The Human Race Part 25

"I witnessed from the place reserved for me behind the judgment seat the trial of half a score of robbers. I will not attempt to describe the scenes of torture that followed their repeated denials of guilt. When a prisoner persisted in a.s.serting his innocence, the judge tossed to the executioner one of the painted sticks or counters lying in the case on the table before him, and on which was marked the number of blows or the description of torture to be inflicted. This was immediately carried into effect under the eyes of the judge and registrars who made careful notes of the half avowals uttered by the victim in the midst of his screams of agony."

[Ill.u.s.tration: 135.--CHINESE SOLDIERS.]

Military matters are but little attended to in China. This sceptical and timorous nation is no believer in military glory and power. Our campaigns in China showed the value of a Chinese army. General Cousin Montauban, since Count de Palikao, cut numbers of them to pieces, after one or two skirmishes, in which the Chinese fled as hard as they could the very moment they perceived a uniform.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 136.--CHINESE TROOPER.]

A nation of four hundred million inhabitants was conquered by six thousand Frenchmen. The unworthy cowardice of the Chinese explain the fact that they have always been an easy prey to conquerors.

In Chinese military matters we will restrict ourselves to reproducing their uniforms. Fig. 135 represents that of their infantry, and fig. 136 that of their mounted troops.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 137.--THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.]

The real army of the Chinese nation is the care with which it holds itself aloof from foreigners, and the manner in which it forbids them access to its territory. Retrenched behind its wall, it is happy in its own way and does without soldiers. The system seems a good one, since it has succeeded for so many centuries.

The wall of China, which rigorously excludes all strangers from the empire, is no mere metaphor. It is a solid reality. Fig. 137 gives a view of the Great Wall taken near Peking.

The Marquis de Moges, an attache of the emba.s.sy when M. Gros was French Amba.s.sador in China, has wittily summed up, in his account of his travels, the contrast between Chinese and Western civilization. "In China," he says, "the magnetic needle points to the south;--the cardinal points are five in number;--the left hand is the place of honour;--politeness requires you to keep your head covered in the presence of a superior, or in that of a person whom you wish to honour;--a book is read from right to left;--fruit is eaten at the beginning of dinner and soup at its close;--at school, children learn their lessons aloud and repeat them all together;--their silence is punished as a sign of idleness;--and finally, a t.i.tle of n.o.bility conferred upon a man for some signal service rendered to the state, does not descend to his posterity, but goes backwards and enn.o.bles his ancestors."

THE j.a.pANESE FAMILY.

j.a.pan, consisting of a large island, that of Nipon, and seven other smaller islands, of which the princ.i.p.al are Yesso, Sitkokf, and Kiousiou, is inhabited by an industrious and intelligent people. The j.a.panese, whilst resembling the Chinese in many points, differ from them in many others, and are far superior in a moral point of view to the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire.

The written character of j.a.pan is the same as that of China, and its literature is not a distinctive one, but entirely Chinese. The two creeds of Buddha and of Confucius prevail in j.a.pan as they do in China.

The wors.h.i.+p of these creeds is carried on in both countries in similar paG.o.das, and their ministers are the same bonzes with shaven heads and long gray robes. The buildings and the junks of both nations are identical. Their food is the same, a diet of vegetables, princ.i.p.ally rice, and fish, washed down by plenty of tea and spirit. The coolies carry their loads in exactly the same manner in j.a.pan and in China, at Nangasaki and at Peking, and make the streets resound with the same shrill measured cries. The j.a.panese women wear their hair as the Chinese women used to do before they adopted the fas.h.i.+on of pig-tails, and the townspeople in Yeddo, as in Nankin, seclude themselves in their houses, which are impervious both to heat and cold.

