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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life and sport in China, by Oliver G. Ready
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Life and sport in China
+       Second Edition
+
+Author: Oliver G. Ready
+
+Release Date: August 24, 2008 [EBook #26412]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE AND SPORT IN CHINA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlene Taylor, Jeannie Howse and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Transcriber's Note:                                       |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has     |
+    | been preserved.                                           |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Bolded text is marked with ='s, =like this=.              |
+    |                                                           |
+    | In the original text, Hai-tzu is spelled with the         |
+    | letter u accented with a breve, for the purpose of this   |
+    | e-text that has been changed to u.                        |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For     |
+    | a complete list, please see the end of this document.     |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+LIFE AND SPORT IN CHINA
+
+
+
+
+LIFE AND SPORT
+IN CHINA
+
+
+BY
+
+OLIVER G. READY, B.A.
+
+
+_SECOND EDITION_
+
+
+LONDON
+CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED
+1904
+
+
+
+
+   [Illustration: PAGODA, NEAR HANKOW.
+   _Frontispiece._]
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S NOTE
+
+
+The British public is greatly handicapped in forming an intelligent
+appreciation of happenings in China by a lack of that initial
+experience which can only be gained by residence in the country.
+
+In this little work I have endeavoured to place before readers a
+sketch of things as I saw them, and to convey to their minds an idea
+of how Europeans live there, of their amusements, of their work, and
+of those things which are matters of daily interest to them, so that
+my book may serve as a kind of preface to that enthralling volume, the
+current history of China, as it is daily revealed in the press, in
+magazines and in learned works.
+
+While confining myself herein to the lighter side of narrative, I am
+not unconscious of those intricate problems and deep studies connected
+with the Far East, but to which profound research and matured judgment
+must be applied, though information thereon, even when collected and
+published, would appeal mostly to the narrow circle of experts on
+matters Chinese.
+
+The vast Empire of China with its hundreds of millions of toiling
+slaves, with its old, old civilisation reaching back for untold years
+prior to the dawn of history in the West, with its manners and
+customs so worn into the national character that they almost form the
+character itself, with its fertile plains, its sandy deserts, its
+lofty mountains, its mighty rivers, its torrid heat and arctic cold,
+its devastating floods, its cruel famines and loathsome epidemics,
+represents a _mass_, the contemplation of which staggers the mind and
+makes one ask, "What is Europe trying to do here? Does she hope to
+conquer, to change or to purify?"
+
+After a residence of twelve years in various parts of the country I
+instinctively feel that while military occupation by the Great Powers
+may be possible, not only is China in a sense unconquerable, but that
+she is eminently a conquering nation, though not by clash of arms.
+Insidiously, remorselessly and viciously she will subdue apostles of
+the West who are sent to her, and unless persistently restrained will
+overflow into adjacent lands and conquer there by cheap labour and
+unremitting toil.
+
+For the photographs I am indebted to the generosity of Mrs T. Child,
+as well as to T.T.H. Ferguson, A.J.E. Allen, Carlos Cabral and the
+late H. Hall, Esquires.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAP.                                                             PAGE
+
+   I. ANGLO-CHINESE LIFE                                             1
+
+  II. SERVANTS AND TRADESMEN                                        26
+
+ III. SHOOTING                                                      46
+
+  IV. RIDING                                                        73
+
+   V. SAILING                                                       96
+
+  VI. JAMBOREES                                                    119
+
+ VII. AROUND PEKING                                                139
+
+VIII. HERE AND THERE                                               169
+
+  IX. THE MARRIAGE TIE                                             197
+
+   X. DISCUSSED POINTS: PEOPLE, LANGUAGE, MISSIONARIES, CHANCES    212
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                     PHOTO BY
+
+PAGODA NEAR HANKOW                   H. HALL            _Frontispiece_
+
+THE BRITISH CONCESSION, HANKOW      _Chinese_         _To face page_ 3
+
+HOUSE-COOLIE, BOY, COOK,
+  AND "NO. 2."                      T.T.H. FERGUSON         "       37
+
+HOUSE-BOAT ON THE YANGTSE           A.J.E. ALLEN            "       50
+
+THE CAB OF NORTHERN CHINA           A.J.E. ALLEN            "       75
+
+THE OLD GRAND-STAND, HANKOW
+  RACES, 1888                       _Chinese_               "       87
+
+FOOCHOW JUNK, SHOWING EYE           T.T.H. FERGUSON         "       98
+
+PLAYING FANTAN IN PRIVATE HOUSE     CARLOS CABRAL           "      133
+
+THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA             T.T.H. FERGUSON         "      158
+
+AVENUE OF STONE FIGURES, MING
+  TOMBS                             T.T.H. FERGUSON         "      161
+
+A TYPICAL FARM-HOUSE                H. HALL                 "      177
+
+FISHING-JUNKS IN MACAO HARBOUR
+  AT CHINESE NEW YEAR               CARLOS CABRAL           "      189
+
+BUDDHIST PRIEST AND ACOLYTE
+  HOLDING BOOK                      T. CHILD                "      228
+
+
+
+
+VOCABULARY
+
+
+  =Bund.= The embankment or quay of a concession.
+
+  =Concession.= A strip of land conceded by China to another Power
+      exclusively for the residences of foreigners.
+
+  =Camoëns.= Portuguese poet who wrote the Luciad at Macao.
+
+  =Chit.= Any letter or note, also an I.O.U.
+
+  =Chop chop.= Quickly. Hurry up.
+
+  =Compradore.= Chinese agent or partner.
+
+  =Coolie.= Chinese labourer.
+
+  =Cumshaw.= A tip or present.
+
+  =European.= In China this word is equally applicable to
+      Americans.
+
+  =Foreigner.= European or American in China.
+
+  =Gingall.= Heavy muzzle-loading musket requiring two men to
+      carry and fire it.
+
+  =Han, Children of.= Chinese.
+
+  =Kowtow.= To make obeisance by striking the head on the ground.
+
+  =Lowdah.= Sailing-master.
+
+  =Mafoo.= Groom.
+
+  =Native.= Chinese.
+
+  =Out-port.= Any treaty port except Shanghai, and Hongkong.
+
+  =Papico.= Junk from Ningpo, shaped aft like a duck.
+
+  =Pow.= To gallop.
+
+  =Praia Grande.= Esplanade facing sea.
+
+  =Pumelo.= A coarse fruit resembling an enormous orange.
+
+  =Punkah.= Large fan suspended from ceiling for ventilating
+      room.
+
+  =Ricksha.= Small gig drawn by a coolie, who plies it for hire.
+
+  =Runner.= Official underling. Police agent.
+
+  =Sai.= Here I am. A word used by servants combining Sir and
+      _Lai_, to come.
+
+  =Samli.= A fish resembling salmon.
+
+  =Sampan.= Small native boat.
+
+  =Samshu.= Spirit distilled from rice or millet.
+
+  =Settlement.= Where Europeans have settled on a limited strip of
+      Chinese territory.
+
+  =Shroff.= Chinese accountant, cashier and banker.
+
+  =Squeeze.= Recognised cheating.
+
+  =Sycee Shoes.= Rough lumps of silver cast in shape of
+      China-woman's small shoe or of half-globe.
+
+  =Tiffin.= Luncheon.
+
+  =Treaty-port.= Any port opened by treaty to foreign trade.
+
+  =Waler.= Horse from New South Wales.
+
+  =Westerner.= European or American.
+
+  =Yamên.= Official building.
+
+  =Yulow.= A scull worked over the stern.
+
+  =Zacousca.= Russian appetiser or snack taken before meals.
+
+
+
+
+Life and Sport in China
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+ANGLO-CHINESE LIFE
+
+
+Anglo-Chinese life is a sealed book to most people at home, who, if
+they ever think about it at all, do so with minds adversely biassed by
+ignorance of the conditions, a hazy idea of intense heat, and a
+remembrance of cruel massacres.
+
+"Going to China" always elicits looks and exclamations of astonishment
+at so rash an undertaking, but which the stock questions as to whether
+we eat with chopsticks, whether it is not always unbearably hot, and
+whether we like the Chinese, explain as disquietude arising from the
+idea of encountering "evils that we know not of."
+
+Our early business relations with the Chinese were conducted at
+Canton, to which port opium in particular was shipped direct from
+India, but owing to the hostility of Chinese officials towards British
+merchants and the legitimate expansion of their trade, quarrels were
+frequent, culminating in the so-called Opium War of 1840-42, resulting
+in the acquisition by us of the small, barren island of Hongkong, and
+the opening to foreign trade of five ports, including Canton and
+Shanghai, at all of which small plots of land some half a mile square
+were set apart for the exclusive residence of foreigners generally but
+of Englishmen in particular. Disputes, however, did not cease, so that
+twenty years later England and France in co-operation, attacked China,
+and wrung from her the right of foreign ministers accredited to the
+Chinese court to reside at Peking, and also that additional ports
+should be opened to foreign trade, with a plot of land at each for
+residential purposes.
+
+The treaties following on these two wars have since been supplemented
+by other treaties opening still more ports, at some of which also
+adjoining plots of land have likewise been conceded, and our position
+in China to-day is founded on the accumulated result of these various
+agreements, which, above all things, guarantee us exterritoriality or
+exemption from Chinese jurisdiction, so that Europeans for whatever
+misdemeanours, are amenable only to their own consuls.
+
+   [Illustration: THE BRITISH CONCESSION, HANKOW.
+   _To face page 3._]
+
+There are now about thirty treaty-ports, most of them having these
+residential plots or concessions some of which, however, have never
+been taken up and built on, but where they have been, although
+leased from the Chinese Government at nominal rents, they are to all
+intents and purposes little detached portions of the British Empire,
+kept scrupulously clean and in perfect order, where natives are not
+allowed to dwell, but where Europeans of all nationalities live in
+security and comfort.
+
+In each of them resides a British consul, who represents his
+Government _vis-à-vis_ the Chinese and foreign officials, and who
+holds the position of magistrate in relation to his own nationals. An
+English doctor also is generally in practice at all, except the very
+smallest, ports.
+
+In many instances walls have been built round these concessions, the
+gateways in which can be bolted and barred at night to keep out the
+natives, a good system of drainage introduced, wide roads laid out and
+lighted, public seats placed in pleasant spots facing the water, trees
+planted, palatial houses built with gardens attached, a church
+constructed, clubs founded, billiard-tables and other insignia of
+Western luxury imported, a municipal council elected for managing
+local affairs, and a force of native police or Indian Sikhs raised,
+with which, under English superintendents, to maintain order in our
+streets.
+
+Other countries, notably France, have similar settlements, though far
+less numerous, but I shall herein refer exclusively to our own.
+
+Off the frontage or _bund_ is frequently moored a line of hulks
+connected with the shore by pontoons, and which in their day were
+probably the finest ocean liners afloat, but now, worn out and
+dismantled, serve as floating warehouses, alongside which steamers
+come to discharge and load cargo. At other places vessels drop anchor
+in mid-stream, while between them and the various jetties large cargo
+boats constantly pass to and fro laden with merchandise, to be quickly
+shipped or landed by gangs of chattering coolies.
+
+Everywhere the foreshore is always crowded with a fleet of native
+junks, displaying half mast be it a bundle of wood, a rice measure or
+a coal scoop, to show that their cargoes consisting of wood, rice,
+coal, etc., are for sale.
+
+Either just on the concession, by permission of the consul, or in
+Chinatown immediately outside, are two or three general stores and
+butchers' shops, run by either Chinese, Parsees or Japanese,
+especially to supply the foreign community with groceries, bread, meat
+and other daily requisites.
+
+No one carries money in his pocket, for the Europeans being but few in
+number are well known by sight, and any purchase is made by signing an
+I.O.U., or _chit_, for the amount necessary in dollars or cents. At
+the club you call for say two sherries and one bamboo (half sherry,
+half vermouth) and the waiter brings them, together with a small
+chit-book in which he has already written down your order in pencil,
+and this, after inspection, you simply sign or initial, when it is
+torn out and dropped into the till and you see no more of it until the
+end of the month, when your club bill comes in, supported by all the
+chits you have signed.
+
+For the offertory, pencils and pieces of paper are distributed about
+the church, so that the congregation may easily write chits, which are
+folded up and dropped into the bag, to be presented at your house next
+day by the church coolie for payment. This system, though very
+convenient, is apt to prove something of a trap, for signing a chit is
+so much easier, and the amount appears to be so much less than if
+paying in hard cash, that when the monthly total is made up you are at
+first inclined to believe there must be some mistake; but alas!
+careful verification too plainly shows that you have signed for more
+than you had any idea of.
+
+Amongst Europeans the currency employed is the silver dollar, now
+worth about one shilling and sevenpence though formerly rated at five
+shillings, together with a subsidiary coinage of fifty, twenty, ten
+and five-cent silver pieces, as well as coppers of one and two cents
+each.
+
+The Chinese standard of value in universal use throughout the Empire
+is copper cash. A cash is about the size of a shilling and equivalent
+to one eighth of a farthing in value. Through the centre of each coin
+is a square hole large enough to admit a thick string. It is usual to
+thread cash, first into bundles of one hundred, each bundle being
+about the size and shape of a sausage, and then for ten bundles to be
+strung together in pairs, so that the full string of a thousand cash
+almost exactly corresponds to a double string of ten sausages. The
+value of this full string is about half-a-crown, and owing to its
+great weight is usually carried slung over the shoulder.
+
+The _tael_, pronounced tale, is not a coin at all, but means simply an
+ounce (of silver). There are many kinds of taels, each of a different
+value according to the purity or _touch_ of the silver, which is
+chiefly determined by the locality in which the metal is mined.
+
+When a Chinaman sells native produce to a European he always keeps in
+mind its value in cash, and wants a corresponding value in dollars or
+taels, whatever the price of silver may happen to be. The same with
+wages of all kinds; the amount required in each case is based on what
+each individual requires in cash.
+
+The whole monetary system, or rather lack of system, complicated by
+numberless local banks, each with its own issue of paper money, is so
+bewildering that European householders seldom bother about anything
+beyond dollars and cents, to which standard, for their especial
+benefit, all others are reduced, though always at a certain loss in
+the exchange.
+
+Some of these concessions, which are in reality little English towns,
+have greatly prospered since their inauguration and are now centres of
+voluminous and increasing trade; but others, belying their initial
+prosperity, have stagnated, and appear to be gradually slipping back
+to the Chinese, who, in contravention of treaty ordinances, have been
+allowed to acquire property on them and reside there in
+rapidly-increasing numbers.
+
+The thriving settlement of Shanghai, which is situated near the mouth
+of the River Yangtse, and which possesses a foreign population of six
+or seven thousand, may be considered the metropolis of other
+treaty-ports in the northern half of the Empire, or, as they are
+generally called, "out-ports"; while the British colony of Hongkong
+stands in the same relation to out-ports in the south.
+
+Hongkong has now no connection whatever with China, being entirely a
+British possession, and has been converted from a barren rock to a
+most lovely, thriving and important commercial town and naval base,
+and is the greatest triumph of British enterprise and material
+civilisation that I know of.
+
+Nearly all these out-ports are in telegraphic communication with
+either Shanghai or Hongkong, and through them with the outside world,
+while the postal service is conducted by means of coast and river
+steamers which, plying regularly with passengers and cargo, have bases
+in these two emporiums, so that in whatever port you reside your
+thoughts and your interests are daily and directly concerned with
+either one or the other. From them come the daily newspapers,
+arriving, maybe, several days after date of issue, but still fresh
+reading for those in distant places. From them come the gun-boats
+which, besides protection, bring the welcome society of jovial naval
+men, and from them come commercial travellers with assortments of
+hats, boots, guns, clothes and other necessaries; while to them we go
+to embark for home, or, when in need of a social holiday, to chip off
+the rust of out-port seclusion, until eventually we look to them for
+many of our creature comforts, and through them, as through a window,
+to the world beyond.
+
+Existence at both Shanghai and Hongkong is surrounded with so many
+Western accessories in the shape of good houses, electric light,
+excellent roads, horses and carriages, bands in public gardens and
+hourly telegrams, that life at an out-port, while at times very
+monotonous, is frequently more interesting, for there, being less
+overshadowed by the pleasure of foreign society, you may come into
+closer touch with things Chinese, so that if the study of a people the
+most antiquated and wonderful under the sun has attractions for any,
+this, together with the many facilities for the enjoyment of sport and
+outdoor life, should be sufficient to bring occasional contentment to
+even the most despondent.
+
+From the extreme north to the extreme south, and from the sea to the
+mean west, that is, along the coast line and up the River Yangtse for
+fourteen hundred miles to Chungking, these nests of British enterprise
+adhere like barnacles to China's stolid bulk, dominating her vast
+trade with other countries, appearing as bright oases in the desert of
+Eastern heathendom and unfriendliness, and ranging in numerical
+importance from say thirty to five hundred Europeans, in accordance
+with the amount of shipping which flows through them and is their very
+life-blood.
+
+Much depends on the residents themselves whether social life in these
+miniature colonies is to be very pleasant or only a deadly monotony.
+Nearly every man who comes out from home has been selected from among
+his fellows for some particular superiority. Either he is smart in
+business, has health and physique to withstand the extremes of climate
+to which he may be subjected, is clever and has gained his appointment
+in competitive examination, or he may have all these qualities
+combined; anyhow, he is a picked man, above the average all round, and
+as such has a corresponding force of character.
+
+A number of such men being thrown together in a small place either
+co-operate and become fast friends, their wives and children, if they
+have any, following suit, when existence is rendered charming, or, on
+the other hand, with their marked individualities and business
+rivalries they may quarrel, in which case the best thing is to forego
+all hopes of social pleasures and wrap yourself up in your own
+content. A quarrelsome port provides an amusing study for a short
+time, but after that, especially during the depressing dampness of the
+rainy season when it is too wet to go out, life becomes very
+monotonous and irritating, for the space being so limited you are
+continually brought face to face with people who are on bad terms and
+who try to attach you to their side. Trivial jealousies, mythical
+slights and insignificant nothings which would pass unnoticed in a
+larger world here assume such alarming proportions that the club
+languishes owing to numerous resignations, few attend church because
+one of the rival faction plays the organ, and the evening promenade
+beneath the trees along the bund is transformed from a pleasant family
+gathering into a funereal procession.
+
+In pleasing contrast is a _nice_ port, where people pull together,
+where good-fellowship and hospitality make one feel like the member of
+a large family, where you walk into the house of your neighbour, smoke
+his cigars and drink his whisky, brought to you while reclining in a
+long chair on the verandah with the punkah swinging lazily over you,
+waiting for the master's return. This is done with the pleasurable
+knowledge that your friend would naturally instal himself in your
+house under like circumstances. Here is real charm. Think, too, of the
+outdoor life, of those lovely evenings when the air is soft and warm,
+the moon at full and of a size never seen in England, when a party of
+us would sail out on the lake, drop anchor and dine in the cool
+breeze, and after cigars and coffee would sail on again, singing songs
+that carried us back to days of yore and bringing a sad yet sweet
+strain into thoughts and voices as we glided over the moonlit waters.
+
+Spring and autumn bring the two great events of the year--the races.
+
+Many ports have a capital race-course, which is always circular in
+shape, enclosing what are generally the grounds of the recreation
+club, while almost every sporting man trains a pony or two, which he
+frets and fumes over in a style that would not bemean a Newmarket turf
+magnate. Weeks before the meeting, increasing in intensity as the time
+shortens and decreasing slowly as the event recedes, the talk is
+purely of ponies, ponies, ponies--until the non-racing man droops and
+turns away, but without daring to utter one single word of protest
+against the prevailing epidemic of pony talk. Race lotteries at the
+club afford great excitement to the betting men, when the knowing ones
+make books which in the end leave them considerably to the bad, while
+those who know nothing rejoice with the joy of fools, thinking that to
+their own perspicuity is due the roll of dollars which wanton luck has
+thrust upon them.
+
+On the actual race days, of which there are generally two, with a
+third or off-day tacked on, things reach a climax. All business is
+curtailed or altogether suspended. Everyone wears colours, either his
+own or those of a friend, and at eleven o'clock the ladies are driven
+to the course in state by happy owners of various nondescript vehicles
+furbished up for the occasion. Everyone knows everyone else, the names
+of ponies entered have been household words for weeks, while their
+supposed merits are open secrets, the jockeys are personal friends,
+the weather is bright and warm, the ladies wear their smartest
+dresses, the course is kept and order maintained with the aid of
+bluejackets from the gun-boat in port, while her drum and fife band or
+nigger troupe renders selections of varied merits. A race over, the
+successful owner and jockey are seized and carried shoulder high to
+the bar behind the grand-stand, where winners and losers alike have
+preceded them to secure a glass of champagne at the owner's expense,
+with which to drink his health and show a befitting sense of joy at
+the victory which has just been achieved.
+
+An excellent champagne lunch is served in the grand-stand, and
+presided over by the clerk of the course, who, by virtue of his
+exalted office, ranks high in the community, when suitable toasts are
+proposed and cordially honoured, followed by an adjournment to the
+paddock for a stroll and a smoke, after which attention is again
+claimed for the business of the afternoon's racing.
+
+Riding is usually well to the fore, and on an afternoon parties of
+ladies with attendant cavaliers trot down the reach by the river and
+gallop home across the plain, or wend along the beach, walking their
+ponies in the salt water.
+
+For the sportsman game in abundance generally lies within reach, and
+nothing of its kind is more delightful than an afternoon with the
+spring snipe, or a shooting trip of a few days in company with a
+kindred spirit.
+
+Tennis is still a favourite amusement during summer months, and
+garden-parties, comprising almost the whole community, meet
+frequently, be it on the club grounds or at private houses, when those
+who do not play come to watch and chat while partaking of ices and
+other refreshments, or smoking peacefully in the cool shade of leafy
+trees.
+
+In many places there are good turf courts, but at others, where grass
+will not grow sufficiently well to be of any practical value, recourse
+is had to either cement or cinders.
+
+Chinese lads in neat cotton uniforms are always in attendance to field
+the balls, which they do remarkably well, thereby adding greatly to
+one's enjoyment of the game.
+
+Golf has of late years come greatly into prominence, a frequent place
+for the links being on the recreation ground enclosed by the
+race-track, for which reason it is generally the case that they are
+too flat to afford much variety of play, although near to Macao there
+are some very rough links which, from the natural advantages and
+lovely scenery, could be made almost ideal.
+
+Our club there consisted of six members when at its zenith, and
+occasionally two in times of dearth. We had three miles to bicycle
+out, and part of the way over a fearful stone road through nauseous
+burial-grounds, but once there, a round or two in cool, fresh air,
+amongst the hills and pines, overlooking both sea and river, amply
+repaid one for the toilsome journey.
+
+Of rowing there is very little, except at Shanghai and Hongkong, where
+there are large and flourishing clubs.
+
+Hongkong being on the sea it is not practicable to use light ships,
+which, of course, is a great drawback.
+
+At Shanghai there is the harbour and also a small creek about the size
+of the Cam, both of which afford ample facilities. The club has two
+excellent boathouses and plenty of boats, and is composed of the
+finest material possible, all the best men in Shanghai, as is ever the
+case elsewhere, going in for rowing at one time or another; but the
+rowing is not first-class, and unless things have greatly changed
+since I was an active member, a crew capable of sitting a light cedar
+ship could not be mustered, all the racing being done in clinker
+boats.
+
+The reason for this lack of watermanship is partly due to the
+difficulty in coaching otherwise than from the stern of a boat, there
+being no towing path on which the coach can ride or run alongside his
+men, as is done at Oxford or Cambridge, while the hire of launches is
+too expensive. Also, part of the reason is due to beginners being
+seldom taken out and coached in tubs by expert senior men who have
+had the benefit of a professional or scientific training, but are put
+into a bad four and left to develop themselves as best they may. It
+would well repay the club to have a path made alongside the creek and
+to get a professional out from home for a year or two to initiate a
+high-class style, after which the traditions, once firmly established,
+would pass down naturally to succeeding generations of oarsmen.
+
+The coxing is on a par with the rowing. I have seen a length lost at a
+corner, the rate of striking reduced by ten a minute and the crew
+badly pulled to pieces, through the rudder being hard on when the oars
+were in the water.
+
+After all, skill in rowing is but a question of degree and of no vital
+importance in a place so isolated from other rowing centres as is
+Shanghai, while the club is certainly one of the best to get into on
+arriving there, especially for youths, as plenty of good, open-air
+exercise can thus be obtained in the society of strong, healthy-minded
+men.
+
+If hills or mountains be within easy distance bungalows are there
+built, to which most ladies and children retire for the hot weather,
+the men snatching hasty visits when business allows them to leave the
+settlement. At one place down south such bungalows are built on a tiny
+island four or five miles out at sea, and there it is never very hot,
+while in the evenings it is delightful to bathe, stroll along the
+sands, or sit with the pilot on watch up by the old ruined fort, where
+you can see rays from the lighthouses flashing far, far across the
+waves, watch the lights of steamers as they pass beneath and listen to
+the cadenced throbbing of their screws. For those residing in Central
+China a sanatorium has lately sprung up near Kiukiang, at Kuling, a
+valley some 4,000 feet above sea-level in the Lushan mountains, which
+overlook the Yangtse on one side and the Poyang lake on the other.
+This valley was unknown to Europeans a few years ago, but has now the
+appearance of a country town, there being probably a hundred and fifty
+well-appointed bungalows strongly built of stone quarried on the spot,
+a church, shops, laundry and a network of roads and paths.
+
+When feeling run down after a long spell of intense heat in the
+plains, a trip to this resort is most refreshing, for there it is
+always cool enough to wear light tweeds during the day and to sleep
+under a blanket at night. The mountain rambles are lovely, be it over
+the lofty peaks, through the trees and scrub in the valleys or along
+the bed of a stream, where frequent pools of running, crystal water
+afford good bathing or a little fishing for those addicted to the
+gentle art.
+
+Never shall I forget one glorious day when, accompanying two friends,
+we crossed to a far side of the range and looked down on the Poyang
+lake. The view was magnificent, and on our return journey the setting
+sun flashed every imaginable hue on the mists rolling close above our
+heads, on the landscape changing as we moved, on mountain crags and on
+the lake, unfolding at each turn dissolving scenes of surpassing
+loveliness.
+
+On arrival at Kiukiang by steamer you hire a chair with four bearers
+for the ten or twelve miles' journey up the mountains, with additional
+coolies to carry your luggage. For half the distance you follow
+ordinary country roads, but during the last few miles the path, though
+well constructed, is very steep in some places, while in others it
+overhangs yawning valleys, where you instinctively grip the sides of
+your chair and fervently hope the bearers will not trip.
+
+In the north, Chefoo, Wei-hai-wei and Pei-tai-ho attract a goodly
+number of visitors to the seaside during summer months, while others
+desiring greater change sail to earth's fairyland, Japan, or even make
+the voyage to Canada and back.
+
+We dance whenever and wherever we can. The houses being generally
+large, with fine rooms often but lightly furnished on account of the
+summer heat or our own nomadic habits, and servants being both
+plentiful and willing, the giving of a dance presents no great
+difficulties.
+
+It is a common thing at a dinner-party of twelve or fourteen to have
+the drawing-room cleared during dinner, so that with the help of a few
+more friends who come in afterwards, the evening's entertainment can
+be pleasantly varied with a few dances.
+
+I was once at a small port where for a long time there had been only
+one lady, who was naturally regarded as the belle of the place.
+Presently a rival appeared, and with her two pretty, unmarried
+sisters; whereon my messmates and I forthwith gave an impromptu dance.
+
+We cleared our dining-room for the occasion, but found the carpet to
+be so old and so tightly nailed down that it would not bear removing,
+and we decided to dance on it.
+
+No sooner, however, had we commenced to the strains of an accordion,
+not having a piano, than the floor, which was laid on round joists
+over the entrance hall, began to vibrate so violently that glasses on
+the sideboard were smashed and ornaments fell from the walls, while
+dust from the carpet, which evidently had not been beaten for years,
+rose in such clouds that, coupled with the heat of a stifling night,
+we were literally choked off and obliged to take refuge in the garden.
+Fortunately it was a beautiful night and full moon, so we diverted our
+dance to a game of hide-and-seek, and a merrier evening I have seldom
+spent.
+
+The annual out-port subscription ball keeps everyone in a ferment for
+weeks. Owing to the cosmopolitan nature of the community due care must
+be taken that the various nationalities are represented on the
+committee, to avoid giving offence.
+
+Then the committee has to decide, amongst other things, who are to be
+invited and who not, and it invariably happens that some are for
+including all, irrespective of station, while others desire to draw
+the line after what they consider to be the _élite_. In either case
+there is bound to be a certain amount of friction, which at times
+rises to a very heated pitch.
+
+One of the leading ladies superintends the decoration of the ballroom,
+another is responsible for the supper, while another sees that the
+floor is properly waxed and arranges for the piano, as the music is
+provided by leading amateurs, there being no band.
+
+After endless discussion and elaborate preparation the important night
+arrives, when the guests assemble, frequently with strained feelings
+but with a fixed determination to enjoy the passing hour.
+
+Men are largely in the majority, so that ladies of all ages, ranging
+say from fourteen to forty, are requested as a favour to dance, and
+are assured beforehand of a full programme.
+
+Those men who cannot get partners, or do not care to dance, spend the
+evening between cards and occasional visits to the ballroom to watch.
+
+The supper is always very good and not hurried through with that undue
+haste so noticeable at home. The assembly, being considerably leavened
+with people who are, to say the least, well out of their teens, makes
+itself comfortable for an hour or more, doing ample justice to the
+delicacies provided; indeed, after the ladies have all departed,
+bachelors and wayward husbands usually return to the attack once, and
+even twice, so that it is not uncommon to hear an incoherent "For he's
+a jolly good fellow" from a belated band of revellers returning home
+shortly before daylight.
+
+At Peking, Hongkong and Shanghai dances and balls are very frequent
+and carried out on a scale comparable with that of similar festivities
+at home.
+
+The club is always a popular institution, where the male element of
+the community, frequently representing many nationalities, gathers for
+a game of billiards and a chat, and where the home and local papers,
+together with a fair number of books and magazines, are to be found.
+One evening during the tea season, just before dinner, I counted at
+one time fourteen nationalities in the bar of the Hankow Club.
+
+I like those friendly gatherings at the round table, when sport and
+other topics of our limited world are discussed, and when one
+generally manages to give or to receive an invitation to pot-luck,
+with a rubber or a gentle poker flutter to follow.
+
+There, too, is sometimes an American bowling alley, where on cold
+nights, or hot, for the matter of that, we roll huge wooden balls down
+a raised track for twenty yards, to scatter nine pins at the bottom.
+There are two parallel tracks and we make up two bowling parties of
+three or four aside, the losers to pay for the game and provide
+refreshments all round.
+
+China is so enormous in extent that it embraces almost every variety
+of climate, though, speaking generally, the summer is everywhere very
+warm, while the winter, from being almost of arctic severity in the
+northern provinces, where the sea is frozen and all navigation stopped
+for six weeks or two months, gradually becomes milder in lower
+latitudes, until snow and frost are seldom experienced, and finally
+never seen in the sub-tropical region of the extreme south. Many years
+ago snow fell at Canton and the astonished natives are said to have
+collected it in bottles to keep, believing that it was a kind of
+cotton.
+
+In the Yangtse valley during July, August and September, the heat at
+times is well-nigh intolerable both by day and night. You arise in the
+morning played out after a comfortless night under a punkah, which,
+hung over your bed in the limited space of a mosquito house, is
+pulled with a rope passing through the wall by a coolie stationed on
+the verandah outside. With the thermometer standing at ninety degrees
+in your bedroom you frame the mental query "Can I last through the
+day?" as you crawl on to the verandah in pyjamas wet through with
+perspiration, to watch the sun rise, hoping, but in vain, for a breath
+of air. The insects buzz, a scorched smell pervades everywhere, the
+birds hop listlessly about, gasping with wide-open bills, the fans of
+coolies who have been sleeping on the grass, beat with hollow flap,
+the sun rises like a furnace, and you must retreat again to the shadow
+of your room to avoid sunstroke.
+
+As the day advances the temperature creeps up until it is over a
+hundred and you feel your eyes dry and heavy in their sockets, with a
+throbbing in your ears, when for full-blooded people of any age it
+becomes highly dangerous, death by heat apoplexy being painfully
+common.
+
+In the evening, after dinner, long chairs are taken out on the bund
+and many assemble there in silence, betrayed only in the darkness by a
+continual popping of corks and glowing cigar-tips, to catch what
+little air there may chance to be, and to watch the lightning in hopes
+that the oft-threatened storm will burst and break the heat.
+
+I remember at Kiukiang the daily temperature rising to over a hundred
+degrees in the shade for nearly three weeks at a stretch, culminating
+in one hundred and seven, when a break came which, at any rate, saved
+_my_ life and practically ended the summer.
+
+Many a time, when too hot for sleep, have I played whist till three
+o'clock in the morning. Selecting the corner of an upstairs verandah
+where there might be some possibility of a faint draught, and having
+cigars, whisky and iced soda well within reach, we would take off our
+white jackets for greater coolness and sit perspiring in singlets
+round the table between guttering candles, when with bare heads and
+naked arms we must have had the appearance of desperate gamblers,
+though only playing the regulation twenty-five cent points with longs
+and shorts and a dollar on the rub, so that the damage could not be
+very extensive.
+
+The winter in this locality is very much on a par with that in
+England, only shorter, there being generally some frost with a good
+deal of snow and occasionally enough ice for skating.
+
+Dinner-parties are very numerous, being the chief method of
+entertainment. The _menu_ is, as a rule, excellent, and the import
+duty being almost nominal, wine is both plentiful and good.
+
+After a few mental twinges endured by leading personages consequent on
+somewhat exaggerated ideas of precedence, the company is seated, and
+a good dinner, aided by a lively flow of chit-chat, makes the evening
+speed pleasantly and well.
+
+But, you will ask, what besides amusing themselves have these
+Anglo-Chinese to do? British steamers swarm throughout the China seas
+and up the Yangtse for a thousand miles to Ichang, and it is in
+controlling the working of these vessels, in importing and selling
+manufactured goods and opium, in buying and exporting tea, silk and
+other products of the country, as well as in filling positions in
+Government services or any professional calling that agents,
+merchants, officials and the professional classes find employment, so
+that if in exile we surround ourselves with such luxuries and
+enjoyments as are reserved for the wealthy at home it is because they
+are ready to hand at but little cost, and that they serve in a degree
+to compensate us for the sweet pleasures of home-life which are
+forfeited by those who leave Old England to push their ways in distant
+lands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SERVANTS AND TRADESMEN
+
+
+On your first arrival at an out-port, and as you are crossing the
+pontoon which leads from the steamer to the bund, a most beaming
+celestial meets you and presents an open letter, which runs something
+like this:--
+
+    "I hereby certify that the bearer, Lao San, was my boy
+    for eight months, and I found him honest and willing.
+                                               TOM JONES."
+
+The celestial smirks and jabbers something in pidgin English, which
+not being able to understand you answer with a grunt and pass on.
+
+The celestial says, "All right, savez, can do," and vanishes.
+
+Reaching your quarters, you find two or three more beaming natives,
+also armed with letters of recommendation, probably borrowed for the
+occasion, and who severally inform you "My b'long welly good boy."
+
+These letters of recommendation become kinds of heirlooms, and as
+foreigners seldom know the correct names of their Chinese servants,
+they are, for a consideration, handed about from one to the other
+when seeking employment.
+
+You must have a boy anyhow, and are just beginning to inspect the
+candidates when a friend suddenly turns up.
+
+"I'm awfully sorry, old man, I couldn't manage to come and meet you on
+board, but the steamer arrived earlier than was expected, so I came
+straight on here, and knowing you would require a boy, brought one
+along who wants a job. I don't know anything about him, but he says
+he's all right, and they are mostly pretty much alike. Anyhow, you
+might give him a trial, and if he doesn't suit, just kick him out."
+
+Before you can reply the door is thrown violently open, and your
+luggage, which you had left for the time being in your cabin on the
+steamer, is brought in on bamboo poles by half-a-dozen coolies and
+dumped on the floor, the beaming celestial who met you on the pontoon
+following close behind, carrying your collection of sun hats,
+umbrellas and sticks. He immediately pays the coolies, unstraps rugs
+and trunks, and commences to arrange the room.
+
+Your friend says, "Oh, I didn't know you had brought your own boy,"
+and goes on to talk of other things.
+
+You feel rather pleased at all the luggage having turned up without
+any effort on your part, pleased at being freed from the importunities
+of out-of-work boys, and dumbly acquiesce, so that Lao San remains
+until you have the time or inclination to engage a really good boy;
+but as you seldom have the time, and never the inclination, he is
+already pretty firmly established.
+
+In the course of the day he introduces a cook as well as two or three
+coolies that you do not want but must have, and explains that all
+these men are of exceptionally good character, and that he "can secure
+b'long all ploper." You submit, of course, and so your household is
+arranged by the boy without you really having had a word to say. A day
+or two later you suddenly remember that nothing has been said on the
+subject of wages.
+
+You ring up the boy, and after a short discussion it is arranged that
+he is to receive eight dollars a month, the cook ten, and the coolies
+six and five. Everything is arranged with the boy, the other servants
+not appearing on the scene at all, and so it is that, having obtained
+situations for his friends, they are by "olo custom" obliged to pay
+him a squeeze on their salaries, the cook probably two dollars a month
+and the coolies one each. Without your consent or knowledge the cook
+introduces a young friend of his into the kitchen to be known as the
+"second cook," or simply "No 2." His position corresponds to that of
+the scullery-maid, washing up pots and pans, lighting the fire and
+running errands, in return for which he receives very little, if any,
+pay, but learns the art of cooking. Your house is now in going order,
+and at first things really work very well under the boy's supervision.
+
+A few weeks later it suddenly dawns on you that expenses are mounting
+up in rather an unaccountable way, and you look into matters.
+
+Nothing very serious comes to light, and any doubtful little points
+are most clearly explained away by the boy. However, it is not long
+before you again begin to feel uneasy and insist on knowing details of
+the various small accounts which are monthly presented to you by each
+individual on the premises.
+
+You are being squeezed by all!
+
+The boy charges for a number of small items such as lampwick, matches,
+soap, candles, etc., that you have never had, or in half the
+quantities stated. Also, on things which you have had, a large
+percentage over cost price is levied. All the native tradesmen are in
+league with your servants, and while you know that you are being
+swindled it would be quite impossible to prove it, for should a
+shopkeeper or butcher tell you what his prices really were he would
+lose much of his business, as servants in foreign employ would, in
+time, by some means or other, take the custom elsewhere.
+
+You are the means whereby a large but limited circle of Chinese manage
+to live and oftentimes save money. All members of the circle regard
+you as their prey, and tacitly combining to play into each other's
+hands they fleece you with impunity, it being extremely difficult, if
+not impossible, to get one Chinaman to expose or bear witness against
+another, especially if it be with the object of benefiting the
+foreigner.
+
+The best way for a bachelor to run his house is to set aside a certain
+sum which he knows should be sufficient for monthly expenditure. If he
+can keep his expenses below this figure so much the better. If he
+cannot, and they exceed it, he should cut down the various accounts
+until a sufficient reduction has been reached. It is useless trying to
+argue the case, he would always come off worsted.
+
+I heard of one bachelor who had been drawing a salary of six hundred
+dollars a month, but he kept up such style that he could only just
+cover expenses. After a time his business partly failed, so he sent
+for the boy and explained he could only spend four hundred dollars.
+The domestic pulled a long face, but the style of living was not
+altered in the least.
+
+Again bad times came and expenditure had to be further reduced to
+three hundred dollars a month. The bachelor informed his servant that
+he had better get another situation as he feared it would be difficult
+for him to come down from six hundred dollars to three hundred, and
+that it would be wiser to start a fresh establishment more in
+accordance with his reduced circumstances.
+
+After reflection the boy decided to struggle on, and this he did with
+such success that the style of living was exactly the same as it had
+ever been.
+
+The word "boy" bears no reference whatever to the individual's age,
+which may be anything between sixteen and sixty. It is merely a term
+applied by foreigners to their personal attendants.
+
+The duties of the boy are those of the ordinary housekeeper in
+England, with several additions.
+
+He looks after the other servants and is generally responsible for
+their good behaviour. He pays all wages and the accounts of the local
+tradespeople, on which, of course, he levies a recognised squeeze. He
+waits at table, answers the bell, makes the beds and brushes his
+master's clothes, in fact, makes himself generally useful.
+
+As a rule, he accompanies his master to all dinner-parties to assist
+in waiting. Also, it is a common and recognised practice for the boy
+of a house where a big dinner or a dance is being held to borrow
+requisites from the boy of another house, and often without reference
+to the owner, so that when dining out you not infrequently drink from
+your own glasses, use your own knives and forks, see your own lamp on
+the dinner-table and are waited on by your own servant.
+
+A Scotchman who had recently married brought from London a goodly
+supply of fine glassware for the new home. At one of the
+dinner-parties given in honour of himself and bride, after replying to
+the toast of the evening he proposed the health of his host and
+requested the company to drink it with Highland honours by placing one
+foot on the table and one on the chair. Bumpers having been tossed off
+he added that it would not be fitting for glasses consecrated by such
+distinguished service to thereafter descend to ordinary usage, and
+suiting the action to the word, flung the tumbler over his shoulder,
+so that it was shivered to atoms against the wall, the other guests,
+numbering upwards of a dozen, following suit.
+
+His boy's placid comment on the proceeding was, "Truly master b'long
+too muchee foolo, he no savez b'long he new glass."
+
+They were indeed his own beautiful tumblers, borrowed for the occasion
+without his knowledge.
+
+If anything is lost in the house, the boy, being answerable, is
+supposed to make the loss good, although he seldom does so. It may be
+imagined that his post is no sinecure with an exacting master, but it
+is lucrative and one much sought after.
+
+The custom of servants mutually guaranteeing each other's good conduct
+is a great safeguard, for in the case of theft or other misdemeanour
+by one of them, all the others are responsible and severe measures may
+be taken against them with the view of discovering the culprit, so
+that in reality while subject to numberless irritating, petty
+pilferings, against which there is no guarding and for which it is
+impossible to obtain redress, it rarely happens that any serious
+offence is committed.
+
+Amongst themselves the Chinese carry this principle of responsibility
+to such great lengths that if after committing a crime the culprit
+flees from justice, the officials can, and often do, arrest his
+father, mother, wife and whole family, and both imprison and persecute
+them until the fugitive gives himself up; and such is the strength of
+the family tie that this arbitrary method is seldom known to fail.
+
+The cook is, next to the boy, the most important of the other
+servants, and as a rule is fairly efficient, some indeed being
+excellent, although great care must be taken to guard against their
+natural love of filthiness. A kitchen into which the master or
+mistress of the house does not go once or twice every day should
+never be visited at all if one wishes to enjoy one's meals.
+
+This is also a lucrative post, for besides wages and a heavy squeeze
+on every article brought into the kitchen, the remains of each meal,
+whether half a chicken, half a leg of mutton, or both, are regarded by
+the cook as his perquisite and carried off for sale to native
+restaurants, unless special orders have been given to the contrary. A
+reason for this is that in hot climates food, if not eaten at once,
+quickly becomes worse than useless. Also, owing to the cheapness of
+meat, eggs, vegetables, etc., it is by no means the serious loss that
+it would be at home, and so the householder is generally not sorry
+that the remains of each meal should disappear and thus get fresh food
+at every repast.
+
+The cooking in foreign houses is entirely European, the Chinese
+cuisine being of a very different and truly wonderful kind, although
+excellent in quality. Western ladies have often taken great pains to
+train their cooks to a high standard of proficiency, a well-served
+dinner in China not uncommonly far surpassing in excellence the
+corresponding meal at home. Of course, the reverse is frequently the
+case, still, it serves to show that the Chinese have a great faculty
+for the culinary art.
+
+In England a dinner-party must be arranged some days beforehand in
+order that the necessary preparations may be made, and it is
+practically impossible to suddenly announce at tea-time that there
+will be eight people to dinner instead of two.
+
+This matter is certainly managed better in China.
+
+Oftentimes on returning from office at five o'clock I have sent for
+the cook and said, "To-night eight piecee man catchee dinner. Can do,
+no can do?" and the reply has invariably been a laconic "Can do."
+
+At once there would be great bustling but no confusion, and it has
+always seemed to me that these sudden demands on the kitchen staff,
+instead of evoking complaints and sullen looks, are regarded rather as
+a source of pleasurable excitement. "No 2" hurries off to market and
+quickly returns with fish, chops, chickens, eggs and fruit. Meanwhile,
+the cook dashes another pint or two of water into the soup and gets a
+jam pudding well under way.
+
+On returning from the club at seven o'clock you find that the boy has
+tastefully laid the table and decorated it with leaves and flowers.
+After seeing to the wine and cigars you go up to dress, and on
+receiving your guests at half-past seven the dinner is ready.
+
+I remember with feelings of pleasure the following incident which
+occurred at Chinkiang.
+
+For some days I had been engaged to dine with friends living in the
+next house, and was actually on my way there, when an old
+acquaintance, who had just arrived by the steamer from Shanghai, met
+me in the garden and wanted particularly to see me with regard to some
+private affair. As the steamer would be leaving again in two hours and
+my friend was obliged to continue his voyage to Hankow, I had no other
+means of meeting his wishes than by forfeiting my engagement. This I
+did in a hastily-written chit, making the best excuses I could, and
+then sent for the cook. On his appearance I informed him that I wanted
+dinner for two--chop chop! Without moving a muscle he answered, "Can
+do." Thinking to hurry up matters a little I went to the kitchen, but
+found it in darkness and without any fire. The servants meanwhile had
+all disappeared, and I returned to my friend with the information that
+we must possess our souls in patience, so we settled ourselves on the
+verandah for a serious talk, but hardly had we done so than the boy
+announced dinner.
+
+Following him in considerable amazement I found that, the night being
+warm, he had laid a small table on the lawn and that the soup was
+already served. It was delicious, as were also the samli, the
+woodcock, the lamb cutlets and the ice-cream. Things having taken so
+happy a turn, I uncorked a bottle of champagne and we had a banquet
+fit for a king.
+
+   [Illustration: HOUSE-COOLIE, BOY, COOK AND "NO 2."
+   _To face page 37._]
+
+My friend complimented me on the prowess of the cook, and we smoked
+our cigars and chatted over the coffee until the steamer's whistle
+announced that, cargo being finished, she was ready to start. After
+seeing him off I joined the party next door in order to offer
+apologies and explanations to the hostess, who freely forgave me,
+though her husband lamented that I had missed the samli, the woodcock
+and the lamb, which were the first of the season.
+
+I discreetly held my peace, but inquiries next day confirmed my
+suspicions that prime helpings from each course of my neighbour's
+dinner had been carried off by my cook.
+
+Immediately under the boy for indoor work is the "house-coolie," whose
+business it is to swab floors, polish grates, light fires, trim lamps,
+clean knives and boots and make himself generally useful about the
+house. Oftentimes he is unable to speak any English, wears a short
+coat in contradistinction to the boy's long one, and while ranking
+below the boy is considerably above the other coolies as having better
+pay, pleasanter work and holding a position of trust.
+
+At the chief entrance to most residences is a gatehouse, tenanted
+during the day by an old man who serves as gatekeeper, and who is
+responsible for keeping bad characters off the premises as well as for
+not allowing anything to be taken away. At sunset he goes home, being
+relieved by the night-watchman, who remains on duty till sunrise. He
+also is responsible for the general safety, and is not supposed to
+sleep during the night, but to be on guard. Every two hours, that is,
+at each of the five watches into which the night is divided, he should
+make a round of the outbuildings to satisfy himself that all's well.
+This he does not do quietly, but to the beating of a bamboo rattle, so
+that thieves may know he is on the lookout and run away. Sometimes, in
+order to keep up his courage, I have even heard him shout "I see you,"
+"I know who you are," "I'm coming," "Who's afraid?" etc.
+
+Ridiculous as this may appear to English burglars it is yet very
+effective, though for a very curious reason.
+
+China is the country of guilds, every trade being in the hands of a
+certain section of the population, who combine against all intruders.
+There is a guild of water-carriers, a guild of fortune-tellers, a
+guild of pipe-makers, and even a guild of _thieves_. This last is a
+recognised body, and is treated with by all householders, until it has
+become a kind of insurance agency against theft. All gatekeepers and
+night-watchmen pay a small monthly fee to this guild in order that no
+thieving may take place on the premises over which they have control,
+and the system works well, for not only is anything rarely stolen,
+but if, occasionally, something does go it is almost certain to have
+been taken by a free lance, who would be promptly done to death should
+he fall into the clutches of the guild thieves.
+
+A friend of mine who employs many hundreds of coolies pays a regular
+monthly salary to the head of the thieves in that district. This man
+comes to the office on pay-days like other _employés_ to draw his
+wages. If, however, anything has been missed from the factory during
+the month the value of it is deducted from his salary until the
+article is restored, which is invariably done.
+
+I have heard of a case where a reforming spirit determined not to
+submit to such an iniquitous tax. The gatekeeper and night-watchman
+immediately resigned and could not be replaced, while by the end of
+the month most of his portable belongings had been surreptitiously
+removed. Thoroughly cowed, he recalled the two servants and instructed
+them to pay the tax, whereupon the stolen articles promptly reappeared
+and security was again restored.
+
+Largely owing to the influence of Buddhism, cattle are regarded by the
+Chinese solely as beasts of burden, it being seldom that any are
+slaughtered for food; and although many natives will eat beef when it
+comes conveniently to hand, still, there is a strong prejudice against
+it. This prejudice extends both to milk and butter, neither of which
+is a common article of celestial food. From this it may be easily
+imagined that Europeans are often put to considerable inconvenience in
+securing an adequate supply of these daily necessaries. Good milk is
+especially hard to get. So long as it is white the native dairyman
+considers that his obligations to customers are discharged, while the
+more water he can add, the better it is for his own pocket. At Hankow
+the supply was so adulterated that a friend of mine actually found a
+small live fish in his morning cupful. With a view to exposing fraud I
+purchased a lactometer and found the usual proportions of milk and
+water to be half and half.
+
+This was too much, so calling the dairyman to the house I abused him
+roundly and threatened that if he did not send pure milk in future I
+would ask the consul to punish him severely. He vowed and declared
+that the lactometer "no talkee true," and that no water whatever had
+been added to the milk, adding, that if I did not believe him he would
+bring a cow to the kitchen door and I could see it milked myself.
+
+This seemed satisfactory, so I got up early next morning, and after
+shivering in my dressing-gown during the milking, carried off the pail
+in triumph, fully convinced that I should now be able to enjoy the
+pure article. Vain delusion! On testing it there was still a large
+percentage of water, and the dairyman, beaming with justified
+satisfaction, ambled off, leading his cow.
+
+Feeling sure that the lactometer must be at fault, I consulted my
+friend the doctor, who examined and found it quite correct.
+
+How to reconcile these discrepancies seemed an insoluble problem.
+
+After pondering over the matter for several days, I determined on
+milking the cow myself, this being an accomplishment of my boyhood. To
+the celestial's amazement I did so and instantly tested the proceeds.
+Pure milk!
+
+I seized the dairyman with a hazy idea of making an end of him, when,
+lo and behold, there slipped from his capacious sleeve a piece of
+thick bamboo containing about two pints of water. From the lower part
+of this wooden bottle projected another piece of bamboo about the
+thickness of a cigar, which served as a tube.
+
+The swindle was now discovered, and the culprit, after the first shock
+to his feelings had abated, showed me, with evident if subdued
+satisfaction, how the ingenious device worked.
+
+Concealing the bottle and letting the sleeve fall well down over his
+wrist, he held the bamboo tube and a cow's teat in one hand, and so,
+the moment one's eyes were averted, he was able to turn on the tap
+and let water flow into the pail together with the milk.
+
+I now had the upper hand and promised to refrain from taking steps
+against him if he would in future furnish me with a pure supply. This
+he cheerfully agreed to do, and for a time I fared sumptuously, but it
+was not long ere my boy informed me that, the cows having run dry, the
+dairyman had returned to his home in the country.
+
+Prior to the Manchu conquest of China two hundred and fifty years ago,
+men allowed the hair to grow long and then rolled it up in a tuft on
+the top of the head.
+
+The Manchus, however, introduced the custom of partly shaving the
+scalp and braiding the back hair into a pig-tail, any man not
+conforming to this rule being considered a rebel, and as such liable
+to summary decapitation. This visible token of loyalty to the present
+dynasty is therefore universal, and obtains from the cradle to the
+grave, it being a matter of considerable importance to all who value a
+whole skin, and "Olo custom" being an extremely strong _motif_, it
+would now be well-nigh impossible to abolish this badge of servitude,
+even were the enforcement of it abandoned. In addition to this
+national obligation it is the custom for men to clean shave until they
+become grandfathers, when a moustache is cultivated, and later on
+sometimes a beard, though these hirsute appendages are of a lean and
+meagre kind.
+
+As you may readily imagine, the amount of tonsorial operations
+indulged in by so dense a population call for an unlimited number of
+shavers and braiders of hair, albeit it is considered an employment of
+the lowest grade; but although the number of barbers is legion there
+are none who know how to _cut_ hair until taught to do so by
+Europeans, so that in out-of-the-way places it is often very difficult
+to get the operation performed. On several occasions I have been
+obliged to rely on my mafoo, who with horse-clippers and iron scissors
+proved to be effective if somewhat unartistic.
+
+Of course, a Chinaman will soon learn, and at treaty-ports barbers are
+a convenient luxury, for at the cost of a few dollars a month one will
+come to your bedroom every morning at a stated time to perform the
+daily shave, as well as cut the hair when required. Oftentimes I have
+been still asleep when, leaving his shoes outside the door and
+creeping in noiselessly with bare feet, he has adjusted the towel,
+lathered and shaved me in bed without my having had more than a dim
+consciousness of what was going on.
+
+Tailors are cheap and plentiful. A West-end cut is not achieved, but
+for flannels, light tweeds and all such clothes as are worn in the
+tropics, they are very passable.
+
+"Boy."
+
+"Sai."
+
+"Talkee that tailor-man four o'clock come. Wantchee new clothes."
+
+At four o'clock the tailor is there with a bundle of patterns from
+which you select a thin serge and a white flannel, and order a suit of
+each. On asking the price you are informed that the serge "b'long
+welly cheap" at fourteen dollars and the flannel at twelve.
+
+Your surprise and indignation are great at the exorbitant figures, and
+after a good deal of haggling, eleven dollars and ten respectively are
+agreed upon, the clothes to be finished in two days.
+
+"Can do."
+
+Out comes the tape and he measures you all over, taking mental notes
+but writing nothing down, the Chinese having marvellous memories.
+
+Next morning he appears with the garments loosely stitched together to
+try on, draws a chalk line here, puts in a pin there and hurries off.
+
+The following day you discover both suits neatly folded up on your
+bed, and on inspection find them to be of good and comfortable fit.
+
+Another plan is, after selecting the material, to hand the tailor an
+old suit with instructions to make the new one a counterpart of it,
+which, as a rule, he will do to perfection. In fact, he has been known
+to let a couple of patches into the seat of the new trousers in order
+to make them correspond exactly with the pattern.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+SHOOTING
+
+
+To anyone who is fond of shooting, certain parts of China offer a
+veritable paradise. When I say shooting I do not mean the kind of
+sport to which one is accustomed at home, where to trespass a few
+yards on the grounds of another man will probably result in legal
+proceedings, where keepers flourish and wax fat on contributions
+levied on the friends of mine host, where hand-raised game is driven
+into the jaws of death, and where the sportsman's friend and delight,
+his dog, is practically banished. No, I mean where one can look on the
+whole empire of China and say, "Here is my ground, here I can take my
+gun and my dogs and go just wherever, and do whatever, I please,
+without let or hindrance; shoot what I will, stay as long as I like
+without asking anyone's leave, and where keepers and game licences are
+unknown."
+
+Throughout China, pheasants, deer, quail, wildfowl and snipe abound,
+but woodcock, partridges and hares are less numerous and less evenly
+distributed. Bustards, plover and many other migratory birds appear
+only in winter, while for hunters of big game, tigers, leopards,
+horned deer and wild boar are found in certain localities.
+
+Northern China offers the best opportunities, and while from Mongolia
+to Ningpo game is plentiful enough, the mighty River Yangtse is _par
+excellence_ the sportsman's elysium. Of course, one must have good
+dogs and know the country, or go with someone who does, otherwise the
+most ardent spirit would soon be cooled to freezing point and disgust
+instead of delight would be the result of his endeavours. Along the
+banks of this noble river, from the sea for hundreds of miles into the
+interior, I have enjoyed as good sport as lies within reach of only
+the very rich in western countries.
+
+The Chinese are not often sportsmen, and away from foreign influence
+but rarely molest wild animals of any kind.
+
+Owing, however, to the increasing European colony at Shanghai and the
+numerous mail steamers which daily arrive there, a profitable market
+for game has sprung up during the past few years, to supply which
+there are now a number of native gunners who, as a means of
+livelihood, scour the country with foreign breech-loaders in search of
+pheasants, wildfowl, etc., so that, being capital shots, within a
+considerable distance of this port the shooting is not so good as
+formerly, although in all other parts of the Empire it still remains
+practically untouched until the advent of Europeans.
+
+That there are not more aboriginal sportsmen is partly due to a law
+which forbids the people to possess firearms, though this law has not
+been rigidly enforced, and partly due to the primitive construction
+and consequent unreliability of the few native fowling-pieces which do
+exist.
+
+Well away from beaten tracks I have occasionally met local sports
+carrying guns together with slow-matches of smouldering brown paper.
+They are remarkable weapons, with single iron barrels some four feet
+and a half long, about twenty bore and without stocks, but having
+pistol handles. There are no locks or springs, the hammer and trigger
+being in one piece, working through the handle on a rivet. The hammers
+have slits in them as if to hold flints, but which really are intended
+for the slow-match. Sometimes these men had good bags of snipe, but
+only once have I seen such a gun fired, which was at a pigeon sitting
+about fifteen yards high in a tree. The gunner blew his slow-match
+into a glow and pressed it into the slit in the hammer, placed the
+pistol handle to his hip and pulled the trigger, which brought the
+hammer slowly forward until the slow-match rested on the powder in the
+pan, when the gun went off and the pigeon fell dead. Whether birds
+are shot on the wing with these guns I cannot say, but remembering
+that a hundred and fifty years ago it was accounted an extraordinary
+thing to attempt flying shots even in this country, I should think
+probably not.
+
+Old muzzle-loading rifles of European make, striking either flints or
+percussion caps, are also in occasional use as shot-guns, in
+preference to native weapons.
+
+The shot are always of iron, which is far cheaper than lead, and
+extremely liable to cause great injury to the teeth, while the powder
+is very poor, burning slowly with much smoke and smell. No cut wads
+are used, but pieces of paper, rammed home with a rod, which instead
+of being carried attached to the gun is held in the hand together with
+the slow-match.
+
+These same sports catch snipe in long, light nets which they carry
+stretched out horizontally some two feet above the grass, so that a
+bird on rising as it passes overhead, flies into it and is at once
+secured. Snares of wire and string, ingenious traps of bamboo which
+impale the birds on wooden spikes, and wicker traps closely resembling
+the straw plaiting on bottles of olive oil, I have seen set for snipe
+and quail in various places.
+
+I once travelled from Shanghai to Nanking with an aged French Jesuit
+priest and a Chinese official then returning from the Black Dragon or
+Amour river. The former told me that, shortly after the Taiping
+rebellion, pheasants were so numerous and tame in the devastated
+fields around Nanking that natives speared them in the grass; while
+the official said that in the almost deserted Black Dragon river
+district these birds were so little afraid of man that on his approach
+they would conceal only their heads in the grass, when it was possible
+to capture them by the tail with the hand. Although personally unable
+to guarantee either of these accounts, still, judging from the manner
+in which they were narrated, I am inclined to believe both.
