of our present voyage, which is fifteen miles distant from Peking. The country is level and monotonous, but more sterile as we advance. Although the inhabitants are poor, they seem hardy, busy, and contented. There is no forest as far as the eye can reach, only a few poplars and willows, the natural products of an alluvial soil, kept as shade-trees. It is not easy to discover how the im mense population procure the fuel necessary in so cold a climate. We bought coal, of an inferior quality, at a large price, at Tien- Tsin. Our coolies, in cooking, burn only dry stalks of Indian-corn. While puzzling ourselves over that problem, we discovered great rafts of timber which choke navigation. Where could this timber have come from ? Could it have come down the stream ? If up the stream, where was it shipped ? On inquiry, we learn that it is brought across the Gulf of Pe-chee-lee, from the Corean Peninsula. Forbidding as the way and the weather are, we have walked this afternoon many miles. Our promenade was arrested by a marsh which compelled us to make a short detour, and, at a distance of twenty rods from the bank of the river, we found, in the bed of the morass, a pavement forty feet wide and one hundred feet long, of square hewn granite blocks — the first ruin we have thus far seen in our journey. Who laid that pavement ? When and for what purpose ? Was it the bottom of an ancient canal ? There were no other traces of such a structure. Losing the pave ment as it disappeared under the surface, we climbed a knoll fifty rods beyond, and found there a perfectly artistic granite wall, enclosing a large area within which no edifice remains. At one 132 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. corner of the wall is an arched gateway half in ruins. Stumbling through this passage over broken bricks and stones, we entered the desolate court. Here we confronted a solid marble shaft, five feet wide and twenty feet high, standing upon the back of a huge tortoise of the same material, having the exact form and proportions of Nature, every line of the shell, body, and claws being executed with precision and skill. The middle of the shaft, on both sides, is covered with legends, while each border from top to bottom is crowded with mythical birds, serpents, and dragons, exquisitely chiselled. We concluded that a temple had once stood here, and that the pavement below had served as the grand approach. Why had it been suffered to fall into ruin ? Perhaps we may learn more as we go on. October 31st, Thermometer 48° Fahrenheit. — We have made half our voyage. A range of mountains looms up before us in the west. What mountains? They must be the Altai range. We have described Mr. Seward's boat. Would not our friends at home like to know how nicely the ladies have fitted up theirs ? It is not, indeed, as magnificent as Cleopatra's barge, but there is no Antony on the shores. They have a carpet of gray goat-skins, and with superfluous scarlet blankets have extemporized a tapestry, which effectually covers the chinks, and excludes the wind. The dais, two feet high, which serves for a bed, has a drapery of purple and gray rugs. Their dressing-table, which is a portmanteau on end, is covered with a gay shawl, and a mirror four inches square, with a gilt-frame, borrowed from the Ashuelot, hangs above it. For sofas, they use trunks spread with a white Thibetian fur great coat, which Mr. Seward has kindly contributed. The access to this elegant saloon, which is eight feet square, is not particularly con venient — an aperture in the front, two feet square, with a descent of three feet, without steps or ladder. In going in one stoops and steps backward ; in coming out, one stoops, and is pulled upward. Our habit of travel is settled. The fleet moves, or is supposed to move, at dawn. We arc served with hot tea and a biscuit, with the thermometer somewhere between freezing and 40°. We draw CHINESE AGRICULTURE. 133 water from the river, for the toilet, in preference to that which was frozen during the night in our pitchers. We make ourselves warm by a walk of two or three miles. In these walks, we stare and wonder at the uncouth ploughs, the awkward fanning-mills, and - r. ' Rs- wF ;$2 m Wm ¦ 88^ ' AGEIOULTtTEE. other rude fanning implements, and the equally strange farm-houses and dwellings which we pass. What seems stranger than any thing else is the absence of domestic animals. Horses, cows, and oxen, are indeed sometimes seen at the plough, but generally the ground is worked with spade and hoe. No wheeled vehicle, except rarely a cart, with a mean 10 134 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. calash, drawn by a horse, a mule, or oxen, is seen. Forty sheep here are a fortune. Mr. Bergh's sensibilities would be sorely tried if he could see the burdens and labors imposed on the ass. The hogs are " black as the ace of spades," about as thin, and more scarce than pheasants. Sometimes we take one side of the river, and then cross to the other. Not unfrequently, by the intervention of head land and promontory, we lose sight of our little fleet, or, finding it in disorder, mistake number two for number four, or the admiral's flag for the consul-general's. Coming in from these walks, we gather round Mr. Seward's little stove, read or write, and talk over the alarms of the night and the incidents of the morning. We breakfast at eleven, and dine at five. Our stores are chiefly foreign. As we neither know how to procure nor how to prepare the Chinese food, the commissariat gives us coffee from Mocha, sausages from Bologna, biscuit and porter from England, peas from France, sar dines from Italy, cheese from Chautauqua, butter from Goshen, and oysters from Baltimore, with wines from all countries in the world, except China. Our boatmen, " heathen Chinee " though they are, have become devoted to us, and, when they see our long waiting for breakfast, they kindly offer to share with us their little menu of Indian-corn bread, wheaten fritters, and cabbage-soup. After dinner, we are weary enough to sink into our hard bunks, and cold enough to draw over us our furs. The boats tie up very punctually at ten o'clock, and it is by no means safe or pleasant to clamber over the decks from one to the other. November 1st. — The November which we have dreaded has met us here in China, just as it would probably have come down on us if we had remained at home. Its breath, often cold and clammy there, is no warmer or drier here. In four days we have had not one gleam of sunshine. We might well imagine ourselves on the St. Lawrence, so similar is the vegetation of this sandy plain. One beautiful feature, however, of the St. Lawrence is missing here. Instead of the gorgeous autumnal forest, we have only a few scattered leaves, and those pale-yellow or colorless. We have to day added fifteen coolies to our marine. AT TUNG-CHOW. 135 Mr. Seward's cabin has just taken fire, but Captain Wang and his crew quickly dropped their buckets into the river, and ex tinguished the flame. Travellers who come after us may take notice that stoves on the Pei-ho are not only an expensive but a dangerous luxury. Tung-Chow, November 2d. — At a distance of six miles, that is to say, a period of four hours, before the end of our voyage, a mounted messenger, coming from the United States minister and the Eussian minister at Peking, met us on the river with con gratulations. In the middle of the dark, rainy night we became aware of our arrival at Tung-Chow by the noise of our tackle taking hold upon the bank. We saw nothing of this long-desired haven during the night, though the unintelligible jargon of a crowd which the great arrival attracted rendered sleep impossible. The sun at last relents. The scene this morning, though grotesque, is cheerful. The nocturnal crowd has swollen to a dense mass of men and boys, all wearing large, broad-brimmed straw hats clat tering wooden-soled shoes, and thickly-padded and quilted blue blouses — all parts of the costume showing the effects of wear, and suggesting many changes in past ownership. They manifest in tense curiosity to learn the secret of our large and imposing flotilla. As they peep and peer through every aperture and crevice of our boats, staring with narrow, wondering eyes at our strange costume and complexion, our toilet has not been made without difficulty. They are nevertheless quiet and respectful, and, whatever may be the motive, they seem desirous to please, to serve, and to oblige. Every manner of small traffic is going on among them. Bread, cabbages, and cakes, were sold or gambled for according to the taste of the customer. A " vagrom "-looking fellow flourishes a painted pasteboard quiver, and turns it upside down, and chopsticks fall from it instead of arrows. Combative sparrows and canaries chal lenge each other through their gages, and a boy carries a pretty brown bird, smaller than the oriole or the mocking-bird, and which, seeming a reconciled captive, sings sweetly out a merry invitation to a gentle purchaser. 136 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. The Pei-ho forms a basin thirty or forty yards wide, which is here crowded with little junks or boats, most of which are used for dwellings. The town stands on a terrace which rises gently from the river. There is no dock, wharf, or storehouse, on the bank be tween the river and the terrace. The uncovered sewage of the city has worn the sloping bank into channels, and between these chan nels are promiscuous deposits of merchandise and heaps of compost, all alike prepared for shipping. The houses on the terrace are low, but many of them have quite large courts. Their fronts are covered with fanciful sign-boards. At a bend of the river before us rises a lofty pagoda of seven stories ; the first structure of this form which we have seen. We wonder that it is not more extensively copied in the West, and especially why it is not adopted in place of our unshapely and cheerless light-house. The name pagoda is in common use, but dagoba is in use also. A distinction is made, however. When the structure is small, and is enclosed in an area with a temple, it is called dagoba. On the other hand, when it stands by itself, its design is for ornament more than use ; it is then called pagoda. A learned Chinese authority tells us that every structure of the kind, whether pagoda or dagoba, contains relics of some saint or martyr. Say what men may, there is a power in gilded epaulets and buttons. Our naval friends, strong in that power, opened an easy way for us through the inquisitive multitude ; but, in climbing the slimy bank of the terrace, we encountered an obstacle which neither gold lace nor buttons could displace. This was a caravan of thirty laden camels, in single file, as they always move, just beginning their long journey over the steppes of Eussia to Moscow. The imperturbable beasts, thickly covered with long, scraggy hair, trod firmly but slowly with their spreading, padded feet. Beaching a terrace, we were as yet only in a suburb. After many efforts, we were obliged to give up the exploration. Every street is a deep, broad gutter, now rendered impassable by mud and rain. We re turned to the front, and contented ourselves with looking into the dwellings and shops. The occupants were neatly dressed, seemed intelligent, came out of their doors, and saluted us, tendering A POLITE CHINESE. 137 their hands and inviting us to enter. One, quite distingue, bowed us, with a politeness that was irresistible, into a wide court, bor dered by dwellings and shops. He indicated a knowledge that we are from the West by pointing to a Eussian chart of Europe, hanging on the wall. On this we made a rough Mercator sketch of the globe. He at once marked on it the sites Tung-Chow, Moscow, and New York. He served delicious tea, quickly prepared, with sugar crystallized into rock-candy to sweeten it, and Russian cigarettes. Then he showed us his money-scales, strings of cash, numerating balls, bills of exchange, receipts, and books of account, all neatly and carefully arranged. He called in his tidy and re spectable assistants and clerks, and with special pride introduced to us his pretty son and heir of six years. We were bowed and " chin-chinned " by our host with his whole family and retinue, and then read on his sign-board inscriptions which told that the place is at once one of entertainment for travellers, and an agency for the sale of teas in the Eussian trade. We breakfasted in our naval dining-room on the river at eight. It is now eleven o'clock. Every thing has been brought ashore, and has been packed in carts and sedan-chairs. Ponies, mules, and donkeys, stand in formal array on the bank, for the whole party, which numbers forty-seven Americans, besides Chinese servants, drivers, waiters, and attend ants. Captain Tilden, on horseback, and his tall marines mounted on low donkeys, make, it must be confessed, a rather ludicrous cavalry display, but perhaps not ineffective for China. We take our chairs for Peking. CHAPTER VI. ARRIVAL AT PEKING. Passing through Tung-Chow. — Good Behavior of the People. — The Road to Peking. — A Dangerous Highway. — Daniel Webster and John Adams. — A Review of Our Party. — A Grotesque Procession. — The Eastern Gate of Peking. — The Separation of the Party. — Anxiety for Mr. Seward. — In Woful Plight. — An Explanation. — Arrival at the U. S. Legation. Peking, November 3d. — The Government at Peking, apprised of Mr. Seward's coming, had sent forward two intelligent mandarins to attend him to the capital. These officers at Tung-Chow sent up a messenger to report the array and progress of the party, in order that arrangements might be made for its safe and proper entrance into the city. What could be more gratifying to our national and personal pride than the prospect, thus opened to us, of a kind and dis tinguished reception ? We took our way up the shelving levee, but without a road or path. We went a long distance down and across the ditches, which teemed with noxious vapors arising from the vegetable merchandise and offal of the city. At length our man darins brought us up from the river's edge into bustling lanes, varying from five to twelve feet wide. The population gathered to see a procession so unique, and probably to them imposing. After a full half-mile, we descended into a broad ditch, filled with water reekingly offensive — a treacherous path for pedestrians, but Chinese chair-bearers, like Chinese beasts, are sure footed. We passed through an arch, under a high wall, which stands on the ADAMS AND WEBSTER. 139 bank of a moat. We should have thought that we were now leav ing the city instead of entering it, if the ditch had been on the inner side of the wall. The city contains within the walls not less than eighty thousand inhabitants. Hours must have been spent in getting through it, had not a military or municipal force met us at the gates and cleared the way. The streets were lanes, the houses low, cheap, and closely crowded together, as at Tien-Tsin. Our experience, however, in passing, was particularly pleasing. The people betrayed nothing of the hate and jealousy which are ascribed to the Chinese by the Europeans in the open ports. Whether they understood Mr. Seward's public character, or were impressed by his white hair, white Thibetian great-coat, and black Thibetian cap, we do not know, but the entire population, young and old, saluted him, as he passed, with unmistakable signs of veneration. Emerg ing from the farther gate, we came on the direct road to Peking, distant, some say, twenty-five miles, others say twelve miles. This road, built three hundred years ago, is an embankment forty feet wide, and twenty feet above the plain, which is always subject to inundation. The whole width has been paved with hewn granite blocks four or five feet long, two feet wide, and eight inches thick. These blocks were originally jointed closely and fastened with iron clamps, so as to leave no crevice or unevenness of surface, but the elements have long since deranged and dislocated the pavement, so that it cannot be travelled now either by wheeled vehicles or animals with comfort and safety. The horsemen and carts prefer to flounder through the sands and mud of the plains below, rather than to try this dangerous highway. "Admiral Eodgers," said Mr. Seward, as they kept their chairs 6ide by side on this road, " did you ever hear of the interview of Mr. Webster with John Adams, the day before his death ? " " No." " Mr. Webster said to the old statesman, ' How do you do, this morn ing, Mr. Adams ? ' ' Not very well,' he replied ; ' I am living in a very old house, Mr. Webster, and, from all that I can learn, the landlord does not intend to repair.' " So," continued Mr. Seward, " this road gives me a more painful impression than any thing else I have seen in China — it shows that the Government has no inten- 140 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. tion to repair." The road might be restored as perfectly as before, simply by reversing the blocks, and bringing them together face downward. A clear field now allowed us to take a review and cen sus of^ our party. The advance-guard consisted of twelve Chinese infantry. They wore metallic caps in the shape of Mambrino's helmet, torn by the hand of Don Quixote from the head of the caitiff barber ; the caps fastened by long, yellow tassels. Their uniform consisted of blue nankeen trousers and tunics, on the back of which was a white circular ground, bearing the inscription in large, black Chinese characters, " Valor." Next came, or, rather, tried to come, a guard of twelve United States marines on foot, but the nimble-footed chair-bearers crowded so closely on them that the entire body took refuge in the rear. Next followed the four chairs of Mr. Seward, the admiral, and the ladies, with a mounted escort composed of the gentlemen of the party, civil and military. Then the musicians and seamen mounted promiscuously on horses, mules, and donkeys. The sailors found it equally difficult to keep their seats on the ponies, and their feet above-ground, when riding the donkeys. We could not count the baggage-carts, which, under the care of William Freeman, and the protection of a guard of marines, brought up the rear. Having prudently determined not to shock the sensibility of the Chinese by any display of banners or musical instruments, we came along quietly without accident or incident, until, at a distance of a few miles from Peking, we rose upon the fine arched bridge of Palikao, where the battle memorable in the war of the allies against China was fought, and in which the lately-dismissed War Minister of France gained his title. Here the native guard halted and ranged themselves at the side of our cortege, presented arms, and, taking respectful leave of Mr. Seward, returned to Tung-Chow. When we had passed the bridge, the sedan-chair occupants, as well as the horsemen, were seized with a mutual desire for change. The success of either party was not brilliant. The chair-riders, victims of misplaced confidence, tumbled over the heads of the donkeys, and the cruppers of the mules ; the mounted party spilled out of the chairs. The country through which we passed shows A CHINESE FUNERAL. 141 less a neglect of cultivation than a dilapidation of estates. Half way on the road, we met a grotesque procession. First, came a band of thirty or forty boys, dressed in scarlet and yellow, whom we might have mistaken for clowns, bearing staves with fantastic badges of authority. Next, a band of musicians, displaying equal luxury of color, banged and drummed on instruments unlike any thing we had ever seen. Then came an enormous catafalque, pagoda-shaped, mounted on wheels whose axles just escaped the ground, the exterior covered with scarlet cloth, richly trimmed with gold lace. Within was an elaborately-carved coffin. The vehicle was rolled forward on the rough road by eighty bare-legged coolies. The rank of the dead determines the number of such bearers. Preceding the car was a mournfully-dressed, sad-looking little woman, holding up before her a large, painted wooden doll. This figure represents the wife of the deceased, and is to be buried in the grave with him, as her proxy. The procession showed to us more courtesy than funeral-processions ever show at home — it opened and halted to allow the chairs to pass. At last, after five hours' tedious and painful travel from Tung- Chow, we obtained a full view of the great Eastern Gate of Peking, rising above monotonous suburbs, not unlike those of Tung-Chow. Here the pathway on the plain below the embankment was a smooth, dry sand. How could Miss Seward resist the temptation to exchange her chair for a fine Arabian horse, which Mr. Low, the United States minister, had sent down, and so make the entry into the Chinese capital in a suitable manner ? The ride was exhila rating, and perhaps excited the envy of the less fortunate members of the party. She was attended by two friends, one gentleman on horseback and another on a donkey. The procession reached the suburbs in tolerable order, but here the amusement of the journey ended, and its difficulties and sorrows began. The worn- out paved road, instead of keeping high and dry on the embank ment, sank fifteen feet below the level of the streets. It had been raining continuously in Peking for three weeks, and the sunken road-bed was covered with mud knee-deep. Villanous Chinese carts, going both ways, crowded the entire path, obliging not only 142 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. the chairs, but the equestrians and pedestrians of the party, horses, mules, donkeys, and all, to pick and find their way on the broken, shelving, furrowed, crowded and every way obstructed bank, be tween the houses and the road-bed. We do not know how nor where the little mounted party last mentioned fell under the guidance of a mute Chinaman on a strong, fast horse. Pointing, however, to his red cap, either as a mark for them to follow, or as a badge of his authority, he hastened them forward and onward. Only for a short time they saw their friends in the chairs coming on, but falling more and more behind. They passed under the great Eastern Gate, too much terrified to study its architecture. They turned into a narrow lane, then by a zigzag movement into another, at times crossing broader streets' which were obstructed with carts, booths, merchandise, and theatres; then again into lanes, dark, deserted, and ruinous. If any one can conceive an obstruction not described, it may be brought into this picture. Now they climbed steep, slippery embankments, dashing and splashing against stone posts, sign-boards, and booths, scatter ing angry passengers, then pitching into nauseous, muddy pits. They not only lost all idea of courses and distances, but also lost sight of our whole column, and were effectually lost by them. It required intense and watchful effort to keep the saddle. What could all this mean ? Was the mute Chinese guide a decoy, lead ing into an ambush? What could be the motive in bringing a stranger and a woman there ? If not a decoy, why were they led by a course so blind and tortuous ? Why were they separated from Mr. Seward and our gallant defenders? Perplexed with anxiety for themselves, and even greater anxiety for Mr. Seward and his friends, they halted and beckoned to the red-capped conductor for a parley. Mr. Middleton rode back as nearly as he could over the way he had come, in search of "our absent friends." He rejoined them after a period which seemed an age, and reported that Mr. Seward, nor the admiral, nor man nor woman, nor beast nor baggage, nor any other thing belonging to the party, could be found. Meantime crowds, which their imagination swelled to the entire population of the city, gathered around them in that woful plight. Well might A DISAGREEABLE RIDE. 143 they be " in wonder at their case, and be perplexed at their condi tion," for, as the Arab historian says, " their state was wonderful, and their case was extraordinary." Among all these crowds there was not one woman, nor was there a man or boy, who gave one cheering or encouraging or sympathizing word, glance, or sign. The mute signed to move on. Manifestly, any place was safer than this. Only two subsequent incidents of that distracted ride are remembered : the first, that in a narrow street they encountered a train of loaded camels as long as that we had seen in the morn ing at Tung-Chow. These would move neither forward nor back ward, nor give room on the right or on the left to let them pass. They grazed alternately the walls and the beasts, and it is even now a wonder how they escaped being dismounted and trodden under foot. The other incident was a momentary glimpse of a stately temple, which, with blue porcelain roof and gilded dome, towered high above an unbroken expanse of low, mean, and vulgar dwell ings, only varied by intervening heaps of ruins. They then plunged, as it seemed, deeper than before into miry pits and squalid masses, now only anxious not to lose sight of the red cap of the mysterious cicerone, far in advance, and at the same time listening to catch the notes of the tinkling bells for reassurance that their donkey- mounted companion was not lost. At last, and all at once, they turned a high wall, and entered through a substantial gate-way a spacious open court, over which was waving the constellation of thirty-seven stars and its thirteen red-and-white stripes. Their grati tude was even greater than their surprise at finding Mr. Seward and Miss Eisley already at the legation. His adventurous journey, as he described it, had been even more perplexing than theirs. Sepa rated from them and from the rest of the party, he, like them, had at once lost all knowledge of both, not knowing that he had any guide except the two mandarins who had accompanied us from Tien-Tsin, and who now trod along side of his chair, as he was con veyed by a route entirely different from those which had been taken by the other portions of the party, and equally narrow, obstructed, and dangerous. At times, he jostled against camel-caravans ; at other times, against motley, hurrying crowds; now crossing a 144 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. muddy moat, then scaling the slippery glacis of a frowning bastion, he occasionally had a glimpse of the admiral's chair, or Miss Eis- ley's, or of a mounted marine or musician, but these invariably crossed his track, or were going in an opposite direction. He had his thoughts and his anxieties. He now said he could never for give the admiral, or the naval officers, or the consul-general, who had suffered our carefully-organized and well-armed procession to be broken into fragments, and scattered through the lanes, alleys, and ditches of the semi-barbarian city. While we were exchanging these explanations, the remaining fragments of the party, civilians, officers, marines, and baggage, not forgetting trusty Freeman, more frightened than all, came so rapidly with their chairs, horses, mules, and donkeys, into the court-yard, that the arrival seemed almost simultaneous, as it certainly was of one accord. We soon found out, but not without much inquiry, how it had come to pass that our entrance into the capital, contrary to our ex pectation, was so irregular and disorderly. The Chinese Govern ment is at this moment profoundly anxious to prevent a renewal of the popular commotions which have recently culminated in the tragedy of Tien-Tsin. They had been informed, by the messenger whom the mandarins dispatched from Tung-Chow, of the construc tion and organization of our party. They had stipulated with Mr. Low that our band should not play along the road, or in the streets of Peking. They had, moreover, cautiously sent forward a compe tent number of mounted guides, wearing red caps, with instruc tions to break up our formidable procession at the Eastern Gate, and to conduct each portion by a different route through the most quiet and obscure parts of the city, to meet only at the legation. Mr. Seward now declined, with many thanks, the invitation of the Russian minister, received before he left home, and we became guests of Mr. Low, who, with true Californian hospitality, would allow no member of the party to find a home outside of the lega tion. Wearied by the tedious boat-journey from Tien-Tsin, and the fatigues and anxieties of our grand entry into the Chinese capi tal, we unanimously waived the wassail, wine, and music, offered us at the legation, and retired to an early rest. CHAPTER VH. RESIDENCE IN PEKING. Aspect of Peking. — Walk on the Wall. — The Foreign Population of Peking. — Two Amer ican Chinese. — Native "Wares. — The Foreign Ministers. — The Russian Minister. — The British Legation. — Influence of the United States. — The Hall of Science. — Mr. Seward's Audience with the Imperial Cabinet. — A Ladies' Day. — Chinese Ladies. — A Chinese Mansion. Peking, November 4th. — The legation is the spacious and com fortable dwelling which was built by the eminent Dr. Williams, so long secretary and interpreter, and not unfrequently charge. It was occupied by Mr. Burlingame, and Mr. Seward now agrees that it would have been wise, when it was practicable, to have purchased it for the United States Government. There neither is in Peking, nor any other place, a building so suitable, nor could one be more economically built. After the relation of our experience in entering the city, we need say little of the general aspect of Peking. The population is about one million. Differing from other Chinese cities, its streets are broad enough, but dilapidation and ruin mar the scenes of highest activity, while the roadways are everywhere full of ob structions, always ill-looking, and sometimes nauseous and dis gusting. There are no sidewalks — seldom a pavement. With the exception of an occasional private lantern, there are no lights. Many of the narrow streets are rendered impassable by upright stone posts, set irregularly in the street for the very purpose of preventing intrusion or passage. Except in the imperial grounds, 146 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. there are no gardens and no fountains, statues, or other monuments — only compact masses of dwellings and shops, low, old, and mean. The weather is cold, damp, and dark. A visit from General Vlangally has been the incident of the day. The prevailing agita tion resulting from the Tien-Tsin massacre is the chief subject of conversation. Mr. Warden, at Shanghai, and Mr. Low and Dr. Williams, here, appear to be almost the only persons in China who take a rational and statesmanlike view of the political situation. " We must take a walk to see the city," says Mr. Seward. " There is no walk in the city," answers General Vlangally, "except on the city wall." " Very well," replies Mr. Seward, " then let us walk on the city wall." Peking, November 4, 1870. — So here we are — on the city wall — not the outer wall, nor yet the innermost wall, but on an interior wall which divides the city of the Tartar conquerors from the Chi nese city, and at the same time looks over the innermost wall which encloses the city where the emperor resides, which is therefore called the " sacred " city. We have reached this commanding eminence just at the hour when the morning sun is lighting up the snow- clad mountains which bound the valley of the Pei-ho in the west. It is cold, but, with furs elsewhere superfluous, and exercise quite unusual, we can bear it. The legation, where we reside, opens on the bank of the now dry moat, which lies at the foot of the wall. The wall is thirty feet high. We have walked several miles on this elevation, looking down from the parapets on the scene around us, and have wondered at the numerous gates, all lofty, massive, and grand ; have counted the thousand towers, bastions, and ram parts ; surveyed the walls of the outer and inner cities ; have con templated their watch-towers, garrisons, and arsenals ; and have shrunk back from an estimate of the number of the gilded palaces and temples. If we remember, we recorded yesterday, before coming^ up hither, that Peking is a most unsightly and wretched city. It seems to us now, although walled cities are unfamiliar to our experience, that Peking is the only city, we have ever seen, sufficiently majestic to be a seat of empire. WESTERN GATE, PEKING. 148 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. True, these walls, built six hundred years ago, have failed to protect Peking against the allied forces of Great Britain and France, and they are confessedly useless for a defence in the mod ern system of warfare. But, like all the castellated and ecclesiasti cal structures of the middle ages, they are sublime and' impressive. True, even outer walls cramp the growth of cities, while interior partitions and subdivisions must have an unwholesome effect and be otherwise intolerable. But the castellated walls of the middle ages are none the less imposing for all this. The walls of Peking address themselves no longer to the reason, but to the imagina tion. No Chinaman, unless in military or civil employ, and no Chinese woman under any circumstances, is allowed to go upon the walls. Why do a people so jealous allow foreigners this privilege ? It is allowed because they insist upon it. Could there be a stronger evidence that China wearies and gives way before the ever-increasing importunity and exaction of the Western nations ? We now recall the fact that it was stated by Mr. Burlingame, at Auburn, that this concession was first made to himself and Sir Frederick Bruce. Unhappily, a closer inspection of the wall and its accessories enables us to see that much of its impressive effect is derived from artistic imposture. Arsenals, capacious enough for the ordnance of the Washington Navy- Yard, contain only a few awkwardly- mounted guns. Painted cannons in the embrasures are substituted for real guns. In China the national flag is never seen singly. There are always double flag-staffs. Each gate-way has a rampart to pre vent the direct approach of an enemy. The wall is an earthen embankment twenty-five feet thick at the base, the outer face covered with large, hard, gray bricks, easily mistaken for hewn stone. During the day the gates are wide open, and there is an indiscriminate commingling of the populations of the Tartar and the Chinese cities, undistinguishable at least by strangers. Yet such is the power of habitual jealousy that the gates are peremp torily and absolutely closed from sunset until sunrise. A denizen of one city left in the other at the closing must remain until morn- FOREIGN POPULATION OE PEKING. 149 ing. We look down easily into the interior city, the residence of the emperor, and therefore " the Prohibited." Its gates, like the others, are open during the day, but they are carefully guarded, and none but the privileged residents are allowed to enter, except by special order. The palaces bear no resemblance in form or structure to the royal dwellings of the West. They are spacious, and, being covered with yellow tiled roofs, and elsewhere showing a commingling of light yellow and green, they have an appearance of newness or recent repair which is in strong contrast with the outer city. The " Prohibited City " is divided by a wall into two areas. In one of these the emperor resides with his family, while the other is open to the ministers of state. We may have an opportunity to look more closely into this latter area. The brick facing of all these walls is giving way. The culverts under them, besides many parts of the fortifications, are dilapi dated, and the moat is either altogether dry or only partially filled with stagnant pools. We have come down from the walls. What is the foreign population of Peking ? Did you say five thousand ? Two thou sand ? One thousand ? It is only two hundred — diplomatic min isters, clerks, attaches and retainers, and missionary ministers, all told. Mr. Seward has held an audience of the whole to-day. Each legation occupies a closed area, a " compound " assigned by the Government for that purpose. Only a narrow lane divides the legation of the United States from that of Russia. Two Chinese were announced this morning. They came in very costly native attire, shaven, wearing the pig-tail, and their feet cased in white-soled mandarin boots. To our surprise, they accosted Mr. Seward in English, calling his recollection to an acquaintance with him in the State Department at Washington. Surprised at this, he excitedly asked, how and where they had learned the English language so well. "Is it possible," they answered, " that you mistake us for Chinese ? We are your own countrymen, and you saw us in service when you visited Fort Corcoran on Arlington Heights." These two officers have with great adroitness been engaged by an American mercantile house in 11 150 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. China to acquire the mandarin language, to enable them to act as agents in trade. On arriving at Peking for that purpose, they assumed the Chinese habit, and, abandoning for the time all foreign society, they confined themselves exclusively to Chinese inns and Chinese society. They say they have done this with so much success that they have never been detected by the natives, except when surprised in making their toilet. The natives they meet with often say that their Chinese is imperfect, but they suppose it to be a dialect of Thibet or some distant province of the empire. Of course, we must not disclose their names. Our band of music, having been released from its durance, has played for every foreign minister, who came to visit us, the na tional air of his own country. It has cheered us at lunch, and awakened the echoes at the elegant dinner given us at the Eussian legation, and it ended by giving the spirited dancing-music for the soiree with which the day has closed. It is the first foreign band of music that has ever come in time of peace to Peking. The nov elty attracts native crowds, but excites no ill temper. Peking, November 5th. — Deep concern this morning at finding the earth covered with snow, seeming to demand an early depart ure southward. The morning was spent in studying and cheapen ing the wares brought by native mer chants, and spread over all the floors of the legation — bronzes, porcelain, jasper, jade, amethysts, and emeralds, wrought into the most curious shapes — sea-otter, sable, Thibetian goat, As trakhan, wolf, white fox, red fox, bear, panther, and tiger skins. We shall not report our bargains, further than that we bought a lapis-lazuli cat for two dollars, for which the merchant's first price was twenty-five dollars, and that Mr. Seward retired in disgust from the trade when his offer of five dollars was taken up for a lignum-vitaa box, for which the vender had all day demanded fifty dollars. As far as the furs are con cerned, our friends at home, to whom we send the purchases, will LAPIB-LAZULI CAT. CHINESE GARMENTS. 151 judge. Let this detail serve as an instruction that, as tea is the staple vegetable production in China, so furs are the great import of Peking. It is the central market for the northern regions of the continent. It is remarkable that, while the ancient civilization of China favored perfection in the use of the loom and the needle in the manufacture of silk, cotton, and embroidery, it seems not to have brought into use either the loom or the needle in the manufacture of woollen fabrics. The want of woollen clothes in the winter, among the poorer classes, is supplied by cotton and silk, wadded and quilted. Such garments admit of no washing and little change. The class a little higher clothe themselves in dried sheep-skins with the wool on ; but every person, who can afford the luxury, dresses in fur — the richer the person, the more elegant and costly his robes of sable. Siberia sends her furs to Peking, and so does Alaska. The Tartars and Eussians, after the Chinese, are the largest purchasers. November 5th. — Peking wears everywhere the aspect of a' political rather than a commercial capital. Eevolution has not worked out here any such political, social, or military changes as at Yeddo. It is tho residence of idle, profitless, perhaps often profligate retainers of the Government. November 6th. — A correspondence much more intimate than is generally understood exists between the several cabinets of the world. By international usage, the Minister of Foreign Affairs at any capital is the head, or, as our Hibernian friends would express it, the "head centre" of the diplomatic body there. Mr. Seward having occupied that position at Washington, the magic ring readily opens to him, wherever we go. The circle at Peking is rather a contracted one just now. The Eussian minister is doyen. Distinguished by military service in the Crimea, he is a discreet, modest, and intelligent gentleman, and is understood to exercise very considerable influence over the Chinese cabinet, while he enjoys the respect and confidence of his colleagues. The 152 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. Eussian legation has a spacious, costly, and elegant residence, and an imposing personnel. Besides four secretaries and a surgeon, it mainta'ins a Greek chapel, open to native converts, and a Cossack guard, with extensive stables. The German legation has more moderate appointments. The minister, Baron Eehfues, is respected for his large experience. The British representative, Sir Euther- ford Alcock, is absent. His place is filled by Mr. Wade, against whom there is a universal outcry, among the foreigners in China, for his supposed tameness in regard to the matter of the Tien- Tsin catastrophe. He is, nevertheless, a wise, learned, prudent, and practical minister. Mrs. Wade, a daughter of Sir John Her- schel, is very intellectual, liberal in her opinions, and earnest in her admiration of American institutions. During the social banishment she has endured here, she has successfully acquired the difficult mandarin dialect. The British Government is lavish toward its legation. The residence was purchased at large expense from one of the imperial princes, and repaired last year at a cost of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The legation maintains a chapel, four secretaries, six diplomatic pupils, and a strong military guard. The French legation has Count Eochefort acting as charge d'affaires. Far less discreet than our excellent friend Berthemy, or his predecessor, De Montholon, who were so acceptable in the United States, Eochefort has proved himself vehement, impetuous, impracticable, and inconstant in his reclama tions on the occasion of the massacre of the French consul and nuns at Tien-Tsin, while the military disasters which have just overtaken France at home have rendered her representative here powerless. The Danish and Belgian missions are only occasional, and little more than nominal. Their incumbents are accredited to Japan as well as to China. The Dane took leave of us at Yeddo, to repair to Peking before us, but has not yet arrived. Mr. Low, the United States minister, is a very able man, of much equa nimity, enjoying equally the confidence of the Chinese Govern ment and that of the diplomatic corps. The appointments of this legation, like those of the United States elsewhere, are moderate. Frederick the Great hardly practised greater parsimony in foreign THE FOREIGN MINISTERS. 153 diplomacy than our Government does. Mr. Low has neither chapel, nor surgeon, nor official dwelling-house. He has one secretary, who is also his interpreter, and no guards. Here, as in Japan, we hear our countrymen lament an alleged inferiority of our national importance and influence. They complain con tinually of Eussian ascendency at Peking, as they do of British ascendency at Yeddo. The grievance in each case is exagger ated. The archives at Washington show that Mr. Burlingame, during his residence here, exerted a greater influence in China than any or all of his colleagues. Nor has Mr. Low lost any of this prestige. So also Mr. Townsend Harris, Mr. Pruyn, and Mr. Van Valkenburgh, as well as Mr. De Long, have not been surpassed in consideration and usefulness by foreign representa tives in Japan. Nevertheless, the influence of the United States in either country is far less distinguishable in the shaping of meas ures of local administration than that of Eussia or that of Great Britain. There is sufficient reason for this, without derogating from the prestige of the United States. They are a distinct nation. They appear in China, as they do in Japan, in the character of a just and magnanimous power. They offer little but equality and fairness in political, commercial, and social intercourse, and they demand no advantages that are not equally conceded to all other powers. Eussia, on the contrary, is not only a near neighbor of China, but a colossal one. The commercial and political relations existing between them are various and intimate. The populations of the border provinces of the two empires have a close assimila tion. Moreover, Eussia advances nearer to China every day with her railroads, diligence-lines, and telegraph. The Chinese know that, while the friendship of Eussia is invaluable, she may never theless prove a powerful, if not fatal enemy. The prestige of Great Britain throughout the world, even on the European Continent, is derived chiefly from the dominion and the influence she wields in the East, and the commerce which re sults. This commerce, again, is the essential support of the manu factures which are the basis of the prosperity of the English people. Great Britain, therefore, wisely spares no care and no cost in main- 154 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. taining not only a diplomatic force, but a naval predominance, in the East. India; China, and Japan, are her proper theatre. In this great national policy she necessarily encounters rivalry and resistance. She has appeared in China more than once as an enemy, and proved her power, as well to destroy as to protect and save. It suits her interest to be here now as a magnanimous friend, like the United States. Long may the two nations remain in that accord ! November 7th. — We have just come from a visit to the for lorn " Hall of Science." The Church of Eome has been perse* ANCIENT OB8ERVATOET, OR HALL OF SOIElfOE. vering in its attempts to Christianize China, but has left there,, thus far, only monuments of its failure. One of them is the Ob servatory, otherwise called the "Hall of Science." The great Protestant Eeformation in Europe was, as every one knows, fol lowed by a hardly less remarkable reaction and revival of the Eoman Catholic Church originating in the inspiration of Ignatius INTERVIEW WITH THE CHINESE CABINET. 155 Loyola, and conducted chiefly by the Society of Jesus which he founded. In 1680, the Emperor Kang-Hi erected on the wall of the Tartar city an observatory, committing its construction and superintendence to Jesuit professors, with a munificent endowment. They procured in Paris, Venice, Genoa, and London, bronze astro nomical instruments, the most perfect that science had at that time suggested, and of stupendous magnitude and magnificent execution. These instruments, set up in the open air, and thus exposed with out any protection against the weather one hundred and ninety years, are still in perfect condition, and as available as at first. One of them is a celestial globe, seven feet in diameter, with the constellations raised upon it, showing the exact condition of astronomy as it stood two centuries ago. Besides this, there are an astrolabe, an armillary sphere, trigonometers, transit instruments, and quadrants. Although the institution remains, the circumstances which attended its foundation have entirely passed away. When the Jesuits, here as in Japan, betrayed the ambition of the Church, they were dismissed and banished. The institution fell under the care of native professors, by whom it has been neglected. At the base of the Observatory is a shabby suite of apartments, in which the two or three native professors dwell, whose business it is to cor rect the calendar of the seasons astronomically, while they designate for the almanac the days which are lucky and unlucky for births, marriages, bargains, journeys, combats, festivals, and funerals. November 8th. — The event of the day has been an audience given to Mr. Seward, with Admiral Eodgers, by the Imperial Cabinet (Yamen). It required great skill and much care to organ ize, arrange and mount the party. If, among the Western nations, " none but the brave deserve the fair," so, in China, none but great mandarins deserve to ride in chairs, and only princes and ministers are allowed to ride in green chairs ; and this, not because green suits their complexion the best, but because green in China is the color indicative of preeminent rank. So Mr. Seward, Admiral Eodgers, the United States minister, and the consul-general, took their seats in green chairs, while the staff and others were mounted 156 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. on ponies, so far as the capital furnished a supply. The " balance," as our campaign-speakers say, went in carts. The progress was on the avenue — not Pennsylvania Avenue by any means, but the avenue without show of pavement, which leads from the Imperial city, through the Tartar city to its outer wall. It was obstructed with auctions, theatrical entertainments, gambling-rings, and every thing else. The head of the procession, consisting of the green chairs, winding its way among these obstructions by the vigor and adroitness of the bearers, reached its destination, and alighted at the porch of the foreign office. It is a low Chinese structure ; the doors, wide open, revealed the Yamen arranged in a row within to receive the guests. But the head of the procession, discovering that the tail had fallen off, decided to wait outside, until the lost member should reconnect. This made a delay of twenty minutes, which, as we suppose, was imperfectly explained to the ministers within, who made an unmistakable demonstration of impatience. Perceiving this, the head entered, leaving the caudal part to come up to time as it could. In the middle of the room stood a table of the common European height, eight feet long and three feet wide. Broad and comfortable stools were placed around it ; there was no carpet or other furniture, but a kind of divan or sofa against two sides of the wall. Mr. Seward and his chief associates of the green chairs were graciously received by five chief ministers of state, all of grave aspect, and two of them of advanced age. They were richly dressed in silks, over which were spread ermine and other furs. They saluted their guests at first in the Chinese fashion, by bowing with hands brought palm to palm on their breasts ; after this they shook hands in the American way. All the ministers then busied themselves in a somewhat demonstrative way in seat ing their guests. Two of the Chinese ministers took their seats at the upper end of the table, in the order, not of their rank, but of seniority. They placed Mr. Seward at the side of the table on the left, then Mr. Low, then the admiral, and then the consul-general ; next two interpreters. The remaining members of the cabinet completed the circle. The table was thickly spread with china dishes filled with bon-bons and dried fruits. The presiding min- INTERVIEW WITH THE CHINESE CABINET. 157 ister then rose and announced that his Imperial Highness Prince Kung, regent of the empire during the minority of the emperor, had been suddenly attacked this morning by a violent illness, on his veturn from the imperial palace. He lamented his failure to PRINCE KUNG. meet Mr. Seward, as he had appointed, and had charged the cabi net to receive him with this apology, or to postpone the audience to a future occasion, as Mr. Seward himself might prefer. The minister said he was charged by Prince Kung to say that he re garded it as a great distinction that he was to become acquainted with Mr. Seward, and that the prince intended in any case, as soon as he should recover his health, to visit Mr. Seward at his residence. Although Mr. Seward accepted the apology without distrust or hesitation, yet all the members of the cabinet earnestly reenforced it. Mr. Seward then inquired about the health of Wan-Siang, who was absent. The presiding minister replied that Wan-Siang was ill, and had just obtained leave of absence from his post in the ministry for a year, to mourn the death of his mother. But they instantly dispatched a courier to him, communicating Mr. Seward's inquiries. _ The courier, in less than half an hour, brought a mes- 158 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. sage of thanks and friendship from Wan-Siang. Later Mr. Seward spoke of the ability which Wan-Siang had displayed in his negotia tions with the United States, and of the friendship he had always manifested toward our country. These words, like Mr. Seward's previous inquiries, were taken down and reported to Wan-Siang by a courier, and elicited a similar reply. The ministers spoke with much feeling of the death of Mr. Burlingame. Mr. Seward said that Mr. Burlingame's diplomatic career was an illustration of the highest possible success. A minister lives always under two dis tinct and sometimes irreconcilable obligations : First, he must retain the confidence of his own country ; secondly, he must not fail to win the confidence of the country to which he is accredited. Mr. Burlingame filled both obligations, and thus was enabled to unite the two nations in a new bond of peace, and in a common effort to advance civilization. The ministers thought themselves under obligations to Mr. Seward ; in the first instance, for the ap pointment of Mr. Burlingame as United States minister to China, and then for receiving him as minister of China to the United States and Europe. Mr. Seward inquired the number and functions of the "Banner- men." The ministers replied : " They are four distinct legions, con taining many thousand men. They all reside at Peking. They are sworn to maintain and defend the emperor in all conflicts, whether at home or abroad, and in compensation for this service they all receive stipends from the Government. But the organiza tion of the legions is worn out. The service is a sinecure, costly, and useless." Manifestly the ministers feared that the apologies for the absence of Prince Kung from the reception might be thought by Mr. Sew ard insincere and evasive, for they returned to the subject contin ually. He assured them that, although he had during eight years conducted the diplomatic relations of the United States with China, yet in all that time not one case of procrastination or subterfuge, on the part of the regent, had occurred. Mr. Seward hoped for the prince's speedy recovery, and begged the ministers to be at their ease about the present disappointment. INTERVIEW WITH THE CHINESE CABINET. 159 The senior minister then, in a most reverential manner, ad dressed Mr. Seward, " What is your venerable age ? " Just at this solemn stage of the audience, when all were silently waiting for Mr. Seward's reply, what should appear but the tail of our great national procession ! Slowly eliminating itself from the street, it entered the gate, crossed the court, and appeared at the door. All at once the queued sub-officials of the foreign office, who had gathered there to be witnesses of the interesting ceremony, rushed upon the porch to discover the cause of the interruption. Proc lamations were then made in Chinese by the ministers within, which our friends outside, not waiting for an interpretation, under stood to be, " Make way for the tail ! " Way was made, and quickly too, but where the amazed native lookers-on went to, our friends could not discover. The Chinese ministers all five, the American guests all four, and the interpreters twain, rose to their feet to re ceive the tail, and remained in that respectful attitude until that important extremity had extended itself with its gilt epaulets and buttons, its blue and black coats, and white gloves, on the row of benches around the room. Order being restored, the presiding minister renewed the suspended inquiry. Mr. Seward, looking around him, said : " I think I am neither the oldest nor the youngest statesman here. I am sixty-nine. I hope that the youngest may live to reach your own honorable age, which I understand to be seventy-five, and that all may be blessed with years beyond that age." This answer of Mr. Seward was received with great hilarity by the Chinese cabinet, and unanimously pronounced to be so exqui sitely courteous as to deserve a bumper. Thereupon glasses were brought in, filled with a hot, strong drink, which they called wine. Then followed a slow and measured succession of delicate viands, birds'-nest soup, pigeons'-eggs, cabbages minced, and tender shoots of bamboo boiled, pheasants, grouse, and stewed wild-ducks of many kinds, fishes, sharks' -fins and other luxuries with names un known. These dishes, in the whole numbering not less than one hundred and fifty, were severally served to each guest in the smallest bits on tiny plates, which at last crowded and encumbered the table. 160 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. These plates were filled by the ministers from tureens, which con tinually replaced each other. Each visitor was provided with knife and fork, as well as chop-sticks. It is etiquette here for each person to help every other person at the table to every course that comes on. Occasionally, Mr. Seward raised a political question of some sort, but the ministers adroitly passed it by. Whether they were unwilling to speak freely in the absence of the regent, or whether they feared to expose themselves before the crowded Chinese audi ence, which had again gathered in the apartment, Mr. Seward could not determine. We learn that all the offices of the Government are filled or suspected of being filled with spies. It was soon manifest that little was to be learned of Chinese affairs at this magnificent entertainment. The ministers, with evident self-satis faction, entertained their guests with familiar Chinese proverbs, epigrams, and riddles, and they resolutely persisted in accepting as clever every thing said by Mr. Seward, or either of the other guests, however commonplace it might be. Two of the ministers are poets; they rehearsed their own verses and other Chinese poetry, with marked emphasis and at great length. Neither of the inter preters, however, could render these verses into intelligible English. But the guests received the rehearsal as fine, nevertheless. One of the ministers said : " Mr. Seward, your complexion is very fresh and your step vigorous. You must have a secret, which en ables you to preserve them through such great labors and travels." "You are complimentary," answered Mi*. Seward; "what health and strength I have are due to activity and exercise." To this one of the poetical ministers responded : " Yes, every thing in the universe is constantly active ; only the Creator of all is at rest." Mr. Seward now began to understand that this reception was intended less as an audience than as a feast, and that drinking deep, or at least often, is here a requirement of such an entertainment. The ministers descanted both in prose and poetry, with proverbs and epigrams, on the virtue of hospitality, and the excellence of conviviality. They drank deep and filled up often. Addressing Admiral Eodgers, one of the two Anacreons insisted HOSPITALITY OF THE MINISTERS. 161 that the best proof of friendship that one can give at an entertain ment is, to get drunk. All his associates facetiously concurred. Admiral Rodgers answered : " I accept the generous sentiment, and I invite all the members of the cabinet to get as drunk as possible, and as quickly as they can." The cabinet showed its appreciation of the admiral's repartee by vehement laughter and much gesticulation. At least, one of them took the gallant admiral at his word, and drank much deeper than before. The hospitality of the ministers was not monopolized by the head of the procession. Dainty dishes and strong drinks were served to the tail as it lay stretched along the benches. They were discussed with entire satisfaction, but in respectful though wonder ing silence. After a sitting of four hours, Mr. Seward, to whom the right belonged, brought the entertainment to an end by proposing to his august entertainers : " Perpetual peace, prosperity, and welfare to China." The ministers deliberated, consulted, and then asked leave to amend by adding the words, " and the United States." Mr. Seward accepted the amendment with a further amend ment, which brought the sentiment into this form, satisfactory to all the party : "Perpetual peace, prosperity and welfare to China and the United States, the oldest and the youngest of empires. The visitors rose, and, after the most respectful and cordial bow ing and hand-shaking, were dismissed. The procession reached the legation at a very late hour. We have not heard whether it stood any more firmly on the order of its coming than it did on the " order of its going," as the gentlemen had no time to report be fore sitting down to Mr. Low's dinner, the great diplomatic enter tainment of the season. November 9th. — Three months to-day from Auburn. Not a word yet from home. Mr. Seward has sent a telegram by courier one hundred and eighty miles to Kiakhta, on the Russian frontier, 162 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. there to be put on the Russian wires. How much more have we seen and learned, in these three months of foreign travel, than we could have seen and learned within the same period of travel at home ! A messenger has come to the legation with compliments to Mr. Seward, and a polite inquiry whether his reception yester day was agreeable to him. They desired him to know that they never unbent themselves so much to a stranger as they did to him on that occasion. This has been especially a ladies' day. Yang-Fang, pawnbroker by profession, mandarin by rank, one of the three richest men in Peking, was educated at Shanghai, where he had some opportuni ties of seeing the Western mode of life. He is desirous of culti vating the acquaintance of foreigners here so far as he can do so without exciting Chinese suspicion of his loyalty. He tendered an invitation to the three ladies to visit his family. The invitation was communicated confidentially, and with the condition that they should be attended by only two gentlemen, neither of whom should be an official person. The ladies went at one o'clock to-day, in THE LADIES VISIT TANG-FANG'S WIFE. 163 closely-covered chairs, through familiar streets, until they turned into a narrow and uninviting one. There they stopped at the gate of an outside wall, one of many gates of the same kind. Through this gate they were ushered into a paved court. Ascending three or four steps, they entered a second gate; The mandarin received them there with his wife and five handmaidens who were waiting, and led them through a corridor. This ceremony over, the wife led the party to her boudoir. This room is furnished with a curious combination of European and Chinese styles. A Brussels carpet, WIFE OP TANG-FANG. (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY HIMSELF.) half a dozen mirrors of different sizes, with gilt frames, pictures of the Yosemite valley, a French clock, a barometer, a small Ameri can sewing-machine with a crank, two chairs covered with red cloth, Chinese divans, a French bedstead with curtains, French knick-knacks, but no Chinese ones, rows of porcelain vases, and pots filled with chrysanthemums, an aquarium with gold-fish, a black cat, six finely-bred spaniels, and a monkey, made the comple ment of this singular apartment. The visitors, taking seats on the European sofas, and the Chinese ladies on the divans, exchanged compliments as well as they could, the American ladies trying to 164 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. recall the instructions they had received from Chi-Tajen at Auburn. Next the Chinese ladies took the watches, gold chains, bracelets, and foreign rings, and inspected them carefully. At the same time they put into the hands of their visitors their own ornaments, pearls, emeralds, sapphires, rubies, and amethysts. After this the ladies of the house examined the American ladies' dresses, hats, and gloves, marking well the fashion and material, and in a gentle and unaffected way offered to inspection their own richer and more elegant costumes of silk and embroidery. The wife is a delicate- looking woman of forty. She wore a lavender-colored, embroid ered crepe petticoat, over this a double tunic of two pretty shades of blue silk, trimmed with a variegated chintz border, scarlet satin embroidered under-sleeves, so long as nearly to conceal the slender hands — the nails, as long as the fingers, polished and stained to re semble tortoise-shell, each nail having for its protection a wrought gold case. Her coarse, black Mongolian hair, carefully dressed and fastened with gold pins, was partly covered with a black-satin cap, tied at the back. This cap, not unlike in shape to the " Mary Stuart," was entirely seeded with pearls, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, many of them, especially the pearls, large, and of rare value. Her feet, of which only occasional glimpses could be had, were not more than three inches long, and were tightly encased in scarlet-satin shoes ; her face and neck, literally plastered with pearl-white, in shocking contrast with eyelids and cheeks painted pink, and lips red ; her manners and speech are unmistakably AN ENTERTAINMENT. 165 refined ; she is reputed intellectual, and fond of books. The five handmaidens were dressed in a manner which, though not inele gant, showed the inferiority of their position — one of them very handsome, dressed in scarlet satin, but none of the five wore jewels, or had small feet. The wife has no children ; two of the waiting- women have. While, by the custom of China, these children are accredited to the wife as her own, and deemed legitimate, their mothers rather lose than acquire respect by the parentage. The mutual inspection of dresses in the boudoir having ended, the visit ors were next conducted to what they supposed to be the mandarin's apartment, the great room of the house. Here they found a sofa, a covered table, and two chairs, all European, a broad but very low carved Chinese bedstead, with heavy blue-silk curtains, and cases of chemical, photographic, electric, and other scientific apparatus of European manufacture. Tea was served in French china cups, first the English breakfast-tea, afterward the real Chinese beverage, which has the exquisite aroma of neroli ; with it nice cakes of end less variety and shapes, made of flour, sugar, and oil. The wife and one of the women sat at the table with the guests, while the others busied themselves in sending in the different courses of the entertainment, which were served by young girls. The Chinese ladies, with their own hands, favored their guests with cigarettes made of Turkish tobacco, while they themselves used long, massive, silver pipes. The smoke was inhaled through water, and invariably blown out of the nose. Being well provided with interpreters, the visitors tried to induce conversation. The Chinese ladies answered nothing, but laughed at every thing the guests said. They then endeavored to accommodate themselves to their entertainers, and spoke to them as to children, but with little more success. The mandarin improved the opportunity to express his admiration for European customs. He thanked the ladies for the honor of their visit, and then showed them all the other apartments of the house. These have only stone floors, and the rooms are without furniture. He even conducted them to his opium-smoking room for guests, with its carefully prepared kang and pillows for reclining upon when the delicious intoxication comes on. The ladies, of course, 12 166 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. did not indulge. The mandarin informed them that he does not practise it, and on this occasion the use of the room was lost. The mandarin, being a proficient in photography, displays pictures of SI " JSff " 52 ~ — g- — yf — - I .»t l vtj> m mBm^aSm YANG-FANGS 8MOKING-BOOM. his wife and handmaidens throughout the house. In one room there is a disorderly collection of Chinese books. In going through the maze of apartments, the ladies, hearing the loud chirping of a cricket, stopped. Thereupon one of the women brought out a white-silk bag from her pocket, and took from it a small, exquisitely-carved bamboo-box, and, opening it, showed us her pet cricket, which closely resembles the American grasshopper. The fighting of crickets is a favorite amusement of the Chinese ladies; A rather rough cast-iron English pump, standing against the wall, attracted the attention of the visitors, and they inquired its use. The mandarin said, " It is set up to extinguish accidental fire, and I put the women under it when they quarrel." The women evidently looked upon it with disgust. The house consists of no less than twenty distinct buildings, A CHINESE MANSION. 