Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara Volume Ii Part 16

The morning after their arrival the Austrian officers, accompanied by the English commissioner Mr. Parkes, whose imprisonment near Pekin has since made his name widely and universally known, paid a visit to the sole Chinese authority still remaining in the town, the Tartar General and Mandarin, Pi-Kwei. An immense crowd had a.s.sembled in the streets through which the foreigners wended their way, and their reception by the Tartar General was accompanied by all the ceremonial of Chinese etiquette: three howitzer salvo-shots, and ear-splitting Chinese music, the General's body-guard, disarmed, drawn up on the staircase, the General himself, wearing his Mandarin cap on his head, nodding and laughing more or less to the foreigners presented, according to their higher or lower rank. The Commodore was provided with a raised seat. In the course of conversation, during which Mr. Parkes kindly acted as interpreter, tea was served.

Pi-Kwei inquired as to the objects of the Expedition, and asked the names of the officers, which, owing to the symbolic nature of Chinese writing, could not be done but after much difficulty. Pi-Kwei, a man of colossal proportions, behaved and spoke like a lamb in presence of the small physically insignificant-looking Mr. Parkes. Like the regents appointed by the Dutch Government in Java, he was nothing more than the agent to carry out the orders of the English.

Our departure was not less ceremonious and noisy than our reception: a number of fire-b.a.l.l.s were let off in front of the building, the noise of which gave much more the impression of an infernal machine than a salute.

The rest of the day the officers spent in reconnoitring various parts of the city, as far as circ.u.mstances admitted, and all returned in the evening to Hong-kong in the same gun-boat which had conveyed them to Canton.

While we were lying at anchor in Hong-kong, an extra sheet of the "_North China Herald_," published at Shanghai, brought intelligence of a treaty of peace having been signed at Tien-Tsin, by Lord Elgin, on the part of England, and the Imperial Commissioners, and that it had been dispatched to Pekin for the purpose of being ratified by the imperial autograph. This treaty, which contained 56 clauses, invested England with far more extensive rights than she had hitherto possessed. Especially it was stipulated that an English amba.s.sador should reside in a palace at Pekin, and be accorded all the honours due to his rank, and that the Christian religion should be professed and taught without any restrictions. British subjects, provided with pa.s.ses from their own consuls, to be countersigned by the local Chinese authorities, were to be permitted to traverse the empire in every direction on business or pleasure; the navigation of the Yang-tse-Kiang, or Blue River, was also declared free; and in addition to the five harbours already opened to foreign commerce by the treaty of Nankin, the English were now to be at liberty to trade with New-Chw.a.n.g, Tang-Char, Tai-Wan (on the island of Formosa), Chau-Chow, and Kiung-Chow (in Hainan), to settle in any of these, to buy and sell house property, as also to erect churches and hospitals, and lay out cemeteries. Chinese subjects guilty of crimes or offences against the English, to be punished by the native authorities in conformity with the law of the land. English subjects, on the other hand, to be subject to the jurisdiction of the British authorities, in similar circ.u.mstances, and treated according to British law. All official communications on the part of the English authorities to be drawn up in English for presentation to the Chinese Government, and although, for the present, accompanied by a translation, shall in the event of uncertainty be construed according to the text of the English original. Article L provides that the symbol [Chinese character(s)] (Barbarian) shall be discontinued in all official doc.u.ments, whether in the capital or the provinces, and the term "English" or "English Government" be subst.i.tuted. On the other hand, the Treaty of Tien-Tsin is silent on the subject of the opium trade, the main point in dispute, the prime cause of the various wars. .h.i.therto broken out! There was mention made of a revision of the tariff only. Obviously the British plenipotentiaries thought they would more readily attain their object if they endeavoured to get this difficult question solved in some less conspicuous manner. The opium merchants, as well as their antagonists the London philanthropists, seemed equally dissatisfied that the opium matter was still left a "pending question." On the whole, however, this was one of the most marked diplomatic peculiarities of the Treaty of Tien-Tsin.

Instead of rousing anew the pa.s.sions of the Chinese, and, by wringing such an open and public concession from that Government, weakening still more the hold of the Emperor over his own people, and, whatever their professions of amity, rendering the authorities yet more hostile and rancorous against the foreigners, the wily English amba.s.sador preferred quietly to include opium amongst the other articles of import under the revised tariff, and thus convert it into a common article of import.

Accordingly, opium, like cotton, hides, and stockfish, may now be imported at a fixed duty of 30 _taels_ (8 15_s._) per _picul_ of 100 _catties_ (133-1/2 lbs.).