+
+The first essential for shooting-trips up the Yangtse is a good
+house-boat or light draft yacht of from ten to fifteen tons, into
+which you pack every requisite, and which is in reality your floating
+shooting-box for the time being. You have only to choose your field of
+operations, sail there, and enjoy yourself to your heart's content in
+luxury, fine bracing air, grand scenery and jovial company. What can
+one wish for more!
+
+Having decided on a trip you tell your boy in the morning that you
+will leave that afternoon for so many days, and at the appointed time
+step on board to find everything in readiness--guns, dogs, provisions,
+and a good fire in the saloon. You give the lowdah his orders, and in
+less than a minute are under way. All bother is at an end and you
+make yourself comfortable, have afternoon tea, read, smoke, dine, chat
+with your friend over the fire, and after spending the evening as
+comfortably as if in your own house, retire to rest, awaking next
+morning to find yourself on the scene of action and very possibly to
+hear the pheasants crow while still in bed. A good beefsteak breakfast
+and you are ready for the fray. After your day's sport you come back
+to a hot bath and the comfort of a cosy cabin. Should you desire to
+try fresh ground on the morrow, the lowdah will get the boat there,
+either by sailing or tracking during the night, while you are enjoying
+your well-earned sleep.
+
+   [Illustration: HOUSE-BOAT ON THE YANGTSE.
+   _To face page 50._]
+
+Pheasants afford the principal sport and are identical with the
+white-ringed English birds, only, if any thing, bigger, stronger in
+flight and much more wily.
+
+A hundred miles up the Yangtse and then along the Grand Canal, in
+districts that were overrun by Taiping rebels, fine sport with
+pointers may be had over what were formerly cultivated fields but are
+now still lying waste, with here and there the ruins of a village
+destroyed forty years ago, the inhabitants of which were either
+extirpated, dragged off in the rebel army or fled to other parts of
+the country. These abandoned fields, interspersed with ridges of low
+hills clad with young pines, are generally dry and covered with fine
+grass, in which the pheasants are fond of lying, and on a bright,
+frosty morning it is truly delightful to walk across such country with
+a couple of good pointers, watch your dogs work and bowl over the
+birds as they rise.
+
+At other places higher up river the low hills are covered with
+acorn-bearing oak scrub, a favourite cover both for pheasants, which
+feed on the acorns, as well as deer. This scrub, although very trying
+to walk through, is not high enough to prevent pointers working
+freely, and many a good bag have I made there.
+
+Along the banks of the lower Yangtse, and on numerous islands in the
+stream, are dense reeds, which, being flooded to a depth of several
+feet in summer, grow from fifteen to twenty feet high, as thick as a
+man's thumb, and almost as strong as bamboos. In these impenetrable
+thickets, left dry as the waters fall in autumn, the pheasants
+congregate in great numbers, but it is not till late winter, when the
+reeds have been mostly cut for fuel, that it is possible to get them
+out. About the end of December the reeds still uncut, stand in square,
+even patches, the sides of which tower up like the walls of a house.
+The best way is to select clumps of medium size, place a gun on either
+side to keep well in advance, and turn two or three dogs, spaniels for
+choice, in at one end. As these dogs hunt the reeds all the way down,
+the pheasants will creep to the very edges, watch their opportunity,
+and be off like cannon balls. Then is the time for a quick eye and
+steady hand, but as you have probably been running to keep up with the
+dogs, they are by no means the easy shots that one might imagine, and
+many a time the "dead certainty" has slipped gaily away.
+
+Other denizens of these swamps are woodcock, snipe, deer, and
+occasionally racoons and wild cats, which follow the pheasants, so
+that a mixed bag is frequently the product of a successful day, when
+twenty-five head, including seven or eight brace of pheasants, would
+represent a fair average per gun. With the exception of spring snipe,
+enormous totals like those we gloat over in England are but rarely
+made. It is the absolute freedom which is so charming, the hard work,
+the bright atmosphere, the thick cover, and the excitement of
+following the dogs.
+
+Wildfowl of every description swarm during the spring and autumn
+migrations, for after nesting on the Siberian steppes they go down to
+the Sunny South in winter. Swan, geese, mallard, teal and countless
+varieties of duck literally cover the waters of the Yangtse for miles
+at a stretch, and will hardly rise to avoid the river-steamers as they
+pass, although extremely shy of approaching small boats, while every
+little pond or creek affords the probability of a shot.
+Wildfowl-shooting, however, is not largely gone in for, why, I can
+hardly say, unless it is that they are so superabundant as to make
+them seem hardly worth the powder and shot, that the distances to go
+for them are too great and the work of stalking too cold and tiresome,
+or that other kinds of shooting are more attractive.
+
+Woodcock are often found in bamboo groves from which it is generally
+hard to flush them, while the cover is so thick that it is impossible
+to shoot until they come out, though be it only for an instant, when,
+topping the bamboos, they alight again on the opposite side. I have
+spent nearly an hour in killing a brace which, although I saw perhaps
+twenty times, I had the greatest difficulty in getting a snap at. They
+also frequent pine woods and heather on the hills, and are identical
+in appearance with the woodcock found in England.
+
+During a severe winter at Chinkiang, word was brought in by natives
+that some children had been carried off by "dog-headed tigers," which
+monsters, after making lengthy inquiries, we assumed to be wolves.
+
+With a view to getting a shot at these brutes, a friend and I went out
+overnight to the community bungalow, a distance of seven miles, and in
+the morning ranged warily through the pines and over the snow-clad
+hills, seeking for traces of the man-eaters, being joined towards noon
+by the British Consul. Carrying my twelve-bore fowling-piece loaded
+with a bullet in the right barrel and a charge of big shot in the
+left, the latter being full-choke, I was passing along the side of a
+steep hill at the foot of which, and some fifty feet below me, lay a
+frozen stream, when my dog-coolie, pointing downwards, cried, "Look at
+the fish!"
+
+Beneath the clear ice, of perhaps a quarter of an inch in thickness, a
+mass of fish was swimming with the current. Instinctively I fired the
+left barrel at them, and was greatly surprised to behold a jet of
+water, broken ice and fish shoot up two or three feet high from a hole
+made by the shot. The dog-coolie rushed down and filled his cap with
+our unexpected prey, which we subsequently found to number twenty-two,
+varying from about two to four ounces in weight each. Concussion from
+the blow on the ice had stunned many, but others were bleeding from
+shot wounds.
+
+After a fruitless search for the "dog-headed tigers" we walked back to
+Chinkiang that evening.
+
+The cold weather having brought wildfowl of all descriptions I was off
+betimes next morning to some islands in the Yangtse, a few miles down
+river. An hour's sailing with wind and stream brought me to the
+desired spot, where I landed on the sandy beach, when my dog, glad to
+escape from confinement on board, ran to the top of a high dyke, or
+wall for preventing floods, some hundred yards distant, and put up
+hundreds of wild geese which had been preening themselves in the sun
+on the other side, where they had also found shelter from the cutting
+wind. The mighty roar of wings was the first intimation I had of their
+presence, and as they were well out of range, my dog came in for a
+reminder that his place for the time being was close to heel. Had they
+not been thus scared away I could have walked unobserved to within
+five yards of them.
+
+Following the beach a little above high-water mark, I presently came
+to several small ponds surrounded with willows, out of the first of
+which some teal rose in a close bunch, when firing into the brown I
+knocked them all down except one, and that I accounted for with the
+other barrel. Falling into the pond, some that were winged gave a good
+deal of trouble by diving, but eventually they were all secured, being
+eight in number. Several ducks were scared away by my shots, but I
+here added half-a-dozen snipe to the bag.
+
+Coming to some wide ditches choked with reeds and willows my dog put
+out pheasant after pheasant, but as they generally got up on the
+opposite side, where there was no gun, I only managed to secure seven,
+besides two woodcock.
+
+While eating my lunch of sandwiches under the lee of a reedstack, I
+observed that numerous flights of wildfowl on passing from one branch
+of the river to another crossed a low, marshy corner of the island, so
+that presently I made my way there and crouched down amongst the
+rushes behind a dyke, having a small lagoon immediately at my back.
+Mallard, widgeon and many other kinds of fowl came over in such quick
+succession that for two hours I was kept fully occupied, and it was
+highly gratifying to hear a heavy splash in the lagoon after each
+successful shot.
+
+As soon as the light began to fail I ceased firing and retrieved my
+birds, which numbered twenty-seven, including several varieties of
+fish ducks with serrated bills and, as I have subsequently learnt
+although then mistaking them for large divers, three goosanders. On my
+way back to the house-boat I surprised and shot a goose which was
+feeding close under the river bank, so that my total bag consisted of
+fifty-one head, and I always look back on that day as one of the most
+enjoyable I have ever spent.
+
+The snipe-shooting cannot be surpassed anywhere in the world. In
+spring, after spending the winter in rich southern climes, these
+birds, following the returning warmth, slowly migrate to Siberia for
+nesting. They pass through Central China during May, arriving almost
+simultaneously, when for about three weeks one can have superb sport,
+and then they depart as suddenly as they came. One day they will
+swarm, and the next hardly a bird is to be seen.
+
+Snipe-shooting at home one always associates with long boots, cold
+water, mud and marshes. Spring snipe-shooting in China is of a totally
+different kind.
+
+Imagine a bright, warm day, with the sun almost too powerful, dry
+meadows with fresh, green grass, and clover about six inches high,
+fields of wheat and barley in ear and beans in flower, all Nature at
+her best. You take your gun with a plentiful supply of cartridges, a
+coolie to carry bottled beer and sandwiches and to pick up the birds,
+and sally forth into the meadows and fields, dressed in an ordinary
+light summer suit or flannels, terai hat and low shoes, with the
+bottoms of your trousers tucked into your socks to keep out the
+insects.
+
+You have not gone far before one, two--half a dozen birds rise within
+easy range, and perhaps you make a right and left. What birds they
+are, too, fat as butter!--in fact, so fat and heavy that they often
+rip quite open merely from the force of falling to the ground. In this
+way you go on, firing until the gun becomes so hot that every now and
+then you must wait to let the barrels cool. My best bag for one day
+was forty-one and a half couples, but this has been doubled by sports
+who have shot to make a record.
+
+Autumn snipe, or spring snipe returned, on passing from Siberia to
+winter in the south, are not usually in very good condition, owing
+probably to the nature of the country from which they come, and
+strangely enough they appear to be less numerous and do not arrive so
+simultaneously as the spring birds, though remaining longer, many
+staying on through the winter. These do not frequent the dry meadows
+and fields, but belong to the long boots, mud and marsh category.
+
+I have never seen but one jack snipe, though the painted variety is
+fairly common.
+
+In the neighbourhood of a creek seven miles below Hankow is to be had
+the best spring snipe-shooting that I know of. One bright May morning,
+in response to the invitation of an old friend, I joined him and two
+other guests aboard his house-boat and sailed down the Yangtse to this
+well-known spot. On landing I shouldered my bag, containing fifty
+cartridges, and told my coolie to bring a new box of a hundred in the
+game-bag.
+
+The plan was to send the house-boat to a place three or four miles
+further down river, where, after shooting through the fields, the guns
+would meet for tiffin.
+
+Just as the lowdah was casting off our host asked if he might put a
+few bottles of beer into my game-bag as it was a warm and thirsty
+morning; so, to make room, and thinking that the snipe had not yet
+fully arrived, in which case the spare cartridges would not be
+required, they were replaced on board. We had not, however, walked
+many yards along the river bank before it became apparent that there
+were any number of birds, and I already regretted having so few
+cartridges with me. After crossing the creek in a crazy sampan the
+party separated, each taking his own line of country. Presently a
+tremendous fusillade commenced from all the others, and as the snipe
+were rising around them continually and making for a large swamp to my
+left, I concealed myself in some millet, where, the birds coming
+before the wind directly over my head, I enjoyed for half an hour or
+so some excellent shooting and made a number of very sporting shots.
+
+I now started for the swamp, but ere reaching it passed through some
+grass patches between fields of barley and beans. The birds here rose
+by the dozen, and standing on the same spot, without advancing a yard,
+I shot eight, which were all on the ground at one time. My gun became
+so hot that it was necessary to open it to let the barrels cool, while
+the cartridges were all gone in less than an hour, so that carrying my
+now useless weapon and boiling with rage, I had to start in pursuit of
+the house-boat, with the shots of the others ringing merrily all
+round, the snipe rising at almost every step, and the coolie laden
+with beer and dead birds lagging far behind.
+
+I arrived on board simultaneously with a party of ladies, who, under
+the ægis of my friend's wife, had come down by launch to join us at
+tiffin; at the conclusion of which long and sumptuous repast it was
+time to start back to Hankow rather than again attack the snipe.
+However, two of us landed with our guns and walked hurriedly across
+country towards a point about three miles up river, there to rejoin
+the party on the boat. Of course we kept them waiting, the sport was
+so good, but satisfaction at the total bag of some two hundred snipe
+did much to smooth matters over. Indeed, the bag would have been still
+larger except for the vile shooting of one gun; but as a few days
+later his engagement to one of the ladies of the tiffin-party was
+announced, the mystery was explained, and when in a few weeks the
+wedding bells rang, we all forgave him.
+
+Four or five miles outside the principal gate of Peking is the Nan
+Hai-tzu, or Imperial Hunting Park, where a few years ago there were
+herds of far-famed hybrids known as the "four unlikes," since they
+possessed certain attributes of, I believe, the horse, the deer, the
+ox and the sheep, without belonging definitely to either family.
+Unfortunately, Europeans were not allowed to enter this preserve, so I
+was unable personally to see these curiosities, although their
+existence was well authenticated.
+
+Outside the lofty wall enclosing this park is a kind of common
+interspersed with marshland through which a small stream flows, and
+there I have bagged as many as ten couple of snipe in an afternoon,
+with an occasional wild duck.
+
+Sending out the cart with gun, dog and provisions in charge of the
+head mafoo at about eleven o'clock on Saturday morning, as soon as
+work was over at one I would mount my pony, held in readiness by the
+second mafoo, and gallop with him after the cart, to find tiffin
+awaiting me spread on the grass.
+
+In this way I was comfortably ready to shoot by half-past two, which
+would allow of about two and a half hours' sport before returning.
+
+On one of these occasions I saw several large flocks of sand grouse,
+which, I believe, are native to Mongolia, but only once managed to get
+within range, killing a brace. They are beautiful, gamey-looking
+birds, of a very light brown or sand colour, mottled on the back and
+with legs and feet thickly feathered. Their flight much resembles that
+of golden plover, only sharper.
+
+Having finished shooting, my gun was again placed in the cart and we
+started leisurely for home, I riding a short distance in advance,
+followed by the second mafoo, while my pointer rambled over the grass.
+One evening, when thus returning, two medium-sized eagles swooped at
+the dog and commenced to regularly hunt him, much to his
+consternation. To dismount and get my gun out of its case again was
+the work of a couple of minutes, when I shot one of the birds at a
+distance of twenty yards, the other, instead of being alarmed,
+immediately swooping at its fallen comrade, to meet with a similar
+fate.
+
+I could not get them stuffed, so had their wings and claws mounted as
+fans, which I still have somewhere in my possession.
+
+The common deer are small, from thirty to forty pounds in weight, and
+without horns. They have a thick, bristly hide, and the buck has two
+tusks of from two to four inches in length projecting downwards from
+the upper jaw, with which he tears up the ground in search of roots,
+and it is to these peculiarities that the name of "hog-deer" is due.
+They mostly lie in the grass on forms, like hares, but sometimes in
+thick scrub on the hillside, and can be knocked over at forty yards
+with pheasant shot. I have bagged four in a day more than once. If
+well cooked the venison is delicious.
+
+Partridges are only found in certain districts. A few miles from
+Chefoo excellent sport is to be had, but in Central China they are not
+often seen, although they do exist, as I have shot one myself near
+Ngankin. Down south the bamboo partridge abounds in places, but it is
+a very different bird from the ordinary partridge, and takes its name
+from the fact that it lives, moves and has its being in bamboo
+coppices.
+
+In the vicinity of Hongkong and Macao the partridge, although far from
+numerous, is quite common, and a bag of three or four would represent
+a good day's work. These birds resemble the red-legged variety so
+common in England, but are considerably larger, while the plumage,
+although practically identical in colour, is far more brilliant. A
+curious feature about them is that they are never flushed in coveys
+and very rarely in pairs, but are almost invariably single birds,
+which fact, together with their large size and gorgeous plumage, leads
+me to think that they must represent a distinct branch of the family,
+to which the name "solitary" would be highly applicable.
+
+Quail are numerous and in all respects resemble those found in this
+country. They are chiefly prized by the Chinese for their pugilistic
+qualities, for after being caught and having had their wings clipped
+they are disposed of to various purchasers, who take them to miniature
+cock-pits and there back them to fight the birds of other gamblers for
+considerable sums, the combats being fierce and often deadly.
+
+The hares are wretched little animals, all bones and felt, and not
+larger than the English rabbit. They usually lie in the open, though
+often found in graves and in holes in the rocks, from which I have
+thought that they might be the "coney" mentioned in Scripture.
+
+Bustards, or wild turkeys, are found at certain periods all over
+China. They are very shy, always settle on wide plains, and are
+extremely difficult of approach--a shot being only obtainable after
+long and careful stalking.
+
+Although tigers are occasionally to be found in most of the southern
+provinces, there are but few places easily accessible to Europeans
+where they exist in any number, and not having been in one of these
+favoured spots I have had no opportunity to try my hand at this
+exciting sport, but a friend of mine, who has earned considerable fame
+at it, and who keeps a row of grinning tiger skulls on his
+drawing-room mantelpiece as mementoes of successful hunts, described
+to me how operations are conducted.
+
+At Amoy, which is probably the best known of these districts, when
+natives from the surrounding country bring word into the settlement
+that a tiger has been seen, preparations for the hunt are quickly
+completed, and a party of sportsmen repairs to the scene of action.
+
+The country being exceedingly rocky, the tigers make their lairs in
+caves and rocks, approached by long tunnels or holes just large enough
+to admit the beasts, so that to get them out is both difficult and
+dangerous.
+
+Having traced spore to the entrance of one of these tunnels, my friend
+crawled in first with his rifle, immediately after him coming a native
+shikarri, who thrust forward over my friend's back a long bamboo
+bearing at the end a lighted torch. Next followed three more
+shikarries, holding long spears, which they similarly thrust in
+advance, so that the attacking force consisted of a torch, three
+spears, the Englishman with his rifle and four shikarries, in which
+order they slowly crept along the passage, the sides of which were
+worn smooth by continual friction of tigers passing to and fro, until
+growls and snarls proclaimed that their quarry was near at hand.
+
+Presently two green, shifting eyes could be distinguished a few feet
+beyond the torch, when, carefully aimed between them, a hollow,
+express bullet crashed through the monster's skull, killing him on the
+spot.
+
+What would happen in case the brute was only wounded and charged I
+have never heard, but personally I should be somewhat chary in
+trusting to the protection of a torch and three spears.
+
+It is related that a practical old Yankee sport, desirous of slaying
+his tiger, joined in one of these expeditions, setting out from the
+rendezvous armed to the teeth, in company with another hunter, but
+before very long came stepping briskly back, and by way of explanation
+_guessed_ "the tiger's footprints were getting too durned fresh."
+
+I consider he showed true American acumen.
+
+Spear-grass one often hears of but seldom sees, and until making
+acquaintance with the real thing I had always imagined that the barbed
+grass seeds, which are such a harmful worry to dogs, were practically
+identical with it. Not at all.
+
+Before leaving Ichang for a trip to the Yangtse gorges I expressed my
+intention of trying to get some of those beautiful Reeves pheasants,
+having tails several feet in length, which are indigenous to that
+locality, but was warned that it would be necessary to take long
+leggings as a protection against spear-grass. Not having any with me,
+and believing I knew what spear-grass was, I refrained from borrowing,
+so that on landing at Nantou with my dog and gun, it was in an
+ordinary shooting suit and worsted stockings.
+
+Inquiries of natives as to the whereabouts of these birds soon led me
+up the mountain-side to a rocky plateau, which looked extremely
+likely, and where I even saw traces of them. My dog commenced to work,
+and I followed him into the light, dry, crackling grass, but suddenly
+became conscious of a smarting in the legs as though walking through
+nettles, and noticed that the grass was adhering to my stockings.
+However, I pushed on, my dog being hot on the scent, but presently we
+both came to a standstill--I, because of cramp in both legs, each of
+which was now enveloped in grass to the size of a bee-hive; while the
+dog's shaggy coat had collected it till he appeared as large as a
+sheep, and could no longer force his way along, besides being in much
+pain.
+
+It was a short half mile down hill to the boat but the difficulty and
+discomfort of getting there were considerable. When at length the boy
+proceeded to take my stockings off it was found that they were
+practically sewn to my skin by the spear-grass, the tiny barbed points
+of which had passed in hundreds through the wool and worked like
+fish-hooks into my calves. Without penetrating deep enough to more
+than slightly draw blood, they had one and all to be forcibly dragged
+out as the stockings were peeled off. For days I was lame and sore,
+while my dog lived in misery for weeks. I did not even see a Reeves
+pheasant.
+
+At Nantou I gathered delicious oranges from the tree for one cash
+each, or, eight oranges for a farthing.
+
+A twelve-bore is the best gun for use in China, from the fact that
+cartridges are everywhere procurable, whereas for other sizes they
+have frequently to be imported from home, although I must admit that
+a twenty-bore is preferable for snipe-shooting in warm weather, owing
+to the lightness of both gun and cartridges.
+
+It seems to be the general opinion, with which I agree, that pointers
+and spaniels are the most suitable dogs to keep, for they appear to
+work the cover and to stand the climate better than other breeds.
+
+As European dogs seldom live in China more than three or four years,
+and often less, it is necessary to always have puppies coming on if
+you do not want your shooting to be spoiled, for it is useless to try
+and get pheasants out of the thick cover without them. Dysentery is a
+very prevalent canine disease, but their most deadly enemy, and one
+existing in no other country that I know of, is worms in the heart.
+How the germs get into the blood no doctor has yet been able to say,
+but thin, white worms resembling vermicelli cluster round the heart,
+living on the blood, until they become so numerous as to eventually
+choke an artery, when death is instantaneous. In the case of a
+favourite dog, on which a doctor kindly performed a _post-mortem_
+examination, these worms were in such numbers that I positively could
+not see the heart at all.
+
+Native dogs are useless for sport, as they seem to be devoid of that
+friendly intelligence so noticeable in our own breeds, while their
+powers of scent are much inferior. I have heard that in the island of
+Hainan a certain breed exists which is very good for hunting leopards
+and wild boar, but this I cannot guarantee.
+
+In the winter of 1889 I was invited by a friend to join him in his
+house-boat a few miles below Chinkiang, when we could shoot together
+next day and then have Christmas dinner on board.
+
+I hired a small sampan to sail me down, together with my boy, taking
+only a bottle of whisky, a few things for tiffin and a plum cake, the
+last being a Christmas gift from a Norwegian lady.
+
+Starting at noon, it was about three o'clock and near the rendezvous,
+when we sighted a flock of geese asleep in the sun on a mud-bank. I
+ordered the sampan-man to get as near as possible, and when the geese
+rose at a distance of about sixty yards, knocked down a couple with
+two charges of S.S.G. A minute later another came flying overhead
+calling to its wounded mate, and this also I dropped without pity. The
+first two, being only winged, gave a lot of trouble, as they swam and
+dived with great speed, but all three were eventually secured.
+
+There was still an hour before dark, and seeing no signs of my friend
+I went on shore and bagged three pheasants before returning to the
+boat. Next morning, after passing a cold and miserable night in the
+tiny cabin of the dirty little sampan, I started with gun and dog at
+about eight o'clock--fully expecting that the house-boat would turn up
+during my absence--and shot all day, killing eleven pheasants, two
+deer, three woodcock, seven duck and one pigeon. As by dark there were
+still no signs of my expected host I had no choice but to return home.
+
+It was a lovely night, bright, frosty and star-light, with a nice,
+crisp breeze, which, the river being there about two miles wide,
+raised quite a sea. Thousands of wildfowl, all on their way south,
+were flying, whistling and whirring about in every direction, and
+rising from the water quite close to the boat. My dog "Snipe" and I
+crept into the cabin out of the cutting wind, which was dead ahead,
+and proceeded to discuss our impromptu Christmas fare, which, after
+all, was not so bad, and reflected great credit on the boy's cooking
+powers. I noted down the _menu_, and here it is:--
+
+    1. Pigeon Soup.
+    2. Woodcock.
+    3. Boiled Pheasant.
+    4. Cold Roast Beef.
+    5. Plum Cake ablaze with Whisky.
+    6. Cheese.
+    7. Pumelo.
+    Whisky and Water.
+    Tea.
+
+There was no holly or mistletoe to remind one of Merrie England, but I
+drank to "the Old Folks at Home" with the sadness peculiar to
+wanderers on such occasions, and then gave myself up to nicotine and
+reflection for the rest of the evening, arriving home at midnight to
+find that my truant friend was ill in bed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+RIDING
+
+
+No country in the world is so badly supplied with horses as China,
+both as regards quantity and quality.
+
+The reasons for this are largely owing to the peculiar and wretched
+condition of internal communications, and to the fact that horses are
+seldom employed in cultivation of the soil, which is mostly performed
+by manual labour, supplemented by water buffaloes in the central and
+southern provinces and by oxen in the north.
+
+Wherever rivers and lakes exist there is found a dense boating
+population, whose occupation is the conduct of every kind of traffic.
+
+On the large fluvial highways stately junks laden deep with cargo pass
+backwards and forwards in unending procession. In shallower waters the
+vessels are smaller but more numerous, and this adaptation to
+circumstances goes on until the smallest streams and canals, which
+invariably cover the valleys of China's mighty rivers as with a net,
+are blocked with tiny craft, each bearing its load of merchandise or
+its quota of passengers.
+
+In such districts, where everything is carried by water and where
+roads are few, there is little or no work for the horse, which, beyond
+a few wretched specimens attached to the various yamêns and military
+camps, is seldom seen.
+
+Where waterways do not exist, and traffic must necessarily be carried
+overland, the highways are either narrow paths paved with large blocks
+of stone and suitable only for wheelbarrows and pack-animals, or
+tracks picked out at random over a width of perhaps a hundred yards,
+along which lumbering, ill-constructed and springless carts plough
+their ways, and strings of pack-animals wend slowly to and fro. The
+numberless creaking wheel-barrows, bearing heavy loads, are propelled
+by coolies, who, the yoke across the shoulders, stagger along between
+the shafts, helped occasionally by a small sail set to catch a
+favouring wind, or by another coolie harnessed to the vehicle by
+ropes. The pack-animals mostly consist of camels (especially in the
+north), mules and donkeys, ponies being used in more limited numbers.
+As a rule, the carts are supplied with mixed teams of very poor class
+animals, mules largely predominating, although ponies are also
+numerous.
+
+Europeans, accustomed to see carriages, dog-carts and all kinds of
+horse-drawn conveyances circulating freely on macadamised roads, find
+it difficult to realise that, in the oldest civilised empire in
+existence, there are, outside the treaty-ports, not only no
+macadamised roads, but not even roads that could possibly be compared
+with our most out-of-the-way and most ill-kept country lanes, and that
+consequently there are neither carriages nor dogcarts, but only
+springless tumbrils, which, covered with a wain, discharge the
+functions of the celestial cab, and plough through deep mud with their
+massive wheels, or jolt over stone causeways to the intense discomfort
+of luckless occupants.
+
+   [Illustration: THE CAB OF NORTHERN CHINA.
+   _To face page 75._]
+
+There being then practically neither roads nor carriages, the demand
+for draught horses is very small, while for riding purposes Chinamen
+prefer either the taller and more dignified mule or the ambling pony.
+
+This latter has a rolling, pacing gait which enables the horseman to
+sit quietly in his high wooden saddle without any necessity of rising
+in the stirrups. He possesses great speed and endurance, and wealthy
+Chinese will give as much as four or five hundred taels for a good
+one. With his rider leaning well back and pulling hard at the reins
+the animal tears along at fifteen or sixteen miles an hour, but when
+the reins are loosened he immediately slackens and pulls up. They are
+a common sight in the neighbourhood of Peking, where ambling contests
+frequently take place outside the city wall. In these contests each
+pony in turn is ridden at full speed past the judges, who proclaim the
+winner on his general merits and not with exclusive reference to pace.
+
+For agricultural work the horse is not employed. In wheeling barrows
+coolies perform the work of beasts of burthen. As pack-animals camels,
+mules and donkeys have the preference, so that although the "noble
+animal" is to be met with almost everywhere, he is not considered
+indispensable as in Western lands. He is unhonoured, ill cared for and
+very cheap.
+
+There may be several breeds in China, although personally I have seen
+but four, of which a small, well-shaped pony from Turkestan; a large,
+stringy horse from Ili; and a weedy, cowhocked pony from Szechuan
+deserve here no more than passing notice, for they are seldom seen in
+the Eastern provinces, where alone the Mongolian, or, as it is
+commonly called, the "China pony," is found in considerable numbers.
+
+This China pony, with which Europeans in the Far East are so well
+acquainted, is a native of the Mongolian plains. He stands on an
+average about thirteen hands, and is a coarse, thick-set, cobby
+animal, with a large, ugly head carried low on a wedge-shaped neck,
+so that when mounted you have practically nothing in front of the
+saddle. He much resembles, and is evidently closely allied to, the
+Russian pony, which is now so commonly met with in this country.
+
+I have heard it stated that, at the conclusion of the Second Chinese
+War, to avoid the expense of transport back to India, the Arab horses
+of our cavalry were sold at Tientsin, and being mostly purchased by
+native dealers, were sent to Mongolia and crossed with the native
+breed. If this be true it accounts for the traces of Arab blood which
+may occasionally be observed in a smaller head, finer points, wavy
+tail and gentler manners.
+
+Mongol princes have long had, by imperial decree, the sole right of
+horse breeding in the north, every year paying tribute to the Emperor
+of so many head; and as this breed is much superior to the others I
+have mentioned, the monopoly practically extends to the whole Empire,
+and is most jealously guarded.
+
+Geldings only are allowed to leave the breeders' hands, and that not
+before the advanced age of seven or eight, which partly accounts for
+the shortness of the time during which China ponies are in their
+prime, and for the fact that after two or three years' work they
+commence to age and deteriorate.
+
+Mares it is impossible to purchase on any terms, the Mongols
+absolutely refusing to part with them, and I have only seen two
+during the whole of the twelve years I have spent in China--one at
+Peking, the property of a Russian prince, and one with its foal,
+belonging to a native official at Kiukiang.
+
+In the late autumn of every year the tribute ponies are brought down
+to Peking. I have seen them in large droves coming across country at
+full gallop, enveloped in clouds of dust, with mounted Mongol and
+Chinese drovers, carrying long bamboo poles, riding on the outskirts
+of each mob and directing its course. Villagers, on seeing the clouds
+of dust and hearing the thunder of hoofs, hurry out to try and divert
+the equine torrent from their crops, but in vain. The whirlwind rushes
+by, leaving a broad, well-beaten track, whereon few signs of banks,
+gardens or vegetation can be discerned. It is the Emperor's tribute
+and there is no redress.
+
+After tributary obligations have been fulfilled in kind or in value,
+large numbers of these ponies are thrown on the market, and on an
+average can be secured for twenty or thirty dollars each--that is, for
+two or three pounds.
+
+The best market is provided by Europeans, and dealers forward the
+finest-looking animals to Tientsin, Shanghai, Hongkong, Hankow and
+other places where racing is carried on, to meet this demand.
+
+When such mobs of raw ponies reach a treaty-port they are known as
+"griffins," which term applies to all that have not previously run at
+any race-meeting; and with their tails sweeping the ground, their
+hogged manes and their long coats clotted with mud, they present a
+very dismal appearance, and one not at all in keeping with the
+accepted idea of race-horses.
+
+These griffins mostly pass through the hands of racing men, who, with
+a view to securing a good animal, either arrange with the dealers for
+private gallops, when the various performances are carefully timed by
+stop-watch, or buy their fancies at public auction without speed tests
+having previously been made.
+
+Owing to expenses of transport, be it by steamer or by road, the
+further south the greater the average value of griffins, and as only
+picked animals are supplied to the foreign market, the price is
+everywhere far higher than at Peking, and may be said to range from
+fifty to five hundred dollars. Those ponies which do not prove to have
+sufficient speed to warrant their being trained as racers are resold
+as hacks, or filter away at lower prices to the Chinese.
+
+I may here say that although at several of the treaty-ports there are
+a few good roads made by the European residents, and along which
+imported carriages are occasionally seen to pass, it is only at
+Shanghai that vehicular traffic has attained to any considerable
+degree of importance. Here the foreign settlements are traversed in
+all directions by excellent highways, which extend through the suburbs
+for several miles into the adjoining country, and which the Chinese
+avail themselves of to a large extent, driving out in thousands every
+afternoon to tea-houses and pleasure-gardens.
+
+Besides most well-known varieties of conveyance the celestial mind has
+evolved one or two remarkable models of its own, notably, a kind of
+victoria, the body of which takes the form of two large inverted
+sea-shells gaudily painted with flowers and butterflies, and running
+on light iron wheels with bright spokes and rubber tyres. A liveried
+coach-man on the box, a footman with a smart rug over the arm standing
+on an iron step behind and balancing himself by grasping two straps
+attached to the back corners of the carriage, a shabbily-harnessed
+China pony in the shafts, and the equipage is complete.
+
+The occupants of this triumphal car are either three or four
+prosperous-looking Chinamen, clothed in many-coloured silks, or a
+posse of gaily-dressed celestial beauties, who, with faces painted
+white, lips dyed vermilion, hair caked with oil, garlanded with
+flowers, laden with jewels, displaying their tiny satin shoes and
+toying with fans in their small and beautiful hands, furnish a
+_tout-ensemble_ sufficiently original if not too painfully grotesque.
+
+At Shanghai, certainly, many thousands of ponies are employed, but it
+is owing entirely to the influence and example of Europeans.
+
+The majority of men taking up appointments in China are barely out of,
+if not still in, their teens, and whether they come straight from
+school, from business in the city or from the universities, it is
+seldom they have had any large experience of horses. In very many
+cases they do not even know how to mount, but finding ponies so cheap,
+or, better still, getting a discarded racer as a cumshaw, they take to
+riding as naturally as if to the manner born, so that there are but
+few residents of either sex who cannot ride, and China ponies
+consequently hold a place in the estimation of foreigners which is
+altogether denied them by the natives.
+
+From hacking to racing is but a step. The man who has learnt to ride
+(or thinks he has), being already a member of the race club, takes his
+steed for a quiet canter round the course. The old racer no sooner
+finds himself on the familiar track than he is off with the speed of
+flames, and our young friend, being powerless to check him, with his
+feet out of the stirrups and hanging on to the back of the saddle for
+dear life, is carried a mile or so before a sudden swerve at the exit
+rail deposits him on the turf.
+
+No bones are broken but the damage is done. Unless the dismounted
+cavalier be devoid of all enthusiasm the spirit of racing has
+assuredly entered his veins!
+
+In future he will haunt the course with his own luckless hack, he will
+attend the training regularly each morning in hopes of getting a mount
+on any rank outsider, and will think of little else all day than
+riding and ponies.
+
+To some men riding comes naturally, like cricket, while others can
+never acquire a good seat.
+
+A light-weight who is fortunate enough to possess the necessary knack
+will soon be in request as jockey at the forthcoming meeting, when, if
+he should happen to secure a win, the confidence it immediately gives
+him does more than any other thing to transform him into a really good
+horseman.
+
+It costs no more to feed a good pony than it does a bad one, so he now
+decides to dispose of his hack for a trifling sum, and in its stead to
+purchase a griffin, which may be a potential winner of the champions.
+He orders his mafoo to inspect the new season's griffins as they
+arrive, and arrange with the dealer to bring three or four of the best
+for his approval. This the mafoo does with great pleasure, as, apart
+from the keen interest he takes in racing--all Chinese being
+inveterate gamblers--it is an understood thing that he will receive a
+good cumshaw from his master for each race that his stable wins.
+
+In due course the unbroken, shoeless, mud-covered animals arrive, and
+the dealer, perched on a high wooden saddle, trots them up and down to
+show off their paces.
+
+In England the would-be purchaser of a horse carefully feels each leg
+to make sure that there be neither splint nor curb, lifts up and
+examines the hoofs, grasps the lower lip with one hand and draws out
+the tongue with the other to study the teeth, and peers closely into
+the animal's face to see that his eyes are unblemished.
+
+On approaching a griffin one becomes conscious of being closely
+watched by a vicious eye, and oftentimes the brute, snorting with
+anger and alarm at the unaccustomed sight and smell of a European,
+attempts to rush at one, while the idea of feeling his legs, drawing
+out his tongue, examining his hoofs or peering into his eyes quickly
+evaporates. One would rather fondle a Bengal tiger!
+
+An adjournment is next made to the race-course, where the ponies are
+powed by the dealer for half-a-mile, when the action of each can be
+observed and the times taken by stop-watch.
+
+In this manner a rough idea can be formed as to which of the animals
+are likely to possess the necessary turn of speed, and that is as
+much information as can now be obtained, for as to soundness, age and
+stamina the dealer's assurances on these points must be accepted as
+the only evidence procurable.
+
+In the end one, and very probably two, are purchased at from sixty to
+seventy dollars each, and the erstwhile embryo jock has blossomed into
+the dignity of ownership.
+
+The first thing to do with a griffin is to get him shod, which is not
+quite so simple a matter as one might imagine, for he has hitherto
+never passed through the farrier's hands and will be certain to
+fiercely object. No attempt is made to perform the operation by
+gentleness, and he is forthwith led under a kind of oblong, wooden
+arch about six feet high, constructed of four firmly-planted posts,
+connected on top by cross beams.
+
+Ropes passed under his belly and over the cross beams keep him from
+throwing himself down, while each leg is securely lashed to one of the
+posts, and thus being rendered absolutely powerless, the work is
+quickly put through.
+
+There is generally a struggle in mounting each new arrival, but with a
+couple of mafoos hanging on to his ears, and sometimes by enveloping
+his head in a horse-cloth, it is eventually managed.
+
+The first timidity soon wears off, and you find that after a short
+distance there is no more trouble, the animal being probably in poor
+condition and lacking the nervousness of finer breeds.
+
+Several days of scraping and grooming having removed the dust and dirt
+with which his shaggy coat was filled, he is clipped and his tail
+shortened. The transformation is almost startling. You now have quite
+a smart-looking mount as China ponies go, and while riding him daily
+to improve his condition you will soon discover any marked
+characteristics.
+
+He rarely gets over his dislike for Europeans although perfectly
+docile with Chinese, and it is seldom that he will allow even his own
+master to enter the stall. A black griffin which I bought at Peking
+seemed to me so quiet that on an expedition of some days into the
+country I fed, groomed and saddled him myself, until quite convinced
+that we had become friends, and it was not till after my return that,
+in passing through the stables, he rushed at me with open mouth, only
+the strength of a raw-hide headstall saving me from being savaged.
+
+What applies to one applies to all. Their tempers are untrustworthy.
+
+Many have the disagreeable trick of "cow-kicking," which usually
+occurs on mounting, when they kick forward with the near hind leg and
+may inflict a nasty blow.
+
+Invariably hard-mouthed, occasionally buck-jumpers, altogether
+without manners, and in trotting mostly slow and jerky, they are but a
+poor apology for the gentle and graceful horse as found in Western
+countries. On the other hand, they make capital race-ponies, for they
+are fast gallopers, and for their size can carry astounding weights.
+They are also very good for cross-country work, as, in addition to
+being fair jumpers, their great strength enables them to plough
+through country which would tax the powers of an English hunter, but
+the greatest consideration of all is their cheapness, for it places
+them within the reach of sporting men with small incomes.
+
+A certain number of Australian horses are now imported into Hongkong
+and Shanghai, but owing to the stringencies of the Chinese climate it
+is very doubtful whether so great additional outlay as the long sea
+voyage involves is compensated for by the walers' evident
+superiorities.
+
+Assuming that, having had a griffin for some time, he is in good
+condition, a period of six or seven weeks is sufficient in which to
+prepare him for the races.
+
+For training purposes, oats and hay imported from California are
+preferable, but adhering to native produce, a diet of boiled barley,
+chopped straw and bran will do nearly as well.
+
+Most of the important exercise is gone through at early morning
+between six and half-past seven, when the ponies are trotted and
+galloped on the course, and when all sporting members of the
+community, stop-watch in hand, assemble at the rails, or follow
+proceedings from the grand-stand while breakfasting on hot rolls and
+coffee. On return to stables, thorough dressing, with much rubbing of
+the legs, takes place, while an hour's brisk walking from eleven
+o'clock to twelve, and again in the afternoon, completes the day's
+work.
+
+   [Illustration: THE OLD GRAND-STAND, HANKOW RACES, 1888.
+   _To face page 87._]
+
+Each animal requires individual treatment, and it is the owner who
+best knows how to apply it that will bring his ponies to the post in
+the fittest condition.
+
+Carrying from ten to eleven stone according to measurement, good time
+for half a mile would be fifty-nine seconds, for a mile, two minutes
+eight seconds, and for a mile and a half, three minutes fifteen
+seconds.
+
+In dry weather it is an advantage for ponies to race without shoes,
+but if the course be wet or muddy they are absolutely necessary to
+prevent slipping.
+
+The jockeys are all amateur and mostly personal friends, as also are
+the clerk of the course, starters, judges and stewards, so that
+instead of a race-meeting being a gathering of complete strangers,
+bookmakers and professionals, it partakes more of the social nature of
+a huge picnic.
+
+During the winter months a great feature of sport in Shanghai is
+paperchasing on horseback.
+
+The meets are usually held on Saturday afternoons, when business
+offices are closed, and a field of seventy or eighty is no uncommon
+sight.
+
+Two members of the club lay the scent, but while free to choose any
+line of country, they must not lead the trail over jumps or obstacles
+which their own ponies have failed to negotiate.
+
+At the hour advertised the Master gives a signal and the hunt is away.
+
+Through wades and creeks, over water-jumps and graves, across gardens
+and paddy fields, the gay throng sweeps on at high speed, until a
+welcome check brings relief to man and beast and allows the stragglers
+to close up. After a short delay the trail is again hit off and the
+field streams away, but in ever-decreasing numbers, until a mere
+handful sight the flags which mark the finish, and ride their hardest
+at the final jump, the first light-weight and the first welter to
+cross which are thereafter entitled to sport pink and gain the honour
+of laying scent for the succeeding hunt. The sport is extremely good
+though very rough, which is mainly owing to the marshy nature of the
+soil and the fact that as the Chinese do not here raise banks or
+hedges between their fields the jumping is mostly over water and dry
+ditches of considerable width and depth, which accounts for a goodly
+number of nasty spills. Although compensation for damage to crops is
+awarded by the hunt club, considerable care must be taken to guard
+against traps wilfully laid by the natives, who frequently remove the
+trail from its proper course and lay it over almost impossible jumps,
+which they further render extremely dangerous by digging holes in the
+opposite banks and covering them with leaves and rubbish, after doing
+which they take up safe positions of vantage to enjoy the fun.
+
+In autumn, when the waters of the Yangtse commence to fall and the
+inundated districts along its banks become dry, the plain at Hankow
+affords excellent riding, where for miles one can swing along at a
+hand-gallop without once having to draw rein. In spring, when covered
+with fresh, green grass, it possesses an additional charm, and until
+rising waters once more confine riding to the race-course and the
+river bank, there are few places in China where such magnificent
+gallops can be obtained.
+
+When summer floods at Kiukiang drove our ponies from their mat stables
+on the other side of the creek to the higher ground of the concession,
+and turned most of the surrounding country into an immense lake, we
+were in considerable perplexity as to where we should take our
+afternoon rides, until the brilliant idea was conceived of utilising
+the city wall, which stands about twenty feet in height, and is four
+miles in circumference.
+
+Entering by the western gate and turning sharply to the right we rode
+up the stone steps, much worn by time and human feet, to the top of
+the wall, which is some twelve feet in width. Picking our way
+carefully, for the route was strewn with loose stones and bricks, we
+usually made the circuit twice before descending. Where the steps
+adjoin the wall two large right angles are formed, into which Chinese
+houses have been built in such a manner that their roofs are
+conterminous with, and slope at the same angle as, the steps,
+rendering it possible to pass from one to the other with the greatest
+of ease.
+
+As a friend of mine was passing this point for the second time his
+pony tried to bolt down the steps with the intention of returning to
+stable. A violent pull at the near rein brought the brute's head
+round, but without stopping him, so that he passed sideways from the
+steps on to the roof of one of the houses, and together with his rider
+instantly disappeared through it, amidst a cloud of dust, a crashing
+of timbers and the rattle of falling tiles.
+
+Emerging from the _débris_, and smothered with dust, my friend led his
+pony through the front door into the street, where a crowd had already
+collected, neither apparently any the worse for their remarkable
+feat. An old woman who was in the building at the time had a narrow
+escape from being crushed by the falling animal, but she soon
+recovered from the shock, and a liberal sum in dollars with which to
+repair the roof probably caused her to regret that similar accidents
+did not more frequently befall.
+
+At Peking, where for a time I was clerk of the course, a most
+remarkable incident occurred, for the accuracy of which I had
+irrefutable proof.
+
+A pony named "Chalk," which I had purchased from a Chinese soldier for
+twenty-five dollars, had carried all before him at the previous autumn
+meeting, for which reason I was naturally greatly attached to him, and
+he, although an extremely vicious animal towards others, tolerated me
+with a forbearance but rarely met with in a China pony.
+
+At the succeeding spring meeting Chalk was a hot favourite for the
+principal events. The evening before the races I passed with several
+friends, when the chances of different ponies, and of Chalk in
+particular, were discussed till a late hour. That night I dreamed that
+after I had been riding Chalk, I was standing dismounted and holding
+the reins, on a plot of grass surrounded with trees, while the pony
+was lying on the ground. Raising his head and neck two or three times
+in attempts to get up he finally struggled into a sitting position,
+standing on his forelegs but with his haunches on the ground, and then
+sank back dead.
+
+The dream was so vivid and left such an impression on me, that by way
+of conversation, and without attaching the slightest importance to it,
+I related the circumstance in practically the same words as employed
+here, to a Russian friend, who accompanied me early next morning to
+the course.
+
+Again, on the grand-stand, a quarter of an hour or so before the races
+commenced, I laughingly told a son of the Dutch minister of my dream,
+explaining the circumstances and the scene in full.
+
+Looking in the pink of condition, Chalk came out for the first event,
+one mile, and won hands down by several lengths. After dismounting in
+the enclosure and weighing in, I was being convoyed by my friends to
+the bar in order to celebrate the victory in champagne, when I heard
+someone say, "Look at Chalk!"
+
+Turning round, I saw him staggering backwards as if he had been struck
+a heavy blow on the head. As I rushed forward and seized the reins by
+which the mafoo had been leading him, he fell to the ground, and there
+on the club lawn, surrounded with trees, exactly as seen in my dream,
+he attempted to rise two or three times, eventually getting into a
+sitting position, and then falling back was dead in less than ten
+seconds.
+
+My Russian friend was aghast, and pressed into my hand a small coin,
+which he said would keep off the evil spirits, but I was then too much
+concerned at the loss of my favourite to pay heed to either spirits or
+dreams, although I had instantly recognised both the scene and the
+locality, the only difference being that the sympathising crowd which
+now pressed round me and my fallen steed had been absent in the
+vision.
+
+I am not a believer in dreams, and possessing an excellent digestion
+but rarely have any, and for this one can offer no explanation beyond
+that it was a most remarkable coincidence.
+
+At the time it created quite a mild sensation amongst the European
+community, while the Chinese who heard of it were extremely
+interested.
+
+My Russian and Dutch friends I have since met on several occasions,
+when, in the presence of others, we talked of my dream and its
+fulfilment.
+
+Both in Peking and in the various parts of China where I have since
+been stationed, I have frequently related the occurrence to Chinese
+acquaintances, and they have always given an interpretation of it
+which has invariably been to the effect that in this world, or in a
+previous existence, I either lent money or did a great service to some
+friend, who, dying before repayment had been made, came back to earth
+in the form of a horse, and after winning for me sufficient money to
+discharge his debt, returned to the realms of departed spirits.
+
+
+                                                 "THE HAGUE,
+                                         "_26th March 1903_.
+
+    "MY DEAR READY,--In reply to yours of 23rd I will certainly
+    gladly corroborate the incident regarding Chalk's death. I do
+    not remember exactly the details as you put them to me now,
+    though I have not the least doubt they were the true features
+    of the case. What I do still remember is this: that you gave
+    ---- and myself a somewhat circumstantial account of your
+    dream shortly before the race; that immediately after the
+    death of the pony you came up to us and called attention to
+    the remarkable fulfilment of your dream, and that I was at the
+    time much impressed with the case, both as regards the main
+    fact and the details, which tallied remarkably with what I
+    could then still remember of your prophetic account of the
+    event. Whether to look upon this as some 'Borderland'
+    manifestation or merely as a remarkable coincidence does not
+    belong to the province of,--
+
+                                          "Yours very truly,
+
+                                               "T.T.H. FERGUSON."
+
+My Russian friend has long since returned to the dominions of the
+Great White Czar and I have not his address, otherwise I feel
+confident that he, too, would gladly support with his testimony my
+account of this remarkable occurrence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+SAILING
+
+
+A good national motto for the Chinese would be "_Semper idem_," for of
+a truth they change not and as yet the shadow of turning is but
+ill-defined.
+
+The same types of junk that called forth the admiration of Marco Polo
+may be seen to-day, not only along the internal waterways of the
+Empire but far afield, at Singapore, in Siamese waters and amongst the
+East India Islands, and it may be interesting for yachtsmen to know
+that the problems of water-tight compartments, centre-boards, balanced
+and perforated rudders, which during the past few decades have
+exercised the minds of designers and builders in this country, were
+solved many centuries ago by the Chinese, and almost every junk afloat
+contains some, and not unfrequently all, of these equipments.
+
+In the stormy waters of the Formosa channel, where the monsoons raise
+a mountainous sea, thousands of fishing-boats, far out of sight of
+land, ply their business in weather which would cause the masters of
+English smacks to run for shelter.
+
+Mail steamers on the voyage between Hongkong and Shanghai pass through
+these fleets and their miles upon miles of bamboo-floated nets, and
+oftentimes it occurs that a good view of some of the craft may be
+obtained from deck at the distance of only a few yards, when it can be
+seen that their crews consist not of men alone as in other countries
+but of whole families--fathers, mothers, children and infants--whose
+home is in reality on the rolling deep.
+
+That many of these hardy souls perish at their work is a certainty,
+for it frequently happens that steamers sight their luckless craft
+bottoms upwards or rescue survivors from the wreckage.
+
+Out of Shanghai harbour cumbersome junks make their ways across the
+Yellow Sea to ports along the northern coasts or to the hermit kingdom
+of Corea. These vessels have frequently five or six masts spread out
+like a fan, from the foremast, which rakes forrard at an extraordinary
+angle, to the mizzenmast, which shoots well out over the stern.
+Ill-shaped sails of matting, ropes made of twisted bamboo splits,
+hemp, or cocoa-nut fibre, huge wooden anchors, and a total absence of
+paint lend to them a most ramshackle and unseaworthy appearance, while
+clothes drying on the line, cocks crowing, pigs rambling about at
+will, plants growing in pots and old tins, together with the presence
+of women and children, introduce a rustic and farmlike element, and
+it is always a matter of wonder to me how these floating curiosity
+shops are able to thread their ways unaided through tortuous channels
+and crowded shipping out to sea, and when once there, why they do not
+succumb to the first rough weather they encounter.
+
+Taken as a whole, Chinese junks are but roughly built, and though
+generally excellent sea-boats and easily handled, their sailing powers
+are poor when compared with corresponding European craft of similar
+tonnage.
+
+A peculiar custom is the supplying of all vessels, whether steamers,
+junks or sampans, with large eyes, which are painted one on either
+side of the bows and as a reason for which any Chinaman will explain
+to you--"S'pose no got eye, no can see. S'pose no can see, how fashion
+can walkee."
+
+Another thing to be noted is that all sails without exception have
+bamboo reefing battens, which although destroying the smooth set of
+the canvas are infinitely superior to our reefing points, inasmuch as
+the largest sail can be reefed from deck, or rather reefs itself, just
+as quickly as the capstan can lower it, and without that hard work,
+waste of time and risk which going aloft or along the spars in bad
+weather necessarily entails.
+
+Up the mighty River Yangtse different types of junks may be
+numbered by the hundred, all varying in tonnage, dimensions and
+draught according to the waters they are designed to navigate.
+
+   [Illustration: FOOCHOW JUNK, SHOWING EYE.
+   _To face page 98._]
+
+In the estuary, and as far up as Chinkiang, sea-going papicoes from
+Ningpo are to be seen in great numbers. These gaily-painted vessels of
+from twenty to eighty tons, with their high freeboards, wide sterns,
+raking masts, tanned sails and gaudy vanes, are extremely quaint and
+picturesque.
+
+_Via_ the Grand Canal, which connects Tientsin with Hangchow, great
+quantities of tribute rice are forwarded by Chinese officials from the
+Central and Southern provinces to their Manchu rulers in the north,
+every Manchu, owing to the bare fact that he is of the ruling race,
+being entitled from his birth to a monthly allowance of rice and
+silver, and as the canal crosses the Yangtse at Chinkiang many
+deep-draught grain junks may be seen arriving there with cargoes from
+various places on the river.
+
+A few miles higher up, at a place called Iching, there are always
+scores of junks anchored in orderly rows waiting to load salt as it
+arrives overland from the sea-coast, where, being a Government
+monopoly, it is manufactured in saltpans under official supervision.
+
+Both the grain junks and the salt junks possess a certain official
+status, and are therefore kept in far better trim than the ordinary
+trader, and ranging anywhere from sixty to one hundred and fifty tons,
+are probably the best class of craft which frequent inland waters.
+They are heavily built, with good beam and watertight compartments.
+Their lines, while forbidding any thought of speed, are not
+ungraceful, and eminently suitable for weight carrying. With square,
+massive bows they thicken away aft, until, curving upwards with a bold
+sweep of the gunnels, their covered-in sterns, high above the balanced
+rudder, form good quarters for the lowdah and his family, where from
+tiny windows women and children peep in shy curiosity at the foreigner
+sailing by.
+
+The mainmast, an enormous spar of some sixty or seventy feet in
+length, is stepped almost amidships in a kind of tabernacle, and has
+neither stays nor shrouds, its only visible support being a wooden
+prop, which a few feet above the deck takes part of the pressure when
+running before the wind, so that on gazing up at its dizzy height one
+continually wonders why in heavy weather it does not go by the board
+or pound its way through the bottom of the vessel. The foremast, which
+is considerably smaller and stepped well forrard, is in like manner
+devoid of any kind of stay. Each mast sets one enormous sail of
+graceful shape, and but loosely made of a coarse, native material,
+resembling cheap calico. The cloths, running vertically, are
+interwoven with the bamboo reefing battens, and though but lightly
+stitched together, seem capable of withstanding an enormous strain.
+
+Varnished a light yellow, which shimmers in the sun, and displaying
+gaudy banners on which the signs of the guilds to which they belong
+are printed in large characters, it is a beautiful sight to watch a
+fleet of these stately ships glide by, with their towering sails
+goose-winged before the breeze, and churning up the waters with their
+blunt, unyielding prows.
+
+Amongst the elaborate system of guilds which permeates Chinese
+society, one of the most meritorious is the lifeboat guild. Apart from
+official aid and direction, it is mostly supported by voluntary
+contributions, and to an extent which allows of lifeboats being
+stationed at many points of danger.
+
+In fine weather these "red-boats," as, owing to their usual colour,
+they are commonly called, lay up in creeks or shelters while the crews
+pass their time at leisure, but as soon as a storm arises they
+immediately put out and ride to a drift-anchor, ready at a moment's
+notice to hoist sail and dash to the rescue of any craft in distress.
+
+At Hankow, where a north-easterly gale against a four-knot current
+raises a choppy and heavy sea most dangerous for small craft, I have
+seen four red-boats racing from different directions to rescue the
+occupants of a capsized sampan. With sails fully hoisted before the
+gale and smothered by the waves, in an incredibly short time they were
+on the scene of the accident, where, rounding to, the work of salvage
+was carried out in a most plucky and seamanlike manner. These boats
+have no stem, the bows, which are square and about four feet in width,
+sloping away underneath in a gentle curve, so that their tendency is
+to skim over the water like a dish instead of cutting through it. They
+are decked forrard flush with the gunnel for nearly half their length,
+when a low cabin takes up the space as far as the well, which is quite
+aft.
+
+Flat-bottomed, and using lee-boards, they draw very little water,
+while a single mast and sail of the light and convenient Chinese
+pattern render them extremely handy. Hand-lines are looped round the
+sides in the customary manner, but there is no cork belt.
+
+Their qualities are so good that our own National Lifeboat Institution
+would do well to study the model for use in places where a sandy beach
+and shoal water make it sometimes impossible to launch the type of
+lifeboat now in general use.
+
+Gun-boats, or police junks, are ubiquitous. A very low freeboard and
+no cabin, with the exception of a kind of deck-house quite aft, where
+the helmsman stands, one mast hoisting a gracefully-cut sail with
+alternate blue and white cloths, a small muzzle-loading cannon in the
+bows, and a crew of ten or a dozen in quaint uniforms, who, when wind
+fails, take to the sweeps, and standing up facing the direction in
+which they are going, and keeping good time, propel the boat at a fair
+pace. When at anchor an awning in blue and white stripes affords a
+commodious shelter. Being official vessels they are spic and span in
+light yellow varnish, and frequently fly a number of really beautiful
+flags of marvellous design and brilliant colouring. The
+_tout-ensemble_ is smart, weird, pleasing and eminently suitable for a
+Drury Lane pantomime. Of shallow draught, and of size varying in
+accordance with the waters they are destined to patrol, I have seen
+them as large as twenty tons and as small as a skiff, having an old
+flint gingall mounted forrard with all the circumstance of a 12-inch
+gun.
+
+Between the treaty-port of Ichang, which is a thousand miles from the
+sea, and the treaty-port of Chungking, which is four hundred miles
+higher up, lie the celebrated Yangtse Gorges.
+
+Ichang is, for all practical purposes, the present terminus of
+steamship traffic, for although a few small steamers have passed
+through the Gorges and reached Chungking, there have been many
+failures, and one German vessel, the ss. _Shuihsiang_, built
+expressly for the run, was dashed on the rocks and sank when on her
+maiden trip.
+
+The scenery of the Gorges is the grandest I have ever seen, and made a
+greater impression on me than even that of the Rocky Mountains.
+
+My trip there was in the month of November, when the river was low and
+the current slack, albeit it raced by at five or six miles an hour.
+
+Having hired a suitable boat at Ichang we set sail before a strong
+up-river breeze, and by carefully following all indentations of the
+river bank managed to keep in fairly slack water, until we reached a
+point where the Gorges actually commence. Here a tow-line was got out,
+and by the frantic efforts of half-a-dozen trackers, in addition to
+the sail, we slowly forged ahead but at not more than two miles an
+hour, although the foam breaking over our bows and a broad wake astern
+showed that we were passing through the water at the rate of eight or
+nine.
+
+The Gorges are where the mighty river has forced a passage through a
+lofty range of mountains, which barred its progress to the sea.
+
+Seated on my tiny craft, and gazing up at the towering cliffs which
+rise almost perpendicularly for hundreds and sometimes thousands of
+feet on either side, I could see caves, terraces and strata, which
+indicate with a marvellous distinctness the different levels of the
+river, as during untold ages it has eaten its way through solid rock
+and stone to its present bed. This manifestation of the irresistible
+forces of nature produces a singularly sobering effect on the mind by
+making one keenly feel how utterly insignificant we mortals really
+are. Along ledges on the beetling cliffs the ubiquitous Chinaman has
+built his home and planted orange groves, so that far overhead rich
+clusters of golden fruit lend an effective touch of colour to the
+beauty and majesty of the scene.