But the resemblance stops there. The j.a.panese, a warlike and feudal nation, would be indignant at being confounded with the servile and crafty inhabitants of the Celestial Empire, who despise war, and whose sole aim is commerce. A Chinaman begins to laugh when he is reproached with running away from the enemy, or when he is convicted of having told a lie; such matters give him little concern. A j.a.panese sets a different value on his life and on his honour; he is warlike and haughty. A j.a.panese soldier always confronts his enemy. To deprive him of his sword is to dishonour him, and he will only consent to take it back stained with the life-blood of his conqueror. The duello, unknown in China, is carried out in a terrible fas.h.i.+on among the j.a.panese. The islander of Nipon disembowels himself with a thrust of his own sword, and dares his adversary to follow his example. The Chinese race live in a state of disgusting and perpetual filth; every j.a.panese, on the contrary, without distinction of rank or fortune, takes a warm bath every other day. Of a jovial and frank disposition, and of great intelligence, they are always desirous of knowing what is going on in the world, and ever anxious to learn; whilst the Chinese, on the other hand, shut themselves up behind their cla.s.sic wall, and recoil from everything that is strange to them.

These characteristics show that the j.a.panese are a far superior race to the Chinese.

A few peculiarities, more especially found in the inhabitants of the sea coasts, the fishermen and the sailors, separate the j.a.panese physical type from that of the Chinese. The former are small, vigorous, active men with heavy jaws, thick lips, and a small nose, flat at the bridge, but yet with an aquiline profile. Their hair is somewhat inclined to be curly.

The j.a.panese are generally of middle height. They have a large head, rather high shoulders, a broad chest, a long waist, fleshy hips, slender short legs, and small hands and feet. The full face of those who have a very retreating forehead and particularly prominent cheek-bones is rather square than oval in shape. Their eyes are more projecting than those of Europeans, and are rather more veiled by the eyelid. The general effect is not that of the Chinese or Mongolian type. The j.a.panese have a larger head than is customary with individuals of these races, their face is longer, their features are more regular, and their nose is more prominent and better shaped.

They have all thick, sleek, dark black hair, and a considerable quant.i.ty of it on their faces. The colour of their skin varies according to the cla.s.s they belong to, from the sallow sunburnt complexion of the inhabitants of southern Europe to the deep tawny hue of that of the native of Java. The most general tint is a sallow brown, but none remind you of the yellow skin of the Chinese. The women are fairer than the men. Amongst the upper and even the middle cla.s.ses, some are to be met with with a perfectly white complexion.

Two indelible features distinguish the j.a.panese from the European type.

Their half-veiled eyes, and a disfiguring hollow in the breast, which is noticeable in them in the flower of their youth, even in the handsomest figures.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 138.--j.a.pANESE.]

Both men and women have black eyes, and white sound teeth. Their countenance is mobile and possesses great variety of expression. It is the custom for their married women to blacken their teeth. The national j.a.panese costume is a kind of open dressing gown (fig. 138), which is made a little wider and a little more flowing for the women than for the men. It is fastened round the waist by a belt. That, worn by the men, is a narrow silk sash, that, by the women, a broad piece of cloth tied in a peculiar knot at the back.

The j.a.panese wear no linen, but they bathe, as we have said, every other day. The women wear an under-garment of red silk c.r.a.pe.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 139.--A j.a.pANESE FATHER.]

In summer, the peasants, the fishermen, the mechanics and the Indian coolies follow their calling in a state of almost complete nudity, and the women only wear a skirt from the waist downwards. When it rains they cover themselves with capes made of straw, or oiled paper, and with hats made, s.h.i.+eld shape, of cane bark. In winter the men of the lower cla.s.ses wear, beneath their _kirimon_ or dressing-gown, a tight fitting vest and pair of trousers of blue cotton stuff, and the women one or more wadded cloaks. The middle cla.s.ses always wear a vest and trousers out of doors.

Figs. 138, 139, 140, and 141 represent different j.a.panese types.

Their costume generally differs only in the material of which it is made. The n.o.bility alone have the right to wear silk. They only wear their costlier dresses on the occasions of their going to court or when they pay ceremonial visits. All cla.s.ses wear linen socks and sandals of plaited straw, or wooden shoes fastened by a string looped round the big toe. They all, on their return to their own house, or when entering that of a stranger, take off their shoes, and leave them at the threshold.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 140.--j.a.pANESE SOLDIER.]

The floors of j.a.panese dwellings are covered with mattings, which take the place of every other kind of furniture.