167 with red-and-yellow verandas, all connected by two very irregular corridors, one above the other, which turn and twist up and down through crooked little staircases, under arches, around square pil lars, in and out of all sorts of dark holes and corners. There are two narrow areas, which pretend to be gardens, with a grotesque combination of shrubbery and rock-work. Having finished the exploration of this quaint, inconvenient, and dingy mansion, the visitors took their leave, and reached the legation at six in the evening. CHINESE GATEWAY. CHAPTER VH1. RESIDENCE IN PEKING (Continued). The Decay of China.— The Temple of Heaven.— The Temple of the Earth.— The Tem ple of Buddha. — The Chinese Bonzes. — The Temple of Confucius. — The Religion of China. — A Pleasant Reunion. — The Birds of Peking. — An Official Dilemma.— Interview with Wan-Siang. — Influence of Burlingame. November 10th. — We are inclined to think that, while every other nation in the world is advancing toward a higher plane of civilization, China is not merely stationary, but is actually going backward and downward. Is this decline of China a result of the imperfect development of religious truth? The Chinese remain now as they were five thousand years ago, materialists. They worship the heavens, they worship the earth, the sun, and the moon, the planets, and the ocean, besides a multitude of other natural objects and forces. They worship, more than any other creature, their ancestors, who are created beings even if they have an existence after death. Even the philosophy and morals of Con fucius have left the Chinese sentiment of his teachings not less material than before. The Chinese have expressed this materialism in erecting great temples— the Temple of Heaven, the Temple of the Earth, and the Temple of the Moon. To the material heaven they ascribe all power, and from it they claim that the emperor, as vicegerent, derives all authority. As Heaven made not only China, ' but the whole world, so the emperor as vicegerent not only governs the empire, but is rightful ruler of the whole earth. The Temple THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN. 169 of Heaven, in Peking, is therefore, preeminently, the imperial one ; or, if there is such a thing as a sense of nationality in China, the national one — more national than Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's is a national church of England, or Notre-Dame a national church of France, or St. Peter's of Italy. The Temple of Heaven is to China what Solomon's Temple was to the people of Judea. It stands in an enclosed area of six hundred acres. Its lofty porcelain dome, typical of heaven, has the azure tint of the sky. Its cir cular altar consists of three stages or stories, the lower one hundred and twenty feet, the second ninety feet, and the third sixty feet in diameter. In this Temple of Heaven the emperor is crowned, and by that ceremony assumes, as vicegerent of Heaven, the govern ment of the whole earth. He is dressed in blue, imitating the drapery of the skies, and faces the south, because China chiefly lies south of Peking, and the rest of the world is supposed to be lying in dependence beyond it. Here he makes annual sacrifices to Heaven, invoking its protection of the empire in war, and its bless ings in peace. Dressed in yellow, the color of the earth, he offers similar though less frequent sacrifices at the Temple of the Earth. Dressed in red robes, he makes similar homage in the Temple of the Sun, and in pale white in the Temple of the Moon. A high, embanked road, once grandly paved, leads from the imperial palace, in the " Forbidden City," to the Temple of Heaven. When the emperor visits this temple, he is seated in a yellow-and- blue car, which is drawn over that road by six white elephants. The temple is held as sacred by the Chinese as the Caaba at Mecca by the Mohammedans. Mr. Seward was desirous to visit it. All the foreign ministers assured him that the popular prejudice against profaning the temple, even by the intrusion of the Chinese them selves, is so great that no ministry could dare open it to a foreigner. Not long ago, however, there was a place broken in the outer wall, over which some adventurous travellers have entered. We set out to explore, thinking it possible we might effect an entrance through that breach. On the way we took notice that the present regency has sold all the imperial elephants, and that the stables are falling into decay. We found the imperial avenue in ruins, so that no 170 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. elephant-car or other vehicle could be driven over it. We made our way on foot and in chairs. Arriving opposite the temple area, we discovered that, although the breach in the wall had been closed, a gate at the front was open, a janitor standing by it. This seem ing a propitious sign, we left the avenue, and directed our steps thither. The janitor, seeing us approach, closed the gate, and re tired, certainly out of sight, but we thought not out of hearing. We had interpreters ready of speech and skilful to negotiate, but no inducement that we offered, either moral or pecuniary, could avail to bring back the lost custodian. This was • only one more renewal of the experience which other members of the party had TK3.*I'LE OF 11EAVEK. for several days. More disappointed than chagrined, we crossed the avenue, to a gate opposite the Temple of Heaven, which opens upon the same area with the Temple of Agriculture. A long THE TEMPLE OF AGRICULTURE. 171 argument ensued between our interpreter, Dr. Williams and the custodian. It ended by his taking half a dollar in 'Chinese " cash." On inquiry, however, we found that the difficulty was not one that involved the privilege of entering the temple, but only a question ©f prepayment of the fee. The enclosure of the Temple of Agriculture contains four hun dred acres. Custom requires that the emperor shall come once a year to this temple, with the same magnificent demonstration as on the occasion of his visits to the Temple of Heaven, and, as vice gerent of Heaven, shall break the earth with a plough, sow it with seed, and implore propitious rain and sunshine, and plentiful harvest. These functions being celestial, the right to perform them cannot be delegated, and so they are for the present suspended during the minority of the emperor. The present emperor is yet only thirteen years of age. Several years having elapsed since the death of the last monarch, the temple and its appurtenances exhibit neglect and ruin, such as are not likely to occur on the show-grounds of our agricultural fairs. A large portion of the grounds is covered with cypress-groves, a growth of more than five hundred years. The grounds and even the roads are overrun with coarse, rank grass and weeds. The wild- thorn made fearful havoc with our clothes, and we required to be continually on our guard against nettles. In an open square of half an acre is a circular platform of stone, with a marble balus trade and a staircase, which is guarded by the figure of a dragon. On ceremonial occasions, a throne is placed in the centre of this platform under a gorgeous blue canopy. Here the emperor alights from his palanquin, and takes his seat in solitary pomp. Directly opposite, at a distance of thirty feet, is a similar platform which is occupied by the imperial family. Proclamation being made, the emperor leaves the throne, and makes a solemn progress, followed by his family and ministers, to a temple some two hundred feet distant, which may be eighty feet square and fifty feet high ; against the inner wall of this temple a dais is raised twenty feet, and upon it is a throne, the same which the late emperor occupied at the last celebration. Over the throne, in large characters, is this legend : 172 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. " We praise the God who taught men to sow, and who gives them the harvest." Altars with vases surround the throne. When the emperor has been seated for a time, he rises, and, standing erect, lifts his hands in adoration, and amid the clouds of incense invokes the blessings needful for his people. This part of the ceremony concluded, the emperor then walks to a distant enclosure of perhaps eight acres. Here, upon another throne, he is attended by the imperial family and the whole court. New proclamation being made, the emperor advances into the field, and with his own hand on the plough drives it until one acre of soil is upturned. This done, he scatters the seed. Princes of the imperial family and distinguished members of the court follow, and in like manner plough and sow the remain der of the field. After this, the emperor, with his family, court, and ministers, repairs to a platform on the opposite side of the field, TABLET nALL. THE EMPEROR MAKES BURNT-OFFERINGS. 173 on which is erected a large altar. Here, in the presence of all, he makes a burnt-offering of oxen, sheep, goats, and other animals to the God of Agriculture. Having surveyed these more prominent places in the area of the Temple of Agriculture, we next visited a great central edifice, on the walls of which are tablets dedicated to the God of the Winds, the God of Thunder, the God of the Green Grass, and the God of the Green Stalks of Grain. We were after ward conducted to a sunken place, paved and walled with stone, in which place the sacrificial animals are kept. We saw here the arched passage through which they are driven, the yard in which they are butchered, the immense platform on which they are pre pared for the altar, the huge furnaces and kettles in which the offerings are burned, and finally the oven, as large as a city bakery, in which, after the sacrifice is completed, all the refuse of the ani mals, and all the garments and vestments of the priests and attend ants engaged in the sacrifice, are reduced to ashes. On our way out of the temple, we stopped before a curious ivy- canopied oratory, within which stand the shrines of threp gods, one a dwarf, the others larger, the three differing in complexion as in stature. The right figure, the God of the Sea, bears a trident, and is copper-colored. The left figure is the God of Rain, and is pure white. The central figure is the God of Benevolence, and is Afri can black. The Chinese divinities are always attended by guar dians. This singular group rejoices in the protection of a huge, fierce, wooden soldier, armed with a veritable musket, lock, stock, and barrel, complete. Three thousand three hundred and sixty years ago, the Al mighty spake directly to a portion of the human race then residing on the western shore of Asia, " these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow thyself down to them, nor serve them ; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God." 174 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. The nations which have established themselveB between the Mediterranean shore, on which these words were spoken, and the eastern side of the Pacific Ocean, have accepted and obeyed these awful commands, and have built a common system of civilization upon them. But the dwellers here on the eastern coast of China have not accepted either the idea that God is the Creator and Supreme Director of the Universe, or that he is One God, or that he is a jealous God. It is not to be understood, however, that the national mind of China has made no struggles to lift itself above the dead level of materialism. We proceeded from the Temple of Agnculture to visit one which is a monument of such a struggle. This is the Temple of Buddha. The founder of the Buddhist faith did in deed reach the sublime truths expounded by Moses, that God is spiritual, One, and jealous. But he could not hold fast to that exalted truth pure and simple. That faith, therefore, while it accepts Buddha as the Supreme Creator of the Universe, teaches at the same time that, by various processes, occupying long spaces of time, he becomes and remains incarnate on the earth. This impersonation, bearing the name of the Grand Lama, resides in Thibet, veiled from all mortal eyes but a purified and sacred priesthood, which priesthood has its societies and orders throughout China and all the East. It is a subject of curious re flection that, as, in Europe and America, the nations uniformly derive their revelations and systems of faith from the East, so, on the eastern shores and islands of Asia, they with equal confidence claim to have received their religious revelations from the West. The Buddhists have two great temples at Peking — one in the Tartar city, the other in the Chinese. It was the former which we visited. It consists of several immense edifices, which in the seven teenth century were the residence of an emperor, who becoming an adherent to that religion surrendered his palace to the community of Buddhist bonzes, and dedicated it to that form of worship. The principal structure, built of brick and stone, is capable of holding three thousand persons ; the roof is supported with columns of cedar brought from Birmah, eighty feet high. A gigantic wooden statue THE TEMPLE OF BUDDHA. 175 of Buddha towers from the floor to the roof. Its carved drapery, while it leaves the form distinct, conceals the entire person except the huge, jet-black face, fingers and toes. According to the tradi tion of the sect, the living Buddha in Thibet had, at the time of his incarnation, eighteen most saintly apostles who endured all manner of trials and worked all manner of miracles. These eighteen apostles, carved in wood, sit cross-legged in a circle around the great idol, gazing at the soles of their feet, supposed to be an atti tude of divine contemplation. Vases of incense stand before the god and each of the saints. The images are so far from having any spiritual expression, that the faces of all, including that of Buddha, are simply inane. All around the temple are shrines, each of which supports a diminutive female figure carved in bronze. Each of these figures represents the virgin mother of the incarnate Buddha. It is not without probability that theologians suppose that this idea, now universally held by the Buddhists, analogous to that of the Madonna, is a modern innovation derived from some early inculcations of the Christian Church. Certainly the similarity is remarkable. One of our fellow-travellers at Shanghai bought a bronze image of the mother of Buddha, with an infant in its arms, whieh, on examination, we concluded to be an antique figure of the Virgin Mary. These statuettes to-day are carefully draped in bright yellow silk, the thermometer having fallen last night to 32°. Admiral Rodgers will verify another curious ornament which arrested our attention in this temple. It is a picture which hangs against the inner wall, and presents a view of the Last Judgment — a celestial figure pronouncing sentence, the doomed descending into a fiery abyss, the blessed rising into regions of felicity. It is so like the conceptions of the middle ages, that the picture might have been a study for Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel. There are a thousand bonzes in the monastery attached to this temple. They surrounded us on our way through it. Though they wear a yellow uniform, they are ragged and unclean, and appear in the last stage of mendicity. We shrank from too close a contact with them. They are ignorant, idle, and lazy. They seem to have no efficient ecclesiastical superior, and to be amenable to 176 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. no public opinion. In these respects they contrast very disadvan tageous!^ with the cleanly, neat, and courteous bonzes whom we saw in Japan. Although a daily ritual service is read in the temple, it everywhere exhibits the saddest evidences of neglect and dilapi dation. After so broad a study of the practices of idolatry, we were now prepared for the more pleasing ones of rationalistic institutions. Escaping from the mendicant throng, who followed us to the outer THE TEMPLE OF CONFUOnTS. gate of the Buddhist monastery, we proceeded to the Temple of Confucius. It is about as spacious as the Senate-hall in Washing ton. After having been so long bedazzled and bewildered by the Buddhist and other pagan temples in China, it was not without pleasant surprise that we found the great hall, which we now en tered, unique in design and simple in decoration. There is here THE TEMPLE OF CONFUCIUS. 177 neither idol nor image, the likeness of any thing in the heaven above, or the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth, noth ing to bow down to or worship. There is neither altar, nor vase, nor candelabra. Instead of all those, there is, in a large niche in the rear wall, a plain pedestal, which bears a modest red tablet, on which is engraved, in letters of gold, the name " Confucius." The architrave of the niche bears seven legends, the homages of the sev eral emperors, of the present dynasty, who have reigned since the temple was built. These legends are as follows : By Kia-Kotg. " The holy one combined the great perfections." By Kang-Hi. " The leader and patron of all nations." By Ytjng-Chtbtg. " Mankind has seen none like him." By Kten-Ling. " The equal of Heaven and Earth." By Tai-Kwang. " The holy one who assists in harmonizing the seasons." By Hien-Fung. " His virtue is all the virtue which can exist between the cano py of Heaven above and the Earth below." Fung-Chi, the present boy-emperor, contributes this : " His holiness is divine ; Heaven cannot circumscribe it." Around the sides of the room are arranged tablets dedicated to eminent disciples of Confucius. Near the temple is the great Palace Hall, where the annual competitive examination of pupils, from all parts of the empire, is held. The construction of the Ex amination Chamber is at once convenient and elegant. We are «S:Sfe ram 0 5 H toDM0 S500 ¦»S«W'S;;;Ma;rtiii;B:aS' iiwlll 5 US'- ' ¦ ssisisi Bill 2: THE ACADEMY. 179 not sure that it would be thought exceptional for Lyceum or Ex amination Hall at Yale or Harvard. It has a raised platform, with a plain throne, for the emperor, who annually attends here for the purpose of conferring the degrees, and has chairs for the exam iners, with benches, raised in semicircular rows, for the candidates. The studies are confined to the writings of Confucius, which are regarded as the classics of China, and every word of which is labo- BIAGE OF coNFuorgs. riously committed to memory. A long, covered corridor connects this hall with the temple last described. This corridor has a row of massive granite columns. We could not stop to count them. The square monoliths are completely covered with the writings of Confucius, the text being the prescribed standard for all republica tions within the empire. The grounds contain twelve thousand apartments for professors and scholars. The entire institution bears, in government language, the name of "academy." We 180 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. were sorry to find all parts of the academy covered with dust and sand, and exhibiting evidence of much neglect, though not dilapi dated like the temples. Open any Chinese book, ask any Chinese statesman or scholar, and you will learn that Confucius is worshipped. Push the inquiry further, and you will learn that he is worshipped not as a deity, but as a person of divine perfection. The absence of the custom ary symbols of worship in the Temple of Confucius confirms this view. The Chinese ambassadors at Washington refused to recognize one of their young countrymen who had been educated at Fairfax Theological Seminary for the Christian ministry. He pleaded, as an excuse for his conversion, the divinity of Christ. They replied : " Why do we want another Christ ? We have a Christ of our own, Confucius." A Chinaman, whom we met here, when pressed by one of our missionaries to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ as the gift of God to man, replied : " Why is not a Christ born in China as good as a Christ born in the United States ? " This national habit of comparing Confucius with the Saviour undoubtedly results from the similarity, in many respects, between the teachings of Confucius and the Christian morals. The Chinese reformer teaches no dogmatic theology, either of materialism or mysticism. He tolerates all such, however, while his code of mor als and manners is adapted to all classes and conditions of society, and to all forms of religious faith. The worshippers of heaven and earth, the sun, moon, and stars, can accept the system of Confu cius, because it does not interfere with any principles of their own. The Buddhists entertain no jealousy of it. It fails, however, to regenerate the empire ; it is " of the earth, earthy." " As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly." The motive of duty to our' fellow-men must have its most effective spring in the sense of duty to God. No human being can have that sense, unless he has accepted the truth that God is one, and that he is a Spirit to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. The day closed with an excursion through the imperial city, and under the walls of the "prohibited" city. The grounds at- THE PARADISE OF BIRDS. 181 tached to the imperial palaces have an exquisite arrangement of lawn and grove, of hill and lake. These grounds are cultivated with due care, and gave us the only scene we have found in Peking, or indeed in China, exempt from the ravages of decay and desolation. November 11th. — We met, last evening, the diplomatic society, and all the foreigners residing in Peking, in a pleasant reunion at the British legation. The imperial parks and gardens, the groves around the temples, the waste places made by sieges and fires, not to speak of the mul titude of canals, fit Peking to be a paradise of birds, and the taste of the Chinese people favors their preservation. We are awakened every morning by the cawing of the foraging army of crows going out on their march to the cornfields outside the city. The sky is blackened at sunset with the regiments returning to bivouac. The crow is not here, however, as among us, regarded with dislike. He is taught solemn exercises, cunning acts, and winning ways. Thrushes, as large as our robins, and sparrows especially beautiful, abound, and game is more plentiful than poultry at home. The pigeon, everywhere a favorite of man, is especially so here. Flocks, whirling through the air at all hours of the day, arrest notice by shrill and varied notes, which they never utter elsewhere. We were a long time perplexed as to what particular species these birds belonged, and in what way they produced these not unmusical sounds. They are reared in dovecotes, and a light reed-whistle is delicately fastened on the back of the bird, at the root of the tail- feathers. Many reasons are assigned for this invention. The most common one is, that it frightens the crows in their depreda tions. Another, that they protect the flocks against the birds of prey. However this may be, the music produced on these iEolian harps is sufficient to account for the practice, without looking for any economical reason. We have frequently recognized the pigeon in his office of letter- carrier. He is the only postman employed in China, except the Bwift-footed Government courier, whose toil is so great while his reward is so small. What a change must come over the empire, 13 182 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. when this postman gives place to the railroad, the express, and the electric telegraph ! We have not seen the magpie domesticated, but he keeps perpetual ward in the palaces, castles, and gates. While we have been studying the birds of Peking, some mem bers of our party were making a new advance upon the Temple of Heaven. What they saw must be recorded, less for the forbidden knowledge which was gained than for the moral reflections which it suggests. Mr. Coles, a pupil in the American legation, conduct ed a party of four, two of whom were ladies, along the high, paved road in the direction of the temple. At a distance from the gate he left them and threw himself into a mean, elosely-covered mule- cart, in which he made his way unsuspected along the base of the wall, until he reached the central gate, from which we had before been repulsed. Emerging from the cart, he rushed into the open gate-way, and planted himself by the side of the stern janitor, who requested the unwelcome visitor to retire, and attempted to close the gate. But the visitor stood firm, all the while beckoning to the distant party to come up. The custodian now betrayed a con sciousness that he did " perceive here a divided duty." In any case it was a duty to save the great altar from profanation by native or foreigner, especially the latter. Secondly, since the Tien-Tsin mas sacre the Government has strenuously commanded that in no case shall offence be given to Christians. The custodian made the best he could of the dilemma, and yielding to the resistance which he could not overcome without violence, he piteously implored from the in truder a douceur, by way of indemnity for the bastinado which the Government was sure to inflict as a punishment for infidelity at his post. Terms were liberally adjusted, and the party went suc cessfully through the temple, penetrating even the holiest of its holies. The janitor hurried them forward, his fears of the bas tinado increasing with every minute of delay. His terror became so great that, when they had completed the examination and returned to the gate, he demanded a larger sum for letting them out than he had before received for letting them in. To what a humiliating condition has the empire of Kublai-Khan fallen, when its sovereign dare not suffer the foreigner to enter the WAN-SIANG'S LETTER. 183 great national temple, through fear of domestic insurrection, nor to forbid him from entering, through fear of foreign war ! While the visitors confirm the descriptions of the magnificence of the temple which we have before mentioned, they assure us also that even in the Temple of Heaven, as in all the other edifices and places we have visited, neglect and decay are indescribable. Wan-Siang is president of the Board of Rites, and principal Minister of Foreign Affairs. Acting in concert with the regent Prince Kung, Wan-Siang was the master-spirit who led the Chinese Government up to the resolution of entering into diplomatic rela tions with the Western powers. It was he who solicited and procured from Mr. Seward at Washington a copy of Wheaton's " Law of Nations," and caused it to be translated and adopted by the imperial Government. He, more than any other, was efficient in instituting the Burlingame mission. As has been before in timated, when we arrived he was under a leave of absence from official duties for one year, on the double ground of his ill-health and the duty of mourning for that period the death of his mother. Under these circumstances Mr. Seward, the day after his audience with the cabinet, addressed a note to Wan-Siang, sympathizing with him in his illness, and proposing to visit the minister at his own house. This note brought an autograph letter, beautifully written on rose-colored Chinese official paper, as follows : " I have long heard of your excellency's great fame, which for many years has been cherished by all nations, and I myself have exceedingly respected you and longed for a better acquaintance. Since you have come to our country, its high authorities will be Btill more desirous of seeing and conversing with you. But, as for myself, an old malady having returned, I have been obliged to ask a leave of absence, and it was an occasion of regret and disappoint ment that I was unable to meet you on the 7th instant, when you visited the foreign office. I have had the honor to receive your note of yesterday, in which you propose to yourself the great trouble of coming to see me, an honor which I shall engrave in my heart, and write on my bones. But my dwelling is mean and small, and its condition would, I fear, be offensive to you, which 184 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. would be a matter of deep regret to me. I have, therefore, set apart the 11th instant to go and call on you at one o'clock in the afternoon, if my health will in anywise enable me to do so. We can then converse at length. I shall be pleased to receive a reply, and I avail myself of this occasion to wish that happiness may every day be yours." The letter bore no signature, but enclosed within was the writ ten card of Wan-Siang. At twelve another autograph card of Wan-Siang was delivered to Mr. Seward, as an announcement of the minister's approach. He arrived at the moment, in a green sedan-chair, with two mounted attendants and four footmen. He is a dignified and grave person, and he went through the ceremony of introduction to Mr. Seward with ease and politeness. He wore a rich dress of silks and furs, and a mandarin's hat with a peacock's feather and a coral ball on the top. Mr. Seward and Mr. Low sat down with Wan-Siang, Dr. Williams acting as interpreter. Wan-Siang said: "I have been detained at my home one whole year by ill- health. I should not have come out from it now, and perhaps I should never have come out from it again, but for my desire to make your acquaintance. I have always known you as a firm and constant friend of a just and liberal policy, on the part of the Western nations toward China. I am surprised to see you so vigorous after so laborious a public service. What may be your honorable age ? " Mr. Sewaed answered : " Sixty-nine." Wan-Siang exclaimed : " Sixteen years older than I, and yet so much stronger and more elastic ! You are going from your own country around the world, while I, alas ! am unable to keep about my own proper business at home." Me. Seward said: "Mr. Burlingame's letters and conversa tions made me well acquainted with your character and your saga cious and effective statesmanship." Wan-Siang : " We deplore the death of Mr. Burlingame. It is a loss to China that he died before accomplishing his mission. INTERVIEW WITH WAN-SIANG. 185 Mr. Burlingame wrote to us from the United States how much the embassy was indebted to you for its great success." Mk. Seward : " Before the treaty was signed at Washington, its provisions were confidentially submitted to the European courts. They gave us assurances that they would accept them. I met Chi-Tajen and Sun-Tajen at Shanghai. They told me that the treaty had been virtually accepted by the European states. Mr. Burlingame's mission was therefore a success. He has brought China and the West into relations of mutual friendship and accord. In this view his death was not premature. He has raised an honorable fame on a firm foundation." Wan-Siang : " Does any subject occur to you which is of com mon interest to China and the United States, on which you would be free to speak % " Me. Seward : " I think China ought to reciprocate with the Western nations by sending to them permanent resident ministers and consuls, who should be of equal rank with those which the for eign nations accredit here. They ought, moreover, in all cases, to be not foreigners, but native Chinese." Wan-Siang : " We shall send such agents so soon as they can be educated here in the Western sciences and languages, so as to be qualified for their trusts." Mr. Sewaed : " Better that they go unqualified than wait too long. Chinese experts will learn Western sciences, languages, laws, and customs, in the United States or in Europe, much faster than they can acquire them here. Moreover, Chinese immigration is already largely flowing into the United States. The rights and interests of Chinese immigrants are likely to suffer neglect there for want of Chinese diplomatic and consular agents, who, accord ing to the customs of nations, are expected to invoke the atten tion and protection of the Government, in cases of injustice or oppression. Again, there is no accord nor friendship where there is no reciprocity. China is now regarded, by all the West ern nations, as not merely unsocial, but hostile, because she neg lects the exchange of international courtesies abroad as well as at home." 186 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA, Wan-Siang : " These are my own opinions. I have always en deavored to bring them into practice." Me. Sewaed : " There is another point upon which I would like to speak freely, if I should not be thought speaking in an un friendly way. I think I know the temper of the European states. Chinese ministers are accorded a personal reception by the sover eigns of those nations. The Chinese emperor refuses a personal reception to the foreign ministers here. Thus, the Chinese minis ter is admitted to a direct acquaintance with the President of the United States, with the Queen of England, and with the Emperor of Russia. A minister from either of those countries, on arriving here, learns that the Emperor of China is too sacred a person to be looked upon. This, to be sure, is only a question of ceremony and etiquette ; but, my dear sir, questions of ceremony and etiquette between nations often become the most serious and dangerous of all international complications." Wan-Siang bowed courteously, but made no reply. Mr. Low, interposing, said : " The subject is a delicate one just now, but we are sure that Wan-Siang is the last statesman in China to overlook it." Me. Sewaed : " Are the students, such as I saw yesterday at the Temple of Confucius, and who are the only allowed candidates for official employments in China, instructed in modem Chinese sciences, or are they taught the ancient classics only ? " Wan-Siang : " Only the latter. I have attempted to procure the establishment of an imperial college, in which modern sciences and languages shall be taught by foreign professors. For a while I thought that I should succeed. But the effort has failed,, and has brought me under deep reproach and general suspicion." Me. Sewaed : " This ought not to discourage you. Every wise minister at some time falls under temporary reproach and unjust suspicion. Public opinion, in every country, is a capricious sea., Whoever attempts to navigate it is liable to be tossed about by storms." Wan-Siang : " It is, as you say, indeed unavoidable. A states man stands on a hill. He looks farther in all directions than the A DEPRESSED STATESMAN. 187 people, who are standing at the base, can see. When he points out the course they ought to take for safety, they are suspicious that he is misdirecting them. When they have at last gained the summit from which he pointed the way, they then correct their misjudg- ment. But this, although it may be sufficient for them, comes too late for the statesman." Wan-Siang seemed to avoid contested questions, like a sick man who is warned against excitement. He turned the conversation upon Prince Kung's admiration for Mr. Seward, and disappoint ment in failing to meet him at the foreign office, and his purpose still to do so when recovered from his illness. Wan-Siang then fell into lamentations over his own prostrate health, and expressed himself despondingly concerning the future of China. After an exchange of courtesies he withdrew, leaving on Mr. Seward's mind the painful impression that Wan-Siang would die, before many years, of a broken heart. On inquiring the cause of Wan-Siang's mental depression, Mr. Seward learned that it is due to the defeat of his plans for the col lege which he had mentioned. It is only just, however, to say that a more hopeful view of that great and beneficent project is entertained, not only by intelligent foreigners residing here, but by Wan-Siang's associates in the Government. If we have exhausted the sights and wonders of Peking during our stay, certainly the city seems unconscious of it. The wretched streets have become a little less muddy, and the general aspect more cheerful, than when we came here ten days ago. CHAPTER IX. VISIT TO THE GREAT WALL. Preparations for the Trip. — Our Vehicles. — The Summer Palace. — Pagodas. — First Night under a Chinese Roof. — A Chinese Tavern. — Approach to the Great Wall — The Mongolians. — The Cost of the Wall. — Inquisitive Chinese. — The Second Wall. — The Ming Tombs. — A Misguided Mule. Hyden, November 12th. — Peking is on the parallel of 39° 54'. The point of the Great Wall which we propose to visit is in a direct north line about forty miles distant, on an elevation of two thou sand feet above the city. This altitude has a climatic effect of nearly seven degrees of latitude. The climate there may therefore be un derstood to be about the same in relation to Peking as the climate of Lake Superior is to that of New York. We provided against in clemency by a supply of furs and braziers. What with our strange catskin caps, long foxskin coats, and high white felt boots, we scarcely claimed to know each other. The obstacles to the excur sion have not been over-estimated. They were not, however, of a political nature, like those which opposed our journey to Peking. They are chiefly material and local. Our arrangements were made several days in advance, with Chinese common carriers, for the necessary litters, carts, mules, donkeys, drivers, and attendants. On the afternoon of the tenth, we saw with our own eyes a combined force of men and beasts enter the court ready to be caparisoned and packed during the night to start on the next day, just as soon as Wan-Siang's expected visit should be over. It was not, how- A CHINESE CART. 189 ever, until eight o'clock last night that it was announced to us, not only that the necessary complement of litters had not been ob tained, but also that they could not be procured in the city that day. We acquiesced with such grace as we could, and appointed a new hour for departure, namely, six o'clock this morning. We determined to retire early, Mrs. Low's ball to the contrary notwithstanding. In vain was that " net spread in sight of these birds." We rose at five o'clock. All the mules that had been gathered the day before had been taken away during the night to their customary stables. There was not one animal in the court yard. At eight o'clock two mules were lacking, but they had been CHINESE OAET. sent for. At nine, one of the mules which remained was taken 6ick and was sent away to the hospital. At ten, it was replaced. At half-past ten, the driver fell suddenly ill, and was sent home 190 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. unfit for duty. At noon, after we had been sitting three hours closely packed in our litters, the great gate opened, and the long procession, which, though a motley one, was completely organized, moved out. The roads we are to travel do not allow the use of sedan-chairs. Only mandarins are allowed the privilege of travel ling in mule-htters. Inferior persons are by the Board of Rites THE LTTTEE. confined to the use of the heavy, two-wheeled, close-covered mule- cart, indulgently called by Mr. Pumpelly " a carriage." The cara van consists of eight covered litters for the less vigorous members of the party. Each litter is borne by two mules harnessed between the shafts, one before and one behind the litter. Each litter has an extra mule for occasional service. It has also a driver on foot and a muleteer on a donkey. Then there are six carts, each drawn by one mule, and attended by a driver who walks. All the animals THE TEMPLE OF THE GREAT BELL. 191 wear tinkling bells, which give warning to all camel-drivers and whomsoever else it may concern, that a wide berth is required by the ostentatious occupants of the litters. Our way out of the city was through the North Gate. It brought in review, as we passed, the wayside traffic and street amusements of this singular people. Every thing to eat, to drink, and to wear, is prepared and sold in booths, and every thing needful in daily life and death, including coffins, is made and mended there. These booths are interspersed at short distances with theatres, show-rooms, and gambling-dens. You see an hourly performance of Punch with a pigtail, and Judy with cramped feet, thimblerig, harlequin, cards, dice, and magic. Occasionally we meet a lady " of the better sort," closely cushioned in a sedan-chair, more frequently " other women," with or without children, heaped and packed in horrible carts. Only virtuous and respectable people are allowed this indulgence. These women are gayly dressed, painted white and red, and wear large chrysanthe mums, or rosettes, in their hair. The very few women whom we pass in the streets are accounted both vulgar and vicious. The booths and theatre were not the only obstacles in our line of march. We jostled against long camel-caravans ; funeral-proces sions, which, by the affectation of solemnity, made a mockery of death ; and wedding-processions, which, without a pretence to re finement or delicacy, make the marriage ceremony a vulgar spec tacle. At Ta-tsoon-tsa, a dull and cheerless suburb, two miles be yond the gate, we halted for refreshments, at the Buddhist temple of the Great Bell. In China, temples and Buddhist monasteries are freely opened for the entertainment of travellers. Two monks assisted our ser vants in preparing lunch. The Temple of the Great Bell is humble compared with those in the city, but, although much dilapidated, is in a more cleanly condition than any we have seen in China. It rejoices in one of eight immense bronze bells which were cast at Peking in the year 1400 of our era, by the Emperor Yung-Lo. It is of the ordinary bell-shape, eighteen feet high, with a mouth thirty-six feet in circumference. It has a small, circular aperture at the top, adapted to the apparatus for suspending the bell. It is 192 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. literally covered inside and out with raised texts in very small Chinese characters, in all numbering, it is claimed, eighty-four SUMMER PALACE. thousand. The bell is made to sound by being beaten with a heavy wooden club. A further drive of six miles brought us to the Yuen-Min-Yuen, familiarly called the Emperor's Summer Palace. Since the time of the Ming dynasty, Yuen-Min-Yuen was the Versailles of China until 1860, when it was sacked, plundered, and destroyed, by the British and French allied armies in their advance on Peking. It is not in our way now to describe its former glory, or to relate the story of its catastrophe. We must be content in writing what we see and how we see it. The grounds of Yuen-Min-Yuen are an area of twelve square miles. It once contained thirty extensive and costly palaces used by the emperor and court. The invaders related that the architecture, furniture, and embellishments of CANALS OF THE SUMMER PALACE. 193 iRi§H Yuen-Min-Yuen, as they found it, were a happy and effective com bination of Oriental and Western luxury and elegance. Many streams, gathered on adjacent mountain-slopes, are brought into large artificial lakes, and thence distributed by deep and clear canals through the grounds, and then used equal ly for pleasure, navigation, and irrigation. The canals, after performing these serv ices, unite and flow through a broad and deep canal into Peking, where they constitute the great and picturesque lake which we have before men tioned as the finest ornament of the imperial city. While the canals have been built with excellent masonry, they are crossed with graceful mar ble bridges in various direc tions. The fields, meadows, and lawns, are fertile, but now in a condition of com plete neglect and waste. At the centre of the plain a cir cular rocky islet rises abrupt ly to a height of two hun dred and fifty feet. This arti ficial hill is traced with spiral terraces which fascinate the visitor by continually bring ing into view palaces, pavil ions, pagodas, temples, all half concealed by hanging 194 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. gardens and groves, which are embellished with fountains, statuary, and shrines. The summit is crowned with an imperial summer- house in the Italian style, its wall richly frescoed, and its roof glistening with blue and yellow porcelain. One of the delights of Yuen-Min-Yuen was a unique temple, wrought of polished bronze, standing on the acclivity of this islet. We shall never weary of the Chinese pagoda. One of those at Yuen-Min-Yuen, which, with the temple last mentioned, preserves much of its form and beauty, is a gem of that sort of structures. It is of slender proportions, and built entirely of porcelain of variegated colors. There must have been a time when the sculptor of China, while he disdained to copy foreign models, had learned how to bring Greek and Roman taste and art to give effect to national designs. Although the lions, the sphinxes, and the dragons, which are profusely displayed here, are imaginative conceptions, any one of them would, by its exquisite execution, excite admiration in Europe. The destruction of this magnificent palace by the allies presents one of those painful subjects concerning which agreement can never be expected between the generous and the unsympathetic portions of mankind. The allies say that the demolition was a just and even necessary retaliation against the emperor for the cruelty practised by the Chinese Government toward Sir Harry Parkes. The friends of art throughout the world will agree with the Chinese scholars and statesmen, who complain that the destruction of these ancient and ornamental palaces, with the plunder of their stores of art, was useless to the invaders, and therefore indefensible. For our own part, we have always thought that the British army might have spared the Capitol and the presidential mansion in 1814 ; and we now think that the allies might have spared Ynen-Min-Yuen. However this may be, the fact remains that the Emperor of China, ruler of the oldest monarchy in the world, is the only sovereign who is confined to a single residence, and that in the heart of a crowded and walled city. The ruins are now without tenants, as the temples are without priests or worshippers. Speculators and adventurers .boldly barter for the disfigured statuary and for the polished capitals, shafts, and pedestals, of the bronze temple. The THE DECAY OF CHINA. 195 roads are impassable, the marble bridges broken down, the canals choked, the gardens, groves, and walks, have become devastated, and the plain itself is fast becoming a stagnant marsh. Washington, Berlin, Vienna, and Moscow, have repaired the disasters they have respectively suffered, but the Chinese Government has no resources or spirit for renovation. The decay of Yuen-Min-Yuen must, therefore, continue until these " round and splendid " gardens shall become a maze as unintelligible to the traveller as the palace of the Caesars at Rome. It remains to be said that these imperial pleasure-resorts were surrounded by populous cities and villages, whose inhabitants derived their living from ministering to the needs and pleasures of the court. These cities and villages are now abandoned to bats and vermin. Arriving here after dark, we brought our long and bizarre pro cession to a halt in the open streets, because the court-yard of the inn would not hold litters and carts with the teams attached. It is hard to say how either Mr. Seward or the ladies could have been able to alight and thread their way among the busy, curious crowd which thronged the narrow, crooked streets, but for the assistance of Admiral Rodgers and the consul-general. We came in safely, however, to have our first experience of lodging under a Chinese roof. Nam^Kow, November 13th. — The mule litter is comfortable, and its movement easy, but it makes only two miles an hour. The "cribbed, cabined, and confined," solitary occupant finds the travel tedious. We have learned, however, to relieve the weariness by occasional changes with the muleteer and the donkey- driver. The first part of our journey to-day was over a level table-land. The road has been only a narrow, uneven, stony path, impassable with any vehicle other than those we have chosen. During the last two hours, we have climbed six hundred feet of the mountain slope, and have reached the foot of the Nan-Kow Pass, up which we must go to reach the Great Wall. With the usual ruggedness 196 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. of mountain scenery, no part of the country affords any relief to the general aspect of desolation. Fahrenheit 32°. ail8pSter'S2g:*V ' ¦:$mm NAN-KOW PASS. With few exceptions, the houses here are built of adobe, with thatched roofs, and only one story high. Our inn is of this sort, and consists of a low range of very small apartments, built against the wall on the four inner sides, of a large, unpaved square. We have to-night, as last night, secured the entire inn. Entering from the street, we have on that side of the square a row of apartments which are divided by the gate. On the right of the gate* are the rooms, or offices, occupied by the manager or keeper of the inn, where orders are received. On the left, a kitchen, or a series of immense cooking- houses, where victuals are cooked after the Chinese A CHINESE INN. 197 fashion, sufficient, we should think, to supply the whole town. It is marvellous what economy of fuel, labor, and provisions, this kitchen exhibits. The guest at the inn may supply himself from it or not, as he pleases. Perhaps, it is needless to say that foreigners never do. Proceeding through the square, we have on one side a row of apartments just like the others, which are promiscuously used, according to the exigencies of the occasion, for stables or lodging- rooms. At the farther side of the square are four rooms of the same sort, which we have appropriated for parlor, dining-room, and sleeping-apartments. On the other side of the square, a similar series of accommodations for man and beast. The animals, drivers, and attendants are disposed of in their lodgings and stables, accord ing to, their tastes. The Utters and carts with their clumsy, ragged harness block up the court-yard, so that there is no getting across it orthrough it, without a guide and a lantern. Our own apart ments, though we have called them by names which designate the uses to which we have appropriated them, are all alike. There is no corridor or veranda within or without, and so no communica tion between them except through the open court-yard. The rooms are about ten feet square and seven feet high ; the floors of uneven, disjointed flat stones, and they seem to have been never washed or swept. The doors are rude, full of crevices, and without fastenings. One small window in each room has a sash, covered, or meant to be covered, with dingy, torn, oiled paper. We do not know how nor where the manager of the inn procured the one table and chair with which he has furnished our chosen dining-room. Our servants have hired utensils in the kitchen to prepare our supper. Our bags and cloaks supply the deficiency of chairs. Across one entire end of each apartment is a brick platform, raised eighteen inches above the stone floor. Under this platform is a sunken furnace with reverberatory flues, so placed as to heat every part of the surface. The platform thus heated, and called the kang, is the common bed stead of the apartment, and the bamboo-mat spread over it is the common bed. A good fire being built in the kang in the evening, it retains its heat generally during the night. You may, however, replenish it at your pleasure. The bedstead accommodates, if neces- u 198 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. sary, ten persons, who stretch themselves out upon it side by side, without making any change of clothing, wrapping themselves in their sheep-skin jackets. We, of course, have a separate room for each of our party. Our servants have brought in the cushions, blankets, and furs, from our litters, and with these, by the aid of our dressing-cases, we are able to make a pretence of toilets. We have even extemporized cur tains, which are close, though' not of damask. The kang is throw ing out a genial heat through the room. We lie down upon it, with the stars twinkling brightly through the broken paper panes of the only window. November 14th, Morning. — Our mules are not reliable for the part of our journey which remains. We have ordered mountain- chairs and coolies, and while they are coming we have made a complete tour of the inn. In the East, the travellers are generally merchants or government agents. As there are no carriage-roads, every one uses one, two, three, or more beasts. Forage is cum brous, and therefore becomes the most serious care of the inn keeper. Dwellers in the East invariably live in close intimacy with their beasts ; hence cleanliness is a virtue scarcely known. The inn, which last night seemed to us not absolutely destitute of comfort, this morning is offensive and disgusting. Nan-Kow, November 14th, Evening. — We have done it ! We have seen the Great Wall. We have scaled its rampart, walked through its gates, examined its bastions, trodden its parapet, looked off from its battlements, and rested under its shade. Regarding this as the greatest achievement of our journey thus far, we should desire to set down minutely and deliberately each one of its inci dents ; but, hurried as we are by threatening winter, we have only time to describe the prominent features, and record an occasional thought. China might be designated as a country of fortifications and walls. Without being aware of this, we have already mentioned the walls of Shanghai, Tien-Tsin, Tung-Chow, and the triple walls THE GREAT WALL. 200 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. of the city of Peking. This little city of Nan-Kow has fortifications adequate to the largest garrison. Inscriptions on the gate-ways and arches in four different dialects, Mongolian, Mantchoorian, Chinese, and Thibetian, besides another dialect which is no longer extant, prove the great antiquity of these structures. Besides these fortifi cations, Nan-Kow is encircled by a wall which stretches over hill and valley in such a way that, while it is no longer useful for any purpose of defence, one cannot but hope that it may be preserved GATE AT NAN-KOW. for picturesque effect. Thus we seem here not to be seeing the present China, but the China of the past. From the very gate of Nan-Kow, we found neither regular road, nor marked nor beaten track, but a ravine, which, in the MOUNTAIN TRAVEL. 201 lapse of ages, a torrent has excavated down the mountain, falling a thousand feet in a distance of twelve miles. Our upward way lay in the rugged furrow of this torrent. Each passenger was lashed tightly in his "mountain" chair, which is simply an arm-chair mounted on two shafts, and borne by four coolies, his safety de pending on the tenacity with which his feet press against a swing ing board suspended before him from the shafts. The coolies pick their way by crossing from one side to the other over uneven, broken bowlders and rocks, and through deep gullies. The passen ger at one moment is in danger of slipping out backward from his chair, at another of being thrown out one side or the other, and again of being dashed headlong on the rocks before him. In some places the torrent is dry, in others the coolies are slipping over treacherous ice, or splashing through pools of water among rounded pebbles and sharp rocks ; in short, over every thing but dry earth. Steep mountains exclude the sun's light and heat at nearly all hours of the day. Those mountains are timberless, tenantless, dry, and brown. The geological formation of the pass is an alternation of granite, gneiss, red and yellow sandstone, porphyry, and marble. Having said that our road has none of the qualities and condi tions of a thoroughfare, it will seem strange when we now say that at intervals we encounter, through the whole pass, blocks of hewn and polished marble, with other debris of pavements, culverts, bridges, arches, and gates, indicating that it was once a military road superior to the Appian Way of Rome. Only Love, that "laughs at locksmiths," could maintain his sway in this dreary region. We met, in one of the most fearful gorges, a magnificent crimson wedding-car, which was coming down from Kiakhta, to receive a bride at Peking. We encounter on the way a class of travellers that we have not before met. They come not in sedan-chairs, mule-litters, or carts, but on horses, cam els, and donkeys ; and of these there is an endless procession. The beasts are loaded with wheat, barley, hemp, flax, and wool. Thirty camels make up a single train. One man leads each six of the beasts by means of a cord to which the halter of each is attached. Rocking from side to side, and unceasingly chewing their cuds 202 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. as they move slowly along, they excite interest by their patience, docility, and perseverance. Rough and vehement as the camel- driver seems, we have not seen him inflict a blow, or utter a word of impatience toward the gentle beasts. Another class of travellers are herdsmen. Mongolia and Mantchooria, beyond the Great Wall, are pasturages, and the flocks of sheep and herds of cattle which are raised there are brought chiefly through this pass, to be spread over the great plain of North China. The Mongolians dress altogether in furs and skins. They have an air of independence and intelligence not observable in China proper. The women are particularly strong, and, as we judge from their manner, entirely free. Their furs are richer than those of the men, and they wear a profusion of silver ornaments on the forehead, wrist, and ankle, as well as suspended from their ears and nose. They travel with their husbands, who divide with them the care of the children. If it is discouraging to some at home to wait for the restoration of woman's rights, it is pleasant to find her in the full enjoyment of them here, in spite of Oriental prejudices and superstitions. The mountain-cliffs are ornamented at conven ient and prominent points with pretty temples and unique shrines, and pious devices and legends are carved on what seem to be in accessible basaltic rocks. But the temples and shrines, no longer , attended by votaries, are falling into ruin. Reaching at length the source of the mountain-torrent which has made such fearful devastation, we found ourselves in a dell surrounded by mountains, and from their crests the Great Wall encircling and frowning down upon us. Our chairmen at once, with renewed vigor and elasticity, carried us up a rugged declivity of a quarter of a mile, clambering over shivered and shattered rocks, and set us down within a redoubt at the very base of the wall, three hundred feet above the dell which we had left. The wall varies in height from twenty-five to fifty feet. The base here, twenty feet high, is built of solid, hewn granite. We were not long in ascending the well-preserved flight of Btone steps which led to the parapet. The top of the wall is REFLECTIONS ON THE GREAT WALL. 203 wide enough for two carriages to pass. From the parapet we con templated the conquered China of the past, which was below us, and the conquering Tartary of the past, which was above us, both now under one regime, and constituting one vast, but crumbling empire. In the embrasures of the parapet we found, here and there, a cast-iron grooved cannon of four-pound calibre. It passed our comprehension to conceive when it was put there, or for what purpose. We entered a watch-tower on our left, and saw, at a dis tance of forty miles, murky Peking. The Great Wall crosses twenty-one degrees of longitude from the Pacific coast to the desert border of Thibet, and with its wind ings has a length of from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred miles. It seems almost incredible that this gigantic structure, the greatest fortification that has been built by human hands, could have been raised in the short space of about twenty years. Yet history assures us that Chin-Wangti began the work in the year 240 b. c, and finished it in 220 b. c. Nor is the perfection of the work less wonderful than the dispatch with which it was built. Although it here and there exhibits crumbling arches and falling ramparts, it nevertheless stands more firmly and in better preservation than any ancient structure, except perhaps the Pyramids. Very slight repairs would restore it to its original state. " Admiral Rodgers," said Mr. Seward, as we leaned against the immovable parapet, " will you take your pencil and make an esti mate of the comparative cost of constructing a mile of this wall, at the present day, with that of a mile of the Pacific Railroad ? " The two gentlemen went through the process together, and agreed in the result that the cost of building such a wall as this, in the United States to-day, would exceed the entire cost of all the railroads in that country. " I never before," said Mr. Seward, " found myself in a position so suggestive of reflection. This great monument tells, in brief, the history of China. Aboriginal tribes of the Mongolian race, forty or fifty centuries ago, left cold and sterile homes in the north, spread themselves over the southeastern portion of the continent of Asia, established there a kingdom, and built up a prosperous and 204 JAPAN, CHINA, AND QOCHIN CHINA. highly-refined state. They were annoyed by incursions and dep redations from the same northern steppes which they had left behind them, just as England was so long annoyed by incursions and depredations of the Picts and Scots, Danes and Saxons. Chin- Wangti, king of civilized China, built this great wall to protect the country against those nomadic tribes. The completion of so great a work justified him in laying aside the modest title of king, and assuming the more ambitious one of emperor — the first emperor of China. It is not an unimportant consideration that the culmina tion of the Chinese Empire, marked by the construction of the Great Wall, was coincident with the decline of Grecian arts and arms and with the establishment of Roman empire on the western shores of Asia. The Great Wall served its purpose through the period of fourteen hundred years. But, during this time, wealth and luxury increased in China, while moral vigor declined. An enervated state provoked the rapacity of its neighbors. Kublai-Khan effected a combination of all the Tartar and Mongolian hordes of the north. They forced the wall, conquered and enslaved China. Chinese morals and manners, however, subdued and modified the character of their conquerors. The wall ceased to be needful, because the Chinese and Tartars became reconciled, assimilated, and contented, under the sway of the Mantchoorian dynasty. How little can human foresight ever penetrate the remote future! How little Chin-Wangti understood of the fate of the Great Wall. Is it not well that human power cannot bind or control for an indefinite future the destinies of any nation ? " Occupied with such reflections as these, we took no note of the hours until the shadows began to fall, and t^e wind became cold and bleak. We descended and sat at the base of the rampart, where we found a dinner spread upon an uneven table of broken granite blocks. " Admiral," said Mr. Seward, " our Government informed me, when I was coming abroad, that you were instructed to show me courteous attentions, if I should be so fortunate as to meet you in Asiatic waters. You have executed these instructions in a manner equally considerate and kind. You not only received me at A LONELY TRAMP. 205 Shanghai with the usual naval demonstrations of respect, but, with your official staff, you have accompanied me, in the character of a protector as well as a friend, through the stormy Yellow Sea, the agitated political scenes of Tien-Tsin, up the tedious Pei-ho, over the desolate plains of Tung-Chow to Peking, and from there to the Great Wall, where we can look back together on the declining power of China, and forward to the coming of Western civilization from the shores of our own country to the Asiatic coast." The admiral replied: "I have esteemed myself fortunate, as well as happy, in having had an opportunity of attending you to Peking and the Great Wall — fortunate in having your ripe and varied experience to assist me in forming opinions, and in drawing deductions from what I have seen ; happy in the continual familiar intercourse with me whom it is not only a duty, but a pleasure, to honor. Truly do I hope that your health may continue no less robust, and your endurance no less marked, than in our rough ex perience together, and that your personal observations in other climes, of other peoples, may not be of less interest and benefit to mankind than those you make here." Our party broke into detachments and all communications be tween its members ceased. What a lonely tramp did we now have ! At length we reached the half-way coolie station. There the bearers set us down outside, while they went into the huts to re fresh. Half a dozen men and boys came around the ladies' chairs, and proceeded to examine their dresses, unable to determine whether the habiliments were those of man or woman. Well they might be perplexed. The Astrakhan cap might be worn by either. The long, heavy fox-skin coat and white mandarin boots were equally perplexing. They drew the gloves from off the fingers. These rudenesses were disturbing enough, but at last became unen durable when they thrust their fingers into the hair, and offered their filthy pipes, inviting a general smoke. Just then, when the ladies seemed to have passed completely beyond the society of their own race, they heard the shrill voice of a baby within the hut, crying not especially in the Chinese language, but in the universal dialect of infancy, with the response of the soothing lullaby of the mother, 206 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. equally natural. These incidents reassured the ladies, and showed them that the Chinese are yet human, and they gave over all thoughts of fear and torment. After a march of three more tedious hours, we have reached the same wretched inn which we left this morning. We conclude the notes of our journey by mentioning that, a thousand years, more or less, after the wall was built by Chin-Wangti, a second one was built for greater security, at the eastern end, forty miles south of the original one, both of which remain standing. It is this second wall last built, but similar to and constituting a part of the original system of. defence, that we have visited. Ming Tombs, November 15th. — Resuming our litter, and mov ing early this morning, we came down from the mountain terrace, and entered a smooth, level, circular plain, seeming more like a bay which indents a high, rocky coast, than the amphitheatre of landscape and mountain which it is. The terrace which surrounds the plain was chosen by the emperors of the Ming dynasty for an GATEWAY AT MING TOMBS. THE MING TOMBS. 