+
+All junks in use between Chungking and Ichang are built with a view to
+navigating the numerous rapids occurring in the Gorges, and are
+chiefly remarkable for their abnormally high sterns, which, in the
+event of grounding on a sandbank while descending with a ten-knot
+current, serve as a protection against being pooped.
+
+One or two masts with the ordinary Chinese sails, an immense sweep in
+the bows as an aid in turning, and a strong rudder with an enormous
+tiller, are the chief items of equipment.
+
+On the voyage down, which takes less than a week, a crew of ten or a
+dozen would be sufficient for a medium-sized junk, but for the return
+journey against stream, and which takes from four to eight weeks
+according to the strength of the current, from forty to a hundred
+trackers are necessary in addition to the regular hands.
+
+As in the Gorges the river is liable to freshets, which in a few hours
+may cause a rise of thirty or forty feet, the foreshore is at an
+uncertain height, for which reason, probably, no towing-paths have
+been made.
+
+Upward-bound junks, in addition to their sails, have an immense
+hawser, made of twisted bamboo splits, leading from the top of the
+mainmast to the river bank, and to the shore end of which, for a
+length of about forty to a hundred feet, the trackers fasten the
+yokes, with one of which each man is supplied, and which are long
+enough to admit a play of ten or fifteen feet on either side of the
+cable.
+
+It is a stirring sight to see a big junk being bodily forced by wind
+and manual power against a strong current. The trackers swarm over
+rocks and mounds along the foreshore like a pack of hounds, singing,
+laughing and shouting as they go, the mainmast bends beneath the heavy
+strain, the hawser is cleared from jutting boulders by intrepid
+swimmers, who in pursuit of their vocation must often plunge into the
+racing torrent, and the vessel roars through the water with foaming
+bows, though the progress made may be but a few yards within the hour,
+while if, as frequently occurs, the hawser carries away, she is
+whirled three or four miles down stream before the crew can again
+bring her to anchor by the bank.
+
+Wrecks are numerous in this seething maelstrom, and a heavy toll in
+lives is taken from the brave and hardy fellows whose lot is cast by
+these waters of strife.
+
+It was on this trip that I saw a Chinaman fishing with the help of an
+otter.
+
+The animal had a long cord fastened round its neck like a ferret, and
+was attached by it to the bows of a sampan, which was rowed by a
+woman, while the fisherman, standing on the fore part, gathered in his
+hands a net, circular in shape and having a hole in the centre large
+enough to admit the otter.
+
+On arriving at a suitable spot the net was cast with a sweep of the
+arm, so that like a spider's web it spread over a considerable area of
+water.
+
+Heavily weighted at the edges it sank quickly until the leads rested
+on the bottom of the river. The fisherman then hauled at a line until
+the hole in the centre appeared above the surface, when the otter,
+plunging through it, dived inside the net, quickly to reappear with a
+fish in its mouth, whereon he was unceremoniously hauled on board and
+his prey taken from him, after which he was again ushered through the
+hole into the folds of the net.
+
+While stationed at Kiukiang I possessed a teak-built four-oared gig
+which, being heavy and strong, I rigged with a jib and mainsail,
+besides adding six inches to her keel, when she proved to be a handy
+and seaworthy little craft. An iron framework could be erected over
+the stern-sheets and covered with a canvas hood, thus forming quite a
+roomy and comfortable cabin, while a light awning protected the well
+of the boat, so that I was quite able to make trips in her extending
+over two or three days.
+
+From time to time natives had spoken to me of a Purple Lake where,
+they said, but few Europeans had ever been, and along the shores of
+which good shooting could be found.
+
+This sounded sufficiently alluring, so, the opportunity offering, I
+started on a voyage of discovery in my gig, taking with me a couple of
+trusty native boatmen. Mounting the Yangtse for a short distance we
+entered a narrow creek, along which we were carried by a swift current
+between walls of reeds so tall that they effectually shut off the
+wind. At dark we tied up near a village, from which dozens of dogs
+presently arrived, and which when not fighting amongst themselves
+barked at us throughout the night with the most exasperating
+persistence. Mosquitoes also were particularly numerous, so that with
+the first streak of dawn we were only too thankful to cast off and
+continue our journey. During the morning we passed through pleasant
+scenery, and I observed a heronry in some dead trees on the left,
+while a deer swam the creek two hundred yards ahead of the boat; the
+lake being reached shortly before noon.
+
+It was a refreshing sight. Clear, sparkling water dotted with
+fishing-boats and wild-fowl, little green-capped islands with white
+cliffs and a range of lofty mountains in the background. After a swim
+and a hearty tiffin we sailed on with a good breeze, exploring the
+different arms of the lake, until about three o'clock, when I landed
+with my gun.
+
+The country, though hilly, was richly cultivated, the principal crop
+being tobacco, and after a delightful walk I returned on board with a
+brace of pheasants and a woodcock. That night we passed in comfort
+anchored in a tiny bay sheltered by lofty cliffs, and the morning was
+well aired before our cruise was resumed.
+
+At the further end of the lake what at first appeared to be a stately
+town was seen rising from the water's edge and reflected on its
+glistening surface, but a nearer approach revealed the inevitable
+shabbiness and ruin which distance had concealed and mirage had
+beautified. A fisherman informed us that it was the "Purple City."
+
+Later on I landed on some low ground, and walking amongst the paddy
+fields bagged ten couple of snipe in less than an hour, after which
+we sailed on again up a narrow arm of the lake with beautiful cliffs
+and wooded hills on either side. Arriving at the end of this inlet we
+anchored for tiffin, and early in the afternoon commenced to beat back
+against a northerly wind.
+
+During the morning I had observed a number of boats crossing the lake
+from all directions and converging on a certain point, and now, on
+rounding a sharp headland, we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of
+hundreds of craft of many descriptions, each bearing a load of
+gaily-dressed holiday-makers, while several long canoes, each paddled
+by twenty or thirty men, raced backwards and forwards to a great
+beating of gongs and a firing of guns. It was the dragon-boat
+festival, and no sooner were we observed than all these boats
+immediately closed round in order that their occupants might more
+closely inspect the European and his strange-looking craft.
+
+Far from my presence being resented I was most courteously treated,
+and after many questions had been put and answered by either side, a
+race of the dragon-boats was given for my particular edification,
+while as they sped by I fired a salute from my Winchester, which
+evidently gave immense satisfaction.
+
+I would here observe that wherever my wanderings in China have led me
+I have never been molested, nor, beyond the epithet of "foreign
+devil" applied freely by boys from a safe distance, have I been
+insulted. While this is not the experience of many, I am obliged to
+confess that the fault does not lie wholly with the natives.
+
+I have noticed men enter a village with guns, dogs and a tribe of
+beaters, and to an old inhabitant, who courteously bowed his welcome,
+one of them shouted roughly, "Well, Johnnie, how are you?"
+
+The aged celestial, not understanding a word though comprehending the
+roughness, remained silent, whereon the European exclaimed insolently,
+"Who are you staring at, you old fool?"
+
+At this point the village dogs, excited by such an unexpected
+invasion, commenced to bark, and were instantly stoned by the
+intruders, so that the old Chinaman, to avoid being struck, hurried
+into his house and closed the door, while the sportsmen and their
+troop passed through the sleepy hamlet like a whirlwind, scaring
+women, children, fowls and pigs and disgusting the inhabitants by
+their uncouthness. Such behaviour, I fear, is only too common.
+
+In my experience it is seldom that a courteous bearing does not meet
+with immediate friendly response.
+
+As the wind was dropping and there were signs of rain I left my
+new-made friends and returned to the little bay beneath the cliffs,
+where we had spent the previous night. Before dark the rain was
+coming down steadily, but having rigged tarpaulins over the hood and
+awning we so far kept dry and comfortable.
+
+In the middle of the night I was awakened by a torrential downpour and
+by the roar of a heavy gale as it swept over the cliffs high above our
+heads. Despite the tarpaulins the wet found its way in and soaked us
+to the skin, so that with daylight we were glad to make preparations
+for returning to Kiukiang.
+
+The awning we took in, but the lashings of the tarpaulins which
+covered the hood were so tightened by moisture that it was impossible
+to unknot them, and so the structure was left standing.
+
+Starting off under the jib alone with the wind dead astern, it was not
+until the shelter of the cliffs had been left and return was already
+impossible that I realised what we were in for.
+
+The gale was a perfect hurricane, before which we flew at a tremendous
+pace. The further we left the land the higher the swell became, until
+it suddenly dawned on me that our chances of covering the four or five
+miles before reaching the creek were not very bright.
+
+I have not been in many tight places, but this certainly was one.
+
+The boatmen had realised our dangerous straits, and failing at the
+pinch, as I have seen Chinamen do before and since, crouched down with
+faces blanched to putty and almost too terror-stricken to bail out the
+water which we shipped in ever-increasing quantities.
+
+A thick mist of driven spray covered the surface of the lake, and the
+boat rolled wildly in the waves, which although not very high were
+short and heavy and hissed as if in a rapid.
+
+We should have been swamped over the stern again and again had it not
+been for the hood, which more by good fortune than by design I had
+left standing. The tiller happily was a long one, and by exerting all
+my strength we kept a fairly straight course, eventually dashing
+through clouds of driven foam into the creek, though in a half-swamped
+condition. We had got off scot-free, but it had been touch and go. If
+the hood and tarpaulins had failed to keep out the seas we should have
+been pooped, and if the jib-sheets had carried away or the rudder
+become unshipped we should have broached to, when immediate
+destruction would have been our lot.
+
+The remainder of the journey was simple enough, and in a few hours we
+were safely back in port.
+
+Both at Hongkong and Shanghai, where the European population numbers
+several thousands, there is a yacht club, each containing several
+up-to-date classes, ranging from half-raters to fifteen-tonners, and
+regattas under various conditions are of frequent occurrence. These
+clubs, as well as the yachts, being practically identical with those
+in this country, it is unnecessary to enter into details.
+
+At Hongkong the sailing is on a bright, blue sea, whether in the
+magnificent harbour or amongst the numerous lovely islands, while at
+Shanghai it is on the muddy waters of the Whangpoo, which, except for
+the fact that it is the harbour of this thriving settlement, where
+scores of vessels of all sizes and nationalities ride at anchor or are
+berthed alongside wharves, is a small and uninteresting river flowing
+into the estuary of the Yangtse.
+
+From the ancient Portuguese colony of Macao, distant forty miles from
+Hongkong and celebrated as the home of the poet Camoëns, come fleets
+of fishing-boats, which, in pursuit of their calling, cruise amongst
+the islands in the delta of the West River.
+
+These "Macao junks" are about the best sea-boats and the fastest
+sailers of all Chinese vessels.
+
+Built on graceful lines, and of light material, they possess the
+buoyancy of a duck, rarely shipping water even in the heaviest sea,
+while with two masts carrying well-shaped sails of matting, immense
+perforated, balanced rudders, and being of light draught, they handle
+so well that they can turn a complete circle in their own length.
+While unable to sail as close to the wind as a yacht, their chief
+point is in running, when with huge sails set on either side they
+will tear along at a pace perfectly astounding for craft of their
+unpretentious build and rig.
+
+During a pleasant two years' sojourn in this colony I sailed a smart
+little cutter of about one and a half tons, so that I was able to
+thoroughly test the merits of these junks, and while rather more than
+holding my own on all points in a light breeze, I could only make a
+good show in strong winds and rough water when sailing full and by,
+and was considerably outpaced in running free.
+
+Although these waters are infested with pirates and smugglers, as
+evidenced by such names as "Dead Man's Grave," "Robbers' Point,"
+"Grave Island," "Pirates' Creek" and the like, Europeans are but
+seldom molested, and although generally taking my Winchester as a
+precautionary measure when going any distance from port, I have spent
+many delightful days in standing out to sea, sailing through the
+numerous creeks with which the hinterland is intersected, or in
+cruising amongst the islands, on which sometimes I would land, and
+creeping round the rocky shores with my gun would frequently surprise
+wildfowl feeding amongst the shallow bays and pools.
+
+At other times, in company with a convivial friend, I would get under
+way in the cool of the evening, and after running out to sea for an
+hour or so to enjoy the night breezes setting in from the Pacific,
+and perhaps laying to for a swim, we would return to the lovely bay,
+and dropping anchor off the Praia Grande dine by moonlight to the
+strains of the Portuguese military band, which played two or three
+times weekly either at the Governor's Palace or in the public gardens,
+both of which overlooked the sea.
+
+When on a trip up the Sikiang or West River from Canton to Wuchow, I
+observed many junks fitted with what may be described as an adjustable
+cut-water or bow-board.
+
+These vessels, having great beam and perfectly flat bottoms, would
+only draw a few inches, and as their provenance was evidently from
+shallow waters, where neither keels, centre-boards nor lee-boards
+could be employed, recourse was had to enormous rudders and these
+cut-waters as a means of hauling a wind, the device apparently
+answering fairly well.
+
+As far as I could see, a deep groove was cut along the stem, and the
+bow-board, perhaps three feet in width, was slipped into it and made
+fast at the top with a lashing.
+
+In beating to windward these cut-waters were in position, but when
+running free they were unshipped and laid on the foredeck.
+
+Wherever foreigners congregate, but more especially at Shanghai and up
+the Yangtse, the house-boat, combining comfort, convenience and fair
+sailing powers, is a favourite means of getting about on shooting
+trips and picnics, and altogether forms an important feature of the
+pleasant existence which we lead in the Far East.
+
+The hull usually resembles that of a light-draught yacht, with either
+a drop-keel or lee-boards, so that shallow creeks may be readily
+entered.
+
+In rig they are semi-Chinese, the shape of the sail being that of the
+ordinary balanced lug, which bamboo reefing battens with a sheet-line
+leading from the extremity of each to the main-sheet render extremely
+handy and safe. A jib can also be set, but as it destroys the
+simplicity of the rig it is greatly disliked by the crew and therefore
+seldom utilised.
+
+The particular craft which I have now in mind is an excellent
+sea-boat, fast and comfortable, has a fine cabin with four berths,
+tables folding on either side of the centre-board well, and capable of
+seating a dozen, stove, gun-racks, glass and bottle brackets and
+numerous lockers. There is also a bathroom and lavatory, a kitchen
+with good cooking range, quarters forrard for the crew--which consists
+of the lowdah and four sailors, together with cook, boy and
+dog-coolie--while on deck are the water-tanks, kennels, and a small
+sampan by way of a jolly.
+
+Replete with every comfort, a shooting-box for the sportsman and a
+sure refuge for the overworked, the house-boat represents to me the
+acme of leisure and repose.
+
+    "And the night shall be fill'd with music,
+      And the cares that infest the day
+    Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,
+      And as silently steal away."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+JAMBOREES
+
+
+It is nearing twenty years ago since I celebrated my last bump supper
+in my old college at Cambridge, but the remembrance of it is so bright
+and cheering in the monotony of daily life that time is much abridged,
+and it seems but yesterday that the two pailfuls of smoking milk punch
+worked such deadly havoc amongst four crews of well-trained men that
+ultimately they were mostly laid out in a row, with consequent sore
+heads and interviews with the dean next morning. A bump supper is an
+orgy never to be forgotten.
+
+A jamboree is a very analogous function. Where and what the word comes
+from I do not know, but its meaning in the Far East is universally
+understood to be a bachelor entertainment consisting of an enormous
+dinner with plenty of wine, tales, songs and general hilarity,
+occasionally verging on riotousness with breakage of household
+furniture and other effects.
+
+As I glance back over the past fifteen years such wild nights stand
+out like beacons in pleasing relief from the many respectable
+gatherings, be it in Church or Society, at which I have had the honour
+of assisting, but which have left no impressions sufficiently vivid to
+class them with treasured souvenirs or even provoke a smile.
+
+Some years since there visited Hankow a personage of exalted rank,
+who, being a near kinsman of one of the most powerful of Europe's
+present rulers, was received with patriotic enthusiasm by the large
+colony of his nationals domiciled there, and with every mark of
+respect by all other members of the cosmopolitan community.
+
+His arrival in one of the fine Chinese river-boats was signalised by
+what might have been a fatal catastrophe but for the skilful
+manoeuvring of his ship by the veteran American skipper.
+
+Just as the vessel had threaded her way through numerous ocean
+steamers and foreign gun-boats anchored in the stream, and was slowly
+approaching the hulk alongside which she was to be made fast, an
+enormous raft of timber, bearing a whole village of huts and a
+considerable population of raft navigators, caught by the swirling
+eddy caused by a freshet from the River Han, which 200 yards above
+this point was pouring at right angles into the mighty Yangtse's
+five-knot current, bore swiftly down on the steamer, threatening to
+strike her amidships and either pin her to the hulk or crush her
+against the stone-faced bund, when she must have been immediately
+sunk. Unaware of the danger until it was almost upon him, the captain
+had just time to reverse his engines, and by going full speed astern
+with the helm hard over bring his ship round so as to receive the
+threatened blow end on instead of abeam. The impact nearly drove the
+vessel's stern into the hulk, but with her engines now going full
+speed ahead, and churning up two white lanes of foam with her
+paddle-wheels, she rammed her bows into the raft, and just managing to
+deflect its course they floated down with the stream locked together,
+until by a miracle they had passed clear of all the shipping, though
+at times only by a few feet, and the steamer with her illustrious
+passenger again bore up for her berth, after the narrowest of escapes
+but without having sustained the slightest damage.
+
+These enormous rafts, composed chiefly of bamboos and pines, generally
+come from the forests of Hunan, and after crossing the Tongting lake
+float down the Yangtse to places where wood is scarce and a good
+market obtains. They vary in size, but sometimes are a hundred yards
+in length by twenty in breadth, and draw probably from ten to twenty
+feet. With their huts of bamboo and matting, with long sweeps both
+ahead and astern for steering, and great coils of plaited bamboo ropes
+for mooring purposes, they present an extremely picturesque
+appearance.
+
+Amongst other festivities arranged by his compatriots in honour of the
+distinguished visitor, a banquet, preceded by a reception of prominent
+residents, was given at the club. It being almost midsummer, the
+weather was fearfully hot, the thermometer registering over ninety
+after sundown, and as a notification had been issued with all
+invitations that black evening dress would be _de rigueur_ we were
+debarred from wearing our cool, white mess jackets, and all arrived at
+the club almost melting inside thick broadcloths.
+
+A very amusing little episode occurred at the reception.
+
+Amongst the few ladies present were the wife and daughter of a Western
+official. They had evidently been "raised" away from the beaten tracks
+of Society and crowned heads had not been their daily companions. On
+this party being presented, the official and his wife preserved a
+diplomatic silence, but mademoiselle was not inclined to take things
+for granted, and seeing neither golden crown nor purple robe she
+evidently had misgivings. "Are you really the grand duke?" she
+inquired with striking accent; "are you really a prince?" The prince
+smilingly replied that such was the case, on which his fair
+interrogator exclaimed, "Oh, my! I _am_ surprised," and then slowly
+retired from the front but with many backward glances of unconcealed
+disappointment.
+
+A large number of residents had received the honour of an invitation,
+probably a hundred sitting down, and, as is customary in China, each
+guest brought his own servant, so that from a hundred and fifty to two
+hundred people were assembled in one large room, which together with
+the hot dishes and a great many lamps caused the temperature to go up
+several degrees, adding greatly to the discomfort we already
+experienced owing to our thick clothes.
+
+To still further increase the torture, a crowd of Chinese which had
+collected in the streets below commenced to throw stones through the
+open windows. One passed between my right-hand neighbour and myself,
+shivering my wine-glasses to atoms. The windows and shutters were
+hastily closed, and very shortly the temperature must have still
+further increased by several degrees. Champagne flowed in streams, a
+short speech of welcome was made by the local sport, to which the
+guest of honour replied, "White Wings" was sung by the doctor, and the
+parboiled throng descended to the lower precincts of the building to
+watch a display of fireworks. The heat was awful. Not a breath of air,
+and the sulphurous smoke from the fireworks hung low on the ground in
+white masses, and seemed to seek shelter in the club, for in a very
+short time the place was flooded with the choking fumes which caused
+one to feel a tightness across the chest and a stinging in the eyes,
+and which made it impossible to see across the room.
+
+The prince withdrew at a somewhat early hour, and after a time the
+guests commenced to disperse.
+
+The heat, the champagne and the sulphur smoke had proved too much for
+me. I attempted to walk straight, but the power to do so was gone.
+First one foot would strike a hill, then the other would go down into
+a deep hole, and so on, while lamp-posts and buildings seemed to whirl
+past and round at a fearful pace.
+
+When nearing my quarters I heard a faint "hillo" from a by-street, and
+a continental mess-mate stumbled almost into my arms. He fully
+intended to do so and I had no wish to avoid him but somehow we missed
+each other and both fell prostrate on the pavement. Far from feeling
+any ill-humour at this catastrophe, we both thought it a capital joke,
+and I can distinctly remember our sitting side by side in the gutter
+and swearing eternal friendship. After this things are vague, and the
+next I remember is going upstairs on all fours and then opening my
+bedroom door. A most remarkable sight presented itself. I have seen
+mirage in the Arabian desert, but I have never seen anything like
+that. There was my bed, shrunk to the size of about one inch in
+length, at the top corner of the room near the ceiling, dancing up and
+down at the end of a bright and circling tunnel. How to get there I
+did not know. I can just remember sinking on hands and knees in order
+to attempt the climb, when the floor struck me so violently in the
+face that I lost consciousness, awaking late next morning to find
+myself reclining on the bed, but still in my dress clothes. My friend,
+it was said, attempted to go to bed in his bath, where he was
+discovered in full evening dress, scooping the water over himself and
+complaining that he could not keep the sheets up. But this is by the
+way.
+
+At Kiukiang, where I happened to be a few years later, the community
+was small, consisting of a few married couples and perhaps half a
+dozen bachelors.
+
+Time hung like lead, and small wonder that now and again we young men
+would foregather round the festive board, when high spirits long pent
+up would burst forth with a _vim_ that is but rarely attained in
+places offering perennial sources of amusement.
+
+On the occasion in question the dinner was at our mess, which, besides
+myself, consisted of an Italian and a tall American of stern and
+unbending nature. Our guests were two Russians and two Scotchmen, all
+we could muster, but excellent in quality. After a jovial repast we
+sallied forth on to the bund, and being a bright moonlight night,
+romance entered into our souls, and we started to serenade the various
+ladies of the port. First to the Consulate, where we drew up in line
+on the lawn, the time being 2 a.m., and rendered "God Save the Queen"
+with great execution and considerable pathos, notwithstanding
+pronounced differences in American, Italian, Scotch, Russian and
+English accentuation. Subsequently visits were made to all the other
+houses, with the exception of one, where we rather feared to intrude,
+as the good lady, while very affable as a rule, would stand no
+nonsense, and when she did not wish to be pleasant could treat one to
+a touch of sarcasm which would last for some time. However, we finally
+summoned up courage and approached the house as noiselessly and
+guiltily as a gang of thieves. The front gate was locked and eight
+feet high, but after some delay we scaled it, ranged ourselves on the
+lower verandah and were halfway through "My Bonnie Lives over the
+Ocean," when a crash overhead announced that we were in for a storm. I
+have never in my life seen seven men break and fly in such utter
+terror. Once off the verandah into the moonlight we were in full view
+of the outraged dame, who stood in a commanding attitude on the upper
+verandah in her dressing-gown, almost speechless with emotion, but
+gesticulating frantically. We rushed at the gate, and in our eagerness
+to be on the other side fought and wrestled with each other for first
+place. The upper bars broke away in our hands, bricks came off the top
+of the adjoining walls, and it was fully five minutes before we were
+in the road, breathless, with torn clothes, and I, personally, with a
+sprained wrist.
+
+We now felt we were in for a bad time next day, and so, to revive our
+drooping spirits, repaired to the house of one of the Russians. Here
+vodka, caviare, salmon-back, sardines, Bologna sausage and other
+little dainties common to the _zacousca_ furnished us with a most
+_recherché_ supper. We ate everything and drank a good deal. By this
+time we were again in the wildest spirits and fit for anything. Our
+tall American friend was still somewhat unbent, and being of an
+inquiring turn of mind was examining the trap-door through which the
+dinner is handed by the cook from the pantry into the dining-room. No
+sooner was his head well through than he was pounced on by the two
+Caledonians, who, seizing him by the legs below the knee, shot his six
+feet odd through the trap-door as if they had been tossing the caber.
+A terrific crash of crockery told its own tale; the Russian's best
+dinner service was no more. Rising from the fragments the victim
+declared it to be his opinion that all, with the exception of
+himself, were inebriated and unfit for the society of respectable
+citizens, after which delivery he withdrew to his own quarters.
+
+Next we heard female shrieks and screams, accompanied by a heavy
+tramping of feet down the stairs, and two of our joyous band appeared,
+bearing in triumph by her head and her heels, the struggling form of
+our host's Chinese housekeeper, clad in nothing but her night
+garments. She was laid tenderly on the dining-room table and comforted
+with some _Veuve Clicquot_ champagne, for the poor creature had been
+somewhat upset by being pounced on when asleep in bed and hauled off
+with so little ceremony and preparation into the publicity of a
+well-lighted room full of masculine visitors.
+
+Shortly after daylight the company separated with many expressions of
+mutual esteem. On my way to bed I thought our American chum should be
+interviewed and an explanation made that no offence was intended by
+the recent treatment of him. He was in bed and sleeping heavily, so I
+was obliged to wake him in order to fulfil my mission of peace. To say
+that he received these overtures in a friendly spirit would be
+incorrect. He seemed to be preparing for immediate hostilities, and
+so, not to be taken at a disadvantage, I closed with him as he leaped
+out of bed. The _mêlée_ lasted probably five minutes, during which
+brief period his furniture was hurled in chaotic profusion all round
+the room, my black mess jacket was divided up the back from the tail
+to the collar, his pyjamas carried away, and the skin was detached
+from his bare feet by my boots. So ended a glorious evening. Next day
+we all lay low, but learnt that a certain person had interviewed the
+Consul with a view to legal proceedings for alleged housebreaking. Our
+enemy, however, was check-mated, and ourselves saved, by the veracious
+testimony of a dear old Scotch lady, who lived in the adjoining house,
+and who declared that our serenade was "verra nice though a wee bit
+muxed," and that she herself had enjoyed it immensely.
+
+One often hears of the flower-boats of Canton, and immediately
+associates them with gaily-painted gondolas, tenanted by captivating
+sirens and decorated with perfumed flowers and plants, growing with a
+luxurious profusion common only to the Flowery Land. "Flower-girl" is
+the universal Chinese term for those young women who dance and sing in
+public, and who for regular fees attend at Chinese dinner-parties,
+composed exclusively of men, to flirt with the guests while filling
+their pipes and pouring out their wine. Poor parents having larger
+families than they can support frequently sell one or two of their
+best-looking daughters to professional trainers, who, after teaching
+them to dance and sing, send them to the flower-boats in hopes that
+they may there captivate wealthy _habitués_, when handsome prices
+would be realised.
+
+These girls are frequently not of bad character, but being on the
+marriage market employ their wiles to secure husbands, in which they
+sometimes succeed, passing into the hands of rich Chinese for three,
+four or five hundred dollars, according to their merits, as wives of
+an inferior rank, say number four or six.
+
+At various places in the south, but especially at Canton and Wuchow, a
+number of large, ugly junks with spacious cabins are moored alongside
+each other in a certain locality. They possess no very striking
+features, and those I have seen at Wuchow were absolutely devoid of
+flowers or plants of any kind, the name "flower-boat" signifying
+nothing more than the haunt of the flower-girl.
+
+In the cabins of these craft it is the fashionable thing amongst
+well-to-do Chinamen to hold their jamborees. They hire a particular
+junk for a certain date, and at the appointed hour the party assembles
+there, being received by two or three unprepossessing servants.
+Dinner, or whatever form the entertainment may take, is commenced, and
+as general mirth rises with the good cheer, guests write on a slate
+provided for the purpose the names of such flower-girls as they may
+fancy. This slate is quickly carried to where the girls live, hard by,
+and shortly they will appear, staying for a time to dance, sing and
+dally with their admirers, after which they will pass on to other
+boats to fulfil further engagements.
+
+The singing is execrable, being a high, nasal falsetto, and the
+dancing, or rather swaying on their tiny feet while waving overhead a
+dirty cloth in their beautifully-shaped hands, is feeble in the
+extreme. A band of musicians is usually engaged, after protracted
+haggling, to enliven the proceedings. Two or three native fiddles of
+most primitive make wail incessantly, cymbals clash recklessly, a kind
+of flute resembling bagpipes in sound squirls, while a wooden drum
+adds to the deafening din. The girls squeak and posture, the place
+reeks with pungent tobacco smoke and the smell of garlic, the guests
+munch dried melon seeds, spitting the husks on to the floor, and shout
+to make each other hear above the general uproar.
+
+To escape from this inferno was the chief pleasure of the evening, and
+any romantic ideas I may have had with respect to "flower-boats" will
+remain shattered for ever.
+
+Macao has been a Portuguese colony for upwards of three centuries, it
+having been ceded to its original settlers by the viceroy of Canton in
+recognition of services rendered by those intrepid buccaneers in
+freeing neighbouring waters from pirates and robbers. It is a most
+quaint and interesting little place, wearing a look of mediæval
+times, and still possessing many traces of former prosperity, though
+now chiefly remarkable for its legalised gambling facilities, for
+which reason it is frequently called the Monte Carlo of the Far East,
+there being also a certain natural resemblance.
+
+At Hongkong gambling is strictly prohibited amongst the Chinese, while
+at Canton gaming-houses are heavily taxed, so that natives come in
+great numbers from both places to Macao in order to play _fantan_
+without constant dread of police interference. All fantan shops, as
+they are called, contain but one gambling-table each, which is on the
+ground floor. This table is covered with a fine grass mat and
+surrounded on three sides with benches for the players, while on the
+fourth side sit the croupier and the banker or shroff. In the ceiling
+a large hole has been cut immediately over, and corresponding in size
+with, the table, and a railing placed round it in the room above, so
+that players can mount to the first floor, and bending over the
+railing look directly down on the gambling. In the centre of the table
+lies a thin slab of lead about six inches square, the sides of which
+represent the numbers one, two, three and four.
+
+The croupier has immediately in front of him a pile of bright copper
+cash, perhaps two pints. From these he takes a large double-handful,
+which he places well on the table and covers with a small metal
+bowl. Now is the time for making bets on the four numbers. Suppose we
+put a dollar on number three. In the course of a few minutes all those
+who desire to bet have done so, stakes from the first floor being put
+into a basket by an attendant and lowered on to the table by means of
+a string, and the little square of lead is surrounded with coins,
+notes and counters arranged by the shroff. Now the croupier, with a
+thin stick about a foot in length, commences to scrape away four coins
+at a time from the double-handful of cash. One, two, three, four. One,
+two, three, four, and so on. The little heap begins to diminish. The
+eager gamblers, who are generally all Chinese, bend forward with
+straining eyes to within a few inches of the croupier's stick, so that
+any cheating would be well-nigh impossible. One, two, three, four.
+Only a few more cash. The excitement is intense. One, two, three....
+Three cash remain!
+
+   [Illustration: PLAYING FANTAN IN PRIVATE HOUSE.
+   _To face page 133._]
+
+Number three wins. All those who bet on one, two and four lose their
+stakes, while those who bet on three receive five times the amount of
+their stakes after a deduction of twenty-five per cent. has been made.
+We put a dollar on number three; well, after deducting twenty-five per
+cent. from it as profit for the table, seventy-five cents are left,
+and we receive five times that amount, which is equal to three
+dollars and seventy-five cents.
+
+These fantan shops, of which there may be twenty or thirty, are all
+licensed and kept under strict supervision, being farmed out to rich
+syndicates by the Portuguese authorities, the large sums thus realised
+forming no inconsiderable part of the colony's revenue.
+
+Play goes on day and night all the year round, Sundays included, and
+is practically unlimited, for it is possible to bet from five cents to
+five hundred dollars at a time. Large sums are continually won and
+lost, it being a common thing to see gamblers, both men and women,
+after staking their last cash hand over watches, jewellery and other
+valuables to the shroff for valuation, and hazard all on a final throw
+to retrieve their losses.
+
+This standing temptation of the fantan shops is a fertile source of
+crime, especially amongst domestic servants, for apart from the
+Chinaman's inborn love of gambling, in the event of their being in
+financial straits, as is frequently the case, a possible way out of
+such difficulties is by stealthily taking certain objects from their
+master's house, say a clock and a dozen silver spoons, pledging them
+at one of the numerous pawn-shops and gambling with the proceeds. If
+fortune be favourable the clock and spoons are immediately redeemed
+and returned before being missed, while the servant has found an easy
+way out of his difficulties. On the other hand, should luck be against
+the player, he either bolts to another part of the country or brazens
+out the theft by declaring that the house has been broken into by
+burglars.
+
+Trusted servants who have been many years in one employ frequently
+yield to this alluring but hazardous appeal to chance.
+
+One morning as I was leaving Macao for Hongkong by the daily steamer a
+Chinese passenger suddenly leaped overboard. The ship was stopped and
+a boat quickly lowered, while a Portuguese police launch also dashed
+to the rescue, but although we could see the suicide's head above
+water for some time he sank before help arrived. Having ruined himself
+at fantan he dared not return to Hongkong.
+
+And such is the fate of many.
+
+A Chinese banquet is a weird festivity, and once gone through will
+never be forgotten.
+
+On the occasion which I will attempt to describe invitations were
+issued for 10 a.m., but in accordance with celestial custom the guests
+did not arrive till about 11.30, when, after waiting half an hour,
+during which the company chatted, drank tea and smoked, we were
+ushered into a large hall with brick floor and paper windows, where
+the repast was spread on three round tables, at each of which were
+three Europeans and five or six Chinese, our hosts, clad in their
+beautiful silk official robes, while we wore black morning coats.
+
+The tables were of plain wood and without table-cloths, while the
+luxuriously-cushioned divans of Far East imaginings were hard wooden
+stools.
+
+Numbers of little dishes containing dried fruits, sweets, pickles,
+slices of ham, preserved eggs (more than a year old, black and highly
+offensive), vegetables, etc., loaded the festive boards.
+
+Each feaster was provided with a pair of chopsticks and two small
+sheets of brown paper with which to wipe them after each course.
+
+Warm yellow wine of a peculiar musty flavour and sadly lacking in
+potency, was poured by attendants from pewter kettles into small
+wine-cups, to be tossed off in bumpers all round with great frequency,
+each guest immediately presenting his empty cup to the gaze of his
+neighbours to show that there had been no heel-taps. It looked as
+though we were simultaneously levelling revolvers at each other's
+heads.
+
+At a given signal the fray began. All the Chinese rose up, took their
+chopsticks, and plunging them into various dishes began helping us,
+the guests of honour. On my one small plate were quickly deposited
+some sweets, sour pickles, dried fruit, slices of ham, and one of the
+notorious eggs.
+
+Now we in turn were expected to rise up and return the compliment by
+helping our helpers. I clutched my sticks, drove them into a piece of
+fish and dropped it into my neighbour's wine. Tableau! Never mind, I
+tried pickles and preserves in detail with about an average success.
+No good came of my efforts, but neither did any harm, for our
+entertainers smiled and bowed and rose from their seats in gracious
+acknowledgment of our strenuous but futile attempts to do the correct
+thing.
+
+All this was but a preliminary canter taking the place of our dessert,
+albeit coming before the meal instead of at the end.
+
+Hot courses were now placed on the table, our Chinese friends helping
+us from them with their chopsticks, which they manipulated with
+marvellous dexterity.
+
+   1. Puddings of several kinds              Too sweet.
+   2. Fresh-water Fish (boiled)              Insipid.
+   3. Chickens (boiled)                      Fair.
+   4. Sea Slugs                              Passed.
+   5. Shrimps                                Nasty.
+   6. White Mushrooms                        Good.
+   7. Eels                                   First-rate.
+   8. Sea-weed                               Tough as leather.
+   9. White Bait                             Good.
+  10. Interiors of Fish                      Good heavens!!!
+  11. Lotus Nuts and Milk                    Very good.
+  12. Chicken (boiled in different manner)   Passed.
+  13. Rissoles of Frogs                      Je ne sais pas.
+  14. Pork and Rice Flour                    A curious mixture.
+  15. Sugared Rice                           Too sweet.
+  16. Duck (boiled)                          Excellent, the best dish.
+  17. Shark's Fins                           Very good.
+  18. Porridge                               No thanks.
+  19. Soup                                   Passed.
+  20. Opium, cigars, etc.                    On this occasion opium
+                                               was not smoked.
+
+This long _menu_ was gone through accompanied with an abundance of
+talk, compliments, jokes and the emission of various sounds peculiar
+to the Chinese while feeding.
+
+Immediately on rising from table we donned our hats, saluted _à la
+Chinoise_ by shaking our clasped hands in each other's faces, "Nin
+ching. Poo sung, poo sung," and took our departure, bowing repeatedly
+and walking backwards.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+AROUND PEKING
+
+
+The translation of the word Peking is "capital of the North," and is
+so called in contradistinction to Nanking[1] or "capital of the
+South."
+
+Peking is not a Chinese city at all, although generally supposed to be
+so, but a Tartar city, which, instead of the jumble of narrow, paved
+streets habitually found in all Chinese towns, was originally designed
+and laid out on a plan probably excelling in grandeur that of any
+other city in the world. That the result, as seen in the city of
+to-day, is but a mockery of the magnificent idea which possessed the
+master mind that conceived it, is due to that trait of the Mongolian
+temperament which exhausts itself in the conception and completion of
+some gigantic undertaking, leaving it thenceforth to moulder and
+decay, until in succeeding ages it stands gaunt witness of human
+wisdom, folly and neglect. Such are Peking, the Great Wall and the
+Grand Canal.
+
+Although adjoining the Tartar, there is a Chinese city, it is so
+squalid and of such mean pretensions that with the exception of a
+single street it is of but little interest to Europeans, so that when
+speaking of Peking it is the Tartar city alone that one has in mind.
+
+Surrounded by an immense rectangular wall, some sixty feet in height,
+with a width of twenty feet at the top and forty feet at the base, and
+pierced at regular intervals by picturesque and towering gateways,
+between which wide boulevards traverse the city from end to end and
+from side to side, but which, instead of being paved and lighted, are
+but lanes of filth, ankle deep in dust during dry weather, to be
+quickly changed by rain into rivers of black mud, continuously churned
+up by the wheels of springless carts, and spattered far and wide by
+the plunging feet of straining quadrupeds.
+
+On either side of, and frequently several feet below, these highways
+are mud paths, along which pedestrians wend a varied way, avoiding
+cesspools, stepping over transverse timbers or circumventing
+squatters' huts, showered on the while by splashings from the highroad
+or blinded by clouds of refuse-laden dust.
+
+The only attempt at lighting is by means of lanterns, which, with
+heavy wooden frames covered with paper instead of glass and placed at
+intervals of perhaps a quarter of a mile, throw out rays to the
+extent of one candle-power each.
+
+From the streets very few buildings of any pretensions can be
+discerned, while from the dominating eminence of the city wall a sea
+of roofs monotonous in equality of height and greyness of colour meets
+the eye, which sameness is mostly due to the facts that but few upper
+storeys exist, and that the residences of the wealthy, besides being
+screened by high outer walls, are so blended with shops and hovels
+that it is difficult to discriminate them.
+
+In the heart of Peking, and surrounded by a twenty-foot wall coped
+with tiles glazed yellow and green, is the forbidden city, where the
+imperial palaces are grouped and from which Europeans were until
+recently jealously excluded.
+
+The city walls; a few temples in varying stages of magnificence,
+tawdriness and decay; the remains of sewers which, built of solid
+blocks of stone and large enough to admit a donkey, show that formerly
+a scheme of drainage and sanitation existed although to-day there is
+nothing of the kind; an insignificant canal and a hill rumoured to be
+made of coal heaped there as a supply in case of siege; and one has
+seen the architectural wonders of the capital.
+
+"Legation Quarter" prior to the Boxer troubles was but an indefinite
+area of the city in which the legations "happened" from time to time
+amongst a squalid entourage of native buildings, and connected one
+with another by means of impossible thoroughfares which passed for
+streets.
+
+A Russian diplomat once said to me that he considered Peking "dirty
+but nice," and this description exactly coincides with my own idea.
+This wasted body on a majestic frame carries one back with a single
+step to civilisation of a thousand years ago. Not the remnants
+displayed to tourists in Greece or Rome but the real thing, over which
+the Western spirit of change has as yet worked but little alteration.
+
+In this vast museum of antiquities one finds at every turn objects of
+engrossing interest, and personally it seemed to me that many of the
+scenes depicted in Prescott's enchanting book, _The Conquest of
+Mexico_, might almost as well have been laid in this far-famed capital
+of the North. Great antiquity, isolation from the Western world, pride
+of race and empire, veneration for their own colossal literature,
+arrested civilisation and profound contempt for all things foreign,
+create a picture rich in detail, very mournful in subject and
+marvellous in perspective.
+
+The means of getting about are by cart, on horseback or afoot, the
+sedan chair, which in other places furnishes the most comfortable
+conveyance, being here reserved for members of the Imperial family
+and for high officials both native and foreign.
+
+The carts, which ply for hire like cabs, are massive, springless
+tumbrils covered with a wain. In fine weather the passenger, with a
+view to less discomfort, usually sits on the splashboard with his back
+rubbing against the hind-quarters of the pony or mule and his feet
+dangling in front of the wheel, which plays on to them a continuous
+stream of dirt and dust. In windy weather one must crawl inside and
+sit on the floor tailor fashion, there being no seat, and then let
+down the curtain, thus effectually blocking all view but keeping out
+most of the dust, which, flying in blinding clouds, would quickly
+reduce one to a state of absolute filth, filling the clothes, hair,
+ears and mouth and guttering down from the nose and eyes. To this foul
+dust is due the terrible amount of ophthalmia and consequent blindness
+so prevalent throughout the East.
+
+In rainy weather carts sink up to the axle in black liquid mud, which
+flies in all directions from the wheels, and at each footfall of horse
+or mule, splattering pedestrians and shop-fronts on the sidewalks and
+smothering other vehicles as they pass.
+
+To such an indescribable state are the streets reduced by heavy rains
+that I actually remember a mule being drowned in the shafts by the
+side of one of the main thoroughfares in the very heart of the city.
+
+Luckily for all concerned there is a large percentage of beautiful
+weather, when mud and dust alike are absent and when one can canter
+noiselessly along the soft, yielding roads, which are then in much the
+same condition for riding as is Rotten Row.
+
+On such mornings as these Peking is delightful, with its bright sun,
+cool, bracing air and interesting sights, while through the cloudless
+sky flocks of pigeons, having whistles of wood or clay fastened to
+their feet and tails, make strange yet pleasing sounds varied with
+every twist and turn of flight.
+
+A noticeable trait of Chinese character, and one fostered, if not
+generated, by Buddhistic teaching, is an undemonstrative fondness for
+animals, or, I might rather say, a passive admission of their right to
+considerate treatment, and strangely enough animals, both wild and
+domesticated, appear to comprehend this sentiment, for while greatly
+scared at the approach of a European they usually take but little heed
+of the presence of Chinese.
+
+It is a common thing to see a well-dressed Chinaman sauntering along
+holding up a bent stick to which a bird is attached by a string some
+four feet or so in length, so that the little prisoner can make short
+flights to the limit of its tether and return again to its perch,
+gaily chirping and singing the while.
+
+Another stroller will be carrying a wicker bird-cage on the hand, bent
+back and upraised to the shoulder, much as a waiter carries dishes,
+containing generally a Tientsin lark or other celebrated songster, and
+on arriving at some open spot will place the cage on the ground, and
+retiring to a short distance whistle to the bird, which will shortly
+burst into song, to the evident delight of both owner and bystanders.
+
+Outside one of the gateways is a kind of bazaar, which we foreigners
+generally called "Bird-cage walk," for there the bird-fanciers lived,
+and birds of many different kinds were exposed for sale, not in cages,
+but quite tame, and quietly sitting on perches--parrots, larks, Java
+sparrows, etc., some of them tied by the leg, but not all.
+
+Here, too, were to be seen wicker baskets, much resembling orange
+crates, full of common sparrows, representing a regular supply for a
+regular demand. Benevolent old Chinamen, _flâneurs_ and _literati_
+would visit this bazaar of an afternoon with the sole object of buying
+a few of these little birds for two or three cash each and then
+letting them fly away, a beatific smile betraying the salve to inward
+feelings generated by a knowledge of merit acquired, any miseries
+inflicted on the sparrows by capture and confinement counting for
+nothing in the balance against the good work accomplished by their
+purchase and release.
+
+The Chinese ideas of life and death are very dissimilar to our own.
+
+With us, the responsibility of parents for the bringing up and
+well-being of the children is paramount, the fulfilment of such
+obligations being enforced both by legal and social pressure, while
+the responsibility of children for the care of their aged parents is
+almost _nil_.
+
+Amongst the Chinese, children are considered to be the absolute
+chattels of the parents, with whose treatment of their offspring
+neither public opinion nor the country's laws have any right of
+interference. Infanticide can be, and undoubtedly is to a certain
+extent, practised, while the father is even said to be legally
+entitled to punish his grown-up children with death.
+
+Children, on the other hand, are bound by every tie to obey, respect,
+support and even worship the authors of their being. Filial duty is
+the greatest of all virtues, and the man who fails in this respect is
+despised by everyone and takes rank with worthless characters and
+outcasts.
+
+Our view of life is very finite. We are born, we die, are relegated to
+the unknown and quickly forgotten.
+
+A Chinaman regards himself as a disseverable part of the stream of
+life, by which he is borne into this world to live his life here, and
+then is borne on again to the abode of departed spirits without
+continuity of existence having been interrupted. At his death he is
+mourned with a whole-hearted sincerity by his entire family, who
+perform the obsequies with great respect and as much display as is
+compatible with their station in life. An imposing grave is built in a
+spot facing a pleasant prospect, while trees are planted, and
+sometimes even artificial pieces of water made, so that the
+disembodied spirit may be able to enjoy shady groves and cooling
+breezes. Sacrifices are offered at this shrine not once, but year
+after year, and by his children's children, with an absolute certainty
+of the spirit's existence and approving knowledge. This is the
+practice of ancestral worship, and greatly to be pitied is the man who
+leaves no son to perform sacrifices at his grave.
+
+In Peking funeral processions assume gigantic proportions.
+
+I have seen them more than a mile in length, and of such barbaric
+magnificence that they must have cost many thousands of ounces of
+silver.
+
+Life-sized horses, camels, ostriches and other animals made of
+cardboard or cotton wool, houses of lath and paper, as well as strings
+of imitation gold and silver money to be burnt at the grave and so
+wafted to the next world for use of the departed spirit, tablets
+embossed with golden Chinese characters, and lanterns of varied size
+and shape are carried in advance by an army of riffraff. A band of
+priests chanting, or playing weird dirges on instruments much
+resembling bagpipes in sound, immediately precedes the catafalque, an
+immense edifice from ten to fifteen feet in height, containing the
+coffin and covered with beautiful hangings of embroidered silk, and
+which is carried bodily on massive red poles some nine inches in
+diameter, by as many as forty or fifty bearers. Mourners with
+dishevelled hair and clothed in long white gowns follow on foot, in
+carts or in chairs, according to the rank held by the deceased.
+
+Winter in Northern China is extremely severe, and Tientsin, the port
+of Peking, is yearly closed to navigation for six or eight weeks
+through the sea and river being frozen. The thermometer frequently
+falls below zero, but owing to a bright atmosphere the cold is not
+felt so much as might be expected. At night the stars blink and blaze
+with intense brilliancy, and the still, frosty air seems almost to
+ring with a metallic voice. Beggars and homeless wanderers are nightly
+frozen by the dozen, and the whole land lies powerless in the grip of
+King Frost.
+
+My bedroom I could keep fairly warm by means of a large American
+stove heated up till it was white, but in the mornings, on passing
+into my bathroom, which boasted a brick floor and paper windows, I
+found the temperature almost coinciding with that of the open air,
+albeit a small stove roared in the corner, while steam from the hot
+water in a wooden bath was so thick as to make the daylight dim.
+Ablutions were a hurried function, ending in precipitate retreat to
+the warmth of the bedroom. The small stove would burn itself out, the
+steam would congeal and disappear, and the bath water, unless removed,
+would be quickly frozen.
+
+As winter wore on the sides of my bath-tub became coated with ice,
+which increased with every splash until there was a thickness of three
+or four inches, for it would have injured the bath to keep breaking it
+off, so that, ultimately, I took my morning tub in a nest of ice, only
+the bottom of which was completely thawed by the daily supply of hot
+water.
+
+Along the streets, well-to-do Chinese appear swelled to double their
+usual proportions by furs and successive layers of wadded clothes,
+which are of such thickness as to hold the arms propped out at almost
+right angles to the bodies, while their heads are enveloped in
+bright-coloured hoods buttoning tight under the chin. Poor, half-naked
+beggars, clasping their rice-bowls and bent double by the cold,
+shamble along, muttering and moaning, while their starving, rolling
+eyes scan the faces of passers-by in mute appeal for help or pity.
+
+One evening, as I was riding along one of the principal streets, I saw
+a Chinaman carrying home a hot, steaming cake, something like a
+Yorkshire pudding with raisins in it, which he had just bought at a
+wayside cook-shop, when a beggar suddenly seized him by both wrists,
+and taking as large a mouthful as he could bite out of the pastry,
+shuffled off, heedless of the blows rained on him by the irate
+purchaser.
+
+On the coldest days I have seen beggars collected in groups and
+gambling for the few cash they possessed, the total sum probably not
+exceeding a halfpenny. Naked, hungry and frozen, they watched with
+tense features and straining eyes the fatal issue of their throw for
+either a meal or death that night by cold and starvation.
+
+Accustomed to want and misery, they appear pleased with any trifle
+that may fall into their hands, and on a bitter, windy day I have seen
+grown-up beggars on a waste patch flying a kite and enjoying the
+pastime with a gusto denied to more _blasé_ pursuers of this aerial
+sport.
+
+Ice in Northern China is seldom good, as owing to the frequent winds
+it is generally covered with dust, although occasionally at the
+beginning of winter it is possible to get some fair skating before
+the first dust-storm.
+
+At Peking an enormous mat shed is erected to keep out the dust, while
+the ground inside is flooded daily so as to secure good ice. This rink
+is a favourite afternoon resort of the European community, but the
+space is too limited and the attendance too crowded to admit of any
+really enjoyable skating by the light of a few oil lamps.
+
+I have skated on the moat outside the city wall but it was not very
+good, the chief attraction being to watch Chinese performers. As a
+rule they wear only one skate, on which they propel themselves by
+striking the ice with the other foot until a certain speed has been
+attained, when they spread out their arms, bend forward until their
+noses almost touch the ice and raise the skateless foot high over
+their backs. This bird-like skim on one leg seems to be their ideal of
+graceful skating.
+
+At this season the stately, two-humped camels, with beautiful coats of
+brown wool a foot in length, come down from Mongolia, bearing loads of
+meat and furs, together with frozen game and fish from Manchuria and
+the Amoor river, and coal from the mines north of Peking.
+
+The Mongol teamster, clad in skins with the hair inside, trudges in
+front, leading the first camel by a string attached to its nose, while
+a cord tied to its tail links it with the nose of the second camel,
+and so on, till the whole team of eight or ten are securely connected.
+They move along with graceful, easy stride, the only sound being the
+dull clanking of a heavy bell suspended from the leader's neck.
+
+On one of the animals the Mongol's whole family is sometimes carried
+in two immense panniers, and the round, yellow faces of tiny children
+peer down from their lofty nursery on a strange and passing world.
+
+I have also seen a calf camel, evidently cast by the way, being
+carried in a litter strapped to the back of its dam.
+
+It has been told me by reliable Chinese that in winter upwards of ten
+thousand camels daily pass in and out of the gates of Peking. They are
+beautiful animals, of great height, and appear to be very meek and
+docile.
+
+On one occasion, when returning at daylight from duck shooting near
+Marco Polo's bridge, I was tightly wedged in by several hundreds which
+were waiting to enter the western gateway. They looked down at me with
+their patient eyes as I shouted and prodded them with my whip in order
+to clear a way for my pony, but attempted neither to bite nor kick.
+
+In spring their wool peels off in large flakes, giving them a ragged
+appearance, and is collected and woven into the celebrated Tientsin
+rugs.
+
+In summer, like the wildfowl, they disappear and go north to seek cool
+pastures in the Mongolian highlands.
+
+Peking not being a seaport, and as yet but little influenced by
+foreign trade, the European community settled there is solely composed
+of the _corps diplomatique_ and the legation guards, of the
+inspectorate of maritime customs, of professors of the various
+colleges, of missionaries and a few storekeepers.
+
+During winter, when communication with the outer world is a matter of
+considerable difficulty, Peking society, which is naturally of a
+highly cosmopolitan order, amuses itself by a constant round of
+dinners, balls and receptions carried out with lavish hospitality, and
+to which the novelty of Oriental surroundings supplies an additional
+attraction.
+
+In company with a French friend, who lived in Dry Flour Alley, I made
+an expedition to the Great Wall, which is two days' journey from the
+capital.
+
+Mounted on ponies, with provisions and bedding packed into a cart
+drawn by two mules, we started while it was yet dark on a cold
+winter's morning.
+
+Slowly making our way along frozen roads outside the walls of the
+forbidden city, we arrived at one of the gateways by daylight and
+passed out of Peking, following a wide and dusty road, where we
+presently met streams of camels, mules, ponies, donkeys, carts and
+coolies, each bearing a load of some kind of produce wherewith to
+supply the markets of the great city.
+
+It was early and bitterly cold, while everyone was too intent on his
+own business to do more than bestow a cursory glance on passers-by, so
+that our little caravan, freed from importuning curiosity, made good
+progress.
+
+At about eleven o'clock we were scourged by a blinding dust-storm
+raised by a strong wind, to avoid which we were not sorry to take
+refuge in a wayside inn and there discuss an early tiffin. It was now
+discovered that the supply of bread necessary for our three days' trip
+had been left behind, so that we were obliged to content ourselves
+with native dough cakes, sticky and heavy as lead.
+
+The room we occupied opened on to the courtyard of the inn, and being
+doorless, a small crowd of interested spectators quickly assembled to
+watch our every movement. This crowd continuing to grow until it
+consisted of several tens, my friend went out to expostulate with the
+innkeeper, but found that worthy busily engaged at the outer gate
+granting admission at five cash per head to all and sundry desirous of
+seeing the Europeans feed.
+
+The wind having suddenly dropped and the sand-storm subsided we
+continued our journey, arriving by nightfall at the village of Yang
+Fang, where we had arranged to sleep.
+
+It was here that I came very near to shuffling off my mortal coil.
+
+Throughout the North of China brick beds called _kangs_ are universal.
+They are built about two feet in height, are oblong in shape and
+hollow inside, with a small aperture at one end, while the top is
+covered with grass matting. During the day a charcoal fire is lighted
+in this aperture, the hot air from which fills the interior of the
+structure and gradually warms the brickwork, which retains its heat
+throughout the night. The fire is then allowed to die down, when a
+wadded quilt, a thick blanket and a pillow will be found sufficient to
+make a most comfortable couch.
+
+I had not seen one of these kangs before and the method of heating it
+had not been explained to me, so, the cold being intense, I placed
+fresh fuel on the smouldering embers the last thing before turning in.
+How long I had been asleep I do not know before I became conscious of
+a frightful nightmare. I was very hot and had lost all power to move.
+My tongue felt swollen and heavy, and my throat so dry and sore that
+when I tried to cry out it refused to utter a sound. My eyes were
+smarting, and having once opened them they would not close again. My
+senses were clear and I knew that I was being asphyxiated, but was
+powerless to help myself. Horror-stricken, I watched the bright
+moonlight shining on the paper window until I lost consciousness.
+
+The next thing I remember was cold air beating on my face, water in my
+mouth and trickling down my neck and chest, strong arms supporting me
+and the voice of my friend's mafoo calling to his master for a light,
+the moon having set.
+
+I owed deliverance to the fortunate breaking of my pony's halter, as,
+having been freshly clipped, he had become restive from the cold,
+thereby causing the mafoo to enter my room for a spare one, which I
+always carried with me. The following morning I felt very shaky and
+had a splitting headache, but was able to continue the journey,
+gradually recovering as the day wore on.
+
+It is perhaps needless to add that putting fresh charcoal on the fire
+was the cause of this _contretemps_, but I was then unaware of there
+being no flue to carry off the fumes.
+
+Leaving our ponies and the cart at Yang Fang, and mounted on mules as
+being more surefooted, though the high wooden saddles and short
+stirrups were most uncomfortable, we started betimes.
+
+After crossing a plain about ten miles in width, strewn with rocks and
+boulders, we reached Nan K'ow, or Southern Pass, where we entered the
+mountains.
+
+The road was fairly good for pack-animals, although crossed at
+frequent intervals by the beds of partially-frozen streams, the
+swift-flowing waters of which were sweet and clear as crystal.
+Mountains shut us in on either side, while we met an unending
+procession of men and beasts conveying loads of merchandise from
+Mongolia to Peking.
+
+The scenery was lovely, and all along the route were to be seen
+crumbling forts and walls built many centuries ago to defend this, the
+principal pass, against invading enemies.
+
+We saw three or four pheasants and heard several more, so that there
+probably is good sport to be had amongst these rugged hills. After
+halting for tiffin under a fine archway of Indian architecture we
+arrived at Pa-Ta-Ling (eight lofty peaks), where we obtained a good
+view of the Great Wall.
+
+Scrambling to the top at a place where it was partly in ruins, my
+friend was soon busy with his camera, whilst I proceeded to
+investigate this world-famed structure.
+
+My feet are rather long and it was just fourteen of them across the
+top, which is evenly paved with square bricks, while the height of the
+wall I judged to be between twenty and thirty feet. At irregular
+intervals there are towers, in one of which was a pile of antique
+carronades about two feet long, of equal size all the way down and
+bound round with iron hoops for additional strength. Much resembling
+old rain-pipes, they had not a very formidable appearance, and were
+probably more dangerous to those who fired them than to the enemy.
+
+Built two hundred years before Christ, and upwards of thirteen hundred
+miles in length, the wall is certainly a gigantic monument, well
+constructed of large bricks, and here, at any rate, in good
+preservation and by no means whatsoever a mass of stones and rubbish
+as asserted by some describers.
+
+Instead of winding along the line of least resistance it follows the
+sinuosities of the country, surmounting crags and delving into
+valleys, so that it can be seen topping height after height as it
+climbs the mountain range until it becomes a mere thread and finally
+is lost to view in the far distance. Walking along it for some little
+way I found that it scaled almost perpendicular cliffs, up one of
+which I passed, the top of the wall here taking the form of steps,
+while down the opposite side the descent was so steep that for greater
+security I made it backwards on hands and knees.
+
+The wall was built with the object of protecting China from the
+inroads of wild Tartars, who came down in hordes from Manchuria,
+Mongolia and the steppes of Northern Asia to seek plunder in the
+plains.
+
+   [Illustration: THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.
+   _To face page 158._]
+
+Chinawards there is a low parapet, while stone stairs built into the
+middle of the wall lead from the top through doorless gateways to the
+ground, giving means of ingress and exit to defenders, but on the side
+facing towards Mongolia the wall is crowned with battlements some four
+and a half feet in height, affording ample protection and pierced
+about every five feet with loopholes and embrasures.
+
+One of the wonders of the world, its construction lasted ten years,
+and at the date of completion was probably as futile to bar the
+advance of a resolute foe as it would be to-day _vis-à-vis_ modern
+artillery.
+
+Wishing to secure a suitable souvenir of my visit I selected a
+well-preserved brick, which, by means of knotted handkerchiefs, I
+slung over my shoulder and so commenced the return journey. For three
+or four miles all went well, but after that the brick commenced to get
+rapidly heavier, until it became almost insupportable, while its
+constant tapping in the small of my back, caused by the jerky trot of
+the mule, was well-nigh intolerable. I tried to fasten it to the
+saddle, but, simple as it may seem, it would not hold, besides making
+the mule altogether unmanageable, so that after a desperate struggle
+for a few miles further I cast it from me with mingled feelings of
+disgust and thankfulness, and in all probability it remains in the
+same spot to this very day.