A j.a.panese has but one wife.

The j.a.panese have a taste for science and art, and are fond of music and pageants. Their manufactures are largely developed. They make all sorts of fine stuffs, work skilfully in iron and copper, make capital sword-blades, and their wood carvings, their lacquer-work, and their china, enjoy a wide reputation.

Political power is divided between an hereditary and despotic governor, the _Tac.o.o.n_, and a spiritual chief, the _Mikado_.

The creed of Buddhism, that of the _Kamis_, and the doctrines of Confucius equally divide the religious tendencies of the j.a.panese.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 141.--j.a.pANESE n.o.bLE.]

We will give a few details on the interesting inhabitants of j.a.pan, from the account of a visit to that country written by M. Humbert, the Swiss plenipotentiary there, which was published in 1870 under the t.i.tle of "j.a.pan."

M. Humbert was present at the ceremonies which took place on the occasion of an official visit paid by the Tac.o.o.n to the Mikado, and he gives the following account of it:--

"While I was in j.a.pan, it happened that the Tac.o.o.n paid a visit of courtesy to the Mikado.

"This was an extraordinary event. It made a great sensation, inspired the brush of several native artists, and gave resident foreigners a chance of seeing a little more clearly into the reciprocal relation of the two powers of the empire. Their respective position is really one of considerable interest.

"In the first place, the Mikado has over his temporal rival the advantage of birth and the prestige of his sacred character. Grandson of the Sun, he continues the traditions of the G.o.ds, the demi-G.o.ds, the heroes, and the hereditary sovereigns who have reigned over j.a.pan in an uninterrupted succession since the creation of the empire of the eight great islands. Supreme head of their religion, under whatever form it may present itself to the people, he officiates as the sovereign pontiff of the ancient national creed of the Kamis. At the summer solstice, he offers sacrifices to the earth; at the winter solstice, to heaven. A G.o.d is specially deputed to watch over his precious destiny; from the shrine of the temple he inhabits at the top of Mount Kamo, in the neighbourhood of the Mikado's residence, this deity watches night and day over the Dari. And finally at the death of a Mikado, his name, which it has been ordained shall be inscribed in the temples of his ancestors, is engraved at Kioto, in the temple of Hatchiman; and at Isye, in the temple of the Sun.

"It is indubitably from heaven that the Mikado, both theocratic emperor and hereditary sovereign, derives the authority which he exercises over his people. Though now-a-days, it must be acknowledged, he scarcely knows how to employ it. However, from time to time it seems proper to him to confer pompous t.i.tles, which are entirely honorary, on a few old feudal n.o.bles who have deserved well of the altar. Sometimes also he allows himself the luxury of openly protesting against those acts of the temporal power, which seem to infringe on his prerogatives. This is the course he took with special reference to the treaties made by the Tac.o.o.n with several western nations; it is true that he finally sanctioned them, but that was because he could not help himself.

"Now the Tac.o.o.n, as everybody knows, is the fortunate successor of a common usurper. In fact, the founders of his dynasty, subjects of the then Mikado, robbed their lord and master of his army, his navy, his lands, and his treasure, as if they were desirous of depriving him of any subject of earthly anxiety.

"Possibly the Mikado was too ready to fall in with their plans. The offer of a two-wheeled chariot drawn by an ox, for his daily drive in the parks of his residence, doubtless a considerable privilege in a country where n.o.body uses a conveyance, should not have persuaded him to sacrifice the manly exercises of archery, hawking, and hunting the stag or wild boar. He might likewise, without making himself absolutely invisible, have spared himself the fatigue of the ceremonious receptions where, motionless on a raised platform, he accepts the silent adoration of his courtiers prostrated at his feet. The Mikado, now, they say, only communicates with the exterior world through the medium of the female attendants intrusted with the care of his person. It is they who dress and feed him, clothing him daily in a fresh costume, and serving his meals on table utensils fresh every morning from the manufactory which for centuries has monopolized their supply. His sacred feet never touch the ground; his countenance is never exposed in broad daylight to the common gaze; in a word, the Mikado must be kept pure from all contact with the elements, the sun, the moon, the earth, mankind, and himself.