207 imperial cemetery. It is divided into thirteen areas, seemingly of equal extent. Each of these areas is covered with luxuriant gar dens, out of the midst of which rises a magnificent mausoleum, called here a temple, but which is in fact a tomb. Dr. Williams tells us that "Ming" means "bright." The "Bright" dynasty flourished from the close of the fourteenth to the middle of the seven teenth century. Nanking, for a time the capital, has a cemetery of the earlier rulers of that dynasty. But we understand that it is not so well preserved as this. All the tombs are of one type. We visited that of Yung Lo, one of the most distinguished of the emperors of China. . His decrees of laws and manners, grounded on the writings of Con fucius, with some alteration, constitute even now the code of the Chinese Empire. We sat down here to rest in an ancient grove of persimmons, live-oaks, acacias, and cypresses. "It seems," said Mr. Seward, "that it is not until society reaches a high state of civilization in any country that it learns the absurdity of sepulchral monuments. Great achievements and rare virtues leave an impression upon mankind so deep, that they need no monumental reminder, while the attempt to supply the want of that impression by extravagant art is a mockery." But let us see how the Chinese of the past ages honored their illustrious dead. It is manifest that the device of a series of concentric structures, rising one above the other, is a favorite form of Chinese architecture. This vast monument contains five courts, one within the other. The structures are two temples, disconnected and distant from each other, but essentially alike in design and construction — the outer one serving as a vestibule to the inner or principal one. This inner temple, with its red walls and its plain balustrades and railings, is in form and style quite like the great Temple of Con fucius at Peking. Its proportions are equally grand, tasteful, and simple. Its massive yellow-porcelain roof, with its bright green- and-gold ceiling, rests upon two rows of wooden columns, of which there are thirty in each — the columns fifty feet high, with a diameter of four feet at the base. Behind the temple and in the fourth court stands an uncovered altar, the top of which is a mono- 208 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. lith measuring twenty-two feet by five feet. Directly behind the altar is a pagoda of three stories. Entering this pagoda through an arched door, you confront a large tablet of red and gold, which covers the remains of Yung Lo. You then ascend not a staircase, but a long and winding inclined plane, some sixty feet, to the sec ond story. This second story rises seventy feet; in the centre of this is a smaller tablet, like the one in the first story. The third story, reached in the same way, is an open space under the roof. Although we observe, in these buildings and grounds, marks of care and attention not elsewhere seen in China, there is neverthe less painful evidence that the work of dilapidation has begun even here. The path by which we reached the cemetery was an indirect one-. Contrary to usage, therefore, we made our exit instead of our entrance by the avenue designed for approach from Peking. This avenue is twenty-two miles long, well graded, and originally was paved in the most substantial manner. This road descends from the tomb-covered terrace upon the level plain, at a distance of one mile from the tomb of Yung Lo. Here it crosses a stream or canal by a noble marble bridge, not wholly ruined. This bridge is graced withwhat is here called the honorary arch, a majestic gate way, built not for use but for effect, like the triumphal arches of Rome or Paris. A mile farther the road leaves the level plain under a similar arch. Having passed these gates, we found the avenue adorned, for the length of a whole mile, by a row, on either side, of gigantic granite figures. Whoever may read these notes will remember that the proper order of these colossal figures is the reverse of that in which we passed them. First, we came be tween two rows of statues representing philosophers and moralists, four on each side of the way. Then four generals, arranged in like manner on each side, then four priests, then four ministers or statesmen. These figures are about twelve feet high, their costume Chinese. By their attitude and expression they seem to point with silent homage to the tombs of the great beyond. Next we pass in review a double row of equally colossal horses, four on each side, two of them resting on their haunches, and two erect ; next ele* PRANKS OF A MULE. 209 phants erect, and elephants in a sitting posture ; then camels standing and camels couchant ; then lions rampant and lions asleep ; then buffaloes standing and at rest ; then asses, and at the end rhinoceroses. Here two arches of honor, like those at the other end of the avenue, open on unconsecrated ground. Though the sculpture must have been executed three hundred years ago, it excels much of the statuary found in the public grounds at Wash ington, and is very effective. Of this we have evidence so strong that we should be afraid to produce it, if there were not a cloud of AVENUE TO THE MING TOMBS. witnesses to verify it. We give their names — the Admiral, the Consul-General, John Middleton, Esq., Alfred Rodman, Esq., and William Freeman. Here is the evidence : The lean lead mule of Mr. Seward's litter is a large, strong, spirited beast. Although he had given proofs of this many times by stentorian braying, ex pressive of discontent and obstinacy, yet he made the journey from Peking to Nan-Kow, and through the sacred groves of the Ming tombs, without any especial fractiousness. But he was only reserving himself for a display on the grand avenue. Even here 210 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. he made no demonstration at the magnificent marble bridge. He passed meekly under the double arches of honor. He turned neither to the right nor to the left, to pay homages to either colos sal philosophers, generals, priests, or statesmen. He even passed the recumbent horses on both sides of him without turning his head or pricking up his ears. But the first great stone horse standing erect, on the left, proved too much for the equanimity of the mule. Perceiving that statue at a distance of three or four rods, he broke all of a sudden from his lazy walk into a sharp trot, discarding his driver and dragging the rear mule behind him; regardless that, in the litter whieh he bore, was seated the venerated chief of our party, he dashed furiously forward to the granite horse, and, throw ing his head upward, presented his broad, graceless mouth to the more stubborn jaw of the statue. The muleteers, alarmed by this strange performance, cried out with dismay, and the gentlemen hastened to rescue Mr. Seward from being dashed against the figure. Happily, at this moment, the muleteers seized the brute by the head, in the act of saluting his ancient and unappreciative distant relation, and buffeted him away. He yielded, but not without a shaking of the ears, and an unearthly complaint from the lungs, which left no one in doubt that the animal thought he was unrea sonably deprived of a just and rational pleasure. Though not yet qualified for comparing the Imperial Cemetery of China with the sepulchral architecture of other countries, we may nevertheless venture to say that the impressive and suggestive avenue of approach, the spaciousness of the grounds, the severe exclusion of all foreign or incongruous objects, the drawing into contrast mountain and plain with ancient groves, and natural rivulets with arched bridges, the magnificence and elegance of the temples, and the simplicity, and durability of the memorial tablets, constitute an extraordinary and masterly combination. Whatever may be the historical merit of the Ming emperors whose ashes are deposited in those tombs, no one can leave the place doubting that the honors they have received here are such as are due to bene factors of mankind. CHAPTER X. LAST DAYS IN PEKING. Cham-Ping-Chow. — A Chinese Inn. — The Roman Catholics in China. — The Cathedral. — The Tien-Tsin Massacre. — Christian Policy. — Interview with Robert Hart. — A Letter from Sun-Tajen and Chi-Tajen. — Letter from Prince Kung. — Interview with the Prince. — The Prince's Present. — Departure from Peking. Peking, November 16th. — We passed the night at Cham-Ping- Chow, a town of considerable activity. Our inn was such a one as we could procure exclusively without giving previous notice. Our guides say there are some that are better. We are quite sure there are none which can be worse. But, if we fare badly in Chinese inns, we have the consolation of knowing that we fare cheaply. We do not know what were the bills of our coolies for man and beast. They could not have been extravagant, for the entire compensation which we have paid to them for the journey to Peking to the wall and back again is only ten dollars for each litter and cart. The expenses of our party of ten at the inn was three Mexican dollars for all, of which seventy-five cents was paid for extra fuel for the kang. The impression made on us, by the conduct of the people who came under our observation, does not go to confirm the belief that they are either hostile or prejudiced against foreigners, while it does satisfy us that they are punctual and exact in the fulfilment of their contracts. The mercury has fallen to 26°. November 17th. — By the laws of China, the Roman Catholic religion is tolerated here. That Church has on paper divided the 212 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. empire into bishoprics and vicarates. It counts eight bishoprics or more, sixty foreign priests, one hundred and twenty native priests, and four hundred thousand native converts. We visited, to-day, the Cathedral at Peking. It is a fine, large, stone edifice, with an adjoining nunnery. The sisters are French and Irish. There is a large number of native servants. It seems quite apparent that converts are obtained as fast as the missionaries are able to furnish them employment and support, which is an indispensable condition. Native jealousy feeds on a tradition that the spacious grounds occupied by those institutions were obtained without equivalent. Nor does the same jealousy fail to take notice that the Church arrogates a right denied even to foreign embassies, of using the imperial yellow color in the ornamentation of its portals and walls. Sister Louise, lamented as the noblest and best beloved of the martyrs at Tien-Tsin, had arrived there just before the massacre. The sisters gave us relics of her. What shall we say concerning that terrible transaction ? It is right, just, and wise, that all the Christian nations shall mourn together over the victims, sympathize with the survivors, and unite in demanding such satisfaction from the Chinese Govern ment as would afford security against a recurrence of persecution. But this has been already done as fully, it seems to us, as is possible. The Chinese Government has beheaded eighteen of the murderers, has provided for repairing and restoring the demolished buildings, and paid an indemnity of six hundred thousand taels for distribu tion to the families of the victims. It has, moreover sent one of the most eminent statesmen of China, who is fully conversant with the details of the tragedy, to make such further explanations and give such further guarantees as the French Government may reasonably demand. The French minister here, under high excitement and with threats of war, demanded, besides those concessions, the heads of the two chief mandarins who were in authority at the time the massacre occurred. The Chinese Government brought those man darins to trial. The charge of complicity was not sustained. Nevertheless the Government banished them for life, as a punish ment for their imbecility. THE TIEN-TSIN MASSACRE. 213 We know that here, as well as throughout Europe and the United States, it is alleged that these proceedings of the Chinese Government are fraudulent and evasive ; but we fail to find evi dence. of fraud, nor can we divine a motive for it. It is not to be forgotten that persecution of Christian missionaries, and especially persecution of Roman Catholic, is not exclusively confined to the Chinese. The Roman Catholic Church, with its high ecclesiastical pretensions, its monastical institutions, and its denial of the right of judgment by individual conscience, has come into conflict not only with the pagan systems of Asia, but with the enlightened civilization of the age. Here, as in Europe and the United States, it has fallen, however undeservedly, under popular suspicion in two forms : first, a suspicion of political usurpation, that is to say, of an attempt to establish imperium, in imperio ; second, the sus picion of impurity of morals in celibate life. In which of the Western nations has the conflict between that Church and those who dissent from it been carried on without occasional riot, massacre, and martyrdom — not to speak of the religious wars which attended the Protestant Reformation? In what Western nation did a government ever offer more effective or liberal reparation than that which the Chinese Government has given in this case ? It is not to be expected that the Protestant countries in the West, which have suppressed monastic institutions, and sequestered ecclesiastical estates, will sympathize with demands of France that shall go beyond a guarantee of rights and privileges for all Christians in China. Missionaries of all sects ought to re member that, where the Gospel comes, there "it must needs be thai offences come," nor should they forget that the command, " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations," was accompanied by the warning injunction, not less sublime than the command itself, " Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves ; be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves." November 18th. — One of the most important incidents of our sojourn here was reserved for this morning. This was an interview with Mr. Robert Hart. Can any thing be more capricious than 15 214 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. international politics ? The British and French allies, after having pressed the empire to the verge, found it necessary all of a sudden to strike hands with the Government in its war with the rebels, in order to prevent a complete dissolution of society. With their aid, the Government effectually suppressed the rebellion. Then came the question of reimbursements and indemnities to be paid to the allies. The revenue system of China had become corrupt and effete. The Imperial Government could guarantee nothing. In this difficult conjuncture, a happy expedient was hit upon. The Government, with assurances of protection by Great Britain and France, consented to reorganize its customs revenue upon a Euro pean basis, and confide it to the management of a European skilled in finance, who, with a staff of his appointment, half Chinese and half European, should fix a uniform rate of duties on foreign im ports, collect them, pay the stipulated indemnities to the allies, and the surplus into the imperial treasury. That functionary, under the official title of inspector-general, is Mr. Bobert Hart. While the internal revenue system of China remains in a distracted and dilap idated state, he has brought the customs department into a flourish ing condition. He returned only to-day from a journey of inspec tion of the open ports in distant parts of the empire. We found him a far-seeing and able statesman, having in finance, at least, something of the scope and capacity of Alexander Hamilton. But we reserve further remark on this system .until we shall have studied its workings in the central and southern ports of the empire. A letter from our old friends Chi-Tajen and Sun-Tajen. If there is a discrepancy between their names as known to us and their autograph cards, it will be understood that the word " Tajen," which is affixed to their names, is a designation of rank, and not a proper name. Mr. Seward is here addressed, not by that name, but as Sew-Tajen. " To William II. Sewaed — " Sru : We arrived in Peking yesterday, from Tien-Tsin, and had earnestly desired to hasten to you, in order to express to you LETTER FROM PRINCE KUNG. 215 our great pleasure. But the trip up from Shanghai has been ex ceedingly boisterous, making us very sick and giddy, so that we are altogether exhausted. Furthermore, we have not yet been able to submit a note requesting that we may be permitted to prostrate ourselves before the throne, and inquire for his Majesty's health, and procure a short leave of absence from the foreign office, which must be done through Prince Kung. It would be contrary to court usage to make a visit to you before having complied with that ceremony, even if we were not so completely prostrated that we could hardly do so, in a proper manner. " AVe sincerely wish to repair to your residence to thank you for all your generous and loving acts, which were so great and troublesome to you. But they are indelibly graven on our hearts, where they will remain forever. And how can we forget them % " We wish that your happiness may never cease. (Cards) " Chih-Kang, " Stjn-Chia-Kuh." November 19th. — On the 17th, international dinner and ball at the legation ; on the 18th, received visits from the foreign ladies residing in Peking, and, our time here growing short, we took sedan-chairs and returned the visits on the same day. This even ing a letter was received from Prince Kung. " To William H. Seward, etc. " Sm : I have just heard that you and your party have returned from your trip to the country, and I have, with the officers of the foreign office, arranged to visit you to-morrow, at one o'clock, at the United States legation. " I hope this hour will be agreeable to you all. « " I beg to wish you daily peace.", Autograph cards enclosed : "Prince Kung, "Pasytjst, " Yung-Suds, " CHm-KlOSlTAW, " Was-Chang-hi, " Ystjng-lun." 216 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. November 20th. — At one o'clock, Prince Kung, with the minis ters of the foreign office, came, having previously sent in their cards according to the book of rites. They came in chairs, and were received by the band at the entrance of the court, with a Chinese national air which they had learned for the occasion. The music, although by no means inspiring to us, seemed to please them. Mrs. Low, having first provided a table, half American, half Chinese, retired with the other ladies to an inner room, where they could observe, unobserved. The prince is the brother of the last emperor, and uncle of the present emperor, who is yet in his minority. The government of the empire is in the hands of the regency, consisting of the young emperor's mother and aunt, and Prince Kung. The two ladies take charge of the boy's person and education, while the prince exercises the sovereign political author ity. All edicts, however, run in the name of the emperor, without any notice of the regency except the form of attestation. The female regents maintain strictly the reserve required of their sex, being never seen even by any minister of the government. When a decree is to be made, Prince Kung proceeds with the draught to the palaue, and announces his presence before a curtain. The ladies then come behind the curtain, and receive and read the decree. They impress it with their seals. A eunuch delivers it to the prince, who, affixing his own seal, hands it to the " state- printer " in an outer chamber. Before he reaches his department, the decree is published and in circulation. The prince is tall and well-made, but does not impress one as especially intellectual. His manner is self-possessed and brusque, and he seems, even when practising the highest courtesy, like a person who is not accustomed to contradiction or dissent. He saluted Mr. Seward first in the Tartar fashion, by taking that gentleman's arms and hands into his own, with a friendly embrace. Our learned countryman, Dr. Martin, who acted as interpreter, mentioned to Mr. Seward that this treatment was in striking con trast with the customary Chinese "touch-me-not" form of salutation of foreigners. The prince then earnestly expressed his satisfaction in the accomplishment of a wish he had long entertained, to see the CONVERSATION WITH PRINCE KUNG. 217 face of his distinguished visitor. Mr. Seward requested him to sit, but he immediately rose, and apologized for his failure in keeping his previous appointment at the foreign office. He said that he had been, on that occasion, seized with a sudden illness, which had entirely disabled him from business for many days. Mr. Seward : " The anxiety I felt about you is happily relieved by seeing and knowing that you are well again." Prlnce Kung : " My acquaintance with your Excellency began with our embassy to the United States and Europe, and I have many acknowledgments to make for the kindness and assistance our ministers received at your hands." Mr. Seward : " Not at all, your Highness. Our Government welcomed that embassy as a harbinger of closer and more friendly relations between the United States and China." Prince Kung : " The relations of the two countries have always been amicable. I trust they will become still more intimate in future. As to our ministers on that occasion, their instructions were, to put themselves very much under the directions of your Excellency." Mr. Seward : " On the arrival of the embassy, I conferred with them concerning the objects of their mission and their powers. I then prepared a draught of a treaty, which they amended. When the draught, as amended, had been approved by the President, I submitted it by telegraph to Great Britain, France, and Germany. When those nations had signified that such a treaty would be ac ceptable to them, it was then signed by your ambassadors and by myself. This is the story of the • Burlingame Treaty.' " Prince Kung made a profound bow, and exclaimed : " What a pity that Mr. Burlingame was cut off by so untimely a fate, leaving his work unfinished ! " Mr. Seward : " Mr. Burlingame's work was so far accomplished . that he exerted an influence which will never cease to be felt in the mutual intercourse of China and the Western nations. The termi nation at any time* of a life which had already become so successful and so useful, cannot be called premature." Prince Kung : " Ah ! if others would adopt the principles 218 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. which are practised by your Government, it would be a great ad vantage to us." Here, at Mr. Low's invitation, the party took seats at the table — the prince at the left, with Mr. Seward next his Highness ; Ysung- Lun, senior Minister of the Board of Foreign Affairs, on his right; next to him, Admiral Rodgers. Not much attention, however, was paid to the elegant repast. The conversation was immediately re sumed, and continued an hour : Prince Kung : " How many are your venerable years ? " Me. Sewaed : " Sixty-nine. May I ask your Highness's age ? " Peince Kung : " Thirty-five. Are you now in the exercise of public functions ? or have you laid down the cares of office, while you continue to wear its honors % " Me. Sewaed : "I was in active public life thirty years. I have now given up official duties, and am studying in the way of foreign travel — " The prince did not wait for the end of Mr. Seward's remark, but, misapprehending his gesticulations, said : " I know, without an interpreter, what you are speaking about. It is your painful experience in your conflict with the Southern re bellion." At Mr. Seward's request, the interpreter told the prince that his guess was wide of the mark, and then gave Mr. Seward's answer. "Nevertheless," said the prince, "I desire to hear from you about the rebellion, and especially about your escape from assassi nation, and about the honorable wounds you have received, the marks of which you still wear." Mr. Seward, after a few words to satisfy the prince's curiosity on that subject, brought the question back to Chinese politics : Me. Seward : " Your Highness, is it the intention of your Government to establish permanent missions in foreign capitals ? " Prince Kung : " By all means. We expect to have perma-. nent embassies, and we expect to derive great benefit from them." Mr. Sewaed : " The Japanese Government "gave me a letter, which they addressed to the minister whom they have recently sent to China. I would like to deliver it." CONVERSATION WITH PRINCE KUNG. 219 Peince Kung : " He has not yet come." Me. Sewaed : " Is the Anamite Empire still tributary to China ? " Pelnce Kung : " It still continues to send tribute." Me. Sewaed : " And does Siam, also ? " Pelnce Kung : " The Siamese Government sends us tribute once in five years." Me. Sewaed : " What is the diplomatic rank of envoys who come to you from Corea 2 " Prince Kung : " That question is not easily answered. The Coreans have grades of rank, and honors, altogether different from our own." Mr. Seward : " Are the tributes which you receive from those countries merely ceremonial, or do they enter into the revenues of the empire 2 " Pelnce Kung : " We act on the maxim that the envoys of de pendent states shall come to us lean, and go out from us fat. They always receive greater presents than they bring." Mr. Sewaed : " The King of Siam once sent us a present in regard to which we could not act on that maxim. It was a white elephant." The prince took out his watch to compare his time with that of the legation, and explained that there is no standard chronometer in Peking. Admiral Rodgers inquired whether the instruments at the observatory are no longer serviceable. Pelnce Kung : " Observations are still made there, but the instruments are somewhat neglected, and they have become obso lete." Me. Sewaed : " It seems so desirable that the sciences of the West should be introduced into China that I regret to learn of the difficulties which the university projected by Wan-Siang encoun ters. I trust that that institution will revive under its new presi dent, Dr. Martin." Prince Kung : " It was with that hope that we appointed him, and we have now the utmost confidence in its success. It is bound to succeed." 220 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. Dr. Martin, in Mr. Seward's name, asked the prince and his associates to write their names in the ladies' albums. The prince took up the book, and, seeming to assume that it was Mr. Seward's own, wrote these words : "Having already attained so much of wealth and honor, may you also attain to great longevity ! " He signed this in the Mantchoo character — " KuNG-CHnar- Wang." The aged Minister Chin-Lun, president of the Board of Con trol for the Colonies, wrote : " May mankind enjoy universal peace ! " He signed this both in the Chinese and Mantchoo characters. Tung-Tajen, president of the Board of Revenue, before re ferred to in these notes as a poet, wrote, in ancient ornamental characters : "May mild winds and quiet waves, Tranquil seas and pleasant rivers, Speed yon on your voyage." Shen-Tajen, member of the Grand Council of State, next took up the pencil, and wrote : "May the clouds give you lucky omens, The stars assure you happiness and long life, The opening flowers presage wealth and honors, And the bamhoo tube [the mail-bag] only And always bring you tidings of peace! " Repeating and rehearsing these several kindly sentiments, they rose, took the hands of Mr. Seward and the admiral into their own, bade them farewell, and retired. November 21st. — General Ylangally again entertained us with a breakfast at his pleasant legation. PRESENTS FROM THE MINISTERS OF STATE. 221 This morning four mandarin chairs and six carts, with an un usual retinue of coolies, appeared at the legation. A messenger delivered to Mr. Seward the cards of the several Ministers of State, including one of Wan-Siang, together with a present, of which they left the following inventory : One pair of vases. One pair of enamelled eagles. One pair of double-enamelled vases. One pair of carved scarlet lacquer boxes. One pair of enamelled fish-jars. Eight pieces of silk, of various colors. Mr. Seward inquired of Mr. Low what would be a proper form of acknowledgment. He replied : " You cannot decline the present. You can only send your card in return, and pay a Mexican dollar to each coolie. Less than this you would be unwilling to do. It would be thought disrespectful to do more." The American and British missionaries, residing at Peking, passed the afternoon with Mr. Seward. They leave on the minds of our whole party an impression that they are earnest, true, and good men and women. The labor which they are performing in this benighted land fully justifies the Christian charity which has sent them hither. Ever since we came here, Mr. Seward and Admiral Rodgers have been diligently laboring to ascertain the feasibility of a return of our party by way of the Imperial Canal. The Government has caused a report to be made to them on that subject. This paper describes many breaches of the canal, but represents them as under going repair. The Government would provide for our security in the journey, but no shorter period than three weeks would suffice to make it in boats, while there would be many and long land port ages. It is almost certain that, within that time, it will be rendered impassable by ice. The canal-voyage is therefore given up, though not without much reluctance. CHAPTER XL THE RETURN TO SHANGHAI. Once more on the Pei-ho.-— The Ladies at Tien-Tsin— The Shan Tung.— Pigeon English. —Tempestuous Weather.— Yisit to the Flag-ship Colorado.— Departure of Mr. and Mrs. Randall.— On board the Plymouth Rock. Tung-Chow, November 22d. — How could we describe in writing the parting at the legation, which allowed of no utterance ! Time, it seems, is not money in junk-navigation. We find at Tung-Chow that our flotilla of little vessels, without a word of engagement or promise on our part, had waited nineteen days. It has been speedily manned and victualled. Its sails are already spread, our flags are unfurled, and we are once more afloat on the Pei-ho. The weather is very cold, but the downward voyage to Tien-Tsin requires only forty hours. Tien-Tsin, November 23d. — Could anybody ask a safer convoy on a river-voyage than a rear admiral ? Could anybody, needing protection on such a voyage, do a wiser thing than trust such a convoy 2 " All's well that ends well ; " but, could there be a better joke than that which has occurred to us, under the practice of these prin ciples 2 Boat No. 2, bearing the two ladies, accidentally separating from the fleet during the night, came up to the draw-bridge at Tien-Tsin this morning, not only two hours before No. 4 and the other boats, but even three hours before the flag-ship of our gallant "PIGEON-ENGLISH." 223 convoy. There is not only a time for every thing in this world, but there is also a place for it ; but, for those timid adventurers, those two hours were not the time ; and Tien-Tsin, with its murky atmosphere, stolid crowds, and horrible associations of massacre, was certainly not the place. Fortunately, the officers of the Ashue lot found them, opened the way through the draw-bridge, took them on board their ship, and seated them, shivering as they were, before a fire in their comfortable cabin. The deck is completely enclosed with bunting — the flags of all nations— -and is prepared for a ball in honor of our arrival. The same considerations, which counselled us to self-denial on our up ward way, determined us to forego the pleasing compliment. Thanks to Mr. Beebe, of the house of Russell & Company, for the welcome and comfortable quarters, which we so much needed, after the cold river-voyage. Thanks for his pleasant dinner, and thanks to Mr. Seward and good Admiral Rodgers for lowering their voices after the ladies had left the table, and to the whole party for treading so lightly as they retired for the night. Thanks, more fervent than all others, to the lucky star which has brought our nice, little, rolling Shan Tung, and her spirited Yankee Captain Hawes, back from Shanghai, just in time to meet us here and con vey us to that destination. Our last voyage on the Yellow Sea, and her last voyage for the season. Taku, November 24th. — On board the Shan Tung, waiting to cross the bar. Would anybody care to have an explanation of what is called " pigeon-English 2 " To the visitor, on his arrival here, it seems an unnecessary and puerile affectation. But this is a mistake. Native agents, servants, and factors, must be employed. They do not understand any foreign language, and foreign residents cannot learn Chinese. A dialect is needed for mutual communica tion, but it may be limited to the wants of commerce and service. As " charity shall cover a multitude of sins," so in this dialect, one English word is made to cover a variety of things. " Pigeon," to the Chinese ear, means, not the dove, but " business." " Pigeon- English," therefore, means "business-English." A few generic 224 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. names, without number, gender, or case, and a very few active and auxiliary verbs, without variation of mood or tense, constitute the whole vocabulary. " Will this horse kick ? " In pigeon-English, " Horse make kick 2 " " Ask the consul to come here." In pigeon- English it is, " Catchee consul, bring come this side." Eeport, in pigeon-English, " No can catchee consul." " Bring the breakfast, quickly," — " Catchee chow-chow, chop-chop." A similar invention, though not so well perfected, is adapted to facilitate intercourse between foreigners and natives in all newly- discovered regions. The Indian tribes, on the North-American Pacific coast, have a common jargon made up of only two hundred words, a mixture of English, French, Spanish, Indian, etc. The Ungua franca of the Mediterranean, a jumble of French, Arabic, Turkish, and Italian, is another such dialect. " Pigeon-English " is now regularly taught in Chinese schools. Since it is capable of in definite expansion, who shall say that, in the progress of time, a complete language may not be built upon that narrow foundation 2 Yellow Sea, off Shan Tung Promontory, November 28th. — The Gulf Pe-chee-lee is a vixen, and the Shan Tung, in a gale, is a nui sance. Although the morning was soft and genial when we left Taku, the sky darkened at ten, and in two hours we were rolling and pitching under a severe nor'easter. Unable to land at Che- Foo, we anchored for the night at Hope Sound. Resuming our voyage, we arrived, at six the next morning, in the harbor of Che- Foo. But a high sea would not allow us to disembark. The weather has been intensely cold as well as tempestuous for two days and nights, and there has been no rest or comfort. At two o'clock - yesterday afternoon, finding a smooth nook on the lee shore, we came to anchor again, to afford, not passengers, but the exhausted seamen, a night of rest. The storm has abated, and we are now making rapid headway. Shanghai, November 30th. — Why take pains to say what every body niay imagine — that we have come back to Shanghai weary, or that Mr. and Mrs. Warden seem even kinder than before, or that VISIT TO THE COLORADO. 225 William Freeman has laid in a stock of "pigeon-English" which he thinks will enable us to dismiss our Chinese servants, or that Admiral Rodgers has determined that the Colorado shall no longer be denied the pleasure of entertaining us, or that Mr. Seward has pacified impatient friends and countrymen by contradicting rumors which came before us — that the Chinese Government has organized an army for immediate war, and that Prince Kung refused to re ceive or meet Mr. Seward in any way 2 December 5th. — Yesterday, Mr. Seward, attended by many friends, visited the admiral's flag-ship. Arriving in the harbor of Woo-Sung, we proposed to go directly from our little yacht on board the Colorado. No such hasty proceeding as this, how ever, could be allowed. The whole ship made gorgeous display of national colors. The staff-officers, in brilliant uniforms, were afloat in her steam-launch, and other boats awaiting us. Seamen and marines were ranged on the deck. Six hundred officers and men, in regulation attire, were drawn up in line. Our now familiar acquaintances, the band, with their brass instruments blazing in the burning sun, stood on the quarter-deck; and in front of them all was the admiral, tall, erect, and commanding. He waved us a cordial and graceful welcome. The staff came alongside, and informed us of the admiral's request that Mr. Sew ard would remain on the yacht until the party should have been conveyed by the launches to the Colorado. And so it was done. When the party had been assigned proper places, Mr. Seward, coming over the bulwarks, was received by the admiral ; the marines presented arms, the seamen saluted, the guns poured forth a salvo, and the band played " Hail to the Chief ! " The officers were then severally presented to Mr. Seward. Then followed an inspection of the ship, which displayed the usual good order of an American man-of-war. A feast was spread in the cabins, to which we all sat down. The band continued playing until the last guest retired from the table. In taste for articles of virtu, the admiral rivals his professional confrere, the Duke of Edinburgh. Here we note, by way of 226 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. parenthesis, in China, which is the country of porcelain, that his Wedgwood ware is the finest in the world. A voyage under the soft moonlight brought us to the compound at two o'clock. Mr. and Mrs. Randall, greatly to our regret, being recalled home, we part with them here.1 Shanghai, December 7th.— We are preparing for an excursion on the Yang-tse-kiang. The admiral and officers took final leave of us to-day. After a pleasant dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Fraser, we repaired, at eleven o'clock, on board the steamer Plymouth Rock. On board the Plymputh Pock, December 8th. — After all, there is something in a name. Plymouth Rock, a name identified with the civilization of America, now employed to signalize an American regeneration of China ! Laboulaye has written an ingenious book describing Paris in America. Why shall we not, in ours, illustrate the United States in China 2 The Plymouth Rock was built in our own country, and is owned, managed, and sailed, by our countrymen. Such a prom enade-deck can be found on the great rivers and lakes at home ; but such a cabin, such a table, such baths, and such beds, can be found nowhere. We knew, when we looked about this morning, that no Chinese steward, nor maid-servant, if there be any such, nor any American or European steward or stewardess, had ar ranged these homelike comforts. Though we saw no woman, we knew, not only that a woman had been here, but that she lives here. The captain's wife, Mrs. Simmons, is absent for only a day or two. The Hudson and the Mississippi are the only rivers in the world where steamers carry as heavy freights as on the Yang-tse-kiang. If the monopoly of this navigation by our countrymen serves to ex tend our national influence in China, it at the same time illustrates the absurdity of the fear that the Chinese interest will become an intrusive or dangerous element in the United States. *»*- 1 Auburn, July 26, 18*72. — We record with deep sorrow the death of Mr. Randall. He closed a life of eminent public service and private virtue, at his residence in Elmira, yesterday, after his return to that place from a visit to Mr. Seward, here. CHAPTER XH. UP THE YANG-TSEKIANG. The Mississippi of China. — Ching-Kiang. — Large Freights. — Nanking. — The Porcelain Tower. — A Specimen Brick. — Abundance of Game. — Scenery on the River. — Ku- Kiang. — Conversation with Mr. Drew. — Policy of the United States. — Han-Kow. — Ascent of the Promontory. — Magnificent View. — Cheerful Aspect of Han-Kow. — Excursion to Woo-Chang. — A Disagreeable Adventure. December 9th. — The Yang-tse-kiang has its sources in the moun tains of Thibet, side by side with those of rivers which flow through Biam, Burmah, and Hindostan, into the Bay of Bengal. In reach ing the Pacific, it traverses the central region of China, a distance of nineteen hundred miles, which the sinuosities of its course lengthen to three thousand miles. Though this navigation may not be longer than that of the Mississippi River, extended by the Missouri River, the Yang-tse-kiang greatly surpasses the great American river in depth, breadth, and volume. Often, in its course, it spreads into broad bays or lakes, and, losing its own name, takes on local ones, just as the mighty St. Lawrence does. In a distance of eighty miles from the sea, the river gradually shrinks from a breadth of some thirty miles to that of one mile — the banks level, densely inhabited, and perfectly cultivated. At midnight we fastened at the wharf of Ching-Kiang, the southern terminus of the Imperial Canal. This populous and important town was nearly destroyed during the Ta-ping rebel lion. The mercury had gone down to twenty-eight degrees. A heavy dew was falling. It was no time to go ashore. Our captain 228 JAPAN, CHINA, A.ND COCHIN CHINA. left on the wharf three thousand boxes and bales of merchandise, consisting of sugars from Southern China, and British manufac tured goods and opium from India — a large freight, considering that the steamer is one of a daily line, and that the river is at every point crowded with junks. It looks quite like home to see the numerous and immense timber-rafts floating down from native forests in Thibet. What product does China need to make herself self-sustaining 2 The banks above Ching-Kiang rise to a height of one thousand feet. Nanking, on the south side of the river, is in an amphitheatre formed by those hills. This city has historical interest as the capital BRIDGE AT NANKING, AND POECELALN TOWER BEFORE ITS DESTRUCTION. of the empire before the conquest of Kublai-Khan ; afterward it was occasionally the residence of the Ming emperors. Nanking became famous, still later, as a commercial centre, and remained so CITY OF NANKING. 229 until the period of steam-navigation. Last of all, it became mem orable as the vantage-ground from which the Ta-ping insurgents carried the civil war to the walls of Peking. The pagoda called the Porcelain Tower, which, with its nine successive roofs of seem ing emerald, and the golden apple on its summit, at that time looked upon Nanking, was justly admired, not only as a chief em bellishment of the great city, but as one of the wonders of the world. But all this glory has passed away. The Ta-ping rebel lion, which ended only in 1864, proved destructive to Nanking. It seems almost enough to excuse the dread which all nations feel for civil war, when we contemplate the devastation which it invariably produces. Nanking, within its fifteen miles of dilapi dated wall, is little else than a desolation. The Porcelain Tower is only recognized by its debris. The port is not open to foreign commerce, but the Government permits steamers to receive and land passengers. A friend who came on board presented us with a large brick which he has taken from the ruined pagoda. Mr. Seward, thanking him for it, said : " One of the minor Greek poets ridicules as a simpleton a man who, having a house to sell, went about showing one of its bricks as a sample ; but, insomuch as the Porcelain Tower is gone, I am thankful for a relic of it." Game is one of the marvels of the country. On the river it is over your head and under your feet — everywhere. You may buy a dozen pheasants, ducks, or snipe, for less than the price of a pair of fowls in Washington Market. You pay less for wild-boar, veni son, or hare, than for veal or mutton at home. Do these wild ani mals affect the society of semi-barbarian man, or is the abundance here due to the great productiveness of the soil 2 December 10th. — Two hundred and fifty miles above Nanking, the river flows swiftly -through a narrow gorge between two moun tains, one called the Eastern, the other the Western Pillar. Above this strait the river winds, and is flanked on the right bank by bluffs like those of the Mississippi and Missouri ; a hundred miles higher, another gorge ; near the left bank, a conical islet, four hun- 16 LITTLE ORPHAN ISLAND. 231 dred feet high, rocky at the base, but smiling with vegetation at the top, the sides indented with winding terraces bordered with Buddhist cloisters, on the summit a picturesque pagoda. The rock is named,-in the chart, " Little Orphan." Opposite it is the pretty little town of Tung-Lu, with a picturesque wall winding over the undulating mountain-crest. Here the river receives the water of LITTLE ORPHAN ISLAND, the Po-yang, a lake with a circuit of one hundred and eighty miles, which, in some seasons, is enlarged to an area of two hundred and fifty miles by the overflow of the river. Four hundred miles from the sea, the river has narrowed to half a mile. The banks on either side are crowded with villages ; the depth, at this season of low water, twenty-five feet ; swollen by the 232 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. winter floods, it is sixty. Farther upward, villages are less con spicuous; but temples and pagodas, at picturesque points, break the monotony. One of these pagodas is a hundred feet high ; all are dedicated to the gods of the Winds and the Waves. At sunset we came to Ku-Kiang, a port open to commerce, on the south side of the river. The foreign settlement, though small, is well arranged and conducted; the Chinese city is contracted and meanly built, but busy. Mr. Rose, of the house of Russell & Co., and Mr. Drew, deputy Chinese revenue commissioner, received us. Each of the treaty powers nominates to the Chinese Govern ment a certain number of persons to serve as such deputies, under the superintendence of the inspector-general, Mr. Hart. These deputies are expected to learn the Chinese" language, laws, and cus toms. Mr. Drew is an American. While walking in the Bund, he lamented to Mr. Seward that British prestige in China prevails over that of the United States : Me. Sewaed : " To what do you attribute this advantage 2 " Me. Deew : " To the superior policy pursued by Great Britain. That nation, as well as France, maintains a habit of demonstration and menace ; the United States a policy of forbearance and con ciliation." Me. Sewaed : " These sentiments of yours harmonize with those of most of our countrymen whom I have met in China, How many foreigners of all nations have you in Ku-Kiang ? " Me. Deew : " Twenty-five." Me. Sewaed : " How many of these are Americans 2 " Me. Deew : " Two or three." Me. Sewaed : " The others, I suppose, are British and French, with perhaps a German or two 2 " Me. Deew: "Yes." Me. Sewaed : " I understand that, while the foreign popula tion at Shanghai is two thousand five hundred, only fifty or sixty of these are Americans 2 " Me. Deew: "Yes." Me. Sewaed : " Have you observed that Great Britain, France, POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES. 233 and Russia, maintain in China diplomatic, consular, military, and naval agents, in numbers as far exceeding those of the United States as their national population resident here exceeds that of citizens from the United States 2 In short, most of the Americans residing in China are missionaries, are they not 2 " Me. Deew: "Yes." Me. Sewaed : " Is it your opinion that there would have been in China, to-day, any more American citizens than there are now, if the United States had heretofore either waged war against China or menaced her in any way 2 " Me. Deew: "No." Me. Sewaed : " You have been here many years. Do you know of any outrage, or injury, or wrong, that the United States have ever complained of, that the Chinese Government has left un redressed 2 " Me. Deew : " I know of none." Me. Sewaed : " Has Great Britain or France secured to her self in China any political or commercial benefit or advantage which the Chinese Government has not equally extended, by treaty, to the United States 2 " Me. Deew : " No." Me. Sewaed : " The complaints of the superiority of British and French prestige over that of the United States in China are of recent growth. They arose chiefly in the period of our late civil war. You know little of the herculean difficulties of the Government in that conflict. Do you think that the United States Government, under the administration of Abraham Lincoln or of Andrew Johnson, could have wisely made war, or demonstration of war, against China 2 " Me. Deew : " No." Me. Sewaed : " Do you think that the United States ought to provoke China by any act of injustice or wrong 2 Do you think that it would be wise for the United States, without provocation, to resort to any policy of menace or intimidation 2 Do you think that the American people would support an administration in such a policy of provocation or menace, now while they are submitting 234 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. to such high taxation to discharge the national debt incurred in a civil war 2 " Me. Deew : " I think they would not." Me. Sewaed : " One question more. J£ the United States, dur ing the last twenty years, had pursued a policy of intimidation toward China, do you think that they would have been able, at the same time, to draw from this empire an emigration of seventy-five thousand laborers to build the Pacific Railroad, and open the mines in the Rocky Mountains 2 " Me. Deew : " I have not thought of that before." Me. Sewaed : " Well, Mr. Drew, I think we are obliged to con clude from all these premises that a policy of justice, moderation, and friendship, is the only one that we have had a choice to pursue, and that it has been as wise as it has been unavoidable." It is due to Mr. Drew to say that he had received his appoint ment to his present place from Mr. Seward as Secretary of State, and that he presented the subject to that gentleman chiefly for the purpose of ascertaining how far he had found cause to sympathize. during his sojourn here, with the complaints of our countrymen. Mr. Seward closed the conversation by saying : " The United States are, a republic, an aggregation of thirty-seven republics. Of the thirty-nine millions, which constitute the American people, less than ten thousand dwell in foreign countries, and a smaller propor tion in China than in many other countries. The United States cannot be an aggressive nation — least of all can they be aggressive against China." We reached the steamer and the end of the discussion at the same moment. This was our visit at Ku-Kiang. Han-Kow, Sunday, December 11th. — At nine o'clock in the morning of this blessed Sunday, our steamer forces her way to the wharf through a fleet of a thousand Chinese vessels. These vessels are coastwise junks, river-trading junks, market-junks, fishing-junks, passage-junks, stationary storehouse-junks, dwelling-junks, and tav ern-junks. So, after a travel of four months and two days, we have reached the centre of China. The Han, a large tributary, is CITY OF HAN-KOW. 235 to the Yang-tse what the Missouri is to the Mississippi. The con fluence of the two rivers makes the site for three large cities. Two of these, Han-Kow and Han-Yan, are on the opposite banks of the Han. Wu-Chang is on the Yang-tse, opposite the confluence of the two rivers. Practically, the three constitute one city. The foreign settlement, however, is established at Han-Kow. Marco Polo, in the thirteenth century, found, in Central China, a city on the Yang-tse, which he reported by the name of Kiu-sai. He estimated its circuit at a hundred Chinese miles. This is the city in which we now are. The good Abbe Hue, who sojourned here before the dark days of European invasion and domestic rebel lion, estimated the population of the city at eight millions. While the European residents say that the abbe exaggerates, they insist that the present population exceeds one million. The site of Han- Kow may be compared to that of St. Louis. Through the attenu ated tributaries of the Yang-tse, Han-Kow gathers up agricultural, mineral, forest, and manufactured products, from the western re gions of the empire, and distributes them by domestic and foreign exchange through the ports of Tien-Tsin, Shanghai, and Canton. When one has reached this commanding point, it is easily con ceived why it is that Shanghai, at the mouth, is so rapidly en grossing the commerce of the empire. The port of Han-Kow was opened in 1861. The Concession is beautifully laid out, and built up in a rich and costly style. It is spacious enough for ten thousand inhabitants, while the present number of foreigners is only fifty. There are six foreign houses, one of which is American. The high expectations of increase have been disappointed, not because the trade was misestimated, nor yet because it has failed, but, strange to say, only for the reason that the native merchants have learned the respective wants of foreign markets, and the ways of supplying them. They are now, them selves, enjoying the advantages which the European merchants have aimed to secure. Noon. — We live on shipboard, but we, nevertheless, are enjoy ing the hospitalities of Mr. Fitz, at the house of Russell & Company 236 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. We attended service, this morning, at the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist. It was built for the Church of England, but, having lost its Government stipend, the congregation is unable to support a pastor. Prayers were read by a Wesleyan missionary, an amateur choir singing the beautiful chants and hymns in an admirable manner. December 12th. — In our exploration, yesterday afternoon, we found that, although " some things can be done as well as others," there is, nevertheless, a "right way and wrong way" of doing them. Mr. Fitz inquired whether we would have chairs sent forward for our ascent of the promontory, at the junction of the two rivers. The arguments against it were, that most persons prefer walking to the hazard of being carried up the steep hill by coolies. Mr. Sew ard advised that chairs should be sent, to be used as we should find need. The younger people promptly decided for themselves to dis pense with the luxury. We went up the river to the base of the promontory in a row-boat (sam-pan). Thence we made our way, through a dirty and crowded suburb, up a flight of five hundred stone steps. At this elevation, we found neither platform, bench, nor stone, to rest on, but only another flight of two thousand stone steps before us, with an inclination of forty-five degrees. Mr. Sew ard took the chair which he had so thoughtfully provided for him self, and, though his ascent seemed frightful to us, he was borne quickly and safely to the top by two coolies, who neither stumbled nor stopped to rest. The other members of the party followed slowly, and reached the summit completely exhausted. Here, we availed ourselves of the restoratives of tea and rest, in a dingy Buddhist temple. We might confess now that the view which presented itself amply rewarded the painful efforts by which it was obtained, if we could be quite sure that we should recover, in many months, the muscular strength expended. On our right hand, the Yang-tse, a mile wide, flowed with rapid current ; on our left was the Han, scarcely eighty feet broad, though its springs are a thou sand miles distant. The city of Han-Kow covers the banks of both ASPECT OF HAN-KOW. 237 rivers at their junction ; behind it spreads a vast, low, green marsh, every year inundated, and often forcing the inhabitants to take refuge in boats. At the base of the promontory on which we stand, looking down the river, is the fresh-looking little city of Han-Yan, enclosed in a neat though not formidable stone-wall ; and, on the opposite bank of the Yang-tse, crowded with pagodas, palaces, tem ples, universities, dwellings, barracks, and camps, is Wu-chang, capital of the province of Hu-peh. A thin, blue haze limits the prospect to an horizon in which a small and lovely lake flows at the base of gently-undulating hills. In contrast with other Chinese cities, Han-Kow, including the three towns, wears a cheerful aspect. The streets are regular, and the dwellings, of stone or adobe, are whitened with paint or lime. From our commanding position we made an effort to secure a care ful estimate of the population. Our conclusion was, that the num ber of the inhabitants on land within the three cities is one million. But this estimate left us all afloat as to the mass of the dwellers on the water. It would be as easy to look from the high-road on the Owasco Hills into the beech and maple forests, that border it. on either side, and count the trees, as it would be here to number the vessels of all sizes which throw a dark shade across the narrow channel of the Han, and over the left bank of the Yang-tse. We venture to set down the population afloat at a hundred thousand. Who will correct our estimate ? We were to dine with Mr. Fitz at seven o'clock, but his house in the Bund is sixty feet above the river. The young people who had so bravely stormed the promontory were only able on their return to climb from the sam-pan to the steamer. Mr. Seward carried with him their reluctant apologies. December 12th, evening. — An excursion to Wu-ehang. Sitting in our sam-pan, we fortunately became spectators of a theatrieal entertainment on the bank of the river in Han-Kow. We estimated the audience at four thousand, without seats. Standing in rows, one rising above another on the steep declivity, they presented unbroken lines of blue nankeen, yellow faces, and shaven heads. 238 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. The stage was without change of scene, or scenery of any kind. There was no orchestra, but frequent rattling of gongs and drums on the stage. The performers were brilliantly dressed in yellow and red. So far as we could see, there was no breaking up of the performance for time or place. The whole ran on without pause. The actors gesticulated much and grotesquely, but they drew out CHINESE THEATRICALS. from the patient and delighted audience not one sign of applause. We distinguished frequent battles and dances in the play, but the dialogue was lost in the distance. After looking on for half an hour, we continued our excursion. When we returned three hours afterward, we found the performance still going on, with no per ceptible change in either the actors or the audience. CHINESE BEGGARS. 239 Landing at Wu-chang, we ascended a promontory which divides the city into two equal parts. A bright and variegated pagoda, called the " Little Stork," graces the hill above the landing-place. Its story, though modern, is characteristic : a little golden god took it into his head one night to ride a snow-white stork into the cham ber of the dreaming Taou-tai of the province, and demanded of him the erection of a pagoda in this place. The Taou-tai said, " I hear and obey," and, when he wakened, "he went and did it." We climbed the winding staircase of this pagoda. Cakes, tea, and confectionery are served, fortunes told, and " curios" sold in every story. In the upper one is a statue of a little god, about five feet high, with long, slender eyes, smooth black queue, black, waxed mustache, and tunic of blue and gold. He smiles complacently as he sits on the back of a stork, carved in wood and painted white. To speak the truth, he is a merry little god — the only one of that aspect we have met. Leaving the pagoda, we passed through the court of a Confucian temple, thickly crowded with sellers of fruit and provisions, trinket-dealers, vagabonds and idlers, and lame, blind, maimed and loathsome beggars. We looked into the temple, and found its walls covered with texts of the classic books. As we came out, the crowd around us had formidably increased. There is no coin in China but an iron one, of which a thousand pieces go to the dollar. Of course, we had none of these. The beggars, unaccustomed to being refused the pitiful alms they expected, became importunate and impertinent. One of our servants, who had a few English sixpences, emptied his pockets, without other effect than increasing the number of mendicants and their vehe mence. Our view from the summit behind the temple renewed the impressions which we had received on the opposite promontory, the previous day. Resuming our chairs, we were on our return to the landing-place on the river, when a painful adventure occurred, the first of that kind in our travels. Foreigners seldom cross the river to Wu-chang. Our visit was a novelty, there, and excited much curiosity. The town contains a university in which ten thousand students are gathered from the provinces, and it also has 240 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. a military school with a large garrison. These provincial schools are distinguished for their bigotry and prejudice against foreigners. Our friends, however, had not apprised us of these facts, nor had they taken into consideration that our party contained two ladies, who would be objects of special curiosity here, as they were on our way to the Great Wall. A section of the crowd, which had been following us, stopped on the brink of the hill, from which they could look down on the winding path we were descending. One of the ladies had left her chair, and was walking in advance. Mr. Seward was in an elegant green chair with glass windows ; the other lady in a covered bamboo-chair behind. A stone six inches thick struck the back window of Mr. Seward's chair and shivered it to pieces. A second, as large, entered the same window, and fell within the chair. A third stone struck the top of the last chair, and crushed the frail top. The coolie bearers of the two chairs stopped in a fright, and raised an outcry, directed toward persons on the top of the cliff. Well they might, for, if either of those missiles had fallen on one of their naked heads, it would have proved fatal. Happily the silken curtains of Mr. Seward's chair saved him from injury. He instantly alighted and turned to find the assailant. The enemy had, however, fled in consternation from the hill, and it remained to us only to exchange congratulations upon our escape from a common danger. Though the people sur rounded us in masses, which rendered our passage through the narrow streets tedious' and difficult, they made no expression or sign of unkindness or disrespect. Mr. Seward regards the assault not as one of design or deliberation, but as the unpremeditated and wanton act of rude and mischievous idlers. Nevertheless, the gentlemen at Han-Kow have addressed the Taou-tai on the subject. CHAPTER XIII. RETURN TO SHANGHAI. Departure from Han-Kow. — Chinese Military Art. — A Marvellous Echo. — The Imperial Canal. — Approach to Chin-Kiang. — The United States Steamer Alaska. — Running down a Junk. — An Apology from the Viceroy. — The Comprador. — Chinese Ladies. — Embark on an English Steamer. Steamer Plymouth Pock, Yang-tse-kiang, December 13th. — We left the wharf at Han-Kow at daylight this morning, and in return ing to Shanghai we are expecting to enjoy, by daylight, the scenes lost to us by night in ascending the river. The banks below Han- Kow are low and flat, with a city at almost every bend, but the mountains crowd closely on the plain. December 14th. — Night and rain came down upon us as we approached Ku-Kiang, but with only this pleasant consequence, that we gathered at the dinner-table in our cabin the merry party which we were to have met on the Bund. When they had retired, certain tall natives of the country, of course olive-colored, with glazed crowns and smoothly-braided queues, brought two garden- vases and two baskets, each of the latter containing what our gentle friends at home would pronounce " a love " of a tea-set — one ver milion, the other blue. Thanks to Mr. Rose. At Zuaking is a gleaming white pagoda, one hundred feet high, with a cupola of burnished brass. It has seven verandas, the roof of each ornamented with bright, tinkling bells. At its base is a military school. 242 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. Certainly military art, the world over, delights in fine colors, loud noises, and much demonstration. In the West, however, we are abating color and noise, while we study to increase force. In China, they reverse this. They do not improve their engmes and weapons ; they make greater noise with their gongs and a more dazzling display of yellow and red in their uniforms and flags than ever. Naval junks meet us everywhere on the river. Though diminutive in size, and carrying ordnance of the smallest calibre, their bunting surpasses that of a Hudson River steamer going to celebrate the Schiitzenfest. We have just passed a mountain-gorge which has a marvellous echo. When we entered the pass, the reverberations were single. Passing on, the shrill notes of the steam-whistle came back to us prolonged and louder. Farther on, the mountains gave us back two distinct sounds for each one they received ; afterward three, four, five for one. It was the perfection of ventriloquism. The sounds were articulate ; they seemed to come through the earth ; sometimes sonorous, at others soft and plaintive, always impres sive and mournful. Chin-Kiang, December 15th. — Anchoring off the left bank of the river in very deep water, and taking the ship's boats, we made an entrance, not without difficulty, into the Imperial Canal. Take its story briefly, to understand better what little we saw : Built in the thirteenth century, it is a monument equally of the greatness and of the wisdom of Kublai-Khan. Its length is six hundred and fifty miles, nearly twice that of the Erie Canal. De signed for irrigation as well as navigation, it varies in width from two hundred feet to two thousand feet. It is not, like our canals, built by excavation, but with artificial dikes raised on an alluvial soil, its banks and bottom paved and cemented. Instead of locks, there are inclined planes. Every abutment, flood-gate, and bridge, is of solid granite masonry. The Imperial Canal, like the- Erie Canal, is not an isolated channel, but only the main artery of a system of artificial navigation, the aggregate length of whose parts is four thousand miles, while they penetrate every one 0 z w wXh J?0 q"z< en 244 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. of the eighteen provinces of the empire. The canal is compactly crowded with junks. We could not make our way into it a yard's length, without waiting for a movement of the vessels for our accommodation. Oar appeals to the boatmen for this courtesy were not unkindly received, though the result was a scene of wild and noisy disturbance. We soon became con vinced that, in our small boats, we were in danger of being crushed between junks, even though nothing should occur to pro duce misunderstanding or disturbance. We returned, therefore, to the ship's deck, as cautiously as possible. In that position we traced the course of the canal " high,'" though not " dry," above ground four miles. The shipping through that distance was as dense as at the mouth. The offices of the managers and toll-col lectors cover the banks, while an armed fleet rides at the mouth of the canal to prevent piracy and smuggling. We learn here that obstructions render the canal impassable for the aggregate extent of one hundred and fifty miles. Even the navigable portions are so much injured as to float only small vessels. The largest, we saw are of one hundred and fifty tons burden. Three months ago, when a foreign war was apprehended, an engineer submitted to the Government a project for restoring the navigation, but elicited no reply. There is little doubt that the canals of China, the most successful and magnificent system of in land navigation the world has ever seen, are falling into decay and ruin. The approach to Chin-Kiang is very picturesque. It stands on a semicircular bay — the western entrance guarded by Golden Isl and, on which stand a Buddhist temple and a pagoda — the eastern entrance by Silver Island, its undulating surface embellished with tea-houses and villas. December 16th, 4 o'clock. — We are passing from the broad estuary into the Woosung. Farewell, Yang-tse, worthy, from thy length and breadth, to be called " Son of the Sea," though the critics learned in the Chinese language deny thee that significant appellation, and mention that Yang-tse means something else. SHANGHAI. 