The events of which China was the scene shortly after the signature of the treaty, the hostilities of the troops in the Taku forts, the desperate resistance which was made to the advance of the British amba.s.sador, when the latter, agreeably to the stipulations in the new treaty, was preparing to travel to Pekin, all combine to prove that, in their professions of peace and friendliness, the Chinese were not in earnest.

Since that period an army of 20,000 Europeans has dictated a peace to 400,000,000 Asiatics, and their till then deemed impregnable capital; and on 24th October, 1860, Lord Elgin countersigned a new treaty, which, together with the clauses contained in the previous Treaty of Tien-Tsin drawn up two years before, provides for the permanent residence of a British amba.s.sador in the capital of the Chinese Empire, as also for a war indemnity of 8,000,000 _taels_ (2,333,333); throws open the harbour of Tien-Tsin to foreign commerce, permits Chinese subjects to emigrate, without any restrictions, to any part of the British colonies, and to take service there; a.s.signs to Great Britain a portion of the district of Kow-loang or Cow-loon on the mainland opposite Hong-kong; and, finally, ordains that the original treaty, and all the various additional articles, shall be published by placard in every part of the Empire. Never before had the Middle Kingdom sustained such a humiliation. True, during the rule of the former dynasty, Tao-Kw.a.n.g (Light of Reason), an end was put to a system that had endured for a thousand years, but conditions such as those that had been imposed by the western nations in the treaties of Tien-Tsin and Pekin, were altogether unheard of in the history of China, and afford convincing proof of its weakness and approaching downfal, the more so, as the late Emperor Hien-fung was a jealous upholder of the old Asiatic doctrines and state craft. Only the utmost necessity and unceasing pressure could have induced him to lower his arms before the barbarians of the west, and to endure that an enemy should have dictated conditions of peace in his own capital, hitherto inaccessible to foreign nations.

English, French, and American s.h.i.+ps of war hold possession of the most important forts of China. In several provinces of the interior, a rebel emperor has set up his camp, while on the banks of the Amoor, on the north of the Empire, Russia is building fortresses, and acting as if she were quite at home in that region. But all these phenomena, however divergent the interests, may at present point to one stupendous result,--rousing the immense Chinese Empire from its thousand years' lethargy, and forcing the natives who populate it to follow in the great onward career of civilization, which in our days is rus.h.i.+ng with the rapidity of a tempest through the world!

While the Commodore and some of his staff were proceeding to Canton in the gun-boat, the naturalists made an excursion to the Portuguese settlement of Macao, about 35 miles distant from Hong-kong, with which there is bi-weekly communication by an English steamer. Usually this voyage occupies from four to five hours, but the _Sir Charles Forbes_ was a small slow-going tub, and as our departure was delayed several hours in consequence of a large s.h.i.+pment of chests of opium, for which it was hoped a better price would be obtained at Macao, and as we had on our way thither to contend with rain, squalls, and contrary winds, it was dark ere we reached Macao.

We were not a little taken aback at finding several of the pa.s.sengers armed with revolvers. However, these seemingly superfluous precautions against danger in a pleasure sail of a few hours were well founded. Not long before, it had happened that the European pa.s.sengers to Macao had been a.s.sailed by the Chinese on board, and all murdered in cold blood! the Chinese had stealthily watched for the moment when the captain and pa.s.sengers were at table in the confined cabin of the little craft, took possession of the vessel, and murdered every European on board. The captain and some of the pa.s.sengers sprang overboard to save their lives, but only one man, an Englishman, succeeded in effecting his escape, and giving intelligence of this terrible affair. After they had possessed themselves of a considerable booty, the pirates set the vessel on fire, and set at nought all efforts to bring them to punishment by escaping into the interior of the country.

The arrangements for paying pa.s.sage-money, expenses, &c., are apt to strike a stranger as singular. Gold is absolutely out of use, and the current coins, such as Mexican dollars, and copper money, or cash, are too bulky to admit of their being lugged about to pay large amounts. In order to provide for the expenses of a pleasure party of a couple of days it would be necessary to take a large bag, which there was the further danger might disappear somewhere without hands. An excellent arrangement has accordingly been introduced, by which each pa.s.senger pays his fare and other expenses, by means of a check on any one of the mercantile houses in Macao or Hong-kong, which is filled up with the entire amount for collection by the controller, and is cashed on his return. This custom is also a remarkable example of mutual confidence in public life, even if it be explained by the fact that the majority of the pa.s.sengers are well known, and that China has as yet only been frequented by well-off foreigners.

The pa.s.sage from Hong-kong to Macao is not entirely devoid of interest.