"It was necessary that the interview should take place at Kioto, the holy town which the Mikado is never allowed to leave. His palace, and the ancient temples of his family are his sole personal possessions there, the town itself being under the rule of the temporal emperor; but the latter dedicates its revenues to the expenses of the spiritual sovereign, and condescends to keep up a permanent garrison within its walls for the protection of the pontifical throne.

"The preliminaries on both sides having been carried out, a proclamation announced the day when the Tac.o.o.n intended to issue forth from his capital, the immense and populous modern town of Yeddo, the head-quarters of the political and civil government of the empire, the seat of the Naval and Military Schools, of the Interpreters' College, and of the Academy of Medicine and Philosophy.

"He was preceded by a division of his army equipped in the European manner, and, while these picked troops, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, were marching on Kioto by land along the great Imperial highway of the Tokado, the fleet received orders to set sail for the inland sea. The temporal sovereign himself, embarked in the splendid steamer, the _Lycemoon_, which he had purchased of the firm of Dent and Co. for five hundred thousand dollars. Six other steamers escorted him; the _Kandimarrah_, notorious for its voyage from Yeddo to San-Francisco to convey the j.a.panese emba.s.sy sent to the United States; the sloop of war, the _Soembing_, a gift from the King of the Netherlands; the yacht _Emperor_, a present from Queen Victoria; and some frigates built in America and in Holland to orders given by the emba.s.sies of 1859 and 1862. Manned entirely by j.a.panese crews, this squadron left the bay of Yeddo, doubled Cape Sagami and the promontory of Idsou, crossed the Linschoten straits, and coasting along the eastern sh.o.r.es of the island of Awadsi, dropped its anchors in the Hiogo roadstead, where the Tac.o.o.n disembarked amid larboard and starboard salutes.

"His state entry into Kioto took place a few days later, with no military parade but that of his own troops, as the Mikado possesses neither soldiers nor artillery, with the exception of a body-guard of archers, recruited from the families of his kinsmen or of the feudal n.o.bility. Indeed, he can hardly afford even on this moderate scale, the expenses of his court; and his own revenue being insufficient, he is obliged to accept with one hand an income the Tac.o.o.n consents to pay him out of his own private purse, and with the other, the amounts that the brethren of a few monastic orders yearly collect for him, from village to village, in even the furthest provinces of the empire.

Another circ.u.mstance that a.s.sists him to support his rank, is the disinterested abnegation of many of his high officials. Some of them serve him with no other remuneration but the free use of the costly regulation dresses of the old imperial wardrobe. On their return home, after doffing their court costume, these haughty gentlemen are not ashamed to seat themselves at a weavers' loom or an embroidery frame.

More than one piece of the rich silk productions of Kioto, the handiwork of which is so much admired, has issued from some of the princely houses, whose names are inscribed in the register of the Kamis.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 142.--j.a.pANESE PALANQUIN.]

"These drawbacks did not prevent the Mikado from inaugurating the day of the interview, by exhibiting to his royal visitor the spectacle of the grand procession of the Dari. Accompanied by his archers, by his household, by his courtiers, and by the whole of his pontifical staff, he left his palace by the southern gateway, which, towards the close of the ninth century, was decorated by the historical compositions of the celebrated painter-poet, Kose Kanaoka. He descended along the boulevards to the suburb washed by the Yodogawa, and returned to the castle through the princ.i.p.al streets of the town.

"The ancient insignia of his supreme power were carried in state at the head of the procession; the mirror of his ancestress Izanami, the beautiful G.o.ddess who gave birth to the sun in the island of Awadsi; the glorious standard, the long paper streamers of which had waved above the heads of the soldiery of Zinmou the conqueror; the flaming sword of the hero of Yamato, who overcame the eight-headed hydra to which virgins of princely blood used to be sacrificed; the seal that stamped the first laws of the empire; and the cedar wood fan, shaped like a lath and used as a sceptre, which for more than two thousand years has descended from the hands of the dead Mikado to those of his successor.