245 Shanghai, December 16th, night. — Quite to our surprise, we passed the Colorado, still at her anchorage. As we approached Shanghai, the^Plymouth Rock took a berth far out in the stream among the foreign shipping, busy junks and sam-pans darting around her in all directions. While standing on the steamer's deck awaiting a launch to convey us to the bank, the United States steamship-of-war Alaska came rapidly down the river. As we were in the act of exchanging compliments with the officers on her deck, she rode over a Chinese junk which was madly attempting to cross her bow. An instant afterward the two parts of the junk appeared on either side of the iron-clad. With how many lives the junk was freighted we could not know, but we saw living men clinging to the sundered parts of the wreck, and other living men struggling in the water. The Alaska promptly reversed her en gines, threw out life-preservers and lowered her boats. Fortu nately, at that moment, a steam-launch from the Colorado, reen- forced by Chinese sam-pans, went to the rescue, but we were unable to discover with what success. The painful incident has saddened our return to Shanghai. • December 17th. — We learn from the consul-general that the survivors of the wrecked junk hastened to the consulate with com plaints against the Alaska, and that he, as well as Admiral Rodgers, is engaged in examining the circumstances of the collision. The captain of the Alaska represents that he was hastening to get over the bar before ebb-tide ; that the junk was crossing his bows, and had time to clear herself, but that, as her crew advanced on their track, they espied the Plymouth Rock coming up, and, taking alarm lest they should come under her wheels, they stopped in their course and fell under the keel of the Alaska. We have arranged to sail for Hong-Kong on the 22d. Shanghai, December 19th. — Le-ming-Che, Taou-tai of Han-Kow, to H. E. Hobson, assistant in charge Han-Kow customs : "I am in receipt of your note informing me of your having visited Wu-Chang, with a party among whom was his Excellency IV 246 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. William H. Seward, on which occasion you were assailed by a disorderly mob of boys, and your sedan-chairs broken. The pro ceeding was most indecorous. I am intensely grieved that his Excellency, the American Secretary, should have met with such an insult on the occasion of his visit. I respectfully request you to convey to his Excellency my profound regret for what has taken place. I have duly instructed the Wu-Chang magistrate to issue proclamations to prosecute the offenders. " Intercalang, tenth moon, twenty-first day." Shanghai, December 20th. — The comprador, in China, is a char acter as incomprehensible as important. He is a native trained in accounts and trade. Employed by the foreign hongs (mercantile houses) as book-keeper and accountant, he adds to these functions that of the broker, who buys for the firm, and makes all its sales. In these transactions, he receives commissions from both parties. What is more singular is, that he maintains this duplicity of rela tions without suspicion of dishonesty. The comprador does not confine himself to mere trade, he is indispensable in all domestic and social transactions. He negotiates marriages between parties who never know nor see each other until the contract is completed. Russell & Company's comprador, to-day, paid his annual visit to Mr. Warden at the Compound. He brought his wife and her two handmaidens, presenting the latter, however, as his wives, numbers three and four; apologizing for number two, who remained at home. Also, two daughters-in-law, one child, and six attendants. The women, of course, came to pay their respects to Mrs. Warden. The comprador desired to make his homage to Mr. Seward, and the women requested an introduction to the ladies of his party. There was difficulty, at first, about the women coming into Mr. Seward's presence, but it was overcome. The wives and the boy shook hands with us quite in the American way, but evidently not with out concern for their finger-nails, some of which were quite as long as the fingers that bore them. They were elegantly dressed, wear ing a profusion of jewels, and were very timid. As they spoke no English, and we no Chinese, nothing remained for them but to THE CHINESE COMPRADOR. 247 study our dresses and ornaments, as well as the furniture and arti cles of vertu in the drawing-room. When they had exhausted those on the first-floor, they desired to explore the second story. The grand stairway is broad and easy, but, as all these women have tiny feet, each required a strong arm in making the ascent, but that must not be a man's arm. The ladies, therefore, offered theirs, and " such a getting up-stairs, you never did see ! " It would have been amusing, if it had not been really dangerous. After a thorough and minute inspection of the upper part of the house, they descended the staircase with much nervous apprehension. They then listened wonderingly to our music on the piano-forte. Calling, then, for their gorgeous sedan-chairs, they retired, doubt less to describe, to their small-footed and long-fingered friends, the mysteries and absurdities of Western fashions. During their entire visit, the comprador had directed the movements of his wives and children with all the vigilance and conscious superiority of a tur key-cock. As we assisted the women, or rather carried them in our arms, up and down the staircase, bright-eyed, gentle, and sweet- voiced indeed, but dwarfed, distorted, and enslaved, their de pendence was touching. We had not before realized the depth of the abasement of women in China. Steamer Travancore, China Sea, December 22d. — Many friends attended us to the steamer, and kindly signals were made to us from balconies, the consulate, and the shipping in the harbor. For the first time in our travels, we are on a foreign deck.. The Travancore, named from a province in British India, on the coast of Malabar, belongs to the "Peninsular and Oriental" line of steamers, usually abbreviated the " P. and O." The familiar berth of the Colorado, at Wusung, was vacant. She had sailed, an hour before, for Nagasaki. We were still ex pressing our regret that we were to see her no more, when we passed the bar. Standing southerly, however, we saw the majestic flag-ship before us, at rest in the open sea, with all her flags and streamers flying, the admiral and officers on the quarter-deck, and every yard fully manned. Three hearty cheers greeted us from her 248 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. six hundred seamen, her colors dropped, officers and men saluted us, and the faithful band gave us for farewell the same old national air with which it had greeted us on coming into Chinese waters. The Travancore lowered her flags, and every officer and passenger joined us in acknowledging the kind and loyal demonstration of the Colorado. SCENE ON THE LMFEEIAL CANAL. CHAPTER XIY. FROM SHANGHAI 10 HONG-KONG. Bad Weather. — Cold Weather. — Variety of Seamen. — The Ship's Accommodations. — Hong-Kong. — Beautiful Scenery. — Old Acquaintances renewed. — Native and For eign Population. On board the Travancore, Christmas-Day, 1870. — Give us no more of the China Sea ; give us, instead, the Pacific Ocean, the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea ; give us any water, if it be not the Bay of Yeddo, and any Gulf, but the Gulf of Pe-chee-lee. A bleak northeaster, with rain, wind, and darkness, drove us to the cabin as soon as we had parted with the Colorado. When, during the day, the decks dried, the winds grew higher and the seas rougher, and we have remained prisoners below, until the morn ing. This cold weather, on the verge of the tropics, is a surprise ; the high winds compel the native shipping to hug the coast, and equally oblige foreign vessels to keep away from it. Thus, it has happened that we have seen neither ship nor coast, although a narrow sea divides the great island of Formosa on our left from the continent. Now that we are approaching Hong-Kong, we are surrounded with native craft. We mark a new phase in this navigation. We found the sea men, on the Pacific mail-steamer China, chiefly Chinese ; so they are in the coastwise trade of the Yellow Sea. This Chinese monop oly is broken here. At the ship's muster this morning, the ranks showed many variations of physiognomy, with all shades of dark ARRIVAL AT HONG-KONG. 251 complexion. Of Europeans there are none; besides the light- yellow Chinese, there are the darker Malays ; small but active Hindoos, almost black, with perfect Caucasian features and curling hair ; and strongly-built, heavy-featured, coal-black negroes from South Africa. The languages and religions of the crew are not less diverse. There are Bramins, Buddhists, Confucians, and Mohammedans. While uniform discipline is enforced, difference of faith, as well as of diet and costume, is tolerated. The Chinese dress as on shore. The Hindoos wear a gay cotton blouse, on week-days, which they exchange on holidays for tightly-fitting cot ton trousers and blouses of the same material, scarlet or crimson sashes, and turbans. The Hindoo boatswain adds to this a gilt- embroidered, scarlet vest. The Malays wear calico pantaloons, with white shirts, and the negroes, here as everywhere else, indulge in the gayest of colors. The ship's accommodations do not compare favorably with those of the Pacific Mail Line, but here disparaging criticism must end. Though the table is frugal, the wines and provisions are of the best, and the linen is unimpeachable. The service is "punctual, and the officers and seamen are courteous and watchful. Hong-Kong, December 26th. — Hong-Kong is an island, which Great Britain has conquered, and commands the entrance of Canton. It rises more abruptly from the water than the island of St. Thomas in the West Indies. We anchored at three o'clock yesterday. There is far less shipping here than at Shanghai. The terraces which wind around the hill-sides show distinctly in bold outline every dwelling and structure of the European town, which, as well as the foreign ships in the harbor, was yesterday gayly decorated with flags and Christ mas-greens. We were received by Mr. Murray Forbes, representa tive here of Russell & Company, at Kee-Chung, the name of their princely house. We found fire on the hearth, the first which has been kindled this season, and the people here are rejoicing in hav ing escaped at last the intense heat of summer. We make these memoranda, sitting in a deep window of this great, old-fashioned 252 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. dwelling, shadowed by the mountain-summit, while an unclouded morning sun brings the town below into broad relief, and beyond it the deep, blue bay dotted with diverse shipping. A high, red, rocky coast bounds the prospect. Imagine such a picture as we have tried to present, seen as we are seeing it through a frame work of palmetto, banyan, camphor, and acacia trees, and you have Hong-Kong. December 27th. — Resting, Mr. Seward has exchanged visits with the Governor of Hong-Kong, and the United States consul, Mr. Bailey. We are renewing old acquaintances with countrymen and countrywomen. Our departure for Singapore is fixed for the 3d of January. We need, therefore to improve our few remain ing days in China. The British found five thousand natives on the north end of the island. Under the rule of Great Britain, they are now a busy and prosperous community, numbering forty thousand engaged in trade and the fisheries. The foreign population is perhaps one thousand. TRADING-JUNE. CHAPTER XY. FROM HONG-KONG TO CANTON. The Chinese Coasting-Trade. — Chinese Smugglers. — Canton River-Banks. — Aspect of Canton. — The British Concession. — The American Hongs. — The Consul and the Taou-tai. — The Diet of the Cantonese. — Manufactures of Canton. — The Temples of Canton. Canton, December 28th; Steamer Kin-San. — American side- wheel steamers carry the foreign coasting-trade between Hong- Kong and Macao westward, Hong-Kong and Canton northward, and Hong-Kong, Swatow, Amoy, Ning-po, and Foo-Choo, on the eastern coast. We occupied, with two friends, the saloon and upper cabins of the Kin-San, while the lower deck bore four hundred Chinese, chiefly traders, who pay a fare of a Mexican dollar for a voyage of ninety miles. The purser brought us the box which contained the collection of dollars for this voyage. Many were rejected. The coins were genuine, but almost every piece had been clipped. The deficiency was made up in " cash." From the deck, we noticed a native trader, who at intervals advanced to the bulwark, and threw into the water small bunches of hay and straw. We observed that, in every case, natives rowed from the shore in small boats, and picked up this refuse. Our friends, who knew the trick, informed us that the bundles of hay and straw contained packages of opium. Another trader dropped a sealed bottle into the river. A partner, who was waiting on the bank, took it up and found in it the prices 254 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. current of opium at London. Smuggling wears only this thin covering in China. Our course for forty-five miles — half our voyage — lay among sea- islands, giving us only occasional glimpses of the main-land. We then entered the narrow channel of the deep river, promiscuously called the North and the Canton. The banks are lined with the " Bogue" forts, before the " Opium War " regarded by the Chinese as a reliable defence. The victors stipulated that these forts shall not again be garrisoned. They are now falling into ruin. Thus Canton, the southern capital of China, is absolutely defenceless, with a British naval and military station at its very door. Might not Christian merchants in the East be content with this 2 Whampoa, some fifteen miles down the river, is the outpost of the foreign trade carried on at Canton. The river-banks below Whampoa are dull and monotonous. Above that place they present scenes of tropical luxuriance and beauty. The valley expands, and is covered with sugar-plantations, banana and orange groves, and the surrounding hills are crowned with pagodas. Canton stands on the right bank of the river, but projects in long suburbs over the opposite shore. Neither Nagasaki, nor Yokohama, nor Osaka, nor Han-Kow, nor Tien-Tsin, nor Shanghai, nor Hong-Kong, nor Peking, gives the stranger so effective an impression of a great city. We moored at the wharf in the midst of a floating city of three hundred thousand souls. Canton, like the surrounding provinces, is traversed by canals, which bring to its wharves passengers in immense numbers from all parts of the empire. The inventive talent, as well as the frugality of the Chinese, is in nothing more conspicuous than in the provision which is made for these wayside travellers. There are blocks and streets of gayly-painted and deco rated floating inns or taverns, shops for supplying all wants with out the delay and cost of going ashore. Our passage through these winding streets and alleys gave us some odd revelations of marine life. All manner of domestic occupations are carried on without fear of annoyance, or affectation of privacy. Chins are shaven, queues are plaited, dinners are cooked and served, clothes are made, washed, and mended, children are dressed, whipped, and put to THE TOU-TAPS NOTE. 255 bed, that is to say, laid on a mat and fastened with a cord around their waists, and tied to a mast to keep them from falling overboard. Even " field-sports " are not wanting. A favorite exercise of this kind is the chase of the wharf-rat. We saw one caught, skinned, spitted, and put on charcoal. This amusement is pursued chiefly by women and children. The fishing with cormorants is a vocation of a large class. Our party had no sooner reached shore, than it broke into fac tions. The younger members extemporized a guide and boat, crossed the river, and were soon lost in studying carved ivory, shell, and sandal-wood boxes, pagodas and toilet-cases, and orna ments of gold, silver, jasper, and jade. Mr. Seward, more politic, visited the British Concession. If they found the fabrics of Canton more exquisite than they had imagined, he found the foreign settle ment more spacious and elegant than the people of Shanghai and Hong-Kong allow it to be. There are thirty or forty spacious foreign hongs, an Episcopal church, built of white marble, and a club-house with a good library and billiard-room ; on the bank, a promenade, handsomely-ornamented with gardens, which rejoices in the name of Cha-min (Sand-face). The American houses, Russell & Company and Smith, Archer & Company, finding that the acquisition of title by Americans within the British Concession was attended with some uncertainty, have rebuilt their old factories in the Chinese city outside the Con cession, and we are here the guests of those well-known hongs. December 29th. — Archdeacon Grey is a philo-Chinese. He has resided here nineteen years, and he kindly offers us his invaluable assistance in the exploration of Canton. Meantime, the United States consul, anticipating that Mr. Sew ard would esteem it an act of becoming courtesy to call on the Taou-tai of the province, addressed a note to that functionary. He remitted to the consul the following well-argued and most conclu sive answer : " In answer to your note stating that the Honorable William H. Seward, formerly Secretary of State, having visited Peking, and 256 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. called at the foreign office there, had arrived in Canton, and pro- j posed to appoint a time to call, etc., I have to say that, considering his Honor Seward has laid aside his office, and therefore there can be no consulting upon public business, and as the foreign office has sent no notice of his coming, it is not convenient for us to see and look each other in the face. " Please inform his Honor Seward, the great officer, that it will be of no use to come to my office. This reply with my best compli ments, my name and my card." The consul, we know not how justly, attributes this decision of the Taou-tai to a public misunderstanding between himself and that officer, which had arisen before our arrival — the Taou-tai fearing that an interview with Mr. Seward might produce some popular jealousy. Canton is a sphinx, serenely indulging in calm recollections, and seeming to smile with equal contentment on time and change. We have interrogated it. How shall we be able to record its responses. The city covers a very large plain. Some of the streets are ten feet wide, they average seven ; all irregular and without a plan. They are travelled chiefly on foot, but almost everywhere sedan- chairs can be used. Paved with flat granite blocks, the sewerage is concealed, and in this one Chinese city there is no want of public cleanliness. An untidy person is as rarely seen in the streets here, as a tidy one in the streets of Peking or Han-Kow. Occasionally, we passed a dwelling, palatial in its dimensions and embellishment, but, generally speaking, the city presents merely a mass of shops. The floors are on a level with the streets, the houses without veran das or porches, and entirely open in front. The buildings are narrow, usually of one story, often twenty feet high, and each has an attic. It is a Chinese proverb that " ill-luck follows ridge- beams which connect with each other in a continuous line." Hence the roofs are of unequal height, and the boards which pro ject from them over the streets, to protect travellers from the sun and rain, are irregularly placed. The material of the fragile walls is dark-brown brick. Every one knows that the Chinese write from right to left, and in downward columns. The sign-boards, painted STREET IN CANTON. 258 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. in rich vermilion or gilded on dark blue, instead of being horizontal, hang perpendicularly, everywhere obstructing the passenger. The shops are gorgeously ornamented. Helmbold's patent-medicine shop on Broadway would not be out of place here. There are no street monuments. The streets are often short and curved, they branch at all angles, and sometimes are continued through very narrow gates or mere door-ways. It thus happens that there is no long vista, and Canton is a labyrinth, which only one who is prac tised therein can thread. It is divided into quarters for the accom modation of divers kinds of business more completely than any European city. Bankers have their exclusive Wall Streets ; the mercantile shops are in districts removed from manufactories ; em broiderers, silk-weavers, cotton-weavers, lapidaries, jewellers, and carvers, have separately their own quarters. Only vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, poultry, and game, are displayed everywhere. The dwellers in Canton are epicureans. They have fish from the rivers and fish from the sea — veal, mutton, venison, pigs, kids, ducks, geese, grouse, pheasants, quails, and ortolans. Whatever they can serve you at the Astor-House, you can command here — ay, more than can be found on the Astor-House carte / for, in the midst of the tempting display in the provision-shops, are seen the carefully-dressed carcasses of infinite rats and unmistakable saddles of dogs, while here and there you notice in the shop-windows a placard which announces that "black cat is served hot, at all hours." A decoction of snakes is sold as a medicine. As we were passing a small lake, a boy in our train waded waist-deep and brought out a water-snake. We urged him to throw the un fortunate reptile back, but he declined, and, bruising its head, he put his finger to his mouth by way of informing us that it was to be his supper. Rope is made here by the same process as among us, but a greater variety of materials is used. Besides hemp, they work bamboo, ratan, and tanned and untanned hides. A primitive process is resorted to in bleaching. The operator takes clean water by the mouthful and spurts it over the l fabric. Calendering is done as it was in Europe before the invention of LACQUER-WARE. 259 modern machinery. The cloth is passed under a stone roller which the operative rocks with his feet. The gloss produced is unequalled. We entered a flouring-mill — a blinded cow, at the end of a shaft, moves each of the seven pairs of stones. The operation is perfect, and the animals seem sound and healthy. The human foot moves the winnowing and bolting processes. No stranger could conceive the excellence or the cheapness of artistic production. Mr. Seward, fancying a carving of sandal-wood suitable for a door-way, valued it at three hundred dollars. It was offered him at sixteen 1 It can hardly be believed that the extensive manufacture of silks in China is carried on without the use of the " Jacquard " loom. The workshop is without a floor. The primitive hand- loom, with the operator's bench, is placed in an excavation. They insist here that the moisture of the ground imparts a porcelain gloss to the silk. Silk-embroidery is the most important manufacture. This toilsome and exhausting labor is performed exclusively by men, instead of being devolved on delicate women, as in European countries. We bought, at nominal prices, articles which would have a fabulous value at home. Lacquer-ware is made, though less extensively than in Japan. This is the process : A frame of the required article is made of thin wood or veneering perfectly seasoned. This frame is covered inside and out with soft silk-paper, made to adhere smoothly by use of a glutinous solution. When the paper has perfectly dried, a coating of pulverized granite, mixed in a fine oil, is spread over the surface. This granite paste hardens in its turn, and now the process of lacquering begins. The lacquer is a vegetable juice imported from India in earthen jars, and, when fresh, is milk-white ; when exposed to the air, it thickens and becomes black. It is applied with a brush and left to dry. No less than eight successive coats are put on, sometimes more. The Chinese, in speaking of a fool, use the proverb that " he wants the ninth coating of lacquer." After the lacquering is completed, the ornamentation, usually in vermilion and gold, takes place. Professional artists make the designs in perforated paper. 260 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. A large district in the city is devoted to the manufacture and sale of ornaments in jade. A Chinese gallant, speaking of a lady, says she is " as beautiful as jade." We failed to understand the secret of its value until informed of the firmness of its texture. A piece of this stone, weighing five pounds, has the dull appearance of a common pebble. It is sawed into plates of the required thick ness by the use of a fine wire moved by hand. After this, turning- lathes and lapidaries' instruments are employed. With these it is shaped into finger-rings, ear-rings, bracelets, bangles, buckles, cups, vases, and the like. The best jade is that which shades from milky white to clear green. We notice that women of the higher class wear a kind of orna ment peculiar to Canton. It consists of a head-dress or cap, brace lets or finger-rings, made of filagree gold, delicately enamelled with the blue kingfisher's feathers, and heavily studded with pearls and gems. Among temples, we visited first that of Pak-tai (the Dragon), a Taouistie deity. The dragon is one of the sacred emblems of China. Before that emblem stands a shrine, and below this a living rep resentative of the monster in the shape of a pretty little bright- green snake, which coils in the branches of a dwarfed tree, cultivated in a small garden-vase. Incense is offered equally on the shrine of the carved dragon, and before the living representation in the tree. The offerings are such as the snake does not disdain, but such as the fabled dragon perhaps might not thank his votaries for. They consist of tea and eggs. When merchants contract partner ships, or masters and apprentices execute indentures, they bring engrossed copies of the covenants, and burn them with incense under the tree. In this way they bring the contents of the articles to the notice of the god for his approval and blessing. When the contracts have been fully performed, the parties come again to the presence of the sacred snake, and with solemn religious ceremony declare mutual acquittal and satisfaction. " Holy water " is con stantly kept in vases, from which it is carried away in phials for the curing of diseases. When a second affliction falls on a bereaved family, it indicates that the grave of the deceased relation is an TEMPLE OF HONAN. 261 unlucky one. In that case the bones are exhumed and washed in this water, and then removed to a more hospitable sepulchre. From this temple we passed into a long street in which every shop-win dow is filled with bars of bullion, fans, hats, shoes, and garments of every pattern cut from fancy-colored paper, and put up in pack ages with a prayer impressed on each packet. These parcels are sold to mourners, who burn them in incense before the shrine, be lieving that in this way they convey to the departed friends the material substances of which the paper articles are the imitation. Of the Buddhist temples, the most celebrated is the Honan. It is, with its extensive monastery, called also the Temple of the " Ocean Banner ; " but why the " Ocean Banner," we cannot con jecture. Spacious areas here are occupied by " sacred " pigs, goats, raMl ¦ ENTRANOE TO THE TEMPLE OF HONAN. 18 262 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. sheep, chickens, ducks, and geese. Notwithstanding the reverential devotion which the monks show to these animals, the idle boys who followed us into the temple took a wicked delight in " stirring up " the fat, holy swine with pike-staves, and making them grunt for our entertainment. The monks have separate cloisters, and, besides these, one spacious and common hall, which, having undergone some special form of consecration, is regarded as an auspicious chamber for the departure of the soul in death. When a brother's last hour is supposed to be near, he is brought to this chamber, possibly with the unintentional effect of hastening his entrance to anticipated bliss. Not far from this happy death-chamber is a sanctified and auspicious charnel-house. The body deposited in this lucky vault remains here in waiting until Buddha, being con sulted, indicates a lucky day for the ceremony of cremation. Be yond the charnel-house is a furnace in which the process is con ducted. The ashes are gathered in a vase, and are deposited with others in a temporary mausoleum. When the fulness of time has arrived, and an auspicious day has come, the vase is emptied into a common sarcophagus, and so the funeral-rites are at last ended. Leaving the " Ocean Banner," we visited the Temple of the "Flowery Forest." Its pantheon contains images not only of gods of whom the Greeks or Romans never dreamed, but of more gods than they ever worshipped. Think of five hundred colossal wooden figures, of all complexions, black, white, and red, with distorted features and limbs, and dressed in purple, crimson, and gold, sitting in close order around the walls of a saloon, equal to the largest in the British Museum. These are the guardian genii of China. Each is a deified apostle or saint of the religion. These figures were presented to the monastery by one of the emperors, and per haps all were carved by one artist. If he failed to impart a natural human expression to any among them, it must be admitted in his favor that, in their hideous distortions, no two are alike. We were kindly received by the monks. The abbot, a man of reverend mien, wears purple, a cap which might be mistaken for a mitre, and a staff in the shape of a crozier. As we came in advance of the evening service, they entertained us in the spacious court with TEMPLE OF THE "FLOWERY FOREST." 263 delicious tea and dried fruits. The brethren showed by their con versation a vague knowledge of foreign countries. They feared that the disasters which have befallen France may encourage Rus sian aggression against China. They understand something of the great civil war in the United States, and rejoice in its results. While we were thus engaged, a group of ladies exquisitely dressed, and having the least of all feet, came into the court accompanied by many children. This party was followed by a retinue of well- dressed servants, bearing large ornamented paper boxes, filled with votive offerings, paper shoes, fans, and hats, as before described. They were waiting until the midnight hour, to burn these offerings in incense for the repose and cheer of deceased ancestors. Although the women made no mirthful demonstration, they were animated and cheerful, seeming to regard the ceremony in which they were engaged rather as a festal than a funereal one. They made no advances to us, but showed much delight with the caresses we bestowed on their pretty children. 'At the service, the monks kindly seated Mr. Seward on a wooden bench, the only thing of the kind in the temple, in a good position to see the ceremony. The hall of worship is sixty feet square, with a lofty ceiling. In its centre, a gigantic, triple- carved statue, in a sitting posture, representing Buddha in his three " states " — the face looking to the left, symbolic of oblivion, or the past; that looking forward, expressive of activity, the present; the third, looking to the right, contemplation, or the future. The " Flowery Forest," then, is a temple dedicated to a religion, older than our own, which pre sents, in a vague, misty way, two of the principles of the Christian Church : one, the incarnation of the Supreme ; the other, His pres entation in three persons, one and indivisible. Are these analo gies merely accidental coincidences, or are they different outgrowths of the same innate ideas, or are they shadowy forms of a common revelation 2 The service consisted in a solemn, measured, and de votional intonation of a long and varied liturgy. Occasionally, a bell tinkled, to indicate a change in the order of the prayers. At this soimd, the monks prostrated themselves, and brought their foreheads to the ground. At other times, they changed their pos- 264 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. tures toward the triune image, or walked in solemn procession around it, keeping time to a muffled drum and gong. Offerings are made of wheat, rice, and millet. These being deemed now consecrated, they were, at the conclusion of the ceremony, conveyed in a tripod, and scattered over the paved court of the temple, that they might be gathered by the fowls of the air, and so be saved from human profanation. The temple contains a very fine dagoba of white marble, built over a relic of a former incarnate Buddha. Its pedestal, a lower story, is ornamented with various allegorical tablets, on which Buddha is represented riding here on a dragon, there on a lion, and elsewhere on other animals. Heathen deities, as we come among them, seem to us to be rather impersonations of ideal conditions of human existence, than spiritual conceptions of a superior order of beings. There is a temple dedicated to " Longevity." The idol, a colos sal figure, badly carved in wood, and painted very red and very brown, represents an obese, contented, and lazy old man. This temple has a monastery of extraordinary character. Instead of cloisters of masonry, the cells are trees ; and, instead of shaven monks, the brotherhood is a family of storks, which, daily fed by the attendants, live out their long-appointed days, objects of reverence and affection. The stork which has the luck to be dedicated to " Longevity " is a happy bird. What a contrast is his to the case of the gold-fish, only bred and fattened, in the ponds of the temple of the same god, to become the food of the " holy " stork ! Whatever doubts there may be about the justice of the Chinese claim to the invention of printing, it is pleasant to record that they have done honor to the art of arts by dedicating to it shrines, tablets, and vases of incense. Our survey of the religious institutions closed with a visit to a convent of Buddhist nuns, devoted to the care of the sick. The superior and the sisterhood received us kindly. Although illiterate, they are industrious, tidy, gentle, and prepossessing. They showed us not only the meagre hospital wards, but their own very humble cells. After all, charity is an essential element of every religion, and woman is its truest minister throughout the world. CHAPTER XYI. CANTON (Continued). A Chinese Villa. — The Hall of Ancestors. — A Chinese School-Room. — Another Villa. — An Opium-Den. — Extent of Opium-Smoking. — The Chinese Chronometer. — The Street of Malefactors. — The Place of Execution. — A City of the Dead. — Canton at Night. Canton, December 30th. — This morning, without previous invi tation or notice, our reverend guide ushered us into the villa of a Chinese gentleman, Poon-ting-gua. It covers several acres, en closed with a solid granite wall. Chinese ladies with their children received us graciously. The mansion has a spacious theatre, taste fully arranged, for private entertainments, many pretty boudoirs, and a spacious banqueting-hall. After this, we visited the still more ambitious dwelling of the mandarin Lee, now exercising the office of Taou-tai in the province of Chin-Kiang. This residence contains a noble Hall of Ancestors, which, although it opens on one side to the sky, resembles very much the old Representative Hall in the Capitol at Washington. The Ancestral Hall is the chapel used for daily family worship of the gods, as well as of the ancestors. The hall is purely Confucian in idea. A shrine in the centre supports a tablet on which the names of the ancestors are inscribed. Large crimson banners are suspended from the walls, which contain, in embroidery, their likenesses, as well as those of the family, with heraldic insignia or emblems. The Ancestral Hall, moreover, is the judgment-chamber or tribunal in which family courts are held. At these courts all births are recorded, 266 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. marriage-contracts celebrated, and all disputes are adjusted. In anticipation of his last hour, the head of the house is brought to the Ancestral Hall to die, expecting an unobstructed passage thence POON-TLNG-GUA'S VILLA. to the realms above. After his death, his will is published in the same chamber. This hall is brilliantly furnished with European lamps, clocks, and mirrors. On the present occasion, the altar or tablet was graced with a porcelain salver, on which rested a cold roast-pig, weighing fifteen or twenty pounds. The dish was flanked with conserves, cakes, and flowers. A daughter of the house, mar ried three days ago, pomes in procession to-day, to pay her parting visit to her family, and these were the offerings to ancestors pro vided for the celebration of this important domestic event. At the conclusion of the ceremony, in such cases, the oblations are distrib uted among the servants of the family. CHINESE SCHOOL-ROOM. 267 We were particularly interested in the school-room, where the boys are educated; the girls are not educated at all. With its arrangement of tables, desks, black-board, books, and slates, the apartment might be mistaken for a school-room at home. All the pupils read the lessons of every sort aloud, and all at once, and commit them to memory. The pedagogue differs but little, except in dress, from the school-master the world over. The master in this present school is an ingenuous as well as a spirited man. The instrument of his discipline laid on his desk, and he did not hesi tate to admit that he frequently employs it, believing probably in Solomon's instruction, " he that spareth his rod, hateth his son." The Chinese boys have all the natural manner and modesty of well- bred children. One bright-eyed little lad of eight years, with great reverence, asked Mr. Seward's " honorable age." We were received by another family, in a very spacious villa near the Honan. We noticed, with some surprise, here, the im- pluvium, rendered so famous by the descriptions of Pompeii. Is it likely that the Chinese have preserved a feature of villa architecture which the Western nations have lost ? The proprietor and the ladies of his family conducted us through their sumptuous abode, with perfect refinement of manner, betraying not the least shyness or curiosity. The tea-house in Canton holds the place of the ale-house, cafe, or restaurant, in European cities. Rich and poor promiscuously gather there, and are served without respect of persons. In returning from the villa, we opened a narrow door and made our way through a dark passage to a suite of small rooms, faintly lighted from the roof. The seclusion, darkness, and silence of the place, indicated that something furtive was going on there. On either side of a long chamber was a dais divided into sections, in each section two men reclining vis-a^ois — between them a minia ture table six inches high. We were in an opium-den, and these persons were the victims. Before each of the smokers, on the table, rested a pipe, a tiny opium-pot, and a burning lamp. Here, as in the tea-house, there is no respect of rank or wealth. The poor and the rich lie down together. Each assists the other in the 268 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. delicate task of igniting the opium, and filling the bowl of the pipe. We spoke to two or three of the smokers, who were only at the beginning of the siesta, and received from them respectful and gentle answers. We tried in vain to rouse others to consciousness, who were in the stage of blissful revery, although their eyes were open, and they were sadly smiling. When the smoker recovers from the inebriation, if he has sufficient strength he repairs home ; otherwise, he is removed to another apartment, and remains there perhaps twenty-four hours, recovering strength to depart. Was it OPIUM-SMOKING. 269 an imagination of ours that the keeper of this hell wore a base and sinister look as he stood behind his counter in a dark closet, sur rounded by packages of the pernicious drug, which he weighed out to his customers a pennyweight of opium against a pennyweight of silver 2 The books we have read at home, and the discussions we have heard here as well as there, have prepared us to see the disastrous effect of opium-smoking on every side in China. The denunciation of the practice is justified by all-sufficient proof that it is destructive of physical and intellectual energy. Statistics show a vast increase of the consumption of the drug, since its free importation has been allowed. The Chinese Government has given its sanction to the wide-spread denunciation by its persistent and earnest opposition to the opium-trade. We are agreeably disappointed, however, by the absence of evidence of the evil fruits of the practice which we had anticipated. Except in this den where we purposely went to seek the vice and its victims, we have not met, in any part of the country, a person of either sex, or of any age, whose appearance, conversation or conduct, indicated an excessive indulgence. Euro peans and Americans here agree in representing the practice as wide-spread and pernicious, but, when interrogated concerning their observation, they assure you that they know of a coolie, a house-servant, a mechanic, a clerk, perhaps a trader, who has become inefficient or unreliable by the indulgence. But the best- informed persons agree that cases of this kind are neither more frequent nor more extensive than those of habitual alcoholic intem perance in the United States. Moreover, we are inclined to think that the cost of the drug, when balanced against the low wages of labor, lifts the abuse beyond the reach of the working-classes. In the matter of the regulation of time, the Chinese do not keep up with Western science. There is a tower here devoted to that purpose. Each hour is announced in a printed placard posted on the outer wall. The chronometer, however, which is used in the tower, is a water-clock, the clumsy clepsydra of ancient Greece. A branch staircase from the Time-Tower brought us to the government printing-office, which publishes all official documents, 270 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. including a copy of the Peking Gazette. None of our modern improvements are used. The carving of the wooden type, the spreading of the India-ink over them, the taking of the impression, all are done by hand. The Chinese Government is based on two fictions : first, that the emperor is the Son of Heaven ; second, that he is the parent of the Chinese people. In harmony with these principles, loyalty to the state is inculcated not only as a religious but as a filial duty. But all sentimental fictions are liable to abuse, equally in politics and religion. The code of Draco was not more cruel than the parental discipline of the Chinese empire. Passing by the palace of the Taou-tai, with its ostentatious imperial banners, we turned a sharp corner, and entered a long, narrow, cheerless street. Here, no gay sign-boards or banners relieved the night. The shops are sombre, and there are few travellers. It is the malefactor road — the street through which the condemned convicts pass, from the palace to the place of execution. It was almost night when we were admitted, under a strong but low gateway, to a close area a hundred feet long, scarcely more than twenty feet wide ; on one side low stone-buildings ; on the other a high blind wall ; a walk paved with large flat stones in the middle of the court. A potter was noiselessly at work shaping vessels, some to be used for re ceiving the blood, others the hands and feet, and others the heads of the victims. Sometimes only a single execution takes place, but usually short delays are made for the convenience of bringing sev eral executions together. They vary in number from two to fifty, and, in times of political disturbance or flagrant piracy, fifty and even a hundred executions take place at once. Dr. Grey, who has studied Chinese history carefully, is of opinion that no field of battle ancient or modern has witnessed so much violent destruction of human life as this Aceldama. The customary form is decapita tion. When the condemned come within the gate, they march up the paved walk and take their places, kneeling inward on either side. An imperial officer at the upper end of the court reads, in a distinct voice, a rescript of their names, crimes, and sentences. A practised executioner, with a long sword which he wields with both THE CITY OF THE DEAD. 271 hands, proceeds down the line. The culprits stretching their necks forward, the executioner, swinging the instrument in continued circles, completely severs a head at every blow. The heads fall into vases filled with lime ; nevertheless the pavement is besmeared with blood, and the effluvia rising from this horrible place taint the atmosphere of the most distant parts of the city. We saw crosses leaning against the wall, prepared for inflicting punishment in that form, and many baskets, each of which contained a head ready to be -transported to the city gates, and to distant parts of the empire. The scene we next visited is one which, although sad and solemn, is touching and beautiful. This is an extensive plain, ornamented with gardens and lakes, fragrant with flowers, and musical with the songs of birds. It is the temporary resting-place of the dead while awaiting — a day or many days, a month or many months, a year or many years — an auspicious time and place for final interment. This city of the dead is divided into blocks, and traversed by rectilinear paved streets. Instead of dwellings, the squares are covered with charnel-houses, and these are already numbered by thousands. They are built of stone, and kept with perfect cleanliness and order. The charnel-houses, one story high, are divided into two apartments — the front, a reception-hall with tablets and an altar, before which a lamp continually burns, and on which offerings of tea, fruit, and flowers are daily renewed. This room is occupied by the relations of the deceased, generally sons or daughters, who console the dead not only by day, but through the long watches of the night. A couch or divan along the wall serves for their repose. In the inner chamber rest the unburied, or the exhumed remains enclosed in a costly carved coffin, covered with a magnificent purple or scarlet pall. Around the coffin are figures or statues, either carved, or of porcelain, which, gayly dressed and ' bearings fans or cups, are ministering to the wants of the sleeping dead. When a stranger dies in Canton, information is conveyed to his friends, however distant. His remains rest here until prep arations for his interment have been made, in the part of the em pire where he lived. The " city of the dead," like our cemeteries, &$% H 1 1 < 272 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. is under the care of an association, and its expenses are defrayed by charges regulated by tariff. It was quite nine o'clock, a star-lit night, when we emerged from this silent, mysterious place— the only one we have ever seen in which, though it is devoted to the dead, cheerfulness and hope prevail over gloom and despondency. We passed through a series of graves which surround it, starting a thousand storks, which kept watch and ward over the cemetery. These birds have a peculiar adaptation to sacred places. They rest always on one leg, the head turned backward under the wing. Their utterances are made by clapping their mandibles together like a pair of castanets. Our coolies bore burning lamps. They carried us very quickly across a rude, uninhabited plain, which, by reason of its vicinity to the city, we expected to find a scene of disorder and peril. Our experience is that neither assassin nor robber of any kind, by night or by day, awaits the sojourner in Canton. We occasionally stopped to inquire the significance of a candle burning in the grass near the roadside, and before which lay offerings of tea, wheat, fruit, or millet. The explanation was, that some person, passing the place, had stumbled or met with other accident, the mischievous work of some discon tented spirit or demon. The light and the offerings are designed to propitiate him. The night aspect of Canton is one of quiet and peace. All shops, stores, and manufactories, are closely shut ; only here and there a paper lantern dangles from the eaves, before the house of a mandarin or a wealthy denizen. The tread of the foot-passenger is only occasionally heard, and there are no processions, groups, or crowds. Light streams through the crevices of the dwellings, and often the clink of the anvil and the sound of the hammer indicate that the inhabitants have only withdrawn from the operations of sale in which they were engaged during the day, to manufacture new articles to sell to-morrow. Rarely, very rarely, one may hear the mellow tones of a flute, but never in any part of the city does there arise the sound of debauch or revelry. A gentle rap by our conductor brought to the postern the keeper of each of the numer ous gates through which we had to pass. A kind word assured us CHINESE TOMBS. 273 that he was prepared for our coming, and was interested for our safety. Moving on so quietly in our chairs, we had fallen into the dreamy state of contemplation ascribed to Buddha, when the last of the city-gates, the gate of " Everlasting Peace," lifted its head and allowed us to pass under the door of hospitable " Kee- Chung." mm J&b* CHINESE TOMBS. Hi ill amSm mmmm*^w*'a^-jmwmm3ml i • /• ' ' «»£ MDIKhw CHAPTER XYH. AT HONG-KONG AGAIN. Chinese Emigration to the United States. — The Canton Fisheries. — American Houses in China. — A Combination of Gamblers. — A Dinner at the United States Consulate. — Mr. Seward's Speech. — Oriental and Eastern Civilization. — Policy of China. — Pros pects of China. Hong-Kong, January 1, 1871. — The Kin-San, on her return- voyage, besides ourselves, had three cabin-passengers, all merchants of Macao. She had four hundred in the steerage : one hundred and fifty of them Chinese traders between Canton and Hong-Kong ; the others, voluntary Chinese emigrants going to ship at Hong- Kong for San Francisco. The Chinese emigration to the United States goes exclusively from the province of Quan-Tong (Canton) through the port of Canton. The Chinese emigration to other American countries, the West Indies, and South America, goes from the same province, but through the Portuguese port of Macao. The laws of the United States, which require consular examination and a certificate in each case that the emigration is voluntary, and made on sufficient guarantee, have proved entirely effective in preventing abduction, fraud, and violence. The emigrant to the United States is contented and cheerful. It is not so, however, with the emigrant who embarks at Macao. The system of abduc tion prevailing there is an abomination scarcely less execrable than the African slave-trade. The emigrants are promiscuously taken by fraud and force ; ignorant of their destination, and without secu- 276 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. . rity for their labor or their freedom, they are hurried on board sail ing-craft. These vessels are built in the United States, and they appear at Macao under the United States flag, promising to convey the emigrants to our country. So soon as they have cleared the port, they hoist the colors of Peru, San Salvador, or some other Spanish- American state. It is when this fraud is discovered that scenes of mutiny and murder occur, of which we have such frequent and frightful accounts. It shall not be our fault if, in the cause of humanity, the United States Government is not informed of this great outrage against our national honor. Chinese versatility has a fine illustration in the Canton fisheries. On either side of our steamer, as we came down the river, was a tub or cistern holding five hundred gallons of water. The water contained great quantities of living fish produced in ponds in the vicinity of Canton. Arriving at the wharf here, a sluice was opened at the bottom of each cistern, and the fish, rushing out with the rapid current, dropped into smaller tubs, and were conveyed either to market, or to ships going to sea. January 2d. — We are pleased with the reassurance we receive here from home, that a semi-monthly line of steamers is to be established by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. This line is a development of enterprise which, though noiseless, is extend ing the American name and influence in the East. The American houses in China are as follows : Russell & Company, with establishments at Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Canton, Foo-Choo, Kiu-Kiang, Han-Kow, and Tien-Tsin. Augustine Heard & Company, at Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Canton, and Foo-Choo. Oliphant & Company, at Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Canton, and Foo-Choo. Bull, Pardon & Company, at Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Canton, and Foo-Choo. Smith, Archer, & Company, at Shanghai, Hong-Kong, and Canton. Silas E. Burrows & Company, at Hong-Kong. E. J. Sage & Company, at Hong-Kong. H. Fogg & Company, at Shanghai. A. 0. Farnham & Company, at Shanghai. To all these houses our grateful acknowlegments — to Russell A SPEECH BY MR. SEWARD. 277 & Company, the most full, because they have claimed us as their guests, in their several agencies throughout the empire. Hong-Kong has a social grievance unknown in the United States, except in the new States and Territories — a villanous combi nation of gamblers, like the pests of the same kind whose atrocities stain the history of Yicksburg and San Francisco. The judicial officers confess themselves powerless to suppress these criminals. To-day the United States consul, Mr. Bailey, entertained Mr. Seward, with the large party gathered to meet him, at the consulate. To Mr. Bailey's speech of welcome, Mr. Seward replied as follows : "The questions which engaged the American people, in the period to which you have so kindly referred, were, the elimination of slavery from the United States, and the saving of the republic from dissolution. Both these questions. were at last decided for the right, in a fearful civil war. I think there is not now living, on this round earth, a man who, even though he was then a sympa thizer with the rebellion, now regrets that beneficent adjustment. "Our distinguished statesman, Daniel Webster, foresaw only the struggle. His utmost confidence in the happy end was in the expression of his earnest hope that his dying eyes might not close on a dismembered, a disunited, a belligerent republic. On us, how ever, who have survived both him and the convulsion, there opens a bright and glorious prospect — it is the spread of republican insti tutions over the whole American Continent, involving by absolute necessity a regeneration of civilization in the East. The United States have assumed the lead in this great work, happily with the free consent and approbation of all the European nations. " The first Emperor of the French, copying from Julius Caesar, introduced, in our time, the military empire, as an agency for con quest. The second emperor dedicated it to peace and progress. Fortunately for mankind, the innovation has failed for both pur poses. The world is coming to realize, on the contrary, that ' the republic] that is to say, not the republic of former ages, but the modern republic of our own experience, is always favorable to pros perity and progress, and is everywhere ' on earth peace, good-will toward men.' 19 278 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. " I have been long engaged studying the great problem of mod ern civilization. In doing so, I have travelled largely on the North American Continent, and, with the same object, I am now observing Asiatic countries. In this connection, I may make two or three observations, without disloyalty to my own country, or to China, and without offence to any foreign nation represented here. I do not undervalue missionary labors in the East, but the Christian religion, for its acceptance, involves some intellectual and social ad vancement which can only be effected through international com merce. I look, therefore, chiefly to commerce for the regeneration of China — that commerce to come across the American Continent and the Pacific Ocean. I lament to find, in every part of China that I visit, despondency concerning that commerce, which, I am sure, is not entertained in the United States, or in any other of the Western nations. I think that despondency without foundation. On the other hand, a foreign commerce, which penetrates the northern, the central, and the southern regions of China, is firmly established and secured. Not one of the footholds which have been gained can ever be lost. The continuance and increase of that commerce are guaranteed by the material, moral, social, and politi cal necessities of both continents. " Say what men may, human progress is compelled by the laws of Providence. Obstacles, indeed, must occur, and will multiply resistance here, and discussions and jealousies in the West ; but there is a subtle moral opinion which pervades mankind, before which, sooner or later, all such obstacles disappear. There is no assignable measure to the future expansions of this intercontinental and regenerating commerce. Although its movements seem to us very slow, yet there are abundant evidences that it is neither dying out nor retrograding. The daily increasing emigration from south ern China to America, and to the Malay Peninsula, and the Oriental Archipelago, is a guarantee of its continuance. That emigration works beneficially in three ways : the navigation employed in it sustains commerce ; it relieves an overcrowded population of sur plus labor ; returning emigrants bring back not only wealth, but arts, knowledge, and morals, to renovate their native country. Let SPEECH CONTINUED. 279 it be our task, therefore, to stimulate this emigration. It is essen tial to the growth of international commerce, that the AVestern states practise equal justice toward China. True commerce involves reciprocity, not exclusive gain on either side, and it flourishes just in proportion to the good faith and equality with which it is conducted. "Six or seven years ago, the Western nations, relinquishing individual designs of aggrandizement or advantage in China, were represented by enlightened men, among whom were the late Mr. Burlingame, Sir Frederick Bruce, and M. Berthemy. They agreed in recommending to their several states the policy of bringing China into equal political relations with all the Western states. The • Burlingame ' treaty was the fruit of these counsels. They have only to be pursued in good faith, to work the best results. No one now doubts of the renovation of Japan ; but China, with its four hundred millions, exhibits more signs of progress to-day than Japan, with its thirty or forty millions, did twenty years ago. I am often asked : ' But what of this ancient Chinese Imperial Government, its extortions, its timidity, its effeteness, and of this national prejudice, the fruit of thousands of years of isolation 2 ' I answer : ' I do not know — no one knows. I only know that imbecility and effeteness always give way before vigor and energy, and that dotage and prejudice must give way to truth, justice, and reason. I know not what political changes may occur here, but, on the other hand, I know it is an error to suppose that revolutions, with whatever de sign they are inaugurated, retard human progress.' I used all the influence I had to prevent the late revolution in Japan, because I thought it was a retrograde movement ; I little dreamed that the restored Mikado would excel the dethroned Tycoon in emulating Western civilization. "But I must not enlarge. Gentlemen, you have dedicated your fortunes and your lives to the regeneration of China. I pray God that you may individually enjoy the rich rewards of that devotion ! " This day, with its pleasing incidents, will be forever fresh in my memory." 280 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. January 4th. — The Chinese, though not of the Caucasian race, have all its political, moral, and social' capabilities. Long ago, they reached a higher plane of civilization than most of the European states attained until a much later period. The Western nations have since risen above that plane. The whole world is anxiously inquiring whether China is to retrieve the ad vantages she has lost, and if she is to come within the family of modern civilized states. Mr. Burlingame's sanguine temperament and charitable disposition led him to form too favorable an opinion of the present condition of China. In his anxiety to secure a more liberal policy on the part of the Western nations toward the ancient empire, he gave us to understand, especially in his speeches, that, while China has much to learn from the Western nations, she is not without some peculiar institutions which they may advantageously adopt. This is not quite true. Although China is far from being a barbarous state, yet every system and institution there is inferior to its corresponding one in the West. Whether it be the abstract sciences, such as philosophy and psychology, or whether it be the practical forms of natural science, astronomy, geology, geography, natural history, and chemistry, or the concrete ideas of govern ment and laws, morals and manners ; whether it be in the aesthetic arts or mechanics, every thing in China is effete. Chinese educa tion rejects science ; Chinese industry proscribes invention ; Chi nese morals appeal not to conscience, but to convenience ; Chinese architecture and navigation eschew all improvements; Chinese government maintains itself by extortion and terror ; Chinese reli gion is materialistic — not even mystic, much less spiritual. H we ask how this inferiority has come about, among a people who have achieved so much in the past, and have capacities for greater achieve ment in the future, we must conclude that, owing to some error in their ancient social system, the faculty of invention has been ar rested in its exercise and impaired. China first became known to the Western world by the discov eries of Marco Polo in the thirteenth century. At that period and until after the explorations of Yasco de Gama, China appears to have been not comparatively great, prosperous, and enlightened, CONDITION OF CHINA. 281 but absolutely so. An empire extending from tne snows of Siberia to the tropics, and from the Pacific to the mountain sources of the great rivers of Continental Asia, its population constituted one- fourth of the human race. Diversified climate and soil afforded all the resources of public and private wealth. Science and art devel oped those resources. Thus, when European nations came upon the shores of China, in the sixteenth century, they found the empire independent and self-sustaining. The Mantchoos on the north had invaded the empire and substituted a Tartar dynasty at Peking for a native dynasty at Nanking, but the conquerors and the conquered were still Chinese, and the change was a revolu tion and not a subjugation. China having thus attained all the objects of national life, came to indulge a sentiment of supercilious pride, under the influence of which she isolated herself from all other nations. Her government from its earliest period was in the hands of a scholastic and pedantic class, a class which elsewhere has been found incapable of practical rule. Since the isolation took place, that class has effectively exercised all the powers of the state, in repressing inquiry and stifling invention, through fear that change in any direction would result in their own overthrow. The long isolation of the empire, and the extirpation of native in vention, have ended in reversing the position of China. From being self-sustaining and independent, as she was when found by the European states, she has become imbecile, dependent, and help less. Without military science and art, she is at the mercy of Western nations. Without the science of political economy, the Government is incapable of maintaining an adequate system of revenue ; and, without the science of Western laws and morals, it is equally incapable of maintaining an impartial and effective ad ministration of justice. Having refused to adopt Western arts and sciences, the Government is incapable of establishing and maintain ing a beneficial domestic administration. Insurrections and revo lutions are therefore unavoidable, nor can the Government repress them without the aid of the Western powers. She pays the Euro pean nations for making the clothing for her people, and the arms with which they must defend themselves. She imports not only 282 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. the precious metals, but coal and iron, instead of allowing her own mines to be opened. She forbids the employment of steam and animal power in mechanics, and so largely excludes her fabrics from foreign markets. Though China would now willingly leave all the world alone, other nations cannot afford to leave her alone. Great Britain must send her cotton fabrics and iron manufactures. The United States must send her steam-engines and agricultural implements, and bring away her coolies. Italy, France, and Belgium, must have her silks, and all the world must have her teas, and send her their religions. All these operations cannot go on without steam-en gines, stationary as well as marine, Hoe's printing-press, and the electric telegraph. Now for the question of the prospects of China. Before attempt ing to answer this, it will be best to define intelligently the pres ent political condition of China. Certainly it is no longer an abso lutely sovereign and independent empire, nor has it yet become a protectorate of any other empire. It is, in short, a state under the constant and active surveillance of the Western maritime nations. This surveillance is exercised by their diplomatic representatives, and by their naval forces backed by the menace of military in tervention. In determining whether this precarious condition of China is likely to continue, and whether its endurance is desirable, it would be well to consider what are the possible alternatives. There are only three : First, absolute subjugation by some foreign state ; second, the establishment of a protectorate by some foreign state ; third, a complete popular revolution, overthrowing not only the present dynasty, but the present form of government, and establishing one which shall be in harmony with the interests of China and the spirit of the age. The Chinese people, inflated with national pride, and contempt for Western sciences, arts, religions, morals, and manners, are not prepared to accept the latter alterna tive. The rivalry of the Western nations, with the fluctuations of the balance of their political powers, render it dangerous for any foreign state to assume a protectorate. The second alternative is, therefore, out of the question. We have already expressed the POLICY OF THE WESTERN POWERS. 