The course of the steamer lies at first among narrow ca.n.a.ls, between lofty granite rocks: so soon as she emerges from these, the muddy disturbed colour of the water indicates that she is now crossing the mouth of the Canton River proper. Stately s.h.i.+ps are seen pa.s.sing up or down, while junks and fis.h.i.+ng-boats are plying on every side. The majestic conical peak, 3000 feet high, of the island of Lantao, and the Castle Peak scarred with a deep furrow from top to bottom, on the mainland of the province of Quang-tong directly opposite, form the background. The regularity of the conical shape in these peaks, which seems to point to their being of volcanic origin, renders it probable that they are either granite or porphyritic in structure. The mouth of the Canton River is so wide, that the opposing sh.o.r.es only gradually become visible, the wide expanse of water, extending on every side till lost in the horizon, giving the traveller the impression that he is on the open sea.

Already, before the houses of Macao could be very easily made out, we pa.s.sed the merchant s.h.i.+ps lying in the roads, which cannot approach within from six to eight nautical miles. The small thoroughly land-locked "inner harbour," as it is called, lying on the other side of the narrow tongue of land on which Macao is situate, is only accessible for small vessels and Chinese junks, which visit it in large numbers.

The first view of the city of Macao is not less charming than that of Victoria. The long ranges of houses are picturesquely grouped around the numerous little hills surmounted by forts, which form the greater part of the isthmus; while the beautiful Praya Grande, where palaces and imposing mansions are disposed in long array close along the sh.o.r.e, in order to get the benefit of the refres.h.i.+ng sea-breezes, makes a deep and lasting impression upon the stranger. Churches with lofty double towers shooting into the air, and the vast dome of the Jesuit College, at once single the city out as Catholic, and impart to its external aspect a strong contrast with the adjoining English colony.

Macao is a favourite resort of the foreigners settled in Hong-kong for change of air, which in these lat.i.tudes seems to be even more necessary than in Europe. So long as Canton was the chief seat of the European traders, the Portuguese settlement was used by them as a summer residence for their families, whither they could themselves occasionally retire from the bustle of Canton, and the attendant insecurity of life, to spend a few days of calm enjoyment with their families. On account of the alarms of war of the previous year, most of the Canton merchants had come down to Hong-kong and Macao to settle, in consequence of which the latter town has an unusually lively appearance, while its trade, which had previously been in a rather languis.h.i.+ng condition, has materially improved.

When the steamer makes its appearance in the roads of Macao, it is immediately surrounded by an innumerable swarm of what are called Tanka-boats, mostly propelled by women, who with yells and shrieks bid for the privilege of conveying the pa.s.sengers to sh.o.r.e. As there is no suitable landing-place on the eastern side of the roads, the traveller is conveyed to the sh.o.r.e through the lash of the waves in a small c.o.c.kle-shaped boat, just as at Madeira or Madras, and equally uncomfortably; but although the boat and the mode in which it is navigated are anything but calculated to inspire confidence, such a thing as an accident is of rare occurrence.

The naturalists of the _Novara_ found an exceedingly friendly and hearty reception at the beautiful residence of the Russian Consul, M. Von Carlowitz, who shortly before had come from Canton to settle in Macao, with his excellent wife, a very beautiful lady of Altenburg in Germany, there to await the upshot of the war.

Our first visit the following morning--a bright and beautiful Sabbath morning--was to the renowned Camoens Grotto, situated in a large well-wooded park, partly covered with primeval forest, the property of a Portuguese family of the name of Marquez. All around there reigned utter, almost sacred silence. Here it was that Camoens, banished from his native land, wrote his Lusiad. The park with its fragrant shady aisles, its majestic leafy domes, impervious even to the rays of the tropical sun, its huge piles of rock round which clamber the immense roots of gigantic fig-trees, its deliciously cool atmosphere, its soft green velvet paths, its heaps of ruined walls, and its death-like quietness, seems as though destined for the asylum of an exiled poet, who, instead of lamenting his destiny like common men in sullen silence, felt his spirit roused amid this wonderful tropical beauty to fresh sublime efforts,--"Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme!" In an ill-contrived niche in the substructure of the grotto is a bust, in terra-cotta, of the great poet, with the inscription, "Louis de Camoens, born 1524, died 1579." On the broad marble pedestal whereon stands this bust, which savours but little of artistic taste, various verses from the Lusiad have been engraved with an iron stylus.[120] Formerly this grotto must have had a much more agreeable appearance, but the present proprietor thought to beautify it by making an addition to it, which has resulted in its having almost entirely lost its original character. From one point within the grotto, called the observatory, and traditionally used as such by Camoens, there is a beautiful peep over the inner harbour, with its throng of busy human ants.

Quite close to this singular abode for a poet, is the meeting-house of an evangelical Christian community, numbering about 200 souls, with a cemetery attached, which, with its handsome stone monuments and beautifully laid-out gardens, const.i.tutes one of the most interesting places of outdoor resort in the colony.