+
+We reached Yang Fang before dark and much enjoyed a rest and some
+dinner, but as it was full moon and we were anxious to be back in
+Peking early next day, my friend proposed that we should press on for
+a couple of hours that evening.
+
+With fresh ponies in place of the jaded mules, and feeling much
+happier on our doeskin saddles, we went along gaily for some distance,
+but the extreme cold and our own weariness soon began to tell, and we
+became so drowsy that we determined to off-saddle at the next inn. We
+had reckoned, however, without our host, for the inn was crammed full
+and we were obliged to take to the road once more, and that in no very
+amiable frame of mind. The next inn was if anything more crowded
+still, and the next, and the next. For five mortal hours we plodded
+on, more asleep than awake, and I retain but a misty recollection of
+the snow-covered ground, of my pony slipping while crossing a frozen
+ford, and of my continual efforts to keep in the saddle. At one in the
+morning we hammered at the doors of yet another inn, only to be again
+repelled with the frightful words, "All full."
+
+My friend, who spoke the vernacular fluently, was now doing his best,
+and with such effect that the door was cautiously opened a few inches,
+when with one bound I was inside, and seeing a kang with only one man
+on it I tumbled him off and flung myself down, just conscious of acrid
+opium smoke, a great uproar and streams of the most insulting
+abuse.
+
+   [Illustration: AVENUE OF STONE FIGURES, MING TOMBS.
+   _To face page 161._]
+
+On awaking I found my friend by my side still asleep and the morning
+well aired. The squalid inn was almost deserted, for the overnight
+lodgers had departed with their carts and pack-animals before dawn, so
+that I had not to face the individual whom I had so unceremoniously
+dispossessed of his bed, although I left a dollar for him with the
+innkeeper, knowing full well it would never reach him, but choosing
+thus to ease a somewhat guilty conscience.
+
+We had not much further to go and were easily back in Peking before
+tiffin.
+
+Another expedition I made that winter was to a burial-place of
+emperors of the late Ming dynasty, commonly known as the "Ming Tombs,"
+consisting of several immense temples or pagodas possessing but little
+architectural beauty and now considerably dilapidated.
+
+One of these temples is approached by an avenue of gigantic figures
+representing warriors, statesmen, horses, camels, elephants, etc.,
+each figure apparently cut from a single block of stone.
+
+As two hundred and sixty years ago the Chinese Mings were dispossessed
+by the present ruling Manchu dynasty, no attempt is now made to
+preserve these interesting monuments.
+
+In summer the heat is often very great during the day, the
+thermometer frequently registering between ninety and a hundred
+degrees in the shade, and is rendered more trying by the unsanitary
+and neglected condition of the thoroughfares.
+
+At night, however, it is so pleasantly cool that one can sleep under a
+blanket, while punkahs over the bed are never necessary as in the
+central provinces. Riding outside the city walls in the cool of early
+morning or late afternoon is then most enjoyable, many interesting
+sights affording constant diversion.
+
+Acrobats practising their _tours de force_, tragedians with tense
+faces declaiming in a high falsetto to imaginary audiences,
+rag-pickers sorting their fulsome wares with iron-pointed sticks,
+herds of coarse, black swine being bought and sold, while in the
+shelter of the enormous buttresses archers erect paper targets some
+eight inches square and exercise their art with solemn dignity,
+elaborate posturing and considerable dexterity.
+
+A good deal of tennis is played at the club and on the various private
+courts, though most of the diplomatic body as well as missionaries
+migrate during the great heat to temples in the Western Hills, which
+are about twelve miles from Peking, or, now that there is railway
+communication, to the seaside resort of Pei-Tai-Ho.
+
+One afternoon another European and I rode some ten miles out of Peking
+to inspect the ruins of the celebrated Summer Palace, which, since
+its destruction in 1860 by the English and French forces, had remained
+a desolate and overgrown wilderness. Having put up the ponies at an
+inn, where an inquisitive old native wished to know whether our bright
+stirrups and bits were made of silver--the Chinese never dreaming of
+polishing their own--we proceeded on foot to the chief entrance, but
+as the work of restoration was then being commenced the gatekeeper
+refused us admission. Nothing daunted we strolled round to another
+side, and passing unobserved through a gap in the wall made careful
+inspection of a partially-destroyed pavilion overlooking a lake,
+interrupted only by a venerable guardian, who hobbled after us mildly
+requesting that we should depart. This we were preparing to do for
+another part of the extensive grounds, when suddenly we came into view
+of some scores of workmen who were engaged on the repairs. They
+stopped work and gazed at us but made no hostile move, and we could
+still have withdrawn in peace had not my companion, overcome by a
+desire to practise his Chinese, and in opposition to my urgent
+warning, advanced towards them with a beaming smile. No sooner was he
+within range than a shower of bricks and stones filled the air and we
+were both constrained to turn tail and make for the gap at full speed,
+closely followed by the howling mob. We did not pause before reaching
+the inn, and then only to secure our ponies and continue our
+undignified flight. I was uninjured, but my companion had received a
+nasty blow on the head, at which I secretly rejoiced, as owing to his
+action we had not only been exposed to considerable danger but had
+been prevented from further investigating a historical spot since
+strictly closed to all Europeans.
+
+I left Peking at the close of 1889, and there being then no railway
+the ninety miles' journey to Tientsin had to be performed either on
+horseback, by cart along cross-country tracks or _via_ the River
+Peiho, taking boat at Tungchow, which is fourteen miles from the
+capital. I decided on going by boat as being far more comfortable than
+the other alternatives.
+
+Winter had begun early and there was already a certain amount of ice,
+but from inquiries made the river was still open. My baggage was piled
+on to a long, narrow cart drawn by two mules, while I and my boy each
+bestrode a very small donkey, and so I passed out from the mighty city
+by the stone road which leads to Tungchow, as owing to heavy rains and
+subsequent frost the more comfortable country tracks were impassable.
+
+This road, or rather causeway, is another witness to the Chinese
+characteristic of constructing costly works and then leaving them
+thenceforth to fall into disrepair and ruin.
+
+From twelve to fourteen feet in width, it is built of massive granite
+blocks a foot square by perhaps three to seven feet in length, and
+originally must have been a magnificent highway of perfect evenness.
+Time and the grinding wheels of heavy-laden carts, however, have worn
+innumerable ruts seven or eight inches deep into the solid stone, so
+that in passing over it a springless cart crashes from side to side
+with great violence, almost throwing shaft animals to the ground and
+rendering it quite impossible for any European to ride in the vehicle,
+while crockery or any other fragile article, however carefully packed,
+is doomed to certain destruction.
+
+On arrival at Tungchow I saw a great deal of ice floating down with
+the current, but the boatmen declared, and I believe truly, that the
+river was still open to the sea, so having transferred the baggage to
+one boat, and embarking with my boy and pointer on another, we cast
+off at about three o'clock in the afternoon, expecting to reach
+Tientsin the following evening.
+
+Before dark the ice greatly increased in quantity, and from the cabin
+where, enveloped in rugs, I was having tea, the boatmen's excited
+voices could be heard making frequent inquiries of upward-bound junks
+as to our prospects of getting through, for they were Tientsin men and
+anxious to get their boats home before the river was frozen up. At
+six o'clock, however, when we had covered about twelve miles and it
+was quite dark, the boats suddenly crashed into a barrier of ice,
+which had but just formed, effectually stopping our further progress.
+By frantic efforts and with great shoutings both craft were warped to
+within a few feet of the bank, and there we lay, each moment becoming
+more firmly wedged in by fresh ice hurrying down with the stream, and
+which, driven by pressure of the frozen impact, piled up against us
+with a horrid grinding noise until large sheets an eighth of an inch
+thick and as clear as crystal came gliding, as though alive, on to our
+decks.
+
+There being no likelihood of our release I presently sent one of the
+crew back to Tungchow for carts with which to continue the journey,
+but to my dismay he returned at two in the morning with the
+intelligence that no carts could be hired.
+
+The position was a disagreeable one, as it was imperative that I
+should reach Tientsin in time to catch a steamer for Shanghai before
+the close of navigation, so I started off the boy, accompanied by
+another boatman, with instructions to get a conveyance of some sort
+and at any cost. This attempt was more successful, for at ten o'clock
+they returned with a farmer and his truly wonderful cart, drawn by a
+pony, a cow and a donkey, but which they had only been able to hire
+for the exorbitant sum of forty dollars.
+
+My goods and chattels were again transferred, and after making a
+present of five dollars to the disconsolate boatmen, we started off at
+something less than two miles an hour.
+
+If I rode on the piled-up baggage I was quickly numbed by the cold. If
+I walked I soon left the cart far behind, yet dared not lose sight of
+it for fear of its taking another route, so that my time was spent in
+walking ahead and then retracing my steps to meet the cart.
+
+Long after dark we halted at one of the usual wayside inns, a
+collection of hovels built round a dirty, open yard, filled with carts
+and animals, and the home of pigs and fowls, while I found
+accommodation on a brick bed in a comfortless room, or rather shed,
+with torn paper windows and uneven mud floor.
+
+Swallowing some cold food by the light of a tallow candle guttering in
+the draught, I was too tired and too disgusted not to sleep, and by
+three o'clock next morning we were again crawling on our way beneath
+the blazing stars and chilled by a piercing wind.
+
+All things have an end, and so after four days of absolute misery I
+arrived at noon, hungry, footsore and unwashed, at a friend's house in
+Tientsin and in time to catch the last steamer, which was sailing
+that night.
+
+After a hot bath and a good tiffin I retired gratefully to bed, but,
+such is the callousness of human nature, only to be routed out at
+three o'clock to play in a football match, which, the Fates be
+praised, our side lost.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Pe = North. Nan = South. King = Capital City.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+HERE AND THERE
+
+
+Of the three routes to China:
+
+    1. The overland, by rail through Europe and Siberia;
+
+    2. The westerly, across the Atlantic, North America and the
+        Pacific;
+
+    3. The easterly, _via_ the Mediterranean, Suez Canal, Red Sea
+        and Indian Ocean,
+
+the last is perhaps the most interesting and in many ways the most
+comfortable, for it is possible to take a magnificent mail steamer at
+an English port and remain on board, surrounded by as much comfort and
+luxury as is to be found in a first-class hotel, until you land in
+either Hongkong or Shanghai.
+
+The finest of these vessels are veritable floating palaces, the
+saloons of which are gilded and decorated regardless of expense,
+richly carpeted, illuminated with electric light, cooled by electric
+fans, and where meals are served which would not demean any restaurant
+in London or Paris. Music-room, library, smoking-room and bar,
+laundry, barber's shop and delightful marble baths all find place.
+
+On the crack German boats a band plays at frequent intervals, while I
+have actually seen cold stoves in some of the cabins, so that when
+passing through great heat in the Red Sea or elsewhere you could close
+your cabin door, draw up your chair and have a good cool.
+
+I am not sure how these stoves are worked, but believe they are
+connected in some way with the refrigerator, which makes ice for use
+on board and provides cold storage for meat and fruits, and that a
+current of ether or cold air is pumped through them.
+
+In appearance they resemble a French porcelain furnace, abutting on
+one side of the cabin, and by means of a regulator you are able to
+reduce the temperature almost to freezing point. Although undoubtedly
+very pleasant during intense heat, and invaluable for hospital
+purposes, I question if they will come into anything like general use,
+for it seems to me that instantaneous changes from a temperature of
+perhaps one hundred degrees on deck to say sixty degrees in the cabin
+cannot fail to produce bad effects on the health.
+
+Travelling by the easterly route you meet the sun, which causes each
+day to be shortened. By the westerly route you go with the sun, which
+causes each day to be lengthened.
+
+During the journey round the world the aggregate of these shortenings
+or lengthenings will amount to twenty-four hours, so that on arriving
+again in England by the easterly route you will have gained a day, and
+instead of its being Wednesday, as you might think, it would be
+Tuesday, wherefore you would be obliged to have two Wednesdays in one
+week. By the westerly route, on the contrary, you would lose a day, so
+that returning on a Wednesday by your reckoning you would find
+everyone else calling it Thursday, and the following morning you would
+be obliged to recognise as Friday.
+
+To avoid such confusion the date is always regulated when crossing the
+Pacific.
+
+Going east, the captain notifies that there will be two consecutive
+Mondays, or two Thursdays, as the case be, in order to use up the
+extra day.
+
+Going west, on the other hand, one of the days in a week must be
+omitted, there being no time for it if you are to arrive in port on
+the proper date.
+
+A common story told in this connection is that on a certain voyage
+from Vancouver to Hongkong some missionary passengers settled to hold
+service in the saloon at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, and posted up a notice
+to that effect in the usual place at the head of the saloon stairs,
+but omitted to previously consult the captain or ask his permission.
+
+The captain, having no desire to be ignored, even unintentionally,
+aboard his own ship, quietly regulated dates, the passengers next
+morning finding an official notice posted up immediately over that of
+the missionaries, saying that it would be Sunday until 10 a.m., after
+which it would be Monday, so that missionaries, Sunday and divine
+service were all simultaneously suppressed.
+
+The most comfortable and the most restful travelling in the world that
+I know of is on board the large river steamers running up the Yangtse
+for six hundred miles from Shanghai to Hankow, and then transhipping
+to somewhat smaller vessels, for the additional four hundred miles to
+Ichang.
+
+Scrupulously clean, good table, jovial captains, excellent Chinese
+stewards, electric light, luxurious saloons, state-rooms double the
+size of cabins on even the finest ocean liners, few passengers, no
+noise and no sea-sickness, you glide on day and night over calm waters
+in a dream-like peace, broken only for a short time every few hours by
+the necessary stopping at ports of call to work cargo, and at
+riverside stations for Chinese passengers, who, however, do not mingle
+with the Europeans, but have saloons set apart for their own exclusive
+use. Some of these boats were built in the golden days of the early
+sixties, upon American models, and were fitted up on a scale
+considerably reduced in newer vessels.
+
+The large bathrooms on these older boats are a great feature of
+comfort, and so numerous as to be almost bewildering to strangers; in
+fact, I have heard that a nervous young man fresh from home was the
+victim of an untoward mishap by mistaking the captain's bathroom for
+the one belonging to his own cabin, when on dashing in, the door
+having evidently been insecurely fastened on the inside, he found
+himself face to face with the captain's wife in her bath. Retreat was
+naturally instantaneous, but the position was so serious that his only
+course was to at once seek the captain and explain. This awkward task
+he started to perform, though in considerable trepidation, and found
+the husband reading in his cabin, and who, after listening calmly to a
+recital of the details, laconically remarked, "Ah, she has a beautiful
+figure, has she not?"
+
+And the incident was closed.
+
+The compass has been known for many centuries to the Chinese, but in
+accordance with their strange habit of doing so many things in an
+exactly contrary manner to Europeans, they "box" it the reverse way to
+ourselves, speaking of an east-north or a west-south breeze, and so
+on.
+
+The expressions "to the right" and "to the left" I have never heard,
+for it is the custom to say "go to the east-south" or to the
+"west-north," as the case may be. Even in cities, when asking your
+way, the natives will direct you by the points of the compass rather
+than by the names of the streets.
+
+Chinese screws turn from right to left, which is the opposite way to
+our own, and of this I had a practical demonstration when, on
+returning one morning from the mountains, a chair-coolie
+surreptitiously abstracted my flask from the tiffin-basket and tried
+to unscrew the stopper to get at the whisky, but being ignorant of the
+different method, he in reality screwed it on tighter, till at last it
+broke off, and when some hours later, on board the steamer, I
+discovered my ruined flask, an array of teeth-marks deeply imbedded in
+the metal plainly told the guilty tale.
+
+At Peking, when studying Chinese, my teacher would often come after
+dinner during the long winter evenings, when seated by a roaring fire
+we discussed for practice in talking any subjects of interest. Amongst
+many curious things which I thus heard the following has always
+puzzled me with the conjecture, "Can there possibly be any truth in
+it?"
+
+I had that day purchased some fur rugs of no particular value, and not
+being sure whether they were of dog-skin or goat-skin, asked the
+teacher his opinion. What his reply was I do not remember, but the
+conversation having turned on the subject of furs in general, he told
+me that some rare wolf-skins were exceedingly costly from the fact
+that the wolves, after being caught by Mongol hunters, had been
+skinned alive and the skins dressed in a particular manner. Rugs made
+of these, he declared, on the approach to the house of wild animals,
+robbers or of any threatening danger, would bristle up as if still on
+the back of the live animal when angered, and so give timely warning
+to the inmates; for which reason they were so highly valued.
+
+I have never seen what purposed to be such a skin, but repeat the
+story if only for its Oriental weirdness.
+
+Water buffaloes are a striking feature in Chinese rural life, more
+especially in the central and southern provinces. With a carcase almost
+as large and devoid of hair as that of an elephant, they have very
+short legs, and are consequently but little taller than the ordinary
+ox. Carrying on their heavy skulls enormous, semi-circular horns, they
+have a ferocious aspect, but strangely enough are exceedingly timid and
+docile. In summer, for the sake of coolness and to avoid mosquitoes,
+they plunge into streams or mud-holes, and lie there for hours with
+only their muzzles and eyes above water. It is rather a pleasing sight
+to see one of these unwieldy, dangerous-looking brutes being led
+quietly along, by means of a thin string attached to its nose, by a wee
+native girl, who, when tired of walking, stops the animal, draws its
+head down by the string, places her tiny foot on the massive horn and
+is slowly raised from the ground by the buffalo and placed gently on
+his back, which is so broad that she can kneel and play about on it
+while her charge is grazing. These buffaloes are chiefly employed in
+the cultivation of rice, and as the flesh of oxen is but rarely eaten
+by the Chinese, they usually die of old age.
+
+On one occasion I saw a large family of natives returning mournfully
+to their village from a neighbouring meadow, and on making inquiries
+was told that they had been to bury their water buffalo, which had
+just died after a faithful service of more than twenty years.
+
+When on a shooting trip far up the River Han I saw a large buffalo
+with four boys on his back, grazing by the side of a water-ditch,
+which lay between him and a steep bank some ten feet high. The grass
+being very soft, my close approach was unobserved, until a hare
+getting up I fired off my gun. Instantly the buffalo dashed through
+the ditch and up the bank, when the boys, having nothing to hold on to
+except one another, were shot off backwards into the water, where they
+formed a perfect heap of struggling arms and legs, to my great
+amusement.
+
+Chinese farm-houses are very different from the substantial,
+comfortable dwellings obtaining in this country, being primitive clay
+hovels with no upper storeys, having tile roofs, windows of oiled
+paper, and mud floors, while the furniture is home-made and of the
+roughest description. No walks or gardens surround the house, which
+stands in the centre of the farm-yard, outbuildings and cesspools,
+with the threshing-floor, as a rule, immediately outside the front
+door. Pigs, dogs, fowls and goats roam at will through the dwelling
+and about the premises, while the two or three buffaloes and oxen used
+for ploughing and threshing are tethered to neighbouring trees.
+
+   [Illustration: A TYPICAL FARM-HOUSE.
+   _To face page 177._]
+
+Although wheat, maize, barley and millet are largely cultivated in the
+north, rice is the principal crop wherever it can be grown, much water
+being necessary. It is first sown in quite a small, dry patch, to be
+subsequently transplanted, and comes up as thick as grass and of a
+most brilliant green. The fields, which rarely exceed half an acre,
+and are generally very much less, are now tilled. First, they are
+flooded by a careful system of irrigation to a depth of three or four
+inches, and when sufficiently soft turned over with a primitive,
+wooden plough, shod with a small iron blade or tip, and drawn by one
+water buffalo. After this they are harrowed, the farmer standing on
+the harrow and driving the buffalo as it wades along, until they are
+masses of rich, liquid mud. The young plants are now pricked out by
+hand, about six inches apart, and the fields kept just flooded by a
+constant stream of running water. When ripe the crop stands about two
+and a half feet in height, and the water having been cut off some
+time previously, reaping commences with the sickle.
+
+Into the harvest-field is often brought a large wooden tub about four
+feet in diameter by three feet high, and the reaper, having cut an
+armful of rice, takes it by the straw end and threshes the ears five
+or six times with great force over the side, so that the grain falls
+into the tub, which, when thus filled, is replaced by an empty one and
+taken to the threshing-floor, where the contents are thrown up by
+shovels-full into the air, the breeze blowing the chaff to one side
+and the winnowed rice falling in a heap by itself. When the crop is
+not thus threshed in the harvest-field it is stacked at the farm, and
+sometimes in the low forks of large trees to remove it from the danger
+of possible floods, subsequently to be trodden out by oxen on the
+threshing-floor or beaten out by the farmer and his family with light
+basket-work flails on bamboo shafts.
+
+In villages and small towns where many houses adjoin, it is a common
+practice to paint or dye young chickens as soon as they are hatched,
+so that each housewife may know her own. One woman will colour hers a
+bright red, another will use blue, another green, and so on, the
+appearance of these strikingly-coloured little creatures intermingled
+in the streets being exceedingly droll and novel to Europeans.
+
+Amongst all classes of Chinese, from beggars to Academicians, belief
+in ghosts, dreams and the supernatural generally is absolute and
+unshakable.
+
+If you express doubt or scepticism they will readily agree with you
+from a certain nervousness of being thought ridiculous, as well as
+from a feeling of the futility of any attempt to persuade Europeans of
+the soundness of such convictions.
+
+In the autumn of 1899, when at Shasi, which is an unthriving town nine
+hundred miles up the Yangtse, and where another Englishman and I were
+the then only Europeans residing amongst a dense, hostile population,
+which only a few weeks previously had burnt down all foreign houses
+and forced the inmates to flee for their lives in small boats, two of
+the most remarkable cases of this universal superstition came directly
+under my notice.
+
+At that time one of those rebellions which are a chronic feature of
+Chinese Society was in full bloom in the neighbouring province of
+Szechwan, where an individual named Yü Man-tze was heading a crusade
+against Christians and foreign influence, when at least one French
+father was slain and another held in prolonged captivity, despite all
+efforts of the local officials to effect his release.
+
+The doings of this redoubtable brigand were naturally our chief topic
+of daily conversation, and a very intelligent and highly-educated
+Chinese gentleman, who kept me informed of local events, said that the
+natives generally credited him with mystic powers. "Of course," he
+added, eyeing me suspiciously, "it cannot be true, still, it is
+current gossip in all the tea-shops."
+
+After a short pause I informed him confidentially that whatever other
+foreigners might or might not believe, I personally had considerable
+doubts as to the non-existence of supernatural agencies.
+
+Without looking up I could feel that his eyes were critically scanning
+my face in search of ridicule or sarcasm, but I managed to preserve a
+stolid demeanour, and purposely dropping further discussion of the
+matter, went in search of cigars and stimulants to help us while away
+the afternoon. At length he again broached the subject, which I could
+see was of great interest to him, and warming to his theme under the
+influence of a sympathetic listener and good cheer, he finally told me
+in a burst of confidence and with low, excited voice, the following
+_fact_ relative to Yü Man-tze.
+
+At the outset of his lawless career this supernaturally gifted
+desperado, having collected a band of followers, fastened round their
+ankles such heavy weights that they were at first totally unable to
+move; but, as the fruit of continual exertions, they by-and-by managed
+to creep a few paces, later on they were able to walk easily, and
+finally even to run with their loaded feet.
+
+The time for action having come, Yü Man-tze removed the weights, when
+his disciples were so buoyant that they could all _fly_, and so were
+able to pass rapidly between places far apart, and to successfully
+avoid all attempts at capture.
+
+For those unacquainted with the East it is doubtless well-nigh
+impossible to credit that such rubbish as this could be implicitly
+believed by any considerable number of people, yet such was the case,
+and the fact that the Chinese government eventually bribed Yü Man-tze
+with official rank and a large sum of money to desist from his evil
+ways by no means tended to diminish the illusion.
+
+For several weeks we were continually threatened with a visitation
+from some predatory band of Yü Man-tze's followers, so that when one
+stormy night two large fires simultaneously broke out in different
+parts of the town we thought trouble was at hand. Our anticipations,
+however, were happily unfulfilled, the storm having prevented the
+rebels from descending the river as intended, though the fires, which
+evidently had been previously planned and timed, were ignited.
+
+Next morning my compatriot brought in word that he had visited the
+scenes of the conflagrations, and that three victims, who had been
+fearfully burnt, were lying in the street covered with straw mats, but
+still alive. Being without medical comforts of any description I was
+powerless to render assistance, so refrained from even quitting the
+house.
+
+An hour later my countryman again rushed in, followed by two or three
+Chinese, to say that relatives of the sufferers had brought them to a
+piece of waste ground hard by, had heaped wood round them, had poured
+petroleum over them, and were now burning them as a sacrifice to the
+god of fire, he having already established his claim over them.
+
+What could be done in the face of such horrifying circumstances?
+Nothing, for the poor wretches were already beyond any human aid, and
+to have interfered would have brought on us instant vengeance from the
+excited mob, but never, to the end of my days, shall I forget that
+sickening feeling of enforced inaction.
+
+I especially record this incident as it is the only one of so extreme
+a nature that I have ever heard of as taking place amongst the
+Chinese, although it is a matter of common knowledge that they
+frequently refuse to rescue drowning persons for fear of displeasing
+the river god.
+
+We subsequently learnt with much satisfaction that the rebels, to the
+number of two or three hundred, on being turned aside by the storm,
+crossed the border into the province of Hunan, and there, after
+murdering an official, his women-folk and some servants, were
+surrounded in a swamp on the shores of the Tongting lake by Government
+troops and butchered to a man.
+
+Native breeds of swine are very coarse and always coal black, so that
+when a French friend of mine imported for the first time into Peking
+two white, foreign-bred pigs, they were objects of immense curiosity
+to the local Chinese, who thought them exceedingly uncanny, and
+considered it far from improbable that the departed spirits of former
+friends might well have migrated into forms so passing fair.
+
+After they had been carefully fattened, a kiddier was sent for to give
+them the happy dispatch, but no sooner had he set eyes on his quarry
+than he scuttled off in alarm, and nothing would induce him to return,
+nor could any other butcher be prevailed upon to officiate, so that,
+my friend declared, he was obliged to roll up his sleeves and perform
+the gruesome, though necessary operation himself.
+
+"Old custom" is almost a religion with the celestials, to subvert
+which requires great caution, persistency and strength. If anything
+can be justified by old custom, or even precedent, it is considered to
+be unassailable, no matter how harmful or irrational it may be.
+
+Take the matter of foot-binding.
+
+Laws have been passed, and are still extant, expressly forbidding this
+cruel and senseless habit, and the ruling race, the Manchus, have
+never practised it, still the Chinese, and the women more than the
+men, cling to it with fanatical stubbornness for the sole reason that
+it is old custom, and that if girls' feet were not bandaged it would
+outrage the universal sense of propriety.
+
+I have frequently talked the subject over with Chinamen, who readily
+acknowledge that it is useless, besides being extremely painful to
+young children, but they say if their daughters had natural feet they
+would most probably fail to get husbands, as no man wishes his wife to
+be in any way extraordinary or different from other women. "In any
+case," they frequently retort, "we do not know that foot-binding gives
+much more pain than do the tight-laced stays of foreign women, and
+certainly it is not so ugly or prejudicial to the health."
+
+The Chinese, contrary to ourselves, look back to the past for
+inspiration and guidance, and to concern oneself about novelty or
+change appears to them as savouring strongly of shiftiness and want of
+tone.
+
+A curious instance of how quickly precedent can be established, and of
+its binding force, came to my notice some years ago at Peking.
+
+At a certain point the now shallow waters of the moat encircling the
+city wall had for long years been spanned by a foot-bridge, but which,
+having become rotten and weak, duly crumbled away.
+
+With Oriental dilatoriness no attempt was made to rebuild it for some
+months, and it was then found that two men, who during the interval
+had been earning a livelihood by wading to and fro carrying
+pedestrians between the opposite banks, strongly objected to a new
+bridge on the ground that it would take away their occupation now
+fairly established. Backed by numerous relatives and by public
+opinion, these two miserable coolies had successfully resisted the
+proposed reconstruction when I left the capital, and it is highly
+probable that they or their sons still monopolise passenger traffic at
+the ford.
+
+To many even in this country, and to far more on the Continent, where
+Christmas is observed solely as a religious festival, the New Year
+with its train of bills, gifts, junketings and holidays is a period of
+abomination, when all business is dislocated and servants run mad.
+
+At such places in the East as Hankow, where a considerable Russian
+colony exists, there are three New Years of progressive virulence. The
+first of January is observed by all Europeans as a general holiday,
+when the ladies stay at home to preside over elaborate teas, at which
+all gentlemen of their acquaintance are expected to appear if only for
+a few minutes, while the men, both married and single, taking a large
+supply of cards, sally forth to call at the house of each lady in turn
+to wish her a Happy New Year, a proceeding which takes up several
+hours and necessitates a surprising amount of endurance. Dinners,
+dances, complimentary visits from Chinese friends, and other social
+functions help to swell the list of New Year obligations.
+
+Things have scarcely settled down again when the Russian New Year is
+at hand, for in the dominions of the White Czar time is still reckoned
+by the old style, and as Russians are particularly keen and very
+pronounced in their observance of anniversaries and _fêtes_, the place
+is again turned topsy-turvy for several days beneath floods of
+excellent sweet champagne.
+
+The Chinese calendar marches coeval with the moons, which fact
+generally places their New Year some time in February, the exact date
+fluctuating from year to year to the extent of three or four weeks.
+
+The last few days of the old year is a great time of reckoning, when
+all outstanding debts must be paid so as to commence the New Year with
+a clean slate, and woe to the man who fails to meet his obligations.
+
+From faces clouded with anxiety during this trying period there is a
+sudden revulsion on the stroke of midnight to countenances wreathed in
+smiles, as for weal or woe the New Year is ushered in with deafening
+fusillades of fire-crackers and a great beating of gongs. In the
+morning all China is astir betimes, dressed in gala attire and
+interchanging congratulatory visits. Business is entirely suspended
+for several days, it being the one great annual holiday, and it is
+extremely difficult to get even your own servants to pay so much as a
+minimum of attention to their household duties; in fact, I yearly
+register a mental vow not to lose my temper with them on any account
+during New Year week, for besides being useless it would probably
+entail the additional discomfort of having to engage and train new
+hands.
+
+At this season native officials as well as merchants are in the habit
+of making presents indicative of good-will to those foreigners with
+whom they have business relations.
+
+Your boy brings in a bright red visiting-card eight inches by three,
+coming from an official who begs you will deign to accept his best
+wishes for the New Year, together with a few trifling presents.
+Immediately three or four coolies arrive, groaning as loudly as
+possible beneath the weight of hams, boxes of cigars, jars of dried
+fruits, boxes of tea, oranges and champagne. You inspect the presents
+with exclamations of appreciation and then privately consult the boy
+as to what you should retain, it being the general practice to return
+the greater part. A box of tea, a jar or two of dried fruits, some
+oranges and perhaps a box of cigars are selected, while a few dollars
+are presented to the coolies, by whom you forward in return your own
+Chinese card to the official with seasonable wishes and thanks for his
+thoughtful kindness.
+
+As I was reading by my fire one afternoon in Shanghai the door was
+quietly opened, two hands gently pushed an enormous live turkey into
+the room and the door was again closed. The turkey commenced to stalk
+about with an occasional gobble. After watching the intruder for a few
+seconds I started to catch him, but found it was no easy matter. He
+flew on to the sideboard, from there to the mantelpiece and then to
+the window-sill, scattering knick-knacks and photographs far and wide.
+He ran under the sofa and table, finally escaping into my bedroom,
+where, with a desperate effort, I caught him by his legs under the
+bed. While dragging him out he beat his wings with great force, and as
+the bed had evidently not been swept under for months, drove forth
+such a cloud of dust and fluff as to almost choke me, while filling
+the whole room.
+
+Round his neck was tied a red label bearing New Year greetings from a
+Chinese merchant.
+
+   [Illustration: FISHING-JUNKS IN MACAO HARBOUR AT CHINESE NEW YEAR.
+   _To face page 189._]
+
+The entire boating population cease work at New Year, and tying up
+their craft in convenient places give themselves up to such few
+pleasures as their primitive mode of life allows.
+
+At Macao, hundreds of fishing-boats, which supply the market both
+there and at Hongkong, assemble and anchor close together in orderly
+rows, both in the inner harbour as well as in the bay facing the Praia
+Grande, under strict supervision of the Portuguese authorities. Mat
+awnings are erected over the decks, thus forming commodious rooms,
+which are decorated with scrolls and lanterns, and in which feastings
+and family gatherings take place for several days, after which the
+whole fleet, gaily decked with flags, puts again to sea.
+
+Fish of any kind is a favourite article of food, and the methods of
+catching them are extremely numerous. Otters, cormorants, nets,
+baskets and hooks without bait, all meet with due measure of success,
+but by far the most remarkable manner of fishing was that which I saw
+from the bows of a steamer made fast to the hulk at Hankow.
+
+It was mid-winter and bitterly cold, the ground being covered with
+almost a foot of snow. I had been to tiffin with the captain and was
+just coming away when, pointing to some natives in a sampan close
+alongside, he said, "Have you ever seen those men dive for fish?"
+
+I never had, and being glad of the opportunity, stopped to watch.
+There were three men in the boat, of whom one worked the paddles,
+while the other two, stark naked, crouched on the forepart, sheltering
+themselves from the biting wind with an old straw mat. Having come to
+a suitable spot, where the depth may have been from ten to fifteen
+feet, the boat was stopped, and the two divers instantly plunged into
+the turbid water, to reappear some seconds later with a live fish in
+each hand, while one of them had also a third fish in his mouth. The
+diving was repeated several times with varying results before I took
+my leave, and the captain assured me that this was a common sight on
+the Yangtse in winter, when the fish were probably lying in the mud
+torpid from the cold.
+
+When returning to Kiukiang from a fortnight's shooting trip in the
+neighbourhood of Ngankin, my boat was much delayed by light and
+contrary winds, which frequently obliged us to anchor in order to
+avoid being swept back by the strong current. On one of these
+occasions three of the crew took the jolly-boat and rowed ashore, a
+distance of some hundred yards, and while smoking on deck I could see
+them wading along by the bank, groping in the mud and occasionally
+putting something into a bucket which they had taken with them.
+Questioned as to what they were doing, the lowdah replied, "Fishing,"
+and my astonishment was not diminished when they returned on board
+with the bucket half-filled with fine perch, varying from perhaps
+eight ounces to a pound in weight. Until then I was unaware that perch
+existed in Chinese waters, nor have I since seen any.
+
+The nearest approach to this kind of fishing that I know of is down in
+my old home amongst the Norfolk broads, where on warm days, when lying
+in the weeds, tench can be tickled with the fingers and caught by a
+sudden nip behind the gills; but the art requires intimate knowledge
+of local waters, much patience and great skill.
+
+One of the most frequent questions that I am asked at home is, "Do not
+Chinamen wear the finger-nails very long?" They do. Scholars perform
+no manual labour, in visible token of which they allow the nails of
+the left hand to grow an inch or an inch and a half in length, but the
+nails on the right hand, while also long, are short in comparison with
+those on the left.
+
+To be classed with literary or educated men is the greatest of all
+considerations, for which reason there is always a tendency for anyone
+and everyone to wear a long coat and to don huge tortoise-shell-rimmed
+spectacles, such as are affected by the _literati_, as well as to
+cultivate the nails of the left hand. As the use of the word _esquire_
+has degenerated in this country until not to apply it to all and
+sundry is considered to be almost a snub, so the habit of wearing long
+finger-nails in China has descended through every rank of Society
+until it is now more often the badge of envious imitation than of any
+scholarly attainments. So precious to the owners are these claw-like
+nails that I have often seen them protected by silver sheaths, and
+have heard that for cases of extraordinary growth the whole of the
+left hand is even carried in a bag.
+
+There is much outcry in these latter days against the newly-formed
+habit of cigarette smoking cultivated by ladies of the West.
+Condemnation of the practice seems if anything to act as an incentive,
+so, yielding to the pleasant temptation of palliating faults in pretty
+women, I would suggest as an excuse that they are but following in the
+foot-steps of their sisters of the Far East, where, it may be roughly
+stated, the women-folk of a third of the human race smoke pipes.
+
+I cannot say that very young girls appear to indulge much, though
+women of all ages do to a great extent, inhaling the smoke and puffing
+it through the nose in thick clouds. The pipes in general use are
+either small brass ones, having straight wooden stems a foot in
+length, with clumsy porcelain mouthpieces, or brass water-pipes, which
+when being smoked make an unpleasant gurgling sound. The bowl of
+either kind is so tiny that it will only hold a pinch or two of very
+fine tobacco, which three or four whiffs consume, when it has to be
+refilled and lighted from a slow-match held ready in the hand until
+the smokeress has smoked enough. The picture is neither winsome nor
+sweet.
+
+The Chinese have very few amusements corresponding to our outdoor
+games, although at treaty-ports, and in those places where there are
+any roads, men are taking readily to cycling, albeit, from the flowing
+nature of their garments they generally use ladies' bicycles. Of these
+few pastimes archery is considered the most _distingué_, while boys
+attain to great skill in playing shuttlecock with their feet, being
+able to keep up the feathered cork for a dozen or twenty times, and
+passing it considerable distances from one to another. Judge then of
+my surprise when, on asking a young Chinaman at Peking how he had
+spent his holiday of the previous day, he replied quite naturally that
+he had passed the afternoon at his cricket club.
+
+I could hardly believe my ears, for as far as I knew a game of cricket
+had never been played at Peking, even by Englishmen, there being no
+suitable ground, and it was only by plying him with questions that I
+elicited it was the cricket of the hearth to which he alluded, and
+that his club was a gambling-house to which young men brought their
+crickets, there to fight grim duels in a basin for the championship,
+while noble owners staked considerable sums on the prowess of their
+diminutive gladiators and stimulated their energies by tickling them
+with straws.
+
+On all the waterways of China enormous flocks of tame ducks are to be
+seen. These flocks generally number several thousands of birds each
+and are carefully herded by the duck farmer and his sons, who swim
+them about from place to place in search of suitable feeding-grounds.
+On the Yangtse I have seen them in mid-stream floating down in compact
+masses with the racing current and surrounded by their guardians in
+tubs, who, armed with long bamboos, smartly whack any bird which may
+happen to stray away from the flock until it rejoins its companions.
+
+These ducks are apparently always of one age, be it a month, three
+months or full-grown, which fact had ever been a source of mild
+surprise to me, in view of the number of simultaneous broods which
+would be necessary to hatch off such swarms, until the matter was
+explained.
+
+A friend of mine gave a tiffin party of four good men and true on his
+stern-wheel house-boat, the motive power for which was supplied by
+half-a-dozen coolies driving the wheel with their feet, on the same
+principle as the tread-mill, and we were gliding up the Taipa Channel
+near Macao at about four knots, when suddenly our craft came into a
+sea of egg-shells sailing gaily before the breeze and having at a
+short distance much the appearance of water-lilies.
+
+For a quarter of an hour or so we ploughed through these shells, which
+must have numbered tens of thousands, making various conjectures as to
+their origin, until our host, who had been below superintending the
+icing of the champagne, came on deck and explained that they
+undoubtedly were from an incubator in which ducks had just been
+hatched. This was new to me, so I asked him for details, but he
+replied that beyond knowing of the incubators and that they were made
+of manure and lime in which eggs were buried until hatched, he had not
+been able to procure further information.
+
+Since then I have made many inquiries, but the Chinese will reveal
+little beyond the fact that incubators "have always existed" for the
+hatching of ducks and geese.
+
+A gentleman whose knowledge of the Chinese and their ways is
+unsurpassed has also kindly tried to find out, but with limited
+success, for, he says, it is regarded as a trade secret and the duck
+farmers will not divulge the process. However, he ascertained that the
+hatching takes place in early spring, when "a kind of primitive
+incubator is used. The eggs are placed in a big basket covered with
+straw or cotton wool, about a thousand eggs in one basket. Under this
+basket a charcoal fire is lit to keep the required temperature. The
+work is carried on in closed rooms and one man is always in attendance
+turning the eggs. Only eggs of ducks and geese are thus treated."
+
+Whether these incubators are made of manure and lime in the open air,
+whether they are in rooms heated by charcoal fires, or whether there
+are both kinds, the interesting fact is established that incubators
+"have always existed" in China, while results, as seen in the huge
+flocks of ducks, proclaim them as thoroughly successful. And this,
+too, when it has been unreservedly believed that the incubator was a
+modern triumph of Western science!
+
+Another little matter has attracted my attention. There have lately
+been paragraphs in several papers announcing the excellent results
+obtained from a new system of registering criminals by means of
+thumb-marks.
+
+Thumb-marking may be new to Scotland Yard, but in China it is a very
+ancient practice. I have seen illiterate men smear their thumbs with
+ink and make impressions at the foot of documents, such thumb-marks
+being accepted as in every way equivalent to full signatures.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE MARRIAGE TIE
+
+
+In the province of Kiangsi on the banks of the River Kan, which flows
+almost due north to the Poyang lake and so into the Yangtsekiang, is
+situate the town of Kanchow, on the outskirts of which dwelt a
+merchant named Chin Pao-ting with his wife and infant son.
+
+After the custom of all Chinese merchants, Mr Chin had a shop which,
+although used for retail purposes, was in reality the office of his
+not inconsiderable wholesale business. Mr Chin had some time previous
+to this date, the early spring of 1892, engaged a young man of the
+locality named Wang Foo-lin, as accountant and confidential clerk, and
+he had proved himself so intelligent and useful that not only did Chin
+regard him with feelings of friendship but even conceived the idea of
+subsequently taking him into partnership. What Chin's particular
+business was I do not know, beyond the fact that each year it took him
+away from home for several weeks, and sometimes months at a time, when
+he travelled to other provinces. This annual voyage was now at hand.
+Four boats were filled with various kinds of merchandise, while a
+fifth and smaller craft was selected to convey Chin and his assistant,
+who now accompanied his master for the first time. This boat was
+fairly comfortable from a Chinese point of view, having benches on
+either side of the cabin and a kind of platform at the back, with a
+small, low table thereon bearing the customary incense-burner,
+containing fragrant joss-sticks, and also on this occasion a small
+_joss_ or gilt image of Buddha, which Chin always took with him on his
+wanderings.
+
+All preparations having been slowly completed the day for departure
+arrived, and Chin, with much bowing and ceremonial posturing, having
+wished his wife and little son adieu, embarked with Wang, taking the
+equivalent of five thousand dollars[2] in sycee shoes and gold-dust,
+and amidst valedictory fusillades of fire-crackers, as well as a
+beating of gongs, the flotilla cast off and sailed away down river.
+
+Nothing of particular interest occurred during the voyage of two
+hundred miles to the Poyang lake beyond usual delays caused by the
+dried-up condition at that season of all waterways connected with
+China's mighty river.
+
+The sources of the Yangtse are to be found in the mountain ranges of
+Thibet, and as during winter and early spring the deep snows of those
+lofty regions lie icebound and the great river is fed only by local
+rains, its waters dwindle in volume until they find a level forty feet
+below that of summer and autumn, when torrid heat and torrential rains
+thaw the snows in Central Asia and fill the river-bed with a thick,
+brown current which, after overflowing into and filling all lakes,
+tributaries and unprotected lowlands in the Yangtse valley, sweeps
+eastwards to the ocean, a foaming torrent of irresistible force.
+
+After about twenty days of incessant toil in tracking, poling and
+yulowing along the tortuous and mud-bound channel of the Kan, where
+sailing, owing to the low water and consequent towering banks which
+shut off the wind, was seldom possible, the small fleet emerged on the
+Poyang lake. Not, however, the magnificent sheet of water which is
+found there in summer, but the lake as it is in winter, contracted to
+one tenth of its maximum size, and little more than a wide and
+sluggish river flanked by boundless mud tracts swarming with snipe and
+wildfowl. Another few days' sailing, for the breeze could now be felt
+across the wide marshland, and Hukow (mouth of the lake) was reached,
+where the merchandise in the four small lake boats was transferred to
+a large and stately junk destined to carry it far up-river towards the
+West, while good accommodation was found on board both for Chin and
+his assistant. As soon as the transhipment of cargo had been
+completed, and Chin had written a letter for transmission to his wife
+by the boats returning to Kanchow, sail was made on the junk, and
+passing out of the tranquil waters of the lake she was seen to shape
+an up-river course reefed close before a rising gale, until lost to
+sight in the rain and gathering darkness.
+
+The empty boats arrived in due course at Kanchow, when the letter was
+faithfully delivered, and this being the last communication that would
+be received from her husband prior to his return, Mrs Chin resigned
+herself to many weeks of dreary loneliness.
+
+Weeks lengthened into months, and the waiting woman began to feel
+anxious as to the well-being of her lord.
+
+The stifling, burning summer came and went, and still there was
+neither sign nor tidings of the absent one.
+
+Inquiries made of passing junks, to the crews of many of which Chin
+was well-known, ever elicited the invariable reply that nothing had
+been seen or heard of him.
+
+Autumn and winter still brought no tidings, and the poor, saddened
+woman yielded to the conviction that some disaster had overtaken her
+husband and that she would see him no more.
+
+Early Chinese marriages are almost invariably arranged by the parents,
+the young folks, even if old enough, having no voice in the matter.
+Later on, plurality of wives, though far from universal, is also quite
+common and of good repute.
+
+The lower orders generally have only one wife, not being able to
+afford more, although as soon as a man commences to prosper and rise
+in the social scale his first thought is to procure by contract or by
+purchase an additional helpmeet, who, however, ranks far below the
+_first_ or _No. 1_ wife. Similarly _No. 2_ ranks before _No. 3_, and
+so on. Four or five wives is a common number in well-to-do households,
+though one old friend of mine, since dead, had taken to himself
+sixteen.
+
+Husbands regard the marriage tie as binding on them chiefly with
+regard to the material well-being of the family, whereas the honour of
+the family rests on the wife's steadfastness in maintaining sacred the
+nuptial vow, any detected laxity in this respect being visited on her
+with remorseless punishment both by her libidinous husband and by the
+whole of his clan. Widows seldom marry again, it being the duty and
+pride of a virtuous woman to remain faithful to the memory of her dead
+husband. Throughout the whole length and breadth of China memorial
+arches to widows who have been faithful to their troth till death are
+to be seen in almost every village.
+
+Mrs Chin may have been, and probably was, attached to her husband with
+that fanatical single-mindedness which belongs to women of the East.
+She may have considered it her bounden duty only. Whether love or duty
+furnished the motive I cannot tell, but after making all possible
+inquiries to no purpose she determined to set out herself and search
+for traces of the missing one. The shop and her belongings were sold
+to provide money for the way, and the poor woman, forsaking all and
+carrying the child strapped to her shoulders, turned with a bitter
+heart from her former prosperous home to face the world on her
+well-nigh hopeless quest. Of her wanderings I could get no record, and
+she would probably, with Oriental inscrutability, have refused to even
+talk about them, but wherever else they may have led her, in the
+bitter winter of 1893 she was twenty miles up-river from Hukow at the
+open port of Kiukiang and alone, her child having perished by the way,
+begging food and prosecuting her inquiries. Chance led her to shelter
+for a night in the ruined but beautiful pagoda which stands high above
+the river on the cliff outside the city wall. To the old Buddhist
+hermit in possession she told her oft-repeated tale, only once again
+to receive the usual negative reply.
+
+In the morning, however, as she was moving off on her daily trudge,
+the hermit appeared, and after the customary Buddhistic salutation,
+"O me tor foo,"[3] had been exchanged, he remarked that during the
+night it recurred to him that about eighteen moons had passed since he
+found the dead body of a man cast up naked on the opposite beach, and
+that following the rule of his order for acquiring merit he had
+carefully and reverently buried it.
+
+The poor wanderer seemed at last to see some faint possibility of
+reward for her dreary pilgrimage. She followed the hermit to the river
+side, where his small and leaky sampan was drawn up on the mud. After
+considerable effort the boat was launched by the feeble pair, and
+taking her place in it she was rowed by the old man across the heaving
+river, which is here more than a mile in width, to the opposite beach,
+where a little above high-water mark the grave was found. Scraping
+aside the loose sand and rubble, and raising the unfastened lid of the
+rough coffin, the mouldering skeleton was unrecognisable. Quick as
+thought the woman thrust her fingers into the crumbling mass and
+raised an arm of the dead, on which was seen to be the half of a jade
+bracelet. Immediately baring her own arm to the hermit's gaze she
+displayed on it the other half of the same jewel.
+
+A common Chinese practice is for man and wife to have one jade bangle
+split so as to form two bangles, and to wear one each, with much the
+same idea as our Mizpah rings.
+
+The woman looked as if turned to stone. She moved not a muscle, but
+with livid face and hard, glassy eyes kept her position in the open
+grave, leaning on one hand across the coffin and grasping with her
+other the mouldering arm of the corpse, so that the two bangles were
+laid side by side.
+
+Silently and reverently the old hermit stole away, leaving the living
+with the dead, and rowed back across the river to his home without
+once turning his eyes, for curiosity he had none, but in its place the
+Oriental's deep and mystic knowledge of life and death.
+
+In the lonely grave amongst the rank grass and sand mounds the woman
+stayed, oblivious of the cold and soaking rain. For a long time she
+rested absolutely motionless as if also dead. Then a few upward
+movements of the head told of her silent agony. By-and-by a low,
+tremulous moan broke from her ashen lips. Almost inaudible at first,
+her sobs increased until her whole frame was convulsed. She called
+upon her husband, she poured blessings on his name, she craved
+blessings from his spirit. Long and loud, with all her soul, with all
+her strength and in most absolute sincerity, she bewailed her dead, as
+is the custom in the East, until exhaustion overpowered her and she
+slept.
+
+It was almost dark when the hermit returned and thus found the
+faithful woman, sodden by the rain, her hair unbound and trailing in
+the sand. Gently rousing her and speaking soothing words he held out
+his humble offering of two little bowls containing rice and samshu,
+some sticks of incense and a few tiny candles. These the poor woman
+took, but without a sign, for her gratitude was too deep to show, and
+reverently placed the bowls, the lighted candles and smouldering
+incense-sticks in position round the grave.
+
+Then, having kowtowed many times before the corpse, the lid of the
+coffin was replaced and covered with a few inches of sand, after which
+she turned as one in a trance and followed the hermit to his boat. Her
+husband was dead, she had bewailed him and burnt incense at his grave,
+and what further could this poor, broken woman do?
+
+What her intentions then were I do not know, but a few days later,
+when returning at dusk from Kiukiang to the pagoda, she was stopped in
+a lonely alley outside the western gate by a man who said, "Your
+husband was murdered eighteen moons ago by Wang Foo-lin, who is now
+living in Hankow." It was too dark to see the man's face and the voice
+she did not know, but it was probably one of the sailors of the
+missing junk who had some grievance to avenge. From the effect these
+words had on the woman's fallen strength it might have been a message
+from the gods pointing afresh the path of duty. She sought her friend
+the hermit and related to him what had befallen her, and explained
+that she would now go to Hankow in quest of the murderer, for that her
+husband's spirit could never rest until his assassin had been brought
+to justice.
+
+How she travelled the one hundred and twenty miles from Kiukiang to
+Hankow I do not know, but it is certain that she appeared in the
+latter place begging from house to house, and after a time recognised
+Wang Foo-lin trading under an assumed name in a shop of considerable
+size. Wang on his part did not recognise the feeble and unkempt old
+beggar-woman, so changed was she from the prosperous Mrs Chin, and
+took but little notice of this one amongst many tens of other
+mendicants, so that she was able to stand for some time at the shop
+door without attracting undue attention, when she carefully noted the
+contents of the store, and amongst other things recognised the gilt
+joss which her husband had taken with him. Her next step was to
+procure an audience of the local magistrate, and to do this she was
+obliged to expend a considerable part of her remaining cash in bribing
+the yamên underlings ere they would consent to lay her case before the
+official or give her admittance to his court. After waiting many days
+the audience was granted, and kneeling on the filthy floor before the
+judgment seat she unfolded her story, accusing Wang Foo-lin of the
+murder of her husband. The magistrate listened to her tale, but at the
+end said, "You accuse this man of murder but produce no evidence in
+support of your statements, and your bare word is not sufficient. If
+you can bring forward any actual proof I will then take action." Mrs
+Chin replied that in Wang's shop she had seen a gilt image of Buddha
+which her husband had taken with him on his ill-fated voyage. That
+many years ago at Kanchow she had knocked over and broken the nose off
+this same image, and that to repair the damage she had melted down one
+of her gold earrings and replaced the nose. If, therefore, it were
+found that this gilt joss had a gold nose then the magistrate would
+know her tale was true. The official replied that he would accept this
+as sufficient evidence and would at once put it to the test. Sending
+his runners with Mrs Chin to the shop, Wang was arrested, and together
+with the gilt joss taken to the yamên, where it was quickly found that
+the image actually had a gold nose as declared by the old woman.
+
+Knowing his case to be hopeless, and yielding to the racking torture
+which was quickly applied, the guilty wretch made a full confession of
+his crime. As a boy he had often heard of Chin Pao-ting's annual
+voyages to the West, while local gossip had so enlarged upon the
+merchant's wealth that the junk bearing him and his merchandise might
+well be a veritable treasure ship, so that when still a youth Wang had
+journeyed to Kiukiang with the deliberate intention of forming a
+scheme to waylay the annual expedition and thus acquire riches at a
+single stroke. As attendant in an opium den near the quay, he had come
+in contact with many low and desperate characters, amongst whom was
+the lowdah of a certain junk which plied for hire between the Poyang
+lake and the provinces of the West.
+
+Gradually an intimacy sprang up between these two, until at length the
+diabolical plot was hatched of murdering Chin and levanting with his
+goods. Wang now returned to Kanchow, and, as we have seen, not only
+contrived to enter the service of Chin Pao-ting but also to gain his
+esteem and confidence.
+
+For the next annual voyage a large river-junk to await the merchant at
+Hukow was, through Wang's astuteness, chartered on exceptionally
+favourable terms.
+
+This junk, needless to say, was that of Wang's confederate, and once
+on board the unhappy traveller was a doomed man. On the first night of
+the voyage he was pounced on in his sleep, stunned with a blow and
+thrown overboard. At Kiukiang, where the vessel stopped, the lowdah
+and his men went ashore after receiving the gold dust and sycee shoes
+as their share of the plunder, while Wang, taking the junk and cargo
+as his portion, shipped a fresh crew and sailed on to Hankow, where he
+set up in business with the proceeds of his ill-gotten gains.
+
+His examination finished and released from torture, Wang was led away
+in a swooning condition to a foul dungeon, where his silk garments
+were quickly stripped off and replaced by crimson clothes, stiff with
+clotted human blood and thick with vermin, but such as criminals
+condemned to execution are compelled to wear. By an iron ring
+mercilessly forced through his flesh and welded round his collar-bone
+he was chained to a stone pillar, and so left to await his doom or to
+rot on the reeking floor.
+
+After prolonged deliberations amongst the authorities, it was decided
+that the prisoner should be beheaded at Kiukiang, that being the
+centre of the district in which his crime was committed.
+
+Still clad in crimson clothes, the poor wretch was dragged by the
+chain from his cell, too emaciated and broken to even stand. His hands
+and feet were bound together with sharp cords and a bamboo pole thrust
+between them, and in such manner he was carried through the streets by
+two coolies, escorted by a few runners, to be thrown like a bundle of
+old clothes into the hold of a police junk, which bore him more dead
+than alive on his last voyage.
+
+Owing to information extracted from Wang two further arrests were made
+of members of the junk's crew, but the lowdah and one other succeeded
+in making good their escape.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was now summer, and the view looking south from Kiukiang city wall
+was peaceful and grand. In the distance rose the majestic Lushan
+range, the peaks of which were illumined by the setting sun. Nearer,
+the low hills, clothed with firs and azaleas, rolled as a carpet to
+the lake, which lay between them and the city ramparts. A narrow
+causeway from the city to the hills, cut the lake in two. At the far
+end of the causeway was a plot of level ground, strewn with potsherds
+and heaps of refuse. Here, in contrast to its usual solitude, a dense
+crowd had collected in evident anticipation of some interesting event.
+Presently two or three horsemen and a motley gang of soldiers emerged
+from the city and proceeded quickly along the causeway. Closely
+following were coolies carrying three red burdens, on bamboo poles,
+and these in turn were followed by more soldiers and a few officials
+in sedan chairs. It was an execution. The hurrying cavalcade was
+swallowed up in the dense crowd which happily served as a curtain to
+hide this ghastly scene of human wrath from Nature's smiling
+landscape. Half-an-hour later the official procession returned as
+quickly as it went, and gradually the crowd, sauntering by the water's
+edge, laughing, joking and making merry of the gruesome spectacle just
+witnessed, filtered back through the city gates.
+
+Next morning three wooden baskets on long poles were exposed from the
+top of an archway, and in each basket was a human head. Wang and his
+companions had met their just rewards.
+
+At Kanchow a pylow, or memorial arch, will eventually be erected in
+honour of the widow of Chin Pao-ting, so that to posterity may be
+preserved a just record of her virtuous devotion.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] Then about £600.
+
+[3] Untranslatable. "Peace be with you," or meaning to that effect.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+DISCUSSED POINTS
+
+
+[Sidenote: PEOPLE.]
+
+"How do you like the Chinese?" is the most common of all queries, yet
+each time it is made I have to reflect as to what my answer shall be.
+
+While unable to say that I like them, for, speaking collectively, they
+are an untaking, unlikeable people, still they possess many qualities
+and traits of character which _per se_ must recommend them to all
+unprejudiced observers.
+
+The chief hindrance to a better understanding with them is their
+rooted antipathy to ourselves, generated by our pushing, masterful
+ways. With but few and unimportant exceptions they do not want us, and
+would be glad to see the last of all Europeans, together with their
+civilisation, their missionaries and their trade. This is not very
+flattering, accustomed as we are to regard ourselves somewhat in the
+light of pearls before swine, but it is the truth. On the other hand,
+we know that our footing in the country was gained and is maintained
+by force, which knowledge, in addition to that pressure of silent
+enmity of which we are at all times conscious, brings our minds into
+a hostile attitude _vis-à-vis_ the Chinese. We are always in a state
+of antagonism, be it defensive or offensive. This mutual dislike,
+helped by the utterly different modes of life existing amongst
+Europeans and Asiatics, renders all other than business intercourse
+not only irksome but well-nigh impossible. Their ways not being our
+ways we do not want to know them intimately, and they on their part do
+not want to know us, wherefore, by tacit consent, we keep rigidly
+apart in social matters.
+
+Many people seem to imagine the Chinese as being romantic, artistic,
+quaint, effeminate and uncanny.
+
+Romantic they most certainly are not, but look at things with a brutal
+realism, of which their pet quotation is truly emblematical: "A man's
+greatest pleasure is found in reading his own essays and in making
+love to his neighbours' wives."
+
+Of their artistic qualities there are many favourable critics, though
+personally I consider them to be extremely poor. Their music, both
+vocal and instrumental, is worse than rubbish; in sketching and
+painting they are without sense of perspective; their architecture is
+clumsy and coarse; their much-vaunted pottery is full of flaws and
+blemishes, for which reason a perfect specimen is almost priceless and
+over which connoisseurs hypnotise themselves; dancing, except by
+flower-girls, is unknown; while in literature they are safe from
+adequate criticism, owing to the impossibilities of their language.
+Embroidery, bronzes, carving, and dyeing in both pottery and silks
+are, in my opinion, their best artistic productions, although it is
+said that the famous colouring of chinaware is now a lost art, as
+those clans which held the secrets were almost extirpated during the
+Taiping rebellion. Many articles of vertu are undoubtedly valuable,
+but is it not rather owing to their antiquity, to their rarity, or to
+the fact that they are good specimens of a certain workmanship,
+however bad, rather than to any inherent artistic merits?