283 opinion that mankind have outlived the theory of universal empire, and certainly the absolute subjugation of China by any Western state would be a nearer approach to universal empire than Greek, or Roman, or Corsican, or Cossack, ever dreamed of. The exercise of sovereignty in China by a national dynasty, under the surveil lance and protection of the maritime powers, is the condition most favorable to the country and most desirable. The maintenance of it seems practicable so far as it depends upon the consent of the mari time surveillant powers. But how long the four hundred millions of people within the empire will submit to its continuance is a question which baffles all penetration. The present Government favors and does all it can to maintain it. Prince Kung and Wan- Siang are progressive and renovating statesmen, but a year or two hence a new emperor will come to the throne. The literati, no less bigoted now than heretofore, have an unshaken prestige among the people, and, for aught any one can judge, the first decree of the new emperor may be the appointment of a reactionary ministry, with the decapitation of the present advisers of the throne. Let it, then, be the policy of the Western nations to encourage and sustain the sagacious reformers of China, and in dealing with that extraor dinary people to practise in all things justice, moderation, kind ness, and sympathy. Of course, it is not to be expected or desired that the foreign surveillance which is now practised will retain its present obnoxious and oppressive character. The habit of interven tion, and the habit of acquiescence in it once fixed, surveillance will assume the forms of ' protective tutorship. The interests of both parties will require that this tutorship be exercised with leni ency ; gradual amelioration of the political and social condition of China will produce mutual sympathy and respect between the pro tectors and the protected, the. instructors and the pupil. Some- , thing of this kind has already happened in the relations between the Western states and the Ottoman powers. It has been no easy task to set down these hurried reflections in the midst of festivities, only brought to an end by the parting with so many kind friends. The signal is hoisted, and we go on board the Provence. CHAPTER XVIII. A GLANCE AT COCHIN CHINA. The Steamer Provence. — Island of Hainan. — Our Fellow-Passengers. — The Mouth of the Saigon River. — The City of Saigon. — French Aptitude for Colonization. — French Photographs. — The Queen of Cambodia. Steamer Provence, South China Sea, January 6th. — Wearied with our long wanderings over China, which, though interesting, were attended with much fatigue, and with the hospitalities which, however delightful, were nevertheless exhausting, we resumed our onward voyage with a feeling of relief. We are now running down the coast of the large and prosper ous island of Hainan, which is separated from the main-land of China by the Gulf of Tonquin. They speak of aborigines on the island, but, from what we learn of its subdivision into Chinese provinces, and its confessedly great trade, we are inclined to believe that its civilization does not differ materially from that of the province of Quan-Tong. Our steamer, recently L'lmperatrice, of the "Messageries Im- peViales," is now La Provence, of the " Messageries Nationales," changes of name which illustrate the political versatility of the French people. The tout ensemble of passengers and crew is • scarcely less indicative of social movements in the East. There are eleven young men, sons of Japanese daimios, travel ling under the care of a Prussian, who has been their tutor for five years. They are now going to finish their studies ; some in Eng land, some in Franco, some in Germany — the larger number in the THE SAIGON RIVER. 285 United States. It was only when they embarked that they changed their native flowing silken dresses, two swords, and wooden shoes, for the Western costume. The tawny lads seem to enjoy the change prodigiously, for they make during the day as many changes of toilet as a Saratoga belle. There is, next, an intelligent American merchant of Shanghai, on his way to London, as agent of the Chinese Government, to pur chase two " American " merchant-steamers, to be built in England, and steam-engines for two " American " ships-of-war, which are now on the stocks at Shanghai. Also a Spanish tobacco-merchant with his family, going from Manila to visit his early home in Cata lonia. Two young Americans, just out of Harvard, are making the tour around the world. They are now going to Bangkok, a jour ney which we had purposed making, but were obliged to forego. On reaching Saigon, they intend crossing the mountains of Cam bodia to Siam by elephant-train. January 7th. — When you are travelling in a foreign country by road or river, how provoking it is to pass a capital, historic battle field, ancient university, cathedral, or ruined castle, on the right and on the left, without stopping to examine them ! It is just so in going around the world. We are now passing the empire of Anam, and entering the Saigon River, only eight degrees north of the equator. Fahrenheit 83°. The river-water is clear and pure. A white light-house, built by the French, rises above the forest on the high northern promontory ; the southern bank is a plain cov ered with cocoa-nut groves. The luxuriant beauty of the scene is bewildering. While we write, the ocean is left behind us, and the broad, dark river shrinks within the width of forty rods. The banks are covered with impenetrable jungle of mangoes, bananas, bamboos, and a thousand creepers twisting their shrubbery into all manner of entanglement, and covering it with flowers. We are told that the wild-boar takes refuge here from the tiger on the uplands, and we see parrots rearing their shattering broods, while the monkeys hold perpetual revel. SAIGON. 287 The river below Saigon has a serpentine course, and is navi gated chiefly by small native vessels, moving gracefully under light bamboo sails. The banks rise to greater height as we ascend the river, and various kinds of palm grace the different elevations, until all give place to the eagle-wood and the cinnamon on the blue mountains which overlook the lovely valley. Saigon, January 8th. — We closed our eyes last night wishing that we might remain forever afloat on the dark water of the Saigon. Long before morning, however, swarms of mosquitoes and gnats made us impatient for the shore, where we felt sure that flowers, birds, and butterflies, were awaiting us. The Blue-book bears no name of United States consul at Saigon. From the deck, never theless, we espied the United States flag, and learned, on inquiry, that the German who raised it there had left it to the care of some friendly native keeper. We inquired no further, and in this lonely place, the only one thus far in our voyage, no one inquired for us.The commandant of La Provence put us ashore in his gig. We bargained for the first two carriages we found there, at the rate of one dollar an hour for each, and in these vehicles, called " games," each drawn by a rough Chinese pony, and having seats for four passengers (a very close fit), a guide, and a servant, we set out on our travels in Cochin China. Saigon is a native city of from sixty thousand to a hundred thousand inhabitants. The European settlement adjoining it differs from those we have seen in Japan and China, only in being French. This is a matter of no special moment, because all foreigners assim ilate in the East. The population is perhaps two hundred and fifty, exclusive of the garrison. There is a public garden filled with plants, but it wears an air of neglect, in consequence, we think, not of declining trade, but of political insecurity growing out of the war in Europe. All Eastern potentates and nobles maintain menage ries. The garden at Saigon proclaims itself an appendage to the French republic, by a meagre collection of leopards, tigers, bears, monkeys, birds, and reptiles. The French Government is building 288 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. a large palaee for the residence of the admiral commanding the forces in Eastern waters. The native city consists of two towns, standing on two rivers, distant two miles from each other, and connected by a firm road. NATIVE OF SAIGOK. The population is by no means homogeneous. The merchants and traders are not Cochin Chinese, but chiefly Chinese, and all classes speak, to some extent, the French language. A happy accord seems to exist between them and the French. All show the pleas ing impress of French manners. We alighted from our vehicles whenever we found any thing noticeable, and invariably were waited upon by polite and assiduous attendants. We entered and inspected a Buddhist temple. The bonzes, with great courtesy, showed us every thing it contained. Whenever we stopped, tea, fruit, and sherbet, were offered us. The smallest payment was thankfully received, and, when we declined, the refreshments were urged upon us without cost. In short, Saigon is the only place we have found thus far, in the wide world, where everybody seemed FRENCH EMPIRE IN COCHIN CHINA. 289 pleased with us, with themselves, and we had reason to be pleased with everybody. The French have a peculiar facility in effecting colonial assim ilation to their national ways and manners. One experiences the same gentle and kind welcome on the banks of the lower St. Law rence that he finds here on the banks of the Saigon. It is almost enough to make us wish that the French nation might be more suc cessful in extending their foreign dominion. The whole field of French empire in Cochin China, which figures so largely in the ambitious manifestoes of the Government in Paris, is hardly more than forty miles square. But France, by means of that possession, has acquired a protectorate over the province of Cambodia, which is adjacent, and nominally belongs to the empire of Anam. The sovereign of that empire concedes to France this protectorate over Cambodia, in consideration of the French guarantee of the integrity of his empire. This great potentate, like the ostentatious fiddler, has two strings to his bow ; for, while he thus enjoys this alliance with France, he at the same time, as titular vassal, claims protec tion from the Emperor of China. It would be long to tell how, after European discoveries in the East Indies, France energeti cally attempted to secure positions advantageous for trade and con quest in Madagascar, Ceylon, and Bengal ; how unsuccessful and vain those attempts were, until the great Colbert found in the ambitious Louis XIV. a monarch wise enough to accept the project of a French East India Company; how successfully that company established factories at Mauritius, at Surat, and Pondi- chery, and other places in India. It would be sad to tell how, in the great war in which France lost nearly all her American posses sions, she also lost nearly all her acquisitions in the East; how the French Jesuit missionaries in Cochin China cunningly secured from the native emperor the concession of Saigon to Louis XVI. ; how the French nation exulted in a gain of this position in the rear of Hindostan, from which they might hope to assail and over throw British dominion on the Asiatic Continent ; how this ambi tion of France died, with all ambition of colonial aggrandizement, in the great Revolution of ninety-three; how that ambition, in 290 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA. regard to the East, revived in 1861, in the period of the Second Empire, and Admiral Charner enforced the concession which had so long before been made to Louis XVI. Saigon is by no means valueless as a seat of commerce. The earth has no more fertile fields than those of Cochin China. Among its products are luxuries the most desired by civilized nations. While rice is an abundant staple, Saigon exports the gum of lac quer, cinnamon, and many useful and precious woods. It is not, ARTISAN'S HOUSE AT SAIGON. however, chiefly for local trade that France values Saigon. It is a convenient station for commercial and postal steam-lines, by which she has expected to maintain her prestige as a maritime power of the first rank. Her experience has demonstrated the truth of two political axioms : First, that the possession of extensive foreign col onies adds immeasurably to the credit and prestige of a nation ; secondly, that a nation which cannpt maintain peace at home, can not permanently hold foreign possessions. As our habit is, we take away from Saigon many photographic QUEEN OF CAMBODIA. 291 illustrations of manners, dress, and scenery. They are French, and admirably executed. We are puzzled, however, in our efforts to determine the truthfulness of one of them, notwithstanding its official verification. It represents the Queen of Cambodia, protegee of the French Empire, with naked feet and ankles, encircled by costly gold bangles and jewels, while her head is covered with a Parisian bonnet of the year 1862, presented to her, with other articles of European fashion, by the French emperor. QUEEN OF CAMBODIA. PART III. THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, STRAITS OF MALACCA, AND CEYLON. 20 CHAPTER I. THE CHINA SEA, SINGAPORE, AND THE STRAITS OF SUNDA. Our Distance from Home. — Calm Seas and Temperate Breezes. — Singapore. — A Dispatch from Boston. — The People of Singapore. — Their Habitations. — Life in the Tropics. — A Dutch Steamer. — Our Crew. — A Question of Races. — Rather Hot. — Banca and Sumatra. — The Straits of Sunda. China Sea, January 9th. — In the five months since we left home, we reckon in distances made, eighteen thousand miles, an average of one hundred and twenty miles a day, although it seems as if we had been at rest half the time. While we are passing on our right the extreme promontory of Cochin China, we are leaving on our left, at a distance of one hundred miles, the Philippine Isl ands, the relic of Spanish empire in the East Indies. We continue enjoying calm seas and temperate breezes. Singapore, January 11th. — Anchored at midnight, and what a night! Stifling cabins and myriads of mosquitoes. Is this our penance for invading the equator 2 At sunrise, the United States consul, Mr. Jewell, came on board, with Mr. Young, of the house of Busteed & Company. They drove us, in a well-hung English carriage, behind two fine Australian bays, first to the consulate, where a breakfast awaited us, then to Mr. Young's pretty villa, on the hill, where he is kindly taking care of us. Three months having elapsed since we heard from home, our first inquiry was, whether the telegraph-cable 296 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. has been laid from Point de Galles to this place. " Yes," said Mr. Young, " I received to-day a dispatch which came from Boston in twenty-four hours." It is reassuring to come again into instan taneous communication with home and "the rest of mankind." The new wire brings European intelligence of six weeks' later date than we read at Hong-Kong. This intelligence, however, which we so eagerly sought, was contained in a meagre statement. " Nothing important happened since republic proclaimed at Paris. Much speculation. Probably Orleans family. Papers promise ex pulsion German armies. Perhaps anarchy." We enter British India from the east at Singapore. It is the chief commercial town of the colony, acquired by purchase and or ganized by the British Government in 1824, as the Eastern Straits Settlement ; the name derived from the straits of Malacca. This jurisdiction extends north by west to the island of Penang, off the Malay Peninsula. Penang is officially regarded as the capital, although the business of the government is carried on here. Sin gapore is a free port. It has an aggregate population of one hun dred and fifty thousand, which is rapidly increasing. There are five hundred Europeans. British subjects, together with less than a dozen citizens of the United States, monopolize Western naviga tion and commerce. More than half of the population are Chinese, chiefly merchants and bankers engaged in the domestic trade, and that which is carried on with adjacent Asiatic countries — China, Siam, Burmah, Java, and the Eastern Archipelago — others are me chanics and gardeners. It would be an effectual antidote to the California croaking against the pagan Chinese, to see the protection and encouragement which the British authorities extend to the Chinese immigration here. The Jew has not failed to make good his position. He is, as everywhere else, a broker in small and sec ond-hand wares. The residue of the population are chiefly native, perhaps aboriginal Malays, with an accession of indolent and thrift less immigrants from Hindostan. The seamen are of many Orien tal races, natives of Goa, Javanese, Hindoos, Malays, Burmese, Siam ese, Cingalese, Abyssinians, and negroes. With this conglomerate population, it is not singular that Singapore is a harbor for vagrants SINGAPORE AND ITS PEOPLE. 297 and waifs from all parts of the East. It is almost unnecessary to 6ay that Singapore is a central station of commerce between Eu rope and the far East, Burmah, China, Japan, the Archipelago, and Australia. India opium, camphor, and lacquer, Java coffee, China silks and teas, Manila tobacco, spices of Sumatra and Borneo, the tin of Banda, etc., are exchanged for British and French manufac tures. Ladies will be interested in knowing that Singapore is the mart for articles of jewelry and vertu of all sorts, such as civilized people no less than barbarians delight in. Parisian and London imitations of Oriental articles of those sorts are sold by the natives here to curiosity-seeking Europeans, who would reject them at home. But there is also an abundance of native productions, ex quisitely beautiful; sea-shell, coral, precious stones, tigers' claws mounted with gold, tigers' skins, and birds-of-paradise, tempt us on every side, while the most delicate Chinese porcelain, and carv ings in sandal-wood and eagle-wood for incense, are staples of a large trade. The European dwellings do not differ from those in the Chinese concessions, while those of the Asiatic immigrants, by greater spa ciousness, cleanliness, and comfort, manifest an advance toward Western ideas. This improvement, however, is slow among the Malays. When this race became known to the Europeans, they were found living in buildings raised on stakes four or five feet above the ground, for the desirable purpose of drainage and secu rity against reptiles and wild beasts. The Malays at Singapore retain the architectural habits of their ancestors. Here, as at Saigon, the foreigners maintain a public garden, but this one exhibits the indescribable luxuriance of tropical vegetation, under the painstaking hand of the Chinese cultivator, directed by European skill. The jumble of diverse races has produced a strange medley of religions here. There are several Chinese temples, which foreign ers contemptuously call, here as in China, "joss-houses;" one Bramin temple, with its sacred cows and goats; half a dozen severe-looking Mohammedan mosques ; a Roman Catholic church ; and a cathedral of the Church of England. The British Govern- 298 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. ment tolerates all these religions, from the same political motive with which the emperors tolerated the various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world. Although these various re ligions in India are not considered by the people as equally true, or by the philosophers as equally false, the magistrate regards them as equally useful. This toleration produces mutual indulgence, with out religious discord. A secretary waited upon Mr. Seward, with an invitation from the governor, who is now at Penang. Mr. Young, with a very hurried invitation, gathered around us a large and distinguished company of the official people, merchants and bankers of Singapore, with whom we have passed the evening pleasantly. January 12th. — It has been a new experience to sleep in cham bers, with doors and windows opening on a broad veranda, with out the protection of panels or glass. It was an experience equally novel, when, stepping on the veranda, at six o'clock, we found tables spread with tea, delicate tropical fruits, and iees, while the entire family, including ladies and beautiful children, joined us there, having already returned from their customary exhilarating walks and rides. So it seems that life in the tropics is not with out pleasant and invigorating excitements and exercise. Stoomschepen Konmgin der Nederlanden, January 12th, Even ing. — Having again changed our nationality, we are afloat, this time, under the tricolor flag of the Netherlands, carefully regis tered, and bound for the island of Java. Our side-wheel steamer is rated at only four hundred and fifty tons, and we think is over rated at that. She is the first steamer which was built on that island, and is thirty-four years old. Though not improved by age, it must be admitted that she has held her own against time and typhoon. Though the smallest craft we have yet sailed in, she flourishes a long if not a great name. Heaven save all persons but penal convicts from being cramped into such contracted berths, with the mercury standing at 99° ! We indulge this objurgation by THE ISLAND OF SUMATRA. 299 virtue of the traveller's license to find fault. Although the cabins are small, they are "as neat as a Birmingham pin;" and, while the hatchways are open, the ventilation is perfect. A table stands in the centre of the upper deck, protected by a permanent hurricane awning, and remains covered throughout the whole day with equa torial luxuries. But the peculiar institution of the Dutch Steam Navigation Company is, another table standing across the beam, midships, on which decanters are always kept full of "Kaneel Liker," maraschino, absinthe, curacoa, Schiedam schnapps, brandy, rum, and we know not what other "appetizers," to which the Dutch passengers resort continually, without a suspicion of singu larity, and without expense. The platform of the deck is covered with flowers enough to constitute a conservatory, and with baskets of various and exquisite fruits, thoughtfully brought on board, and arranged for us, by our consul. When we came on board this morning, with many friends, they congratulated us on having " a good cloudy day." It was the first time we ever knew " cloudy weather " at sea the subject of felicitation. We are already reminded that we have entered on a new geographical and political study — that of the Oriental Archipelago. We are running down the northeastern coast of the rich island of Sumatra, which is of itself almost large enough to be a continent, and which the equator divides, as it divides the whole world, into equal parts. Only one-fourth of it, with a population of a million, has been subjected to Western rule, and this is a Dutch colony. The other three-fourths, with three millions of people, are states. ruled by native princes, some of whom are independent, others under Dutch protection. Sumatra has a commercial importance only inferior in the Archipelago to that of Java. Small islands cluster together so closely on our left hand as to give us for a channel almost an inland sea, a continuation of the straits of Malacca. It is in few places more than ten miles wide, and smooth like a river. Its shores are low and wear a rich green verdure. We noticed a profuse shower of rain, at a distance of two miles, while the sky beyond it, as well as over our heads, was bright and cloudless. Our captain, whose professional career dates 300 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. from the building of the stoomschepen Koningin der Nederlanden, assures us that, while rain is frequent in all parts of this equatorial voyage, it is always raining at the place where that particular shower was falling. Our crew, drawn from Singapore, is a mixture of the Asiatic sea men of that place of which we have spoken. Those of them who come from Western or Southern Asia, wear a light, graceful, and picturesque costume, strongly contrasting with the plain and coarse dress of the Chinese. They evidently make faithful use of the bath. Varying in complexion from tawny to black, they have regular and delicate features. They exhibit nothing of that stolid reserve which causes the Chinese to be regarded as sullen and contemptu ous. Their different languages are based on the ancient Sanscrit. Each has an alphabet. Perhaps it is for this reason that they ac quire any European language easily, and speak it with much cor rectness. It will be a curious study for us to inquire how much this greater adaptability of the southern and western Asiatic races to European intercourse is due to their earlier and more intimate acquaintance with foreigners. We are now inclined to think that a closer ethnological affinity exists between the European and the Hindoo and Malay nations than between the Europeans and the Mongolians ; and, again, that there is a closer affinity between the Hindoo and the Malay nations than between the Mongolian and the Malay. However it may have happened, there is a contrast quite as perceptible between the rude and vigorous population of Northern China and the gentle and docile natives of Sumatra and Malacca, as there was at the time of the discovery of America be tween the fierce tribes of New England and New York and the harmless natives of San Salvador and Hispaniola. Off the Island of Banca, January 13th. Fahrenheit 90°. — Rather hot for January, according to our way of thinking. They say that latitude affects climate, but we do not see it or feel it. Yesterday we left Singapore on the parallel of latitude one degree seventeen minutes north. At one o'clock this morning we cross the equator, and now we are two degrees south of it. Yet, for any A BOA AFLOAT. 301 consciousness we have, the weather at the three points admits of no degrees of comparison. It is hot at Singapore — it is hot under the equator — it is just as hot here. Perhaps the maxim " Ne curat minimis " applies to the laws of* Nature as well as human laws. We have always read that life on a Dutch sailing-craft is easy and lazy. The Koningin der Nederlanden does not disprove it. While our captain insists that he makes seven and a half knots, our measurement on the chart shows that we are really going only six. Our passengers, however, are the most active people in the world. They show their vigor in two ways — one in changing their dress every hour to get cool, the other in taking schnapps every half-hour to get hot again. Crossing the line, after all, especially at night, is no great affair. We felt no concussion, and, as the passengers were all in their berths, the customary nautical ceremonies were omitted. Charts show us high mountains in the interior on either side. Banca seems covered with forests, interrupted here and there by cultivation. Sumatra presents a low, sedgy shore, large pieces of which, covered with jungle, are continually breaking loose, and float about in the forms of pretty green islets on the dark sea. Of course, every one desires to haul up to them and see what are the plants and flowers which cover them. A Dutch skipper yielded to this impulse a short time ago. The captain, alighting on the float ing mass, had just set his foot on a cactus-stump, when a huge boa- constrictor reared his glossy head and proclaimed his proprietor ship of the island by violent hisses. The invader retreated, leav ing the " lord of the isle " to navigate his crazy craft as best he might. Here we are with the Malay Peninsula just behind us, the Spice Islands, Sumatra, Banca, Borneo, Java, Celebes, Floris, Timor, Booro, Ceram, New Guinea, and a thousand lesser ones all around us. We read and "hear tell" of elephants that break down telegraph-poles in rubbing their hard hides ; of tigers, lions, and leopards, always prowling through the jungle ; of shiny serpents in coils like cables ; of monkeys playing their antics in palm-tree groves ; of parrots, paroquets, peacocks, and birds-of-paradise, that 302 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. excel the floral vegetation in brilliancy of colors ; and yet all that we can see of them is occasionally a captive beast in a menagerie, or a stuffed bird in a curiosity-shop at Singapore — a new illustration of a discovery heretofore announced, that going round the world is not the way to see it. Nevertheless, it is something to learn in the near vicinity the topography of these islands, which are the native homes of the various tribes of the Malay race ; to learn something of the character and condition of that gentle race, whose languid energies are now excited to activity and directed by their Dutch conquerors. They possess a wealth peculiarly their own — the metals, invaluable teakwood, and coffee, with spices, dyes, and gums, aromatics, and roots used in art and medicine, brilliant feathers and glossy skins of beasts of prey, which taste and luxury require in every condition. Even this little island on our left reg ulates, by its production, the market of tin as effectually as the old Almaden mines in Spain and the New Almaden mines in Califor nia regulate that of quicksilver throughout the world. Moreover, there are, in various parts of these islands, ruins of cities and tem ples, whieh seem to indicate a primeval civilization, which has passed away without leaving either record or tradition. By-and-by, commercial intercourse will render research among these antiqui ties practicable, perhaps profitable. Meanwhile, we must be satis fied with an inspection of Java, a design which we shall be able to execute if the Koningin der Nederlanden shall live to complete this, the ten hundred and twentieth of her voyages. Despite our resolution, this equatorial travel is working a change in our habits. The heat becomes insupportable at ten o'clock, and drives us to a siesta. At sunset, a breeze springs up, clouds gather, a brilliant display of electricity begins, which is con tinued until midnight, and brings refreshing rains. So the hot day having become our night, the cool night becomes our day for exer cise, writing, and conversation. January 15th.— We crossed, last night, the entrance of the straits of Sunda, the great channel of trade between Europe, China, and Japan. Can any one doubt the unity of the human family, A MONSOON. 303 when he recalls the fact that the civil war which convulsed the United States, five years ago, had its painful episodes in this dis tant sea 2 We encountered in the passage one of those monsoons which render it difficult and dangerous. The storm caused the Koningin aforesaid to dance in a manner most undignified and unbecoming this grave and " ancient mariner." The ports were closed, the cabins grew unendurable, and the deck became the common sleeping-room of the passengers. CHAPTER H. THE CAPITAL OF JA VA. The City of Batavia.— The Hotel des Indes— A New-England Sabbath.— Malay Servants. — The King's Plain. — Population of Java. — The Queen of the East. — Departure for Buitenzorg. — Manner of Travelling. — The Vice-Regal Residence. — The Climate of Java. — The Baths of Buitenzorg. Batavia, January 16th. — At sunrise we were tossing in the open roadstead, four miles from the shore. The monsoon was past, though the sea had not subsided. The skies cleared at eight o'clock, giving us a view of a long, level, green coast, swelling upward into lofty blue mountains. There is much less shipping here than at Singapore, but the diversity of flags indicates a not less various commerce. The smallest of all steam-tugs was seen bounding over the waves and distributing passengers and freights, among steamers which are going out to neighboring Dutch ports throughout the Archipelago. When she had done this, she rounded up to our steamer, and received us on board. On the way, we passed a steamship-of-war, freighted with troops, going to repress a native rebellion in Borneo. A pretty stream, which once stagnated in the jungle, has been converted into a broad canal, that now affords navigation from the roadstead to the heart of the city of Batavia. The custom-house officers took our own statement for our number, ages, occupations, luggage, and intentions. Malay drivers, the smallest men we ever saw, with the heaviest sort of European barouches, drawn by mini- THE STREETS OF BATAVIA. 305 ature ponies, whirled on a gallop over streets smooth as a race course, bordered by substantial white cottage dwellings, embow ered in groves of pine, palmetto, palm, bamboo, India-rubber, and mimosa. These cottages, which might be mistaken for villas, have deep marble porticoes or broad verandas, set off with vases of tropi cal flowers, and make an effective display of small but tasteful gar den statuary. This colonial town, like the cities of the mother- STEEET IN BATAVIA. country, is traversed by well-built canals. Horse-cars are moving swiftly on smooth street-railways. This enterprise, so novel in the East, belongs to Mr. Pells, who, though a native of the Netherlands, has long been United States banker, trader, and vice-consul. So closely does the city assimilate to Holland, that it seems to us we have gone quite through the East, and are already in Europe. We drove to the Hotel des Indes, the first tavern we have had 306 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. occasion to seek since we left Salt Lake City, if we except the Chi nese inns on the way from Peking to the Great Wall. This hotel is a building of one story, surrounding a circular court, with a higher central edifice, which contains the proper offices, drawing- rooms, and saloons, a veranda surrounding the whole. The outer buildings, occupied as private apartments, are connected by corri dors with the centre building. In a scrupulously neat bathing- house attached to our apartment, we enjoyed, for the first time, the full luxury of an Oriental bath, for the bath has not yet been suc cessfully introduced into the European settlements in Japan and China. This bath consists of a marble basin fifteen feet in diame ter, the water exactly the temperature of the air, clear, and deep enough for swimming. It being Sunday, we composed ourselves early for the enjoy- MAREIED WO.MAN OF JAVA. ment of a New-England Sabbath, a day of absolute rest. But this was not to be. A host of native street-pedlers had followed us to MALAY SERVANTS. 307 the hotel. They sat down and chattered on the veranda, they crowded into our parlor, " singly, by pairs, and by the dozen," and, in spite of repulse and remonstrance, forced upon us a display of their cheap but ostentatious wares. For the first time, we have maintained a resolution against the itinerant merchant, yielding only in the case of a blind trader. Even he left us, at last, weary with our delay in finding the guilders required for the purchase. But we called him back and bought a pair of green-velvet gold- embroidered slippers. Breakfast at twelve. Its excellence, con trasting with that of breakfasts at home, was that nothing on the table was hot. On what principle is it that Europeans in the East smother the delicate flavor of rice in thirty or forty piquant con diments 2 All the servants are Malays. They are meek and un obtrusive, but not servile; willing and diligent, but not quick. Tidy and even tasteful in dress, they make an attractive costume with a guilder's worth of printed muslin. The Malay is, on an average, two inches shorter than the Euro peans or Mongolian, with scarcely any beard, and the sexes are un- distinguishable by their dress. Mr. Pells, advised, from Singapore, of our coming, came at one o'clock and immediately removed us to his pleasant villa on the " King's Plain," which is the Hyde Park of Batavia, a shaded lawn, four miles long, and half a mile wide. Primitive national habits, however, are not relinquished here. The " King's Plain" is the common pasturage of the milch-cows of the city. An artist would find a pretty study in this quiet scene, in which the animals, crop ping the rich grass, seem scarcely more at leisure than their Malay attendants, sitting under the trees, in picturesque attitude and cos tume. In going to our new residence, we stopped to hear the " King's Band," and lingered there until sunset witnessing the evening promenade of the whole European population, which, including military and naval officers, numbers six thousand. There was a grotesque display of carriages and liveries of fashions now obso lete in Europe. Gentlemen as well as ladies and children disdain to cover their heads after sunset, while all " sorts and conditions of 308 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. . !> men '; wear white gloves, and all have the staid and gentle Dutch manner. Will our friends consult the tables of population 2 We think the island of Java is the most densely-populated country in A JAVANESE GffiL. the world. There are fourteen millions of people within an area of forty-five thousand square miles. The city of Batavia, with a diameter of eight miles, contains one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants — more than half of these are Chinese. The residue, with the exception of the few Europeans, is divided nearly equally between the two native Malay races, Javanese and Sundese. All the Malays are Mohammedans. The Chinese retain their native heathenism. The Europeans, of course, are Christians, but free from religious zeal or fervor. Batavia challenges the title of " Queen of the East." Certainly it presents a delightful contrast to the towns of Japan and China, while its profusion of equatorial shade-trees and flowers makes it far more pleasing than any place we have at home. The settlement of New York, by the Dutch, and that of Java were contempora- VISIT TO BUITENZORG. 309 neous. Each was surrounded by aboriginal tribes — those around New York sparse, those around Batavia populous. The aboriginal races around New York have virtually disappeared, and are re placed by millions of European derivation; the aboriginal races around Batavia, on the other hand, remain in even greater force than at the time of the conquest, while the European population is only twenty-seven thousand. Again, neither the Netherlands nor any European state has kept a foothold within the vast territory now covered by the United States ; while the Dutch not only re tain their first dominion in Java, but have extended it over the whole island and a large portion of the Archipelago. What a con trast there has been in the processes of civilization which have pro duced results so widely different in the two hemispheres ! The Governor, or, as he is called, the "Residente" of Batavia, visited Mr. Seward to-day, and tendered us the hospitalities of the province. The Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies resides at Buitenzorg, thirty-six miles distant, and has invited us to be his guests there. The intense heat to-day has not only overpowered us, but seems to have overpowered the whole population of Batavia. Our morning rest was protracted until evening, and then deluging rains made us prisoners. Buitenzorg, January 18th. — We yesterday appointed six for our hour of departure. It was our own fault, or rather that of our luggage, and not the fault of the post-office, that we were delayed until half-past seven. The admiration of Batavia, which we ex pressed yesterday, was somewhat modified as we came through the city and suburbs this morning. We were, at first, unable to decide by what name we should call the dwellings of Europeans, whether bungalows, cottages, or villas. We now found them, each with its beautiful grove, so exactly like to every other, that, un aided, we shall be quite unable, on our return to the city, to find Mr. Pell's residence, or the street on which it stands. To tell the truth, moreover, the right line in geometry is not the line of beauty, nor is the parallelogram, although a very convenient figure for many uses, especially adapted to landscape-gardening. Nor 21 310 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. was it altogether gratifying to find the "King's Plain" soaking and miry, much more suitable for a dairy-meadow than a park. These strictures, however, we now think hypercritical; we must still pronounce Batavia the most attractive city we have ever seen. The road to Buitenzorg is well graded, perfectly macadamized, and, what is better, completely bordered and shaded on either side SCENE IN JAVA. by high, thick hedges of heliotrope, cactus, and creepers, all in bloom. Over these hedges, the light bamboo lines the avenue, opening only to reveal the native cottages, peeping from under palm-groves. All the people we see, whether about their humble dwellings, or moving on the high-road, seem busy, contented, and happy. Only two beggars approached us on the way, and these timidly ; both were blind. A FASCINATING RESIDENCE. 311 The manner of travel here is on the postal system, which was never known in America, and is now superseded by railroads in Europe. We have Mr. Pell's stately old coach, which has seats for six passengers inside, and ample room for four servants outside. We carry no trunks, our wardrobes being stored in the capacious boxes under the seats. Four horses draw us over the level plain ; more are added in climbing hills. The driver has two assistants or runners (lopers), who, by constantly applying their lashes, keep the ponies up to running-speed. They are whisked off and replaced at stages of seven miles. We made the journey in three hours. At each stage, the traveller pays four cents to each .loper, and ten or twenty cents to the driver. If Batavia is fascinating, this suburban viceregal residence is supremely so. The palace stands at the south side of the native city. The approach is through a park, covered with a greener and smoother sward, we imagine, than even England or Holland can exhibit. Five hundred deer are seen reclining or feeding under the lofty shade-trees. The palace is said to be on the model of Blen heim — however this may be, we recognize the plan of our own Cap itol at Washington. Like every thing else in this favorite Dutch colony, it happily combines good taste with elegance and comfort. The governor-general has received us very kindly, although not without something of the stiffness of official ceremony. The ladies seem to regard us as an accession, not unwelcome, to a society cir cumscribed and somewhat monotonous. The Dutch East Indies are ruled absolutely by directions from the Hague. Practically, the governor-general is viceroy. At the time of the conquest, two native sovereigns, with the pompous titles of sultan and emperor, divided the island between them, one of the territories being known as Java, the other as Sunda. The descendants of each of these sovereigns being subsidized, though really divested of power, retain certain contracted domains, with titular rank, in subordination to the authority of the Dutch Govern ment. Several other native kings, subsidized in the same way, have a somewhat similar domain and tenure. With these qualifica tions, the executive government is administered by the governor- LILY POND. 313 general, with the aid of an executive council appointed by the Home government. The Dutch, not without severe and frequent contests with the natives, have held sway here since the year 1610, with only an interval of from 1811 to 1816, when among the events of the Napoleonic war in Europe, Holland having passed under the con trol of France, Java was seized and held for five years by Great Britain. January 19th. — Shall we note the climatic features of Java 2 It has no spring and no autumn — only summer and winter. It LILY POND, PALACE GROUNDS, JAVA. 314 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. rains all summer, and is comparatively dry during the harvest- time in winter. The present season is the summer. It rained so constantly yesterday that we could not enter a carriage, or step on the ground. This morning, Governor-General Myer, with the ladies, gave us a drive in the botanical gardens attached to the palace. All the world knows that they are scientifically planted, but why give them a technical name 2 They are of princely di mensions, and. are inconceivably magnificent, for they contain, or are understood to contain, every attainable tropical tree, plant, or flower. Of the palm alone there are a hundred species. Dense groves of tree-ferns are interlaced with myriads of orchids, cov ered with what one might well imagine to be the very flowers of paradise, and we were at a loss to say which form of- life in the tropics, the vegetable or the animal, excels in color. Man's hand has planted and trained the trees and flowers, but the gorgeous troops of birds which inhabit them are voluntary residents there, making the shade "vocal with their music." These groves are interspersed with lakes, whose waters murmur under the per fumed pressure of the crimson lily and the sacred lotus. These lakes are the homes of some varieties of tropical birds ; swans, black and white, are domesticated in them; and the cockatoo, with his creanay plumage, seems unconscious of imprisonment in his spacious gilded cage, so constructed as to afford him ample sunshine and cool bath. Alighting from our carriages, we took a path which leads through a bamboo-grove so dense that the down which its delicate leaves cast on the smooth gravel takes the form of a tender moss. This moss, taking root, interweaves so closely that it is not de ranged by the footstep. The very air of this fairy grove seemed to us to hold a soothing verdure. But it is not alone in the lakes, groves, and lawns, that the feathered race contents itself at Buiten zorg: " This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet does approve By his loved masonry, that heaven's breath Smiles sweet and wooingly here." TROPICAL FOLIAGE. 315 At sunset, thousands of martins gather for the night under the eaves of the palace. Sitting closely to each other, they are mistaken by a careless observer for a blackened bead, which extends without break around the cornice of the entire edifice. Perhaps we dilate TROPICAL FOLIAGE, JAVA. too much on tropical Nature, but its first effect upon all minds is to excite a wish never to leave it. We almost contracted for at least an occasional home at Nagasaki. We left Hong-Kong and Singapore reluctantly ; but Batavia, and more than all Buitenzorg, wins our thoughts irresistibly away from all that is practical in life, to delight in repose and serene contemplation. The truth, however, is, that the admiration of tropical scenery, though universal, wears off as suddenly as it comes. We have not 316 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. thus far found an American or European content with a genial clime. The merchant, mariner, or missionary, even the women and children, stay here against their wills, and wait impatiently for their release this month or the next, or, at farthest, this year or the next. If we should forget every thing else at Buitenzorg, we are not likely to forget its baths. Leaving the palace-door, and driving through a winding, palm-shaded lane, we came to the bamboo- grove. Dismissing carriage and attendants there, we penetrated JAVANESE FEinT. to its dark centre, by a tangled foot-path. There we found a marble basin, eighty feet across, filled with flowing water. The depth is regulated at will, and a slight bamboo rail is stretched SCENE IN JAVA. 317 across the basin for security against accident. Tall palm-trees pro tect the bather from the sun, while the surrounding grove is an impenetrable screen. Coming out of the bath, we picked up what we thought to be a green walnut. On removing the hard, acrid shell, pungent scarlet mace betrayed itself; breaking through this, and the inner shell, which it covered, a fragrant, white, milky pulp disclosed the incipient nutmeg. •mm ««! SCENE IN JAVA. CHAPTER III. EXCURSION INTO THE INTERIOR. A. Balking Horse. — Cultivation of Rice. — Tropical Flowers. — Surabaya. — The Regent Pra- wiro. — Dutch Colonization. — How Java is governed. — Bandong. — The Regent and the Interpreter. — A Gouty Monarch. — The Regent's Income. — How he spends it. Surabaya, January 2\st. — The governor-general and his esti mable family dismissed us, after a very early breakfast, on an ex cursion which is affording us an opportunity to see something of the mountains, and more of the simple people of this beautiful island. Still travelling in Mr. Pell's spacious coach, with government orders for relays, we drove rapidly through the quaint and quiet streets of the pretty little city of Buitenzorg. So long as we kept the plain, we had only one annoyance — a balking horse — one of eight. Peasantry, at every halt, assisted the lopers in rolling the heavy carriage against the refactory animal's heels, and so, whether he willed to go or not, we got on. Crossing a small stream, we climbed irregular volcanic mountains, and came through a gorge between two of them ; the one seven thousand feet high, the other four thousand. The mountain-sides are terraced with rice-fields, one above the other. These fields were covered with standing water. The successive terraces show the crop at every stage of its growth. On the upper terrace, the young plant is seen, resembling grass just sprouted from the seed ; on the level just below, single stalks of rice just transplanted ; below this, fields of the grain at successive periods of its growth ; until, at the foot of the mountain, RICE-CULTIVATION. 319 it is already ripened, and ready for the knife. We say the knife, for neither cradle, nor scythe, nor sickle, is used in the rice-fields in Java. The Koran commands the husbandman to cut off each individual stalk singly. This injunction the pious Moslem never disobeys. Rice-cultivation is a very laborious process. A prairie farmer, we think, would despair, if he were obliged to transplant his wheat- crop from its first bed, plant by plant ; he would die, if it were necessary to water it, even once during its growth. It would be left to rot in the field if he were denied a " reaper," or at least a cradle or sickle ; it would waste in the barn or stack if he could not procure a threshing-machine or a fanning-mill. On the other hand, here each blade of rice is removed to a new bed, and from its plant ing until its ripening it is irrigated once every day. When it is gathered, the kernels are separated from the husk by hand. Not withstanding this vast labor, rice is the chief production, as it is the chief food of all the Asiatic races, constituting half the population of the globe. The cause of the productiveness of Java (greater than that of any portion of the earth) readily discloses itself to the most careless observer as he passes through the country. It is a combination of equatorial heat, volcanic soil, and perennial moun tain-streams. These rivulets are subdivided at their springs, and conducted around and down the winding terraces to the base of the mountain, where they are in like manner gathered and poured in sparkling cascades down the steep declivity ; then to be again sub divided, and made to perform the same gentle service as before to successive terraces below. We know well enough the slow progress of science and art at home, but who taught this Malay peasantry this skill in hydraulics, which surpasses that of any civilized people ? We are now seeing that we might have spared ourselves the trouble of threading the walks of the botanical gardens at Bui tenzorg. All around us, every way we turn, whichever way we look, are innumerable species of palm, the great banyan, exquisite tree-ferns thirty or forty feet high, sparkling with parasitic flowers ; fragrant hedges of heliotrope fifteen feet high, now in full bloom; — 320 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. not monotonous blue as with us, but of every color and hue — alter nating with other hedges of the grotesque cactus of a hundred shapes and equally splendid in bloom. Every one is familiar with the lily of the valley, but we find here the lily of the mountain, a stately flower giving out even a sweeter odor than its little name sake. Mountains shine with white lilies, and lakes with the incom parable lotus. Although coffee-plantations spread a broad, dark shadow behind flowery hedges, yet the bright green rice-fields are never out of the landscape. Where these allow space, there aie meadows gay with azaleas of infinite variety, set in borders of pink and white and crimson oleanders, which attain here the stature of the magnolia. We have found rest and refreshment at the village of Surabaya, a pleasant resort in a mountain amphitheatre, for the dwellers on the sea-coast. The clearing up of a rain-storm has just given us, instead of the rainbow, an equatorial phenomenon — a broad, pris matic column, stretching from the centre of the heavens, quite down the mountain-side, resting on the plain below and flooding the valley with a gorgeous light. The table d'hote does not differ, either in pretension, costliness, or meagreness, from like service at Catskill or other mountain resorts in our own country. Sjiandjioer, January 21st. — We left our balky horse at Sura baya. A brake, with an iron shoe, was fixed on a hind-wheel. Not withstanding these checks, we were rolling rapidly down into the next valley, when the alarm sounded that a wheel was on fire. It was extinguished, and we were thundering forward with greater velocity than before, when we had another fright — the chain of the shoe broke. A rope of buffalo hide was substituted for it, and we had scarcely taken the road again, when the shoe itself gave way. But, with careful driving, and our lopers holding us back, we escaped harm. So at six o'clock we entered this very pretty vil lage, which, although a native one, is laid out in streets and squares, with that degree of geometrical precision, and ornamented with that peculiar taste, which is everywhere so observable in the Neth- REGENT PRAWIRO DA KEDYA. 321 erlands. The governor-general having dispatched notice of our coming, and also sent with us his young kinsman Mr. Lowe, we were met outside of the town by a native subaltern officer, in Dutch uniform, and conducted to the palace in the centre of a park larger than the Capitol-grounds at Washington. Here, under a tasteful porte-cochere, we were received by the Regent Prawiro da Kedya. He is a lineal descendant of the long-since dethroned Kings of Pad- jadjura in the western empire of Java, and bears the titular hon- THE REGENT PRAWIRO DA KEDYA. ors of Radhe Sonnengoniz. The regent is thirty years old, digni fied and handsome, and has pleasing manners. A Mohammedan, he wears a turban of orange and black muslin, a tight black-cloth jacket, with large gold buttons, and a standing collar, on which sparkle three enormous diamonds, and with the whitest of linen at neck and wrist. A sarong of gay-colored muslin, painted with figures emblematic of his rank, hangs from his waist over black trousers. White stockings and gold-embroidered velvet shoes com- 322 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. plete his dress.- He wears at his side a short sword, with scabbard of gold, and hilt profusely covered with diamonds. Owing to the humidity of the climate, a customary law of land scape gardening is so far reversed that the area which immediately surrounds the palace, although ornamented with trees, is paved with gravel instead of being a green lawn. The palace, one story in height, is equal in its dimensions to the White House. The model and style of the buildings are perfect, but the materials are fragile, and the construction unsubstantial and cheap. There is a ludicrous contrast between the vaulted ceiling resting on a double row of graceful columns, and the rough, uneven bamboo floor so light that the whole house trembles under every footstep. The fur niture, entirely European, plain and ill selected, must have been supplied by some second-hand dealer in Amsterdam. Our princely host showed us our several apartments. The dinner at which he presided had the substantial character of a European feast with the addition of the curry, fruits, and sweets, of the island. After leaving the table we were serenaded by a band of native musicians. Their music is derived from Hindostan. The instruments are reeds, bells, and a sort of violin. The tones are soft and monoto nous, and free from discord, with a barely perceptible melody. Too weary to sit through the protracted entertainment, we retired to rest, with the strains still falling on our ears like the rustling of a gentle wind through the tree-tops. Sjiandjioer, January 22d. — Dutch colonization has a story as simple as its results are wonderful. The Netherlands Government seventy or eighty years ago acquired the Dutch East India Com pany's titles to its possessions in the East, and substituted itself in the place of that great mercantile establishment. Using the national force as occasion required to perfect and maintain acqui sitions, they brought the whole of Java under their political rule. Having done this, the Government appropriated absolutely to the crown whatever lands were unoccupied. They compounded with the two native sovereigns before mentioned and their vassal kings for the management of the estates which were under cultivation, BANDONG. 323 and the disposal of their products. After this, they gradually extinguished by purchase the rights of the native proprietors, and so have been continually enlarging the royal domain. By way of commending their rule to the natives, they have left to the fam ilies of the dispossessed rulers not only a titular rank, but they have employed their chiefs in the management of their several estates, allowing to each the official honor of regent, and actually associating him with the Dutch residente or governor. The resi- dente exercises the real power, but ostensibly in the name and under the authority of the native prince. The latter receives an ample stipend, which enables him to maintain a show of his hereditary dignity, and in consideration of which he entertains all the Government agents and their visitors at his palace. The Dutch residente directs through the native regent what seed shall be sown on every plantation, how and when the harvest shall be gathered, what wages shall be paid to the cultivators, and disposes of the products at prices fixed in every case, by the Governor- General and Council of the Indies. The results of this system are, that, while the people seem to be comfortable and contented, it defrays all the expenses of local administration in peace and war, and pays an annual revenue of five, million dollars into the national treasury at the Hague. Java, thus governed, remains what the discoverers found it, " the garden of the world." Bandong, January 23d. — Our host at Sjiandjioer gave us at an early hour a cup of the native coffee, with native sugar, and put us on the way in good time this morning — first, to survey more leisurely than yesterday the little provincial capital ; and then to continue our upward way to the centre of the island. The moun tain-sides which we climbed are more abrupt than those we trav elled on the previous day, while the teeming population seems, if possible, more simple and gentle. Many sorts of palm and cactus disappear, but the heliotrope is richer than ever, the tree-ferns taller and more beautiful. We had the various experiences of mountain-travel — travel with six horses, with oxen, and with mixed teams of horses and oxen ; sometimes we were pushed upward, 824 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. sometimes held back with human hands alone ; sometimes moved by the working of the endless chain. We completed the journey at five o'clock this afternoon. This town is built on the same model as the one last visited. Hardly had we entered it before we encountered demonstrative evidence that the native prince, Wiranarta Kalsoema Radhe Ade- pathe, Regent of Bandoag, is every inch a king. His despotic authority is reflected in the despondent countenances and de meanor of his subjects. Within his dominion we were recognized as his guests. No traveller on the road, whether young or old, whether a man staggering under a heavy burden, or a woman with a child in her arms, passed us without first receiving our permission, no matter how slowly we might be moving, or how long we might be stopping. All whom we met went down on their knees as we approached, nor did they venture to leave that posture or even lift their eyes from the ground until we had passed by. This was a strange sight among a people who are more sen sitive than any other on points of personal dignity. Every official or educated Javanese wears a sword, not so much to protect him self against the beasts of the jungle, as to use it in vindication of wounded self-esteem. He is a duellist. So excitable is the na tional sense of honor, that no words of insult or opprobrium are ever heard among them without provoking instant chastisement. Killing in the duel is not accounted murder. Radhe Adepathe, attended by a half-caste interpreter, stood waiting to receive us before the palace-door, under a gilded um brella, of form and dimensions not unlike the " sounding-board " of old-fashioned New-England churches. The interpreter inquired in French whether the guests were Mr. Seward and family. Being answered, he presented each of us to the regent, who, with a step of conscious majesty, conducted Mr. Seward and the ladies individ ually under the gorgeous umbrella, through the portico and into the grand reception-hall of the palace. He seemed seventy ye,ars old, and was carelessly dressed. His countenance indicated great shrewdness, his voice and manner were studiously deferential. He displayed, however, a disagreeable impatience and even petulance. THE REGENT OF BANDONG, WITH HIS OFFICERS. 326 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. He devolved on the interpreter the duty of showing us our apart ments. We thought his expressions of politeness sinister, and con ceived at once a strong dislike for him. The overawed interpreter blundered, and conducted each guest to an apartment designed for the other. The regent, discovering the mistake, rose to the frenzy of a " Blue Beard." He hobbled after us and corrected the blun der with vehement objurgations. We did not understand a word of the reproof, but we all take notice that the unlucky Malay who thus combined the offices of interpreter and chamberlain, in the " royal " household, has not appeared since. At seven o'clock we were summoned to the great hall, where the regent received us. What a transformation ! He was now attired in royal Javanese costume, far more elaborate than that of the Pra- wiro da Kedya. His countenance was serene, his manner gentle, his discourse easy and courteous. He seemed twenty years younger. He banished our dislike at once, by telling us, with a humorous. grimace, which none, but those who have actually known what the twinges of the gout are, can affect, that he is a chronic sufferer from that malady. When our host was seated in the centre of the room, three male dwarfs, neatly dressed in native scarlet livery, with tur- baned heads and naked feet, timidly entered and crouched on the floor behind their master. One held a sword and folded umbrella, another, a box filled with smoking-tobacco, pipes, and cigars ; the third, a brazier of charcoal. The three mutely and unceasingly studied the varying expressions of the regent's face. A Malay served first schnapps, then port-wine and madeira. Dwarf num ber two now offered pipes, cigars, and cigarettes ; thereupon the regent ejaculated "Appee," when the brazier-bearing pigmy sprang quickly forward. In obeying a command, each dwarf, as he ap proached master or guest, dropped on his knees and bowed his fore head to the floor, then assuming a natural position, made the ser vice required. When it was completed he performed a " salam," and crept backward to his place behind the regent. Not only these dwarfs, but each servant in the palace, the regent's own son and heir, a youth of twenty-one, and every native admitted to the presence, practises the same servile obeisance. The chief, on his THE REGENT'S INCOME. 327 part, does not deign to incline his head toward the servant, child, or subject, to whom he speaks, but, on the contrary, affectedly looks away from or beyond him. The palace, the grounds, and the town dependent on it, are much more spacious than those at Sjiandjioer, and abound with evidences of the regent's wealth. His annual stipend is one hun dred and sixty thousand guilders, about eighty thousand dollars. At first it puzzled us to know how a barbarian can use such an in come, but we were not long in finding a solution. In part, it is laid out in gems and jewels for personal ostentation, in part for the support of his family, in part for maintaining his corps of " baya deres " (ballet and singing girls), and a band of musicians, in part in keeping up the most costly stud on the island, and the residue in support of a large number of relations and dependants. The crescent dominates everywhere in Java, and doubtless the mosque draws heavily on the princely revenues. After an elaborate dinner, the day has ended, as at Sjiandjioer, with a native serenade. A HOSTELRY Uf JAVA. CHAPTER IV. MR. SEWARD AT BANDONG. Excursion lo the Cascade. — A Perilous Road. — The Water-Fall. — An Evening at the Palace. — The Bayaderes. — Two Dwarfs. — A Chorus of Peasants. — The Little Prin cesses. — An Excursion to Tankoeban. — Peruvian Bark. — The Top 'of the Volcano. — An Enchanting Scene. — The Javanese Prince. Bandong, January 23d. — It rained all night. Bad as we knew the roads must be, the regent nevertheless ordered out his immense European carriage, with six horses, for an excursion to the " Cas cade," which is one of the wonders of the island. We were attended by a detachment of heavy dragoons in Dutch uniforms, barefooted postilions, and turbaned footmen. At the foot of every hill, and at every slough, a crowd of peasants appeared, as if summoned by previous command, to drag or push our unwilling wheels. It was like a royal progress, such as Queen Elizabeth used to make in the sixteenth century. Twelve miles from the town, we found twenty-five saddle- horses, a complement of sedan-chairs, and fifty peasants, awaiting us. Taking so many of these animals, vehicles, and men, as we had need of, we descended successive hills terraced with pale-green rice- fields, and glossy dark coffee-groves. The mounted members of the party agree that, in all their experience, they never had so per ilous an exercise ; but the horses, as well as the bearers of the chairs, were well trained and sure of foot. Although an animal occasionally stumbled, and a chair-bearer lost his balance, we never- A WATER-FALL. 325 theless accomplished the journey down the slippery precipices with out serious accident. The river Groote forms the canal which we have described at Batavia. That river here bears the euphonious name of Tjoerock Tjikapoendoeng. The torrents by which it is formed meet in the gorges above this place, and it makes a perpendicular leap of sev enty feet into a dell, the sides of which are studded with lofty tree- ferns festooned with orchids. The cascade in form and movement has a parallel in some of the many leaps of the West Canada Creek at Trenton, but its forest surroundings can have their like nowhere but within the tropics. After the first pleasing impression of the scene was over, we compared notes together, saying how absurd it must seem that we, who live almost in sound of Niagara, should have come this long distance to see a petty water-fall under the equator. Soon, however, we were made to understand that, for those to whom our cataract of thunder is unknown, this shining cascade is worthy of all admiration. The imagination of the na tives has peopled the dell with gentle fairies of the air, and loving water-sprites. The Dutch gentleman who accompanied us had never seen any water-falls but the waste-weirs of the canals in Holland. He was awe-stricken in the presence of Tjoerock Tjika poendoeng. While to us the combination of sparkling water, dainty ferns, and breathing flowers was simply beautiful, it was for him sublime. So it is that accident or circumstance often determines our tastes and sentiments. This evening the regent conducted us to the private palace in which his family reside. Apologizing for his wife's absence by reason of indisposition, he placed us in the centre of a spacious and lofty hall, softly lighted with tinted globe lamps, and graced with a curious medley of portraits of European celebrities — among them the Prince of Wales, the Queen of the Netherlands, Jenny Lind, and Lola Montez. We were the only guests. A band of twenty- five native musicians was stationed on the porch. Hundreds of the peasantry of Bandong crowded the guard in front. The musi cians played, in a low tone, a recitative accompaniment. Soon after this began, four " bayaderes," one after the other, glided into the 330 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. room, with a movement in harmony with the music. They were apparently eighteen years of age, and had that " golden " complex ion which in the East is the highest type of beauty. The regent explained that the " bayadere " amusement was derived from the ancient Hindoos. The costume of the performers has the same origin. It consists of a long, scant scarlet skirt, fastened above the waist, and falling in folds quite over the bare feet. A stiffened band of scarlet and gold, ten inches wide, is drawn tightly about the waist, fitting just under the shoulder-blades, leaving the arms and shoulders entirely bare. The monture was a burnished helmet. Wondering at this barbaric magnificence, Mr. Seward asked the wSl DANOING-COSTCJIE. regent whether the helmet was gilded. He quickly answered in Javanese, that not only the helmet, but also the heavy girdle, the bracelets, and anklets, were of solid gold, and added in English, " California." Three ballets were performed ; it was not difficult A JAVANESE TOM THUMB. 