The most extensive and important edifice in the settlement of Macao, founded in 1563 by the Portuguese, on a peninsula of the same name, about five square miles in extent, is the PaG.o.da of Makok and its different temples, situate on the slope of a hill between picturesque groups of granite rocks, studded with gigantic Chinese inscriptions and splendid clumps of trees. At the entrance of this retreat for the G.o.ds, is a large fantastically-adorned Buddhist temple, surrounded by a large number of apartments, in which reside the priests, and where they carry on their household duties, and prepare tapers and sycee-paper for the wors.h.i.+p of their deities, and where are also a few private altars to divinities, whose influence and protection the Chinese ladies of doubtful reputation do not, it seems, venture publicly to invoke.

Steps cut in the granite rock conduct to the highest point, about 200 feet above sea-level, on which there is likewise a temple. At the time of our visit, a number of Buddhist priests in long yellow plaited garments were ascending to the summit, preceded by flute-players, there to perform their devotions. On their return they distributed among the poor Chinese congregated in the chief apartment of the temple, a large quant.i.ty of fruit and other eatables.

While at Macao we visited one of the most respected of the foreigners settled there, Dr. Kane, an English physician, who has for years resided in the colony. This gentleman was so kind as to present us with the head of a statue from the renowned nine-storied or Flower PaG.o.da (Hwa-tah) near Canton, which during a visit he paid to that half-ruined edifice in March, 1857, he had found lying on the ground, a fragment from a sandstone figure on the seventh story, representing a pupil of Buddha. This PaG.o.da, 160 feet high, was constructed upwards of a thousand years since, which must accordingly be the age of the relic in question.

The number of inhabitants at present in Macao amounts to about 97,000, of whom 90,000 are Chinese and 7000 Portuguese and Mestizoes. Of other foreign nations there are but a very few in the peninsula. The chief article of commerce in the colony is opium, which finds its way hence into the interior in large quant.i.ties. Hong-kong is in too close proximity, is too favourably situated, and is inhabited by too energetic a race, to admit of Macao, especially so long as it remains in the hands of the Portuguese, recovering its former commercial importance. Portugal derives but little profit from her colonies, and it is only national pride that will not hear of this possession, which is more a burden than a source of aid to the mother country, being disposed of by way of sale to either the English or the North Americans. However, the maintenance of this colony costs the Portuguese home Government but little, as the colonists support the chief expenses themselves. Thus the pay of the Governor, who receives 1260 per annum, as also that of the military force of about 400 men, and of a small s.h.i.+p stationed in the harbour, are all defrayed by the colonists.

Macao is at present the chief point for the s.h.i.+pment of Chinese labourers or coolies to the West Indies. There are above 10,000 Chinese annually whom hunger and want drive to sell themselves virtually as slaves to the traders in human flesh, to drag out a miserable existence far from home.

They are chiefly sent from Macao to the Havanna. We visited the house in which these pitiable objects are confined till the departure of the s.h.i.+p; we saw the haggard, reckless look of these wretched beings, who, despite the dreadful fate that awaits them, hire themselves out to Portuguese and Spanish kidnappers. In return for a free pa.s.sage to Havanna, they bind themselves to work for eight years after their arrival with whatever master is found for them at four dollars a month,[121] a rate of wage very much lower than that paid to the labourer of the country, or even to the manumitted slave. This immense difference however does not accrue so much to the West India planter as to the speculators who are engaged in the importation of Chinese, for each of whom a large premium is paid. The voyage, which usually lasts from four to five months and costs about 70 a head, is chiefly carried on in French, Portuguese, and--alas! that it should be so--English and German s.h.i.+ps. What sufferings the unhappy emigrants are exposed to during the voyage, appears from the fact that a number of them not unfrequently jump overboard, to seek a refuge from their misery under the waves. Cases have been known in which, owing to hard fare and mismanagement, 38 per cent. of the emigrants have died on the pa.s.sage![122]

The society which takes charge of this trade in exporting men is known as the _Colonisadora_, and has its head-quarters in the Havanna. Each Chinese must before leaving Macao subscribe a contract which is for the exclusive benefit of the society, and by which the poor emigrants explicitly renounce all the advantage they might derive from certain paragraphs in the Spanish Emigration Act, pa.s.sed in 1854, which bear upon the interpretation of such contracts. As it is usually only the very poorest, most s.h.i.+ftless, and most ignorant cla.s.s that emigrates, the contract is enforced without the smallest scruple, and if afterwards the emigrant in the foreign country becomes aware of the privations and oppression he has to submit to in comparison with other workers, the obligations he has entered into are made use of to invoke the protection of the Spanish authorities.[123] The fact however that these latter secretly favour the objections of the colonization society, sufficiently proves that the interests of a social cla.s.s and the extension of the labour market in the island are considered by them as of far higher importance than the good of mankind.