+
+Quaint they indeed are from a European standpoint, but on more
+intimate knowledge this quaintness resolves itself into a slavish
+adaptability to the smallest circumstances in their daily struggle for
+existence. To a man who has been some years in the country, and who
+has tried to understand local conditions, the Chinese live on a dead
+level with matters of fact.
+
+To say that they are effeminate would be incorrect. In some things,
+from our point of view, they undoubtedly are; in others they are
+extremely virile.
+
+The captain of a British man-of-war told me that he considered them to
+be the poorest fighters in existence. That they habitually make a
+feeble show in battle cannot be gainsaid, but then they are a most
+matter-of-fact people, without any craving for military glory, and
+knowing beforehand that there is no possible chance of success, take
+time by the forelock and run away to escape a useless death.
+
+Select one of our very best regiments and stop their pay for several
+months, deprive them of officers, take away all doctors and medical
+comforts, half starve them, arm them with flags, pikes and
+muzzle-loaders, and then march them against a crack European regiment.
+You may be sure the Chinese example would be quickly followed. I do
+not say the Chinese are brave, but I do believe that, given a good
+training, just treatment and a fair chance of success, they would
+prove no mean antagonists.
+
+Possessing great natural aptitude, if it is made worth their while
+they will quickly become good riders, good shots, good at billiards
+and tennis, good sailors, etc., giving their whole attention to each
+matter, though without enthusiasm. It is this dull concentration on
+particular callings which has deprived their character of that vital
+force, initiative, which, while the greatest of safeguards to rival
+nations, has removed from the Chinese mind the power to comprehend and
+carry out large and complicated undertakings involving the handling
+and direction of modern systems and appliances. The Chinaman is at
+present content to supply labour, but whether in time he will be
+capable of also supplying the versatile, directing brain is a moot
+question. Anyhow, it will not be for long years and until he has lived
+under a modernised Government for several generations.
+
+Extreme consideration for infancy and old age, the growing of long
+finger-nails, the supposed debilitation arising from opium-smoking,
+the universal usage of fans, the wearing of flowing garments and
+braided hair, and the discharging of domestic duties which in other
+countries fall to the lot of women, are probably largely accountable
+for the charges of effeminacy.
+
+As to their uncanniness there is no doubt. We do not, and never shall,
+fathom the depth of a Chinaman's brain. After mutually looking at the
+same object from widely-different points of view _we_ express our
+ideas, talk them over and invite criticism, while _he_--is silent. He
+listens to us and agrees, but keeps his own views to himself. We want
+to explain everything; he does not, but takes things on faith.
+
+In our inmost hearts we generally do not feel sure whether we believe
+or do not believe in spiritualism, in good spirits, bad spirits,
+ghosts, dreams, devils and manifestations. He believes in them all
+without a suspicion of doubt, but, knowing our wonted thoughtless
+scepticism, will frequently say he does not, as the easiest way of
+avoiding a useless discussion and condemnation of established facts.
+
+In dealing with educated Chinese many foreigners assume a forced,
+artificial manner, as though addressing themselves to an autocrat or a
+murderer, and are ever on the lookout for something to find fault
+with. My own idea is to maintain a naturally polite bearing and treat
+them precisely as you would your own countrymen of whatever rank in
+life. They strike me as being extremely responsive, and oftentimes
+even grateful for being taken simply as men and not as extraordinary
+specimens of another humanity.
+
+The dominating factor of their lives is "face." Whatever happens, so
+long as a man can save his face he has always the chance of righting
+himself. We continually hear of their commercial integrity, which is
+undoubtedly very great, though not springing from any innate
+principles of fair-dealing but from a desire to save face. I have very
+little doubt but that a Chinese merchant would immediately "do" you if
+he could be perfectly sure of not being found out, and so losing face,
+and that too without in any way violating his own feelings. "Face," or
+otherwise "appearances," is a Chinaman's passport to respectability,
+and therefore of great commercial value, but has nothing whatever to
+do with the hidden principles of honour and morality. That honesty
+pays better than dishonesty is a fact well known and firmly adhered to
+by merchants in a large way of business. To those in a small way of
+business, honesty does not pay, and consequently does not exist, but
+instead ability in squeezing is accepted as the gauge of capacity.
+
+The first essential in dealing with Chinese is control of temper. I do
+not mean that one should not possess a temper, on the contrary, it is
+a distinct advantage to have one, only it must be kept well in hand. A
+man of irritable, rasping temperament quickly loses respect and
+weakens control, while he who can keep calm under any circumstances,
+and only very rarely gives rein to a fierce outburst at the
+psychological moment, invariably compels admiration and obedience,
+for, it is reasoned, if a man who has command of his temper gets angry
+it is because he has just cause, and the fault must necessarily lie
+with those who call his anger forth.
+
+Under no circumstances, except in actual self-defence, strike a
+Chinaman. The pain or insult it may cause him is as nothing in
+comparison with the lowering effect it will have on your own status in
+native eyes. From being well-considered you will at once become an
+object of contemptuous dislike.
+
+The empire of China is considerably larger than the whole of Europe,
+contains limitless natural resources, and is inhabited by a hardy race
+of some four hundred million souls who are bound together by ties of
+blood, language, tradition and religion. This race, which until quite
+modern times existed as a world apart and was sufficient unto itself
+in all things, is highly developed both mentally and physically,
+though its government, as judged by Western ideas, is hopelessly
+obsolete.
+
+If left to themselves I see no reason why the Chinese should not
+slumber on as they now are till the crack of doom, but, the world
+having become so reduced in size through the agencies of steam and
+electricity, they never will again be left undisturbed, but more and
+more subjected to the pressure of other nationalities in the feverish
+struggle for domination and wealth. To this pressure they will surely
+yield in one way or another. Will they forestall the inevitable by
+reforming themselves, or will they for a time fall beneath the foreign
+yoke until they have learnt their lesson, and then reassert their
+solidarity and independence?
+
+In whatever light we may view these people or animadvert on their
+numberless contradictory qualities and failings, it is as certain as
+day and night that they are here to stay, if only by force of numbers,
+and that no political convulsions will wipe them out. They may be
+battered and even sundered for a time, but each successive shock will
+only serve to resuscitate their vitality.
+
+Already possessing an equipment of wealth, numbers, thrift, good
+physique and high mental power, they only await good government to
+start them along the rails of progress. Whatever nations may rise or
+fall, the future is big with promise for the children of Han.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Sidenote: LANGUAGE.]
+
+The Chinese language is like China itself: colossal!
+
+Roughly, the mandarin or official language is spoken by all officials
+throughout the empire and by all classes in those provinces which lie
+north of the Yangtse, while south of this line Cantonese is the
+principal dialect, although the number of others is legion, and so
+pronounced are the differences between them that countrymen dwelling
+but a few miles apart are frequently at a loss to understand each
+other.
+
+On one occasion, when making "a little trip to Japan," I took my
+Pekingese boy with me. Having missed the fortnightly mail-boat I made
+the passage from Chefoo in a small German collier, and on arrival at
+Nagasaki took rickshas to the hotel. In the streets were a goodly
+number of Chinese, members of a considerable colony of small traders,
+and the sight of compatriots in a foreign land greatly delighted the
+boy, who, on my departure after tiffin to make a tour of the town,
+asked if he meanwhile might go out to drink tea with his countrymen. I
+gave permission, but on returning some hours later to the hotel found
+him in a very disappointed frame of mind, which was accounted for by
+his explanation that the Chinese residents in Nagasaki were all
+Cantonese, and that not being able to understand a word of mandarin
+they had perforce been obliged to converse with each other as best
+they could in pidgin English. He said, "Looksee b'long all same
+Chinaman, no savez talkee."
+
+The Pekingese are very discriminative and frequently condescendingly
+refer to all other Chinese as "outside men" or "foreigners."
+
+Pidgin English is a queer jargon composed of a verbatim translation of
+Chinese sentences together with a slight admixture of Portuguese and
+French, the frequent wrongful substitution of similar sounding words
+and a lavish use of the terminals _ee_ and _o_.
+
+"S'pose you wantchee catchee olo chinaware, compradore savez talkee
+my," represents, "If you want to get some old chinaware your Chinese
+agent will let me know," while I have heard "two times twicee" for
+"twice two," and "last day to-night" for "last evening."
+
+The word _pidgin_ means _work_ of any kind, as in "plenty pidgin" or
+"no got pidgin," and _pidgin English_ simply means a workable
+knowledge of colloquial English as picked up by tradesmen, servants
+and coolies, in contradistinction to English as taught in the
+schools.
+
+On the northern frontiers there is also pidgin Russian.
+
+The written language is the same everywhere, each character, of which
+the Chinese say there are between eighty and a hundred thousand,
+representing a complete word, so that before being able to read, and
+more especially write, a single sentence, each individual character in
+it must be closely studied and committed to memory, as we commit to
+memory the letters of the alphabet, but with the difference that
+whereas the alphabet consists of but twenty-six simple letters,
+Chinese caligraphy contains almost a hundred thousand characters of
+extreme complexity.
+
+From earliest boyhood to the grave Chinese students never cease, yet
+never complete, committing these characters to memory and welding them
+into those graceful verses and essays which are the pride of Chinese
+literature.
+
+Handwriting is accounted a fine art, and for many hours each day, year
+in and year out, characters are laboriously copied by means of a
+little brush filled with ink, which in the form of a cake or stick
+similar to Indian ink is moistened and ground on to a stone slab or
+"ink-stone," until the penmanship is frequently of a firmness and
+beauty surpassing that of copper-plate. In such veneration is the
+written character held that it is accounted wrong to debase in any
+way paper on which writing may be inscribed, wherefore conscientious
+_literati_ sometimes pass along the streets gathering into baskets
+stray pieces of paper bearing written characters, to burn them
+reverently in miniature pagodas or towers erected on public ground for
+that especial purpose.
+
+The career of a student is considered to be the most honourable of
+all, but though chiefly restricted to handwriting, knowledge of
+characters, composition and national history, the Chinese admit that
+no man has ever yet thoroughly mastered his own language or even
+learnt all the characters.
+
+How then about foreigners' knowledge of the language? It is like the
+nibblings of a mouse at a mountain.
+
+In the course of two or three years a European by means of hard work,
+good memory and facile ear, may succeed in speaking one of the
+dialects so as generally to make himself understood, but to the end of
+his days his speech, for more than a few sentences, would never be
+mistaken in the dark by one Chinaman for that of another Chinaman.
+
+As for the written character, I do not believe it possible for any
+European to acquire more than a superficial general, or a mature
+one-sided, knowledge of it. Some missionaries, notably Jesuits, have
+given their lives to the work and have undoubtedly attained to
+considerable erudition in the classics and in subjects pertaining to
+religious doctrines, but in place give them some business papers or
+other documents in current use and they would be at once hopelessly
+nonplussed.
+
+A man may have mastered eight or ten thousand characters and may be
+able to read or dictate letters on any subject, but he probably would
+not be able to read a single line from most of the classics.
+
+I have heard, as a phenomenal thing, of a foreigner being able to
+write a letter himself, but the fact of its being phenomenal shows how
+unusual it was, and does not prove the absence of either crudities or
+errors.
+
+All Europeans, even the most competent, are _always_ assisted by
+educated Chinamen when engaged on serious Chinese work. Unaided, they
+might read much correctly, but they might altogether miss the sense,
+and most probably would meet with characters they did not know.
+
+As for writing, it is impossible. Even if unaided one did manage to
+compose anything, it would be the work of a tyro and would never pass
+muster with literary Chinese, while the penmanship would be laboured
+and coarse, for the manner of holding the pen or brush is quite
+different from our own, and if not acquired almost from infancy the
+knack comes with difficulty when bones and sinews are more firmly
+set.
+
+With regard to mastering what is called the running character, which,
+by way of illustration, may be said to correspond to our shorthand,
+the thing is not to be thought of.
+
+To apply a general test, no European would ever have the slightest
+chance of passing even the lowest of the literary examinations.
+
+One may well ask what is the reason of this inability to reach the
+attainments of even a moderately well-educated Chinaman.
+
+No European can give his whole time from earliest childhood to the
+undivided study of Chinese, and even if he could, I very much question
+if the unattractive nature of native literature would satisfy his more
+versatile brain, while the absence of social intercourse between the
+two races removes the greatest of all incentives to perseverance.
+
+On the other hand, the Chinese are saturated with a hereditary
+instinct for their own language and literature, which instinct,
+besides assiduous cultivation for thousands of years, is fostered from
+infancy by their surroundings, and is so exactly suited to their
+patient, phlegmatic temperament that it comes to them as naturally as
+the air they breathe, and even if unable to read but a few characters
+in a phrase, they will arrive at the meaning as surely as a well-bred
+hound will follow a trail.
+
+And so it follows that although Europeans of most brilliant intellect
+may devote long years and infinite labour to the study of Chinese,
+lacking this native instinct, they can never attain to that ripened
+and fluent knowledge which is a heritage of the Mongol race alone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Sidenote: MISSIONARIES.]
+
+What to say anent missionaries?
+
+In England alone the proselytising spirit is strong, and every parish
+subscribes liberally to missionary funds in order that labourers in
+the vineyard may not be wanting, and that the ends of the earth may
+know the tidings of joy.
+
+Most European residents in China are adverse to missionaries and
+express their opinions with such vehemence as to generally obscure
+criticisms of a more temperate nature. According to this majority the
+missionaries do nothing but harm. Frequently of poor education, and
+lacking altogether in tact and discretion, they thrust themselves in
+where they are not wanted, they interfere in local matters, ignore
+local customs, offend local susceptibilities, and by allowing young
+unmarried ladies without experience and frequently without suitable
+escort to wander about the country, to outrage all sense of decency,
+thus generating ill-will which not infrequently leads to riots,
+bloodshed and diplomatic trouble, while the good they do is
+microscopic and the number of converts or "rice-Christians" coincides
+with the amount of alms distributed, and who, when nothing further is
+to be acquired, revert to the faith, or indifference, of their
+forefathers. Building fine residences with the funds provided by
+gullible folks at home, and constructing diminutive churches with the
+few remaining bricks, drawing fat salaries which increase _pari passu_
+with the number of their children, and taking long summer holidays in
+Japan or in the mountains when business men must be hard at work,
+nothing but condemnation is heard for the whole system which, they
+say, should be forcibly suppressed by the various Governments
+concerned.
+
+While enough of this loud-voiced deprecation may be true to lend a
+colouring to the whole, I have no hesitation in saying that the
+opinions of most of the critics are absolutely worthless. In fact,
+they know nothing whatever about either the missionaries or their
+work, but simply repeat, with their own additions, things they have
+heard from any and every source without ever troubling to verify them
+personally. Never was there a clearer case of "giving a dog a bad
+name," etc.
+
+We civilians in China frequently lead far from model lives and are in
+no position to throw stones, for which reason, probably, the mere
+sight of a professional good man is worse than the proverbial red rag,
+and the tendency is strong, I own, to disparage him and all his
+works, while serenely forgetful of our own palpable shortcomings.
+
+I have known one or two missionaries commit shady actions. I have
+known several civilians commit crimes.
+
+Missionaries, like ourselves, it must not be forgotten, are very
+human, and contain in their ranks men widely differing in degrees of
+fitness.
+
+In various remote places I have met missionaries of many
+denominations--Jesuits, Anglicans, Non-conformists, etc.--and on
+closer acquaintance I have almost invariably found them at heart,
+whatever their methods, attainments or achievements, to be men of
+sterling worth, of lofty ideals, leading noble, self-denying lives,
+and fighting the good fight for love of God and man, and for the faith
+that is in them.
+
+From the militant nature of their calling they cannot avoid
+interesting themselves in the lives and customs of the natives, and
+that their message to the heathen, inviting them to forsake the gods
+of their fathers and embrace the only true faith, arouses hostility in
+the most conservative people on earth, is in no sense to be wondered
+at.
+
+Of medical missionaries who found hospitals and heal the sick, as well
+as of those who devote their lives to teaching the blind to read and
+the dumb to speak, adverse comment by anyone speaking with
+sincerity and briefest knowledge of the facts would be impossible.
+These missions of mercy shine as great beacons of Christianity through
+the gloom of heathen darkness.
+
+   [Illustration: BUDDHIST PRIEST AND ACOLYTE HOLDING BOOK.
+   _To face page 228._]
+
+The greatest fault brought home to several missions is, in my opinion,
+their interference in legal quarrels between native Christians and
+their unconverted fellow-citizens. This interference has undoubtedly
+frequently occurred and with marked success, thereby causing extreme
+irritation to the Chinese officials, who dread possible complications
+with foreign consuls, and arousing the bitter resentment of the
+populace, not only against all Christians, but also against all
+foreigners.
+
+Indiscretion and want of tact are usually the fruit of enthusiastic
+inexperience, for veteran missionaries have generally tempered zeal
+with both suavity and cautiousness.
+
+That young, unmarried women, brought up in the pure atmosphere of
+Western homes and unaccustomed to the nauseous sights and insanitary
+surroundings of Eastern cities, should be allowed to ruin their
+healths, risk death by indescribable tortures, and in Chinese eyes to
+forfeit their reputations, for the sake of doing a very problematical
+amount of good is, I cannot help feeling, a great mistake and too
+heavy a price to pay. If there must be missionaries, at least let them
+be men, and it would be far better and much more in accordance with
+the divine will if these girls settled in some one of our many
+colonies, married, and gave sons to the world, who then in due time
+might take up the cross of missionary endeavour.
+
+On the whole, I should say that while missionaries are greatly
+over-condemned by Europeans residing in China, the good they do is
+over-estimated by people at home.
+
+Putting aside all criticism of missionaries themselves, the vital
+question is--"Will they succeed in converting China to Christianity?"
+
+I am not sufficiently versed in the necessary statistics to offer a
+very valuable opinion, but, such as it is, it tends to the conviction
+that they will not.
+
+It is a mistake to believe that persecution is an unfailing help to a
+religious cause. It is so only when the persecution is sporadic and
+fitful: storms succeeded by sunshine. When persecution partakes of a
+stern, unrelenting nature, such as has recently been meted out to
+Chinese converts, it certainly destroys, or at least stultifies,
+growth.
+
+Despite remonstrances from the great Powers and despite all treaties,
+I greatly fear that these persecutions will be more bitter and more
+general in the future than they have been in the past.
+
+While the progress of conversion is thus delayed and Christianity by
+drawing the fire of hate and intolerance absorbs all attention,
+Mohammedanism is silently making considerable strides, favoured by a
+period of bright sunshine, and unless storms of persecution soon burst
+again to roll back the tide, as after the last Mohammedan rising,
+when, it is said, loads of human ears were forwarded to Peking in
+token of successful repression, followers of the Prophet bid fair to
+establish a position in China which cannot be coerced and must be
+recognised, and which would oppose to Christianity an even stronger
+and keener influence than is exerted now.
+
+I have often heard the question asked--"Would the Chinese be any the
+better for becoming Christians?" and the reply has usually been that
+they would not.
+
+Personally, I believe that Christianity would supply the Chinaman's
+character with an element which it now altogether lacks--chivalry, and
+which, added to his many excellent qualities, would place him in the
+very forefront of the peoples of this earth.
+
+If China accepted Christianity her moral and material regeneration
+would be assured, stagnation would yield to progress, darkness to
+light and hostility to friendliness. Instead of the unwieldy mass now
+lying sulking at the feet of other nations, China would become a
+strong, self-reliant, prosperous state, fearing none, but held in
+respect and friendship by all.
+
+Heathen China may possibly fall under the yoke of foreign powers, but
+the spirit of Christianity, bringing with it reformation and progress,
+having once been breathed into her nostrils, it would be just as
+possible to chain the waters of the ocean as to hold her in lasting
+bondage, and Christian China would be free.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Sidenote: CHANCES.]
+
+Forty odd years ago, at the close of the second great war, China was a
+veritable Eldorado for Europeans, where all turned to gold beneath the
+lightest touch of alien hands. Fortunes were made with startling
+rapidity, and money came in so freely that the standard of living
+amongst foreign merchants and their _employés_ reached to such
+preposterous heights of luxuriousness, that when the inevitable
+reaction set in, want, and even ruin, supervened where plenty should
+have been found.
+
+From that date to this the descent from an inflated prosperity to a
+mean working level has been gradual and sure.
+
+What has been the cause of this descent?
+
+Forty years ago the foreign trade was practically monopolised by
+Englishmen, who had only to place their goods on the market of any
+newly-opened port for them to be snapped up at almost any price by
+Chinese merchants, who then possessed but little knowledge of foreign
+wares and were exceedingly timid of their own officials. As time wore
+on this ignorance and timidity grew less and less, until the Chinese
+purchaser came to close quarters with the English importer,
+eliminating middlemen at the small ports and transferring operations
+chiefly to the great emporiums of Hongkong and Shanghai. Americans and
+Continentals of all nationalities arrived in rapidly-increasing
+numbers, bringing merchandise for the Chinese market, thus giving
+native buyers a much larger variety of goods from which to choose, and
+introducing a competition fatal to the former enormous profits.
+
+Although the volume of both import and export trade shows a continuous
+yearly increase, it tends more and more to centre in the hands of a
+comparatively few large European firms with which Chinese merchants
+from all parts of the Empire directly negotiate, to the exclusion of
+foreigners in a small way of business.
+
+Another reason for the decrease of profitable commercial openings is
+the practical extinction of China's tea trade with England, Ceylon and
+India now supplying the home-market, and although as great a quantity
+of tea is still exported from China as formerly, it nearly all goes to
+Russia, and this trade being in the hands of Russian monopolists,
+there is but little employment for other nationalities, while even
+here it probably will not be many years before the Russians largely
+follow our example in abandoning Chinese tea in preference for that of
+Ceylon and India.
+
+Similarly the steam shipping, which originally was almost exclusively
+British-owned, is gradually passing to the credit of Chinese
+capitalists, if not in name yet in reality, and any new development in
+this line is almost sure to be mainly financed from native sources.
+
+The opinion is largely held that accordingly as China is opened up by
+railways, by steam navigation on the inland waters, and by
+simplification of inland duties, foreigners will reap such advantages
+as may again enable them to quickly amass fortunes. Let there be no
+delusion on this point.
+
+Wherever openings for trade occur there will instantly be found shrewd
+Chinese business men backed by a plentiful supply of native capital,
+and the Westerner will get but little that is worth having.
+
+When the West River was thrown open to steamer traffic a few years
+since it was confidently predicted on all sides that it would cause a
+considerable development in foreign shipping. Nothing of the kind. On
+a recent trip to Wuchow I saw scores, and possibly hundreds, of small
+steamers and launches crammed with cargo and passengers, or towing
+strings of deep-laden junks, but they were all Chinese-owned, while
+the only foreign-owned vessels to be seen were a few gun-boats and
+less than half-a-dozen steamers, which it is generally believed barely
+earn enough to cover expenses.
+
+The descent thus accounted for has chiefly then been caused by the
+competition amongst Westerners allowing Chinese merchants to get on
+even terms with them, when, being extremely good business men, holding
+absolute command of the native markets, and able to live much more
+cheaply than Europeans, they have generally ousted small foreign
+traders from the out-ports by carrying operations over their heads
+direct to well-known houses at the great centres of trade.
+
+Firms doing a large import and export business should prosper,
+although harassed by continual fluctuations in the value of silver,
+but their prosperity will redound to the direct advantage of a few
+only, while the chances of a man who comes out from home with a small
+capital being able to make for himself a successful commercial career
+are woefully meagre. Even representatives of wealthy syndicates, after
+investigating prospects on the spot, generally come to the conclusion
+that capital can be more profitably invested elsewhere than in China.
+
+On the other hand there are a considerable number of official
+appointments to be obtained, carrying with them comfortable
+remuneration, but these are mostly filled up in England and in the
+several countries concerned.
+
+Professional men, such as doctors, lawyers and dentists, working both
+for Chinese clients and foreign residents, have capital opportunities,
+while for captains, officers and engineers for steamers, engineers and
+directors for docks and factories, professors for various colleges,
+mining experts and railroad constructors, there is an increasing
+demand at fair salaries, but, considering the trying climate, the
+banishment from home and the persistent decline in the value of
+silver, residence in the Far East, even on a large income, is a
+doubtful advantage.
+
+The collapse of silver has been so great that whereas twenty or thirty
+years ago four silver dollars would purchase a sovereign, and a salary
+of four hundred dollars a month represented twelve hundred pounds a
+year, now it takes more than twelve dollars to purchase a sovereign,
+so that a similar salary of four hundred dollars a month represents
+less than four hundred pounds a year.
+
+It is a common belief at home that fluctuations in the value of silver
+are not felt when purchases are confined to a silver-using country.
+This is quite a mistake. China is a silver-using country, yet the
+standard of value maintained by her four hundred million souls is
+neither silver nor gold but copper cash, and the ultimate cost of
+_everything_ of native origin is regulated by its value in cash.
+
+A coolie's wages a few years ago may have been six thousand cash a
+month, and a dollar being then purchasable for say a thousand cash,
+you gave him six dollars a month. To-day his wages may still be six
+thousand cash but a dollar being now worth only five hundred cash, you
+are obliged to give him twelve dollars a month. Precisely the same
+rule applies to meat, coals, vegetables, etc.
+
+For all imported foreign articles, such as clothes, stores, wines,
+etc., you must give enough in silver dollars to make up the price as
+reckoned at home, that is, in gold, and as you now have to give three
+times as many dollars for a sovereign as formerly your imported goods
+are three times dearer, or, in other words, the value of silver has
+fallen and its purchasing power is very much less than it used to be
+the whole world over.
+
+For a man drawing his salary in dollars the cost of living in the Far
+East is more than double what it was twenty-five years ago. For those
+who direct big businesses the earnings of which are in silver and the
+expenses largely in gold, as well as for those who had already
+invested their fortunes in shares prior to the utter collapse of
+silver, the past few years have been a period of crushing losses,
+while the future must be fraught with grave anxiety.
+
+In short, but few fortunes are to be made in China, while money is
+very easily lost, and unless a man before leaving home secures a
+definite position in a good business firm, in Government employ or in
+some profession, it would be most unwise of him to go out on the
+chance of finding employment after his arrival.
+
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Colston & Coy. Limited, Printers, Edinburgh._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Typographical errors corrected in text:                   |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Page  47: per excellence replaced with par excellence     |
+    | Page  76: averge replaced with average                    |
+    | Page 174: dogs-kin replaced with dog-skin                 |
+    | Page 193: bicyles replaced with bicycles                  |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Note to Readers:                                          |
+    | 'Forrard' is a legitimate word, meaning "at or to or      |
+    | toward the front".                                        |
+    | On page 83, the word powed is a legitimate word, meaning  |
+    | "polled".                                                 |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Life and sport in China, by Oliver G. Ready
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life and sport in China, by Oliver G. Ready
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Life and sport in China
+       Second Edition
+
+Author: Oliver G. Ready
+
+Release Date: August 24, 2008 [EBook #26412]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE AND SPORT IN CHINA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlene Taylor, Jeannie Howse and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+
+<div class="tr">
+<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="noin">Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been preserved.</p>
+<p class="noin" style="text-align: left;">Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+For a complete list, please see the <span style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="#TN">end of this document</a>.</span></p>
+<p class="noin">Click on the images to see a larger version.</p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h2>LIFE AND SPORT IN CHINA</h2>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<h1>LIFE AND SPORT<br />
+IN CHINA</h1>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>BY</h4>
+
+<h3>OLIVER G. READY, B.A.</h3>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4><i>SECOND EDITION</i></h4>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h5>LONDON<br />
+CHAPMAN &amp; HALL, LIMITED<br />
+1904</h5>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="img"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a>
+<a href="images/frontis.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/frontis.jpg" width="85%" alt="Pagoda, near Hankow." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">Pagoda, near Hankow.</p>
+<p class="right2" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;"><i>Frontispiece.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>AUTHOR'S NOTE</h3>
+<br />
+
+<p>The British public is greatly handicapped in forming an intelligent
+appreciation of happenings in China by a lack of that initial
+experience which can only be gained by residence in the country.</p>
+
+<p>In this little work I have endeavoured to place before readers a
+sketch of things as I saw them, and to convey to their minds an idea
+of how Europeans live there, of their amusements, of their work, and
+of those things which are matters of daily interest to them, so that
+my book may serve as a kind of preface to that enthralling volume, the
+current history of China, as it is daily revealed in the press, in
+magazines and in learned works.</p>
+
+<p>While confining myself herein to the lighter side of narrative, I am
+not unconscious of those intricate problems and deep studies connected
+with the Far East, but to which profound research and matured judgment
+must be applied, though information thereon, even when collected and
+published, would appeal mostly to the narrow circle of experts on
+matters Chinese.</p>
+
+<p>The vast Empire of China with its hundreds of millions of toiling
+slaves, with its old, old civilisation reaching back for untold years
+prior to the dawn of history in the West, with its manners and
+customs <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span>so worn into the national character that they almost form the
+character itself, with its fertile plains, its sandy deserts, its
+lofty mountains, its mighty rivers, its torrid heat and arctic cold,
+its devastating floods, its cruel famines and loathsome epidemics,
+represents a <i>mass</i>, the contemplation of which staggers the mind and
+makes one ask, "What is Europe trying to do here? Does she hope to
+conquer, to change or to purify?"</p>
+
+<p>After a residence of twelve years in various parts of the country I
+instinctively feel that while military occupation by the Great Powers
+may be possible, not only is China in a sense unconquerable, but that
+she is eminently a conquering nation, though not by clash of arms.
+Insidiously, remorselessly and viciously she will subdue apostles of
+the West who are sent to her, and unless persistently restrained will
+overflow into adjacent lands and conquer there by cheap labour and
+unremitting toil.</p>
+
+<p>For the photographs I am indebted to the generosity of Mrs T. Child,
+as well as to T.T.H. Ferguson, A.J.E. Allen, Carlos Cabral and the
+late H. Hall, Esquires.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+<br />
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="80%" summary="Table of Contents">
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdr" width="10%" style="font-size: 80%;">CHAP.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="70%">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="20%" style="font-size: 80%;">PAGE</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdr">I.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">Anglo-Chinese Life</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">1</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdr">II.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">Servants and Tradesmen</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">26</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdr">III.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Shooting</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">46</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdr">IV.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">Riding</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">73</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdr">V.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">Sailing</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">96</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdr">VI.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">Jamborees</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">119</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdr">VII.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Around Peking</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">139</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdr">VIII.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">Here and There</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">169</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdr">IX.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">The Marriage Tie</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">197</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdr">X.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">Discussed Points: People, Language, Missionaries, Chances</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">212</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span><br />
+<a name="toi" id="toi"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span><br />
+
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+<br />
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="80%" summary="Table of Contents">
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdr" width="60%">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="20%" style="font-size: 80%;">PHOTO BY</td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="20%">&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#frontis">Pagoda near Hankow</a></td>
+  <td class="tdlsc">H. Hall</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><i>Frontispiece</i></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep003">The British Concession, Hankow</a></td>
+  <td class="tdl"><i>Chinese</i></td>
+  <td class="tdr"><i>To face page</i> 3</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep037">House-Coolie, Boy, Cook, and "No. 2."</a></td>
+  <td class="tdlsc">T.T.H. Ferguson</td>
+  <td class="tdr">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;37</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep050">House-Boat on the Yangtse</a></td>
+  <td class="tdlsc">A.J.E. Allen</td>
+  <td class="tdr">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;50</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep075">The Cab of Northern China</a></td>
+  <td class="tdlsc">A.J.E. Allen</td>
+  <td class="tdr">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;75</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep087">The Old Grand-Stand, Hankow Races, 1888</a></td>
+  <td class="tdl"><i>Chinese</i></td>
+  <td class="tdr">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;87</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep098">Foochow Junk, showing Eye</a></td>
+  <td class="tdlsc">T.T.H. Ferguson</td>
+  <td class="tdr">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;98</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep133">Playing Fantan in Private House</a></td>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Carlos Cabral</td>
+  <td class="tdr">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;133</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep158">The Great Wall of China</a></td>
+  <td class="tdlsc">T.T.H. Ferguson</td>
+  <td class="tdr">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;158</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep161">Avenue of Stone Figures, Ming Tombs</a></td>
+  <td class="tdlsc">T.T.H. Ferguson</td>
+  <td class="tdr">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;161</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep177">A Typical Farm-House</a></td>
+  <td class="tdlsc">H. Hall</td>
+  <td class="tdr">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;177</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep189">Fishing-Junks in Macao Harbour at Chinese New Year</a></td>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Carlos Cabral</td>
+  <td class="tdr">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;189</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep228">Buddhist Priest and Acolyte holding Book</a></td>
+  <td class="tdlsc">T. Child</td>
+  <td class="tdr">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;228</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span><br />
+<hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>VOCABULARY</h3>
+<br />
+
+<div class="block2"><p class="hang"><b>Bund.</b> &nbsp;The embankment or quay of a concession.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Concession.</b> &nbsp;A strip of land conceded by China to another
+Power exclusively for the residences of foreigners.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Camo&euml;ns.</b> &nbsp;Portuguese poet who wrote the Luciad at Macao.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Chit.</b> &nbsp;Any letter or note, also an I.O.U.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Chop chop.</b> &nbsp;Quickly. Hurry up.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Compradore.</b> &nbsp;Chinese agent or partner.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Coolie.</b> &nbsp;Chinese labourer.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Cumshaw.</b> &nbsp;A tip or present.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>European.</b> &nbsp;In China this word is equally applicable to
+Americans.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Foreigner.</b> &nbsp;European or American in China.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Gingall.</b> &nbsp;Heavy muzzle-loading musket requiring two men to
+carry and fire it.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Han, Children of.</b> &nbsp;Chinese.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Kowtow.</b> &nbsp;To make obeisance by striking the head on the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Lowdah.</b> &nbsp;Sailing-master.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Mafoo.</b> &nbsp;Groom.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Native.</b> &nbsp;Chinese.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Out-port.</b> &nbsp;Any treaty port except Shanghai, and Hongkong.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Papico.</b> &nbsp;Junk from Ningpo, shaped aft like a duck.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Pow.</b> &nbsp;To gallop.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Praia Grande.</b> &nbsp;Esplanade facing sea.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Pumelo.</b> &nbsp;A coarse fruit resembling an enormous orange.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Punkah.</b> &nbsp;Large fan suspended from ceiling for ventilating
+room.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span><b>Ricksha.</b> &nbsp;Small gig drawn by a coolie, who plies it for hire.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Runner.</b> &nbsp;Official underling. Police agent.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Sai.</b> &nbsp;Here I am. A word used by servants combining Sir and
+<i>Lai</i>, to come.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Samli.</b> &nbsp;A fish resembling salmon.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Sampan.</b> &nbsp;Small native boat.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Samshu.</b> &nbsp;Spirit distilled from rice or millet.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Settlement.</b> &nbsp;Where Europeans have settled on a limited strip
+of Chinese territory.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Shroff.</b> &nbsp;Chinese accountant, cashier and banker.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Squeeze.</b> &nbsp;Recognised cheating.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Sycee Shoes.</b> &nbsp;Rough lumps of silver cast in shape of
+China-woman's small shoe or of half-globe.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Tiffin.</b> &nbsp;Luncheon.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Treaty-port.</b> &nbsp;Any port opened by treaty to foreign trade.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Waler.</b> &nbsp;Horse from New South Wales.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Westerner.</b> &nbsp;European or American.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Yam&ecirc;n.</b> &nbsp;Official building.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Yulow.</b> &nbsp;A scull worked over the stern.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><b>Zacousca.</b> &nbsp;Russian appetiser or snack taken before meals.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span><br />
+
+<h1>Life and Sport in China</h1>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>ANGLO-CHINESE LIFE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Anglo-Chinese life is a sealed book to most people at home, who, if
+they ever think about it at all, do so with minds adversely biassed by
+ignorance of the conditions, a hazy idea of intense heat, and a
+remembrance of cruel massacres.</p>
+
+<p>"Going to China" always elicits looks and exclamations of astonishment
+at so rash an undertaking, but which the stock questions as to whether
+we eat with chopsticks, whether it is not always unbearably hot, and
+whether we like the Chinese, explain as disquietude arising from the
+idea of encountering "evils that we know not of."</p>
+
+<p>Our early business relations with the Chinese were conducted at
+Canton, to which port opium in particular was shipped direct from
+India, but owing to the hostility of Chinese officials towards British
+merchants and the legitimate expansion of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>their trade, quarrels were
+frequent, culminating in the so-called Opium War of 1840-42, resulting
+in the acquisition by us of the small, barren island of Hongkong, and
+the opening to foreign trade of five ports, including Canton and
+Shanghai, at all of which small plots of land some half a mile square
+were set apart for the exclusive residence of foreigners generally but
+of Englishmen in particular. Disputes, however, did not cease, so that
+twenty years later England and France in co-operation, attacked China,
+and wrung from her the right of foreign ministers accredited to the
+Chinese court to reside at Peking, and also that additional ports
+should be opened to foreign trade, with a plot of land at each for
+residential purposes.</p>
+
+<p>The treaties following on these two wars have since been supplemented
+by other treaties opening still more ports, at some of which also
+adjoining plots of land have likewise been conceded, and our position
+in China to-day is founded on the accumulated result of these various
+agreements, which, above all things, guarantee us exterritoriality or
+exemption from Chinese jurisdiction, so that Europeans for whatever
+misdemeanours, are amenable only to their own consuls.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep003" id="imagep003"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep003.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep003.jpg" width="95%" alt="The British Concession, Hankow." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">The British Concession, Hankow.</p>
+<p class="right2" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;"><i>To face page 3.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>There are now about thirty treaty-ports, most of them having these
+residential plots or concessions some of which, however, have never
+been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>taken up and built on, but where they have been, although
+leased from the Chinese Government at nominal rents, they are to all
+intents and purposes little detached portions of the British Empire,
+kept scrupulously clean and in perfect order, where natives are not
+allowed to dwell, but where Europeans of all nationalities live in
+security and comfort.</p>
+
+<p>In each of them resides a British consul, who represents his
+Government <i>vis-&agrave;-vis</i> the Chinese and foreign officials, and who
+holds the position of magistrate in relation to his own nationals. An
+English doctor also is generally in practice at all, except the very
+smallest, ports.</p>
+
+<p>In many instances walls have been built round these concessions, the
+gateways in which can be bolted and barred at night to keep out the
+natives, a good system of drainage introduced, wide roads laid out and
+lighted, public seats placed in pleasant spots facing the water, trees
+planted, palatial houses built with gardens attached, a church
+constructed, clubs founded, billiard-tables and other insignia of
+Western luxury imported, a municipal council elected for managing
+local affairs, and a force of native police or Indian Sikhs raised,
+with which, under English superintendents, to maintain order in our
+streets.</p>
+
+<p>Other countries, notably France, have similar <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>settlements, though far
+less numerous, but I shall herein refer exclusively to our own.</p>
+
+<p>Off the frontage or <i>bund</i> is frequently moored a line of hulks
+connected with the shore by pontoons, and which in their day were
+probably the finest ocean liners afloat, but now, worn out and
+dismantled, serve as floating warehouses, alongside which steamers
+come to discharge and load cargo. At other places vessels drop anchor
+in mid-stream, while between them and the various jetties large cargo
+boats constantly pass to and fro laden with merchandise, to be quickly
+shipped or landed by gangs of chattering coolies.</p>
+
+<p>Everywhere the foreshore is always crowded with a fleet of native
+junks, displaying half mast be it a bundle of wood, a rice measure or
+a coal scoop, to show that their cargoes consisting of wood, rice,
+coal, etc., are for sale.</p>
+
+<p>Either just on the concession, by permission of the consul, or in
+Chinatown immediately outside, are two or three general stores and
+butchers' shops, run by either Chinese, Parsees or Japanese,
+especially to supply the foreign community with groceries, bread, meat
+and other daily requisites.</p>
+
+<p>No one carries money in his pocket, for the Europeans being but few in
+number are well known by sight, and any purchase is made by signing an
+I.O.U., or <i>chit</i>, for the amount necessary <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>in dollars or cents. At
+the club you call for say two sherries and one bamboo (half sherry,
+half vermouth) and the waiter brings them, together with a small
+chit-book in which he has already written down your order in pencil,
+and this, after inspection, you simply sign or initial, when it is
+torn out and dropped into the till and you see no more of it until the
+end of the month, when your club bill comes in, supported by all the
+chits you have signed.</p>
+
+<p>For the offertory, pencils and pieces of paper are distributed about
+the church, so that the congregation may easily write chits, which are
+folded up and dropped into the bag, to be presented at your house next
+day by the church coolie for payment. This system, though very
+convenient, is apt to prove something of a trap, for signing a chit is
+so much easier, and the amount appears to be so much less than if
+paying in hard cash, that when the monthly total is made up you are at
+first inclined to believe there must be some mistake; but alas!
+careful verification too plainly shows that you have signed for more
+than you had any idea of.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst Europeans the currency employed is the silver dollar, now
+worth about one shilling and sevenpence though formerly rated at five
+shillings, together with a subsidiary coinage of fifty, twenty, ten
+and five-cent silver pieces, as well as coppers of one and two cents
+each.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>The Chinese standard of value in universal use throughout the Empire
+is copper cash. A cash is about the size of a shilling and equivalent
+to one eighth of a farthing in value. Through the centre of each coin
+is a square hole large enough to admit a thick string. It is usual to
+thread cash, first into bundles of one hundred, each bundle being
+about the size and shape of a sausage, and then for ten bundles to be
+strung together in pairs, so that the full string of a thousand cash
+almost exactly corresponds to a double string of ten sausages. The
+value of this full string is about half-a-crown, and owing to its
+great weight is usually carried slung over the shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>tael</i>, pronounced tale, is not a coin at all, but means simply an
+ounce (of silver). There are many kinds of taels, each of a different
+value according to the purity or <i>touch</i> of the silver, which is
+chiefly determined by the locality in which the metal is mined.</p>
+
+<p>When a Chinaman sells native produce to a European he always keeps in
+mind its value in cash, and wants a corresponding value in dollars or
+taels, whatever the price of silver may happen to be. The same with
+wages of all kinds; the amount required in each case is based on what
+each individual requires in cash.</p>
+
+<p>The whole monetary system, or rather lack of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>system, complicated by
+numberless local banks, each with its own issue of paper money, is so
+bewildering that European householders seldom bother about anything
+beyond dollars and cents, to which standard, for their especial
+benefit, all others are reduced, though always at a certain loss in
+the exchange.</p>
+
+<p>Some of these concessions, which are in reality little English towns,
+have greatly prospered since their inauguration and are now centres of
+voluminous and increasing trade; but others, belying their initial
+prosperity, have stagnated, and appear to be gradually slipping back
+to the Chinese, who, in contravention of treaty ordinances, have been
+allowed to acquire property on them and reside there in
+rapidly-increasing numbers.</p>
+
+<p>The thriving settlement of Shanghai, which is situated near the mouth
+of the River Yangtse, and which possesses a foreign population of six
+or seven thousand, may be considered the metropolis of other
+treaty-ports in the northern half of the Empire, or, as they are
+generally called, "out-ports"; while the British colony of Hongkong
+stands in the same relation to out-ports in the south.</p>
+
+<p>Hongkong has now no connection whatever with China, being entirely a
+British possession, and has been converted from a barren rock to a
+most lovely, thriving and important commercial town and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>naval base,
+and is the greatest triumph of British enterprise and material
+civilisation that I know of.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly all these out-ports are in telegraphic communication with
+either Shanghai or Hongkong, and through them with the outside world,
+while the postal service is conducted by means of coast and river
+steamers which, plying regularly with passengers and cargo, have bases
+in these two emporiums, so that in whatever port you reside your
+thoughts and your interests are daily and directly concerned with
+either one or the other. From them come the daily newspapers,
+arriving, maybe, several days after date of issue, but still fresh
+reading for those in distant places. From them come the gun-boats
+which, besides protection, bring the welcome society of jovial naval
+men, and from them come commercial travellers with assortments of
+hats, boots, guns, clothes and other necessaries; while to them we go
+to embark for home, or, when in need of a social holiday, to chip off
+the rust of out-port seclusion, until eventually we look to them for
+many of our creature comforts, and through them, as through a window,
+to the world beyond.</p>
+
+<p>Existence at both Shanghai and Hongkong is surrounded with so many
+Western accessories in the shape of good houses, electric light,
+excellent roads, horses and carriages, bands in public gardens and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>hourly telegrams, that life at an out-port, while at times very
+monotonous, is frequently more interesting, for there, being less
+overshadowed by the pleasure of foreign society, you may come into
+closer touch with things Chinese, so that if the study of a people the
+most antiquated and wonderful under the sun has attractions for any,
+this, together with the many facilities for the enjoyment of sport and
+outdoor life, should be sufficient to bring occasional contentment to
+even the most despondent.</p>
+
+<p>From the extreme north to the extreme south, and from the sea to the
+mean west, that is, along the coast line and up the River Yangtse for
+fourteen hundred miles to Chungking, these nests of British enterprise
+adhere like barnacles to China's stolid bulk, dominating her vast
+trade with other countries, appearing as bright oases in the desert of
+Eastern heathendom and unfriendliness, and ranging in numerical
+importance from say thirty to five hundred Europeans, in accordance
+with the amount of shipping which flows through them and is their very
+life-blood.</p>
+
+<p>Much depends on the residents themselves whether social life in these
+miniature colonies is to be very pleasant or only a deadly monotony.
+Nearly every man who comes out from home has been selected from among
+his fellows for some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>particular superiority. Either he is smart in
+business, has health and physique to withstand the extremes of climate
+to which he may be subjected, is clever and has gained his appointment
+in competitive examination, or he may have all these qualities
+combined; anyhow, he is a picked man, above the average all round, and
+as such has a corresponding force of character.</p>
+
+<p>A number of such men being thrown together in a small place either
+co-operate and become fast friends, their wives and children, if they
+have any, following suit, when existence is rendered charming, or, on
+the other hand, with their marked individualities and business
+rivalries they may quarrel, in which case the best thing is to forego
+all hopes of social pleasures and wrap yourself up in your own
+content. A quarrelsome port provides an amusing study for a short
+time, but after that, especially during the depressing dampness of the
+rainy season when it is too wet to go out, life becomes very
+monotonous and irritating, for the space being so limited you are
+continually brought face to face with people who are on bad terms and
+who try to attach you to their side. Trivial jealousies, mythical
+slights and insignificant nothings which would pass unnoticed in a
+larger world here assume such alarming proportions that the club
+languishes owing to numerous resignations, few attend church because
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>one of the rival faction plays the organ, and the evening promenade
+beneath the trees along the bund is transformed from a pleasant family
+gathering into a funereal procession.</p>
+
+<p>In pleasing contrast is a <i>nice</i> port, where people pull together,
+where good-fellowship and hospitality make one feel like the member of
+a large family, where you walk into the house of your neighbour, smoke
+his cigars and drink his whisky, brought to you while reclining in a
+long chair on the verandah with the punkah swinging lazily over you,
+waiting for the master's return. This is done with the pleasurable
+knowledge that your friend would naturally instal himself in your
+house under like circumstances. Here is real charm. Think, too, of the
+outdoor life, of those lovely evenings when the air is soft and warm,
+the moon at full and of a size never seen in England, when a party of
+us would sail out on the lake, drop anchor and dine in the cool
+breeze, and after cigars and coffee would sail on again, singing songs
+that carried us back to days of yore and bringing a sad yet sweet
+strain into thoughts and voices as we glided over the moonlit waters.</p>
+
+<p>Spring and autumn bring the two great events of the year&mdash;the races.</p>
+
+<p>Many ports have a capital race-course, which is always circular in
+shape, enclosing what are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>generally the grounds of the recreation
+club, while almost every sporting man trains a pony or two, which he
+frets and fumes over in a style that would not bemean a Newmarket turf
+magnate. Weeks before the meeting, increasing in intensity as the time
+shortens and decreasing slowly as the event recedes, the talk is
+purely of ponies, ponies, ponies&mdash;until the non-racing man droops and
+turns away, but without daring to utter one single word of protest
+against the prevailing epidemic of pony talk. Race lotteries at the
+club afford great excitement to the betting men, when the knowing ones
+make books which in the end leave them considerably to the bad, while
+those who know nothing rejoice with the joy of fools, thinking that to
+their own perspicuity is due the roll of dollars which wanton luck has
+thrust upon them.</p>
+
+<p>On the actual race days, of which there are generally two, with a
+third or off-day tacked on, things reach a climax. All business is
+curtailed or altogether suspended. Everyone wears colours, either his
+own or those of a friend, and at eleven o'clock the ladies are driven
+to the course in state by happy owners of various nondescript vehicles
+furbished up for the occasion. Everyone knows everyone else, the names
+of ponies entered have been household words for weeks, while their
+supposed merits are open secrets, the jockeys are personal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>friends,
+the weather is bright and warm, the ladies wear their smartest
+dresses, the course is kept and order maintained with the aid of
+bluejackets from the gun-boat in port, while her drum and fife band or
+nigger troupe renders selections of varied merits. A race over, the
+successful owner and jockey are seized and carried shoulder high to
+the bar behind the grand-stand, where winners and losers alike have
+preceded them to secure a glass of champagne at the owner's expense,
+with which to drink his health and show a befitting sense of joy at
+the victory which has just been achieved.</p>
+
+<p>An excellent champagne lunch is served in the grand-stand, and
+presided over by the clerk of the course, who, by virtue of his
+exalted office, ranks high in the community, when suitable toasts are
+proposed and cordially honoured, followed by an adjournment to the
+paddock for a stroll and a smoke, after which attention is again
+claimed for the business of the afternoon's racing.</p>
+
+<p>Riding is usually well to the fore, and on an afternoon parties of
+ladies with attendant cavaliers trot down the reach by the river and
+gallop home across the plain, or wend along the beach, walking their
+ponies in the salt water.</p>
+
+<p>For the sportsman game in abundance generally lies within reach, and
+nothing of its kind is more delightful than an afternoon with the
+spring snipe, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>or a shooting trip of a few days in company with a
+kindred spirit.</p>
+
+<p>Tennis is still a favourite amusement during summer months, and
+garden-parties, comprising almost the whole community, meet
+frequently, be it on the club grounds or at private houses, when those
+who do not play come to watch and chat while partaking of ices and
+other refreshments, or smoking peacefully in the cool shade of leafy
+trees.</p>
+
+<p>In many places there are good turf courts, but at others, where grass
+will not grow sufficiently well to be of any practical value, recourse
+is had to either cement or cinders.</p>
+
+<p>Chinese lads in neat cotton uniforms are always in attendance to field
+the balls, which they do remarkably well, thereby adding greatly to
+one's enjoyment of the game.</p>
+
+<p>Golf has of late years come greatly into prominence, a frequent place
+for the links being on the recreation ground enclosed by the
+race-track, for which reason it is generally the case that they are
+too flat to afford much variety of play, although near to Macao there
+are some very rough links which, from the natural advantages and
+lovely scenery, could be made almost ideal.</p>
+
+<p>Our club there consisted of six members when at its zenith, and
+occasionally two in times of dearth. We had three miles to bicycle
+out, and part of the way <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>over a fearful stone road through nauseous
+burial-grounds, but once there, a round or two in cool, fresh air,
+amongst the hills and pines, overlooking both sea and river, amply
+repaid one for the toilsome journey.</p>
+
+<p>Of rowing there is very little, except at Shanghai and Hongkong, where
+there are large and flourishing clubs.</p>
+
+<p>Hongkong being on the sea it is not practicable to use light ships,
+which, of course, is a great drawback.</p>
+
+<p>At Shanghai there is the harbour and also a small creek about the size
+of the Cam, both of which afford ample facilities. The club has two
+excellent boathouses and plenty of boats, and is composed of the
+finest material possible, all the best men in Shanghai, as is ever the
+case elsewhere, going in for rowing at one time or another; but the
+rowing is not first-class, and unless things have greatly changed
+since I was an active member, a crew capable of sitting a light cedar
+ship could not be mustered, all the racing being done in clinker
+boats.</p>
+
+<p>The reason for this lack of watermanship is partly due to the
+difficulty in coaching otherwise than from the stern of a boat, there
+being no towing path on which the coach can ride or run alongside his
+men, as is done at Oxford or Cambridge, while the hire of launches is
+too expensive. Also, part of the reason is due to beginners being
+seldom taken <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>out and coached in tubs by expert senior men who have
+had the benefit of a professional or scientific training, but are put
+into a bad four and left to develop themselves as best they may. It
+would well repay the club to have a path made alongside the creek and
+to get a professional out from home for a year or two to initiate a
+high-class style, after which the traditions, once firmly established,
+would pass down naturally to succeeding generations of oarsmen.</p>
+
+<p>The coxing is on a par with the rowing. I have seen a length lost at a
+corner, the rate of striking reduced by ten a minute and the crew
+badly pulled to pieces, through the rudder being hard on when the oars
+were in the water.</p>
+
+<p>After all, skill in rowing is but a question of degree and of no vital
+importance in a place so isolated from other rowing centres as is
+Shanghai, while the club is certainly one of the best to get into on
+arriving there, especially for youths, as plenty of good, open-air
+exercise can thus be obtained in the society of strong, healthy-minded
+men.</p>
+
+<p>If hills or mountains be within easy distance bungalows are there
+built, to which most ladies and children retire for the hot weather,
+the men snatching hasty visits when business allows them to leave the
+settlement. At one place down south such bungalows are built on a tiny
+island four or five <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>miles out at sea, and there it is never very hot,
+while in the evenings it is delightful to bathe, stroll along the
+sands, or sit with the pilot on watch up by the old ruined fort, where
+you can see rays from the lighthouses flashing far, far across the
+waves, watch the lights of steamers as they pass beneath and listen to
+the cadenced throbbing of their screws. For those residing in Central
+China a sanatorium has lately sprung up near Kiukiang, at Kuling, a
+valley some 4,000 feet above sea-level in the Lushan mountains, which
+overlook the Yangtse on one side and the Poyang lake on the other.
+This valley was unknown to Europeans a few years ago, but has now the
+appearance of a country town, there being probably a hundred and fifty
+well-appointed bungalows strongly built of stone quarried on the spot,
+a church, shops, laundry and a network of roads and paths.</p>
+
+<p>When feeling run down after a long spell of intense heat in the
+plains, a trip to this resort is most refreshing, for there it is
+always cool enough to wear light tweeds during the day and to sleep
+under a blanket at night. The mountain rambles are lovely, be it over
+the lofty peaks, through the trees and scrub in the valleys or along
+the bed of a stream, where frequent pools of running, crystal water
+afford good bathing or a little fishing for those addicted to the
+gentle art.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>Never shall I forget one glorious day when, accompanying two friends,
+we crossed to a far side of the range and looked down on the Poyang
+lake. The view was magnificent, and on our return journey the setting
+sun flashed every imaginable hue on the mists rolling close above our
+heads, on the landscape changing as we moved, on mountain crags and on
+the lake, unfolding at each turn dissolving scenes of surpassing
+loveliness.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival at Kiukiang by steamer you hire a chair with four bearers
+for the ten or twelve miles' journey up the mountains, with additional
+coolies to carry your luggage. For half the distance you follow
+ordinary country roads, but during the last few miles the path, though
+well constructed, is very steep in some places, while in others it
+overhangs yawning valleys, where you instinctively grip the sides of
+your chair and fervently hope the bearers will not trip.</p>
+
+<p>In the north, Chefoo, Wei-hai-wei and Pei-tai-ho attract a goodly
+number of visitors to the seaside during summer months, while others
+desiring greater change sail to earth's fairyland, Japan, or even make
+the voyage to Canada and back.</p>
+
+<p>We dance whenever and wherever we can. The houses being generally
+large, with fine rooms often but lightly furnished on account of the
+summer heat or our own nomadic habits, and servants being both
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>plentiful and willing, the giving of a dance presents no great
+difficulties.</p>
+
+<p>It is a common thing at a dinner-party of twelve or fourteen to have
+the drawing-room cleared during dinner, so that with the help of a few
+more friends who come in afterwards, the evening's entertainment can
+be pleasantly varied with a few dances.</p>
+
+<p>I was once at a small port where for a long time there had been only
+one lady, who was naturally regarded as the belle of the place.
+Presently a rival appeared, and with her two pretty, unmarried
+sisters; whereon my messmates and I forthwith gave an impromptu dance.</p>
+
+<p>We cleared our dining-room for the occasion, but found the carpet to
+be so old and so tightly nailed down that it would not bear removing,
+and we decided to dance on it.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner, however, had we commenced to the strains of an accordion,
+not having a piano, than the floor, which was laid on round joists
+over the entrance hall, began to vibrate so violently that glasses on
+the sideboard were smashed and ornaments fell from the walls, while
+dust from the carpet, which evidently had not been beaten for years,
+rose in such clouds that, coupled with the heat of a stifling night,
+we were literally choked off and obliged to take refuge in the garden.
+Fortunately it was a beautiful night and full moon, so we diverted our
+dance to a game <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>of hide-and-seek, and a merrier evening I have seldom
+spent.</p>
+
+<p>The annual out-port subscription ball keeps everyone in a ferment for
+weeks. Owing to the cosmopolitan nature of the community due care must
+be taken that the various nationalities are represented on the
+committee, to avoid giving offence.</p>
+
+<p>Then the committee has to decide, amongst other things, who are to be
+invited and who not, and it invariably happens that some are for
+including all, irrespective of station, while others desire to draw
+the line after what they consider to be the <i>&eacute;lite</i>. In either case
+there is bound to be a certain amount of friction, which at times
+rises to a very heated pitch.</p>
+
+<p>One of the leading ladies superintends the decoration of the ballroom,
+another is responsible for the supper, while another sees that the
+floor is properly waxed and arranges for the piano, as the music is
+provided by leading amateurs, there being no band.</p>
+
+<p>After endless discussion and elaborate preparation the important night
+arrives, when the guests assemble, frequently with strained feelings
+but with a fixed determination to enjoy the passing hour.</p>
+
+<p>Men are largely in the majority, so that ladies of all ages, ranging
+say from fourteen to forty, are requested as a favour to dance, and
+are assured beforehand of a full programme.</p>
+
+<p>Those men who cannot get partners, or do not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>care to dance, spend the
+evening between cards and occasional visits to the ballroom to watch.</p>
+
+<p>The supper is always very good and not hurried through with that undue
+haste so noticeable at home. The assembly, being considerably leavened
+with people who are, to say the least, well out of their teens, makes
+itself comfortable for an hour or more, doing ample justice to the
+delicacies provided; indeed, after the ladies have all departed,
+bachelors and wayward husbands usually return to the attack once, and
+even twice, so that it is not uncommon to hear an incoherent "For he's
+a jolly good fellow" from a belated band of revellers returning home
+shortly before daylight.</p>
+
+<p>At Peking, Hongkong and Shanghai dances and balls are very frequent
+and carried out on a scale comparable with that of similar festivities
+at home.</p>
+
+<p>The club is always a popular institution, where the male element of
+the community, frequently representing many nationalities, gathers for
+a game of billiards and a chat, and where the home and local papers,
+together with a fair number of books and magazines, are to be found.
+One evening during the tea season, just before dinner, I counted at
+one time fourteen nationalities in the bar of the Hankow Club.</p>
+
+<p>I like those friendly gatherings at the round table, when sport and
+other topics of our limited world are discussed, and when one
+generally manages to give <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>or to receive an invitation to pot-luck,
+with a rubber or a gentle poker flutter to follow.</p>
+
+<p>There, too, is sometimes an American bowling alley, where on cold
+nights, or hot, for the matter of that, we roll huge wooden balls down
+a raised track for twenty yards, to scatter nine pins at the bottom.