331 to understand the spirit of each. The first, gay and joyous, repre sented a nuptial ceremony ; the second, energetic and vigorous, a battle, with ambuscade, surprise, struggle, and victory ; the third, DANCING-GIRL. deep-toned and measured, a funeral pageant. The dancing con sisted of slow and varied posturing and extravagant gesticulation, to the broken and imperfect time of the wild music. The " baya deres " were not the only performers of the evening. There were two dwarfs, the eldest thirty years old, well proportioned and agile, and a counterpart of Tom Thumb. In the other, the peculiar Malay figure and features were exaggerated to absolute deformity. The regent took especial delight in this lusus naturae, and laughed immoderately at the little creature's big head and bandy legs. We, who at home are more pained than pleased by the exhibitions of General Tom Thumb and his Liliputian wife, could not sympathize here with the barbarian prince. It was with difficulty that we sup pressed our disgust when the pitiable dwarfs were put forward as 332 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. harlequins in the historical pantomimes which the " bayaderes " were executing. Dwarfs here remain the same important personages they were in European courts three hundred years ago. We ought to have mentioned that the Radhe Adepathe maintains seven of them. The performance of the night had- a very pleasing interlude. While the artistes were resting in the intervals, the guard at the door opened the way to a chorus of peasants. They executed a grotesque dance, which gave unbounded delight, not only to our selves, but to the unbidden native spectators outside. In the midst of this diversion, two children of the regent, girls of four and five, and very small, came in with their attendants, dressed in queenly satin robes and jewels. He presented them to us with manifest pride, and, although they trembled during the ceremony, they per formed their little parts with all the formality of women. We saw the "bayadere " in Japan, and have now seen her in Java. She is, as we understand, a universal character in the East. Before the innovations of Buddha, the Bramins were an exclu sive religious class in India. They constituted a priesthood, like the family of Aaron among the Jews. Descended from the gods, their persons were sacred. By a cunning artifice, they reconciled their followers to the consecration of women to their service. These women were selected at an early age from the highest fami lies, reared and educated in the temples in the feminine arts and accomplishments, as well as in mysteries of religion. Such were originally the " bayaderes." If Madame Roland, in view of the agonies of the state of France, exclaimed, " O Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name ! " how much more might we exclaim, in view of this wicked imposture, what crime has not superstition perpetrated against the virtue of the human race! While, as we are told, the institution among the Hindoos retains its religious character, it has been copied without that character throughout the East, whatever forms of religion may prevail. A troupe of bayaderes is considered a necessary ornament in the court of every prince, and in all rich families. They are allowed THE VOLCANO OF TANKOEBAN. 333 the education and accomplishments which are denied the sex gen erally, without being held to the practice of virtue. January 24th. — An excursion to-day with the same cortege and retinue as yesterday, to the smouldering volcano of Tankoe- ban. What a transformation in the person of the young prince ! Hitherto we had seen him barefooted, and in a mean sarong, kneel ing and lying at his father's feet like a slave. To-day he has donned a manly and even princely costume. Booted and spurred, he mounted a spirited horse, and led our expedition. Leaving our carriages in a pretty village, at the foot of the mountain, and taking saddle-horses and chairs, we made the ascent in five hours, by an excavated zigzag path, the construction of which would have been impossible for any engineer other than a Javanese practised in the science of mountain-irrigation. At the beginning of the ascent, we were at the elevation which the coffee- tree most affects. The orchards are very luxuriant ; rising a hun dred feet higher, we came to a plain covered with the Cinchona calisaya, as the tree is called, which furnishes the medicine known world-wide as the Peruvian bark, in its various forms. The culture has been introduced here, quite recently, from Bolivia. The trees are yet young, and we are unable to determine their ultimate size. The Resident informs us that the enterprise has already proved a success. He has shipped more than seven tons of the bark to Hol land, taken from only the smaller branches or twigs of the trees. The next plateau gave us a view of the sugar cultivation ; a still higher one yields cabbages, potatoes, and other esculents for the supply of the markets on the sea-shore. Native timber grows upon the mountain-sides to the very summit, five thousand feet above the sea. The forests are chiefly of teak ; the undergrowth, tree-ferns, with a great variety of flowering and fruit-bearing vines. We recognize the raspberry, although not belonging to any species cultivated with us. Troops of peasantry went before us and prepared the way by cutting steps on the most rugged declivities. We reached, at last, a plain covered with fire-blasted trees ; sul- 334 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. phurous fumes impregnated the atmosphere, and a clammy moist ure chilled us through and through. Following a circuitous path through this desolate scene, we reached the brink of the double cra ter, four or five miles in circumference and one thousand feet deep. There have been two eruptions in such close proximity that only a low ridge or promontory separates the craters. At the bottom of either crater, there is a dark, yellow lake — or, rather, there is one lake extending over the bottoms of both — divided by a natural bridge. On the north shore or beach of this double lake, open chasms send up, from fiery springs, through dense clouds of smoke, a perpetual column of blazing sulphur. Another spring, somewhat higher, seethes like a vast furnace, as it pours forth column after column of mingled mud and gaseous fluid, with reverberating sounds like thunder. The banks of solid rock are almost perpen dicular. Gathering clouds, driven by strong winds from the west ward, when they reach the precipice, roll in broad volumes down its sides into the abyss; absorbing, then, the sulphurous fumes, they rise on the opposite side of the crater, charged with their min eral burden, which they distribute, on their return to the upper air. While contemplating these gigantic efforts of Nature, continued through ages, to resume her lost tranquillity and silence, we were shivering with cold and hunger. The plain surrounding the vol cano, and indeed the entire surface of the mountain-summit, though covered with such vegetation as the mineral blasts allow to flourish, is incrusted with volcanic ashes, like those which buried Pompeii and other cities on the slopes of Vesuvius. In descending, we peered constantly through the forest, to get sight of the tiger, which is the terror of the island. Our guides, though armed against him, informed us that the beast has become wary, and no longer attacks men in bands. Earth can have no scene more enchanting than the dark, tower ing mountains, shading off into verdant plains, which spread before our eyes as we made our way back to the village we had left in the morning. We overtook, as we thought, the very clouds which we had seen rolling through the sulphurous crater, and, driving through them, were drenched with rain. Then, again, when the DUTCH RULE IN JAVA. 335 sun shone out, we trod the silver lining of other clouds, which were pouring their floods upon illuminated plains below. A dinner, with good wine, and plenty of it, Avhich our young chief had ordered, awaited us at the foot of the mountain, and he now presided right royally over the welcome entertainment. A second dinner at the palace closed the day. We have come to like our host vastly. He is genial and joyous in his intervals of gout, and, by a certain sympathy, has come to understand much of our English, and to make us comprehend his vernacular. America is a subject of inexhaustible interest to him. He understands it so well, that when Mr. Seward asked him to what country he thought William Freeman, the colored servant, who speaks English, and wears a European costume, belonged, he replied, " He was born in America, the son of a slave." He was entertaining us to-day with accounts of his great ancestry, when our young Dutch coiripanion asked him what evidence he had of this lineage. He answered, with spirit, "What evidence have we that we all descended from Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden ? " The Dutch seem constantly on the watch for treachery on his part. But suspicion is the punishment of usurpation. It apprehends dis loyalty and treachery on every side. Would it be treason, indeed, in this humiliated and pensioned wearer of twelve diamond-hilted ancestral swords, to strike with them a blow for the lost sceptre of his tribe ? For ourselves, we cannot but think that the Dutch rule in this island, after two hundred years of trial, with their successive wars, is at last safely established. It can only be shaken now by tyranny so extreme and violent as to arouse to resistance a simple race who as yet have never acquired the first idea either of personal freedom or of national independence. CHAPTER V. AT BATAVIA AGAIN— THE MALAYS. Farewell to Bandong. — A Tropical Breakfast. — A Breakfast in the Botanical Gardens. — A Princely Native Artist. — Dutch Colonization. — Character of the Malay Race. — Chinese Immigration. Batavia, January 25th. — We bade farewell to the magnificent chief of Bandong, at sunrise yesterday, and we breakfasted with him at Sjiandjioer, enjoying in both cases the honors of music and the golden umbrella. We bathed and slept last night in the rose-gar dens of Sindanlaya. At noon to-day, we reentered the palace of Buitenzorg, which name, we now learn, was borrowed from the palace of Frederick the Great at Potsdam — Sans-souci. A pretty illustration of tropical life greeted us here. The gov ernor-general was absent ; the ladies were just assembled at break fast in the coolest of marble halls, dressed in the degagee habit which the Europeans have adopted from the natives here : hair fall ing naturally over the shoulders, the white " short-gown " of our grandmothers, made fanciful with ruffles and bright buttons ; a gay- colored muslin skirt (sarong), not fastened by a belt, but softly fold ed around the figure ; naked feet thrust into gold-embroidered slippers. After sharing their breakfast with us, they loaded our carriages with roses and passion-flowers, and lotuses, each flower in itself a bouquet. It was with sincere and unaffected regret that we parted with our newly-made friends, and so we are here once more A SOCIAL BREAKFAST. 337 at our Batavia home, after a week in the country, filled with the kindest of hospitalities and most valuable of instructions. BATH AT SrHDANLAYA. January 26th. — The Resident of the province of Batavia, with the ladies of his family, gave us, this morning, a social breakfast in the Botanical Gardens, under arching banyan-trees, in the presence of a larger and gayer assembly than ever before has graced a feast in our experience. These spectators were inquisitive monkeys, graceful giraffes, noble lions, magnificent tigers, loquacious parrots, and splendid peacocks, not to speak of birds-of-paradise. In short, 338 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. the Zoological Museum was the scene of our festivity. When the repast was over, we visited the museum, which is very rich in Malay antiquities and curiosities, chiefly war and official costumes, ornaments, and weapons, from all parts of the Eastern Archipelago. The Hall of the Council of the Indies, in the government pal ace, is a spacious one, and adorned appropriately with a full collec tion of life-size portraits of the successive governors-general. Java is proud of the native prince Rahden Saleh, who in Europe acquired great proficiency in the arts of painting and architecture. His most celebrated artistic achievements are, the Botanical Gar dens, in which we breakfasted ; a fine portrait of the governor-gen eral (Myer) ; and his own Italian villa, in the suburbs of Batavia. Mr. Pell gathered at his table, in the evening, a pleasant party of Americans. This island is visited more by Americans than by any other class of travellers. Batavia-Roads, Steamer Singapore, January 26th, Evening. — To avoid an early and precipitate embarkation to-morrow, we pro cured a steam-tender, and came on board a packet still smaller than the Koningin der Nederlanden. What we have seen in Java, and learned there of other islands, justifies us in pronouncing the Dutch colonization in the East Indies a great and beneficent success. Less than twenty thou sand Dutch colonists have established over a native population of seventeen millions the sway of the mother-country, which num bers only four millions. Notwithstanding occasional insurrections, that sway may be regarded as firmly established. It ought to enhance our admiration of the enterprise, that, during two hun dred years of its history, the Netherlands had to overcome not alone the natives of the islands, but also to maintain an almost constant conflict with European competitors in these distant seas — Portugal, Spain, France, and Great Britain. Its administra tion is severely criticised in British circles, on the ground of its wearing too prominently the features of narrow mercantile monop oly. Although these features must be admitted to be tyrannical, it cannot be denied, on the other hand, that the Dutch Government THE MALAY RACE. 339 has practised far less severity and cruelty toward the natives of the Archipelago than Spain, and Great Britain, and their successors the United States, have practised in America. Holland has neither exterminated native populations in the Archipelago, nor imposed slavery on them, nor introduced African slavery among them. The Dutch development of the resources of Java has been effective. The island has an agriculture surpassing that of any other country, and has also a valuable and increasing foreign commerce. So far as we can perceive, it is free alike from political and social dis content, and certainly it is free from pauperism. Nor is it to be overlooked that the Malays have been raised to the partial exer cise of political functions. The government, while it tolerates all religions, encourages missionary instruction, and maintains schools so generally that a Javanese who is unable to read and write in his own language is exceptional. At the same time it must be admitted that no such vivifying social sentiments as those of per sonal liberty and national independence have been conceived by the Malays ; and, while we can no longer doubt that the ultimate civilization of the whole human race is within the design of Provi dence, we must reconcile ourselves to laws which render the prog ress of civilization slow, and seemingly uncertain.. The Malay race is not homogeneous; it has many distinct branches. The branches which were found by the European dis coverers on the peninsula, and on the islands of Sumatra and Java, were compact and organized states, which had long before emerged from the tribal condition. Nevertheless, the Malays are intellectually as well as physically feeble. The European discov erers alleged that they could not count ten. But in one art they excelled all mankind — this was the art of irrigation. So incon gruous does this skill seem to be, that we might almost deem it an instinct rather than an acquirement of the Malays. Although the same European explorers describe the Malays as subtle and treacherous,, we are obliged to conclude that they are a docile and tractable people. They received their earliest religion from the Bramins of India, as is proved by the ruins of Hindoo temples of vast proportions and great magnificence. They exchanged that re- 340 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. ligion, with entire docility, for the faith of the crescent, which was brought to them from Arabia by the apostles of Mohammed. There was one occasion, indeed, in their history when they proved intrac table and hostile. At the time of the arrival of the Europeans, not only the Malayan Peninsula, but Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, were found the field of active Chinese colonization. The European his torians represent that the natives sought to exterminate the Chinese immigrants here, on exactly the same grounds that Chinese immi gration is opposed in the United States, namely, a fear that it would establish a system of heathen barbarism. In this native re sistance to Chinese colonization, the European adventurers con curred and cooperated for a long time. But it has, at last, happily ceased. The Dutch East India Government, as well as the British Government at Singapore, are now effectively engaged in promot ing that immigration in their respective colonies. CHAPTER VI. FROM BATAVIA TO MADRAS. An Uncomfortable Steamer. — An Accident. — At Singapore. — British Hospitality. — The Port of Penang. — A Loyal Englishman. — Bay of Bengal. — Half-Way Round the World.— Arrival at Ceylon.— Point de Gralle.— A Short Visit to the Shore.— A Hindoo Crew. — Off Pondicherry. Steamer Singapore, January 31st. — If one wishes to learn how skilfully common-carriers, demanding the highest rates for freight and passage, can inflict the greatest discomfort, we recommend to him a lesson on the Singapore. She was appointed to leave Batavia on the 25th, while the British steamer to Ceylon was to leave Sin gapore on February 1st. But the Singapore, which is the slowest vessel of the line, did not sail until the 27th. Notwithstanding this change of time, we hoped for two days of rest at Singapore. The cabin is a dove-cote — the holes are reached from the deck by a perpendicular ladder. We had the whole dove-cote to ourselves the night we lay in the roads at Batavia. The next night, and all other nights, we escaped from its stifling imprisonment by having our mattresses spread on the deck and protected by awnings. Our new lodging was made intolerably noisy by the incessant tramp of passengers, officers, seamen, and servants. A dozen milch-cows were hauled by their horns on deck, before we left port. Fifty miles at sea, one of them mutinied, and leaped overboard ; the ship gave her stern-chase, bow-chase, and cross-chase, for five hours ; 23 342 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. it was an unequal chase, but steam-power, baffled so long, prevailed at last. During the night, when we were crossing the mouth of the straits of Sunda, a northwest monsoon put the steamer to another trial. The condenser gave way at midnight, and the vessel be came a log. We, who were wakeful and alarmed, saw the officers hurrying backward and forward, whispering rather than proclaim ing their commands. We overheard them discoursing how to make up the ship's deficiency in life-boats in case she should be driven • on the beach. It was a new experience to go down, in that tem pestuous night, into the seething ship's hold, and take our money from our trunks and prepare for the apprehended disaster. What might not be our fate, if, escaping from the perils of the sea, we should reach the savage shore of Sumatra ? Should we encounter there serpents, wild-beasts, cannibals? The storm, however, re lented a little ; after working the pumps, and hammering on the condenser, the engineer repaired the broken machinery, and the vessel resumed her course. We were demoralized by travel in this intemperate climate. The coarse food was not at all to our liking ; we fell back on the fruits. The first day, lemons, limes, even bottled lemonade, were exhausted ; the next day, the oranges, bananas, and pineapples ; the third day, and afterward, we had stale bread and bad coffee. We have arrived here at midnight, on the fifth day of our voyage. No signal has been given of the steamer, and we therefore sleep on board, although we are to embark on the Behar for Ceylon, to morrow. Steamer Behar, Straits of Malacca, February 1st. — The unin- structed telegraph, at dawn, signalled the Singapore as a Dutch man-of-war. Nobody expected Mr. Seward in a belligerent char acter, especially under a Dutch flag. Governor Ord and Consul Jewell, however, discovered the mistake, and took us ashore after long delay. The true English hospitality of Sir George and Lady Ord, at Government House, soon banished the remembrance of the perils and privations of our recent voyage. THE STRAITS OF SUNDA. 343 Strength commands respect, and success, at last, overpowers envy. The same European populace of Singapore, which, only a very few years ago, cheered the American rebel Semmes, when he went out and came in there from his traitorous depredations on unprotected national commerce, now followed our little American party to the wharf, and, as the Behar cast off her lines at four o'clock, they shouted, with evident good-will : " Three cheers for Governor Seward, three cheers for the ladies ! " " Well," said Mr. Seward, " let it be so ; it is not an unwholesome instruction that the nation which would enjoy the respect of other nations must retain its claim to it by union and courage." Penang, February 3d. — As the straits of Sunda are the cus tomary channel of vessels which round Cape Horn for Java, China, and Japan, so the straits of Malacca are the proper passage for ves sels of like destination, which come by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. The British Government has, with its usual sagacity, secured the ancient town of Malacca on the Malay Peninsula. The straits are four hundred miles long. We have made the passage hither in forty- two hours, seeing often the high hills of Sumatra on our left, and the flat Malay Peninsula always in view on our right. The straits here are seven miles wide, and deep enough for vessels of the largest size. The mountainous, wooded island of Penang rises abruptly out of the sea, and lesser islands lend a picturesque aspect to the harbor. The port of Penang, sometimes called Georgetown, with a pop ulation of four thousand, may, some time ago, have flourished, but it is now in a condition of neglect and decline. The population of the island of Penang is forty thousand. Governor Ord, like every one else in this region, represents the Malays as improvident and idle. He bases his hope of the prosperity of the settlement upon Chinese immigration. Among the twenty or thirty boats, which came off here for passengers and freight, only one was Malay ; all the others were Chinese built, and manned by Chinese. We have improved, as best we could, the six hours' stay with which the Behar has indulged us here. In carriages, with Hindoo 344 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. drivers, we made great speed, over a smooth road, to see a cascade on the West Mountain, two thousand feet above the sea. The people whom we passed, on the road- side, were often standing or reclining in careless and picturesque attitudes, under the cocoa-nut and arika palms. They seem effeminate and languid. Manifestly, however, they bestow careful attention on their costumes, grace fully made up of pure white or bright-colored turbans, flowing sashes, and gay sarongs. There is an approximation to similarity in the dwellings of the Malays and Chinese here, while the foreign bungalows exhibit a sad corruption of European architecture, without gain from the Oriental. On all sides, and at every turn, there are swinging sign-boards, which announce " Licensed to sell ardent spirits." If alcohol is not admitted to be a civilizer, it cannot be denied that it is a leveller. After making a considerable descent, we reached a brawling torrent. We followed its bank under the shade of native forests. A small plain near the foot of the cascade furnishes the site for a little, rude, adobe Hindoo temple ; it has a rustic veranda, sup ported by palm-saplings. Here we were welcomed by Bramins, who were assiduously engaged in plaiting bamboo curtains, and weaving garlands of mountain-flowers, for a festival to-morrow. We rested awhile under this simple but beautiful upholstery, and then foraged the adjoining woods for nutmegs and cloves. As cending from this plain two or three hundred feet, over rough stone steps, we came to the basin into which the torrent plunges for a hundred feet or more, breaking into sparkling jets as it dashes against glistening granite rocks. Even we, prosaic as we are, could easily fancy that the caverns in these romantic rocks are inhabited by naiads and genii, such as are supposed to hold com mune with the imaginative disciples of the oldest and most myste rious of the religions of the East. Sitting on benches hewn from the rock, and refreshing ourselves with cool water drawn from the basin, we looked off upon the ocean, a dozen miles distant, calm and quiet, through a vista of tree- ferns, rooted high above the tops of the palms and spice-trees which HALF-WAY ROUND THE WORLD. 345 grow on the plain below. Descending to the plain where we had left our carriages, we were served, at a rustic inn, with a lunch of broiled chickens and salad, and with wine from Xeres, which need ed no " bush." The proprietor, a loyal Englishman, did not think it superfluous to tell us that the fountain in which we had bathed, the table on which we dined, and the cask from which the wine was drawn, had all been honored with the patronage of his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. How long will " her Majesty's command," and " his Royal Highness's protection," serve to adver tise merchandise and inns in the East Indies ? On coming on board, we learned with regret that our hurried shore ramble had deprived us of a visit from the United States con sul. Steamer Behar, Bay of Bengal, February 4th. — Penang city and roadstead passed from our sight with* the setting sun. We have given the Southern Islands a wide berth. Now at noon, while the captain is taking his daily observations, Mr. Seward, pencil in hand, is making up his reckoning. " Cap tain, I think we must be near the 98th meridian of east longitude, which will be half my voyage around the world." The captain answered, " That light-ship, sir, which you see on our right, marks the line you are inquiring for." Little do our friends at home, in their midnight slumber, dream that we are sitting, wide awake, directly over their heads. But we have a faint idea that this reflection has been made under similar circumstances before. The calm sea-surface is broken by a vast shoal of fish, violently throwing themselves into the air. "What has caused this great commotion ? " It is those two black-headed sharks peering over the water — vanguard, doubtless, of a ferocious army. February 7th. — The Indian Ocean justifies its renown. We have not had a wave too high, a cloud too dark, or a breeze too strong. We are actually regretting that this dreamy voyage must be broken at Ceylon to-morrow. A mattress on the deck of a Pen- 346 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. insular and Oriental steamer, on this ocean in February, is a luxury of rest. The glaring, blazing sun has scarcely set, before the moon and stars come out in full brilliancy. The sparkling Southern Cross traverses a short journey across the southern horizon, visibly changing -its position every hour, and the tranquil night, without twilight, breaks suddenly into another cloudless and joyous day. Off Point de Galle, February 8th. — A letter from Lord Napier comes on board, protesting against our lingering at Ceylon, so as to fall into India in the hot season. We are obliged to be content, therefore, with an outside view of that famous island. We have been running nearly all day along its beautiful coast. A yellow beach, with dazzling breakers, fringes the forest verdure of the island. That verdure extends to a height of five thousand feet, when it gives place to a blue rocky ridge, from which rises Adam's Peak, nine thousand feet, and Haycock Hill, fourteen thousand. The fishing-craft here is as ingenious as its construction is peculiar. Being a canoe, scooped out of the trunk of a tree, it is too narrow for safety. It is, therefore, provided with a float attached to out riggers at the right side. Fleets of these boats are moving around us, but, whatever pearls the fishermen may have taken from these rich waters, are too minute for our vision. So, also, if elephants are as numerous on the shores as they are represented to be, it must be remembered that an impenetrable jungle intervenes to conceal them from our sight. Steamship Columbia, 10 p. m., February 8th. — While we were writing our latest notes, a summons came for our transshipment from the Behar to this steamer. Point de Galle, or, as it is otherwise called, Galle, although described in some of the geographies as having a good harbor, has just no harbor at all. It has neither bay nor roadstead, but a piti ful cove, into which the sea forces its way between two short ledges of rock projecting from the shore. These ledges, which are scarcely a quarter of a mile apart, seem to break the surf, and thus in fair weather afford something like a tranquil anchorage. This anchor- A FEW MINUTES IN CEYLON. 347 age, however, can accommodate only five or six sea-going vessels, and every one of this number is exposed to great danger if it loses control of its ground-tackle, from hidden coral-rocks. Our fellow- passenger, Colonel Garden, of the British Army of India, tells us that one of these rocks wrecked and broke into pieces the steamer in which he was entering the harbor two years ago. This afternoon three steamers met here — the Behar bound for Suez, the Columbia for Madras, and a third for the Archipelago. With these came also a Portuguese man-of-war. The Behar, just before we left here, collided with a large iron ship, inflicting the loss of a boom, and suffering the loss of a life-boat and stanchions. We asked whether this is the best of the island ports, and were answered that Columbo, the only one available to the present trade, is worse. Nevertheless, the cove is beautiful to look upon. The shore is ten or twelve feet above the sea, and shaded with palms. Here and there a fanciful bungalow may be seen peeping from behind the dense groves. On a gentle elevation is a pretty Chris tian church and spire, confronting a mosque and minarets not less conspicuous. At the water's edge is a line of white fortifications and barracks, with a lofty gateway leading to the town, built by the Portuguese. These buildings, substantial and old, are shel tered by immense trees, of what sort we are unable to learn. Ten o'clock. — Until the moment of writing the last notes, we had entertained no hope of treading the soil of fragrant Ceylon. The captain of the Columbia tendered us his service to go ashore in his launch. We made our way, not without great difficulty, through the crowded shipping to the stone steps under the mediae val gateway. Ten minutes sufficed us to walk through the princi pal street. We rested under the veranda of a comfortable, mod ern hotel, making a hundred inquiries concerning the island and its wonders, continually interrupted by tempting offers of carved ebony elephants, coffee-wood sticks, cinnamon paper-cutters, Cin galese lace, not to speak of diamonds, pearls, rubies, and sapphires. Having so soon " done" the town and island, we rowed among the shipping, dodging a rudder here, a propeller there, and native raft- 348 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC. boats on every side, until a flash from the ship's gun summoned all on board. The most inspiring incident of this day's experience was the last. The moon had not risen, and the night was dark and cloudy when our propeller was put in motion. A blue light on the Columbia's bow signalled that her movement was to begin. Instantly a brilliant torch, fed by impish natives, blazed on each one of the hundred beacons which rose on the sharp ledges of the channel, and soon we were moving through a maze of bonfires to the open sea. At this moment, a full moon, breaking through the clouds, poured her silver light over land and sea, adding a new and inconceivable brilliancy to the scene. Bay of Bengal, February 9th. — The route to Madras requires that we retrace to the end of the island the course by which we reached Point de Galle. We are now steering northward, along the eastern coast of Ceylon. The island constitutes a distinct British province, and its gov ernment is under the direct supervision of the Secretary of State for India. Its people, all Cingalese, are doubtless of Hindoo extraction. The prevailing religion, that of Buddha, we are in clined to think, flourishes more vigorously there than on the con tinent. British and American missionaries labor harmoniously together, and report that they have one pupil in their schools, for every ninety of the native population. We have at last left the Chinese, as well as the American and European seamen, behind us. All our crew are Hindoos. Except ourselves, all the passengers are British. They are all civil or mili tary officers of the Government. Within the memories of many of them, journeys in India were made with elephant-trains. After this came the Peninsular and Oriental steamers, and now railways. Business-men go directly by rail from Bombay to Calcutta, while families prefer the slower and easier journey by sea around the peninsula, touching at Ceylon. The steamers also transport the troops and stores for the Indian army. We already feel that the continental empire is the one absorb ing British interest, to which Ceylon and the Straits Settlement are PONDICHERRY. 349 subordinate. What we hear discussed are the political and social questions of the capital, Calcutta. Our fellow-passengers condole with us that our arrival will be too late for the court season. Off Pondicherry. — It will be remembered that we found the French in Cochin China fortifying Saigon against German invasion. We heard yesterday at Point de Galle that one of the conditions of peace made by King William is the surrender of Pondicherry, the only other remaining relic of French conquest in the East. Mr. Seward does not believe the report. While he thinks that France may withdraw before long from the East, he thinks it quite too late for even united Germany to come here as a civilizer. It would involve nothing else than an attempt at universal empire, that dream which began with Alexander, and which lies buried in the tomb at the Hotel des Invalides. Pondicherry, without a harbor, is a dismantled city of forty thousand people, lying within the limits of the province of South Arcot, and is distant only eighty-seven miles from Madras. The British have heretofore seized it four times, in as many successive wars with France, and, although they have as often restored it, it lies nevertheless completely at their mercy. PART IV. BRITISH INDIA. CHAPTER I. MADRAS. Madras from the Sea. — Governor Napier. — The Government House. — A Hindoo Girls' School. — Bishop Heber. — British Dominion in India. — Rear-Admiral Cockburn. — Machinery of Government. — A Meeting of the Executive Council. — Lord Cornwallis. — The Legislative Council. — Hindoo Music. Madras, February 11th. — This voyage of ours, westward around the world, subjects us to singular impressions. Since we left San Francisco, we have seen at every stage a more imposing demonstration of European power. Thus, we are reaching Europe by a flank movement. We first saw Madras from the sea, at a long distance, through a blue haze. It seemed commanding and beautiful, a city of Euro pean aspect, stretching eight or ten miles along the Coromandel coast. It contains five hundred thousand people. Here, as at Yeddo, large gardens intervene between the different districts of the city. On coming near, its lofty buildings present a dingy appearance, an indication, we think, of commercial decline, result ing from the opening of the railway from Bombay to Calcutta. Captain Napier took us off the steamer, and brought us directly to the Government House, the official residence of Francis, Lord Napier, Governor of the Presidency of Madras. It is a palace half European, half Oriental, with its proportions and appointments not unworthy of a magistrate who presides over a country which is as large as France, and contains almost as many million inhabitants. 354 BRITISH INDIA. During Lord Napier's residence, as minister of Great Britain in the United States, a close friendship grew up between him and Mr. Seward, and between their families. That friendship has continued, through political and domestic vicissitudes. We therefore expected here, as we desired, not so much a distinguished reception, as a sin cere welcome, with much-needed rest. These we are having, but not without such official demonstrations as we have met elsewhere. The appointments of Government House are magnificent. We notice a major-general's staff, with a guard of horse and foot, blazing in scarlet and gold ; civil secretaries, we know not how many ; servants counted by the score, at the head of whom are seven native butlers, and at the foot a hundred wallahs (coolies), who do nothing but keep the punkahs (swinging fans) in motion, in every part of the house, by day and by night. In the stables, two hundred horses ; and here we may say, that they have six races of the animal in India: the "Waler" from Australia, the "Cape" from Good Hope, the " Arabian," the " Persian," and the country- bred horse, a cross between the "Arabian" and "Waler," and a small horse from Burmah, which we like better than any pony we have seen in Asia. Madras, February 11th.— We accompanied Lady Napier to day, at three o'clock, to an examination of a Hindoo girls'-school. Prizes were distributed to one hundred pupils, all under twelve years. This is the age of marriage in India. Jealous and ambi tious parents anticipate it, by marrying their daughters to their appointed husbands at every stage of infancy and childhood. We were surprised, although we ought not to have been so, in seeing the children in this school quite black. They have, however, straight hair and regular features. They are slender in form and diminutive in stature, with extremely delicate hands and feet. They have a sad, pensive manner, entirely free from the content ment and abandon which are noticeable among the colored children of the United States. Though of many different castes, all were dressed in either bright-colored muslins or gauzes interwoven with gold. Their fine black hair, their ears, their noses, their necks, Jt li 7.i ¦ i .:. / vjr ->~ \w\ a1 tsa fsife iK HRi&H m I".-'' "J &r- QBg JLjBfiBff ijE §n^R I'i^if ¦ J;!Sc" k-4-k ;,:'ij|f||te ¦•¦Jf&i'fi Kg! :,slr Pm 11 fejs--1 « 11 HHi i'lBlBl. HBpli llStlmlB'H Hnll 'mk Oo 356 BRITISH INDIA. their arms, their wrists, their ankles, and their toes, were loaded With ornaments of silver, gold, pearls, and precious stones. A val uation made at our request, of a set of ornaments worn by a child of six years, gave the figure of three hundred pounds sterling ! The prettiest costume of all was worn by a daughter of the con verted Hindoo matron of the institution — a green satin vest, low at the neck, small short sleeves trimmed with gold lace; white skirt over which was wound a long, full, rose-colored scarf; the necklace, ear-rings, and nose-rings, of gold coins. From the osten tatious display of jewels, we inferred that the children had rich parents. But We soon learned that these ornaments constitute the entire fortune and estate of the wearer. Banks, stocks, and other institutions for the investment of capital, are little known or under stood by the Hindoos. The children answered, some in the Tamil dialect, others in the Telugu, others in the Hindostanee, Bible questions of history and geography about as well as our own Sunday-school children of the same age. They were also examined in the most simple pro cesses of arithmetic. A Tamil lyric was prettily sung by one class. Its plaintive strain recalled our negro melodies. The native air, to which Tamil verses in honor of Lady Napier were sung by the whole school, unmistakably breathed, the refrain of " Dearest Mae." A Telugu lyric was less musical. Five thousand children are edu cated in schools of this sort in Madras. Very few, however, be come Christians. Hindoo names always are significant. We record the names of three pupils who received the first prizes : Ammaui, Matron ; Amurdum, Nectar; Sivaratura, Gem of Life. The best prizes were French dolls, and were received with subdued but immense delight. A drive on the surf-beaten shore, where foreigners " most do congregate," closed our first day at Madras. Madras, February 12th. — We attended morning service at the cathedral, a spacious though unostentatious edifice. It was difficult at first to compose ourselves under the constant vibration of the BISHOP HEBER. 357 punkahs, which swing without ceasing over the heads of the large congregation. The beautiful hymn which was sung recalled the memory of Heber, and a fine marble statue in the chancel gave us the classic lineaments of the great Bishop of Calcutta. He it was who was " zealous for his Church, and not forgetful of his station, but remembering it more for the duties than for the honors that were attached to it, and infinitely more zealous for the religious im provement, and for the happiness and spiritual and worldly good of his fellow-creatures of every tongue, faith, and complexion." February 14th. — How strange it seems that this dominion of India, with its two hundred millions of people, should be a de pendency on the two small islands of distant Great Britain, which contain only thirty millions ! And yet there is a reason for it. Weak and ignorant tribes and nations are generally found depend ent on stronger and more enlightened ones, if not absorbed by them. The dominions of Portugal, which never numbered more than four millions, were once nearly as extensive as those of Eng land. We have already seen the rich Eastern dominion of the little kingdom of the Netherlands, whose area is about that of Vermont or Maryland. Indeed, it seems as if dependence is, at some time, the normal condition of every nation. All prosperous nations must expand. That expansion will be made on adjacent regions if practicable ; if not practicable, it will then be made in those regions, however distant, which offer the least resistance. There is, however, a thought, connected with this subject, which is worth dwelling upon. Why have Portugal, Spain, and France, failed to retain the foreign dominions they founded, while the United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands, continually acquire new territories, instead of losing those already secured? The reasons must be found in a difference in the characters and genius of the nations. Portugal colonized only with merchants and priests, and sought to monopolize the products of her colo nies. Spain colonized only with soldiers and priests, and prac tised restriction, monopoly, and extortion; while Great Britain, Holland, and the United States, send out, for colonists, agricul- 24 358 BRITISH INDIA. turists, mechanics, miners, and laborers; and, when they cannot do this, they introduce cultivation, mining, and the mechanical arts, among the conquered people. France conquers, not for the development and improvement of the country subdued, or to increase her own wealth and power, but chiefly for the glory of the conquest. To compare great things with small, France con quers, as the sportsman kills, only to show his skill as a marks man. February 15th. — Rear- Admiral Cockburn, her Britannic Majes ty's naval commander on the East India station, arrived here in his flag-ship, the Forte, on the 14th instant. The official and fashionable circles (by-the-way, both are very much one) all shower hospitalities upon him and his officers. They were entertained yesterday at dinner at Government House, and participated in the ball whieh was given to our party. The ball was in the great banqueting-hall, which is over the porte-cochere of the palace. Its roof is supported by a double row of lofty Corinthian columns. Instead of walls, the sides of this tropical ballroom are of movable lattice-work, admitting the sea-breeze on either side. Though we have chronicled many balls, this one was too splendid to be omit ted. Like Mr. Seward's, however, the admiral's thoughts are not much diverted by the amusements of society. He is sixty years of age, a loyal and veteran British sailor, a good observer, and a zeal ous philanthropist. The chief object, at present, of the naval police which he maintains over these waters, is to suppress the petty trade in slaves which is still carried on between the eastern coast of Africa and the shores of the Indian Ocean, the^ Arabian Sea, and the Persian Gulf. Although the two gentlemen were entirely un known to each other, Mr. Seward had the pleasant experience of finding the admiral an intelligent admirer of our country, and a sympathizer in Mr. Seward's political principles and sentiments. The admiral has tendered us a cruise in the Forte from Bombay to Muscat, with an excursion thence to the sites of Nineveh and Babylon. This voyage, if it be practicable, will be the complement of our Eastern travels. But it will require an early departure INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 359 from Bombay, to avoid intolerable heat on the Euphrates as well as dangerous monsoons in the Persian Gulf. February 16th. — The British conquests in India are so recent, that the civil government can hardly yet be said to be consolidated. Within the vast territories there are three great presidencies — Ben gal, with Calcutta its capital ; Madras, its capital the city of Ma dras ; and Bombay, its capital Bombay. The northern and eastern portions of the territory are divided into other provinces — the Northwest, the Central, and the Punjaub. A viceroy, appointed by the crown for four years, resides at Calcutta, and administers a form of federal government, while each presidency and province has its own local administration. There is associated with the vice roy an Executive Council, whose members may be regarded as sec retaries or ministers charged with portfolios of foreign affairs, finance, war, judiciary, post-office, improvements, and education. This Executive Council, like a cabinet council elsewhere, attends the viceroy semi-weekly or daily, as he requires. Its members are residents in India, and they are appointed by the viceroy, with the consent of the crown. With the consent of this Executive Council, the viceroy appoints all magisterial and ministerial officers. There is also a Legislative Council, which consists of the same executive councillors, with the addition of a few residents of India, selected by the viceroy with the approval of the crown, to represent com mercial and popular interests. This Legislative Council has also a member of the British bar, appointed by the Home Government, to be a legal adviser. In each of the councils the viceroy presides. He can veto, but not without rendering his reasons immediately to the crown. This Legislative Council, subject to approval from the Home Government, makes general laws and levies taxes. A major ity in each council are British, but four, five, or six prominent na tives of India, distinguished for rank, property, or merit, are added to each. The Executive Council sits with closed doors ; the Legis lative Council debates in public. Its proceedings are reported as fully as those of the British Parliament, or of our own Congress. The governments of the several presidencies and provinces are con- 360 BRITISH INDIA. structed entirely on the same model with that of the federal or im perial government just described. Thus it will be seen that the government of British India differs from that of the United States chiefly in its denial of the elective principle. All its appointments are derived directly or indirectly from the crown. The -greatest social difficulty of the Government consists* in con tending against the ancient laws and customs of caste. A touching incident, which may be regarded as showing the protest of human nature against the laws of caste, has just occurred : A young native woman was indicted for the murder of her child, whose father was of a lower caste than her own, and with which intermarriage was forbidden. She confessed that she strangled the infant rather than lose her caste. The jury, half native, half foreign, pronounced her not guilty, notwithstanding her confession. But the government of India, as we have described it, is not established in all parts of the conquered territory. There are many districts, some very large ones, which still remain under the government, more or less absolute and exclusive, of native heredi tary princes, not unlike the Indian " nations " in the United States. All these provinces acknowledge the supremacy of the British Gov ernment, and admit of its intervention in the local administration by way of advice or protest. Some of them, more independent than others, retain the simple relation of allies, offensive and de fensive, with the Government at Calcutta. Other native princes submit to have their revenues collected by the Calcutta Govern ment, and even applied by it for the welfare and improvement of the districts. Some admit judicial interference, others exclude it. Some maintain armies, others have surrendered that power. All India, doubtless, is in a transition state. Of such native districts or provinces, there are encircled within the limits of the Presidency of Madras, Travancore at the north end of the peninsula, Cape Comorin, Mysore in the centre of the peninsula, and Hyderabad in the northern part of the peninsula. The Prince of Mysore is divested of all authority, and, while allowed, his titular rank, is a pensioned vassal, living under surveillance. The other two princes are allies offensive and defensive of the British crown, and are STATUE OF LORD CORNWALLIS. 361 practically independent. Mr. Seward is attentively studying the working of this complex governmental machinery. He confesses that he thinks it would hardly go on smoothly in the United States. If a person, native or foreign, desires an audience of the gov ernor, whether on business or not, he registers his name in the visitors' book in the adjutant's office. After two weeks, more or less, the governor gives notice that he will hold a public breakfast at the palace, at which those who have registered their names will be received. At this entertainment each person submits his appli cation in turn. Mr. Lincoln used to receive promptly all who came to the White House before four o'clock in the afternoon. Mr. Seward has known many people sleep in the hall of the White House all night to receive an early audience in the morning. On the 14th, Mr. Seward drove with the governor to Fort St. George, where his lordship was to hold an Executive Council. Even this simple affair was made the occasion of a pageant greater than is ever seen at Washington except at inau guration. The governor was escorted by fifty sepoys, huge white umbrellas were held over him and over the heads of the ministers as they respectively arrived at the gate of the fortress. A corps of retainers attended each up the staircase and to the door of the council-chamber. The opening of the session was announced by the firing of a gun. Mr. Seward was received by the members, and, after a pleasant interview, withdrew to amuse himself with a sur vey of this celebrated fortification. With its foundation, in 1639, the story of British conquest in India began. It is identified with the memorable wars, particularly those of Lord Clive, by which that conquest has been perfected. Besides an arsenal, it contains a double line of bomb-proofs to accommodate one thousand men. The esplanade in front of the fort is protected against the sea by a massive stone-wall. A statue of Lord Cornwallis is a principal embellishment. It was a surprise to us Americans to see so honorable a monument raised in these colonies to the general who surrendered the last of 362 BRITISH INDIA. the British armies at Yorktown, and so yielded the last resistance to the independence of the American colonies. The British gen eral, however, retrieved that misfortune by a successful and brill iant career as Governor-General of India. Happily for his fame, his American disaster is as little remembered by the British nation, as his successes in India are remembered in the United States. Mr. Seward recalls a curious anecdote connected with the Corn wallis surrender at Yorktown. Henry Laurens, of South Carolina, had been president of the Continental Congress, and had been appointed minister to the Netherlands. He was captured on his passage and imprisoned in the Tower of London, and held for trial as a traitor to the crown. General Washington showed his con sideration for the father by delegating Captain Laurens, the son of the imprisoned minister, to receive the sword of Cornwallis at York- town. When news of the surrender reached London, Henry Lau rens was brought before the Court of King's Bench, and discharged from imprisonment on his own recognizance. They say that he persisted in amending the recognizance by interpolating the word not. " I, Henry Laurens, acknowledge myself to be held and firmly bound unto " not " my sovereign lord, King George the Third," and that Lord Mansfield, finding him obstinate, said, "Let him take the recognizance in his own way." February 18th. — Mr. Seward attended to-day a session of the Legislative Council. The morning papers describe the council and audience as follows : " At the meeting of the Legislative Council held at the council-chambers of Fort St. George to-day, there were present the Right Honorable Lord Napier, President, the Honora ble A. J. Arbuthnot, J. B. Norton, J. D. Surin, P. Macfadyen, A. F. Brown, Mir Humayoon, Jah Bahadur, Gu Gujapatti Row, and V. Ranueugae. " The Honorable William H. Seward, Mr. J. Sutherland, and a European pensioner were present." We learn that the Mr. Sutherland mentioned is himself the reporter, but all inquiries have failed to ascertain why the third auditor was described by the vague term of " European pensioner." THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. 363 As the names of the councillors would imply, five are British, and four are natives. The subject was a project of a law to raise revenue for education, police, and irrigation, within the presidency. The debates disclosed the fact that there is no recognized line of separation between the powers of the " Imperial " Government, at Calcutta, and those of the provinces, in regard to the rights of taxa: tion and the sources of revenue. The debates on this occasion revealed what in the United States would be distinguished as a strong jealousy of State rights — a jealousy, indeed, so great as to endanger the entire fabric of government if appeal could be allowed to popular suffrage. Practically, however, these demonstrations are of little value. The " Imperial " Government may do what it lists ; provincial authority is rather ornamental than effective. All the members spoke, or, rather, read written speeches. Those of the natives were not less able and instructive than those of the British. It is a curious illustration of the inevitable presence of faction in every form of government, that, although this Legislative Council consists of only eleven members, all of whom derive their appoint ments from the crown and are responsible to it alone, it is never theless divided into two parties, and we strangers, who have been less than a week here, already understand them. Virgil sang " arms and the man," who, driven to exile, left his native land to build a state on a foreign shore. Our theme seems to be, arts and the men who voluntarily go into exile to build a state in distant lands. Three bands were summoned this morning, to give us an idea of native music. All their instruments, with the exception of two violins, were Indian reeds, lutes, and drums. The performances were elaborate, but unmusical and unintelligible. We asked their meaning. The performers explained with manifest alacrity. We regret to say that even after this explanation we were unable to dis tinguish the dirge for a lost soul from the epithalamium. When the first had been performed, Lord Napier asked the leader, a slen der Hindoo with large, flashing eyes and graceful bearing, to recite and interpret the words of the melody. He rose, made profound ealams, and then, standing erect, in solemn and measured manner 364 BRITISH INDIA. chanted his answer : " The words, my lord, are an appeal to the gods, to allow the poor soul to be consumed immediately with fire, that it may no longer be tormented with remorse." We had already become weary of the performance, when the third band broke into a discordant imitation of the old "Lancers" quadrille. The musicians were dismissed, forthwith, not much to their satisfac tion, although largely rewarded, for they had reckoned on a full day's performance. Hindoo music must have declined here, or it must have been very much improved in Java since its introduction there. CHAPTER II. MADRAS (Continued). An Excursion to Arcot. — Railroads in Hindostan. — Appearance of the Country. — The Homage of Flowers. — Cauverypak. — The Native System of Cultivation. — Visit to a Bramin. — Schools. — A Car of Juggernaut. — The Dutch Reformed Mission. — Back to Madras. — The Portuguese Settlement. — Gindy Park. — A Diamond Merchant. — Lord and Lady Napier. — The Normal School. February 20th. — We left Madras on the 18th, with Lord Na pier, in a special train. Arcot, the capital of the famous province of that name, is seventy miles distant from Madras. A renewal of railroad travel, after an interval of six months, in which we had come half-way around the globe, was exhilarating. The road, the engine, and the cars, are of European construction, and even the coal is imported from Wales. The gauge, five feet eight, is uniform in India ; but the Government, on considerations of economy, has concluded to contract it to the very narrow one recently proposed in Europe. There are three classes of passengers, the third the cheap est and most numerous. The soil of the region through which we passed is light ; the rocks, granite. The landscape wears a dull, yellowish color, although there is no want of palm and cactus. We seemed to be travelling alternately through sandy fields or meadows covered with stagnant water. We soon learned, however, that these pools are artificial reservoirs for irrigation. In some places, the prevailing sterile aspect is relieved by fields of growing rice. The peasantry dress chiefly in white. The herds of very small cat tle are more numerous than we expected to find in a country where 366 BRITISH INDIA. the people abstain from animal food. The country seemed entirely level, but we gained in the journey an ascent of one thousand feet on the base of the Neilgherry Mountains, one of the three great ranges which traverse the Indian peninsula. At this point, we might have supposed that we were entering the Rocky Mountains at Cheyenne. As we rolled over the plain into the shaded streets of the an cient city of Ranepet, Mr. Seward said to Lord Napier, " Now I know, for the first time, that British authority is firmly established in India." We seem, on this excursion, to be reviewing the history of the conquest. The mountain-passes, the plains, and the monuments, continually recall to our thoughts the first seizure of Madras ; the subsequent contentions, conflicts, surprises, stratagems, fears, con spiracies, extortions, rapacities, and massacres, which, continuing through a period of two hundred and fifty years, have ended at last with the suppression of the mutiny of 1857. In 1745, there was a native war for the succession of the king dom of the Carnatic, which included the province of Arcot. The French, at Pondicherry, maintained the cause of one claimant ; the British, at Trinchinopoly and Madras, maintained the other. Ma dras was closely besieged by the French and allies. Clive, then merely a clerk in the British East India Company's office at Ma dras, proposed to force a raising of the siege by making a move on Arcot. His brilliant success in surprising and capturing and holding it four months, with less than four hundred men, against ten thousand French and native troops, was the beginning of the matchless career of that leader whom the elder Pitt pronounced a " heaven-born general." Notice of the governor's coming to Arcot had been sent forward. The native collector of revenue met us at Ranepet, the railway- station for that district. He is thirty years old, speaks English fluently, and was elaborately dressed in native costume. He was surrounded by some dozen Hindoos. He proceeded at once to place in Lord Napier's hands flowers and fresh limes, at the same time covering him with garlands of flowers. When the agent had EXCURSION TO ARCOT. 367 been presented to us, we were severally honored with the same compliment. We inquired whether this was a voluntary and popu lar expression of welcome, or a prescribed one, and learned that the ceremony is the Hindoo form of homage to a ruler. At the gate of the station we encountered a crowd, obsequious rather than respectful, who threw flowers in our path, and invested us with new wreaths. Thus splendidly adorned, we passed under a floral arch to the carriages. At the instant of stepping in, a Hindoo band broke into a musical jargon, which frightened the horses, threaten ing us with serious danger. A sepoy body of infantry had loaded, intending to honor his excellency with a fusillade, but at our re quest that ceremony was dispensed with. We drove over a good turnpike causeway to the village of Ranepet, a suburb of Arcot. The road is bordered with mangoes, tamarinds, yellow flowering acacia, and the Acacia vera, whose juice when coagulated is gum- Arabic. Honorary green arches decorated the way, and innumera ble flambeaux illuminated it. The approach to the town showed us the never-failing Hindoo temple, which, however small, is always graceful in form, and elegant in construction ; opposite to it, is a Mohammedan mosque, and, farther on, a chapel of the Church of England, and an American mission meeting-house. Here also are the offices of the collector of the revenue. These buildings, together with the barracks and many weather-worn monuments of British heroes who fell here, are the only relics of the city of Arcot, so dis tinguished in the history of the conquest. For aught we can see, the natives have forgotten, if they ever had the idea of, political independence. We were the guests of the British superior officer of the district. Yesterday morning our party divided ; Lord Napier and Mr. Seward went to see the fountain and agricultural village of Cauverypak, distant thirty miles. Artificial conduits intercept mountain-torrents, and convey their waters to this reservoir, which is enclosed by a granite wall supported by broad embankments. A dam, forty feet high, is raised across the natural outlet. The em bankments are strengthened, on the outer declivity, by mango and palm trees. Thus the reservoir forms a lake of pure water, high above the surrounding country, which is five miles wide and seven 368 BRITISH INDIA. miles long — and, at high water, thirteen feet deep. We have taken pains to describe this pretty lake of Cauverypak, because it is a good specimen of ancient reservoirs, constructed for irrigation, in the country — which are innumerable — and all of which alike bear the ugly name of " tank." The system of culture will be easily understood when we have mentioned that a broad plain stretches away from the base of the fountain farther than the eye can reach. Out of this plain arise thirty-two gentle knolls, on each of which stands an agricultural village, and these villages contain an aggregate population of a hundred and fifty thousand. Cauverypak is one of these. These people cultivate the entire plain in fields varying from an acre to fifteen acres. The staple production is rice. Grounds which, owing to a drought, fail to receive a full supply of water from the reservoir, are called " dry fields," and these are tilled with cereals and vegetables, or serve as pasturage for sheep and cattle. Cau verypak was found exactly in its present condition by the first British adventurers, but it stands without record or tradition. It was a principle of the system of native government in India, that not only all the lands, but also all the waters in a province, belong to the reigning prince, whatever title he might wear, king, maharajah, rajah, or nawab. He leased them to zemindars (large landlords), or to ryots (lesser farmers), who paid for their use according to a tariff graduated with just relation to the productive ness of the estates. The British Government has come into the places of the princes, and the Madras presidency maintains the "tanks," and receives the rents. The average rent is four dollars per acre. Drought is a normal incident in India, and is the cause of the famines of which we so often read. In such cases the Government remits the rents, but the zemindars and ryots are nevertheless left without means for the support of their families. The extortion practised upon them by usurers is frightful. Cauverypak village contains ten thousand people, three hundred of whom are ryots ; the others chiefly mechanics and laborers. Many of the ryots belong to the privileged castes of Bramins, who were not only VISIT TO A BRAMIN. 369 .exempt from labor, but forbidden it. Lord Napier and Mr. Sew ard were received by the chief Bramin ryot at his house. It is a stone structure of one low story, with reception-room, dining-room, kitchen, and stable, built around on all sides of an open square. In the centre of the square, was a reservoir, an open cistern for gathering and holding rain. Again we ask, Did the Romans bor row their impluvium from the East ? In rear of this quadrangular building is another of exactly the same form and dimensions. The one opening on the street is the dwelling of the ryot and his family ; the other is appropriated to the use of visitors. In the stable are six small oxen, which are used in cultivation, the whole six valued at seventy-five dollars. The manure, like the animals themselves, being sacred, is carefully preserved for burning in the temples. Hindoo architecture has a peculiar feature. The veranda, indis pensable in this climate, is supported by delicate, palm-shaped columns, each of which is ornamented with a broad brass band at the top. There are no bedrooms, but each corridor or passage way has at each end a dais eighteen inches high, covered with a mat, which serves for a bed. The small garden-plat attached to the house is filled with cocoa-nut trees, bananas, and beans. The Bramin's furniture is simple enough. He has two plain tables, two bamboo chairs, and several fine silken rugs. Refreshments are not usually offered, but on this occasion fresh milk was served in brazen jugs. The village has two Hindoo temples and one mosque. The school, maintained by. the Madras government, has a hundred and fifty native pupils. Besides this, there are twenty native schools, some Hindoo, some Mohammedan, where pupils are received and taught separately, with careful regard to their social castes. Mr. Seward asked the ryot, who is a spiritual authority, whether education is approved by the Bramins. " Yes," answered the Hindoo. " Why ? " " Because it is pleasing to the gods." " Why does it please the gods ? " " Because it improves the mind, aud makes it appreciative of heaven." The poor villagers gathered around the visitors, and some of the older ones, seemed desirous of conversation. They gave Mr. Seward an account of the number of pupils in each of the several 370 BRITISH INDIA. schools. They seemed confounded when he asked if these num bers included the girls ; they replied, " Only the boys." When asked how the girls are educated, they said, "No girls are educated except Nautch girls." Passing through an open paved square, Mr. Seward's attention was caught by a rough, uncouth, and unwieldy vehicle. It consists of a platform ten feet long and eight feet wide, laid upon axles, on which turned four wooden wheels, all of one size, not more than ten or twelve inches in diameter. In front of the platform stands a carved and unpainted idol, ten feet high, with hideous allegorical emblems and devices. This is a car of Juggernaut. It is drawn through the streets by the people, during sacred ceremonies. Im molation of devotees is now forbidden by British law. There would seem, however, to be little need for that prohibition. It would require great skill and effort on the part of a votary to get his neck under the wheels of the awkward machine. If we did not know that superstition is as blind as it is overpowering, we could not believe that any human mind could conceive such a deformed and misshapen statue to be a god. Mr. Seward's survey of the interest ing little village closed with an exploration of the suburb which is allotted to the pariahs, the lepers, the outcasts of India. Their habitations are mean and wretched beyond description, but their condition is not without a compensation. While all other castes are obliged by their laws to abstain from animal food, and forbid den to take animal life, the pariahs are allowed to use the car casses of the animals found dead. In this way, they have become the tanners of the country. It is no wonder that they are care fully watched, to prevent their slaying domestic animals under the pretext of finding them dead. During their long drive, Lord Napier and Mr. Seward saw only one beggar, and he was blind — a Bramin. Having been led up to their carriage by neighbors, he declined to receive alms, because he had left behind him his brazen basin through which he alone could accept coin from any one not of his own caste, without per sonal contamination. When, however, he felt the weight of a rupee carefully dropped into his sleeve, he turned his eyeballs THE ARCOT MISSION. 