To the English Government is due the credit of having initiated an energetic protest against this trade in human beings, and of having taken such steps as tend to mitigate the evil consequences which cannot but result from such a system of deportation. Its representative at the Havanna, Mr. Crawford, was the first and indeed only individual who ventured to make representations to the Spanish Government as to the little humanity shown for these poor Chinese emigrants, and to draw public attention to the system.[124] Under a humane and well-managed administration of the emigration system in China, it might prove of immense service to those countries which are eager to absorb labour, as, owing to the super-abundance of labour in China, a far larger supply as well as a much higher cla.s.s of labourers might be procured.

M. de Carlowitz was so kind as to accompany us in our various rambles to the more interesting sights and points of view, and more especially when we were busied "doing" the "lines" of the city. On an eminence in the suburbs, about 200 feet high, is what is known as Monte fort, garrisoned by 150 men, whence there is a charming panorama, and the eye catches sight of the Chinese village of Whang-hia, at the period of our visit most hostilely disposed, and where on July 3rd, 1844, the first treaty of peace, friends.h.i.+p, and commerce, was drawn up and signed between China and the United States. Another hill, about 300 feet high, at the outer extremity of the peninsula, on which many years ago the Portuguese had erected a fort, of which only the foundations can now be traced, commands the tongue of land on which stands the city, as well as all the eastern portion of the island, and amply repays the trouble of ascent. On the road thither, by which the communication with the mainland of China is mainly carried on, we came upon the corpse of a coolie, which had apparently lain for several days in the very middle of the road. A part of the head and the right hand had been already stripped of the flesh by the carrion-crows, and enormous swarms of insects had fastened on the upper portions of the naked horribly swollen dead body. The miserable being had obviously fallen a victim to want and dest.i.tution. His strength seemed to have failed him while he was earning his miserable subsistence, as two empty broken panniers were lying close beside him. Crowds of people were pa.s.sing daily, men, women, children, even Portuguese taking their customary promenade on foot or on horseback, without any person giving himself the least trouble to remove the shocking spectacle. Even the representations of the foreign consuls seem to have but little influence on the Portuguese authorities in these matters, and it appears that it is by no means an infrequent occurrence to see dead bodies lying about. A hardly less sickening spectacle was presented on the slope of the hill, where were erected a couple of dozen of small, wretched, filthy huts of palm-straw, which served for the reception of a number of sick and lepers, who, shunned and abandoned by all the world, were sinking in their misery into the grave. Leprosy is regarded by the Chinese as a punishment for secret sins, and those visited with it are accordingly deprived of all a.s.sistance or attention. Very probably this coolie, whose body we thus saw lying on the road, was one of those unfortunates who were here digging, as it were, their own graves.

The isthmus which unites the Portuguese settlement on the peninsula with the mainland, is barely a quarter of a mile in length by 500 feet in breadth. Formerly there was a wall built right across the centre of this tongue of land, which marked the limit of the colony. Here Chinese sentinels used to march to and fro to protect the Flowery Kingdom. This, however, did not prevent the "_Macaoistas_," as the inhabitants of Macao are accustomed to call themselves, from making frequent excursions and pic-nic parties to the mainland and the adjacent Chinese villages. On 22nd August, 1848, however, when the then governor of Macao, Dom Joao Maria Ferreira do Amaral, while riding along the narrow part of the isthmus, was set upon by a couple of armed Chinese, torn from his horse, and beheaded, his skull and hand being carried off by the murderers, the Portuguese pulled down the wall and destroyed the adjoining Chinese fort, so that not a vestige of either now remains. The government of Macao insisted on the murderers being delivered up, as also on the rest.i.tution of the head and hand of the victim, but after the lapse of a year the authorities received an official notification that the murderers had been discovered, and on confession of the crime had been executed at Shunteh. The head and hand of the unhappy Amaral were delivered to the Portuguese officials by two Chinese commissioners, and solemnly interred with the other remains. In the course of the correspondence with reference to this matter[125]

between the Chinese and Portuguese authorities, it appeared that, owing to certain stringent regulations he had laid down, Governor Amaral had long been marked out for destruction by the Chinese population of Macao. The chief complaint against him was that he had profaned the graves of their ancestors in the suburbs of Macao, and had constructed new streets right through them. Every attack of illness, every unlucky speculation, every unexpected mischance, which happened to any of the Chinese residents in Macao, was ascribed to the vengeance of those spirits, whose repose had been so wantonly violated for such an insignificant purpose. The Chinese have no regular cemeteries for their dead. They inter them anywhere about the towns.h.i.+p, simply marking the spot with a stone or an inscription. At the new-year's festival these graves are adorned in the most gaudy manner, none, not even of the poorest, being neglected in this respect. This pious feeling for the dead is in singular and rude contrast with the indifference with which the Chinese regard the misfortunes of their neighbours, and the cruelty with which mothers expose their new-born children, or even leave them to die.