+There are two parallel tracks and we make up two bowling parties of
+three or four aside, the losers to pay for the game and provide
+refreshments all round.</p>
+
+<p>China is so enormous in extent that it embraces almost every variety
+of climate, though, speaking generally, the summer is everywhere very
+warm, while the winter, from being almost of arctic severity in the
+northern provinces, where the sea is frozen and all navigation stopped
+for six weeks or two months, gradually becomes milder in lower
+latitudes, until snow and frost are seldom experienced, and finally
+never seen in the sub-tropical region of the extreme south. Many years
+ago snow fell at Canton and the astonished natives are said to have
+collected it in bottles to keep, believing that it was a kind of
+cotton.</p>
+
+<p>In the Yangtse valley during July, August and September, the heat at
+times is well-nigh intolerable both by day and night. You arise in the
+morning played out after a comfortless night under a punkah, which,
+hung over your bed in the limited space of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>mosquito house, is
+pulled with a rope passing through the wall by a coolie stationed on
+the verandah outside. With the thermometer standing at ninety degrees
+in your bedroom you frame the mental query "Can I last through the
+day?" as you crawl on to the verandah in pyjamas wet through with
+perspiration, to watch the sun rise, hoping, but in vain, for a breath
+of air. The insects buzz, a scorched smell pervades everywhere, the
+birds hop listlessly about, gasping with wide-open bills, the fans of
+coolies who have been sleeping on the grass, beat with hollow flap,
+the sun rises like a furnace, and you must retreat again to the shadow
+of your room to avoid sunstroke.</p>
+
+<p>As the day advances the temperature creeps up until it is over a
+hundred and you feel your eyes dry and heavy in their sockets, with a
+throbbing in your ears, when for full-blooded people of any age it
+becomes highly dangerous, death by heat apoplexy being painfully
+common.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening, after dinner, long chairs are taken out on the bund
+and many assemble there in silence, betrayed only in the darkness by a
+continual popping of corks and glowing cigar-tips, to catch what
+little air there may chance to be, and to watch the lightning in hopes
+that the oft-threatened storm will burst and break the heat.</p>
+
+<p>I remember at Kiukiang the daily temperature <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>rising to over a hundred
+degrees in the shade for nearly three weeks at a stretch, culminating
+in one hundred and seven, when a break came which, at any rate, saved
+<i>my</i> life and practically ended the summer.</p>
+
+<p>Many a time, when too hot for sleep, have I played whist till three
+o'clock in the morning. Selecting the corner of an upstairs verandah
+where there might be some possibility of a faint draught, and having
+cigars, whisky and iced soda well within reach, we would take off our
+white jackets for greater coolness and sit perspiring in singlets
+round the table between guttering candles, when with bare heads and
+naked arms we must have had the appearance of desperate gamblers,
+though only playing the regulation twenty-five cent points with longs
+and shorts and a dollar on the rub, so that the damage could not be
+very extensive.</p>
+
+<p>The winter in this locality is very much on a par with that in
+England, only shorter, there being generally some frost with a good
+deal of snow and occasionally enough ice for skating.</p>
+
+<p>Dinner-parties are very numerous, being the chief method of
+entertainment. The <i>menu</i> is, as a rule, excellent, and the import
+duty being almost nominal, wine is both plentiful and good.</p>
+
+<p>After a few mental twinges endured by leading personages consequent on
+somewhat exaggerated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>ideas of precedence, the company is seated, and
+a good dinner, aided by a lively flow of chit-chat, makes the evening
+speed pleasantly and well.</p>
+
+<p>But, you will ask, what besides amusing themselves have these
+Anglo-Chinese to do? British steamers swarm throughout the China seas
+and up the Yangtse for a thousand miles to Ichang, and it is in
+controlling the working of these vessels, in importing and selling
+manufactured goods and opium, in buying and exporting tea, silk and
+other products of the country, as well as in filling positions in
+Government services or any professional calling that agents,
+merchants, officials and the professional classes find employment, so
+that if in exile we surround ourselves with such luxuries and
+enjoyments as are reserved for the wealthy at home it is because they
+are ready to hand at but little cost, and that they serve in a degree
+to compensate us for the sweet pleasures of home-life which are
+forfeited by those who leave Old England to push their ways in distant
+lands.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>SERVANTS AND TRADESMEN</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>On your first arrival at an out-port, and as you are crossing the
+pontoon which leads from the steamer to the bund, a most beaming
+celestial meets you and presents an open letter, which runs something
+like this:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="block3">
+<p style="margin-bottom: .2em;">"I hereby certify that the bearer, Lao San, was my boy
+for eight months, and I found him honest and willing.</p>
+<p class="right sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">Tom Jones."</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The celestial smirks and jabbers something in pidgin English, which
+not being able to understand you answer with a grunt and pass on.</p>
+
+<p>The celestial says, "All right, savez, can do," and vanishes.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching your quarters, you find two or three more beaming natives,
+also armed with letters of recommendation, probably borrowed for the
+occasion, and who severally inform you "My b'long welly good boy."</p>
+
+<p>These letters of recommendation become kinds of heirlooms, and as
+foreigners seldom know the correct names of their Chinese servants,
+they are, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>for a consideration, handed about from one to the other
+when seeking employment.</p>
+
+<p>You must have a boy anyhow, and are just beginning to inspect the
+candidates when a friend suddenly turns up.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm awfully sorry, old man, I couldn't manage to come and meet you on
+board, but the steamer arrived earlier than was expected, so I came
+straight on here, and knowing you would require a boy, brought one
+along who wants a job. I don't know anything about him, but he says
+he's all right, and they are mostly pretty much alike. Anyhow, you
+might give him a trial, and if he doesn't suit, just kick him out."</p>
+
+<p>Before you can reply the door is thrown violently open, and your
+luggage, which you had left for the time being in your cabin on the
+steamer, is brought in on bamboo poles by half-a-dozen coolies and
+dumped on the floor, the beaming celestial who met you on the pontoon
+following close behind, carrying your collection of sun hats,
+umbrellas and sticks. He immediately pays the coolies, unstraps rugs
+and trunks, and commences to arrange the room.</p>
+
+<p>Your friend says, "Oh, I didn't know you had brought your own boy,"
+and goes on to talk of other things.</p>
+
+<p>You feel rather pleased at all the luggage having <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>turned up without
+any effort on your part, pleased at being freed from the importunities
+of out-of-work boys, and dumbly acquiesce, so that Lao San remains
+until you have the time or inclination to engage a really good boy;
+but as you seldom have the time, and never the inclination, he is
+already pretty firmly established.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the day he introduces a cook as well as two or three
+coolies that you do not want but must have, and explains that all
+these men are of exceptionally good character, and that he "can secure
+b'long all ploper." You submit, of course, and so your household is
+arranged by the boy without you really having had a word to say. A day
+or two later you suddenly remember that nothing has been said on the
+subject of wages.</p>
+
+<p>You ring up the boy, and after a short discussion it is arranged that
+he is to receive eight dollars a month, the cook ten, and the coolies
+six and five. Everything is arranged with the boy, the other servants
+not appearing on the scene at all, and so it is that, having obtained
+situations for his friends, they are by "olo custom" obliged to pay
+him a squeeze on their salaries, the cook probably two dollars a month
+and the coolies one each. Without your consent or knowledge the cook
+introduces a young friend of his into the kitchen to be known as the
+"second cook," or simply "No 2." His <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>position corresponds to that of
+the scullery-maid, washing up pots and pans, lighting the fire and
+running errands, in return for which he receives very little, if any,
+pay, but learns the art of cooking. Your house is now in going order,
+and at first things really work very well under the boy's supervision.</p>
+
+<p>A few weeks later it suddenly dawns on you that expenses are mounting
+up in rather an unaccountable way, and you look into matters.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing very serious comes to light, and any doubtful little points
+are most clearly explained away by the boy. However, it is not long
+before you again begin to feel uneasy and insist on knowing details of
+the various small accounts which are monthly presented to you by each
+individual on the premises.</p>
+
+<p>You are being squeezed by all!</p>
+
+<p>The boy charges for a number of small items such as lampwick, matches,
+soap, candles, etc., that you have never had, or in half the
+quantities stated. Also, on things which you have had, a large
+percentage over cost price is levied. All the native tradesmen are in
+league with your servants, and while you know that you are being
+swindled it would be quite impossible to prove it, for should a
+shopkeeper or butcher tell you what his prices really were he would
+lose much of his business, as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>servants in foreign employ would, in
+time, by some means or other, take the custom elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>You are the means whereby a large but limited circle of Chinese manage
+to live and oftentimes save money. All members of the circle regard
+you as their prey, and tacitly combining to play into each other's
+hands they fleece you with impunity, it being extremely difficult, if
+not impossible, to get one Chinaman to expose or bear witness against
+another, especially if it be with the object of benefiting the
+foreigner.</p>
+
+<p>The best way for a bachelor to run his house is to set aside a certain
+sum which he knows should be sufficient for monthly expenditure. If he
+can keep his expenses below this figure so much the better. If he
+cannot, and they exceed it, he should cut down the various accounts
+until a sufficient reduction has been reached. It is useless trying to
+argue the case, he would always come off worsted.</p>
+
+<p>I heard of one bachelor who had been drawing a salary of six hundred
+dollars a month, but he kept up such style that he could only just
+cover expenses. After a time his business partly failed, so he sent
+for the boy and explained he could only spend four hundred dollars.
+The domestic pulled a long face, but the style of living was not
+altered in the least.</p>
+
+<p>Again bad times came and expenditure had to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>further reduced to
+three hundred dollars a month. The bachelor informed his servant that
+he had better get another situation as he feared it would be difficult
+for him to come down from six hundred dollars to three hundred, and
+that it would be wiser to start a fresh establishment more in
+accordance with his reduced circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>After reflection the boy decided to struggle on, and this he did with
+such success that the style of living was exactly the same as it had
+ever been.</p>
+
+<p>The word "boy" bears no reference whatever to the individual's age,
+which may be anything between sixteen and sixty. It is merely a term
+applied by foreigners to their personal attendants.</p>
+
+<p>The duties of the boy are those of the ordinary housekeeper in
+England, with several additions.</p>
+
+<p>He looks after the other servants and is generally responsible for
+their good behaviour. He pays all wages and the accounts of the local
+tradespeople, on which, of course, he levies a recognised squeeze. He
+waits at table, answers the bell, makes the beds and brushes his
+master's clothes, in fact, makes himself generally useful.</p>
+
+<p>As a rule, he accompanies his master to all dinner-parties to assist
+in waiting. Also, it is a common and recognised practice for the boy
+of a house where a big dinner or a dance is being held to borrow
+requisites from the boy of another house, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>often without reference
+to the owner, so that when dining out you not infrequently drink from
+your own glasses, use your own knives and forks, see your own lamp on
+the dinner-table and are waited on by your own servant.</p>
+
+<p>A Scotchman who had recently married brought from London a goodly
+supply of fine glassware for the new home. At one of the
+dinner-parties given in honour of himself and bride, after replying to
+the toast of the evening he proposed the health of his host and
+requested the company to drink it with Highland honours by placing one
+foot on the table and one on the chair. Bumpers having been tossed off
+he added that it would not be fitting for glasses consecrated by such
+distinguished service to thereafter descend to ordinary usage, and
+suiting the action to the word, flung the tumbler over his shoulder,
+so that it was shivered to atoms against the wall, the other guests,
+numbering upwards of a dozen, following suit.</p>
+
+<p>His boy's placid comment on the proceeding was, "Truly master b'long
+too muchee foolo, he no savez b'long he new glass."</p>
+
+<p>They were indeed his own beautiful tumblers, borrowed for the occasion
+without his knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>If anything is lost in the house, the boy, being answerable, is
+supposed to make the loss good, although he seldom does so. It may be
+imagined <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>that his post is no sinecure with an exacting master, but it
+is lucrative and one much sought after.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of servants mutually guaranteeing each other's good conduct
+is a great safeguard, for in the case of theft or other misdemeanour
+by one of them, all the others are responsible and severe measures may
+be taken against them with the view of discovering the culprit, so
+that in reality while subject to numberless irritating, petty
+pilferings, against which there is no guarding and for which it is
+impossible to obtain redress, it rarely happens that any serious
+offence is committed.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst themselves the Chinese carry this principle of responsibility
+to such great lengths that if after committing a crime the culprit
+flees from justice, the officials can, and often do, arrest his
+father, mother, wife and whole family, and both imprison and persecute
+them until the fugitive gives himself up; and such is the strength of
+the family tie that this arbitrary method is seldom known to fail.</p>
+
+<p>The cook is, next to the boy, the most important of the other
+servants, and as a rule is fairly efficient, some indeed being
+excellent, although great care must be taken to guard against their
+natural love of filthiness. A kitchen into which the master or
+mistress of the house does not go once or twice every <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>day should
+never be visited at all if one wishes to enjoy one's meals.</p>
+
+<p>This is also a lucrative post, for besides wages and a heavy squeeze
+on every article brought into the kitchen, the remains of each meal,
+whether half a chicken, half a leg of mutton, or both, are regarded by
+the cook as his perquisite and carried off for sale to native
+restaurants, unless special orders have been given to the contrary. A
+reason for this is that in hot climates food, if not eaten at once,
+quickly becomes worse than useless. Also, owing to the cheapness of
+meat, eggs, vegetables, etc., it is by no means the serious loss that
+it would be at home, and so the householder is generally not sorry
+that the remains of each meal should disappear and thus get fresh food
+at every repast.</p>
+
+<p>The cooking in foreign houses is entirely European, the Chinese
+cuisine being of a very different and truly wonderful kind, although
+excellent in quality. Western ladies have often taken great pains to
+train their cooks to a high standard of proficiency, a well-served
+dinner in China not uncommonly far surpassing in excellence the
+corresponding meal at home. Of course, the reverse is frequently the
+case, still, it serves to show that the Chinese have a great faculty
+for the culinary art.</p>
+
+<p>In England a dinner-party must be arranged some days beforehand in
+order that the necessary <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>preparations may be made, and it is
+practically impossible to suddenly announce at tea-time that there
+will be eight people to dinner instead of two.</p>
+
+<p>This matter is certainly managed better in China.</p>
+
+<p>Oftentimes on returning from office at five o'clock I have sent for
+the cook and said, "To-night eight piecee man catchee dinner. Can do,
+no can do?" and the reply has invariably been a laconic "Can do."</p>
+
+<p>At once there would be great bustling but no confusion, and it has
+always seemed to me that these sudden demands on the kitchen staff,
+instead of evoking complaints and sullen looks, are regarded rather as
+a source of pleasurable excitement. "No 2" hurries off to market and
+quickly returns with fish, chops, chickens, eggs and fruit. Meanwhile,
+the cook dashes another pint or two of water into the soup and gets a
+jam pudding well under way.</p>
+
+<p>On returning from the club at seven o'clock you find that the boy has
+tastefully laid the table and decorated it with leaves and flowers.
+After seeing to the wine and cigars you go up to dress, and on
+receiving your guests at half-past seven the dinner is ready.</p>
+
+<p>I remember with feelings of pleasure the following incident which
+occurred at Chinkiang.</p>
+
+<p>For some days I had been engaged to dine <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>with friends living in the
+next house, and was actually on my way there, when an old
+acquaintance, who had just arrived by the steamer from Shanghai, met
+me in the garden and wanted particularly to see me with regard to some
+private affair. As the steamer would be leaving again in two hours and
+my friend was obliged to continue his voyage to Hankow, I had no other
+means of meeting his wishes than by forfeiting my engagement. This I
+did in a hastily-written chit, making the best excuses I could, and
+then sent for the cook. On his appearance I informed him that I wanted
+dinner for two&mdash;chop chop! Without moving a muscle he answered, "Can
+do." Thinking to hurry up matters a little I went to the kitchen, but
+found it in darkness and without any fire. The servants meanwhile had
+all disappeared, and I returned to my friend with the information that
+we must possess our souls in patience, so we settled ourselves on the
+verandah for a serious talk, but hardly had we done so than the boy
+announced dinner.</p>
+
+<p>Following him in considerable amazement I found that, the night being
+warm, he had laid a small table on the lawn and that the soup was
+already served. It was delicious, as were also the samli, the
+woodcock, the lamb cutlets and the ice-cream. Things having taken so
+happy a turn, I uncorked a bottle of champagne and we had a banquet
+fit for a king.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep037" id="imagep037"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep037.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep037.jpg" width="85%" alt="House-Coolie, Boy, Cook and &quot;No 2.&quot;" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">House-Coolie, Boy, Cook and "No 2."</p>
+<p class="right2" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;"><i>To face page 37.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>My friend complimented me on the prowess of the cook, and we smoked
+our cigars and chatted over the coffee until the steamer's whistle
+announced that, cargo being finished, she was ready to start. After
+seeing him off I joined the party next door in order to offer
+apologies and explanations to the hostess, who freely forgave me,
+though her husband lamented that I had missed the samli, the woodcock
+and the lamb, which were the first of the season.</p>
+
+<p>I discreetly held my peace, but inquiries next day confirmed my
+suspicions that prime helpings from each course of my neighbour's
+dinner had been carried off by my cook.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately under the boy for indoor work is the "house-coolie," whose
+business it is to swab floors, polish grates, light fires, trim lamps,
+clean knives and boots and make himself generally useful about the
+house. Oftentimes he is unable to speak any English, wears a short
+coat in contradistinction to the boy's long one, and while ranking
+below the boy is considerably above the other coolies as having better
+pay, pleasanter work and holding a position of trust.</p>
+
+<p>At the chief entrance to most residences is a gatehouse, tenanted
+during the day by an old man who serves as gatekeeper, and who is
+responsible for keeping bad characters off the premises as well as for
+not allowing anything to be taken away. At sunset <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>he goes home, being
+relieved by the night-watchman, who remains on duty till sunrise. He
+also is responsible for the general safety, and is not supposed to
+sleep during the night, but to be on guard. Every two hours, that is,
+at each of the five watches into which the night is divided, he should
+make a round of the outbuildings to satisfy himself that all's well.
+This he does not do quietly, but to the beating of a bamboo rattle, so
+that thieves may know he is on the lookout and run away. Sometimes, in
+order to keep up his courage, I have even heard him shout "I see you,"
+"I know who you are," "I'm coming," "Who's afraid?" etc.</p>
+
+<p>Ridiculous as this may appear to English burglars it is yet very
+effective, though for a very curious reason.</p>
+
+<p>China is the country of guilds, every trade being in the hands of a
+certain section of the population, who combine against all intruders.
+There is a guild of water-carriers, a guild of fortune-tellers, a
+guild of pipe-makers, and even a guild of <i>thieves</i>. This last is a
+recognised body, and is treated with by all householders, until it has
+become a kind of insurance agency against theft. All gatekeepers and
+night-watchmen pay a small monthly fee to this guild in order that no
+thieving may take place on the premises over which they have control,
+and the system works well, for not only is anything rarely <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>stolen,
+but if, occasionally, something does go it is almost certain to have
+been taken by a free lance, who would be promptly done to death should
+he fall into the clutches of the guild thieves.</p>
+
+<p>A friend of mine who employs many hundreds of coolies pays a regular
+monthly salary to the head of the thieves in that district. This man
+comes to the office on pay-days like other <i>employ&eacute;s</i> to draw his
+wages. If, however, anything has been missed from the factory during
+the month the value of it is deducted from his salary until the
+article is restored, which is invariably done.</p>
+
+<p>I have heard of a case where a reforming spirit determined not to
+submit to such an iniquitous tax. The gatekeeper and night-watchman
+immediately resigned and could not be replaced, while by the end of
+the month most of his portable belongings had been surreptitiously
+removed. Thoroughly cowed, he recalled the two servants and instructed
+them to pay the tax, whereupon the stolen articles promptly reappeared
+and security was again restored.</p>
+
+<p>Largely owing to the influence of Buddhism, cattle are regarded by the
+Chinese solely as beasts of burden, it being seldom that any are
+slaughtered for food; and although many natives will eat beef when it
+comes conveniently to hand, still, there is a strong prejudice against
+it. This prejudice extends both to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>milk and butter, neither of which
+is a common article of celestial food. From this it may be easily
+imagined that Europeans are often put to considerable inconvenience in
+securing an adequate supply of these daily necessaries. Good milk is
+especially hard to get. So long as it is white the native dairyman
+considers that his obligations to customers are discharged, while the
+more water he can add, the better it is for his own pocket. At Hankow
+the supply was so adulterated that a friend of mine actually found a
+small live fish in his morning cupful. With a view to exposing fraud I
+purchased a lactometer and found the usual proportions of milk and
+water to be half and half.</p>
+
+<p>This was too much, so calling the dairyman to the house I abused him
+roundly and threatened that if he did not send pure milk in future I
+would ask the consul to punish him severely. He vowed and declared
+that the lactometer "no talkee true," and that no water whatever had
+been added to the milk, adding, that if I did not believe him he would
+bring a cow to the kitchen door and I could see it milked myself.</p>
+
+<p>This seemed satisfactory, so I got up early next morning, and after
+shivering in my dressing-gown during the milking, carried off the pail
+in triumph, fully convinced that I should now be able to enjoy the
+pure article. Vain delusion! On testing it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>there was still a large
+percentage of water, and the dairyman, beaming with justified
+satisfaction, ambled off, leading his cow.</p>
+
+<p>Feeling sure that the lactometer must be at fault, I consulted my
+friend the doctor, who examined and found it quite correct.</p>
+
+<p>How to reconcile these discrepancies seemed an insoluble problem.</p>
+
+<p>After pondering over the matter for several days, I determined on
+milking the cow myself, this being an accomplishment of my boyhood. To
+the celestial's amazement I did so and instantly tested the proceeds.
+Pure milk!</p>
+
+<p>I seized the dairyman with a hazy idea of making an end of him, when,
+lo and behold, there slipped from his capacious sleeve a piece of
+thick bamboo containing about two pints of water. From the lower part
+of this wooden bottle projected another piece of bamboo about the
+thickness of a cigar, which served as a tube.</p>
+
+<p>The swindle was now discovered, and the culprit, after the first shock
+to his feelings had abated, showed me, with evident if subdued
+satisfaction, how the ingenious device worked.</p>
+
+<p>Concealing the bottle and letting the sleeve fall well down over his
+wrist, he held the bamboo tube and a cow's teat in one hand, and so,
+the moment one's eyes were averted, he was able to turn on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>tap
+and let water flow into the pail together with the milk.</p>
+
+<p>I now had the upper hand and promised to refrain from taking steps
+against him if he would in future furnish me with a pure supply. This
+he cheerfully agreed to do, and for a time I fared sumptuously, but it
+was not long ere my boy informed me that, the cows having run dry, the
+dairyman had returned to his home in the country.</p>
+
+<p>Prior to the Manchu conquest of China two hundred and fifty years ago,
+men allowed the hair to grow long and then rolled it up in a tuft on
+the top of the head.</p>
+
+<p>The Manchus, however, introduced the custom of partly shaving the
+scalp and braiding the back hair into a pig-tail, any man not
+conforming to this rule being considered a rebel, and as such liable
+to summary decapitation. This visible token of loyalty to the present
+dynasty is therefore universal, and obtains from the cradle to the
+grave, it being a matter of considerable importance to all who value a
+whole skin, and "Olo custom" being an extremely strong <i>motif</i>, it
+would now be well-nigh impossible to abolish this badge of servitude,
+even were the enforcement of it abandoned. In addition to this
+national obligation it is the custom for men to clean shave until they
+become grandfathers, when a moustache is cultivated, and later on
+sometimes a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>beard, though these hirsute appendages are of a lean and
+meagre kind.</p>
+
+<p>As you may readily imagine, the amount of tonsorial operations
+indulged in by so dense a population call for an unlimited number of
+shavers and braiders of hair, albeit it is considered an employment of
+the lowest grade; but although the number of barbers is legion there
+are none who know how to <i>cut</i> hair until taught to do so by
+Europeans, so that in out-of-the-way places it is often very difficult
+to get the operation performed. On several occasions I have been
+obliged to rely on my mafoo, who with horse-clippers and iron scissors
+proved to be effective if somewhat unartistic.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, a Chinaman will soon learn, and at treaty-ports barbers are
+a convenient luxury, for at the cost of a few dollars a month one will
+come to your bedroom every morning at a stated time to perform the
+daily shave, as well as cut the hair when required. Oftentimes I have
+been still asleep when, leaving his shoes outside the door and
+creeping in noiselessly with bare feet, he has adjusted the towel,
+lathered and shaved me in bed without my having had more than a dim
+consciousness of what was going on.</p>
+
+<p>Tailors are cheap and plentiful. A West-end cut is not achieved, but
+for flannels, light tweeds and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>all such clothes as are worn in the
+tropics, they are very passable.</p>
+
+<p>"Boy."</p>
+
+<p>"Sai."</p>
+
+<p>"Talkee that tailor-man four o'clock come. Wantchee new clothes."</p>
+
+<p>At four o'clock the tailor is there with a bundle of patterns from
+which you select a thin serge and a white flannel, and order a suit of
+each. On asking the price you are informed that the serge "b'long
+welly cheap" at fourteen dollars and the flannel at twelve.</p>
+
+<p>Your surprise and indignation are great at the exorbitant figures, and
+after a good deal of haggling, eleven dollars and ten respectively are
+agreed upon, the clothes to be finished in two days.</p>
+
+<p>"Can do."</p>
+
+<p>Out comes the tape and he measures you all over, taking mental notes
+but writing nothing down, the Chinese having marvellous memories.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning he appears with the garments loosely stitched together to
+try on, draws a chalk line here, puts in a pin there and hurries off.</p>
+
+<p>The following day you discover both suits neatly folded up on your
+bed, and on inspection find them to be of good and comfortable fit.</p>
+
+<p>Another plan is, after selecting the material, to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>hand the tailor an
+old suit with instructions to make the new one a counterpart of it,
+which, as a rule, he will do to perfection. In fact, he has been known
+to let a couple of patches into the seat of the new trousers in order
+to make them correspond exactly with the pattern.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>SHOOTING</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>To anyone who is fond of shooting, certain parts of China offer a
+veritable paradise. When I say shooting I do not mean the kind of
+sport to which one is accustomed at home, where to trespass a few
+yards on the grounds of another man will probably result in legal
+proceedings, where keepers flourish and wax fat on contributions
+levied on the friends of mine host, where hand-raised game is driven
+into the jaws of death, and where the sportsman's friend and delight,
+his dog, is practically banished. No, I mean where one can look on the
+whole empire of China and say, "Here is my ground, here I can take my
+gun and my dogs and go just wherever, and do whatever, I please,
+without let or hindrance; shoot what I will, stay as long as I like
+without asking anyone's leave, and where keepers and game licences are
+unknown."</p>
+
+<p>Throughout China, pheasants, deer, quail, wildfowl and snipe abound,
+but woodcock, partridges and hares are less numerous and less evenly
+distributed. Bustards, plover and many other <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>migratory birds appear
+only in winter, while for hunters of big game, tigers, leopards,
+horned deer and wild boar are found in certain localities.</p>
+
+<p>Northern China offers the best opportunities, and while from Mongolia
+to Ningpo game is plentiful enough, the mighty River Yangtse is <i>per
+excellence</i> the sportsman's elysium. Of course, one must have good
+dogs and know the country, or go with someone who does, otherwise the
+most ardent spirit would soon be cooled to freezing point and disgust
+instead of delight would be the result of his endeavours. Along the
+banks of this noble river, from the sea for hundreds of miles into the
+interior, I have enjoyed as good sport as lies within reach of only
+the very rich in western countries.</p>
+
+<p>The Chinese are not often sportsmen, and away from foreign influence
+but rarely molest wild animals of any kind.</p>
+
+<p>Owing, however, to the increasing European colony at Shanghai and the
+numerous mail steamers which daily arrive there, a profitable market
+for game has sprung up during the past few years, to supply which
+there are now a number of native gunners who, as a means of
+livelihood, scour the country with foreign breech-loaders in search of
+pheasants, wildfowl, etc., so that, being capital shots, within a
+considerable distance of this port <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>the shooting is not so good as
+formerly, although in all other parts of the Empire it still remains
+practically untouched until the advent of Europeans.</p>
+
+<p>That there are not more aboriginal sportsmen is partly due to a law
+which forbids the people to possess firearms, though this law has not
+been rigidly enforced, and partly due to the primitive construction
+and consequent unreliability of the few native fowling-pieces which do
+exist.</p>
+
+<p>Well away from beaten tracks I have occasionally met local sports
+carrying guns together with slow-matches of smouldering brown paper.
+They are remarkable weapons, with single iron barrels some four feet
+and a half long, about twenty bore and without stocks, but having
+pistol handles. There are no locks or springs, the hammer and trigger
+being in one piece, working through the handle on a rivet. The hammers
+have slits in them as if to hold flints, but which really are intended
+for the slow-match. Sometimes these men had good bags of snipe, but
+only once have I seen such a gun fired, which was at a pigeon sitting
+about fifteen yards high in a tree. The gunner blew his slow-match
+into a glow and pressed it into the slit in the hammer, placed the
+pistol handle to his hip and pulled the trigger, which brought the
+hammer slowly forward until the slow-match rested on the powder in the
+pan, when the gun went off and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>pigeon fell dead. Whether birds
+are shot on the wing with these guns I cannot say, but remembering
+that a hundred and fifty years ago it was accounted an extraordinary
+thing to attempt flying shots even in this country, I should think
+probably not.</p>
+
+<p>Old muzzle-loading rifles of European make, striking either flints or
+percussion caps, are also in occasional use as shot-guns, in
+preference to native weapons.</p>
+
+<p>The shot are always of iron, which is far cheaper than lead, and
+extremely liable to cause great injury to the teeth, while the powder
+is very poor, burning slowly with much smoke and smell. No cut wads
+are used, but pieces of paper, rammed home with a rod, which instead
+of being carried attached to the gun is held in the hand together with
+the slow-match.</p>
+
+<p>These same sports catch snipe in long, light nets which they carry
+stretched out horizontally some two feet above the grass, so that a
+bird on rising as it passes overhead, flies into it and is at once
+secured. Snares of wire and string, ingenious traps of bamboo which
+impale the birds on wooden spikes, and wicker traps closely resembling
+the straw plaiting on bottles of olive oil, I have seen set for snipe
+and quail in various places.</p>
+
+<p>I once travelled from Shanghai to Nanking with an aged French Jesuit
+priest and a Chinese official <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>then returning from the Black Dragon or
+Amour river. The former told me that, shortly after the Taiping
+rebellion, pheasants were so numerous and tame in the devastated
+fields around Nanking that natives speared them in the grass; while
+the official said that in the almost deserted Black Dragon river
+district these birds were so little afraid of man that on his approach
+they would conceal only their heads in the grass, when it was possible
+to capture them by the tail with the hand. Although personally unable
+to guarantee either of these accounts, still, judging from the manner
+in which they were narrated, I am inclined to believe both.</p>
+
+<p>The first essential for shooting-trips up the Yangtse is a good
+house-boat or light draft yacht of from ten to fifteen tons, into
+which you pack every requisite, and which is in reality your floating
+shooting-box for the time being. You have only to choose your field of
+operations, sail there, and enjoy yourself to your heart's content in
+luxury, fine bracing air, grand scenery and jovial company. What can
+one wish for more!</p>
+
+<p>Having decided on a trip you tell your boy in the morning that you
+will leave that afternoon for so many days, and at the appointed time
+step on board to find everything in readiness&mdash;guns, dogs, provisions,
+and a good fire in the saloon. You give the lowdah his orders, and in
+less than a minute are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>under way. All bother is at an end and you
+make yourself comfortable, have afternoon tea, read, smoke, dine, chat
+with your friend over the fire, and after spending the evening as
+comfortably as if in your own house, retire to rest, awaking next
+morning to find yourself on the scene of action and very possibly to
+hear the pheasants crow while still in bed. A good beefsteak breakfast
+and you are ready for the fray. After your day's sport you come back
+to a hot bath and the comfort of a cosy cabin. Should you desire to
+try fresh ground on the morrow, the lowdah will get the boat there,
+either by sailing or tracking during the night, while you are enjoying
+your well-earned sleep.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep050" id="imagep050"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep050.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep050.jpg" width="85%" alt="House-Boat on the Yangtse." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">House-Boat on the Yangtse.</p>
+<p class="right2" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;"><i>To face page 50.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Pheasants afford the principal sport and are identical with the
+white-ringed English birds, only, if any thing, bigger, stronger in
+flight and much more wily.</p>
+
+<p>A hundred miles up the Yangtse and then along the Grand Canal, in
+districts that were overrun by Taiping rebels, fine sport with
+pointers may be had over what were formerly cultivated fields but are
+now still lying waste, with here and there the ruins of a village
+destroyed forty years ago, the inhabitants of which were either
+extirpated, dragged off in the rebel army or fled to other parts of
+the country. These abandoned fields, interspersed with ridges of low
+hills clad with young pines, are generally dry and covered with fine
+grass, in which the pheasants <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>are fond of lying, and on a bright,
+frosty morning it is truly delightful to walk across such country with
+a couple of good pointers, watch your dogs work and bowl over the
+birds as they rise.</p>
+
+<p>At other places higher up river the low hills are covered with
+acorn-bearing oak scrub, a favourite cover both for pheasants, which
+feed on the acorns, as well as deer. This scrub, although very trying
+to walk through, is not high enough to prevent pointers working
+freely, and many a good bag have I made there.</p>
+
+<p>Along the banks of the lower Yangtse, and on numerous islands in the
+stream, are dense reeds, which, being flooded to a depth of several
+feet in summer, grow from fifteen to twenty feet high, as thick as a
+man's thumb, and almost as strong as bamboos. In these impenetrable
+thickets, left dry as the waters fall in autumn, the pheasants
+congregate in great numbers, but it is not till late winter, when the
+reeds have been mostly cut for fuel, that it is possible to get them
+out. About the end of December the reeds still uncut, stand in square,
+even patches, the sides of which tower up like the walls of a house.
+The best way is to select clumps of medium size, place a gun on either
+side to keep well in advance, and turn two or three dogs, spaniels for
+choice, in at one end. As these dogs hunt the reeds all the way down,
+the pheasants will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>creep to the very edges, watch their opportunity,
+and be off like cannon balls. Then is the time for a quick eye and
+steady hand, but as you have probably been running to keep up with the
+dogs, they are by no means the easy shots that one might imagine, and
+many a time the "dead certainty" has slipped gaily away.</p>
+
+<p>Other denizens of these swamps are woodcock, snipe, deer, and
+occasionally racoons and wild cats, which follow the pheasants, so
+that a mixed bag is frequently the product of a successful day, when
+twenty-five head, including seven or eight brace of pheasants, would
+represent a fair average per gun. With the exception of spring snipe,
+enormous totals like those we gloat over in England are but rarely
+made. It is the absolute freedom which is so charming, the hard work,
+the bright atmosphere, the thick cover, and the excitement of
+following the dogs.</p>
+
+<p>Wildfowl of every description swarm during the spring and autumn
+migrations, for after nesting on the Siberian steppes they go down to
+the Sunny South in winter. Swan, geese, mallard, teal and countless
+varieties of duck literally cover the waters of the Yangtse for miles
+at a stretch, and will hardly rise to avoid the river-steamers as they
+pass, although extremely shy of approaching small boats, while every
+little pond or creek affords the probability of a shot.
+Wildfowl-shooting, however, is not largely <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>gone in for, why, I can
+hardly say, unless it is that they are so superabundant as to make
+them seem hardly worth the powder and shot, that the distances to go
+for them are too great and the work of stalking too cold and tiresome,
+or that other kinds of shooting are more attractive.</p>
+
+<p>Woodcock are often found in bamboo groves from which it is generally
+hard to flush them, while the cover is so thick that it is impossible
+to shoot until they come out, though be it only for an instant, when,
+topping the bamboos, they alight again on the opposite side. I have
+spent nearly an hour in killing a brace which, although I saw perhaps
+twenty times, I had the greatest difficulty in getting a snap at. They
+also frequent pine woods and heather on the hills, and are identical
+in appearance with the woodcock found in England.</p>
+
+<p>During a severe winter at Chinkiang, word was brought in by natives
+that some children had been carried off by "dog-headed tigers," which
+monsters, after making lengthy inquiries, we assumed to be wolves.</p>
+
+<p>With a view to getting a shot at these brutes, a friend and I went out
+overnight to the community bungalow, a distance of seven miles, and in
+the morning ranged warily through the pines and over the snow-clad
+hills, seeking for traces of the man-eaters, being joined towards noon
+by the British <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>Consul. Carrying my twelve-bore fowling-piece loaded
+with a bullet in the right barrel and a charge of big shot in the
+left, the latter being full-choke, I was passing along the side of a
+steep hill at the foot of which, and some fifty feet below me, lay a
+frozen stream, when my dog-coolie, pointing downwards, cried, "Look at
+the fish!"</p>
+
+<p>Beneath the clear ice, of perhaps a quarter of an inch in thickness, a
+mass of fish was swimming with the current. Instinctively I fired the
+left barrel at them, and was greatly surprised to behold a jet of
+water, broken ice and fish shoot up two or three feet high from a hole
+made by the shot. The dog-coolie rushed down and filled his cap with
+our unexpected prey, which we subsequently found to number twenty-two,
+varying from about two to four ounces in weight each. Concussion from
+the blow on the ice had stunned many, but others were bleeding from
+shot wounds.</p>
+
+<p>After a fruitless search for the "dog-headed tigers" we walked back to
+Chinkiang that evening.</p>
+
+<p>The cold weather having brought wildfowl of all descriptions I was off
+betimes next morning to some islands in the Yangtse, a few miles down
+river. An hour's sailing with wind and stream brought me to the
+desired spot, where I landed on the sandy beach, when my dog, glad to
+escape from confinement on board, ran to the top of a high dyke, or
+wall <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>for preventing floods, some hundred yards distant, and put up
+hundreds of wild geese which had been preening themselves in the sun
+on the other side, where they had also found shelter from the cutting
+wind. The mighty roar of wings was the first intimation I had of their
+presence, and as they were well out of range, my dog came in for a
+reminder that his place for the time being was close to heel. Had they
+not been thus scared away I could have walked unobserved to within
+five yards of them.</p>
+
+<p>Following the beach a little above high-water mark, I presently came
+to several small ponds surrounded with willows, out of the first of
+which some teal rose in a close bunch, when firing into the brown I
+knocked them all down except one, and that I accounted for with the
+other barrel. Falling into the pond, some that were winged gave a good
+deal of trouble by diving, but eventually they were all secured, being
+eight in number. Several ducks were scared away by my shots, but I
+here added half-a-dozen snipe to the bag.</p>
+
+<p>Coming to some wide ditches choked with reeds and willows my dog put
+out pheasant after pheasant, but as they generally got up on the
+opposite side, where there was no gun, I only managed to secure seven,
+besides two woodcock.</p>
+
+<p>While eating my lunch of sandwiches under the lee of a reedstack, I
+observed that numerous flights <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>of wildfowl on passing from one branch
+of the river to another crossed a low, marshy corner of the island, so
+that presently I made my way there and crouched down amongst the
+rushes behind a dyke, having a small lagoon immediately at my back.
+Mallard, widgeon and many other kinds of fowl came over in such quick
+succession that for two hours I was kept fully occupied, and it was
+highly gratifying to hear a heavy splash in the lagoon after each
+successful shot.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the light began to fail I ceased firing and retrieved my
+birds, which numbered twenty-seven, including several varieties of
+fish ducks with serrated bills and, as I have subsequently learnt
+although then mistaking them for large divers, three goosanders. On my
+way back to the house-boat I surprised and shot a goose which was
+feeding close under the river bank, so that my total bag consisted of
+fifty-one head, and I always look back on that day as one of the most
+enjoyable I have ever spent.</p>
+
+<p>The snipe-shooting cannot be surpassed anywhere in the world. In
+spring, after spending the winter in rich southern climes, these
+birds, following the returning warmth, slowly migrate to Siberia for
+nesting. They pass through Central China during May, arriving almost
+simultaneously, when for about three weeks one can have superb sport,
+and then they depart as suddenly as they came. One day <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>they will
+swarm, and the next hardly a bird is to be seen.</p>
+
+<p>Snipe-shooting at home one always associates with long boots, cold
+water, mud and marshes. Spring snipe-shooting in China is of a totally
+different kind.</p>
+
+<p>Imagine a bright, warm day, with the sun almost too powerful, dry
+meadows with fresh, green grass, and clover about six inches high,
+fields of wheat and barley in ear and beans in flower, all Nature at
+her best. You take your gun with a plentiful supply of cartridges, a
+coolie to carry bottled beer and sandwiches and to pick up the birds,
+and sally forth into the meadows and fields, dressed in an ordinary
+light summer suit or flannels, terai hat and low shoes, with the
+bottoms of your trousers tucked into your socks to keep out the
+insects.</p>
+
+<p>You have not gone far before one, two&mdash;half a dozen birds rise within
+easy range, and perhaps you make a right and left. What birds they
+are, too, fat as butter!&mdash;in fact, so fat and heavy that they often
+rip quite open merely from the force of falling to the ground. In this
+way you go on, firing until the gun becomes so hot that every now and
+then you must wait to let the barrels cool. My best bag for one day
+was forty-one and a half couples, but this has been doubled by sports
+who have shot to make a record.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>Autumn snipe, or spring snipe returned, on passing from Siberia to
+winter in the south, are not usually in very good condition, owing
+probably to the nature of the country from which they come, and
+strangely enough they appear to be less numerous and do not arrive so
+simultaneously as the spring birds, though remaining longer, many
+staying on through the winter. These do not frequent the dry meadows
+and fields, but belong to the long boots, mud and marsh category.</p>
+
+<p>I have never seen but one jack snipe, though the painted variety is
+fairly common.</p>
+
+<p>In the neighbourhood of a creek seven miles below Hankow is to be had
+the best spring snipe-shooting that I know of. One bright May morning,
+in response to the invitation of an old friend, I joined him and two
+other guests aboard his house-boat and sailed down the Yangtse to this
+well-known spot. On landing I shouldered my bag, containing fifty
+cartridges, and told my coolie to bring a new box of a hundred in the
+game-bag.</p>
+
+<p>The plan was to send the house-boat to a place three or four miles
+further down river, where, after shooting through the fields, the guns
+would meet for tiffin.</p>
+
+<p>Just as the lowdah was casting off our host asked if he might put a
+few bottles of beer into my game-bag as it was a warm and thirsty
+morning; so, to make room, and thinking that the snipe had not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>yet
+fully arrived, in which case the spare cartridges would not be
+required, they were replaced on board. We had not, however, walked
+many yards along the river bank before it became apparent that there
+were any number of birds, and I already regretted having so few
+cartridges with me. After crossing the creek in a crazy sampan the
+party separated, each taking his own line of country. Presently a
+tremendous fusillade commenced from all the others, and as the snipe
+were rising around them continually and making for a large swamp to my
+left, I concealed myself in some millet, where, the birds coming
+before the wind directly over my head, I enjoyed for half an hour or
+so some excellent shooting and made a number of very sporting shots.</p>
+
+<p>I now started for the swamp, but ere reaching it passed through some
+grass patches between fields of barley and beans. The birds here rose
+by the dozen, and standing on the same spot, without advancing a yard,
+I shot eight, which were all on the ground at one time. My gun became
+so hot that it was necessary to open it to let the barrels cool, while
+the cartridges were all gone in less than an hour, so that carrying my
+now useless weapon and boiling with rage, I had to start in pursuit of
+the house-boat, with the shots of the others ringing merrily all
+round, the snipe rising at almost every step, and the coolie laden
+with beer and dead birds lagging far behind.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>I arrived on board simultaneously with a party of ladies, who, under
+the &aelig;gis of my friend's wife, had come down by launch to join us at
+tiffin; at the conclusion of which long and sumptuous repast it was
+time to start back to Hankow rather than again attack the snipe.
+However, two of us landed with our guns and walked hurriedly across
+country towards a point about three miles up river, there to rejoin
+the party on the boat. Of course we kept them waiting, the sport was
+so good, but satisfaction at the total bag of some two hundred snipe
+did much to smooth matters over. Indeed, the bag would have been still
+larger except for the vile shooting of one gun; but as a few days
+later his engagement to one of the ladies of the tiffin-party was
+announced, the mystery was explained, and when in a few weeks the
+wedding bells rang, we all forgave him.</p>
+
+<p>Four or five miles outside the principal gate of Peking is the Nan
+Hai-tz&#365;, or Imperial Hunting Park, where a few years ago there
+were herds of far-famed hybrids known as the "four unlikes," since
+they possessed certain attributes of, I believe, the horse, the deer,
+the ox and the sheep, without belonging definitely to either family.
+Unfortunately, Europeans were not allowed to enter this preserve, so I
+was unable personally to see these curiosities, although their
+existence was well authenticated.</p>
+
+<p>Outside the lofty wall enclosing this park is a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>kind of common
+interspersed with marshland through which a small stream flows, and
+there I have bagged as many as ten couple of snipe in an afternoon,
+with an occasional wild duck.</p>
+
+<p>Sending out the cart with gun, dog and provisions in charge of the
+head mafoo at about eleven o'clock on Saturday morning, as soon as
+work was over at one I would mount my pony, held in readiness by the
+second mafoo, and gallop with him after the cart, to find tiffin
+awaiting me spread on the grass.</p>
+
+<p>In this way I was comfortably ready to shoot by half-past two, which
+would allow of about two and a half hours' sport before returning.</p>
+
+<p>On one of these occasions I saw several large flocks of sand grouse,
+which, I believe, are native to Mongolia, but only once managed to get
+within range, killing a brace. They are beautiful, gamey-looking
+birds, of a very light brown or sand colour, mottled on the back and
+with legs and feet thickly feathered. Their flight much resembles that
+of golden plover, only sharper.</p>
+
+<p>Having finished shooting, my gun was again placed in the cart and we
+started leisurely for home, I riding a short distance in advance,
+followed by the second mafoo, while my pointer rambled over the grass.
+One evening, when thus returning, two medium-sized eagles swooped at
+the dog and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>commenced to regularly hunt him, much to his
+consternation. To dismount and get my gun out of its case again was
+the work of a couple of minutes, when I shot one of the birds at a
+distance of twenty yards, the other, instead of being alarmed,
+immediately swooping at its fallen comrade, to meet with a similar
+fate.</p>
+
+<p>I could not get them stuffed, so had their wings and claws mounted as
+fans, which I still have somewhere in my possession.</p>
+
+<p>The common deer are small, from thirty to forty pounds in weight, and
+without horns. They have a thick, bristly hide, and the buck has two
+tusks of from two to four inches in length projecting downwards from
+the upper jaw, with which he tears up the ground in search of roots,
+and it is to these peculiarities that the name of "hog-deer" is due.
+They mostly lie in the grass on forms, like hares, but sometimes in
+thick scrub on the hillside, and can be knocked over at forty yards
+with pheasant shot. I have bagged four in a day more than once. If
+well cooked the venison is delicious.</p>
+
+<p>Partridges are only found in certain districts. A few miles from
+Chefoo excellent sport is to be had, but in Central China they are not
+often seen, although they do exist, as I have shot one myself near
+Ngankin. Down south the bamboo partridge abounds in places, but it is
+a very different bird from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>the ordinary partridge, and takes its name
+from the fact that it lives, moves and has its being in bamboo
+coppices.</p>
+
+<p>In the vicinity of Hongkong and Macao the partridge, although far from
+numerous, is quite common, and a bag of three or four would represent
+a good day's work. These birds resemble the red-legged variety so
+common in England, but are considerably larger, while the plumage,
+although practically identical in colour, is far more brilliant. A
+curious feature about them is that they are never flushed in coveys
+and very rarely in pairs, but are almost invariably single birds,
+which fact, together with their large size and gorgeous plumage, leads
+me to think that they must represent a distinct branch of the family,
+to which the name "solitary" would be highly applicable.</p>
+
+<p>Quail are numerous and in all respects resemble those found in this
+country. They are chiefly prized by the Chinese for their pugilistic
+qualities, for after being caught and having had their wings clipped
+they are disposed of to various purchasers, who take them to miniature
+cock-pits and there back them to fight the birds of other gamblers for
+considerable sums, the combats being fierce and often deadly.</p>
+
+<p>The hares are wretched little animals, all bones and felt, and not
+larger than the English rabbit. They usually lie in the open, though
+often found in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>graves and in holes in the rocks, from which I have
+thought that they might be the "coney" mentioned in Scripture.</p>
+
+<p>Bustards, or wild turkeys, are found at certain periods all over
+China. They are very shy, always settle on wide plains, and are
+extremely difficult of approach&mdash;a shot being only obtainable after
+long and careful stalking.</p>
+
+<p>Although tigers are occasionally to be found in most of the southern
+provinces, there are but few places easily accessible to Europeans
+where they exist in any number, and not having been in one of these
+favoured spots I have had no opportunity to try my hand at this
+exciting sport, but a friend of mine, who has earned considerable fame
+at it, and who keeps a row of grinning tiger skulls on his
+drawing-room mantelpiece as mementoes of successful hunts, described
+to me how operations are conducted.</p>
+
+<p>At Amoy, which is probably the best known of these districts, when
+natives from the surrounding country bring word into the settlement
+that a tiger has been seen, preparations for the hunt are quickly
+completed, and a party of sportsmen repairs to the scene of action.</p>
+
+<p>The country being exceedingly rocky, the tigers make their lairs in
+caves and rocks, approached by long tunnels or holes just large enough
+to admit the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>beasts, so that to get them out is both difficult and
+dangerous.</p>
+
+<p>Having traced spore to the entrance of one of these tunnels, my friend
+crawled in first with his rifle, immediately after him coming a native
+shikarri, who thrust forward over my friend's back a long bamboo
+bearing at the end a lighted torch. Next followed three more
+shikarries, holding long spears, which they similarly thrust in
+advance, so that the attacking force consisted of a torch, three
+spears, the Englishman with his rifle and four shikarries, in which
+order they slowly crept along the passage, the sides of which were
+worn smooth by continual friction of tigers passing to and fro, until
+growls and snarls proclaimed that their quarry was near at hand.</p>
+
+<p>Presently two green, shifting eyes could be distinguished a few feet
+beyond the torch, when, carefully aimed between them, a hollow,
+express bullet crashed through the monster's skull, killing him on the
+spot.</p>
+
+<p>What would happen in case the brute was only wounded and charged I
+have never heard, but personally I should be somewhat chary in
+trusting to the protection of a torch and three spears.</p>
+
+<p>It is related that a practical old Yankee sport, desirous of slaying
+his tiger, joined in one of these expeditions, setting out from the
+rendezvous armed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>to the teeth, in company with another hunter, but
+before very long came stepping briskly back, and by way of explanation
+<i>guessed</i> "the tiger's footprints were getting too durned fresh."</p>
+
+<p>I consider he showed true American acumen.</p>
+
+<p>Spear-grass one often hears of but seldom sees, and until making
+acquaintance with the real thing I had always imagined that the barbed
+grass seeds, which are such a harmful worry to dogs, were practically
+identical with it. Not at all.</p>
+
+<p>Before leaving Ichang for a trip to the Yangtse gorges I expressed my
+intention of trying to get some of those beautiful Reeves pheasants,
+having tails several feet in length, which are indigenous to that
+locality, but was warned that it would be necessary to take long
+leggings as a protection against spear-grass. Not having any with me,
+and believing I knew what spear-grass was, I refrained from borrowing,
+so that on landing at Nantou with my dog and gun, it was in an
+ordinary shooting suit and worsted stockings.</p>
+
+<p>Inquiries of natives as to the whereabouts of these birds soon led me
+up the mountain-side to a rocky plateau, which looked extremely
+likely, and where I even saw traces of them. My dog commenced to work,
+and I followed him into the light, dry, crackling grass, but suddenly
+became conscious of a smarting in the legs as though walking through
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>nettles, and noticed that the grass was adhering to my stockings.
+However, I pushed on, my dog being hot on the scent, but presently we
+both came to a standstill&mdash;I, because of cramp in both legs, each of
+which was now enveloped in grass to the size of a bee-hive; while the
+dog's shaggy coat had collected it till he appeared as large as a
+sheep, and could no longer force his way along, besides being in much
+pain.</p>
+
+<p>It was a short half mile down hill to the boat but the difficulty and
+discomfort of getting there were considerable. When at length the boy
+proceeded to take my stockings off it was found that they were
+practically sewn to my skin by the spear-grass, the tiny barbed points
+of which had passed in hundreds through the wool and worked like
+fish-hooks into my calves. Without penetrating deep enough to more
+than slightly draw blood, they had one and all to be forcibly dragged
+out as the stockings were peeled off. For days I was lame and sore,
+while my dog lived in misery for weeks. I did not even see a Reeves
+pheasant.</p>
+
+<p>At Nantou I gathered delicious oranges from the tree for one cash
+each, or, eight oranges for a farthing.</p>
+
+<p>A twelve-bore is the best gun for use in China, from the fact that
+cartridges are everywhere procurable, whereas for other sizes they
+have frequently to be imported from home, although I must admit that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>a twenty-bore is preferable for snipe-shooting in warm weather, owing
+to the lightness of both gun and cartridges.</p>
+
+<p>It seems to be the general opinion, with which I agree, that pointers
+and spaniels are the most suitable dogs to keep, for they appear to
+work the cover and to stand the climate better than other breeds.</p>
+
+<p>As European dogs seldom live in China more than three or four years,
+and often less, it is necessary to always have puppies coming on if
+you do not want your shooting to be spoiled, for it is useless to try
+and get pheasants out of the thick cover without them. Dysentery is a
+very prevalent canine disease, but their most deadly enemy, and one
+existing in no other country that I know of, is worms in the heart.
+How the germs get into the blood no doctor has yet been able to say,
+but thin, white worms resembling vermicelli cluster round the heart,
+living on the blood, until they become so numerous as to eventually
+choke an artery, when death is instantaneous. In the case of a
+favourite dog, on which a doctor kindly performed a <i>post-mortem</i>
+examination, these worms were in such numbers that I positively could
+not see the heart at all.</p>
+
+<p>Native dogs are useless for sport, as they seem to be devoid of that
+friendly intelligence so noticeable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>in our own breeds, while their
+powers of scent are much inferior. I have heard that in the island of
+Hainan a certain breed exists which is very good for hunting leopards
+and wild boar, but this I cannot guarantee.</p>
+
+<p>In the winter of 1889 I was invited by a friend to join him in his
+house-boat a few miles below Chinkiang, when we could shoot together
+next day and then have Christmas dinner on board.</p>
+
+<p>I hired a small sampan to sail me down, together with my boy, taking
+only a bottle of whisky, a few things for tiffin and a plum cake, the
+last being a Christmas gift from a Norwegian lady.</p>
+
+<p>Starting at noon, it was about three o'clock and near the rendezvous,
+when we sighted a flock of geese asleep in the sun on a mud-bank. I
+ordered the sampan-man to get as near as possible, and when the geese
+rose at a distance of about sixty yards, knocked down a couple with
+two charges of S.S.G. A minute later another came flying overhead
+calling to its wounded mate, and this also I dropped without pity. The
+first two, being only winged, gave a lot of trouble, as they swam and
+dived with great speed, but all three were eventually secured.</p>
+
+<p>There was still an hour before dark, and seeing no signs of my friend
+I went on shore and bagged three pheasants before returning to the
+boat. Next <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>morning, after passing a cold and miserable night in the
+tiny cabin of the dirty little sampan, I started with gun and dog at
+about eight o'clock&mdash;fully expecting that the house-boat would turn up
+during my absence&mdash;and shot all day, killing eleven pheasants, two
+deer, three woodcock, seven duck and one pigeon. As by dark there were
+still no signs of my expected host I had no choice but to return home.</p>
+
+<p>It was a lovely night, bright, frosty and star-light, with a nice,
+crisp breeze, which, the river being there about two miles wide,
+raised quite a sea. Thousands of wildfowl, all on their way south,
+were flying, whistling and whirring about in every direction, and
+rising from the water quite close to the boat. My dog "Snipe" and I
+crept into the cabin out of the cutting wind, which was dead ahead,
+and proceeded to discuss our impromptu Christmas fare, which, after
+all, was not so bad, and reflected great credit on the boy's cooking
+powers. I noted down the <i>menu</i>, and here it is:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="block2"><p class="noin">1. Pigeon Soup.<br />
+2. Woodcock.<br />
+3. Boiled Pheasant.<br />
+4. Cold Roast Beef.<br />
+5. Plum Cake ablaze with Whisky.<br />
+6. Cheese.<br />
+7. Pumelo.<br />
+Whisky and Water.<br />
+Tea.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>There was no holly or mistletoe to remind one of Merrie England, but I
+drank to "the Old Folks at Home" with the sadness peculiar to
+wanderers on such occasions, and then gave myself up to nicotine and
+reflection for the rest of the evening, arriving home at midnight to
+find that my truant friend was ill in bed.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>RIDING</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>No country in the world is so badly supplied with horses as China,
+both as regards quantity and quality.</p>
+
+<p>The reasons for this are largely owing to the peculiar and wretched
+condition of internal communications, and to the fact that horses are
+seldom employed in cultivation of the soil, which is mostly performed
+by manual labour, supplemented by water buffaloes in the central and
+southern provinces and by oxen in the north.</p>
+
+<p>Wherever rivers and lakes exist there is found a dense boating
+population, whose occupation is the conduct of every kind of traffic.</p>
+
+<p>On the large fluvial highways stately junks laden deep with cargo pass
+backwards and forwards in unending procession. In shallower waters the
+vessels are smaller but more numerous, and this adaptation to
+circumstances goes on until the smallest streams and canals, which
+invariably cover the valleys of China's mighty rivers as with a net,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>are blocked with tiny craft, each bearing its load of merchandise or
+its quota of passengers.</p>
+
+<p>In such districts, where everything is carried by water and where
+roads are few, there is little or no work for the horse, which, beyond
+a few wretched specimens attached to the various yam&ecirc;ns and military
+camps, is seldom seen.</p>
+
+<p>Where waterways do not exist, and traffic must necessarily be carried
+overland, the highways are either narrow paths paved with large blocks
+of stone and suitable only for wheelbarrows and pack-animals, or
+tracks picked out at random over a width of perhaps a hundred yards,
+along which lumbering, ill-constructed and springless carts plough
+their ways, and strings of pack-animals wend slowly to and fro. The
+numberless creaking wheel-barrows, bearing heavy loads, are propelled
+by coolies, who, the yoke across the shoulders, stagger along between
+the shafts, helped occasionally by a small sail set to catch a
+favouring wind, or by another coolie harnessed to the vehicle by
+ropes. The pack-animals mostly consist of camels (especially in the
+north), mules and donkeys, ponies being used in more limited numbers.