371 in the direction from which the party had come, and sung a plain tive native melody. Lord Napier asked how old he was ; he answered, " Seventy." " What is the song you have sung so sweetly ? " " It is a hymn of praise to the gods whom your lord ship passed on the road as you came here." " How is it you sing to the gods, when they have made you blind ? " " The gods have indeed willed that I shall be blind," the mendicant Hindoo replied, " but they protect me still." During Mr. Seward's absence the ladies remained at Ranepet. They had appointed to attend early worship at the missionary- chapel. The matin summons was sounded, not by bells, but by a noisy chattering of birds. Springing up and going quickly to the veranda, they saw that the deciduous trees around the bungalow (which had dropped nearly all their leaves) were as green as ever, for they were filled with parrots and paroquets. The Arcot mission of the Dutch Reformed Church of America (now the Reformed Church) was established in 1855, by three brothers Scudder, sons of the eminent missionary who labored here thirty years ago. Beyond a doubt, the success of this mission is due to the persevering energy and winning address of these preachers, but it was more to their happy combination of medical practice with their religious teachings. Medical science and skill are at a -low ebb on the Asiatic Continent, while they have attained a high development in the West. This superiority is known and felt even by the very lowest classes in the East. The Christian physician, who comes to heal the body, naturally finds his patient in a proper temper for the healing of the soul. The municipal district in which the Arcot mission is established is about one hundred and sixty miles square. The missionaries found within it only thirty-five native Christians, and these were without a church or a school. The missionaries (six in number) have now fifty native helpers, who teach day-school in seventeen villages. They have their boarding-schools, two for boys, one for girls, all voluntary pupils. The converts intermarry. The chil dren thus educated, although belonging to all the various castes of the country, are placed upon a footing of complete equality. The 372 BRITISH INDIA. boarding-school at Ranepet, which is the most successful one, oc cupies large government barracks. Dr. Scudder has introduced some trades into this school, the principal one that of weaving on native looms. But even a more beneficent institution than these schools is a medical hospital. The Madras government appropri ates to it, in addition to the requisite buildings, one hundred and seventy-two rupees (about eighty-five dollars) monthly. The in stitution was founded in 1866, and, during the past year, fifty-three thousand nine hundred and sixty-three patients were gratuitously treated from its dispensary. Seven hundred and fifty-three of these were in-door patients, who were provided with beds, food, and clothing. Lord Napier has added to this useful charity a spacious house in which persons of different castes may prepare their own food and live separately, according to their native cus toms. This noble mission draws from its patrons in the United States only twenty-five thousand dollars a year. The simple homes, frugal habits, and patient labors, of these missionaries and their families, are worthy of all praise and admiration. The mis sionaries are full of hope, though they confess the work of conver sion is very slow. They gain only one hundred a year within the district. Nevertheless a manifest improvement in the condition of the people is visible. With this improvement, if it shall go on, we must be content, for we trust that — "Whatever creed he taught or land be trod, Man's conscience is the oracle of God." February 23d. — We visited yesterday the suburb called the " Portuguese Settlement ; " so called, not because it is under Por tuguese jurisdiction, but because it was the site of the Portuguese factory, before the British conquest. Its inhabitants, of native and mixed Portuguese, are Christians, and speak the Portuguese lan guage. They have a cathedral, with an exemplary bishop from Lisbon. The cathedral bears the name of St. Thomas, to whom tradition attributes the first teaching of the gospel here. However this particular fact may be, the opinion that that apostle preached the gospel on the Coromandel coast is well supported by historical GINDY PARK. 373 arguments. Marco Polo found native Christians here, who claimed that their church was planted by the doubting disciple. Vasco de Gama found native Christians on the coast during his second voyage of discovery. Guides show us the hill and cave at Malapoo, where it is alleged that St. Thomas sought refuge and suffered martyrdom. They say that even the threshold of the cave still bears the impress of his foot. Gindy Park, February 24th. — We have come to pass a day at this summer palace. On the way we inspected a " model farm," which is maintained by the Madras government. Three hundred acres are divided into two equal parts, of which one is used for the cultivation of exotic grains, plants, and seeds ; the other is culti vated with European implements only — the design being to com mend Western agriculture to the natives. We learn that the institution gains favor. We were much interested in a small ham let through which we passed. The inhabitants are wanderers from Northern India. It is maintained, not without plausibility, that the Gypsies of Europe are descended from the same class. Their pretty habitations are in mango-orchards, and are built of branches of palm, exactly in the shape of a beehive. They gather the fruit, and pay to the Madras government an annual rent of two rupees (a dollar) a year for each tree. We imagine they are the only rent- paying tenants of their outcast race. We have seen a specimen of Hindoo village-schools. Thirty boys, most of them naked, were sitting in the sand, under the shade of a wide-spreading mango- tree, in a circle. The master stood in the centre, rod in hand, and gave out successive lessons, in the Tamil language, in spelling and arithmetic. The whole school, simultaneously, took the words from his mouth, giving them back with their own ; and at the same time wrote the. words with their fingers in the sand. These children showed great agility, as well as quickness of apprehension. No sooner had they written the text in the ground, than they sprang to their feet, raised their right hands to their foreheads and made a salam, indicating that they were ready to receive the next lesson. We crossed a stone bridge which has stood a hundred and fifty 25 374 BRITISH INDIA. years with only the repair of a parapet. A small tenement beneath the bridge was pointed out to us as the dwelling of the descendants of the Armenian merchant who brought himself to poverty in build ing the magnificent structure. Gindy House is even more extensive and elegant than Govern ment House at Madras. The park contains fifteen hundred acres. Native deer, of the four kinds known in India, sport on the lawns. Instead of alighting at a gate or poHe-cochere, we were driven to a shade in the beautiful gardens. They exhibit a luxuriance unknown in colder climates. Every wall, every thatched roof, every gateway and column, seems to have been especially designed to support a flowering creeper, which nearly conceals the structure, and these plants are as various in hue as in the form of tendril or leaf. Efforts are made to produce northern exotics, as studied as those which we at home make to cultivate tropical plants. The success in each case is about the same. We doubt which was most effective, the gorgeous display of flowers around us, or the dew-drops which glistened on grass, and flowers, and trees, under the rays of the morning sun. The heat increasing rapidly, we took shelter under a noble mango, where the morning libation of tea was made. We talked and laughed at translations of the highly-imaginative native poetry. We dined en famille at the palace, and, as the evening shades came on, adjourned to a fete-champetre in the gardens. The society of Madras was there. If any thing was needed to heighten the brill iant scene, it was found in the exquisite music of the military bands, which played airs in echo across the broad park and on its beautiful lakes. Madras, February 26th. — New acquaintances and new studies. The diamond merchant is an important personage in every Asiatic country, for diamonds are the favorite investment of wealth. An eminent Armenian of that class breakfasted at Government House this morning. His organ of perception is strongly developed, and he has a shrewd, almost furtive expression. He was entertained in the most acceptable manner by being allowed to exhibit for MADRAS. 375 our instruction the contents of his waistcoat-pockets, consisting of diamonds of every size and of every water, jewels quite sufficient for a coronation, and even enough to satisfy the ambition of a Fifth Avenue belle. He gave us a' relation of what he considered the greatest transaction of his life : Having acquired in the course of trade an extraordinary diamond, he sent his son to Europe to sell it. The son was admitted to the Tuileries, and the empress bought it; it is one of the "pear-shaped" diamond ear-rings which figured so conspicuously in the inventory of her jewels. The empress called for "the regent," and showed it to the young Armenian. "My son," said the merchant, "was permitted to take that cele brated gem in his hand ; he looked into it through tears of joy, and did not give it back until he had pressed it to his lips." Evening. — It will be a mournful day for Madras when Lord and Lady Napier take their leave. While he builds and endows uni versities and hospitals, there is no charity which she neglects. We visited an orphan asylum with her to-day, and afterward an asylum for the children of the Sepoys. Although the studies for the day were ended, and the children were at play in the grounds, they came cheerfully up and took their places in the examination-room. They inquired what they should sing for us. Mr. Seward proposed " From Greenland's icy mountains." They sang it in full chorus, and insisted upon our naming another. They sang this too ; then, following us to the gate, gave us " God save the Queen." Perhaps the best, certainly the most interesting, of these noble charities, is the normal school for the instruction of native women. It has fifteen pupils, all of high caste. They are educated free of charge, and even paid for their attendance. They are driven to and from the school-house in close carriages, so that they may not be " seen of men." We fear that the importance of this noble step toward the civilization of the East is scarcely realized at home. We noticed among the pupils a girl of seventeen, distinguished from her dark-eyed companions by a sad demeanor and plaintive voice. In a single year she had lost her husband whom she loved, and her only child. The laws of her caste doomed her to seclusion 376 BRITISH INDIA. and celibacy for life, to give up her jewels, friends, and hopes. The normal school allows her activity, cheerfulness, and usefulness. We learn that the Duke of Argyll, Secretary for India, takes a deep interest in the institution, and has just sent out from England a young lady to take charge of it, who was educated for that pur pose in the United States. f^rSk* rv ^mss^j^ THE SURF AT MADRAS. CHAPTER III. FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA. The Surf at Madras.— On the Bay of Bengal.— The Lion-Whelps.— The Hoogly.— The Viceroy's Invitation. — Earl and Countess Mayo. — Glimpses of Calcutta. — The Baboo. — The Baboo's House and Harem. — The Government House. Steamer Australia, Bay of Bengal, February 27th. — The surf never ceases to beat and break against the shore at Madras. A dozen years ago an attempt was made to overcome the difficulty by extending a pier into the sea. But there was found neither capi tal nor engineering skill anywhere sufficient to make the work effective. We insisted on leaving the shore in the primitive way. A native surf-boat, eighteen feet long, five feet wide, and six feet deep, was hauled high and dry on the beach. The boat is constructed with bamboo-withes instead of spikes and nails, to prevent leakage, and of material so light, and proportions so exact, that no weight of water will cause it to sink. It is presumed always that, notwith standing the boat is so deep, it will fill in going through the break ers. For this reason, the passengers, as well as the oarsmen, sit on benches which are stretched across the boat's brim, and each bench serves as a brace for the feet of the occupants of the bench behind it. We were lifted in chairs by Hindoos and spilled on the benches in the stern, under the awning of British flags. A secretary and an aide-de-camp of the governor were with us, and we enjoyed our 378 BRITISH INDIA. new excitement as our score of boatmen, with merry shouts and cheerful song, laboriously forced the boat through the foaming surf. We sailed at four o'clock. If the thought gave us sadness that we were never to see Madras again, we consoled ourselves with the reflection that, even if a return were possible, we should not find there the same friends ; and what could we see, or know, or enjoy, there without them ? Bay of Bengal, February 28th. — Once again on the same calm sea, with the same southern breezes, protected by the broad awning from the same burning sun. Our two weeks of rest and recreation at Madras already seem not so much an episode of our voyage, as a refreshing and inspiring dream. At daylight we had reached shoal water, and a channel marked by lighted buoys. Birds sur rounded the ship in great numbers. Sailing-ships and steamers continually shot by us. Consulting the chart, we found that, al though no land was visible, we had entered between the capes which guard the entrance of the Hoogly into the bay of Bengal. We took a native pilot. The Hoogly is one of the rivers which, dividing into a thou sand creeks, and through as many lagoons, discharge the mighty flood of the Ganges. Ever-moving sand-bars render the navigation here uncertain and perilous. We slackened our speed from forty- nine to fourteen revolutions until the flood-tide set in. Low, sandy shores at length appeared. Subject at all seasons to terrible inun dations, they have never been reclaimed for tillage, and are often strewn with the bodies of animals, and sometimes with human bodies. Our ship ought to receive a demonstrative welcome at Calcutta, for she bears tAvo African lion-whelps to grace the menagerie of some potentate there ; whether native prince or European viceroy, we have not learned. Although but three months old, these " babes " have attained a large size. They stare at us boldly with their big green eyes, and switch their tails with a savage inde pendence. CALCUTTA. 379 March 1st. — The Hoogly has shrunk to the width of the Hud son at Poughkeepsie. The vegetation here is as luxuriant as at the equator. Very soon, however, these palm-shaded fields, though so freshly overflowed, will become dry and brown. Although we are entering Calcutta before the vernal equinox, the heat is already intense. If we distrust our strength to explore the continent before us, we have nevertheless the inspiring thought that we are floating on the Ganges we have so long desired to see — the Ganges, notwithstanding it is called here by the less eupho nious name of the Hoogly. Calcutta, March 2d. — As we approached the wharf yesterday, the viceroy's barge — manned by thirty Bengalese boatmen in scarlet livery — rounded up to the Australia's side. Major Burne (private secretary of the viceroy) came on board, accompanied by the United States consul-general, Mr. Jacobs, and Mr. McAllister, an American residing here. Major Burne delivered a letter from the viceroy, inviting us to be guests at Government House during our stay here. Mr. Seward had before accepted the invitation of the consul-general and Mr. McAllister. The matter was quickly com promised, with the understanding that, after passing some days with our countrymen, we should accept the hospitalities of the viceroy. Last night happened to be a " state " one at the opera ; that is to say, the performance then was to be honored by the presence of the viceroy. The representation of " Lucia di Lammermoor " by an Italian troupe, before a fashionable assemblage, made us aware that we had at last reached the Eastern verge of Western society. Earl Mayo and the Countess of Mayo, in the central box, were sur rounded by their suite, and a group of native princes, or rajahs, whose gold and jewels far outshone those worn by the ladies of the viceregal court. Between the acts Mr. Seward was presented to the viceroy, and afterward to the brilliant circle. His lordship in sisted that Mr. Seward, without taking upon himself the trouble of making a preliminary visit, should with his family lunch at Govern ment House to-day, and then, or as soon after as convenient, become THE CITY OF PALACES. 381 inmates of that household. He was further informed that carriages and barges would be at his orders during his stay here. The Earl of Mayo is purely Irish. He is tall, handsome, and has a commanding presence, with manners which, though dignified, are frank and genial. As Lord Naas, he was many years a conser vative member of Parliament, and was Secretary for Ireland during the Disraeli administration. March 2d, Evening. — We have enjoyed a pleasant morning at Government House. This evening, the few Americans residing here dined with us at Mr. McAllister's. The fact that they all hail from Boston is creditable to the enterprise of that intellectual city. During the day we had some glimpses of Calcutta. If it were in the West, its aspect would hardly justify the distinction it bears — "the City of Palaces." The government buildings are indeed extensive, numerous, and substantial ; but, in point of architecture, they are respectable rather than imposing. Private dwellings of foreigners combine European solidity with the graceful Oriental verandas and columns ; but they have no pretentious magnificence. The native city contains many stately residences of pleasant aspect, but generally the dwellings are low and common. The appearance of the whole city (the foreign as well as the native part) is spoiled by a wretched stucco which, by exposure to the weather, becomes dingy and discolored. The suburbs on the river-banks are disfig ured with brick-yards, counted not by hundreds, but by thousands. The array would seem to indicate that the city is enjoying a vigor ous growth ; inquiry, however, brings out the fact that no sand fit for building is found in the vicinity, and bricks are therefore burned and pulverized as a substitute for that necessary article. March 4th. — A northeaster set in on the 1st, and we have since had cold rains. The " oldest inhabitant " says that this is a new freak of the climate. Hard as it has rained, we have never theless been obliged to go abroad, for — after seven months' travel, as may be easily imagined — we have pretty much come to the 382 BRITISH INDIA. unhappy condition of our celebrated countrywoman, "Miss Flora McFlirnsey." Our troubles are aggravated at the state of the market, which, they say, is just experiencing the calamitous effects of the war between Germany and France. Gloves are not to be had in Calcutta. The " baboo," called by Burke, in his invective against Warren Hastings, the " banyan," is a native trained to trade, and speaks English. Like the comprador in China and Japan, he attaches himself to a mercantile house, to an official contractor, or some other business concern (either native or foreign),' and negotiates commercial matters ; receiving commissions from one party or the other, according to circumstances. He often rises to wealth and influence. One of this class solicited a visit from Mr. Seward, add ing that, while the baboo and his sons would receive him, the ladies would be welcomed by the zenana. Such a courtesy is rarely, if ever, extended to foreigners. The foundation of this baboo's fortune was laid by his father long ago, in connection with an American house ; and the present incumbent, who is seventy years old, has added to his wealth and importance. He has now his fifth wife. We visited him to-day. The house, though more cheaply built than those of the wealthy class which we saw at Canton, is of the same model. It is three stories high, and covers the sides of a square as large as one of the blocks of Philadelphia. The area within is used for fountains and baths. A group, consisting of the baboo's three sons and their sons, received us at the gate, very obsequiously. They showed us the way to a grand hall, having a vaulted roof and double colon nade. A few elegant chairs, with yellow-satin cushions, placed on a scarlet-velvet rug in the centre of the room, constituted the fur niture. Here the eldest son welcomed Mr. Seward in a eulogistic English oration, and then presented his several brothers and each of the lads in attendance. Brightly-dressed servants meanwhile stirred the air with large peacock-fans, mounted on massive silver handles five feet long ; others, to the great prejudice of the ladies' dresses, sprinkled us from head to foot with rose-water from silver vases ; others, again, covered us with garlands and bouquets ; and THE BABOO'S HAREM. S?b yet others held before us silver vases containing the attar of roses for perfuming the hands. These ceremonies over, we ascended to the baboo's room, in the third story. Quite infirm, he was dressed as a valetudinarian, though richly. He welcomed Mr. Seward as the "great father of the greatest of the nations." The baboo con ducted us then to an adjacent drawing-room, and ordered that all the children of the house, not excepting the youngest, girls as well as boys, should be brought in by their ayahs (nurses). Twenty infants were brought in, gaudily dressed. The little ones acted their proper parts with entire truth to nature: some shrank backward; many screamed; one or two shrieked; while others extended their small hands, and bashfully performed salams. After this came an order, from the baboo, as unexpected as it was unprecedented in that family. It was that all the women of the family, except the widows, should now enter the apartment. Re ceiving this command, in their different rooms, the women inquired through a messenger whether they were to be seen by the ladies only. The baboo imperiously replied : " They must all be pre sented to Mr. Seward, and receive him as a friend. He is a friend of mankind ; he shall see us just as we are, and see all that we do — we will have no secrets from him." This was intended as a great compliment to Mr. Seward. There was a sound of pattering feet, and a gentle rustling was heard. It was followed by the entrance of eight little women, all of whom were dressed in gauze of gold and various colors — only gleaming jewels could be seen through their veils. They trembled like so many aspens as they approached gracefully, lifted their slen der arms — almost covered with gold — and extended to us their little nervous hands. The baboo was not yet content. He requested us to raise their veils. We did so gently, and looked upon gazelle eyes and pretty features, but the wearers were so abashed that, in tenderness for them, we soon let the veils drop. In answer to our compliments, they spoke not a word. The gentlemen now with drew. Mr. Seward was then shown through seventy-five rooms, in cluding a family chapel — the furniture of all very meagre and 384 BRITISH INDIA. plain, the stairs steep and narrow, and the corridors dark and perplexing. The women, being left alone with their visitors, now volun tarily communicated, through a lady interpreter, all the family secrets : the number of wives each of the baboo's sons had married and lost ; the number of children of each wife ; and the number and value of the jewels.each possessed. The wife of the eldest son presented her daughter — a bright and laughing maiden bedecked with jewels — who, having attained the advanced age of eighteen months, has already been married to a little gentleman who also was present, and who claims the experience of ten years. He has been elected to the honor of this marriage because he is the pre sumptive head of the caste to which this family belongs. Accord ing to the custom of the country, he has been brought into the family of his bride to be educated. There are eight pairs of such prematurely-married people in this family, which consists of sev enty-five persons. The windows of all the chambers of the zenana, or harem, are darkened, and made secure with iron bars, as in a prison. The widows, even more secluded than the wives, inhabit the meanest and dingiest of the chambers. The women showed, with perfect freedom, their sleeping-rooms, baths, and the contents of their wardrobes. Each woman has three garments. These being woven in the shape required, there is no need of mantua-maker or milli ner ; the only care bestowed on this property is to hang them up and take them down. The care of the children is devolved on the ayahs. As the wife neither sews, nor reads, nor writes, she has absolutely no occupation but to talk with her companions of the zenana ; and, as might perhaps be expected, domestic discords are frequent. The guests (in the zenana) were then served with cakes, comfits, and betel-nuts, the latter broken in small bits and folded in silver-foil. The interview closed with the same ceremonies with which we had been received, newly fanning the guests with pea cocks' plumes, sprinkling them with rose-water, and perfuming the hands with the attar. The baboo, in his conversation with Mr. Seward, represented SWINGING ROUND THE CIRCLE. 385 that a general discontent with British authority is felt by his coun trymen, but he left it quite clear that they have not the faintest idea of uprising or of resistance. Helpless and listless, they follow the conflicts of the Western nations, only for the purpose of obtaining a hope — most unreasonable — that, amid the chances of war, India will receive a new conqueror, either the United States or Russia. Mr. Seward left the baboo without lending any encouragement to these political expectations. He joined the party in the grand hall below, when we were honored with the ceremonies twice before described ; besides, a treat of champagne, ice, coffee, and the hookah. The younger boys of the family now fell upon the floor and kissed our feet ; with their fathers, they attended us to the gates, and then dismissed us with such a shower of compliments and thanks as convinced us that even the Spanish language of courtesy is stinted and cold compared with Oriental flattery. If we are to believe them, " they still weep for our return." Eight bearers came after us bringing a tray filled with confectionery. Government House, March 7th. — We took up our residence here to-day. Although the distance from Mr. McAllister's house is short, the journey was long, and not made without some diffi culty. We had appointed to be here at five o'clock, and, under viceregal leave, had directed the Bengalese coachman to come for us a little before that hour. He had, however, become accustomed to our daily habit of driving about the city, and did not understand our command to bring us here. He drove us up and down the strand, around the gardens, and through the city. Aware of his mistake, we, from time to time, enjoined upon him our commands — at last our entreaties — to drive directly to Government House. He changed his course every time, but only to drive in some new circle around the palace. We appealed in vain from the coachman to the footman and to the postilions. But, all being Bengalese, they un derstood not a word, and so we went on, " swinging " faster and faster " around the circle." By a fortunate circumstance, we met Mr. Jacobs, who, addressing the coachman in his own vernacular, made him understand that it was the centre of the great circle that 386 BRITISH INDIA. we desired to penetrate. An hour and a half having been spent in these gyrations, we found at the door of Government House, not Major Bume (who was to receive us), but a servant, charged to conduct us to our apartments, and to explain that the secretary, having waited until six o'clock, had gone to fulfil another engage ment. Government House, which was built during the administration of the Marquis of Wellesley, has dimensions perhaps one-fourth less than the Capitol at Washington. It is enclosed, with its gar dens, by a high iron balustrade. Its walls are brick, covered with stucco ; the style, Italian. The arrangements and embellishments are English, and display that peculiar patriotic pride which seems to be of the same nature as the family pride of a distant or poor relation in social life. We almost imagine ourselves British colo nists, living in the days of our ancestors, before the American Revolution. The noble, arched gateway is ornamented with no such modern and republican symbol as the " bird of freedom," with arrows and olive-branch in its claws. Nor does cornice or architrave present any such mysterious legend as " E pluribus unumP Nor does tower or turret show any stars or stripes, or any modern tricolored ensign. Instead of all these, there are a lion and a unicorn over the gateway, and they are as usual " a-fighting for the crown," bearing on their necks the scroll with the daring words "Dieu et rnon droitP The stately cross of St. George flaunts from the palace- walls. Marquees and tents cover the plain, surmounted with the same flag; and officers, soldiers, and ser vants, all are clothed in the gorgeous scarlet-and-gold uniform which betokens British royal authority. A great gilded chair and canopy, at the upper end of a great hall, give it the ambitious name of " Throne-Room." The walls are covered with British portraits — prominent among them those of the obstinate George III. and Charlotte his faithful queen ; the Earl of Chatham and General Wolfe, Lord North, Lord Cornwallis, General Burgoyne, Lord Clive, and Warren Hastings. The ceremonies and etiquette of this palace are copied from those of Buckingham Palace. The person, stranger or otherwise, who desires or claims notice at court. TROPICAL BIRDS. 387 instead of presenting letters or leaving cards, registers his name in the adjutant's book. If recognized, he is honored with audience ; if not, nothing is said. In the morning a list of the invited guests is submitted to each member of the family, and each guest residing in the family, and he answers whether he dines with the party or in private, or dines out. When the dinner-hour arrives, and the guests are assembled in the throne-room standing, the viceroy and the Countess of Mayo enter, each attended by an aide-de-camp, and salute their guests individually. The band plays during the din ner ; conversation at the table is subdued. Before the end, the viceroy rises — and with him the whole party — and he proposes, in a loud voice, the only sentiment of the evening : " The Queen." Then follows conversation, with amateur music, in the drawing- room ; at the end of which the viceregal hosts take leave of the party individually and retire. We are never able to forget, in-doors or out, that we are in the tropics. The adjutant-bird, formal and pensive, stands sentinel over the great gate. Resting on one leg, with his knowing head under his wing, he often sleeps on his post. Immense ravens, with drab collars and caps, are walking before and behind you on the piazzas. Parrots, in variegated costumes of green, gold, and scar let, fill the trees ; martins, in jet-black coats ; and swallows, plain and brown.; twittering wrens, and thousands of slender minos, in habit the cornices and capitals. Not unfrequently the birds per sist, against all housewifely care and resistance, in building their nests in " coignes of vantage " found within the walls ; sometimes in the curtain-tenters ; sometimes on the tops of or behind picture- frames. In the evening, we find the veranda-floor in front of our apartments strewed with dry branches and twigs, which the bird- builders have deposited there in mass for further use. The next day the unwearied architects take up the material and bear it to its appointed place on shelf or cornice. The ra-ven is especially a thief: flying in at the windows, he carries away any minute, bright article or ornament left exposed. The steward assured us that the birds have borrowed this naughty practice from the native servants, who, he alleges, are universally addicted to petty larceny. CHAPTER IV. CALCUTTA (Continued). i ,^: The Maharajah of Putteeala. — Oriental Magnificence. — Kali Ghaut. — The Temple. — Hiiu Jf doo Idols. — Kali. — Siva. — A Mohammedan Mosque. — The Reading of the Budget. — 'J; Indian Finances. — The King of Oude. — The Prince of Oude. March 9th. — The fashionable promenade of Calcutta is the pub lic garden, which is named Eden. The name, however, is not bor rowed from paradise, as might be supposed, but was bestowed in compliment to the Hon. Miss Eden, the accomplished sister of Earl Godolphin Osborne, a former governor-general. We visited this garden yesterday with Lady Mayo, at sunset, for evening begins at sunset here. Brilliant gas-lights sparkling through the dark foliage of mango, palm, and cypress trees, with music from a central stand beneath them, lent their strong attractions. It was a gay scene. We walked on the green lawns, and for an hour listened to the music, surrounded by. beautiful English ladies dressed from boxes just out from London and Paris ; happy children glad of release from confinement of nurses and school-room, chasing each other over the lawns ; army-officers in full-dress for dinner or the opera; stately baboos in white cambric; dusky Sepoy guards in white-and-red uniforms; rajahs in jewelled turbans and gold- embroidered robes ; and, in the back-ground, parsees, in their fun nel hats, were seen in earnest converse. Mohammedans on their knees, with faces toward Mecca, were repeating their prayers. His highness the Maharajah of Putteeala, of Northern India, was one THE MAHARAJAH OF PUTTEEAl A, Grand Commander of the Star of India. 20 390 BRITISH INDIA. of the immediate circle around Lady Mayo. His family is distin guished for loyalty to the British Government. His father rendered good service during the mutiny. For these considerations, he has recently been invested in great pomp with the order of the Star of India. In acknowledgment of that high distinction, he gives to night a concert to Lord and Lady Mayo. He is a very athletic man, appearing to be thirty years old, but is, in fact, only twenty years. He speaks English imperfectly, and seems to have but a limited education. Mr. Seward asked him what were the produc tions of his estates ? The maharajah answered : " I am not like the people you see here in Calcutta. I am a prince. I have many zemindars. I have power. I can hang the man if I like, and I can send anybody to jail for all his life." The " Star of India " is an order of knighthood which was pro jected by Prince Albert, into which British subjects and natives of India are alike elected, on the ground of distinguished service to the British nation in India. They say that Prince Albert was perplexed to find a motto which should be equally inoffensive to Christians and heathens. He happily chose this : " Heaven's light our guide." March 10th. — The maharajah's concert was given in a style of Oriental magnificence at the town-hall, before an audience of twelve hundred, all of whom the prince had invited. An illuminated arch was raised above the porch of the building, and above it blazed the " Star of India," with all the effect which gas-jets and reflectors of burnished silver could produce. The vaulted roof of the building is supported by double rows of white Corinthian col umns with corresponding pilasters. The ceiling and walls were painted in delicate green ; groups of rose-colored lamps were sus pended between the columns and pilasters, and the nave was light ed with transparencies designed to illustrate the greatness and glory of Britain. The splendid combination of light and color brought out in full relief the garlands and festoons of flowers which burdened the air Avith perfume. Sofas were arranged so as to afford the guests full freedom of promenade and conversation in KALI GHAUT. 391 the intervals of the music. The maharajah, with royal munifi cence, brought the entire operatic troupe upon the stage, while independent bands of music were stationed at all the approaches of the edifice. The turbaned and decorated prince appeared in his own proper regalia of gold and jewels, realizing the highest descrip tions we have ever read of Eastern gorgeousness. He wore not only rings without number on his fingers, a golden girdle at his waist, necklaces of jewels, and " ropes of pearls " on his breast, but also a blue-and-gold satin robe, which was broidered to the depth of six inches with a solid mass of glittering precious stones. It is needless to say that the musical performance was very good, yet it was the ostentatious display which attended it that was the wonder of Calcutta that night. We went to-day in search of Kali Ghaut. It is the most famous of the Hindoo temples here, and from it the city derives its name. We found it in a base suburb. It has three disconnected struct ures, which, although they are built after the customary models, and of solid materials, seem nevertheless mean, when seen with their vulgar surroundings. The floors of all are on one level, eight feet above the ground, and are reached by stone steps. The build ing on the right hand is a circular one about fifteen feet high above the floor, open all around, with a roof supported by Hindoo columns. The central building is an oblong one. The third and principal edifice is a square surmounted by a dome, which ex tends beyond the walls, and is supported by outside columns. It has no windows ; light is admitted through small doors on three sides. The building first described is the hall of sacrifice, into which only Bramin priests are admitted. The building last de scribed contains the shrine of the goddess Kali, to whose service the Thugs especially devoted themselves. Not even its threshold must be profaned by the footstep of the vulgar. The central edifice is the worshippers', from which they pay their adoration to the divin ity on the right hand, and on the other witness the sacrifices. A Bramin crowd dressed in clean white, many of them speaking un commonly good English, were assiduous, though not obtrusive, in explaining the mysteries to us. As we went through the grounds, 392 BRITISH INDIA. a native police sprang forth at every turn to protect us against any injury or offence. We waited an hour for the priest who had the keys. He came at last, arrayed in pure white — a tall man and dig nified, in every way seeming worthy to serve at the altar. With much labor, he unfastened a massive padlock, and, turning its heavy bolts backward, threw open a door on either side of the sanc tuary, and disclosed to us through the dim light a wrought-iron or stone figure, of human proportions but scarcely of human shape. The idol is black, has three glaring red eyes, a broad golden tongue tipped with black, which projects from a distended mouth down to the waist, and is dripping with blood. The arms are large. The left hand holds a giant's head ; the right hand, a sword with which it has been severed — both crimsoned with blood. A necklace of infants' skulls graces the demon. Devout worshippers prostrated themselves around us, and something like mumbled prayers were heard as they beat their heads upon the pavement. We placed some rupees in a vessel before us ; these were thrown at the feet of Kali, and the doors were quickly closed. This savage deity called Kali is the wife of Siva, and is the author of all the evils which beset the human race. Bullocks and goats are sacrificed. Fire purifies the latter, and the offering is eaten by the priests ; the former, incapable of purification, are charitably given to pari ahs. The ground around the hall of sacrifice is rank with the odor of putrefaction. One hundred and fifty Bramins and their families live in and about this temple. They seem to be supported by con tributions of pilgrims, and by deprecatory offerings of merchants who are engaging in business enterprises. We went from the Kali Ghaut to a temple which is dedicated to Siva. The divinity here is a black spherical stone, ten inches in diameter, set on a concave stone of lighter color, in the centre of the pavement. The temple was too sacred to be desecrated by our feet. We were allowed only to look upon it through the open door. The attending priest threw the rupees upon the stone god. Walking from one temple to the other, we passed numerous idols. Some represent Juggernaut with a human face elongated THE "BLACK HOLE." 393 Into an elephant's trunk. Others represent Vishnu; others, of grotesque shape, represent the children of Siva and Kali. If we were asked which one of the Oriental superstitions seems to us the most absurd, we should say it is that of the hideous Kali, the un meaning Siva, and their misshapen offspring. We noticed that the Bramin attendants here value a god, not so much for his character, as for the costliness of the material of which he is made. They represented to us that it was not worth our while to visit Siva at all, because temple and idol are cheap and mean ; nor did they conceal their disrespect for the dingy elephan tine children of Kali and Siva, but they expressed the profoundest awe and reverence for golden Kali. Returning to the city, we paused to admire a beautiful white marble memorial-mosque, which has minarets at the angles, but no central dome. The muezzm was solemnly calling the faithful to evening-prayer. The porch was covered with the sandals of the worshippers, who had already entered the courts, which we were forbidden to profane. Is it strange that this Mohammedan struct ure and worship, simple and severe, impressed us with sentiments of respect and even devotion, when thus seen in immediate contrast with the temples of the base Hindoo idols ? The memory which lingers here of the " Black Hole," the sub- limest horror in the history of India, is very faint. With the aid of an antiquarian, we found the site enclosed within the area of the Post-office. March 10th. — The reading of the "Budget " is here, as it is in England, the great political transaction of the year. It took place to-day, in the marble hall of Government House, in the presence of a considerable assemblage. Mr. Seward was honored with a privileged seat. The arrangement of the council-chamber was not unlike that of the cabinet council at the White House, except that the viceroy's seat is raised on the dais. The exposition of the finances, by Sir Richard Temple, was a lucid and elaborate perform ance, but it wanted the tone of calm dignity which distinguishes the speeches of the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, or the 394 BRITISH INDIA. report of the United States Secretary of the Treasury. The defer ence toward home rule, which was manifested in every paragraph, was in strong contrast with the independent spirit of legislation on financial questions in the American colonies before our Revolution. In India, no councillor, nor any subject, questions the omnipotence of the Parliament of Great Britain. The debt of British India (in round numbers) is one hundred million pounds sterling — five times greater than the national debt of the United States before our civil war, and about one-fourth as large as the debt is at the present time. The revenue is about fifty million pounds sterling. Only an in significant part is derived from customs, it being the policy of the Home Government to encourage the consumption of British manu factures in the colonies. Eight million pounds sterling (net) is obtained from the culture and sale of opium, on which drug the Government makes an actual profit of one hundred per cent. Salt monopoly brings in five million pounds; a land-tax imposes the severe exaction of one and a quarter per cent, on valuation. None of these revenues excite as much discontent as the tax of two and a half per cent, on incomes, which is equally obnoxious to British residents and native zemindars. That tax must be abandoned, even at the cost of reduction of the military expenses. Railroad enterprise in India is worthy of all admiration ; although it was begun only twenty years ago, there are now five thousand miles of completed roads, and two hundred and fifty miles are added an nually. The Government guarantees an income of five per cent. on the capital invested in railroads. They make a return thus far of only two and one-half per cent. When we consider the vast population and resources of India, there seems no reason to sup pose that railroads will be less productive than in Europe and the United States. After the council, the members asked Mr. Seward whether his financial experience enabled him to make any suggestion for the removal of the difficulties arising out of the income-tax and the railroad subsidies. He answered : " Your railroads will increase the demand for foreign manufactures, an increase of customs will enable you to dispense with the inconie-tax ; the railroads, more- KING OF O ODE'S SON. 395 over, will enable you to reduce your army of one hundred and fifty thousand Sepoys, and your seventy-five thousand European troops, to much smaller figures. Having made these economies, you will then be ready to admit the natives to a limited representation in the provincial councils." All the members of the Government, natives as well as foreignr ers, are fitly-chosen, intelligent, able men. Mr. Seward pronounces Earl Mayo the "hardest worker" as well as the most sagacious of them all. March 11th. — The majestic declamations of Burke, in the trial of Warren Hastings, have made the civilized world familiar with the tragic story of the kingdom of Oude. We may, hereafter, have occasion to speak, not of the kingdom, but of the king. The last descendant of the native king, who reigned at Lucknow under the British protectorate, joined the mutiny in 1857. On its suppres sion, he was deprived of the kingdom, but was allowed to retain his sovereign rank with a munificent pension, though obliged to reside in Calcutta, under government surveillance. Yesterday, we re paired to his palace on the bank of the Hoogly, in compliance with his invitation. The royal residence consists of twelve stately edi fices with colonnades, which accommodate retainers, servants, and soldiery, numbering in all ten thousand. A regiment of native troops gave Mr. Seward a salute at the grand gate, and we were received at the palace by the king's eldest son, the heir-apparent, who announced that his father, being very ill, had deputed him to be his representative on the occasion of our visit. We have never seen a handsomer youth, although he is swarthy. Dressed fully up to his character, he wore flowing robes of blue velvet, embroidered with gold, and his princely jewelled coronet. The titular King of Oude is probably the only monarch in the world who wears, such antiquated head-gear as this. Doubtless, however, it is a pleasing- reminder of the palmy state from which he has "fallen, fallen, fallen." The prince, in a most amiable and communicative temper, con ducted us through the extensive flower-gardens, immense mena- KING OF OUDE'S MENAGERIE. 397 geries, as well as aviaries and aquariums, neither of which, we ima gine, have their equal in any part of the world. An account of ihe animals exhibited would be little less than a " catalogue." We saw huge boa-constrictors sleeping in their cages. The snake-charmer skilfully drew the cobra de capello from its prison, stretched it on the ground, and then with great dexterity seized it by the throat, and at pleasure made it open its mouth and show the strong, sharp, white fang, whose stroke is instant death, and beneath it the small sac in which the fatal venom is secreted. The ostrich, the bird- of-paradise, the pelican, the flamingo, the eagle, and the swan, are as domesticated as if they had known no other home. We counted one hundred species of the pigeon, nor can we recall the name of any tenant of the air which is not represented there. The aqua riums are lakes, each covering an acre, and ten feet deep. Their inhabitants of all kinds came to be fed from our hands. An im mense green tortoise was tempted to the shore by a bunch of bananas, and walked back seeming not at all oppressed by the bur den of an attendant, who stood on his back, and who weighs nearly two hundred pounds. The English people here tell us that the munificent King of Oude is treacherous, and that his handsome son is graceless. But when has conqueror confided in his prisoner ? » The viceroy has gone into the country for his customary weekly relaxation of boar-hunting. We drive with Lady Mayo and a com- oany of ladies and gentlemen, this evening, to Barrackpore. CHAPTER V. BARRACKPORE AND SERAMPORE. Barrackpore Park and its Beauties. — Magnificent Trees. — The Menagerie. — The Lion- Whelps. — Serampore. — Its Missionaries and Mission-Schools. — Return from Bar rackpore. — Fort William. — The Woman's Union Missionary Society and its Schools. Barrackpore Park, March 12th. — This viceregal country resi dence stands on a curve of the Hoogly, sixteen miles north of Cal cutta. Besides the palace, there is also a large military station. On the opposite bank of the river is Serampore, originally a Danish possession, but now British, and incorporated with Barrackpore. It is a relief to escape for a day from the sights and excitements of the capital. Vegetation is so luxuriant in India that wild beasts maintain their natural liberty in the midst of the densest human population. Just as the morning dawned the shrieks of these vicious beasts ceased, and the notes of the whippoorwill came in their place, as distinct and as piteous as when heard on the banks of the Potomac. But we are before our story. The hall in which we were received last night was far more magnificent than any we had ever before entered. Its circumference one thousand feet, its floor a green lawn, its roof the dense, dark fern-like foliage of the banyan-tree, its brown columns and arches, the trunks which have grown from the tendrils that dropped from the parent tree, and took root in the ground. Only Virgil could celebrate so magnifi cent a shade : " Tityre tu patulas recuhans sub tegmine fagi." SERAMPORE MISSIONS. 399 Of course, there is a menagerie, though it is a small one, at tached to the palace. The Bengal tiger, the noblest of the feline race, is shown here with special pride. We saw a superb fellow, which, now fully grown and quite savage, was one year ago a pet kitten in the nursery. We have renewed here the pleasant ac quaintances which we formed with the lion-whelps who were our fellow-passengers on the Australian. They are very restless in their new quarters. We find a novelty far more interesting than the menagerie. It is a troop of wild jackals, which make the " night hideous " with their howlings. For hours, we thought that the noise they made was that of an insurrection or a riot. On the invitation of the editor of The Friend of India, we crossed the river this morning and visited Serampore. It is well known in the United States as the place where the three devoted missionaries, Marshman, Carey, and Ward, founded the first Ameri can mission in India. They chose the site because it was then under the friendly flag of Denmark, while the regulations of the British East India Company forbade Christian missions within its jurisdiction. Serampore is also the scene of the first labors of the pious and indefatigable Judson. The scientific institutions as well as the press and libraries which the earnest men, whom we have mentioned, established, are still flourishing, while the very air of the quaint place seems redolent of their memories. After a pleas ant collation, we examined these institutions. The missionaries educate one hundred and fifty children here in reading, writing, and arithmetic ; and fifty more up to the qualifications for admis sion into the University of Calcutta. Mr. Seward asked what became of the youths who are thus educated \ The missionaries answered that "the highest ambition of a Hindoo youth is a place in which he can wear a ' pen behind his ear.' " The young men secure the small places under the Government which are open to natives. Very few of them become or remain Christians. March 13th. — We returned from Barrackpore this morning, with Lady Mayo and a party of twelve, in the " drag," drawn by six horses, directed by their postilions, and attended by a mounted 400 BRITISH INDIA. escort. The roads were fine, the morning exhilarating. We passed an elephant bearing a load of- hay, the first of those animals we have seen in service. Mr. Seward passed the morning in a survey of Fort William. Built as a defence for the first British factory in Calcutta, and identified with all the great events in the history of the conquest, it still gives the official name to the seat of the government. But Fort William, and all that Mr. Seward saw in it, belongs to the past. In his absence the ladies enjoyed the pleasure of studying a more modern and useful institution. It is the proud distinction of the United States that our coun trywomen have designed and brought into execution a practical plan for the amelioration of society in India. Caste, in that coun try, has its moral and civil as well as its theological code. Its laws are paramount to all laws and all institutions of government. It may be said of caste, just as truly as it was said of the laws of Moses, that " the letter killeth, the spirit giveth life." Caste hin dered and defeated two attempted reformations in India before the country became known to Europeans — Buddhism and Mohamme danism. It is caste, the "letter" of the Hindoo law, that hinders Christianity,, and seems to render the introduction of all Western civilization impossible. Caste has effected all these evils and per petuates them through the degradation of women. Christianity and Western civilization can only be established through the res toration of woman here as elsewhere to her just and lawful sphere. This restoration is jus't what "the Woman's Union Missionary Society of America for Heathen Lands " is doing through the insti tution they have established at Calcutta and its branches in the provinces, called the " Zenana Mission." We accompanied Miss Brittan, the superintendent of this institution, in her visitation of many of the zenanas, to which, by her unremitting zeal, assiduity, and gentleness, she has gained access. These families were gen erally rich, like that of the baboo, which we have described. Some of them, however, are wretched and squalid. Even in these, the women, like those in the rich zenanas, are timid, gentle, loving creatures, and all alike are painfully desirous of instruction. The institution employs in Calcutta twelve American women as teach- BARRACKPORE. 401 ers. They have already instructed sixty native women, who have become assistant teachers. They have during the same time estab lished an asylum where they support and train twenty additional girls for teachers. Miss Brittan counts seven hundred and fifty native women, who have been taught and qualified to become the wives of Hindoo youths who are prepared for official employment , in the universities and schools established by the Government. It is pleasant to record that this noblest of charities enjoys the entire confidence and favor of Earl Mayo.1 1 We found on our return to the United States that the " Woman's Union Missionary Society of America " had fully adopted the idea of the importance of connecting the knowledge of medicine with the qualification of teacher. BAEKAOKPOKE. CHAPTER VI. FROM CALCUTTA TO BENARES. Courtesy of the East India Railway Company. — Unattractive Scenery. — The Scenery improves. — Aspect of the Country and the People. — A stop at Patna. — A Tiger Hunter. — The Cultivation of the Poppy. — The Maharajah of Benares. — A Night on the Ganges. — A Brilliant Display. — Glory Hallelujah. — A Compliment to Mr. Seward. Benares, March 15th. — We left Government House, Calcutta, on the 13th, in the evening, and, with the aid of friends, made our way through a mixed and garrulous crowd which gathered at the wharf. We crossed the Hoogly in a capacious steam ferry boat, and took possession of a car which had been furnished us, by the East India Railway Company, for our exclusive use while in the country. We attach it to, or detach it from, the train at our pleasure. It consists of two apartments, with a bath-room. Our Calcutta friends furnished us with a full supply of Boston ice. The night was dark. When we awoke in the morning, we looked out upon an unattractive plain, broken by ledges of rocks. The road was bordered with shallow tanks, filled with muddy water collected during the last rainy season, and frequent brick-kilns built to supply the material for the railway structures. An occasional herd of small lean cattle, sheep, and goats, with a tattered or naked attendant, was seen upon the scanty soil nearly covered with stunted trees and shrubs. A few mean farm-houses and wretched villages were visible. We thought India a sorry contrast to Japan BEAUTY OF THE COUNTRY. 403 and Java, and even less cheerful than the sandy plain of the dismal Pei-ho. Referring to the map, we found that we were a hundred miles south of the Ganges, and that the dreary region we were traversing is a spur of the mountain-border of the great river-basin. Scarcely had we time to express our surprise at the uninviting aspect of the country before the rocky ledges and stunted vegeta tion gave way to scenes of fertility and beauty — which continued without interruption during the day. Endless fields, some yellow with ripening rice, some white with the strewed leaves of the poppy, and some green with growing wheat, millet, and other cereals, alternate with orchards of bananas, tamarinds, and man goes — the latter trees just now blooming and filling the air with a perfume sweet as that of the acacia. The plantations are divided by hedges of richly-flowering cactus. In other fields are large herds of cattle, and goats, and flocks of sheep, all fat and sleek, and ranging under cocoa-nut trees, scattered through the landscape like the oaks in Kentucky and California. The palma-Christi, a hardy, graceful shrub, needing little irrigation, grows luxuriantly. The flower-stalk of the "century-plant" has already reached the height of ten feet, and is preparing to spread its gorgeous petals in May. As we approached, we saw, in the midst of this luxuriance, which surpasses that of the prairies of Java, winding rows of wil lows, and occasionally a mast towering over them. Another curve revealed to us the Ganges. The groups of slender men and children whom we passed by the roadside and in the fields were gayly and gracefully attired. So also were the few women whom we saw. They had a great profusion of silver ornaments, ear-rings, nose-rings, bracelets and bangles. All Nature seemed to feel new animation and display fresh beauty in the presence of the Ganges. Green parrots with yellow-and-red heads perch on the telegraph-wiree, as swallows and martins do in our own country ; flocks of flamingoes make a rose ate cloud as they fly over our heads ; the solemn stork and the stately adjutant march in regiments through the copses and pre serves around us. We made one stop, during the day, at Patna. It is a large and 404 BRITISH INDIA. an old Hindoo city, memorable in the history of British conquest as the scene of the perfidious covenant of the " Three Seals ; " that infamous transaction which aroused the people of England from their criminal lethargy to a contemplation of the atrocities practised by the East India Company. While there, we made a survey of the eighteen cars which constituted our railway-train.- Only one of these was devoted to Europeans, the others were fully freighted with natives ; never less than thirty, sometimes fifty, crowded into a car. We met there our countryman Mr. Eldridge, who was just returning to Calcutta from a famous tiger-hunt in the north, in which he shot a tiger which had already laid hold of the haunch of the elephant he was riding. Patna, like all the towns and villages on our road, shows a division of the population between the faith of the Bramins and that of the Arabian prophet. The Hindoo temple, although it has a greater number of worshippers, is always eclipsed in magnificence by the mosque. The government officer, charged with the superintendence of the opium-production, called upon us at Patna. The opium-poppy bears a small white flower instead of the large bright petals known in our gardens. The manufacture is simple : early in the morning, an attendant (usually a woman) goes through the poppy-field, strik ing each capsule with an instrument of many blades like a cupping- knife — the milky-juice exudes, dries, and blackens, under the burn ing heat of the sun ; it is gathered in the evening by scraping the plant with a knife. It is already opium. The narcotic strength of the juice varies in different plants — owing to a difference in the vigor of the plant, or to the circumstances favorable or unfavorable to the extraction of the juice. Some plants yield only fifty per cent, of the drug ; others, eighty or ninety per cent. The weak and the strong products are mixed so as to obtain a uni form strength of seventy-five per cent. The liquid which remains after the mixture is made is again exposed to the sun. When the mass, thus mixed, has obtained a consistency for manipulation, it is divided into small portions, each of which is enclosed in a single mango-leaf. It is then rolled by hand until the leaf is entirely in corporated into the mass, and the opium comes out dry in the MAHARAJAH OF BENARES. 405 shape of a round ball. One acre of poppy yields five pounds of the opium of commerce. We saw indigo-fields on every side, but the season for the culti vation of that plant is past. Arriving at the station, Mogul Serai, on the south bank of the Ganges, we were met by the government commissioner of the dis trict of Benares. He was charged by the Maharajah of Benares to MAHARAJAH OF BENAHES. invite us to an entertainment on the river in honor of the festival called "the Holy," which, after having been continued for several days, was to come to a close that night. A continuous railroad- journey of twenty-two hours, fatiguing everywhere, is doubly severe here ; but how could we decline a compliment from so high a native source, or how forego an occasion so novel and interesting as a night on the Ganges ? Two officers of the prince's household, bearing silver maces six feet long, with twenty servants in scarlet and white, met us on the river-bank and placed us in cushioned 27 406 BRITISH INDIA. chairs, under a gay canopy, on the deck of a graceful yacht. We floated leisurely downward with the current. The first part of the voyage had no special interest. The night was dark, and the dim lights around us gave us only spectral glimpses of the terraced banks. When, however, we had advanced a mile, we saw, on our right, at the river's edge, the blazing, crackling flames of seeming bonfires. The portion of the banks thus illuminated seemed to rise to the height of a hundred feet, and were thickly crowded with massive structures ; and, over all these, the gleaming dome and minarets of Aurengzebe, the great mosque of the city. What was our surprise to find that the fires, which we had supposed kindled for a temporary illumination, were funeral-fires ! Ghauts are built on the. banks for the sole purpose of cremation. The spectacle turned our thoughts, for the moment, upon the strange process of disposing of the remains of the dead. " What," we inquired, " is done with the ashes which remain from the fires ? " " They scatter them on the bosom of the sacred river." At this point we entered a crowd of brilliantly-illuminated and gayly-decorated barges, so dense that it was not without difficulty that we made our way through it to the station assigned us, near the maharajah's barge, from which a calcium-light flashed an in tense and dazzling splendor over the entire city. On either side of this magnificent barge was another one, equally gorgeous ; the one containing the Maharajah of Visianagram, the other, the Maharajah of Putteeala. These dignitaries were guests. The barges of the three princes were lashed together, and a grand Oriental pavilion extended over them. All the optical effect that can be obtained by fanciful naval designs, brilliant light, and variegated drapery, by moving crowds and splendid costumes, reflected by mirrors, crystals, and gold, was produced here ; while the senses were rav ished by the perfume of burning incense and tropical flowers. Though dazzled by cross-lights, and bewildered by the indescriba ble glitter, we passed, under safe guidance, from our own barge to that of the Maharajah of Benares. Under the same conduct we passed through successive chambers, each varying in enchantment from the others, until we reached the curtained and festooned cen- GLORY HALLELUJAH. 