The trade between Macao and the mainland is very active: in the quarter of an hour that we were upon the isthmus there pa.s.sed at least 60 men loaded with goods or provisions, moving to and fro to the settlement. Among these there were also sedan-chairmen, conveying back to the neighbouring villages such of the better cla.s.s of Chinese as had been doing business in the city. The effect of warlike rumours from Canton and the Pei-ho had meanwhile become apparent among the European population of Macao. The insecurity of life and property increased daily. No one could venture to go a mile or two beyond the city. Even a beautiful pic-nic house, erected by the foreigners on "Green Island," close by the town, whither during peaceful times frequent excursions were made by European residents with their families, had been for months empty and gutted.

The Praya Grande, or rather the shady promenade, at its eastern extremity serves as a rendezvous for the gay world, and on Sundays, when a band of music plays here, one can scarcely pa.s.s through the crowd.

The Portuguese, who even in their native country are not a handsome race, lose still more in their physical qualities by the unscrupulous manner in which they cross with the native races. This circ.u.mstance makes the contrast still more apparent of simple, graceful, pale ladies of the Anglo-Saxon race, who now and then appear between the ugly dark natives.

In the evening, towards sunset, these lovely creatures make their appearance in their sedan or other chairs in the Campo San Francisco, there to enjoy the cool evening sea-breezes. A great number of sedan porters halt here with their precious burdens, and elegantly-attired cavaliers saunter about, striving by amiable phrases and flattering remarks to elicit a smile. While these vehicles form the commonest mode of conveyance, we also saw there but few saddle-horses, and only one single carriage, the property of a rich brownish native, baronized for the amount of 40,000 dollars, and who thought by this means to display his taste, his luxury, and his n.o.bility!

We had heard so much of certain wonderful singing stones, on a large island opposite the inner part of the harbour, that several of our party made an excursion thither. Neither natives nor indeed Europeans could give us any explanation of this singular phenomenon, but all hold that the stones must contain metal in some certain proportion, while electricity and magnetism would do the rest. The naturalists were accompanied to this mysterious spot by M. Von Carlowitz, Dr. Kane, and a Chinese physician, Dr. Wong-fun. The estimable and highly-educated Wong-fun had graduated as Doctor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, and had afterwards enlarged his experience by practising some time in the United States, since which he had practised the healing art with great success upon his own countrymen. A European in intelligence and education, he was still a Chinese in external appearance, and wore, as formerly, a long tail.

Probably Wong-fun adhered to this ancient custom in order the more readily to indoctrinate his fellow-countrymen with European ideas.

Some small Tanka-boats, in which, as already mentioned, only two persons can be accommodated at once, and which are exclusively managed by women, conveyed our party over the bosom of the inner harbour to the opposite sh.o.r.e. We then proceeded through a beautiful valley, covered with rice fields, and traversed in its entire extent by a mountain torrent, which is dammed off, and drives a number of Chinese mills with the small water-courses. In the background of this valley lies the mysterious spot.

The marvel itself presently became visible in a large expanse of syenite rock, greatly resembling that in the Oderwald of Hesse. Some of these have been tilted on the others, and the hard syenite resounds when struck with a hammer, just as a block of marble or basalt vibrates when struck, with a bell-like sound. These musical blocks therefore are but little interesting, unless that the Chinese make use of them to sculpture the figures of lions and tigers to adorn the entrances of their temples.

After a stay of two days in Macao, the naturalists returned to Hong-kong, where they had to devote the little time that would elapse ere the frigate sailed to sorting and packing the collections, and arranging for their transmission: for the manipulation of packing is, as Humboldt well remarked, as important as actual science in such undertakings. That naturalist confers but a small boon on science, whose only care is to collect, but who takes no pains to preserve, the fruits of his labour, by an exact indication of the place where found, and such special particulars as may prevent mistakes, and by carefully guarding against damage to the objects about to be sent, while on their way.

The kind reception and hospitality of our new friends in Hong-kong remained undiminished to the very last moment of our stay. We were fairly overwhelmed with attentions of all sorts, each apparently striving to make us forget the unfavourable circ.u.mstances under which we visited the Empire of China.