+As a rule, the carts are supplied with mixed teams of very poor class
+animals, mules largely predominating, although ponies are also
+numerous.</p>
+
+<p>Europeans, accustomed to see carriages, dog-carts <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>and all kinds of
+horse-drawn conveyances circulating freely on macadamised roads, find
+it difficult to realise that, in the oldest civilised empire in
+existence, there are, outside the treaty-ports, not only no
+macadamised roads, but not even roads that could possibly be compared
+with our most out-of-the-way and most ill-kept country lanes, and that
+consequently there are neither carriages nor dogcarts, but only
+springless tumbrils, which, covered with a wain, discharge the
+functions of the celestial cab, and plough through deep mud with their
+massive wheels, or jolt over stone causeways to the intense discomfort
+of luckless occupants.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep075" id="imagep075"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep075.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep075.jpg" width="85%" alt="The Cab of Northern China." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">The Cab of Northern China.</p>
+<p class="right2" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;"><i>To face page 75.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>There being then practically neither roads nor carriages, the demand
+for draught horses is very small, while for riding purposes Chinamen
+prefer either the taller and more dignified mule or the ambling pony.</p>
+
+<p>This latter has a rolling, pacing gait which enables the horseman to
+sit quietly in his high wooden saddle without any necessity of rising
+in the stirrups. He possesses great speed and endurance, and wealthy
+Chinese will give as much as four or five hundred taels for a good
+one. With his rider leaning well back and pulling hard at the reins
+the animal tears along at fifteen or sixteen miles an hour, but when
+the reins are loosened he immediately slackens and pulls up. They are
+a common sight in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>the neighbourhood of Peking, where ambling contests
+frequently take place outside the city wall. In these contests each
+pony in turn is ridden at full speed past the judges, who proclaim the
+winner on his general merits and not with exclusive reference to pace.</p>
+
+<p>For agricultural work the horse is not employed. In wheeling barrows
+coolies perform the work of beasts of burthen. As pack-animals camels,
+mules and donkeys have the preference, so that although the "noble
+animal" is to be met with almost everywhere, he is not considered
+indispensable as in Western lands. He is unhonoured, ill cared for and
+very cheap.</p>
+
+<p>There may be several breeds in China, although personally I have seen
+but four, of which a small, well-shaped pony from Turkestan; a large,
+stringy horse from Ili; and a weedy, cowhocked pony from Szechuan
+deserve here no more than passing notice, for they are seldom seen in
+the Eastern provinces, where alone the Mongolian, or, as it is
+commonly called, the "China pony," is found in considerable numbers.</p>
+
+<p>This China pony, with which Europeans in the Far East are so well
+acquainted, is a native of the Mongolian plains. He stands on an
+average about thirteen hands, and is a coarse, thick-set, cobby
+animal, with a large, ugly head carried low on a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>wedge-shaped neck,
+so that when mounted you have practically nothing in front of the
+saddle. He much resembles, and is evidently closely allied to, the
+Russian pony, which is now so commonly met with in this country.</p>
+
+<p>I have heard it stated that, at the conclusion of the Second Chinese
+War, to avoid the expense of transport back to India, the Arab horses
+of our cavalry were sold at Tientsin, and being mostly purchased by
+native dealers, were sent to Mongolia and crossed with the native
+breed. If this be true it accounts for the traces of Arab blood which
+may occasionally be observed in a smaller head, finer points, wavy
+tail and gentler manners.</p>
+
+<p>Mongol princes have long had, by imperial decree, the sole right of
+horse breeding in the north, every year paying tribute to the Emperor
+of so many head; and as this breed is much superior to the others I
+have mentioned, the monopoly practically extends to the whole Empire,
+and is most jealously guarded.</p>
+
+<p>Geldings only are allowed to leave the breeders' hands, and that not
+before the advanced age of seven or eight, which partly accounts for
+the shortness of the time during which China ponies are in their
+prime, and for the fact that after two or three years' work they
+commence to age and deteriorate.</p>
+
+<p>Mares it is impossible to purchase on any terms, the Mongols
+absolutely refusing to part with them, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>and I have only seen two
+during the whole of the twelve years I have spent in China&mdash;one at
+Peking, the property of a Russian prince, and one with its foal,
+belonging to a native official at Kiukiang.</p>
+
+<p>In the late autumn of every year the tribute ponies are brought down
+to Peking. I have seen them in large droves coming across country at
+full gallop, enveloped in clouds of dust, with mounted Mongol and
+Chinese drovers, carrying long bamboo poles, riding on the outskirts
+of each mob and directing its course. Villagers, on seeing the clouds
+of dust and hearing the thunder of hoofs, hurry out to try and divert
+the equine torrent from their crops, but in vain. The whirlwind rushes
+by, leaving a broad, well-beaten track, whereon few signs of banks,
+gardens or vegetation can be discerned. It is the Emperor's tribute
+and there is no redress.</p>
+
+<p>After tributary obligations have been fulfilled in kind or in value,
+large numbers of these ponies are thrown on the market, and on an
+average can be secured for twenty or thirty dollars each&mdash;that is, for
+two or three pounds.</p>
+
+<p>The best market is provided by Europeans, and dealers forward the
+finest-looking animals to Tientsin, Shanghai, Hongkong, Hankow and
+other places where racing is carried on, to meet this demand.</p>
+
+<p>When such mobs of raw ponies reach a treaty-port they are known as
+"griffins," which term <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>applies to all that have not previously run at
+any race-meeting; and with their tails sweeping the ground, their
+hogged manes and their long coats clotted with mud, they present a
+very dismal appearance, and one not at all in keeping with the
+accepted idea of race-horses.</p>
+
+<p>These griffins mostly pass through the hands of racing men, who, with
+a view to securing a good animal, either arrange with the dealers for
+private gallops, when the various performances are carefully timed by
+stop-watch, or buy their fancies at public auction without speed tests
+having previously been made.</p>
+
+<p>Owing to expenses of transport, be it by steamer or by road, the
+further south the greater the average value of griffins, and as only
+picked animals are supplied to the foreign market, the price is
+everywhere far higher than at Peking, and may be said to range from
+fifty to five hundred dollars. Those ponies which do not prove to have
+sufficient speed to warrant their being trained as racers are resold
+as hacks, or filter away at lower prices to the Chinese.</p>
+
+<p>I may here say that although at several of the treaty-ports there are
+a few good roads made by the European residents, and along which
+imported carriages are occasionally seen to pass, it is only at
+Shanghai that vehicular traffic has attained to any considerable
+degree of importance. Here the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>foreign settlements are traversed in
+all directions by excellent highways, which extend through the suburbs
+for several miles into the adjoining country, and which the Chinese
+avail themselves of to a large extent, driving out in thousands every
+afternoon to tea-houses and pleasure-gardens.</p>
+
+<p>Besides most well-known varieties of conveyance the celestial mind has
+evolved one or two remarkable models of its own, notably, a kind of
+victoria, the body of which takes the form of two large inverted
+sea-shells gaudily painted with flowers and butterflies, and running
+on light iron wheels with bright spokes and rubber tyres. A liveried
+coach-man on the box, a footman with a smart rug over the arm standing
+on an iron step behind and balancing himself by grasping two straps
+attached to the back corners of the carriage, a shabbily-harnessed
+China pony in the shafts, and the equipage is complete.</p>
+
+<p>The occupants of this triumphal car are either three or four
+prosperous-looking Chinamen, clothed in many-coloured silks, or a
+posse of gaily-dressed celestial beauties, who, with faces painted
+white, lips dyed vermilion, hair caked with oil, garlanded with
+flowers, laden with jewels, displaying their tiny satin shoes and
+toying with fans in their small and beautiful hands, furnish a
+<i>tout-ensemble</i> sufficiently original if not too painfully grotesque.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>At Shanghai, certainly, many thousands of ponies are employed, but it
+is owing entirely to the influence and example of Europeans.</p>
+
+<p>The majority of men taking up appointments in China are barely out of,
+if not still in, their teens, and whether they come straight from
+school, from business in the city or from the universities, it is
+seldom they have had any large experience of horses. In very many
+cases they do not even know how to mount, but finding ponies so cheap,
+or, better still, getting a discarded racer as a cumshaw, they take to
+riding as naturally as if to the manner born, so that there are but
+few residents of either sex who cannot ride, and China ponies
+consequently hold a place in the estimation of foreigners which is
+altogether denied them by the natives.</p>
+
+<p>From hacking to racing is but a step. The man who has learnt to ride
+(or thinks he has), being already a member of the race club, takes his
+steed for a quiet canter round the course. The old racer no sooner
+finds himself on the familiar track than he is off with the speed of
+flames, and our young friend, being powerless to check him, with his
+feet out of the stirrups and hanging on to the back of the saddle for
+dear life, is carried a mile or so before a sudden swerve at the exit
+rail deposits him on the turf.</p>
+
+<p>No bones are broken but the damage is done. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>Unless the dismounted
+cavalier be devoid of all enthusiasm the spirit of racing has
+assuredly entered his veins!</p>
+
+<p>In future he will haunt the course with his own luckless hack, he will
+attend the training regularly each morning in hopes of getting a mount
+on any rank outsider, and will think of little else all day than
+riding and ponies.</p>
+
+<p>To some men riding comes naturally, like cricket, while others can
+never acquire a good seat.</p>
+
+<p>A light-weight who is fortunate enough to possess the necessary knack
+will soon be in request as jockey at the forthcoming meeting, when, if
+he should happen to secure a win, the confidence it immediately gives
+him does more than any other thing to transform him into a really good
+horseman.</p>
+
+<p>It costs no more to feed a good pony than it does a bad one, so he now
+decides to dispose of his hack for a trifling sum, and in its stead to
+purchase a griffin, which may be a potential winner of the champions.
+He orders his mafoo to inspect the new season's griffins as they
+arrive, and arrange with the dealer to bring three or four of the best
+for his approval. This the mafoo does with great pleasure, as, apart
+from the keen interest he takes in racing&mdash;all Chinese being
+inveterate gamblers&mdash;it is an understood thing that he will receive a
+good cumshaw <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>from his master for each race that his stable wins.</p>
+
+<p>In due course the unbroken, shoeless, mud-covered animals arrive, and
+the dealer, perched on a high wooden saddle, trots them up and down to
+show off their paces.</p>
+
+<p>In England the would-be purchaser of a horse carefully feels each leg
+to make sure that there be neither splint nor curb, lifts up and
+examines the hoofs, grasps the lower lip with one hand and draws out
+the tongue with the other to study the teeth, and peers closely into
+the animal's face to see that his eyes are unblemished.</p>
+
+<p>On approaching a griffin one becomes conscious of being closely
+watched by a vicious eye, and oftentimes the brute, snorting with
+anger and alarm at the unaccustomed sight and smell of a European,
+attempts to rush at one, while the idea of feeling his legs, drawing
+out his tongue, examining his hoofs or peering into his eyes quickly
+evaporates. One would rather fondle a Bengal tiger!</p>
+
+<p>An adjournment is next made to the race-course, where the ponies are
+powed by the dealer for half-a-mile, when the action of each can be
+observed and the times taken by stop-watch.</p>
+
+<p>In this manner a rough idea can be formed as to which of the animals
+are likely to possess the necessary turn of speed, and that is as
+much <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>information as can now be obtained, for as to soundness, age and
+stamina the dealer's assurances on these points must be accepted as
+the only evidence procurable.</p>
+
+<p>In the end one, and very probably two, are purchased at from sixty to
+seventy dollars each, and the erstwhile embryo jock has blossomed into
+the dignity of ownership.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing to do with a griffin is to get him shod, which is not
+quite so simple a matter as one might imagine, for he has hitherto
+never passed through the farrier's hands and will be certain to
+fiercely object. No attempt is made to perform the operation by
+gentleness, and he is forthwith led under a kind of oblong, wooden
+arch about six feet high, constructed of four firmly-planted posts,
+connected on top by cross beams.</p>
+
+<p>Ropes passed under his belly and over the cross beams keep him from
+throwing himself down, while each leg is securely lashed to one of the
+posts, and thus being rendered absolutely powerless, the work is
+quickly put through.</p>
+
+<p>There is generally a struggle in mounting each new arrival, but with a
+couple of mafoos hanging on to his ears, and sometimes by enveloping
+his head in a horse-cloth, it is eventually managed.</p>
+
+<p>The first timidity soon wears off, and you find that after a short
+distance there is no more trouble, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>the animal being probably in poor
+condition and lacking the nervousness of finer breeds.</p>
+
+<p>Several days of scraping and grooming having removed the dust and dirt
+with which his shaggy coat was filled, he is clipped and his tail
+shortened. The transformation is almost startling. You now have quite
+a smart-looking mount as China ponies go, and while riding him daily
+to improve his condition you will soon discover any marked
+characteristics.</p>
+
+<p>He rarely gets over his dislike for Europeans although perfectly
+docile with Chinese, and it is seldom that he will allow even his own
+master to enter the stall. A black griffin which I bought at Peking
+seemed to me so quiet that on an expedition of some days into the
+country I fed, groomed and saddled him myself, until quite convinced
+that we had become friends, and it was not till after my return that,
+in passing through the stables, he rushed at me with open mouth, only
+the strength of a raw-hide headstall saving me from being savaged.</p>
+
+<p>What applies to one applies to all. Their tempers are untrustworthy.</p>
+
+<p>Many have the disagreeable trick of "cow-kicking," which usually
+occurs on mounting, when they kick forward with the near hind leg and
+may inflict a nasty blow.</p>
+
+<p>Invariably hard-mouthed, occasionally <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>buck-jumpers, altogether
+without manners, and in trotting mostly slow and jerky, they are but a
+poor apology for the gentle and graceful horse as found in Western
+countries. On the other hand, they make capital race-ponies, for they
+are fast gallopers, and for their size can carry astounding weights.
+They are also very good for cross-country work, as, in addition to
+being fair jumpers, their great strength enables them to plough
+through country which would tax the powers of an English hunter, but
+the greatest consideration of all is their cheapness, for it places
+them within the reach of sporting men with small incomes.</p>
+
+<p>A certain number of Australian horses are now imported into Hongkong
+and Shanghai, but owing to the stringencies of the Chinese climate it
+is very doubtful whether so great additional outlay as the long sea
+voyage involves is compensated for by the walers' evident
+superiorities.</p>
+
+<p>Assuming that, having had a griffin for some time, he is in good
+condition, a period of six or seven weeks is sufficient in which to
+prepare him for the races.</p>
+
+<p>For training purposes, oats and hay imported from California are
+preferable, but adhering to native produce, a diet of boiled barley,
+chopped straw and bran will do nearly as well.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the important exercise is gone through at early morning
+between six and half-past seven, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>when the ponies are trotted and
+galloped on the course, and when all sporting members of the
+community, stop-watch in hand, assemble at the rails, or follow
+proceedings from the grand-stand while breakfasting on hot rolls and
+coffee. On return to stables, thorough dressing, with much rubbing of
+the legs, takes place, while an hour's brisk walking from eleven
+o'clock to twelve, and again in the afternoon, completes the day's
+work.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep087" id="imagep087"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep087.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep087.jpg" width="85%" alt="The Old Grand-Stand, Hankow Races, 1888." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">The Old Grand-Stand, Hankow Races, 1888.</p>
+<p class="right2" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;"><i>To face page 87.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Each animal requires individual treatment, and it is the owner who
+best knows how to apply it that will bring his ponies to the post in
+the fittest condition.</p>
+
+<p>Carrying from ten to eleven stone according to measurement, good time
+for half a mile would be fifty-nine seconds, for a mile, two minutes
+eight seconds, and for a mile and a half, three minutes fifteen
+seconds.</p>
+
+<p>In dry weather it is an advantage for ponies to race without shoes,
+but if the course be wet or muddy they are absolutely necessary to
+prevent slipping.</p>
+
+<p>The jockeys are all amateur and mostly personal friends, as also are
+the clerk of the course, starters, judges and stewards, so that
+instead of a race-meeting being a gathering of complete strangers,
+bookmakers and professionals, it partakes more of the social nature of
+a huge picnic.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>During the winter months a great feature of sport in Shanghai is
+paperchasing on horseback.</p>
+
+<p>The meets are usually held on Saturday afternoons, when business
+offices are closed, and a field of seventy or eighty is no uncommon
+sight.</p>
+
+<p>Two members of the club lay the scent, but while free to choose any
+line of country, they must not lead the trail over jumps or obstacles
+which their own ponies have failed to negotiate.</p>
+
+<p>At the hour advertised the Master gives a signal and the hunt is away.</p>
+
+<p>Through wades and creeks, over water-jumps and graves, across gardens
+and paddy fields, the gay throng sweeps on at high speed, until a
+welcome check brings relief to man and beast and allows the stragglers
+to close up. After a short delay the trail is again hit off and the
+field streams away, but in ever-decreasing numbers, until a mere
+handful sight the flags which mark the finish, and ride their hardest
+at the final jump, the first light-weight and the first welter to
+cross which are thereafter entitled to sport pink and gain the honour
+of laying scent for the succeeding hunt. The sport is extremely good
+though very rough, which is mainly owing to the marshy nature of the
+soil and the fact that as the Chinese do not here raise banks or
+hedges between their fields the jumping is mostly over water and dry
+ditches of considerable width and depth, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>accounts for a goodly
+number of nasty spills. Although compensation for damage to crops is
+awarded by the hunt club, considerable care must be taken to guard
+against traps wilfully laid by the natives, who frequently remove the
+trail from its proper course and lay it over almost impossible jumps,
+which they further render extremely dangerous by digging holes in the
+opposite banks and covering them with leaves and rubbish, after doing
+which they take up safe positions of vantage to enjoy the fun.</p>
+
+<p>In autumn, when the waters of the Yangtse commence to fall and the
+inundated districts along its banks become dry, the plain at Hankow
+affords excellent riding, where for miles one can swing along at a
+hand-gallop without once having to draw rein. In spring, when covered
+with fresh, green grass, it possesses an additional charm, and until
+rising waters once more confine riding to the race-course and the
+river bank, there are few places in China where such magnificent
+gallops can be obtained.</p>
+
+<p>When summer floods at Kiukiang drove our ponies from their mat stables
+on the other side of the creek to the higher ground of the concession,
+and turned most of the surrounding country into an immense lake, we
+were in considerable perplexity as to where we should take our
+afternoon rides, until the brilliant idea was conceived of utilising
+the city wall, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>stands about twenty feet in height, and is four
+miles in circumference.</p>
+
+<p>Entering by the western gate and turning sharply to the right we rode
+up the stone steps, much worn by time and human feet, to the top of
+the wall, which is some twelve feet in width. Picking our way
+carefully, for the route was strewn with loose stones and bricks, we
+usually made the circuit twice before descending. Where the steps
+adjoin the wall two large right angles are formed, into which Chinese
+houses have been built in such a manner that their roofs are
+conterminous with, and slope at the same angle as, the steps,
+rendering it possible to pass from one to the other with the greatest
+of ease.</p>
+
+<p>As a friend of mine was passing this point for the second time his
+pony tried to bolt down the steps with the intention of returning to
+stable. A violent pull at the near rein brought the brute's head
+round, but without stopping him, so that he passed sideways from the
+steps on to the roof of one of the houses, and together with his rider
+instantly disappeared through it, amidst a cloud of dust, a crashing
+of timbers and the rattle of falling tiles.</p>
+
+<p>Emerging from the <i>d&eacute;bris</i>, and smothered with dust, my friend led his
+pony through the front door into the street, where a crowd had already
+collected, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>neither apparently any the worse for their remarkable
+feat. An old woman who was in the building at the time had a narrow
+escape from being crushed by the falling animal, but she soon
+recovered from the shock, and a liberal sum in dollars with which to
+repair the roof probably caused her to regret that similar accidents
+did not more frequently befall.</p>
+
+<p>At Peking, where for a time I was clerk of the course, a most
+remarkable incident occurred, for the accuracy of which I had
+irrefutable proof.</p>
+
+<p>A pony named "Chalk," which I had purchased from a Chinese soldier for
+twenty-five dollars, had carried all before him at the previous autumn
+meeting, for which reason I was naturally greatly attached to him, and
+he, although an extremely vicious animal towards others, tolerated me
+with a forbearance but rarely met with in a China pony.</p>
+
+<p>At the succeeding spring meeting Chalk was a hot favourite for the
+principal events. The evening before the races I passed with several
+friends, when the chances of different ponies, and of Chalk in
+particular, were discussed till a late hour. That night I dreamed that
+after I had been riding Chalk, I was standing dismounted and holding
+the reins, on a plot of grass surrounded with trees, while the pony
+was lying on the ground. Raising his head and neck two or three times
+in attempts to get up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>he finally struggled into a sitting position,
+standing on his forelegs but with his haunches on the ground, and then
+sank back dead.</p>
+
+<p>The dream was so vivid and left such an impression on me, that by way
+of conversation, and without attaching the slightest importance to it,
+I related the circumstance in practically the same words as employed
+here, to a Russian friend, who accompanied me early next morning to
+the course.</p>
+
+<p>Again, on the grand-stand, a quarter of an hour or so before the races
+commenced, I laughingly told a son of the Dutch minister of my dream,
+explaining the circumstances and the scene in full.</p>
+
+<p>Looking in the pink of condition, Chalk came out for the first event,
+one mile, and won hands down by several lengths. After dismounting in
+the enclosure and weighing in, I was being convoyed by my friends to
+the bar in order to celebrate the victory in champagne, when I heard
+someone say, "Look at Chalk!"</p>
+
+<p>Turning round, I saw him staggering backwards as if he had been struck
+a heavy blow on the head. As I rushed forward and seized the reins by
+which the mafoo had been leading him, he fell to the ground, and there
+on the club lawn, surrounded with trees, exactly as seen in my dream,
+he attempted to rise two or three times, eventually getting into a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>sitting position, and then falling back was dead in less than ten
+seconds.</p>
+
+<p>My Russian friend was aghast, and pressed into my hand a small coin,
+which he said would keep off the evil spirits, but I was then too much
+concerned at the loss of my favourite to pay heed to either spirits or
+dreams, although I had instantly recognised both the scene and the
+locality, the only difference being that the sympathising crowd which
+now pressed round me and my fallen steed had been absent in the
+vision.</p>
+
+<p>I am not a believer in dreams, and possessing an excellent digestion
+but rarely have any, and for this one can offer no explanation beyond
+that it was a most remarkable coincidence.</p>
+
+<p>At the time it created quite a mild sensation amongst the European
+community, while the Chinese who heard of it were extremely
+interested.</p>
+
+<p>My Russian and Dutch friends I have since met on several occasions,
+when, in the presence of others, we talked of my dream and its
+fulfilment.</p>
+
+<p>Both in Peking and in the various parts of China where I have since
+been stationed, I have frequently related the occurrence to Chinese
+acquaintances, and they have always given an interpretation of it
+which has invariably been to the effect that in this world, or in a
+previous existence, I either lent money or did a great service to some
+friend, who, dying before <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>repayment had been made, came back to earth
+in the form of a horse, and after winning for me sufficient money to
+discharge his debt, returned to the realms of departed spirits.</p>
+
+<div class="block">
+<p class="right"><span class="sc">"The Hague,</span><br />
+"<i>26th March 1903</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="sc">My dear Ready</span>,&mdash;In reply to yours of 23rd I will
+certainly gladly corroborate the incident regarding Chalk's
+death. I do not remember exactly the details as you put them
+to me now, though I have not the least doubt they were the
+true features of the case. What I do still remember is this:
+that you gave &mdash;&mdash; and myself a somewhat circumstantial
+account of your dream shortly before the race; that
+immediately after the death of the pony you came up to us and
+called attention to the remarkable fulfilment of your dream,
+and that I was at the time much impressed with the case, both
+as regards the main fact and the details, which tallied
+remarkably with what I could then still remember of your
+prophetic account of the event. Whether to look upon this as
+some 'Borderland' manifestation or merely as a remarkable
+coincidence does not belong to the province of,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="right2">"Yours very truly,</p>
+<p class="right3 sc">"T.T.H. Ferguson."</p></div>
+
+<p>My Russian friend has long since returned to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>dominions of the
+Great White Czar and I have not his address, otherwise I feel
+confident that he, too, would gladly support with his testimony my
+account of this remarkable occurrence.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER V<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>SAILING</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>A good national motto for the Chinese would be "<i>Semper idem</i>," for of
+a truth they change not and as yet the shadow of turning is but
+ill-defined.</p>
+
+<p>The same types of junk that called forth the admiration of Marco Polo
+may be seen to-day, not only along the internal waterways of the
+Empire but far afield, at Singapore, in Siamese waters and amongst the
+East India Islands, and it may be interesting for yachtsmen to know
+that the problems of water-tight compartments, centre-boards, balanced
+and perforated rudders, which during the past few decades have
+exercised the minds of designers and builders in this country, were
+solved many centuries ago by the Chinese, and almost every junk afloat
+contains some, and not unfrequently all, of these equipments.</p>
+
+<p>In the stormy waters of the Formosa channel, where the monsoons raise
+a mountainous sea, thousands of fishing-boats, far out of sight of
+land, ply their business in weather which would cause the masters of
+English smacks to run for shelter.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>Mail steamers on the voyage between Hongkong and Shanghai pass through
+these fleets and their miles upon miles of bamboo-floated nets, and
+oftentimes it occurs that a good view of some of the craft may be
+obtained from deck at the distance of only a few yards, when it can be
+seen that their crews consist not of men alone as in other countries
+but of whole families&mdash;fathers, mothers, children and infants&mdash;whose
+home is in reality on the rolling deep.</p>
+
+<p>That many of these hardy souls perish at their work is a certainty,
+for it frequently happens that steamers sight their luckless craft
+bottoms upwards or rescue survivors from the wreckage.</p>
+
+<p>Out of Shanghai harbour cumbersome junks make their ways across the
+Yellow Sea to ports along the northern coasts or to the hermit kingdom
+of Corea. These vessels have frequently five or six masts spread out
+like a fan, from the foremast, which rakes forrard at an extraordinary
+angle, to the mizzenmast, which shoots well out over the stern.
+Ill-shaped sails of matting, ropes made of twisted bamboo splits,
+hemp, or cocoa-nut fibre, huge wooden anchors, and a total absence of
+paint lend to them a most ramshackle and unseaworthy appearance, while
+clothes drying on the line, cocks crowing, pigs rambling about at
+will, plants growing in pots and old tins, together with the presence
+of women <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>and children, introduce a rustic and farmlike element, and
+it is always a matter of wonder to me how these floating curiosity
+shops are able to thread their ways unaided through tortuous channels
+and crowded shipping out to sea, and when once there, why they do not
+succumb to the first rough weather they encounter.</p>
+
+<p>Taken as a whole, Chinese junks are but roughly built, and though
+generally excellent sea-boats and easily handled, their sailing powers
+are poor when compared with corresponding European craft of similar
+tonnage.</p>
+
+<p>A peculiar custom is the supplying of all vessels, whether steamers,
+junks or sampans, with large eyes, which are painted one on either
+side of the bows and as a reason for which any Chinaman will explain
+to you&mdash;"S'pose no got eye, no can see. S'pose no can see, how fashion
+can walkee."</p>
+
+<p>Another thing to be noted is that all sails without exception have
+bamboo reefing battens, which although destroying the smooth set of
+the canvas are infinitely superior to our reefing points, inasmuch as
+the largest sail can be reefed from deck, or rather reefs itself, just
+as quickly as the capstan can lower it, and without that hard work,
+waste of time and risk which going aloft or along the spars in bad
+weather necessarily entails.</p>
+
+<p>Up the mighty River Yangtse different types of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>junks may be
+numbered by the hundred, all varying in tonnage, dimensions and
+draught according to the waters they are designed to navigate.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep098" id="imagep098"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep098.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep098.jpg" width="85%" alt="Foochow Junk, showing Eye." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">Foochow Junk, showing Eye.</p>
+<p class="right2" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;"><i>To face page 98.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the estuary, and as far up as Chinkiang, sea-going papicoes from
+Ningpo are to be seen in great numbers. These gaily-painted vessels of
+from twenty to eighty tons, with their high freeboards, wide sterns,
+raking masts, tanned sails and gaudy vanes, are extremely quaint and
+picturesque.</p>
+
+<p><i>Via</i> the Grand Canal, which connects Tientsin with Hangchow, great
+quantities of tribute rice are forwarded by Chinese officials from the
+Central and Southern provinces to their Manchu rulers in the north,
+every Manchu, owing to the bare fact that he is of the ruling race,
+being entitled from his birth to a monthly allowance of rice and
+silver, and as the canal crosses the Yangtse at Chinkiang many
+deep-draught grain junks may be seen arriving there with cargoes from
+various places on the river.</p>
+
+<p>A few miles higher up, at a place called Iching, there are always
+scores of junks anchored in orderly rows waiting to load salt as it
+arrives overland from the sea-coast, where, being a Government
+monopoly, it is manufactured in saltpans under official supervision.</p>
+
+<p>Both the grain junks and the salt junks possess a certain official
+status, and are therefore kept in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>far better trim than the ordinary
+trader, and ranging anywhere from sixty to one hundred and fifty tons,
+are probably the best class of craft which frequent inland waters.
+They are heavily built, with good beam and watertight compartments.
+Their lines, while forbidding any thought of speed, are not
+ungraceful, and eminently suitable for weight carrying. With square,
+massive bows they thicken away aft, until, curving upwards with a bold
+sweep of the gunnels, their covered-in sterns, high above the balanced
+rudder, form good quarters for the lowdah and his family, where from
+tiny windows women and children peep in shy curiosity at the foreigner
+sailing by.</p>
+
+<p>The mainmast, an enormous spar of some sixty or seventy feet in
+length, is stepped almost amidships in a kind of tabernacle, and has
+neither stays nor shrouds, its only visible support being a wooden
+prop, which a few feet above the deck takes part of the pressure when
+running before the wind, so that on gazing up at its dizzy height one
+continually wonders why in heavy weather it does not go by the board
+or pound its way through the bottom of the vessel. The foremast, which
+is considerably smaller and stepped well forrard, is in like manner
+devoid of any kind of stay. Each mast sets one enormous sail of
+graceful shape, and but loosely made of a coarse, native material,
+resembling cheap <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>calico. The cloths, running vertically, are
+interwoven with the bamboo reefing battens, and though but lightly
+stitched together, seem capable of withstanding an enormous strain.</p>
+
+<p>Varnished a light yellow, which shimmers in the sun, and displaying
+gaudy banners on which the signs of the guilds to which they belong
+are printed in large characters, it is a beautiful sight to watch a
+fleet of these stately ships glide by, with their towering sails
+goose-winged before the breeze, and churning up the waters with their
+blunt, unyielding prows.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the elaborate system of guilds which permeates Chinese
+society, one of the most meritorious is the lifeboat guild. Apart from
+official aid and direction, it is mostly supported by voluntary
+contributions, and to an extent which allows of lifeboats being
+stationed at many points of danger.</p>
+
+<p>In fine weather these "red-boats," as, owing to their usual colour,
+they are commonly called, lay up in creeks or shelters while the crews
+pass their time at leisure, but as soon as a storm arises they
+immediately put out and ride to a drift-anchor, ready at a moment's
+notice to hoist sail and dash to the rescue of any craft in distress.</p>
+
+<p>At Hankow, where a north-easterly gale against a four-knot current
+raises a choppy and heavy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>sea most dangerous for small craft, I have
+seen four red-boats racing from different directions to rescue the
+occupants of a capsized sampan. With sails fully hoisted before the
+gale and smothered by the waves, in an incredibly short time they were
+on the scene of the accident, where, rounding to, the work of salvage
+was carried out in a most plucky and seamanlike manner. These boats
+have no stem, the bows, which are square and about four feet in width,
+sloping away underneath in a gentle curve, so that their tendency is
+to skim over the water like a dish instead of cutting through it. They
+are decked forrard flush with the gunnel for nearly half their length,
+when a low cabin takes up the space as far as the well, which is quite
+aft.</p>
+
+<p>Flat-bottomed, and using lee-boards, they draw very little water,
+while a single mast and sail of the light and convenient Chinese
+pattern render them extremely handy. Hand-lines are looped round the
+sides in the customary manner, but there is no cork belt.</p>
+
+<p>Their qualities are so good that our own National Lifeboat Institution
+would do well to study the model for use in places where a sandy beach
+and shoal water make it sometimes impossible to launch the type of
+lifeboat now in general use.</p>
+
+<p>Gun-boats, or police junks, are ubiquitous. A very low freeboard and
+no cabin, with the exception <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>of a kind of deck-house quite aft, where
+the helmsman stands, one mast hoisting a gracefully-cut sail with
+alternate blue and white cloths, a small muzzle-loading cannon in the
+bows, and a crew of ten or a dozen in quaint uniforms, who, when wind
+fails, take to the sweeps, and standing up facing the direction in
+which they are going, and keeping good time, propel the boat at a fair
+pace. When at anchor an awning in blue and white stripes affords a
+commodious shelter. Being official vessels they are spic and span in
+light yellow varnish, and frequently fly a number of really beautiful
+flags of marvellous design and brilliant colouring. The
+<i>tout-ensemble</i> is smart, weird, pleasing and eminently suitable for a
+Drury Lane pantomime. Of shallow draught, and of size varying in
+accordance with the waters they are destined to patrol, I have seen
+them as large as twenty tons and as small as a skiff, having an old
+flint gingall mounted forrard with all the circumstance of a 12-inch
+gun.</p>
+
+<p>Between the treaty-port of Ichang, which is a thousand miles from the
+sea, and the treaty-port of Chungking, which is four hundred miles
+higher up, lie the celebrated Yangtse Gorges.</p>
+
+<p>Ichang is, for all practical purposes, the present terminus of
+steamship traffic, for although a few small steamers have passed
+through the Gorges and reached Chungking, there have been many
+failures, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>and one German vessel, the ss. <i>Shuihsiang</i>, built
+expressly for the run, was dashed on the rocks and sank when on her
+maiden trip.</p>
+
+<p>The scenery of the Gorges is the grandest I have ever seen, and made a
+greater impression on me than even that of the Rocky Mountains.</p>
+
+<p>My trip there was in the month of November, when the river was low and
+the current slack, albeit it raced by at five or six miles an hour.</p>
+
+<p>Having hired a suitable boat at Ichang we set sail before a strong
+up-river breeze, and by carefully following all indentations of the
+river bank managed to keep in fairly slack water, until we reached a
+point where the Gorges actually commence. Here a tow-line was got out,
+and by the frantic efforts of half-a-dozen trackers, in addition to
+the sail, we slowly forged ahead but at not more than two miles an
+hour, although the foam breaking over our bows and a broad wake astern
+showed that we were passing through the water at the rate of eight or
+nine.</p>
+
+<p>The Gorges are where the mighty river has forced a passage through a
+lofty range of mountains, which barred its progress to the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Seated on my tiny craft, and gazing up at the towering cliffs which
+rise almost perpendicularly for hundreds and sometimes thousands of
+feet on either side, I could see caves, terraces and strata, which
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>indicate with a marvellous distinctness the different levels of the
+river, as during untold ages it has eaten its way through solid rock
+and stone to its present bed. This manifestation of the irresistible
+forces of nature produces a singularly sobering effect on the mind by
+making one keenly feel how utterly insignificant we mortals really
+are. Along ledges on the beetling cliffs the ubiquitous Chinaman has
+built his home and planted orange groves, so that far overhead rich
+clusters of golden fruit lend an effective touch of colour to the
+beauty and majesty of the scene.</p>
+
+<p>All junks in use between Chungking and Ichang are built with a view to
+navigating the numerous rapids occurring in the Gorges, and are
+chiefly remarkable for their abnormally high sterns, which, in the
+event of grounding on a sandbank while descending with a ten-knot
+current, serve as a protection against being pooped.</p>
+
+<p>One or two masts with the ordinary Chinese sails, an immense sweep in
+the bows as an aid in turning, and a strong rudder with an enormous
+tiller, are the chief items of equipment.</p>
+
+<p>On the voyage down, which takes less than a week, a crew of ten or a
+dozen would be sufficient for a medium-sized junk, but for the return
+journey against stream, and which takes from four to eight weeks
+according to the strength of the current, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>from forty to a hundred
+trackers are necessary in addition to the regular hands.</p>
+
+<p>As in the Gorges the river is liable to freshets, which in a few hours
+may cause a rise of thirty or forty feet, the foreshore is at an
+uncertain height, for which reason, probably, no towing-paths have
+been made.</p>
+
+<p>Upward-bound junks, in addition to their sails, have an immense
+hawser, made of twisted bamboo splits, leading from the top of the
+mainmast to the river bank, and to the shore end of which, for a
+length of about forty to a hundred feet, the trackers fasten the
+yokes, with one of which each man is supplied, and which are long
+enough to admit a play of ten or fifteen feet on either side of the
+cable.</p>
+
+<p>It is a stirring sight to see a big junk being bodily forced by wind
+and manual power against a strong current. The trackers swarm over
+rocks and mounds along the foreshore like a pack of hounds, singing,
+laughing and shouting as they go, the mainmast bends beneath the heavy
+strain, the hawser is cleared from jutting boulders by intrepid
+swimmers, who in pursuit of their vocation must often plunge into the
+racing torrent, and the vessel roars through the water with foaming
+bows, though the progress made may be but a few yards within the hour,
+while if, as frequently occurs, the hawser <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>carries away, she is
+whirled three or four miles down stream before the crew can again
+bring her to anchor by the bank.</p>
+
+<p>Wrecks are numerous in this seething maelstrom, and a heavy toll in
+lives is taken from the brave and hardy fellows whose lot is cast by
+these waters of strife.</p>
+
+<p>It was on this trip that I saw a Chinaman fishing with the help of an
+otter.</p>
+
+<p>The animal had a long cord fastened round its neck like a ferret, and
+was attached by it to the bows of a sampan, which was rowed by a
+woman, while the fisherman, standing on the fore part, gathered in his
+hands a net, circular in shape and having a hole in the centre large
+enough to admit the otter.</p>
+
+<p>On arriving at a suitable spot the net was cast with a sweep of the
+arm, so that like a spider's web it spread over a considerable area of
+water.</p>
+
+<p>Heavily weighted at the edges it sank quickly until the leads rested
+on the bottom of the river. The fisherman then hauled at a line until
+the hole in the centre appeared above the surface, when the otter,
+plunging through it, dived inside the net, quickly to reappear with a
+fish in its mouth, whereon he was unceremoniously hauled on board and
+his prey taken from him, after which he was again ushered through the
+hole into the folds of the net.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>While stationed at Kiukiang I possessed a teak-built four-oared gig
+which, being heavy and strong, I rigged with a jib and mainsail,
+besides adding six inches to her keel, when she proved to be a handy
+and seaworthy little craft. An iron framework could be erected over
+the stern-sheets and covered with a canvas hood, thus forming quite a
+roomy and comfortable cabin, while a light awning protected the well
+of the boat, so that I was quite able to make trips in her extending
+over two or three days.</p>
+
+<p>From time to time natives had spoken to me of a Purple Lake where,
+they said, but few Europeans had ever been, and along the shores of
+which good shooting could be found.</p>
+
+<p>This sounded sufficiently alluring, so, the opportunity offering, I
+started on a voyage of discovery in my gig, taking with me a couple of
+trusty native boatmen. Mounting the Yangtse for a short distance we
+entered a narrow creek, along which we were carried by a swift current
+between walls of reeds so tall that they effectually shut off the
+wind. At dark we tied up near a village, from which dozens of dogs
+presently arrived, and which when not fighting amongst themselves
+barked at us throughout the night with the most exasperating
+persistence. Mosquitoes also were particularly numerous, so that with
+the first streak of dawn we were only too thankful to cast off and
+continue our journey. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>During the morning we passed through pleasant
+scenery, and I observed a heronry in some dead trees on the left,
+while a deer swam the creek two hundred yards ahead of the boat; the
+lake being reached shortly before noon.</p>
+
+<p>It was a refreshing sight. Clear, sparkling water dotted with
+fishing-boats and wild-fowl, little green-capped islands with white
+cliffs and a range of lofty mountains in the background. After a swim
+and a hearty tiffin we sailed on with a good breeze, exploring the
+different arms of the lake, until about three o'clock, when I landed
+with my gun.</p>
+
+<p>The country, though hilly, was richly cultivated, the principal crop
+being tobacco, and after a delightful walk I returned on board with a
+brace of pheasants and a woodcock. That night we passed in comfort
+anchored in a tiny bay sheltered by lofty cliffs, and the morning was
+well aired before our cruise was resumed.</p>
+
+<p>At the further end of the lake what at first appeared to be a stately
+town was seen rising from the water's edge and reflected on its
+glistening surface, but a nearer approach revealed the inevitable
+shabbiness and ruin which distance had concealed and mirage had
+beautified. A fisherman informed us that it was the "Purple City."</p>
+
+<p>Later on I landed on some low ground, and walking amongst the paddy
+fields bagged ten couple <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>of snipe in less than an hour, after which
+we sailed on again up a narrow arm of the lake with beautiful cliffs
+and wooded hills on either side. Arriving at the end of this inlet we
+anchored for tiffin, and early in the afternoon commenced to beat back
+against a northerly wind.</p>
+
+<p>During the morning I had observed a number of boats crossing the lake
+from all directions and converging on a certain point, and now, on
+rounding a sharp headland, we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of
+hundreds of craft of many descriptions, each bearing a load of
+gaily-dressed holiday-makers, while several long canoes, each paddled
+by twenty or thirty men, raced backwards and forwards to a great
+beating of gongs and a firing of guns. It was the dragon-boat
+festival, and no sooner were we observed than all these boats
+immediately closed round in order that their occupants might more
+closely inspect the European and his strange-looking craft.</p>
+
+<p>Far from my presence being resented I was most courteously treated,
+and after many questions had been put and answered by either side, a
+race of the dragon-boats was given for my particular edification,
+while as they sped by I fired a salute from my Winchester, which
+evidently gave immense satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>I would here observe that wherever my wanderings in China have led me
+I have never been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>molested, nor, beyond the epithet of "foreign
+devil" applied freely by boys from a safe distance, have I been
+insulted. While this is not the experience of many, I am obliged to
+confess that the fault does not lie wholly with the natives.</p>
+
+<p>I have noticed men enter a village with guns, dogs and a tribe of
+beaters, and to an old inhabitant, who courteously bowed his welcome,
+one of them shouted roughly, "Well, Johnnie, how are you?"</p>
+
+<p>The aged celestial, not understanding a word though comprehending the
+roughness, remained silent, whereon the European exclaimed insolently,
+"Who are you staring at, you old fool?"</p>
+
+<p>At this point the village dogs, excited by such an unexpected
+invasion, commenced to bark, and were instantly stoned by the
+intruders, so that the old Chinaman, to avoid being struck, hurried
+into his house and closed the door, while the sportsmen and their
+troop passed through the sleepy hamlet like a whirlwind, scaring
+women, children, fowls and pigs and disgusting the inhabitants by
+their uncouthness. Such behaviour, I fear, is only too common.</p>
+
+<p>In my experience it is seldom that a courteous bearing does not meet
+with immediate friendly response.</p>
+
+<p>As the wind was dropping and there were signs of rain I left my
+new-made friends and returned to the little bay beneath the cliffs,
+where we had spent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>the previous night. Before dark the rain was
+coming down steadily, but having rigged tarpaulins over the hood and
+awning we so far kept dry and comfortable.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of the night I was awakened by a torrential downpour and
+by the roar of a heavy gale as it swept over the cliffs high above our
+heads. Despite the tarpaulins the wet found its way in and soaked us
+to the skin, so that with daylight we were glad to make preparations
+for returning to Kiukiang.</p>
+
+<p>The awning we took in, but the lashings of the tarpaulins which
+covered the hood were so tightened by moisture that it was impossible
+to unknot them, and so the structure was left standing.</p>
+
+<p>Starting off under the jib alone with the wind dead astern, it was not
+until the shelter of the cliffs had been left and return was already
+impossible that I realised what we were in for.</p>
+
+<p>The gale was a perfect hurricane, before which we flew at a tremendous
+pace. The further we left the land the higher the swell became, until
+it suddenly dawned on me that our chances of covering the four or five
+miles before reaching the creek were not very bright.</p>
+
+<p>I have not been in many tight places, but this certainly was one.</p>
+
+<p>The boatmen had realised our dangerous straits, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>and failing at the
+pinch, as I have seen Chinamen do before and since, crouched down with
+faces blanched to putty and almost too terror-stricken to bail out the
+water which we shipped in ever-increasing quantities.</p>
+
+<p>A thick mist of driven spray covered the surface of the lake, and the
+boat rolled wildly in the waves, which although not very high were
+short and heavy and hissed as if in a rapid.</p>
+
+<p>We should have been swamped over the stern again and again had it not
+been for the hood, which more by good fortune than by design I had
+left standing. The tiller happily was a long one, and by exerting all
+my strength we kept a fairly straight course, eventually dashing
+through clouds of driven foam into the creek, though in a half-swamped
+condition. We had got off scot-free, but it had been touch and go. If
+the hood and tarpaulins had failed to keep out the seas we should have
+been pooped, and if the jib-sheets had carried away or the rudder
+become unshipped we should have broached to, when immediate
+destruction would have been our lot.</p>
+
+<p>The remainder of the journey was simple enough, and in a few hours we
+were safely back in port.</p>
+
+<p>Both at Hongkong and Shanghai, where the European population numbers
+several thousands, there is a yacht club, each containing several
+up-to-date classes, ranging from half-raters to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>fifteen-tonners, and
+regattas under various conditions are of frequent occurrence. These
+clubs, as well as the yachts, being practically identical with those
+in this country, it is unnecessary to enter into details.</p>
+
+<p>At Hongkong the sailing is on a bright, blue sea, whether in the
+magnificent harbour or amongst the numerous lovely islands, while at
+Shanghai it is on the muddy waters of the Whangpoo, which, except for
+the fact that it is the harbour of this thriving settlement, where
+scores of vessels of all sizes and nationalities ride at anchor or are
+berthed alongside wharves, is a small and uninteresting river flowing
+into the estuary of the Yangtse.</p>
+
+<p>From the ancient Portuguese colony of Macao, distant forty miles from
+Hongkong and celebrated as the home of the poet Camo&euml;ns, come fleets
+of fishing-boats, which, in pursuit of their calling, cruise amongst
+the islands in the delta of the West River.</p>
+
+<p>These "Macao junks" are about the best sea-boats and the fastest
+sailers of all Chinese vessels.</p>
+
+<p>Built on graceful lines, and of light material, they possess the
+buoyancy of a duck, rarely shipping water even in the heaviest sea,
+while with two masts carrying well-shaped sails of matting, immense
+perforated, balanced rudders, and being of light draught, they handle
+so well that they can turn a complete circle in their own length.
+While unable to sail as close to the wind as a yacht, their chief
+point is in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>running, when with huge sails set on either side they
+will tear along at a pace perfectly astounding for craft of their
+unpretentious build and rig.</p>
+
+<p>During a pleasant two years' sojourn in this colony I sailed a smart
+little cutter of about one and a half tons, so that I was able to
+thoroughly test the merits of these junks, and while rather more than
+holding my own on all points in a light breeze, I could only make a
+good show in strong winds and rough water when sailing full and by,
+and was considerably outpaced in running free.</p>
+
+<p>Although these waters are infested with pirates and smugglers, as
+evidenced by such names as "Dead Man's Grave," "Robbers' Point,"
+"Grave Island," "Pirates' Creek" and the like, Europeans are but
+seldom molested, and although generally taking my Winchester as a
+precautionary measure when going any distance from port, I have spent
+many delightful days in standing out to sea, sailing through the
+numerous creeks with which the hinterland is intersected, or in
+cruising amongst the islands, on which sometimes I would land, and
+creeping round the rocky shores with my gun would frequently surprise
+wildfowl feeding amongst the shallow bays and pools.</p>
+
+<p>At other times, in company with a convivial friend, I would get under
+way in the cool of the evening, and after running out to sea for an
+hour <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>or so to enjoy the night breezes setting in from the Pacific,
+and perhaps laying to for a swim, we would return to the lovely bay,
+and dropping anchor off the Praia Grande dine by moonlight to the
+strains of the Portuguese military band, which played two or three
+times weekly either at the Governor's Palace or in the public gardens,
+both of which overlooked the sea.</p>
+
+<p>When on a trip up the Sikiang or West River from Canton to Wuchow, I
+observed many junks fitted with what may be described as an adjustable
+cut-water or bow-board.</p>
+
+<p>These vessels, having great beam and perfectly flat bottoms, would
+only draw a few inches, and as their provenance was evidently from
+shallow waters, where neither keels, centre-boards nor lee-boards
+could be employed, recourse was had to enormous rudders and these
+cut-waters as a means of hauling a wind, the device apparently
+answering fairly well.</p>
+
+<p>As far as I could see, a deep groove was cut along the stem, and the
+bow-board, perhaps three feet in width, was slipped into it and made
+fast at the top with a lashing.</p>
+
+<p>In beating to windward these cut-waters were in position, but when
+running free they were unshipped and laid on the foredeck.</p>
+
+<p>Wherever foreigners congregate, but more especially at Shanghai and up
+the Yangtse, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>house-boat, combining comfort, convenience and fair
+sailing powers, is a favourite means of getting about on shooting
+trips and picnics, and altogether forms an important feature of the
+pleasant existence which we lead in the Far East.</p>
+
+<p>The hull usually resembles that of a light-draught yacht, with either
+a drop-keel or lee-boards, so that shallow creeks may be readily
+entered.</p>
+
+<p>In rig they are semi-Chinese, the shape of the sail being that of the
+ordinary balanced lug, which bamboo reefing battens with a sheet-line
+leading from the extremity of each to the main-sheet render extremely
+handy and safe. A jib can also be set, but as it destroys the
+simplicity of the rig it is greatly disliked by the crew and therefore
+seldom utilised.</p>
+
+<p>The particular craft which I have now in mind is an excellent
+sea-boat, fast and comfortable, has a fine cabin with four berths,
+tables folding on either side of the centre-board well, and capable of
+seating a dozen, stove, gun-racks, glass and bottle brackets and
+numerous lockers. There is also a bathroom and lavatory, a kitchen
+with good cooking range, quarters forrard for the crew&mdash;which consists
+of the lowdah and four sailors, together with cook, boy and
+dog-coolie&mdash;while on deck are the water-tanks, kennels, and a small
+sampan by way of a jolly.</p>
+
+<p>Replete with every comfort, a shooting-box for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>the sportsman and a
+sure refuge for the overworked, the house-boat represents to me the
+acme of leisure and repose.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"And the night shall be fill'd with music,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And the cares that infest the day<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And as silently steal away."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>JAMBOREES</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>It is nearing twenty years ago since I celebrated my last bump supper
+in my old college at Cambridge, but the remembrance of it is so bright
+and cheering in the monotony of daily life that time is much abridged,
+and it seems but yesterday that the two pailfuls of smoking milk punch
+worked such deadly havoc amongst four crews of well-trained men that
+ultimately they were mostly laid out in a row, with consequent sore
+heads and interviews with the dean next morning. A bump supper is an
+orgy never to be forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>A jamboree is a very analogous function. Where and what the word comes
+from I do not know, but its meaning in the Far East is universally
+understood to be a bachelor entertainment consisting of an enormous
+dinner with plenty of wine, tales, songs and general hilarity,
+occasionally verging on riotousness with breakage of household
+furniture and other effects.</p>
+
+<p>As I glance back over the past fifteen years such <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>wild nights stand
+out like beacons in pleasing relief from the many respectable
+gatherings, be it in Church or Society, at which I have had the honour
+of assisting, but which have left no impressions sufficiently vivid to
+class them with treasured souvenirs or even provoke a smile.</p>
+
+<p>Some years since there visited Hankow a personage of exalted rank,
+who, being a near kinsman of one of the most powerful of Europe's
+present rulers, was received with patriotic enthusiasm by the large
+colony of his nationals domiciled there, and with every mark of
+respect by all other members of the cosmopolitan community.</p>
+
+<p>His arrival in one of the fine Chinese river-boats was signalised by
+what might have been a fatal catastrophe but for the skilful
+man&oelig;uvring of his ship by the veteran American skipper.</p>
+
+<p>Just as the vessel had threaded her way through numerous ocean
+steamers and foreign gun-boats anchored in the stream, and was slowly
+approaching the hulk alongside which she was to be made fast, an
+enormous raft of timber, bearing a whole village of huts and a
+considerable population of raft navigators, caught by the swirling
+eddy caused by a freshet from the River Han, which 200 yards above
+this point was pouring at right angles into the mighty Yangtse's
+five-knot current, bore swiftly down on the steamer, threatening to
+strike her amidships and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>either pin her to the hulk or crush her
+against the stone-faced bund, when she must have been immediately
+sunk. Unaware of the danger until it was almost upon him, the captain
+had just time to reverse his engines, and by going full speed astern
+with the helm hard over bring his ship round so as to receive the
+threatened blow end on instead of abeam. The impact nearly drove the
+vessel's stern into the hulk, but with her engines now going full
+speed ahead, and churning up two white lanes of foam with her
+paddle-wheels, she rammed her bows into the raft, and just managing to
+deflect its course they floated down with the stream locked together,
+until by a miracle they had passed clear of all the shipping, though
+at times only by a few feet, and the steamer with her illustrious
+passenger again bore up for her berth, after the narrowest of escapes
+but without having sustained the slightest damage.</p>
+
+<p>These enormous rafts, composed chiefly of bamboos and pines, generally
+come from the forests of Hunan, and after crossing the Tongting lake
+float down the Yangtse to places where wood is scarce and a good
+market obtains. They vary in size, but sometimes are a hundred yards
+in length by twenty in breadth, and draw probably from ten to twenty
+feet. With their huts of bamboo and matting, with long sweeps both
+ahead and astern for steering, and great coils of plaited bamboo ropes
+for mooring <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>purposes, they present an extremely picturesque
+appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst other festivities arranged by his compatriots in honour of the
+distinguished visitor, a banquet, preceded by a reception of prominent
+residents, was given at the club. It being almost midsummer, the
+weather was fearfully hot, the thermometer registering over ninety
+after sundown, and as a notification had been issued with all
+invitations that black evening dress would be <i>de rigueur</i> we were
+debarred from wearing our cool, white mess jackets, and all arrived at
+the club almost melting inside thick broadcloths.</p>
+
+<p>A very amusing little episode occurred at the reception.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the few ladies present were the wife and daughter of a Western
+official. They had evidently been "raised" away from the beaten tracks
+of Society and crowned heads had not been their daily companions. On
+this party being presented, the official and his wife preserved a
+diplomatic silence, but mademoiselle was not inclined to take things
+for granted, and seeing neither golden crown nor purple robe she
+evidently had misgivings. "Are you really the grand duke?" she
+inquired with striking accent; "are you really a prince?" The prince
+smilingly replied that such was the case, on which his fair
+interrogator exclaimed, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>"Oh, my! I <i>am</i> surprised," and then slowly
+retired from the front but with many backward glances of unconcealed
+disappointment.</p>
+
+<p>A large number of residents had received the honour of an invitation,
+probably a hundred sitting down, and, as is customary in China, each
+guest brought his own servant, so that from a hundred and fifty to two
+hundred people were assembled in one large room, which together with
+the hot dishes and a great many lamps caused the temperature to go up
+several degrees, adding greatly to the discomfort we already
+experienced owing to our thick clothes.</p>
+
+<p>To still further increase the torture, a crowd of Chinese which had
+collected in the streets below commenced to throw stones through the
+open windows. One passed between my right-hand neighbour and myself,
+shivering my wine-glasses to atoms. The windows and shutters were
+hastily closed, and very shortly the temperature must have still
+further increased by several degrees. Champagne flowed in streams, a
+short speech of welcome was made by the local sport, to which the
+guest of honour replied, "White Wings" was sung by the doctor, and the
+parboiled throng descended to the lower precincts of the building to
+watch a display of fireworks. The heat was awful. Not a breath of air,
+and the sulphurous smoke from the fireworks <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>hung low on the ground in
+white masses, and seemed to seek shelter in the club, for in a very
+short time the place was flooded with the choking fumes which caused
+one to feel a tightness across the chest and a stinging in the eyes,
+and which made it impossible to see across the room.</p>
+
+<p>The prince withdrew at a somewhat early hour, and after a time the
+guests commenced to disperse.</p>
+
+<p>The heat, the champagne and the sulphur smoke had proved too much for
+me. I attempted to walk straight, but the power to do so was gone.
+First one foot would strike a hill, then the other would go down into
+a deep hole, and so on, while lamp-posts and buildings seemed to whirl
+past and round at a fearful pace.</p>
+
+<p>When nearing my quarters I heard a faint "hillo" from a by-street, and
+a continental mess-mate stumbled almost into my arms. He fully
+intended to do so and I had no wish to avoid him but somehow we missed
+each other and both fell prostrate on the pavement. Far from feeling
+any ill-humour at this catastrophe, we both thought it a capital joke,
+and I can distinctly remember our sitting side by side in the gutter
+and swearing eternal friendship. After this things are vague, and the
+next I remember is going upstairs on all fours and then opening my
+bedroom door. A most remarkable sight presented itself. I have seen
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>mirage in the Arabian desert, but I have never seen anything like
+that. There was my bed, shrunk to the size of about one inch in
+length, at the top corner of the room near the ceiling, dancing up and
+down at the end of a bright and circling tunnel. How to get there I
+did not know. I can just remember sinking on hands and knees in order
+to attempt the climb, when the floor struck me so violently in the
+face that I lost consciousness, awaking late next morning to find
+myself reclining on the bed, but still in my dress clothes. My friend,
+it was said, attempted to go to bed in his bath, where he was
+discovered in full evening dress, scooping the water over himself and
+complaining that he could not keep the sheets up. But this is by the
+way.</p>
+
+<p>At Kiukiang, where I happened to be a few years later, the community
+was small, consisting of a few married couples and perhaps half a
+dozen bachelors.</p>
+
+<p>Time hung like lead, and small wonder that now and again we young men
+would foregather round the festive board, when high spirits long pent
+up would burst forth with a <i>vim</i> that is but rarely attained in
+places offering perennial sources of amusement.</p>
+
+<p>On the occasion in question the dinner was at our mess, which, besides
+myself, consisted of an Italian and a tall American of stern and
+unbending nature. Our guests were two Russians and two Scotchmen, all
+we could muster, but excellent in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>quality. After a jovial repast we
+sallied forth on to the bund, and being a bright moonlight night,
+romance entered into our souls, and we started to serenade the various
+ladies of the port. First to the Consulate, where we drew up in line
+on the lawn, the time being 2 a.m., and rendered "God Save the Queen"
+with great execution and considerable pathos, notwithstanding
+pronounced differences in American, Italian, Scotch, Russian and
+English accentuation. Subsequently visits were made to all the other
+houses, with the exception of one, where we rather feared to intrude,
+as the good lady, while very affable as a rule, would stand no
+nonsense, and when she did not wish to be pleasant could treat one to
+a touch of sarcasm which would last for some time. However, we finally
+summoned up courage and approached the house as noiselessly and
+guiltily as a gang of thieves. The front gate was locked and eight
+feet high, but after some delay we scaled it, ranged ourselves on the
+lower verandah and were halfway through "My Bonnie Lives over the
+Ocean," when a crash overhead announced that we were in for a storm. I
+have never in my life seen seven men break and fly in such utter
+terror. Once off the verandah into the moonlight we were in full view
+of the outraged dame, who stood in a commanding attitude on the upper
+verandah in her dressing-gown, almost speechless with emotion, but
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>gesticulating frantically. We rushed at the gate, and in our eagerness
+to be on the other side fought and wrestled with each other for first
+place. The upper bars broke away in our hands, bricks came off the top
+of the adjoining walls, and it was fully five minutes before we were
+in the road, breathless, with torn clothes, and I, personally, with a
+sprained wrist.</p>
+
+<p>We now felt we were in for a bad time next day, and so, to revive our
+drooping spirits, repaired to the house of one of the Russians. Here
+vodka, caviare, salmon-back, sardines, Bologna sausage and other
+little dainties common to the <i>zacousca</i> furnished us with a most
+<i>recherch&eacute;</i> supper. We ate everything and drank a good deal. By this
+time we were again in the wildest spirits and fit for anything. Our
+tall American friend was still somewhat unbent, and being of an
+inquiring turn of mind was examining the trap-door through which the
+dinner is handed by the cook from the pantry into the dining-room. No
+sooner was his head well through than he was pounced on by the two
+Caledonians, who, seizing him by the legs below the knee, shot his six
+feet odd through the trap-door as if they had been tossing the caber.