407 tral saloon, appropriated to guests. Here rose-water and neroli gushed over us from silver and crystal fountains ; champagne and sherbets sparkled in golden vases ; buffets groaned with the weight of fruits, confectionery, and ices ; while beautiful nautch girls in gauzy attire performed their most sacred and celebrated songs and dances to their strange music. It may be imagined we were filled with emotion, when, in an interval of this elaborate Asiatic exhibition, the solemn measure of " Glory Hallelujah " from a full European orchestra burst upon our ears. The performance of this great marching-anthem of the Union army in the late war was a thoughtful recognition, on the part of the maharajah, of Mr. Seward's presence. We took leave of our princely entertainers at twelve o'clock, leaving the pageant of the Ganges to go on during the whole night for the enjoyment of those who, unlike ourselves, had strength enough to endure it. NAUTCH GIELS. CHAPTER VII. BENARES. The Sacred City of the Hindoos. — The Cradle of Buddhism. — Sarnath. — Remarkable Towers. — The Holy River. — The Ghauts. — Singular Architecture. — The Mosques and their Minarets. — A Picturesque Scene on the River-Bank. — Siva and Doorga. — Manufacture of Idols. — Kincoh. — Magnificence of Benares. March 16th. — Our experience here in the sacred city of the Hindoos is like that of the visitor at Jerusalem. There he expects to find most prominent the monuments of the Jews. Here we expect to find most prominent the monuments of the Hindoos. At Jerusalem, the monument which first attracts attention is not the Temple of Solomon, but the Mosque of Omar ; and here, the object which first attracts our attention is not a temple of Vishnu, but, Sarnath, a suburb of the city, the cradle of Buddhism. Buddha, according to the traditions, was a prince. He renounced royal state, wealth, family, friends, every thing, and repaired to Sarnath. Here in seclusion, and in the practice of severest asceticism, he con tinued through five years ; and it resulted in his conviction that he had become perfectly incarnate of the Supreme God ; perfectly puri fied ; the delegated savior of his nation and of mankind. Here, his teachings began nearly twenty-four hundred years ago ; hence, according to the faith of his disciples, the light of divine truth, which he dispenses, has radiated through the East, until it has ex erted its saving influence over one-fourth of the human race, and it is to continue to radiate until it shall pervade the earth. But the fortunes of Buddhism in the region where it originated have? not BENARES FROM THE GANGES. 410 BRITISH INDIA. been unlike those of Christianity. While the Christian religion is extended to the ends of the earth, a foreign and hated worship prevails in Palestine. So, while Buddha remains incarnate, not in Sarnath, but in Thibet, and thence dispenses the divine truth throughout the vast regions of Tartary, China and Japari, Ceylon and the Oriental Archipelago, his system has scarcely a foothold in the province where it originated. Sarnath is eight miles distant from Benares. The large plain, strewed with ruins, is the resort GREAT BUDDHIST TOWER AT SARNATH. of innumerable bands of pilgrims, who cover its broken shrines with garlands, and bedew its sands with tears. We tried, quite ineffectually, to learn the history of the only two monuments which retain something of their ancient shape and original proportions. One of these is a conical tower, which rises in the centre of a well- defined area, two-thirds of a mile in circuit. The tower has a circumference of ninety-two feet at the base, and rises to a height of one hundred and ten feet. What is extraordinary is, that this BUDDHIST TOWER OF SARNATH. 4\\ vast tower is solid, without chambers or internal passages, except a low, subterranean one. It has a basement-story, twenty feet high, of solid brick, ten feet of which is below the level of the plain. Upon this basement is a story, forty feet high, of chiselled Chunar stone. With the exception of the five upper layers, this story is a solid mass, each individual block being fastened to the one adjoin ing it by iron clamps. The part of the tower which is above the stone story, last mentioned, is built entirely of large bricks. Origi nally, it had a veneering or outer covering, but it is difficult to ascertain whether it was of stone, stucco, or cement. The apex of the structure, ten feet in diameter, bears some traces of a statue surmounted by an umbrella. The large stone story has eight pro jecting faces, divided from each other by a panel fifteen feet wide. Each projecting face has a large, deep niche, from which some life- iBBI Mil " I 'I . ' ' , i •' ft W t»iWllf»i|spS CARVING ON BUDDHIST TOWER AT SARNATH. size statue has long since disappeared. Imagination replaces these with the figure of Buddha and his disciples, as we saw them so often in China and Japan, with hands raised before their breasts, 412 BRITISH INDIA. heads bent forward, and gazing at the soles of their feet. Several of these projecting faces are finely ornamented with wreaths of lotus — sometimes the plant winds as a vine with birds and dimin utive human figures resting on its tendrils. In some places, it shows the tender leaf and bud ; in others, the open flower of the lotus. The carving of some of these wreaths is unfinished— an in dication that the great structure was never completed. We con cluded that this curious tower was projected and raised as a monu ment of Buddha's reform, but abandoned before completion, when the religion was expelled from the country. We have alluded to another ruin — this is a solid, circular brick mound, seventy-four feet high, with an octagonal cupola twenty-four feet high. The cupola has its history, but not the mound. The former bears an inscription which recites that the sovereign of the country as cended the mound in the year 51. March 17th. — We have to-day viewed Benares, not, as on , our first night, under an artificial illumination, but under the light of an equinoctial sun. Wc passed down the river in the same yacht which floated us at the grand festival. Long before John baptized in the Jordan, the Asiatics had con ceived the beautiful idea that certain rivers are holy, and that their waters have the power of " cleansing from all sin." The Ganges is, as it always has been, that river of the Hindoos. They must come hither as pilgrims from the most distant regions, at least once in a lifetime, and even once a year, if they can. They come here, moreover, if they can, to die ; because, to die in the holy city, secures a direct entrance into paradise. Native princes, successful baboos, and rich zemindars, please the Bramin priests and the peo ple, and think also that they please the gods, by erecting majestic temples and buildings, costly marble ghauts for the use of the pil grims as well as burning ghauts. To reach these ghauts, the high, steep banks of the river, for miles in length, are terraced with per fect stone steps. The temples rise to the height of five, six, seven, eight, nine stories. They are built of marble and freestone, pierced with windows of every conceivable graceful shape, and are A PICTURESQUE SCENE. 413 extravagantly ornamented with colonnades, corridors, balconies, niches, large and small domes, towers, pavilions, and pinnacles, which are set off with gilding and bright colors. The mosque, with its tapering minarets, occasionally interjected among the tem ples, lends a pleasing relief to the Hindoo architecture, while its severe form and outlines seem to reprove the prolific imagination of the Hindoos. A highly-picturesque scene presented itself on the river-bank. Citizens, pilgrims, men, women, and children — singly, in groups, and in throngs — are ascending and descending the stair cases, bearing on their heads bronze urns and vases, large and small, of forms as graceful as the Etruscan. Even the stately ele phant seems to have adopted the mystic faith, for we saw him many times walk down the staircase, which had been nicely adapted to the human footstep, fill his trunk,.and solemnly return. Pilgrims were plunging into the water from platforms and boats and barges of fanciful construction, some in the shape of peacocks, swans, and fishes. All the devotees dress in snow-white robes as they leave the water, to give effect to the idea that immersion purifies. The funeral-fires of the previous night are still blazing. How can they be extinguished? All that are in the city must die, and all that die are brought here. Having passed the entire river-front in the yacht, we dismissed it and returned through the streets of the city. They are close and narrow, but well paved, and, compared with the Chinese cities, excepting Canton, they are clean. The chief temple is that of Siva, the representative of the principle of destruction and reproduction. The dome and the towers are of burnished gold. Siva is the same round, black stone set in the floor as at Calcutta. Far greater reverence is paid to him here. Access and egress are made almost impossible by the multitude of pilgrims and votaries, who come into the temples laden with perfumes, fruits, flowers, and urns of holy water. Priests receive these oblations and appropriate them as perquisites, nor did the holy men disdain to receive some bright silver rupees from our unworthy and pro fane hands. Three small, gentle, and very pretty sacred white cows, with wreaths of orange-flowers and roses around their necks, wander at pleasure in the holiest recesses of the temple, among KINCOB BROCADE. 415 the worshippers, who feed them with rose-leaves and lotus- flowers. But what a poor apology for human devotion is that of Siva compared with the exhibition of that sentiment which is presented to Doorga ! At the temple of the former it is a black stone that is honored ; at that of the Doorga it is the living, moving animal crea tion, the monkey. Moreover, these monkeys seem to appreciate their celestial privileges and honors. They are of all sorts and sizes. We saw them by the thousand gambolling in the courts, "racing and chasing" through the corridors, and mischievously laughing upon the worshippers below from columns and cornices, from balustrades and balconies. Edifices of all sorts, even the dwelling-houses, are stupendous and massive. The basements are used for mechanics and other tenants of low degree. The upper stories, guarded by bars and screens, are the gorgeous zenanas ; fit family dwellings for a people who, unanimously thinking that the virtue of woman can only be secured by her imprisonment, magnanimously try to relieve that durance by extravagant indulgences of luxury and ostentation. The shops are seldom more than eight feet square. The articles made are chiefly ornaments and religious tokens. As, in ancient Ephesus, the people principally supported themselves by making images of Diana, so the people of Benares largely support them selves by the manufacture of idols — idols great, idols small,1 idols white, idols black, idols red, idols yellow, idols of bronze, iron, wood, stone, porcelain, and glass. We visited the warehouse of the kvncob — a brocade, the most exquisite of fibrous fabrics ; its materials, the richest of silk and the purest of gold, worn by the native princes, baboos, and zemin dars, woven in patterns five yards long and one yard wide. A pattern never costs less than three hundred dollars. The merchant displays in a book the names of a few English ladies as customers, but their purchases were very small. Is it not strange that the na tive rulers of India, after disasters which have deprived them of their independence and universally impoverished if not ruined them, continue to dress in costumes which no Western state of wealth 416 BRITISH INDIA. can command? The merchant in the East, everywhere, is amiable and polite. The vendor of kincob received us, who merely came to look at his wares, with bouquets and garlands when we came, and showered us with rose-water when we departed. Superstition counts the population of Benares by the million and its sacred edifices by the thousand. The real population is one hundred and fifty thousand, and it contains between three and four hundred temples. So much of the history of Benares as we have not related was sublimely spoken by Burke in his account of the cruelty of Warren Hastings to the Maharajah Cheyte Sing, ances tor of our host. What we have left unsaid of the incomparable magnificence of the city is told by Macaulay in his essay on War ren Hastings. TIMPLES AT BENARES. QUEEN'S COLLEGE, BENARES. CHAPTER VIII. ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW, AND AGRA. Allahabad, the City of God. — Cawnpore. — Lucknow, the Capital of Oude. — Extent of the Country. — Arrival at Agra. — A Marvellous Monument of Arms, Arts, and Empire. — Akbar the Great. — His Vast Architectural Works. — The Pearl Mosque. — Futtehpore Sikra.— Its Great Wall.— The Tomb of Sheik Selim Chishti.— The Panch Mahal.— Ak bar's Tomb. — His Wealth. — His Horses and his Elephants. — Weighing his Presents. March 18th. — Allahabad (the city of God), once a Mohamme dan town, has now relapsed to the religion of Bramah. It stands on the Jumna, just above its confluence with the Ganges. It de rives its present importance from its being the place of junction for the railroads of Northern India with the main eastern and western line, which connects Bombay and Calcutta. The railroad bridge across the Jumna is celebrated throughout the world. Allahabad is a large military station, and the capital of the northwestern provinces. It has a public garden, which receives a picturesque effect from two massive Mohammedan tombs or imambarras. We were met at the station, at ten o'clock last night, by an officer, and conducted to Government House, the residence of the governor, Sir William Muir. This spacious and elegant structure was illuminated for a concert. Hospitality attended with less ostentation, or a more sympathetic kindness, we have never known. Sir William and Lady Muir not only believe in works of education, but they are patrons of the " Woman's Union Society of America." A sudden indisposition prevented Mr. Seward's attendance at a dinner made for him by the United CAWNPORE AND LUCKNOW. 419 Military and Civil Service Club of the Northwestern Provinces, and the zealous American missionaries residing here. Cawnpore, March 20th. — Lady Muir accompanied us to our car at one o'clock this morning. We rode through ripening wheat- fields, and reached the town on the south side of the Ganges at sunrise. We write these notes while crossing that river on a pon toon bridge, a form especially adapted to rivers like this, which are subject to immense freshets and floods. Lucknow, March 21st. — We came forty miles to this city, the capital of the once independent but now nominal kingdom of Oude, over a branch of the East India Railway, and through the valley of the Goomty, a tributary of the Ganges. The soil, often and severely swept by deluges, is poor. We are guests here of General Barrow, now Commissioner (that is to say, Lieutenant- Governor) of Oude. With an area half as large as that of the State of New York, Oude has a population of three millions. Its ancient RESIDENCY AT LUCKNOW. 420 BRITISH INDIA. Mogul capital, which in our maps bears the name of Oude, is now called Fyzabad. Lucknow has enjoyed that distinction one hun dred and twenty years, and now contains half a million of inhab itants. It is doubtless true that Great Britain owes her empire in India more to the dissension of its native rulers than to the force of arms. We have already seen enough of the country to know that the causes of those dissensions were, like the divisions among our aboriginal tribes, deep and lasting. The Bramin religion, where it was universal, had no effect to produce unity among the tribal communities dispersed over vast territory, and rendered irreconcilable by diversity of climate, race, and language. The Tartars or Scythians, border nations on the North, continually in truded, producing alienation between the Hindoo communities, while the conquering Mohammedans, by an arrogant rule, op pressed and crushed the natives. Agra, March 22d. — Leaving the Ganges at Cawnpore, we came, by the East India Railway, to Toondla junction, and thence, over a branch, to Agra, on the Jumna, Qne hundred and thirty miles north west from Allahabad. Some hills, which we crossed, arc without irrigation and barren, but the country generally wears the same as pect as the plain of the Ganges. The irrigated wheat-fields yield sixteen bushels to the acre. The population is four hundred to a square mile. They have no modern agricultural implements or machinery. Deficient in industry as in energy, they sit on the ground when they use the sickle. That they are humane is seen in the large privileges they yield to the gleaners. When we came to Benares, the gentleman who met us there said, "We are glad that you came here before going to Agra." " You do well," said General Barrow, " to see Lucknow before going to Agra." Both were right. Benares, although unique and grand, now seems to us as merely an embodiment of an inactive sentiment of mystic devo tion. Lucknow is the fanciful capital of an ephemeral kingdom. Agra, though ruined, is a marvellous monument of arms, arts, and empire. During a period of one hundred and fifty years, and AGRA. 421 until the reign of Akbar, the successors of Tamerlane made little progress in consolidating their empire in India. That monarch, the greatest, wisest, and best of them all, enlarged it from three provinces to fifteen, and founded the capital at Agra, which soon grew into a magnificent city of half a million. His successors, per haps wisely, perhaps necessarily, removed the Mogul throne to Delhi ; and Agra, experiencing no subsequent renovation in the casualties of war and conquest, has shrunk into a provincial town of a quarter of its former population. There are three monuments here and in the vicinity which are the work of Akbar : the fort of Agra, Futtehpore Sikra, and Secundra. These, together with the famous Taj-Mahal, constitute the traveller's study here. The fort, which has an ample moat and drawbridge, is a mile and a half in circuit, built entirely of red sandstone, and measures, from the foun dation to the embrasured battlements, seventy-two feet. It seems to have been designed quite as much for civil use as for defence. It now contains a British arsenal. Its area was filled with palatial structures, of which two remain in a state of imperfect preservation, the Imperial Palace and the Pearl Mosque. The substructions of the palace are red sandstone, but nearly all of its porticos, courts, corridors, chambers, and pavilions, are of polished white marble. The walls of the balcony, which overhangs the Jumna, are finely inlaid inside and outside with mosaics, which combine jasper, agate, carnelian, bloodstone, lapis-lazuli, and malachite. The balcony is guarded with balustrades of delicate marble fretwork. The apart ments of the zenana are extensive and of exquisite finish. They look down upon what was once a garden. The fountains, which threw fanciful jets into bathing-rooms, are broken up, but the vaulted roofs of marble tracery still remain filled with the thou sands of miniature prismatic mirrors. The Divan, in Oriental speech called the " Judgment-seat of Akbar," is a grand open por tico, with Saracenic roof and arches, resting on three rows of col umns. In its centre is a marble throne, inlaid, like the pavilion which covers it, with mosaic wreaths and texts from the Koran, composed of jasper and carnelian. A tablet, in the wall behind the throne, bears the inscription " Ain Akbaree " (the Laws of 28 EXTERIOR of the fort. THE PEARL MOSQUE. 423 Akbar). A Persian poet has written beneath it, in his own lan guage, " The Ruler of the World." The Motee Musjid, poetically Pearl Mosque, and the pearl of all mosques, consists of a single corridor of polished white marble, with three rows of Saracenic pillars and arches, which support a marble dome, encircled with gilded minarets. The dimensions are INLAID SCREEN. TOMB OF MrNA BEGUM, AGRA. small, but the symmetry is perfect, while a severe simplicity ex cludes equally blemish, fault, or excess. Less fortunate in official acquaintance here than elsewhere, we were unable to gain admit- . tance to the storehouse in the arsenal, in which are preserved the famous sandal-wood gates which Sultan Mahmoud of Ghuznee carried away from the ancient ecclesiastical city of Somnath to 424 BRITISH INDIA. Afghanistan, eight hundred years ago, and which the British brought back in 1842, to please their Hindoo subjects. March 23d. — Futtehpore Sikra is twenty-two miles west of Agra. Desirous to avoid travel under a mid-day heat, we con tracted yesterday, with the landlord, for a carriage and two horses, to leave the hotel at five o'clock this morning, with relays on the road. By dint of labor, we awakened the landlord, servants, and drivers, and got off at half-past six, with only one horse, and no provision for a relay. The smooth road over a level plain exhibits on all sides the ruins of mosques and palaces of the once great capital. As this was practically our first private excursion in the country, we greatly enjoyed the novel rural scenes it presented. Here was the primitive Hindoo well or fountain by the roadside, from which veiled maidens were filling their polished brazen urns. We saw even the youthful Jacob, helping a bashful Rachel to poise a pitcher on her head. The dress of the people is more striking, both in fashion and color, than we have before seen. The crow is here in force as everywhere, but is outnumbered by the ring-dove. Adjutants and flamingos marshalled us through avenues of flower ing acacias and mangos. Oxen, asses, and camels, in trains and loaded with cotton, obstructed the way. Futtehpore Sikra was an imperial suburb built by Akbar, and was six miles in circumference. He enclosed the whole by a high embrasured wall of red sandstone. This fortification, with its lofty Saracenic gate, remains as if in mockery, protecting the now deso lated theatre of imperial pomp and recreation. Our one jaded beast gave out when we reached this gate. A native guide met us there, and we found his strong arm useful in climbing the rocky ledge under a burning sun. He led us, by a circuitous path over broken columns and fallen arches, into a court covered with masses of debris. Before us rose a terrace, which we were to ascend by one hundred stone steps. This staircase was crowned by a Sara cenic gate-way one hundred and twenty feet high. Ascending the easy and yet unbroken stairway, we passed under the lofty arch, which invites the pilgrim of every land to the tomb of Sheik SCENE ON THE ROAD TO FUTTEHPORE SIKRA. 426 BRITISH INDIA. Selim Chishti, the religious monitor of Akbar. Here we rested a moment to examine the stupendous open doors, which, though fur rowed by the storms of three hundred years, are still almost literally SARACENIC GATE. covered with gilded horseshoes. The soubahdars of the empire in their pride took them from the hoofs of favorite steeds, and affixed them on the gates in token of fealty to Akbar. Passing from the gate, we stood in a court four hundred feet square, closely paved with dark-red hewn sandstone. On the several sides of the court is a corridor fifty feet wide, with a roof resting on pillars of red sandstone fifty feet high. A central fountain lends a peculiar grace to the court. The tomb of the sheik is beyond the fountain, op posite to the great portal, and is surmounted by a lofty, triple- FUTTEHPORE SIKRA. 427 domed mosque of white marble. The pedestal or platform is of jasper. The sarcophagus resting on it has a canopy six feet high, and both are of unmixed mother-of-pearl. The whole structure is protected on all sides by a white marble screen, composed of panels, eight feet square, of open filagree work, inlaid with carnelian. It detracts somewhat from the character of Sheik Selim Chishti for ascetic virtue, as well as from the character of Akbar for munifi cence, that this gorgeous tomb was built with the private assets of the saint himself, at a cost of nearly two million dollars. We climbed the roof of the corridor and looked down on a mass and medley of ruins, bounded only by the outer wall. The desolation seemed complete, except that here and there we distinguished a pavilion not entirely dilapidated, a pointed arch, a monument or a pinnacle, which maintains its solitary position in defiance of time. We now repaired to the palace in which Akbar resided. It might with no great expense be restored. It is not one compact structure, but consists of many edifices, some quite distant from the others. Moved by a tradition which prevails here that Akbar had a Christian wife, brought from Constantinople, we explored a suite of apartments which she is said to have occupied, expecting to find relics of her piety and devotion. But we had no more success here than in our inquiries for "Jessie Brown " at Lucknow. There still remain in these sumptuous apartments some fine frescos, the work evidently of Persian artists — while the walls and ceilings ex hibit a wonderful elaboration of sculpture. It is impossible now to obtain a correct idea of the uses of the different corridors, courts, pavilions, and gate-ways which intervene between the principal structures of the palace. One of these is very curious, the Panch Mahal. It consists of five pavilions, each of which is supported by carved pillars. The several pavilions are in stories or stages, one above another, making the form of a pyramid. Another pavilion has a large suite of apartments ar ranged in a labyrinth. Tradition says that the ladies of the harem used this part of the building for the diversion of hide-and-seek. There is a square edifice, standing quite by itself, and covered by a dome : on the outside, it appears to be of two stories ; within, how- ;a|*|i!«pi .u»l>'x:.5 IS™ uisJt will iBI :## .rara" BMii^ Ik^5^^ S*S?f Li ilAHNhUJniil.Jllli lf*ViJi!a'fe.fS^SS 3PP,lMP2P. IBS ! ¦ w2f \m BiWEMMi PILLAR IN AKBAR'S COUNCIL-CHAMBER. THE PANCH MAHAL. 429 ever, it is open from the floor to the ceiling of the dome. A massive carved pillar rises in the centre from the floor to the ceiling. Fifteen feet from the floor is a gallery with a balustrade ¦ encircling the chamber. From each corner of this gallery a plat form, with a like balustrade, connects horizontally with a circular gallery built around the central column. liBi ^^^^^y^^mSm^mM jpjjj v^?Sg3'fM811S! PANCH MAHAL. Akbar was a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth. They assure us that he sat on the central platform and leaned against the column, which supports it, while he listened to the instructions in science, morals, and religion, of sages and saints whom he had summoned from all the schools and cloisters of the East, and who were arranged on the outer platform around him. The broad disk of the dial by which the Mogul monarch measured the hours remains. There is still in good preservation the place where Akbar stood while re- 430 BRITISH INDIA. ceiving the homage of his subjects at his levees or durbars. Nor is there wanting unequivocal evidence that the great man delighted in games of chance. An open square of sixty feet has a pavement, arranged as a chess-board, in blocks of black and white marble. Instead of ivory, bronze, or wooden chess-men, the contending kings, queens, knights, bishops, castles, and pawns, were beautiful slave-women, who moved as directed by the monarch or his oppo nent. They add further that the performers themselves were the stake for which the game was played. A building known as the palace of Beerbal was assigned by Akbar to his favorite prime- minister. It remains in fine preservation, and our architects and artists might study to advantage its classic design and elaborate sculpture. If the ghost of the favorite is allowed to revisit the scene of his power, he might well exclaim, " To what base uses" has my palace " come at last ! " when he saw us, infidel republicans of the West, loitering, lunching, and lounging in his elegant cham bers. We pass without particular mention the so-called " Antelope Tower," one hundred feet high, studded with imitation elephants' tusks, as well as the triumphal arch, guarded by colored elephants. But we must not omit to record that, excepting the tomb, mosque, and other merely ornamental structures, the entire town of Fut tehpore Sikra was built wholly of fine freestone; no baser material entered into the construction for the purpose of either foundation, column, wall, roof, or dome. We historically know that this palace was built in 1571, and that Akbar resided in it twelve years. We have no account of the period when its decay began, or how rapid has been its fall into neglect and ruin. March 24th. — If a man desires that there shall be a monument to perpetuate his memory, he does wisely, in a worldly sense, if he builds it himself. Akbar's tomb at Secundra shows that he had this wisdom. He extended the Mogul Empire from the Indus to the Bay of Bengal. Historians rather indicate his wealth by anecdote than describe his habits of life. They tell us that his private hunting-stud, used also for war-purposes, consisted of five ¦.1 MShPSK p^^^^-lffiHi mB iHlfifn 111 w . tHmfHMtf §»§ 1 w ffioa, Iuh hD 0enZDPCwh a< QId> DC j" *=Ci-- *=-* TAJ-MAHAL. great distinction which she attained. Poets in the East, in their imaginative dreamings, have tried to supply this shortcoming of his tory. They describe her as beautiful, graceful, gentle, loving, and 436 BRITISH INDIA. faithful, but hundreds, thousands, and millions, who have been as lovable as she is thus described, have passed away without monu ment, though they may have been neither " unwept, unhonored, nor unsung." Let the natural suggestion of our own hearts furnish the solution. Whatever else Banoo Begum may have been, or may have done, she was beautiful, she loved Shah Jehan devotedly, and he loved her more than all the world beside. Tradition says that she called her husband to her side in her last hours, and re quired him to promise her two things : First, that he would not marry again ; and, second, that he would build her a beautiful tomb. We reject the tradition, for we are unwilling to believe that a woman who could inspire such love as his could have doubted his fidelity, or have been concerned about her own interment. The Taj stands upon the centre of a terrace, within a walled garden of twenty-five acres, on the banks of the Jumna. At either end of the terrace is an edifice of massive sandstone, with a dome of the same material. Midway between these is the incomparable Taj. As you approach, through an outer paved and walled pre cinct, the grand gate-way comes into view. It is a majestic Sara cenic arch, eighty feet high, springing from two abutments of red sandstone, having white marble panels, which are completely covered with texts from the Koran, inlaid in black marble, and each being surmounted by a white-marble minaret. Coming under the arch, and looking through a long vista formed by rows of Ital ian cypress-trees planted on either side of a series of crystal foun tains, you see the Taj rising from an elevation of thirty feet above the terrace. The platform, in the middle of the terrace, is a square of four hundred feet, paved with white marble, and each corner bears an exquisite white-marble minaret, two hundred feet high. The Taj is a square structure of one hundred and fifty feet, reduced to an octagonal figure, with four principal faces, by having the cor ners cut down. The four smaller faces are lower than the larger ones. The entire edifice is built of polished white marble. Its Oriental dome, first swelling into a globe, tapers upward into a spire which is surmounted by a golden crescent. Four lesser domes of the same matchless form crown the truncated facades. THE TAJ-MAHAL. 437 At the centre of each of the four wide sides or fronts is a porch, consisting of a single Saracenic arch, which rises from the pave ment two-thirds of the height of the building. Between these great arches the wall is relieved by two lesser arches of the same form, one above the other, producing, at a distance, the appearance of windows. The whole Koran is written, by chapters, in flowing letters of delicately-inlaid black marble, over the carved pilasters, architraves, and arches. Entering the porch, opposite the great gate-way, you descend a gently-inclined plane, as in the tomb of Akbar, and reach a vaulted white-marble chamber directly under the centre of the edifice. The light, admitted through the door by which you have entered, is collected and concentrated on the mar ble sarcophagus of Banoo Begum. A similar though smaller sar cophagus is placed in the shadow — it holds the dust of her lover- husband, Shah Jehan. Each of these tombs is of marble as pure as the purest of Carrara, the sultana's most elaborately inlaid with vines, interwoven with texts from the Koran, traced in blood stone, agate, carnelian, lapis-lazuli, malachite, jasper, garnets, em eralds, rubies, topaz, and sapphires. Ascending to the main floor of the edifice, over the vaulted chamber, you are in the centre of an octagonal temple, and look up into a dome of snowy marble, two hundred and sixty-two feet high. This interior, though of vast dimensions, has such delicate proportions, and such harmony of light, that you are not at all oppressed with a sense of grandeur or immensity, but only of a consciousness of exquisite, indescribable beauty. Although we stepped regularly, timidly, and lightly, yet our footsteps brought down deafening reverberations from the dome. Our conversation came back to us in a confusion of thun ders, and a gentle whisper was repeated over and over again, like tones of music dying in the distance. On the rich mosaic floor, di rectly above the real tomb, are the duplicate sarcophagi, and a flood of mellowed light; brought through a single aperture in the dome, streams over the answering memorial of the beautiful Begum. These simulated cenotaphs are ornamented in the same manner as the real ones below, but more elaborately and more exquisitely. They are protected by an octagonal screen, eight feet high, of mar- 29 438 BRITISH INDIA. ble lace-work, marvellously interwoven with stems, leaves, and flowers of the lotus and of the rose, all encircled with a waving wreath of graceful, tender, twining, passion-flower, in mosaic of precious stones and gems. Man's chief subject of contemplation is his Creator, his Redeem er, his Saviour. In action he balances between desire for power and love of freedom. He has atfempted to express all these emotions in architecture. The Parthenon is his highest expression, in that form, of awe of the gods. St. Peter's speaks, with not less distinct ness, his sentiment of religious devotion. The Pyramids tell his reverence for human grandeur. The Capitol, at Washington, mani fests his love of freedom. The Taj-Mahal pretends to utter no such lofty sentiments as these, but it speaks out, more naturally than all, the gentlest, sweetest sentiment of human nature — pure, spiritual love. A tale of love is written, an idyl is sung, a melody of the tender passion breathes through this pure marble and these precious jewels. The tomb of Banoo Begum, in architecture, like the apotheosis of Beatrice, in poetry, is without an original and without a copy. The Taj is a modern structure. It is a sad reflection that the name of the architect is already lost. Connoisseurs differ in opin ion concerning the style. Some call it Italian ; others insist that it is Saracenic ; others pronounce it Persian. We incline to think it eclectic, a blending of the beautiful in each. March 25th. — From the tomb of the Mogul monarch of India, Akbar, we passed to the tomb of the pretended monarch of Ameri ca, King Cotton. The failure, during our civil war, of the cotton- supply, which had before been derived from the United States, obliged the European nations to seek it elsewhere. Notable attempts to cultivate the staple were made in Italy, but without success. An effort of the Viceroy of Egypt was hardly more effect ual. India promised better. Cotton was indigenous, and success fully cultivated in the plains which divide the Indus from the Ganges. The importunate demand of the European markets stimulated the production there. Fortunes were made by specu- COTTON MERCHANTS. 439 lation in cotton almost as rapidly in Bombay as they were lost in New Orleans. Agra was the centre of the producing districts. At the end of the war, it became a grave question whether the iiiiiin i i l!|H I Tl'Jl i ¦» ( ¦' 1IT1 1 J ¦ I" ¦ i ' -"''if ,'"- " '¦'¦ . III | , t -Kavi iiiifiift 1, flit. y-^^Z^i'iy-r -f. A£kK.y*t^M COTTON MERCHANTS, AGRA. advantage which had thus been gained by India could be retained, or whether the great monopoly could be recovered by the United States. The change of the system there, from one of slave labor to free labor, worked to our prejudice, and doubts still remained, when we left home, concerning the solution of the problem. We have found that solution here. The producers now universally confess that the cotton is greatly inferior to the American fibre ; they con fess, moreover, that the plant degenerates under the burning sun of India, although they use the seed imported from the United States. Again, the efforts to introduce improved machinery have failed. We examined one of the establishments in which cotton is prepared for the market. The process is very rude. The cotton is passed between a pair of wooden rollers which are moved by hand. This simple mechanism is found in every house, and is an exclusive 440 BRITISH INDIA. occupation of women. The operation of packing is quite as rude : five men, with their feet, trample the cotton into a succession of square boxes, one above the other ; five other men hold the boxes in their places until the stack thus raised contains the complement of a bale. An iron screw is then let down through an upper floor upon the centre of the cotton-stack. This screw is worked by eighty other men. Each laborer ejaculates or groans with every push that he gives the lever, and this groaning, combined with the noise of their tread upon the floor, produces an indescribable and ludicrous confusion. This examination convinced us that Sir Rich ard Temple did not misstate in the annual budget the decline of cotton-production. THR TAJ, FROM THE FOUNTAIN. CHAPTER X. DELHI, THE MOGUL CAPITAL. A Vivid Contrast to Agra. — Ludlow Castle. — Brief Sketch of Hindoo History. — The Per sians. — The Greeks. — The Arabs. — Sultan Mahmoud. — The Mongols or Moguls. — Foundation of Delhi. — Successive Changes of Site. — The Kootub Minar. — A Singu lar lion Shaft. — The Mogul Tombs. — The Tomb of Jehanara. — The Jumna Musjid. — The Imperial Palace. — Farewell to Delhi. Ludlow Castle, Delhi, March 26th. — In crossing the Jumna, the citadel of Delhi seems to be directly over the terminus of the railroad-bridge, and gives a fine effect to the approach. As first seen, Delhi is a vivid contrast to Agra. Akbar wedded Agra, and died- — like the Hindoo widow, she has faithfully mourned him in decline and poverty ever since. Delhi, until recently the capital of the Mogul dynasty, and since an important seat of British rule, is a fickle jade, who easily transferred her allegiance. We entered by the Cashmere gate, and, driving over a broad plain, in which fine European buildings alternate with highly-cultivated gardens, we reached Ludlow Castle, where we are the guests of the civil com missioner of the district, Colonel Young. The outside world derived its earliest knowledge of India from its neighbors, the Persians, who maintained a vigorous commerce with Greece in the time of Darius. They gave to the country its name of Hindostan, the land of the black men. There still remain in the Andaman Islands, and some other parts of India, tribes of savages, who are supposed to be derived from an aboriginal race which possessed the country before the Hindoos. However that HINDOO HISTORY. 443 fact may be, the earliest history of Hindostan represents the entire country from the Indus to the border of Burmah, and from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, as inhabited by one people, pro fessing the Bramin faith, although they must have been then divided into distinct tribes, having different dialects. It was, however, an isolated and unsocial nation, such as Japan and China since have been. Three hundred years before the Christian era, Alexander ex tended his conquest across the Indus and to the banks of the Hy- daspes (the Sutlej) with the purpose of bringing isolated India into the family of Mediterranean nations. This great enterprise might doubtless have been achieved at that time, had it not been defeated by the refusal of the Macedonian army to go farther. His suc cessors quickly lost the ground he had gained. The history of Hindostan, since that period, is the story only of repetitions of attempts, like that of Alexander, for the conquest of the country, favored, like his, by a slow process of internal disintegration. The propagandism of Buddha, which occurred soon after the failure of the Greek conquest, convulsed the country, and, arraying its tribes and religious sects against each other, opened the way to a new invader. Mohammed was a religious reformer of a very different order from Buddha. The latter propagated by preaching, the former by the sword. In the reign of the Caliph Walid, about 715 A. d., the Arabs invaded Hindostan from the sea, and con quered Scinde'and part of the Punjab, which they held for some years. But the Hindoos, rallying under the banner of their an cient faith, expelled the Mussulman;- though only with the conse quence of provoking new invasions. Sultan Mahmoud advanced into the Punjab, in the eleventh century ; and his successors, con quering the whole of Northern India, and establishing their capital at Delhi, extended their sway across the Jumna and the Ganges. These partial Mohammedan conquerors in the north encouraged a bolder leader of the same faith. In 1398, Tamerlane invaded the country, seized Delhi, and, with a war of terrific barbarity, established that great Mongol or Mogul Empire which Great Brit ain in fact suppressed in 1803, but of which she permitted a 444 BRITISH INDIA. shadow to stand until 1857. With the exception of Akbar's resi dence at Agra, Delhi was the capital of the Mogul Empire until its dissolution. With successive changes of dynasty, the city has from time to time changed its place from one part of the plain to another. So it has happened that the Delhi of to-day is the last one of a dozen cities which have successively borne the same name, and ' enjoyed the honors of a capital. This modern Delhi dates from the time of Humayoon, the father of Akbar. Delhi, March 28th. — We drove yesterday eleven miles across the plain, seeing on all sides the palaces, mosques, and tombs, some still erect though abandoned, others in dilapidation, others mere debris, which mark the sites of the several capitals which have passed away. Among these relics, stands the Kootub Minar. It may, as claimed here, or may not be, the highest pillar in the world. We first saw it at a distance of seven miles, under a dim twilight, which, like moonlight, may have had the effect of increasing its apparent elevation. Approaching nearer, we found the column a circular fluted one of red sandstone, two hundred and thirty-eight feet high, forty-seven feet in diameter at the base, and divided into five stages or stories^ the base of each story ornamented with a projecting gallery and balustrade. The heights of the successive stories are graduated in exact proportion to the contracting diam eter of the column, the height of the lower story being ninety- four feet, while that of the upper is only twenty-two feet. As we looked up beneath this towering monument, standing so erect and alone in the broad field of desolation, it seemed to us that, like Memnon on the Nile, it might have a voice, and so might tell us a long history of heroic achievements, magnificent designs, and bitter disappointments, of which it has been a witness. The Dak is a government institution for the transportation of passengers and property. It consists of carts drawn either by horses or oxen, with changes every four miles. At each station is the "dak bungalow," in which the traveller, who carries his own provisions and bed, may take rest and refreshment. A pretty Hindoo temple, which stands under the shadow of the Kootub, has THE KOOTUB MINAR. 445 been restored from a state of dilapidation, and appropriated to that use. It served us pleasantly for our evening repast, and gave us airy lodgings for the night. This morning, we looked from its veranda upon the great, dark column, as it received and reflected THE KOOTUB MTNAR. the rays of the rising sun. In this illumination, which left the base in deep shadow, the monument seemed even more perfect and loftier than it did on the night before. A closer observation, while it showed some new points of beauty, revealed also some defects. The fluting of the column differs at the several stories. In the first story the fluting is circular, in the second angular, in the third the circle and the angle alternate ; the fourth story is of white marble, encircled at the middle with a belt of brown sandstone ; the 446 BRITISH INDIA. fifth story is of unmixed white marble. Underneath the magnifi cent sculptured cornice which supports the gallery of each story, the column is boldly carved in Arabic, in texts from the Koran, and in part recitals of repairs and improvements made by different monarchs. A circular iron staircase conducts to the summit, where the visitor takes in at one view the Jumna, the Delhi of our time, and all the ruined Delhis for miles and miles around. How large must be the number of those who have trodden that lofty, spiral staircase, and how diverse must have been their reading of the lessons which that giddy height affords ! The recitals mentioned, as translated by General Cunningham, give us only this informa tion : that the erection of the column was the work of several cen turies ; that it was finished in 1236, one hundred and sixty years before Tamerlane, and in the reign of Shumsh-oodeen-Altumsh. We are profoundly grateful for this information, but it would have saved a world of conjecture and research if the writers of those in scriptions had told us who designed and began the structure, and for what object. Was it built as it now stands alone, or was it an appurtenance to some temple, or palace, or mosque which has long since mingled with the earth % Was it, like the Tower of Babel, de signed as a stairway to the heavens, or was it to be an observatory from which to measure the magnitude and the movements of the stars ? Is it a triumphal column, or is it a tomb ? Parts of it have been blackened by the storm, and even deranged by the lightning and the earthquake. Nevertheless, it stands firmly, and may en dure for many thousand years. Distant one or two hundred feet from the column are the dilapidated gates and walls of a spacious mosque. Some imagine the Kootub Minar an adjunct of that mosque ; others controvert this position, while they maintain that the structure for which the Kootub was designed to be an orna ment, though projected, was never built. There is a relic, not far from the Kootub Minar, of even greater antiquity, and more mysterious. It is a cylindrical iron shaft, six teen inches thick, estimated by General Cunningham to be sixty feet long, and to weigh seventeen tons. Excavations, to the depth of twenty-six feet, have failed to find its lower end, while its top is THE TOMB OF HUMAYOON. 447 twenty-two feet above the surface. Tourists cannot safely assume to be archaeologists. The accomplished traveller Bayard Taylor says he learned at Delhi that an inscription on the shaft assigns it a date one century before the Christian era. If our guides translated correctly the same inscription for us, it was erected A. d. 319. The surroundings of this monument are perplexing; it stands in the very centre of an immense dilapidated but not demol ished Mohammedan caravanserai, palace, or mosque. The Sara cenic arches of this ruin indicate, beyond all mistake, its Moham medan character ; but, here comes the difficulty : all these fine Moorish arcbes rest on rudely- wrought, monolith granite columns, which are covered with carvings, and vines, and images of idols, and saints. Beyond. a doubt these rough columns were raised in honor of the thirty-three thousand gods of the Hindoos. We rec ognized, as we thought, not only those of the Braminical faith, but also some belonging to the reformed creed of Buddha. But we could not be certain of this, for the Mussulman iconoclast has treated them all as equally offending against the second command of Moses. He has battered and defaced them so effectually that they are no longer like unto " any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." Take into consideration, now, that the cross of St. George waves over these ruins, and we have a grouping, in a circumscribed area, of the monuments of Braminical worship, Buddhist worship, Mohamme dan worship, and Christian worship ; the several religions succeed ing each other as conquerors, and all within the period of two thousand years. We drove, next, to a cemetery, which is compar atively modern ; alighting here, we walked through several narrow aisles bordered by so many costly and beautiful marble cenotaphs that even the graveyard of Mogul monarchs became as monotonous, and the eulogistic Arabic inscriptions on them as tedious, as the " Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions, with Occasional Notes, by the Rev. Timothy Alden, A. M., in two vols., New York, 1814." The tomb of Humayoon, however, deserves "special men tion," not more on account of the great merit of that monarch than the magnificence of the monument. The factious rivalry of Hu- 448 BRITISH INDIA. mayoon's brothers invited an invasion from Afghanistan, in which, the Mogul emperor was completely overthrown and Humayoon driv en into exile. Finding an asylum in Persia, he formed an alliance with the king of that country, who furnished Humayoon an army, with which he returned to Hindostan, resumed the throne of his ancestors, and transmitted it to his son, the great Akbar. If there were no Taj, nor tomb of Akbar, the mausoleum of Humayoon might perhaps be as much admired as those monuments are. It sur passes each of them as well in vastness as in massiveness. Its white marble dome, resting on arcades of red sandstone, making a marked feature in the plain, is peculiarly beautiful. We turned our steps from the proud mausoleum to a tomb more rare, and of a very different design. Aurungzebe, whose name is rendered infamous by his cruelty, was a son of Shah Jehan. He seized his father's throne, usurped his kingdom, imprisoned him, and, as some histori ans write, deprived him of his eyes. His sister, Jehanara, refusing to enter the imperial court of the usurper, remained with her unfor tunate father until his death. A monument, simple and beautiful as her own character, covers her remains. The inscription which it bears is said to have been written by herself. We brushed away ' freshly-cut flowers to look upon it, all the time wondering who placed them there. These are the words which we read in Arabic: " Let no rich canopy rise over my grave ; the grass is the best covering for the poor in spirit, the humble, the ephemeral Jehanara, the disciple of the holy men of Cheest, the daughter of the Emperor Shah Jehan." We derived from this touching memo rial an assurance that ages of superstition, bigotry, and fanaticism, ' cannot altogether extinguish womanly virtue, or the admiration of mankind for it. March 28th. — Our sight-seeing, in India, is necessarily done in the early morning or in the evening; when the sun is very low in the horizon. Our record of it is made in the time which can be snatched from society or necessary rest. The Jumna Musjid derives imposing effect from its situation in the centre of an oblong area, on a rocky terrace, which extends THE IMPERIAL PALACE. 449 from the Cashmere gate to the Delhi gate, and is approached by magnificent stone staircases on three sides — a site not unlike that of the Capitol at Washington. The Jumna Musjid is a mosque, two hundred feet by one hundred and twenty feet, surmounted by three elegant marble cupolas with gilded spires. At each end is a superb minaret, built in alternate lines of black and white marble. The pavement of the mosque is of white-marble slabs, each forty- two inches by eighteen inches, finished with an inlaid black-marble border. Each slab is a kneeling-place for a worshipper. Like the mosque in the citadel of Agra, the edifice is called the " Pearl of Mosques." We do not attempt to compare the two. Either is more beautiful than- any religious edifice we have ever seen. The Jumna Musjid is, however, the more highly revered of the two. Its venerable custodian showed us relics of the greatest possible sanctity. Among them are a pair of shoes which were worn by the prophet, and one hair saved from his beard ! Both of these inesti mable treasures are carefully preserved in antique glass cases. We cannot undertake to vouch for the genuineness of that hair, but we must confess that the shrivelled and rotten leather makes out a strong claim for the genuineness of the shoes. There is, however, a relic, the authenticity of which can hardly be disputed. It is a devotional autograph manuscript of Fatima, the faithful and favorite daughter of Mohammed. The first accounts of the mutiny of '57 that went abroad attrib uted it to a discontent on the part of the Hindoos. From inquiries here, we have ho doubt that it was an insurrectionary attempt of the Mohammedans. Ever since its suppression. Government has forbidden public worship in the Jumna Musjid. Here, as at Agra, the Imperial Palace is within the walls of the citadel. It is in complete preservation, and is an additional monu ment of the exquisite taste and munificence of Shah Jehan, the builder of the Taj. Its prominent parts are one greater and one lesser " audience-hall." Each of these is of polished white mar ble, entirely open in front, and placed at such a height as to afford the emperor, sitting on the throne, not merely a view of the surrounding audience, but also a view of the procession of his 450 BRITISH INDIA. vassals as they entered the great palace-gates, with all their gorge ous displays of music, soldiers, camels, and elephants. A polished white-marble throne, in each audience-chamber, is raised on a dais, six or seven feet high, of the same material. A pure white-marble canopy, supported by delicate Saracenic pillars, lends this structure a peculiar grace. Both of these halls have been despoiled of the decorations which first aroused the attention of Europe to the mar vellous splendor of the Mogul Empire. The solid silver plates of the great audience-chamber have been stripped from the ceiling, and sold in the market in London for one hundred and seventy thousand pounds sterling. The lesser chamber has been robbed of the famous " peacock-throne," in the construction of which Shah Jehan expended six million pounds sterling. The frescos of birds and flowers on the polished marble walls are now dim — certainly they must always have been a blemish. If, however, white marble and fresco are incongruous, it must be admitted that white marble and yellow gold, arranged in just proportions, form the most effec tive of all ornamental combinations. Such is the fretwork which adorns the capitals, cornices, and flutings of the columns and pilas ters. The architect of the palace seems to have been enamoured of his own creation, for he wrote, on each angle of the lesser audi ence-chamber, the words which Moore has made familiar to all the world in " Lalla Rookh : " "If there he an Elysium on earth, It is this, it is this." Let us drop mathematical lines and arithmetical measure ments, and try to convey in another way an idea of the palace of Shah Jehan. Can any one conceive a nobler spectacle than an inauguration of a President of the United States, under the eastern portico of the Capitol? Does any one know any thing in the world more shabby than the broad staging of plank and scantling on which the august ceremony is performed ? The silver ceiling and the "peacock-throne" have been removed from the throne- room at Delhi. We would rub off now the gilding and the fres cos on the walls. Having thus reduced the magniflcent room to ENGLISH KINDNESS. 451 its original simplicity, we would commend it to the Congress of the United States as a model stage for the inauguration-ceremony. Bayard Taylor, more fortunate than we, saw the Mogul palace while it yet was the residence of the last of the successors of Akbar. The mutineers of '57, inflated with their first success, proclaimed the restoration of the empire. That stipendiary yielded to ambi tious persuasion. He was quickly overthrown, stripped of allow ances, state, and possessions ; and we find that his heirs, loyal to the British Government, are now content with the honor of show ing us, as guides, the splendor of the halls and tombs of their ancestors. Delhi shares with Lahore ¦ the commerce of the western and northern provinces, Afghanistan, Cashmere, and Persia. It seems likely therefore to remain, as it is, a great and populous city. The streets are often rendered impassable by heterogeneous caravans. The shops contain fabrics, tissues, and jewelry, of exquisite richness, and adapted to every variety of Oriental taste. Our study of Delhi closed, to-day, with a visit to the heights to which the British army retired, when driven out of the palace of Shah Jehan, on the breaking out of the mutiny. They remained here six months, successfully resisting the surprises and sorties of the insurgents in the city — twenty times their number. At last, being reenforced, they became assailants, stormed the citadel, and recovered the capital. Here we leave our host, and the learned companion of our ex plorations, Colonel Young. American travellers are apt to ima gine that Englishmen whom they meet are cold, if not churlish. Nothing could be farther from this than our experience in India, and, in looking back through all that experience, we find no more agreeable remembrance than that of " Ludlow Castle," and of the hearty welcome and courteous hospitality we received there. CHAPTER XI. UMBALLA AND PUTTEEALA. Meerut, the Scene of the Outbreak of the Great Mutiny. — Hindoo Pilgrims. — First View of the Himalayas. — Invitations to Putteeala. — Journey thither. — The City of Put teeala. — Coaches or Elephants ? — Entrance into Putteeala. — A Magnificent Proces sion. — Our Palace. Umballa, March 30th. — Leaving Delhi, yesterday morning, we recrossed the Jumna and its valley by a bridge and long causeway to the station of Gazeabad. Thence we made our way through a sea of golden wheat-fields, dotted with islands of blooming mango- trees — one hundred and fifty miles — to this place. We stopped at Meerut, a garrison-town, made memorable by being the scene of the outbreak of the mutiny. That great disaster left at Meerut no such painful traces or touching monuments as are seen at Cawnpore, Lucknow, and Delhi. The common roads parallel with the railroad, for a distance of twenty miles above Meerut, were thronged with travellers, chiefly men and children, of all castes and classes — save only the poor pari ahs, each troop attended by musicians, their costumes diverse in form and color. The greater number were pedestrians, but others rode the native ponies, donkeys, camels, and elephants. A few showed a special pride as they came along in gayly-decorated carts drawn by clean white oxen decked with ribbons and garlands. The long processions which Dublin sent out to Donnybrook on the days of its fair ; the multitude which throngs the road from INVITATIONS TO PUTTEEALA. 453 London to Epsom on the " Derby-day ; " the processions which come with music and banners from New-England villages to a " mass-meeting ; " or the 4th of July in Boston, never exhibited more eager excitement, or half so much method, or a tithe of the good-nature, which these Hindoos showed as they trudged along, coming from all parts of Hindostan, to attend a Braminical festival at Hurdwar, which is to be improved by being used also as a great horse-fair. At four o'clock in the afternoon, we obtained a first view of the Himalaya Mountains, stretching in a long, blue, hazy outline in the horizon, sixty miles distant. Major Tigh, commissioner for the district, met us at the station, and brought us to his fine old bun galow, situated in a beautiful park. An Irishman, he retains equally the warm-heartedness and the ndvoete of his countrymen. Putteeala, March 31st. — Immediately after our arrival at TJmballa, a native gentleman presented himself to Major Tigh, and, announcing himself as "canal agent" for the Maharajah of Put teeala, asked to be presented to Mr. Seward. Before the latter had time to answer, a second native appeared, and, declaring himself to be the maharajah's "Minister of Justice," asked to be introduced. They were admitted, and each presented a letter of invitation from the Maharajah of Putteeala tendering us the hospitalities of his state, elegantly written in Arabic on gilt paper, the envelop being a bag of the finest kincob. The bag, as well as the notes, was per fumed with attar of roses. The bag was tied with a silken cord, on which was suspended the great waxen seal (weighing four ounces) of the kingdom, principality, or state, of Putteeala. Yesterday, at five o'clock p. m., we proceeded in four carriages, each drawn by four horses, which the prince had sent to convey us to his capital. We were attended by his two messengers, the musteed (canal- agent) and the minister of justice, a large military escort, and many servants. Captain Horsford, of the British civil service, accom panied us. At stages of one mile each, mounted sentinels first saluted us, and then joined our escort. The maharajah's high civil officers wore the finest of white India muslin turbans and robes, 30 i i 454 BRITISH INDIA. and his soldiers were arrayed in green, gold, and scarlet, as brightly as the birds of India. The Emperor Akbar and his successors made excellent roads, and at convenient stages built caravanserais for the security and rest of travellers. These hostelries, each of which is a fortification, are still well preserved. We stopped at the half-way caravanserai, and were met there by a large deputation of the maharajah's house hold, in dainty costumes, similar to those worn by his messengers. These deputies, surrounded by sixty or seventy servants, tendered us congratulations, in the name of his highness, on our safe arrival thus far on our journey. Each individual member of these delega tions presented to each one of us, on a massive silver salver, cov ered with a white napkin, a half-dozen silver coins, and a fresh bouquet. As instructed, we touched these coins as acknowledg ment of mutual . friendship, and retained the flowers. This cere mony was followed by a profuse supply of delicate refreshments. In the midst of these attentions, a telegram from Putteeala an nounced that the British Ministers of Finance and Foreign Affairs for the district of Punjab were just leaving the tow*n, and would desire to pay their respects to Mr. Seward when they should meet him. When we had gone a few miles on our way, those distin guished personages, with their families, came rolling along in four four-horse carriages, and an escort — both the equipages and guard having been furnished by the maharajah, and being exactly on the same magnificent scale as those by which we were conducted. Greetings were exchanged, and a cordial invitation was given to Mr. Seward to extend his journey to Lahore, the capital of the Punjab. Putteeala, the capital of the province or native principality of the same name, is protected by a citadel as spacious, though not so substantially or scientifically constructed, as Fort Hamilton. Forti fications in India seem to have been built as retreats or places of safety for the sovereign or his family. The mother of the present prince resides in the citadel of Putteeala. Arriving at its gate, we came to a halt, and we saw through a cloud of dust the maharajah coming toward us in a magnificent state coach drawn by six white ELEPHANT-RIDING. 455 horses ; the highway, on either side, was lined with outriders and a squadron of cavalry. The prince, driving by the side of our carriage, saluted Mr. Seward with stately cordiality. When the compliments were ended, the maharajah asked Mr. Seward in which manner he would prefer to make his entrance into the capi tal ; whether he would go with him in his coach, or whether he would be pleased to make his entrance on the back of an elephant. Mr. Seward, diffident perhaps of his skill in the latter mode of travel, or acting under a conviction that modesty best becomes a visitor, accepted the offer of a seat in the coach. The maharajah, taking his seat at Mr. Seward's left, made a rapid advance toward the city. The ladies, like Mr. Seward, being complimented with the same choice of manner of entering the city, decided like Mr. Seward in favor of a comfortable coach-and-six. Hereupon a halt and parley ensued between Captain Horsford and the prince's master of ceremonies. In the course of this debate, it appeared that, while the prince excused Mr. Seward's declination of the honor of the elephant on the ground of his years, the ladies, who could offer no such plea, would give offence by claiming the same indulgence. Sixty elephants stood by the road-side, richly capari soned in cloth of gold and scarlet, all ornamented with gilt ear rings and necklaces. There was no more to be said on that ques tion. The elephants kneeled, silver ladders were placed against their sides, and, in less time than it takes to describe the action, the two ladies, not venturing to ride alone, were seated together with Captain Horsford, in the spacious gilded and velvet howdah. The elephant arose with a motion like that of the surge on the coast of Madras, and the ladies found themselves in the upper ah'. The Hindoo driver sits on the elephant's head, and directs his motions by the use of an iron spike, which he, thrusts against the skin on either side of the forehead. A procession was then formed. First, the maharajah with Mr. Seward ; then the ladies ; next, our three servants, Jeanie, Price, and Freeman; next, the musteed ; next, the Minister of Justice, mounted in the same manner, and behind them the long train of elephants without any riders, and the five hundred richly-caparisoned horses, led 456 BRITISH INDIA. by as many grooms no less gayly dressed. As a signal for the progress to begin, the air was rent by a salvo of nineteen guns ; the salute was repeated by a fusillade from what seemed endless ranks of infantry, bugles sounded a march, and the cavalry moved to the front. Four bands of music wheeled into column, playing, more or less together, " God save the Queen ! " Behind them a company of fifty bagpipers, playing not altogether, as they fell into line, " Bonnie Dundee." At the moment of the cannonade the led horses kicked, pranced, and reared; the ele phants uttered piteous, deep, indescribable cries, and tried to prick up their enormous jewelled ears, remaining otherwise quiet ; crowds on the wayside shouted applause, and children screamed with delight. As for Mr. Seward, he, fortunate gentleman, snugly seated by the maharajah on velvet cushions, in the coach drawn by six well-trained animals, was unconscious of the disturbance which had arisen behind him. His inexperienced and more ven turesome companions clung to each other in fright — but order was restored, and all were reassured. On the way to his capi tal, the maharajah addressed to Mr. Seward a studied speech of welcome. Taking care to express his regret that his guest had not accepted the elephant, the prince said that the troops we had passed in review were ten thousand in number. He also explained to Mr. Seward that, when he came to the throne", he found no streets in Putteeala wide enough for such a pageant as he had occa sion to make, and that he had, therefore, enlarged the streets, but not without making due compensation to the owners of adjacent property. Night came on as we reached the gates. We looked from our howdahs upon the flat roofs of the dwellings and shops be low us. Their inmates were gathered at the doors in gay dresses, and seemed as diminutive as the burghers of Liliput. Thus we passed through the entire city, and reached, beyond the farther gate, an esplanade used as a Campus Martius. Winding around a tall flag-staff, under the folds of what is called the sacred banner, we stopped before a lofty Saracenic gate. Here, the maharajah, with Mr. Seward, alighted, and the elephant-riders dismounted. The prince led the way on a gravelled walk, by the side of sue- < 4