The steamer _Hong-kong_, early on the morning of 18th July, towed us out through the narrow Eastern Straits, the Ly-e-num Pa.s.s, and the Ta-thong-wun Channel, into the open sea. As we pa.s.sed alongside the English frigate _Nankin_, carrying the broad pendant of the amiable and excellent Commodore Stewart, our band played "G.o.d save the Queen," while the English ensign was dipped, by way of parting salute. A little further on the Chinese Comprador, who had supplied the _Novara_ with provisions daily during her stay, had stationed himself in his boat to give us a parting farewell with a roar of gong-gong, while innumerable rockets whizzed and exploded in the air.

We found a tolerably high sea outside, but a fine fresh S.W. breeze, under which we rapidly increased our distance from the sh.o.r.e. In like manner as when we entered, we had now in getting out to thread our way among thousands of fis.h.i.+ng-boats sailing about in couples, which cruise about to a distance of even 50 and 60 miles to sea. The steamer which towed us through the narrow Eastern Channel, and had us just four hours and twenty minutes in tow, charged the amount of 300 dollars (63), so that each minute of towing cost rather over one dollar. After making a tack towards Lemma Island, in order to avoid the dangerous Nine-pin rock, the wind sprung up from E.S.E., so that we were enabled to lie our proper course, and by sundown had cleared _Piedra bianca_.

With fine weather and a fresh S.W. monsoon our voyage was so speedy, that by 2nd July we were in the lat.i.tude of Formosa, but without being able to distinguish the high land, either on the Chinese coast or on that island, and by 23rd July we were off the Saddle Islands, at the mouth of the Yang-tse-Kiang.

Just as we reached this, the door, as it were, through which we had to enter, the weather chose to change with the utmost suddenness. Calms and contrary winds, coupled with the powerful current of the mighty river, sweeping through the islands, prevented our further advance, and on the 24th we had to cast anchor near the easternmost Saddle Island. Close to us on every side were numbers of other s.h.i.+ps equally unfortunate with ourselves, while the spectacle of the steamers, pursuing their course without feeling any obstruction, filled us with envy. We had taken a Chinese pilot on board, and by 25th July were in sight of Gutzlaff, a small islet of rock 210 feet high, the best land-mark of the "Son of Ocean," and just before sunset anch.o.r.ed off the outer bar. We now had fair breezes, and without further obstacles pa.s.sed over the bar in from 30 to 33 feet water, which in bad weather, however, is exceedingly dangerous. We were still out of sight of land; even the islands we had already pa.s.sed sank below the horizon, and still there was nothing visible but an unbroken expanse of yellowish-red water, which reflected with the utmost brilliancy the rays of the sun. A light-s.h.i.+p moored to a sand-bank, and a wreck on another sand-bank, are, after leaving Gutzlaff Island, the sole land-marks by which the pilot can hope to keep the channel, which is only from one to two miles wide in this vast sh.o.r.eless river estuary. Indeed the entrance of the Yang-tse-Kiang is regarded as one of the most difficult feats for a large s.h.i.+p. With favourable wind and weather, the _Novara_ cleared without accident the 47 miles between the bar and the place where the Wusung falls into the Yang-tse-Kiang, and on the evening of the 26th July dropped anchor in front of Wusung. The navigation presented little that was interesting, yet each man involuntarily felt a thrill as he reflected that he was sailing in the current of the longest river in China, whose source lies thousands of miles inland at Khukkunor, among the Mangolians.

As we neared Wusung, signs of life began to be visible on the river itself; tall three-masters were pa.s.sing, bound in or out, and scores of Chinese junks with their peculiar rig and build. Far above the light-s.h.i.+p the sh.o.r.e first became visible, low, flat, scarcely above the level of the river, but green and fertile. A PaG.o.da of the well-known form of the Porcelain tower of Nankin and a few lofty trees enable the pilot to take the bearings of the channel at this point. Only the land on the left is actual mainland, the sh.o.r.e on the right being the coast of the island of Tsuning, lying at the mouth of the river. At the mouth of the Wusung, this southern arm of the Yang-tse-Kiang, as formed by the above-named island, is about six and a half nautical miles in width, and a little higher up is further narrowed by Bush Island to a width of four miles.

The first inhabited spot at the junction of the Wusung and Yang-tse-Kiang is the wretched filthy village of Wusung, which owes its importance solely and exclusively to the opium boats, which the merchants of Hong-kong and Shanghai used to station here in the stream, in order more readily to sell and deliver to the Chinese that forbidden article. Thus the natives took on themselves the responsibility of opium smuggling, while the foreign merchants became thereby involved in a conflict with the Chinese Government. The opium sold per month from the s.h.i.+ps stationed at Wusung amounts to from 2500 to 2800 chests, in value about 500 _taels_ (150) per chest (375,000 to 420,000).

The mouth of the Wusung is the entrance to Shanghai, which lies about 12 miles up the Wusung or Shanghai river, but in consequence of a mud-bank is only accessible to large s.h.i.+ps at spring-tide. Nankin lies up the Yang-tse-Kiang 180 miles from Shanghai, the channel being so deep that even a frigate may sail close up under its walls. Six hundred miles distant from the embouchure of the Wusung lie the three immense cities of Wu-chang, Hang-iang, and Shan-Keu, containing 8,000,000 inhabitants, the central point of the internal commerce of China; and about 400 miles further up are the first rapids of the Yang-tse-Kiang, which completely prevent all further navigation. Up to this point the mighty river, like the Mississippi, the Rhine, or the Danube, may be navigated by river steamers, without the slightest danger or difficulty. What an enormous trade, what a tremendous development, will ere long be witnessed here, so soon as, in accordance with the stipulations of the Tien-Tsin and Pekin treaties, English s.h.i.+ps, freighted with goods and necessaries of all sorts, shall steam up this most splendid of rivers and its tributaries, and the inhabitants of the far interior shall become acquainted with the products of European industry, and in exchange shall export to Europe innumerable articles of new and valuable trade. For it is the greatest service of the merchant that he not alone opens new channels of commerce, and by increased exportation of the fabrics of his native land tends to build up his power, but that he civilizes foreign nations, and enriches science and industry with innumerable fresh acquisitions.

The larger s.h.i.+ps usually lie at anchor at the little Chinese village of Wusung on the river of that name, just where it falls into the Yang-tse-Kiang, and here accordingly, owing to the hostilities, we found upwards of twenty s.h.i.+ps of war of various nationalities at anchor. Among others the powerful American steam-s.h.i.+p _Minnesota_, and the French frigates _Audacieuse_ and _Nemesis_, an imposing spectacle in these distant regions, and to which the half-ruined Chinese fort on the tongue of land between the Wusung and the Yang-tse-Kiang, with its couple of wretched cannon, presented a tragi-comic contrast. Numbers of Chinese boats, from the smallest cloth-awning _sampan_ propelled by one man with a paddle to the large junk with fifteen masts, and sentences painted along the bends, were cruising in every direction. Ere long a Comprador found his way on board, who according to custom undertook to provide the frigate with everything she required.

Commodore Wullerstorff purposed proceeding with the frigate to Shanghai; but as it would be necessary to wait for a fair wind, or else to engage another steam-tug, implying a delay of several days, the naturalists were permitted to avail themselves of the opportunity offered by the Comprador's boat to proceed at once to Shanghai, which voyage we were two hours and a half in performing.

While the number of European merchantmen that we pa.s.sed, some lying at anchor in front of Wusung, others sailing up or down stream, was quite surprising, yet the sight of the river at Shanghai far surpa.s.sed all expectation. Here, close packed together in a channel rather narrower than elsewhere, was drawn up tier after tier of s.h.i.+pping, a quite impervious forest of masts, athwart which at intervals the large warehouses of the European merchants indistinctly loomed, lining the banks on either side.

The newspaper lists at the time of our visit gave the names of no less than 102 large American and European merchantmen in the Shanghai River, in addition to which there were upwards of a thousand native junks lying in the stream with their short crooked masts, the most convincing evidence of the commercial importance which this place has attained within the short s.p.a.ce of time that has elapsed since by the Treaty of Nankin in 1842 foreign factories were authorized to be erected here.

On the sh.o.r.e the flags of the Consulates of the more important sea-faring nations fluttered gaily in the breeze from lofty flag-staffs on the top of the imposing buildings. Hardly had we landed ere we were surrounded by an ungainly crowd of Chinese coolies, who with their bamboo staves began such a serious battle among themselves for the right of carrying our baggage, that it was only by the interposition of the police that several were not left on the spot severely wounded.

The intelligence that there was in Shanghai not a single house of entertainment, such as we understand by the name of "hotel" in Europe, was the less agreeable, as the dwellings of the resident Europeans, where, under ordinary circ.u.mstances, strangers are received with the utmost hospitality, happened at present to be occupied by the officers of the numerous war-s.h.i.+ps, as well as by members of the two emba.s.sies. The only place where we could be received was what is known as the Union Hotel, a den in the fullest sense of the word, in which we pa.s.sed one of the most uncomfortable nights we ever remember. Myriads of mosquitoes, the true blood-thirsty "gallinipper," loud-shouting drunken seamen, dogs howling, intolerable heat, which not even a tremendous thunder-storm that broke forth during the night could a.s.suage,--such were some of the amenities of our reception, which, despite our exhaustion, utterly precluded sleep.

With unspeakable longing we watched for the dawn of the morning, and, thanks to the hospitality of our new friends, we were in the course of the day fortunate enough to be released from this hideous abode.