+A terrific crash of crockery told its own tale; the Russian's best
+dinner service was no more. Rising from the fragments the victim
+declared it to be his opinion that all, with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>the exception of
+himself, were inebriated and unfit for the society of respectable
+citizens, after which delivery he withdrew to his own quarters.</p>
+
+<p>Next we heard female shrieks and screams, accompanied by a heavy
+tramping of feet down the stairs, and two of our joyous band appeared,
+bearing in triumph by her head and her heels, the struggling form of
+our host's Chinese housekeeper, clad in nothing but her night
+garments. She was laid tenderly on the dining-room table and comforted
+with some <i>Veuve Clicquot</i> champagne, for the poor creature had been
+somewhat upset by being pounced on when asleep in bed and hauled off
+with so little ceremony and preparation into the publicity of a
+well-lighted room full of masculine visitors.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after daylight the company separated with many expressions of
+mutual esteem. On my way to bed I thought our American chum should be
+interviewed and an explanation made that no offence was intended by
+the recent treatment of him. He was in bed and sleeping heavily, so I
+was obliged to wake him in order to fulfil my mission of peace. To say
+that he received these overtures in a friendly spirit would be
+incorrect. He seemed to be preparing for immediate hostilities, and
+so, not to be taken at a disadvantage, I closed with him as he leaped
+out of bed. The <i>m&ecirc;l&eacute;e</i> lasted probably five minutes, during which
+brief period his furniture was hurled in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>chaotic profusion all round
+the room, my black mess jacket was divided up the back from the tail
+to the collar, his pyjamas carried away, and the skin was detached
+from his bare feet by my boots. So ended a glorious evening. Next day
+we all lay low, but learnt that a certain person had interviewed the
+Consul with a view to legal proceedings for alleged housebreaking. Our
+enemy, however, was check-mated, and ourselves saved, by the veracious
+testimony of a dear old Scotch lady, who lived in the adjoining house,
+and who declared that our serenade was "verra nice though a wee bit
+muxed," and that she herself had enjoyed it immensely.</p>
+
+<p>One often hears of the flower-boats of Canton, and immediately
+associates them with gaily-painted gondolas, tenanted by captivating
+sirens and decorated with perfumed flowers and plants, growing with a
+luxurious profusion common only to the Flowery Land. "Flower-girl" is
+the universal Chinese term for those young women who dance and sing in
+public, and who for regular fees attend at Chinese dinner-parties,
+composed exclusively of men, to flirt with the guests while filling
+their pipes and pouring out their wine. Poor parents having larger
+families than they can support frequently sell one or two of their
+best-looking daughters to professional trainers, who, after teaching
+them to dance and sing, send them to the flower-boats in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>hopes that
+they may there captivate wealthy <i>habitu&eacute;s</i>, when handsome prices
+would be realised.</p>
+
+<p>These girls are frequently not of bad character, but being on the
+marriage market employ their wiles to secure husbands, in which they
+sometimes succeed, passing into the hands of rich Chinese for three,
+four or five hundred dollars, according to their merits, as wives of
+an inferior rank, say number four or six.</p>
+
+<p>At various places in the south, but especially at Canton and Wuchow, a
+number of large, ugly junks with spacious cabins are moored alongside
+each other in a certain locality. They possess no very striking
+features, and those I have seen at Wuchow were absolutely devoid of
+flowers or plants of any kind, the name "flower-boat" signifying
+nothing more than the haunt of the flower-girl.</p>
+
+<p>In the cabins of these craft it is the fashionable thing amongst
+well-to-do Chinamen to hold their jamborees. They hire a particular
+junk for a certain date, and at the appointed hour the party assembles
+there, being received by two or three unprepossessing servants.
+Dinner, or whatever form the entertainment may take, is commenced, and
+as general mirth rises with the good cheer, guests write on a slate
+provided for the purpose the names of such flower-girls as they may
+fancy. This slate is quickly carried to where the girls live, hard by,
+and shortly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>they will appear, staying for a time to dance, sing and
+dally with their admirers, after which they will pass on to other
+boats to fulfil further engagements.</p>
+
+<p>The singing is execrable, being a high, nasal falsetto, and the
+dancing, or rather swaying on their tiny feet while waving overhead a
+dirty cloth in their beautifully-shaped hands, is feeble in the
+extreme. A band of musicians is usually engaged, after protracted
+haggling, to enliven the proceedings. Two or three native fiddles of
+most primitive make wail incessantly, cymbals clash recklessly, a kind
+of flute resembling bagpipes in sound squirls, while a wooden drum
+adds to the deafening din. The girls squeak and posture, the place
+reeks with pungent tobacco smoke and the smell of garlic, the guests
+munch dried melon seeds, spitting the husks on to the floor, and shout
+to make each other hear above the general uproar.</p>
+
+<p>To escape from this inferno was the chief pleasure of the evening, and
+any romantic ideas I may have had with respect to "flower-boats" will
+remain shattered for ever.</p>
+
+<p>Macao has been a Portuguese colony for upwards of three centuries, it
+having been ceded to its original settlers by the viceroy of Canton in
+recognition of services rendered by those intrepid buccaneers in
+freeing neighbouring waters from pirates and robbers. It is a most
+quaint and interesting little place, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>wearing a look of medi&aelig;val
+times, and still possessing many traces of former prosperity, though
+now chiefly remarkable for its legalised gambling facilities, for
+which reason it is frequently called the Monte Carlo of the Far East,
+there being also a certain natural resemblance.</p>
+
+<p>At Hongkong gambling is strictly prohibited amongst the Chinese, while
+at Canton gaming-houses are heavily taxed, so that natives come in
+great numbers from both places to Macao in order to play <i>fantan</i>
+without constant dread of police interference. All fantan shops, as
+they are called, contain but one gambling-table each, which is on the
+ground floor. This table is covered with a fine grass mat and
+surrounded on three sides with benches for the players, while on the
+fourth side sit the croupier and the banker or shroff. In the ceiling
+a large hole has been cut immediately over, and corresponding in size
+with, the table, and a railing placed round it in the room above, so
+that players can mount to the first floor, and bending over the
+railing look directly down on the gambling. In the centre of the table
+lies a thin slab of lead about six inches square, the sides of which
+represent the numbers one, two, three and four.</p>
+
+<p>The croupier has immediately in front of him a pile of bright copper
+cash, perhaps two pints. From these he takes a large double-handful,
+which he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>places well on the table and covers with a small metal
+bowl. Now is the time for making bets on the four numbers. Suppose we
+put a dollar on number three. In the course of a few minutes all those
+who desire to bet have done so, stakes from the first floor being put
+into a basket by an attendant and lowered on to the table by means of
+a string, and the little square of lead is surrounded with coins,
+notes and counters arranged by the shroff. Now the croupier, with a
+thin stick about a foot in length, commences to scrape away four coins
+at a time from the double-handful of cash. One, two, three, four. One,
+two, three, four, and so on. The little heap begins to diminish. The
+eager gamblers, who are generally all Chinese, bend forward with
+straining eyes to within a few inches of the croupier's stick, so that
+any cheating would be well-nigh impossible. One, two, three, four.
+Only a few more cash. The excitement is intense. One, two, three....
+Three cash remain!</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep133" id="imagep133"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep133.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep133.jpg" width="85%" alt="Playing Fantan in Private House." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">Playing Fantan in Private House.</p>
+<p class="right2" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;"><i>To face page 133.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Number three wins. All those who bet on one, two and four lose their
+stakes, while those who bet on three receive five times the amount of
+their stakes after a deduction of twenty-five per cent. has been made.
+We put a dollar on number three; well, after deducting twenty-five per
+cent. from it as profit for the table, seventy-five cents are left,
+and we receive five times that amount, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>which is equal to three
+dollars and seventy-five cents.</p>
+
+<p>These fantan shops, of which there may be twenty or thirty, are all
+licensed and kept under strict supervision, being farmed out to rich
+syndicates by the Portuguese authorities, the large sums thus realised
+forming no inconsiderable part of the colony's revenue.</p>
+
+<p>Play goes on day and night all the year round, Sundays included, and
+is practically unlimited, for it is possible to bet from five cents to
+five hundred dollars at a time. Large sums are continually won and
+lost, it being a common thing to see gamblers, both men and women,
+after staking their last cash hand over watches, jewellery and other
+valuables to the shroff for valuation, and hazard all on a final throw
+to retrieve their losses.</p>
+
+<p>This standing temptation of the fantan shops is a fertile source of
+crime, especially amongst domestic servants, for apart from the
+Chinaman's inborn love of gambling, in the event of their being in
+financial straits, as is frequently the case, a possible way out of
+such difficulties is by stealthily taking certain objects from their
+master's house, say a clock and a dozen silver spoons, pledging them
+at one of the numerous pawn-shops and gambling with the proceeds. If
+fortune be favourable the clock and spoons are immediately redeemed
+and returned <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>before being missed, while the servant has found an easy
+way out of his difficulties. On the other hand, should luck be against
+the player, he either bolts to another part of the country or brazens
+out the theft by declaring that the house has been broken into by
+burglars.</p>
+
+<p>Trusted servants who have been many years in one employ frequently
+yield to this alluring but hazardous appeal to chance.</p>
+
+<p>One morning as I was leaving Macao for Hongkong by the daily steamer a
+Chinese passenger suddenly leaped overboard. The ship was stopped and
+a boat quickly lowered, while a Portuguese police launch also dashed
+to the rescue, but although we could see the suicide's head above
+water for some time he sank before help arrived. Having ruined himself
+at fantan he dared not return to Hongkong.</p>
+
+<p>And such is the fate of many.</p>
+
+<p>A Chinese banquet is a weird festivity, and once gone through will
+never be forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>On the occasion which I will attempt to describe invitations were
+issued for 10 a.m., but in accordance with celestial custom the guests
+did not arrive till about 11.30, when, after waiting half an hour,
+during which the company chatted, drank tea and smoked, we were
+ushered into a large hall with brick floor and paper windows, where
+the repast was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>spread on three round tables, at each of which were
+three Europeans and five or six Chinese, our hosts, clad in their
+beautiful silk official robes, while we wore black morning coats.</p>
+
+<p>The tables were of plain wood and without table-cloths, while the
+luxuriously-cushioned divans of Far East imaginings were hard wooden
+stools.</p>
+
+<p>Numbers of little dishes containing dried fruits, sweets, pickles,
+slices of ham, preserved eggs (more than a year old, black and highly
+offensive), vegetables, etc., loaded the festive boards.</p>
+
+<p>Each feaster was provided with a pair of chopsticks and two small
+sheets of brown paper with which to wipe them after each course.</p>
+
+<p>Warm yellow wine of a peculiar musty flavour and sadly lacking in
+potency, was poured by attendants from pewter kettles into small
+wine-cups, to be tossed off in bumpers all round with great frequency,
+each guest immediately presenting his empty cup to the gaze of his
+neighbours to show that there had been no heel-taps. It looked as
+though we were simultaneously levelling revolvers at each other's
+heads.</p>
+
+<p>At a given signal the fray began. All the Chinese rose up, took their
+chopsticks, and plunging them into various dishes began helping us,
+the guests of honour. On my one small plate were quickly deposited
+some sweets, sour pickles, dried <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>fruit, slices of ham, and one of the
+notorious eggs.</p>
+
+<p>Now we in turn were expected to rise up and return the compliment by
+helping our helpers. I clutched my sticks, drove them into a piece of
+fish and dropped it into my neighbour's wine. Tableau! Never mind, I
+tried pickles and preserves in detail with about an average success.
+No good came of my efforts, but neither did any harm, for our
+entertainers smiled and bowed and rose from their seats in gracious
+acknowledgment of our strenuous but futile attempts to do the correct
+thing.</p>
+
+<p>All this was but a preliminary canter taking the place of our dessert,
+albeit coming before the meal instead of at the end.</p>
+
+<p>Hot courses were now placed on the table, our Chinese friends helping
+us from them with their chopsticks, which they manipulated with
+marvellous dexterity.</p>
+
+<div class="block">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Menu">
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="55%">1. Puddings of several kinds</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="45%">Too sweet.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">1. Puddings of several kinds</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Too sweet.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">2. Fresh-water Fish (boiled)</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Insipid.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">3. Chickens (boiled)</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Fair.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">4. Sea Slugs</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Passed.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">5. Shrimps</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Nasty.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">6. White Mushrooms</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Good.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">7. Eels</td>
+  <td class="tdl">First-rate.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">8. Sea-weed</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Tough as leather.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">9. White Bait</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Good.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">10. Interiors of Fish</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Good heavens!!!</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">11. Lotus Nuts and Milk</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Very good.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">12. Chicken (boiled in different manner)</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Passed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">13. Rissoles of Frogs</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Je ne sais pas.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">14. Pork and Rice Flour</td>
+  <td class="tdl">A curious mixture.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">15. Sugared Rice</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Too sweet.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">16. Duck (boiled)</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Excellent, the best dish.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">17. Shark's Fins</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Very good.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">18. Porridge</td>
+  <td class="tdl">No thanks.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">19. Soup</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Passed.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">20. Opium, cigars, etc.</td>
+  <td class="tdl">On this occasion opium was not smoked.</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<p>This long <i>menu</i> was gone through accompanied with an abundance of
+talk, compliments, jokes and the emission of various sounds peculiar
+to the Chinese while feeding.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately on rising from table we donned our hats, saluted <i>&agrave; la
+Chinoise</i> by shaking our clasped hands in each other's faces, "Nin
+ching. Poo sung, poo sung," and took our departure, bowing repeatedly
+and walking backwards.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>AROUND PEKING</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The translation of the word Peking is "capital of the North," and is
+so called in contradistinction to Nanking<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> or "capital of the
+South."</p>
+
+<p>Peking is not a Chinese city at all, although generally supposed to be
+so, but a Tartar city, which, instead of the jumble of narrow, paved
+streets habitually found in all Chinese towns, was originally designed
+and laid out on a plan probably excelling in grandeur that of any
+other city in the world. That the result, as seen in the city of
+to-day, is but a mockery of the magnificent idea which possessed the
+master mind that conceived it, is due to that trait of the Mongolian
+temperament which exhausts itself in the conception and completion of
+some gigantic undertaking, leaving it thenceforth to moulder and
+decay, until in succeeding ages it stands gaunt witness of human
+wisdom, folly and neglect. Such are Peking, the Great Wall and the
+Grand Canal.</p>
+
+<p>Although adjoining the Tartar, there is a Chinese <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>city, it is so
+squalid and of such mean pretensions that with the exception of a
+single street it is of but little interest to Europeans, so that when
+speaking of Peking it is the Tartar city alone that one has in mind.</p>
+
+<p>Surrounded by an immense rectangular wall, some sixty feet in height,
+with a width of twenty feet at the top and forty feet at the base, and
+pierced at regular intervals by picturesque and towering gateways,
+between which wide boulevards traverse the city from end to end and
+from side to side, but which, instead of being paved and lighted, are
+but lanes of filth, ankle deep in dust during dry weather, to be
+quickly changed by rain into rivers of black mud, continuously churned
+up by the wheels of springless carts, and spattered far and wide by
+the plunging feet of straining quadrupeds.</p>
+
+<p>On either side of, and frequently several feet below, these highways
+are mud paths, along which pedestrians wend a varied way, avoiding
+cesspools, stepping over transverse timbers or circumventing
+squatters' huts, showered on the while by splashings from the highroad
+or blinded by clouds of refuse-laden dust.</p>
+
+<p>The only attempt at lighting is by means of lanterns, which, with
+heavy wooden frames covered with paper instead of glass and placed at
+intervals <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>of perhaps a quarter of a mile, throw out rays to the
+extent of one candle-power each.</p>
+
+<p>From the streets very few buildings of any pretensions can be
+discerned, while from the dominating eminence of the city wall a sea
+of roofs monotonous in equality of height and greyness of colour meets
+the eye, which sameness is mostly due to the facts that but few upper
+storeys exist, and that the residences of the wealthy, besides being
+screened by high outer walls, are so blended with shops and hovels
+that it is difficult to discriminate them.</p>
+
+<p>In the heart of Peking, and surrounded by a twenty-foot wall coped
+with tiles glazed yellow and green, is the forbidden city, where the
+imperial palaces are grouped and from which Europeans were until
+recently jealously excluded.</p>
+
+<p>The city walls; a few temples in varying stages of magnificence,
+tawdriness and decay; the remains of sewers which, built of solid
+blocks of stone and large enough to admit a donkey, show that formerly
+a scheme of drainage and sanitation existed although to-day there is
+nothing of the kind; an insignificant canal and a hill rumoured to be
+made of coal heaped there as a supply in case of siege; and one has
+seen the architectural wonders of the capital.</p>
+
+<p>"Legation Quarter" prior to the Boxer troubles was but an indefinite
+area of the city in which the legations "happened" from time to time
+amongst a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>squalid entourage of native buildings, and connected one
+with another by means of impossible thoroughfares which passed for
+streets.</p>
+
+<p>A Russian diplomat once said to me that he considered Peking "dirty
+but nice," and this description exactly coincides with my own idea.
+This wasted body on a majestic frame carries one back with a single
+step to civilisation of a thousand years ago. Not the remnants
+displayed to tourists in Greece or Rome but the real thing, over which
+the Western spirit of change has as yet worked but little alteration.</p>
+
+<p>In this vast museum of antiquities one finds at every turn objects of
+engrossing interest, and personally it seemed to me that many of the
+scenes depicted in Prescott's enchanting book, <i>The Conquest of
+Mexico</i>, might almost as well have been laid in this far-famed capital
+of the North. Great antiquity, isolation from the Western world, pride
+of race and empire, veneration for their own colossal literature,
+arrested civilisation and profound contempt for all things foreign,
+create a picture rich in detail, very mournful in subject and
+marvellous in perspective.</p>
+
+<p>The means of getting about are by cart, on horseback or afoot, the
+sedan chair, which in other places furnishes the most comfortable
+conveyance, being here reserved for members of the Imperial <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>family
+and for high officials both native and foreign.</p>
+
+<p>The carts, which ply for hire like cabs, are massive, springless
+tumbrils covered with a wain. In fine weather the passenger, with a
+view to less discomfort, usually sits on the splashboard with his back
+rubbing against the hind-quarters of the pony or mule and his feet
+dangling in front of the wheel, which plays on to them a continuous
+stream of dirt and dust. In windy weather one must crawl inside and
+sit on the floor tailor fashion, there being no seat, and then let
+down the curtain, thus effectually blocking all view but keeping out
+most of the dust, which, flying in blinding clouds, would quickly
+reduce one to a state of absolute filth, filling the clothes, hair,
+ears and mouth and guttering down from the nose and eyes. To this foul
+dust is due the terrible amount of ophthalmia and consequent blindness
+so prevalent throughout the East.</p>
+
+<p>In rainy weather carts sink up to the axle in black liquid mud, which
+flies in all directions from the wheels, and at each footfall of horse
+or mule, splattering pedestrians and shop-fronts on the sidewalks and
+smothering other vehicles as they pass.</p>
+
+<p>To such an indescribable state are the streets reduced by heavy rains
+that I actually remember a mule being drowned in the shafts by the
+side of one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>of the main thoroughfares in the very heart of the city.</p>
+
+<p>Luckily for all concerned there is a large percentage of beautiful
+weather, when mud and dust alike are absent and when one can canter
+noiselessly along the soft, yielding roads, which are then in much the
+same condition for riding as is Rotten Row.</p>
+
+<p>On such mornings as these Peking is delightful, with its bright sun,
+cool, bracing air and interesting sights, while through the cloudless
+sky flocks of pigeons, having whistles of wood or clay fastened to
+their feet and tails, make strange yet pleasing sounds varied with
+every twist and turn of flight.</p>
+
+<p>A noticeable trait of Chinese character, and one fostered, if not
+generated, by Buddhistic teaching, is an undemonstrative fondness for
+animals, or, I might rather say, a passive admission of their right to
+considerate treatment, and strangely enough animals, both wild and
+domesticated, appear to comprehend this sentiment, for while greatly
+scared at the approach of a European they usually take but little heed
+of the presence of Chinese.</p>
+
+<p>It is a common thing to see a well-dressed Chinaman sauntering along
+holding up a bent stick to which a bird is attached by a string some
+four feet or so in length, so that the little prisoner can make short
+flights to the limit of its tether and return <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>again to its perch,
+gaily chirping and singing the while.</p>
+
+<p>Another stroller will be carrying a wicker bird-cage on the hand, bent
+back and upraised to the shoulder, much as a waiter carries dishes,
+containing generally a Tientsin lark or other celebrated songster, and
+on arriving at some open spot will place the cage on the ground, and
+retiring to a short distance whistle to the bird, which will shortly
+burst into song, to the evident delight of both owner and bystanders.</p>
+
+<p>Outside one of the gateways is a kind of bazaar, which we foreigners
+generally called "Bird-cage walk," for there the bird-fanciers lived,
+and birds of many different kinds were exposed for sale, not in cages,
+but quite tame, and quietly sitting on perches&mdash;parrots, larks, Java
+sparrows, etc., some of them tied by the leg, but not all.</p>
+
+<p>Here, too, were to be seen wicker baskets, much resembling orange
+crates, full of common sparrows, representing a regular supply for a
+regular demand. Benevolent old Chinamen, <i>fl&acirc;neurs</i> and <i>literati</i>
+would visit this bazaar of an afternoon with the sole object of buying
+a few of these little birds for two or three cash each and then
+letting them fly away, a beatific smile betraying the salve to inward
+feelings generated by a knowledge of merit acquired, any miseries
+inflicted on the sparrows by capture and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>confinement counting for
+nothing in the balance against the good work accomplished by their
+purchase and release.</p>
+
+<p>The Chinese ideas of life and death are very dissimilar to our own.</p>
+
+<p>With us, the responsibility of parents for the bringing up and
+well-being of the children is paramount, the fulfilment of such
+obligations being enforced both by legal and social pressure, while
+the responsibility of children for the care of their aged parents is
+almost <i>nil</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the Chinese, children are considered to be the absolute
+chattels of the parents, with whose treatment of their offspring
+neither public opinion nor the country's laws have any right of
+interference. Infanticide can be, and undoubtedly is to a certain
+extent, practised, while the father is even said to be legally
+entitled to punish his grown-up children with death.</p>
+
+<p>Children, on the other hand, are bound by every tie to obey, respect,
+support and even worship the authors of their being. Filial duty is
+the greatest of all virtues, and the man who fails in this respect is
+despised by everyone and takes rank with worthless characters and
+outcasts.</p>
+
+<p>Our view of life is very finite. We are born, we die, are relegated to
+the unknown and quickly forgotten.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>A Chinaman regards himself as a disseverable part of the stream of
+life, by which he is borne into this world to live his life here, and
+then is borne on again to the abode of departed spirits without
+continuity of existence having been interrupted. At his death he is
+mourned with a whole-hearted sincerity by his entire family, who
+perform the obsequies with great respect and as much display as is
+compatible with their station in life. An imposing grave is built in a
+spot facing a pleasant prospect, while trees are planted, and
+sometimes even artificial pieces of water made, so that the
+disembodied spirit may be able to enjoy shady groves and cooling
+breezes. Sacrifices are offered at this shrine not once, but year
+after year, and by his children's children, with an absolute certainty
+of the spirit's existence and approving knowledge. This is the
+practice of ancestral worship, and greatly to be pitied is the man who
+leaves no son to perform sacrifices at his grave.</p>
+
+<p>In Peking funeral processions assume gigantic proportions.</p>
+
+<p>I have seen them more than a mile in length, and of such barbaric
+magnificence that they must have cost many thousands of ounces of
+silver.</p>
+
+<p>Life-sized horses, camels, ostriches and other animals made of
+cardboard or cotton wool, houses of lath and paper, as well as strings
+of imitation gold <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>and silver money to be burnt at the grave and so
+wafted to the next world for use of the departed spirit, tablets
+embossed with golden Chinese characters, and lanterns of varied size
+and shape are carried in advance by an army of riffraff. A band of
+priests chanting, or playing weird dirges on instruments much
+resembling bagpipes in sound, immediately precedes the catafalque, an
+immense edifice from ten to fifteen feet in height, containing the
+coffin and covered with beautiful hangings of embroidered silk, and
+which is carried bodily on massive red poles some nine inches in
+diameter, by as many as forty or fifty bearers. Mourners with
+dishevelled hair and clothed in long white gowns follow on foot, in
+carts or in chairs, according to the rank held by the deceased.</p>
+
+<p>Winter in Northern China is extremely severe, and Tientsin, the port
+of Peking, is yearly closed to navigation for six or eight weeks
+through the sea and river being frozen. The thermometer frequently
+falls below zero, but owing to a bright atmosphere the cold is not
+felt so much as might be expected. At night the stars blink and blaze
+with intense brilliancy, and the still, frosty air seems almost to
+ring with a metallic voice. Beggars and homeless wanderers are nightly
+frozen by the dozen, and the whole land lies powerless in the grip of
+King Frost.</p>
+
+<p>My bedroom I could keep fairly warm by means <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>of a large American
+stove heated up till it was white, but in the mornings, on passing
+into my bathroom, which boasted a brick floor and paper windows, I
+found the temperature almost coinciding with that of the open air,
+albeit a small stove roared in the corner, while steam from the hot
+water in a wooden bath was so thick as to make the daylight dim.
+Ablutions were a hurried function, ending in precipitate retreat to
+the warmth of the bedroom. The small stove would burn itself out, the
+steam would congeal and disappear, and the bath water, unless removed,
+would be quickly frozen.</p>
+
+<p>As winter wore on the sides of my bath-tub became coated with ice,
+which increased with every splash until there was a thickness of three
+or four inches, for it would have injured the bath to keep breaking it
+off, so that, ultimately, I took my morning tub in a nest of ice, only
+the bottom of which was completely thawed by the daily supply of hot
+water.</p>
+
+<p>Along the streets, well-to-do Chinese appear swelled to double their
+usual proportions by furs and successive layers of wadded clothes,
+which are of such thickness as to hold the arms propped out at almost
+right angles to the bodies, while their heads are enveloped in
+bright-coloured hoods buttoning tight under the chin. Poor, half-naked
+beggars, clasping their rice-bowls and bent double by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>cold,
+shamble along, muttering and moaning, while their starving, rolling
+eyes scan the faces of passers-by in mute appeal for help or pity.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, as I was riding along one of the principal streets, I saw
+a Chinaman carrying home a hot, steaming cake, something like a
+Yorkshire pudding with raisins in it, which he had just bought at a
+wayside cook-shop, when a beggar suddenly seized him by both wrists,
+and taking as large a mouthful as he could bite out of the pastry,
+shuffled off, heedless of the blows rained on him by the irate
+purchaser.</p>
+
+<p>On the coldest days I have seen beggars collected in groups and
+gambling for the few cash they possessed, the total sum probably not
+exceeding a halfpenny. Naked, hungry and frozen, they watched with
+tense features and straining eyes the fatal issue of their throw for
+either a meal or death that night by cold and starvation.</p>
+
+<p>Accustomed to want and misery, they appear pleased with any trifle
+that may fall into their hands, and on a bitter, windy day I have seen
+grown-up beggars on a waste patch flying a kite and enjoying the
+pastime with a gusto denied to more <i>blas&eacute;</i> pursuers of this aerial
+sport.</p>
+
+<p>Ice in Northern China is seldom good, as owing to the frequent winds
+it is generally covered with dust, although occasionally at the
+beginning of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>winter it is possible to get some fair skating before
+the first dust-storm.</p>
+
+<p>At Peking an enormous mat shed is erected to keep out the dust, while
+the ground inside is flooded daily so as to secure good ice. This rink
+is a favourite afternoon resort of the European community, but the
+space is too limited and the attendance too crowded to admit of any
+really enjoyable skating by the light of a few oil lamps.</p>
+
+<p>I have skated on the moat outside the city wall but it was not very
+good, the chief attraction being to watch Chinese performers. As a
+rule they wear only one skate, on which they propel themselves by
+striking the ice with the other foot until a certain speed has been
+attained, when they spread out their arms, bend forward until their
+noses almost touch the ice and raise the skateless foot high over
+their backs. This bird-like skim on one leg seems to be their ideal of
+graceful skating.</p>
+
+<p>At this season the stately, two-humped camels, with beautiful coats of
+brown wool a foot in length, come down from Mongolia, bearing loads of
+meat and furs, together with frozen game and fish from Manchuria and
+the Amoor river, and coal from the mines north of Peking.</p>
+
+<p>The Mongol teamster, clad in skins with the hair inside, trudges in
+front, leading the first camel by a string attached to its nose, while
+a cord tied to its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>tail links it with the nose of the second camel,
+and so on, till the whole team of eight or ten are securely connected.
+They move along with graceful, easy stride, the only sound being the
+dull clanking of a heavy bell suspended from the leader's neck.</p>
+
+<p>On one of the animals the Mongol's whole family is sometimes carried
+in two immense panniers, and the round, yellow faces of tiny children
+peer down from their lofty nursery on a strange and passing world.</p>
+
+<p>I have also seen a calf camel, evidently cast by the way, being
+carried in a litter strapped to the back of its dam.</p>
+
+<p>It has been told me by reliable Chinese that in winter upwards of ten
+thousand camels daily pass in and out of the gates of Peking. They are
+beautiful animals, of great height, and appear to be very meek and
+docile.</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion, when returning at daylight from duck shooting near
+Marco Polo's bridge, I was tightly wedged in by several hundreds which
+were waiting to enter the western gateway. They looked down at me with
+their patient eyes as I shouted and prodded them with my whip in order
+to clear a way for my pony, but attempted neither to bite nor kick.</p>
+
+<p>In spring their wool peels off in large flakes, giving them a ragged
+appearance, and is collected and woven into the celebrated Tientsin
+rugs.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>In summer, like the wildfowl, they disappear and go north to seek cool
+pastures in the Mongolian highlands.</p>
+
+<p>Peking not being a seaport, and as yet but little influenced by
+foreign trade, the European community settled there is solely composed
+of the <i>corps diplomatique</i> and the legation guards, of the
+inspectorate of maritime customs, of professors of the various
+colleges, of missionaries and a few storekeepers.</p>
+
+<p>During winter, when communication with the outer world is a matter of
+considerable difficulty, Peking society, which is naturally of a
+highly cosmopolitan order, amuses itself by a constant round of
+dinners, balls and receptions carried out with lavish hospitality, and
+to which the novelty of Oriental surroundings supplies an additional
+attraction.</p>
+
+<p>In company with a French friend, who lived in Dry Flour Alley, I made
+an expedition to the Great Wall, which is two days' journey from the
+capital.</p>
+
+<p>Mounted on ponies, with provisions and bedding packed into a cart
+drawn by two mules, we started while it was yet dark on a cold
+winter's morning.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly making our way along frozen roads outside the walls of the
+forbidden city, we arrived at one of the gateways by daylight and
+passed out of Peking, following a wide and dusty road, where <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>we
+presently met streams of camels, mules, ponies, donkeys, carts and
+coolies, each bearing a load of some kind of produce wherewith to
+supply the markets of the great city.</p>
+
+<p>It was early and bitterly cold, while everyone was too intent on his
+own business to do more than bestow a cursory glance on passers-by, so
+that our little caravan, freed from importuning curiosity, made good
+progress.</p>
+
+<p>At about eleven o'clock we were scourged by a blinding dust-storm
+raised by a strong wind, to avoid which we were not sorry to take
+refuge in a wayside inn and there discuss an early tiffin. It was now
+discovered that the supply of bread necessary for our three days' trip
+had been left behind, so that we were obliged to content ourselves
+with native dough cakes, sticky and heavy as lead.</p>
+
+<p>The room we occupied opened on to the courtyard of the inn, and being
+doorless, a small crowd of interested spectators quickly assembled to
+watch our every movement. This crowd continuing to grow until it
+consisted of several tens, my friend went out to expostulate with the
+innkeeper, but found that worthy busily engaged at the outer gate
+granting admission at five cash per head to all and sundry desirous of
+seeing the Europeans feed.</p>
+
+<p>The wind having suddenly dropped and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>sand-storm subsided we
+continued our journey, arriving by nightfall at the village of Yang
+Fang, where we had arranged to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>It was here that I came very near to shuffling off my mortal coil.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the North of China brick beds called <i>kangs</i> are universal.
+They are built about two feet in height, are oblong in shape and
+hollow inside, with a small aperture at one end, while the top is
+covered with grass matting. During the day a charcoal fire is lighted
+in this aperture, the hot air from which fills the interior of the
+structure and gradually warms the brickwork, which retains its heat
+throughout the night. The fire is then allowed to die down, when a
+wadded quilt, a thick blanket and a pillow will be found sufficient to
+make a most comfortable couch.</p>
+
+<p>I had not seen one of these kangs before and the method of heating it
+had not been explained to me, so, the cold being intense, I placed
+fresh fuel on the smouldering embers the last thing before turning in.
+How long I had been asleep I do not know before I became conscious of
+a frightful nightmare. I was very hot and had lost all power to move.
+My tongue felt swollen and heavy, and my throat so dry and sore that
+when I tried to cry out it refused to utter a sound. My eyes were
+smarting, and having once opened them they would not close <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>again. My
+senses were clear and I knew that I was being asphyxiated, but was
+powerless to help myself. Horror-stricken, I watched the bright
+moonlight shining on the paper window until I lost consciousness.</p>
+
+<p>The next thing I remember was cold air beating on my face, water in my
+mouth and trickling down my neck and chest, strong arms supporting me
+and the voice of my friend's mafoo calling to his master for a light,
+the moon having set.</p>
+
+<p>I owed deliverance to the fortunate breaking of my pony's halter, as,
+having been freshly clipped, he had become restive from the cold,
+thereby causing the mafoo to enter my room for a spare one, which I
+always carried with me. The following morning I felt very shaky and
+had a splitting headache, but was able to continue the journey,
+gradually recovering as the day wore on.</p>
+
+<p>It is perhaps needless to add that putting fresh charcoal on the fire
+was the cause of this <i>contretemps</i>, but I was then unaware of there
+being no flue to carry off the fumes.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving our ponies and the cart at Yang Fang, and mounted on mules as
+being more surefooted, though the high wooden saddles and short
+stirrups were most uncomfortable, we started betimes.</p>
+
+<p>After crossing a plain about ten miles in width, strewn with rocks and
+boulders, we reached Nan <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>K'ow, or Southern Pass, where we entered the
+mountains.</p>
+
+<p>The road was fairly good for pack-animals, although crossed at
+frequent intervals by the beds of partially-frozen streams, the
+swift-flowing waters of which were sweet and clear as crystal.
+Mountains shut us in on either side, while we met an unending
+procession of men and beasts conveying loads of merchandise from
+Mongolia to Peking.</p>
+
+<p>The scenery was lovely, and all along the route were to be seen
+crumbling forts and walls built many centuries ago to defend this, the
+principal pass, against invading enemies.</p>
+
+<p>We saw three or four pheasants and heard several more, so that there
+probably is good sport to be had amongst these rugged hills. After
+halting for tiffin under a fine archway of Indian architecture we
+arrived at Pa-Ta-Ling (eight lofty peaks), where we obtained a good
+view of the Great Wall.</p>
+
+<p>Scrambling to the top at a place where it was partly in ruins, my
+friend was soon busy with his camera, whilst I proceeded to
+investigate this world-famed structure.</p>
+
+<p>My feet are rather long and it was just fourteen of them across the
+top, which is evenly paved with square bricks, while the height of the
+wall I judged to be between twenty and thirty feet. At irregular
+intervals there are towers, in one of which was a pile <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>of antique
+carronades about two feet long, of equal size all the way down and
+bound round with iron hoops for additional strength. Much resembling
+old rain-pipes, they had not a very formidable appearance, and were
+probably more dangerous to those who fired them than to the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Built two hundred years before Christ, and upwards of thirteen hundred
+miles in length, the wall is certainly a gigantic monument, well
+constructed of large bricks, and here, at any rate, in good
+preservation and by no means whatsoever a mass of stones and rubbish
+as asserted by some describers.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of winding along the line of least resistance it follows the
+sinuosities of the country, surmounting crags and delving into
+valleys, so that it can be seen topping height after height as it
+climbs the mountain range until it becomes a mere thread and finally
+is lost to view in the far distance. Walking along it for some little
+way I found that it scaled almost perpendicular cliffs, up one of
+which I passed, the top of the wall here taking the form of steps,
+while down the opposite side the descent was so steep that for greater
+security I made it backwards on hands and knees.</p>
+
+<p>The wall was built with the object of protecting China from the
+inroads of wild Tartars, who came down in hordes from Manchuria,
+Mongolia and the steppes of Northern Asia to seek plunder in the
+plains.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep158" id="imagep158"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep158.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep158.jpg" width="85%" alt="The Great Wall of China." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">The Great Wall of China.</p>
+<p class="right2" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;"><i>To face page 158.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>Chinawards there is a low parapet, while stone stairs built into the
+middle of the wall lead from the top through doorless gateways to the
+ground, giving means of ingress and exit to defenders, but on the side
+facing towards Mongolia the wall is crowned with battlements some four
+and a half feet in height, affording ample protection and pierced
+about every five feet with loopholes and embrasures.</p>
+
+<p>One of the wonders of the world, its construction lasted ten years,
+and at the date of completion was probably as futile to bar the
+advance of a resolute foe as it would be to-day <i>vis-&agrave;-vis</i> modern
+artillery.</p>
+
+<p>Wishing to secure a suitable souvenir of my visit I selected a
+well-preserved brick, which, by means of knotted handkerchiefs, I
+slung over my shoulder and so commenced the return journey. For three
+or four miles all went well, but after that the brick commenced to get
+rapidly heavier, until it became almost insupportable, while its
+constant tapping in the small of my back, caused by the jerky trot of
+the mule, was well-nigh intolerable. I tried to fasten it to the
+saddle, but, simple as it may seem, it would not hold, besides making
+the mule altogether unmanageable, so that after a desperate struggle
+for a few miles further I cast it from me with mingled feelings of
+disgust and thankfulness, and in all probability it remains in the
+same spot to this very day.</p>
+
+<p>We reached Yang Fang before dark and much <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>enjoyed a rest and some
+dinner, but as it was full moon and we were anxious to be back in
+Peking early next day, my friend proposed that we should press on for
+a couple of hours that evening.</p>
+
+<p>With fresh ponies in place of the jaded mules, and feeling much
+happier on our doeskin saddles, we went along gaily for some distance,
+but the extreme cold and our own weariness soon began to tell, and we
+became so drowsy that we determined to off-saddle at the next inn. We
+had reckoned, however, without our host, for the inn was crammed full
+and we were obliged to take to the road once more, and that in no very
+amiable frame of mind. The next inn was if anything more crowded
+still, and the next, and the next. For five mortal hours we plodded
+on, more asleep than awake, and I retain but a misty recollection of
+the snow-covered ground, of my pony slipping while crossing a frozen
+ford, and of my continual efforts to keep in the saddle. At one in the
+morning we hammered at the doors of yet another inn, only to be again
+repelled with the frightful words, "All full."</p>
+
+<p>My friend, who spoke the vernacular fluently, was now doing his best,
+and with such effect that the door was cautiously opened a few inches,
+when with one bound I was inside, and seeing a kang with only one man
+on it I tumbled him off and flung myself down, just conscious of acrid
+opium smoke, a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>great uproar and streams of the most insulting
+abuse.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep161" id="imagep161"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep161.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep161.jpg" width="85%" alt="Avenue of Stone Figures, Ming Tombs." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">Avenue of Stone Figures, Ming Tombs.</p>
+<p class="right2" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;"><i>To face page 161.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>On awaking I found my friend by my side still asleep and the morning
+well aired. The squalid inn was almost deserted, for the overnight
+lodgers had departed with their carts and pack-animals before dawn, so
+that I had not to face the individual whom I had so unceremoniously
+dispossessed of his bed, although I left a dollar for him with the
+innkeeper, knowing full well it would never reach him, but choosing
+thus to ease a somewhat guilty conscience.</p>
+
+<p>We had not much further to go and were easily back in Peking before
+tiffin.</p>
+
+<p>Another expedition I made that winter was to a burial-place of
+emperors of the late Ming dynasty, commonly known as the "Ming Tombs,"
+consisting of several immense temples or pagodas possessing but little
+architectural beauty and now considerably dilapidated.</p>
+
+<p>One of these temples is approached by an avenue of gigantic figures
+representing warriors, statesmen, horses, camels, elephants, etc.,
+each figure apparently cut from a single block of stone.</p>
+
+<p>As two hundred and sixty years ago the Chinese Mings were dispossessed
+by the present ruling Manchu dynasty, no attempt is now made to
+preserve these interesting monuments.</p>
+
+<p>In summer the heat is often very great during <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>the day, the
+thermometer frequently registering between ninety and a hundred
+degrees in the shade, and is rendered more trying by the unsanitary
+and neglected condition of the thoroughfares.</p>
+
+<p>At night, however, it is so pleasantly cool that one can sleep under a
+blanket, while punkahs over the bed are never necessary as in the
+central provinces. Riding outside the city walls in the cool of early
+morning or late afternoon is then most enjoyable, many interesting
+sights affording constant diversion.</p>
+
+<p>Acrobats practising their <i>tours de force</i>, tragedians with tense
+faces declaiming in a high falsetto to imaginary audiences,
+rag-pickers sorting their fulsome wares with iron-pointed sticks,
+herds of coarse, black swine being bought and sold, while in the
+shelter of the enormous buttresses archers erect paper targets some
+eight inches square and exercise their art with solemn dignity,
+elaborate posturing and considerable dexterity.</p>
+
+<p>A good deal of tennis is played at the club and on the various private
+courts, though most of the diplomatic body as well as missionaries
+migrate during the great heat to temples in the Western Hills, which
+are about twelve miles from Peking, or, now that there is railway
+communication, to the seaside resort of Pei-Tai-Ho.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon another European and I rode some ten miles out of Peking
+to inspect the ruins of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>celebrated Summer Palace, which, since
+its destruction in 1860 by the English and French forces, had remained
+a desolate and overgrown wilderness. Having put up the ponies at an
+inn, where an inquisitive old native wished to know whether our bright
+stirrups and bits were made of silver&mdash;the Chinese never dreaming of
+polishing their own&mdash;we proceeded on foot to the chief entrance, but
+as the work of restoration was then being commenced the gatekeeper
+refused us admission. Nothing daunted we strolled round to another
+side, and passing unobserved through a gap in the wall made careful
+inspection of a partially-destroyed pavilion overlooking a lake,
+interrupted only by a venerable guardian, who hobbled after us mildly
+requesting that we should depart. This we were preparing to do for
+another part of the extensive grounds, when suddenly we came into view
+of some scores of workmen who were engaged on the repairs. They
+stopped work and gazed at us but made no hostile move, and we could
+still have withdrawn in peace had not my companion, overcome by a
+desire to practise his Chinese, and in opposition to my urgent
+warning, advanced towards them with a beaming smile. No sooner was he
+within range than a shower of bricks and stones filled the air and we
+were both constrained to turn tail and make for the gap at full speed,
+closely followed by the howling mob. We <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>did not pause before reaching
+the inn, and then only to secure our ponies and continue our
+undignified flight. I was uninjured, but my companion had received a
+nasty blow on the head, at which I secretly rejoiced, as owing to his
+action we had not only been exposed to considerable danger but had
+been prevented from further investigating a historical spot since
+strictly closed to all Europeans.</p>
+
+<p>I left Peking at the close of 1889, and there being then no railway
+the ninety miles' journey to Tientsin had to be performed either on
+horseback, by cart along cross-country tracks or <i>via</i> the River
+Peiho, taking boat at Tungchow, which is fourteen miles from the
+capital. I decided on going by boat as being far more comfortable than
+the other alternatives.</p>
+
+<p>Winter had begun early and there was already a certain amount of ice,
+but from inquiries made the river was still open. My baggage was piled
+on to a long, narrow cart drawn by two mules, while I and my boy each
+bestrode a very small donkey, and so I passed out from the mighty city
+by the stone road which leads to Tungchow, as owing to heavy rains and
+subsequent frost the more comfortable country tracks were impassable.</p>
+
+<p>This road, or rather causeway, is another witness to the Chinese
+characteristic of constructing costly works and then leaving them
+thenceforth to fall into disrepair and ruin.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>From twelve to fourteen feet in width, it is built of massive granite
+blocks a foot square by perhaps three to seven feet in length, and
+originally must have been a magnificent highway of perfect evenness.
+Time and the grinding wheels of heavy-laden carts, however, have worn
+innumerable ruts seven or eight inches deep into the solid stone, so
+that in passing over it a springless cart crashes from side to side
+with great violence, almost throwing shaft animals to the ground and
+rendering it quite impossible for any European to ride in the vehicle,
+while crockery or any other fragile article, however carefully packed,
+is doomed to certain destruction.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival at Tungchow I saw a great deal of ice floating down with
+the current, but the boatmen declared, and I believe truly, that the
+river was still open to the sea, so having transferred the baggage to
+one boat, and embarking with my boy and pointer on another, we cast
+off at about three o'clock in the afternoon, expecting to reach
+Tientsin the following evening.</p>
+
+<p>Before dark the ice greatly increased in quantity, and from the cabin
+where, enveloped in rugs, I was having tea, the boatmen's excited
+voices could be heard making frequent inquiries of upward-bound junks
+as to our prospects of getting through, for they were Tientsin men and
+anxious to get their boats home before the river was frozen up. At
+six <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>o'clock, however, when we had covered about twelve miles and it
+was quite dark, the boats suddenly crashed into a barrier of ice,
+which had but just formed, effectually stopping our further progress.
+By frantic efforts and with great shoutings both craft were warped to
+within a few feet of the bank, and there we lay, each moment becoming
+more firmly wedged in by fresh ice hurrying down with the stream, and
+which, driven by pressure of the frozen impact, piled up against us
+with a horrid grinding noise until large sheets an eighth of an inch
+thick and as clear as crystal came gliding, as though alive, on to our
+decks.</p>
+
+<p>There being no likelihood of our release I presently sent one of the
+crew back to Tungchow for carts with which to continue the journey,
+but to my dismay he returned at two in the morning with the
+intelligence that no carts could be hired.</p>
+
+<p>The position was a disagreeable one, as it was imperative that I
+should reach Tientsin in time to catch a steamer for Shanghai before
+the close of navigation, so I started off the boy, accompanied by
+another boatman, with instructions to get a conveyance of some sort
+and at any cost. This attempt was more successful, for at ten o'clock
+they returned with a farmer and his truly wonderful cart, drawn by a
+pony, a cow and a donkey, but which they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>had only been able to hire
+for the exorbitant sum of forty dollars.</p>
+
+<p>My goods and chattels were again transferred, and after making a
+present of five dollars to the disconsolate boatmen, we started off at
+something less than two miles an hour.</p>
+
+<p>If I rode on the piled-up baggage I was quickly numbed by the cold. If
+I walked I soon left the cart far behind, yet dared not lose sight of
+it for fear of its taking another route, so that my time was spent in
+walking ahead and then retracing my steps to meet the cart.</p>
+
+<p>Long after dark we halted at one of the usual wayside inns, a
+collection of hovels built round a dirty, open yard, filled with carts
+and animals, and the home of pigs and fowls, while I found
+accommodation on a brick bed in a comfortless room, or rather shed,
+with torn paper windows and uneven mud floor.</p>
+
+<p>Swallowing some cold food by the light of a tallow candle guttering in
+the draught, I was too tired and too disgusted not to sleep, and by
+three o'clock next morning we were again crawling on our way beneath
+the blazing stars and chilled by a piercing wind.</p>
+
+<p>All things have an end, and so after four days of absolute misery I
+arrived at noon, hungry, footsore and unwashed, at a friend's house in
+Tientsin and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>in time to catch the last steamer, which was sailing
+that night.</p>
+
+<p>After a hot bath and a good tiffin I retired gratefully to bed, but,
+such is the callousness of human nature, only to be routed out at
+three o'clock to play in a football match, which, the Fates be
+praised, our side lost.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Pe = North. Nan = South. King = Capital City.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>HERE AND THERE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Of the three routes to China:</p>
+
+<div class="block2"><p class="hang">1. The overland, by rail through Europe and Siberia;</p>
+
+<p class="hang">2. The westerly, across the Atlantic, North America and the
+Pacific;</p>
+
+<p class="hang">3. The easterly, <i>via</i> the Mediterranean, Suez Canal, Red Sea
+and Indian Ocean,</p></div>
+
+<p class="noin">the last is perhaps the most interesting and in many ways the most
+comfortable, for it is possible to take a magnificent mail steamer at
+an English port and remain on board, surrounded by as much comfort and
+luxury as is to be found in a first-class hotel, until you land in
+either Hongkong or Shanghai.</p>
+
+<p>The finest of these vessels are veritable floating palaces, the
+saloons of which are gilded and decorated regardless of expense,
+richly carpeted, illuminated with electric light, cooled by electric
+fans, and where meals are served which would not demean any restaurant
+in London or Paris. Music-room, library, smoking-room and bar,
+laundry, barber's shop and delightful marble baths all find place.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>On the crack German boats a band plays at frequent intervals, while I
+have actually seen cold stoves in some of the cabins, so that when
+passing through great heat in the Red Sea or elsewhere you could close
+your cabin door, draw up your chair and have a good cool.</p>
+
+<p>I am not sure how these stoves are worked, but believe they are
+connected in some way with the refrigerator, which makes ice for use
+on board and provides cold storage for meat and fruits, and that a
+current of ether or cold air is pumped through them.</p>
+
+<p>In appearance they resemble a French porcelain furnace, abutting on
+one side of the cabin, and by means of a regulator you are able to
+reduce the temperature almost to freezing point. Although undoubtedly
+very pleasant during intense heat, and invaluable for hospital
+purposes, I question if they will come into anything like general use,
+for it seems to me that instantaneous changes from a temperature of
+perhaps one hundred degrees on deck to say sixty degrees in the cabin
+cannot fail to produce bad effects on the health.</p>
+
+<p>Travelling by the easterly route you meet the sun, which causes each
+day to be shortened. By the westerly route you go with the sun, which
+causes each day to be lengthened.</p>
+
+<p>During the journey round the world the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>aggregate of these shortenings
+or lengthenings will amount to twenty-four hours, so that on arriving
+again in England by the easterly route you will have gained a day, and
+instead of its being Wednesday, as you might think, it would be
+Tuesday, wherefore you would be obliged to have two Wednesdays in one
+week. By the westerly route, on the contrary, you would lose a day, so
+that returning on a Wednesday by your reckoning you would find
+everyone else calling it Thursday, and the following morning you would
+be obliged to recognise as Friday.</p>
+
+<p>To avoid such confusion the date is always regulated when crossing the
+Pacific.</p>
+
+<p>Going east, the captain notifies that there will be two consecutive
+Mondays, or two Thursdays, as the case be, in order to use up the
+extra day.</p>
+
+<p>Going west, on the other hand, one of the days in a week must be
+omitted, there being no time for it if you are to arrive in port on
+the proper date.</p>
+
+<p>A common story told in this connection is that on a certain voyage
+from Vancouver to Hongkong some missionary passengers settled to hold
+service in the saloon at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, and posted up a notice
+to that effect in the usual place at the head of the saloon stairs,
+but omitted to previously consult the captain or ask his permission.</p>
+
+<p>The captain, having no desire to be ignored, even unintentionally,
+aboard his own ship, quietly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>regulated dates, the passengers next
+morning finding an official notice posted up immediately over that of
+the missionaries, saying that it would be Sunday until 10 a.m., after
+which it would be Monday, so that missionaries, Sunday and divine
+service were all simultaneously suppressed.</p>
+
+<p>The most comfortable and the most restful travelling in the world that
+I know of is on board the large river steamers running up the Yangtse
+for six hundred miles from Shanghai to Hankow, and then transhipping
+to somewhat smaller vessels, for the additional four hundred miles to
+Ichang.</p>
+
+<p>Scrupulously clean, good table, jovial captains, excellent Chinese
+stewards, electric light, luxurious saloons, state-rooms double the
+size of cabins on even the finest ocean liners, few passengers, no
+noise and no sea-sickness, you glide on day and night over calm waters
+in a dream-like peace, broken only for a short time every few hours by
+the necessary stopping at ports of call to work cargo, and at
+riverside stations for Chinese passengers, who, however, do not mingle
+with the Europeans, but have saloons set apart for their own exclusive
+use. Some of these boats were built in the golden days of the early
+sixties, upon American models, and were fitted up on a scale
+considerably reduced in newer vessels.</p>
+
+<p>The large bathrooms on these older boats are a great feature of
+comfort, and so numerous as to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>almost bewildering to strangers; in
+fact, I have heard that a nervous young man fresh from home was the
+victim of an untoward mishap by mistaking the captain's bathroom for
+the one belonging to his own cabin, when on dashing in, the door
+having evidently been insecurely fastened on the inside, he found
+himself face to face with the captain's wife in her bath. Retreat was
+naturally instantaneous, but the position was so serious that his only
+course was to at once seek the captain and explain. This awkward task
+he started to perform, though in considerable trepidation, and found
+the husband reading in his cabin, and who, after listening calmly to a
+recital of the details, laconically remarked, "Ah, she has a beautiful
+figure, has she not?"</p>
+
+<p>And the incident was closed.</p>
+
+<p>The compass has been known for many centuries to the Chinese, but in
+accordance with their strange habit of doing so many things in an
+exactly contrary manner to Europeans, they "box" it the reverse way to
+ourselves, speaking of an east-north or a west-south breeze, and so
+on.</p>
+
+<p>The expressions "to the right" and "to the left" I have never heard,
+for it is the custom to say "go to the east-south" or to the
+"west-north," as the case may be. Even in cities, when asking your
+way, the natives will direct you by the points of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>the compass rather
+than by the names of the streets.</p>
+
+<p>Chinese screws turn from right to left, which is the opposite way to
+our own, and of this I had a practical demonstration when, on
+returning one morning from the mountains, a chair-coolie
+surreptitiously abstracted my flask from the tiffin-basket and tried
+to unscrew the stopper to get at the whisky, but being ignorant of the
+different method, he in reality screwed it on tighter, till at last it
+broke off, and when some hours later, on board the steamer, I
+discovered my ruined flask, an array of teeth-marks deeply imbedded in
+the metal plainly told the guilty tale.</p>
+
+<p>At Peking, when studying Chinese, my teacher would often come after
+dinner during the long winter evenings, when seated by a roaring fire
+we discussed for practice in talking any subjects of interest. Amongst
+many curious things which I thus heard the following has always
+puzzled me with the conjecture, "Can there possibly be any truth in
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>I had that day purchased some fur rugs of no particular value, and not
+being sure whether they were of dog-skin or goat-skin, asked the
+teacher his opinion. What his reply was I do not remember, but the
+conversation having turned on the subject of furs in general, he told
+me that some rare wolf-skins were exceedingly costly from the fact
+that the wolves, after being caught by Mongol hunters, had been
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>skinned alive and the skins dressed in a particular manner. Rugs made
+of these, he declared, on the approach to the house of wild animals,
+robbers or of any threatening danger, would bristle up as if still on
+the back of the live animal when angered, and so give timely warning
+to the inmates; for which reason they were so highly valued.</p>
+
+<p>I have never seen what purposed to be such a skin, but repeat the
+story if only for its Oriental weirdness.</p>
+
+<p>Water buffaloes are a striking feature in Chinese rural life, more
+especially in the central and southern provinces. With a carcase almost
+as large and devoid of hair as that of an elephant, they have very
+short legs, and are consequently but little taller than the ordinary
+ox. Carrying on their heavy skulls enormous, semi-circular horns, they
+have a ferocious aspect, but strangely enough are exceedingly timid and
+docile. In summer, for the sake of coolness and to avoid mosquitoes,
+they plunge into streams or mud-holes, and lie there for hours with
+only their muzzles and eyes above water. It is rather a pleasing sight
+to see one of these unwieldy, dangerous-looking brutes being led
+quietly along, by means of a thin string attached to its nose, by a wee
+native girl, who, when tired of walking, stops the animal, draws its
+head down by the string, places her tiny foot on the massive horn and
+is slowly raised from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>the ground by the buffalo and placed gently on
+his back, which is so broad that she can kneel and play about on it
+while her charge is grazing. These buffaloes are chiefly employed in
+the cultivation of rice, and as the flesh of oxen is but rarely eaten
+by the Chinese, they usually die of old age.</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion I saw a large family of natives returning mournfully
+to their village from a neighbouring meadow, and on making inquiries
+was told that they had been to bury their water buffalo, which had
+just died after a faithful service of more than twenty years.</p>
+
+<p>When on a shooting trip far up the River Han I saw a large buffalo
+with four boys on his back, grazing by the side of a water-ditch,
+which lay between him and a steep bank some ten feet high. The grass
+being very soft, my close approach was unobserved, until a hare
+getting up I fired off my gun. Instantly the buffalo dashed through
+the ditch and up the bank, when the boys, having nothing to hold on to
+except one another, were shot off backwards into the water, where they
+formed a perfect heap of struggling arms and legs, to my great
+amusement.</p>
+
+<p>Chinese farm-houses are very different from the substantial,
+comfortable dwellings obtaining in this country, being primitive clay
+hovels with no upper storeys, having tile roofs, windows of oiled
+paper, and mud floors, while the furniture is home-made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>and of the
+roughest description. No walks or gardens surround the house, which
+stands in the centre of the farm-yard, outbuildings and cesspools,
+with the threshing-floor, as a rule, immediately outside the front
+door. Pigs, dogs, fowls and goats roam at will through the dwelling
+and about the premises, while the two or three buffaloes and oxen used
+for ploughing and threshing are tethered to neighbouring trees.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep177" id="imagep177"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep177.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep177.jpg" width="85%" alt="A Typical Farm-House." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">A Typical Farm-House.</p>
+<p class="right2" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;"><i>To face page 177.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Although wheat, maize, barley and millet are largely cultivated in the
+north, rice is the principal crop wherever it can be grown, much water
+being necessary. It is first sown in quite a small, dry patch, to be
+subsequently transplanted, and comes up as thick as grass and of a
+most brilliant green. The fields, which rarely exceed half an acre,
+and are generally very much less, are now tilled. First, they are
+flooded by a careful system of irrigation to a depth of three or four
+inches, and when sufficiently soft turned over with a primitive,
+wooden plough, shod with a small iron blade or tip, and drawn by one
+water buffalo. After this they are harrowed, the farmer standing on
+the harrow and driving the buffalo as it wades along, until they are
+masses of rich, liquid mud. The young plants are now pricked out by
+hand, about six inches apart, and the fields kept just flooded by a
+constant stream of running water. When ripe the crop stands about two
+and a half <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>feet in height, and the water having been cut off some
+time previously, reaping commences with the sickle.</p>
+
+<p>Into the harvest-field is often brought a large wooden tub about four
+feet in diameter by three feet high, and the reaper, having cut an
+armful of rice, takes it by the straw end and threshes the ears five
+or six times with great force over the side, so that the grain falls
+into the tub, which, when thus filled, is replaced by an empty one and
+taken to the threshing-floor, where the contents are thrown up by
+shovels-full into the air, the breeze blowing the chaff to one side
+and the winnowed rice falling in a heap by itself. When the crop is
+not thus threshed in the harvest-field it is stacked at the farm, and
+sometimes in the low forks of large trees to remove it from the danger
+of possible floods, subsequently to be trodden out by oxen on the
+threshing-floor or beaten out by the farmer and his family with light
+basket-work flails on bamboo shafts.</p>
+
+<p>In villages and small towns where many houses adjoin, it is a common
+practice to paint or dye young chickens as soon as they are hatched,
+so that each housewife may know her own. One woman will colour hers a
+bright red, another will use blue, another green, and so on, the
+appearance of these strikingly-coloured little creatures intermingled
+in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>the streets being exceedingly droll and novel to Europeans.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst all classes of Chinese, from beggars to Academicians, belief
+in ghosts, dreams and the supernatural generally is absolute and
+unshakable.</p>
+
+<p>If you express doubt or scepticism they will readily agree with you
+from a certain nervousness of being thought ridiculous, as well as
+from a feeling of the futility of any attempt to persuade Europeans of
+the soundness of such convictions.</p>
+
+<p>In the autumn of 1899, when at Shasi, which is an unthriving town nine
+hundred miles up the Yangtse, and where another Englishman and I were
+the then only Europeans residing amongst a dense, hostile population,
+which only a few weeks previously had burnt down all foreign houses
+and forced the inmates to flee for their lives in small boats, two of
+the most remarkable cases of this universal superstition came directly
+under my notice.</p>
+
+<p>At that time one of those rebellions which are a chronic feature of
+Chinese Society was in full bloom in the neighbouring province of
+Szechwan, where an individual named Y&uuml; Man-tze was heading a crusade
+against Christians and foreign influence, when at least one French
+father was slain and another held in prolonged captivity, despite all
+efforts of the local officials to effect his release.</p>
+
+<p>The doings of this redoubtable brigand were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>naturally our chief topic
+of daily conversation, and a very intelligent and highly-educated
+Chinese gentleman, who kept me informed of local events, said that the
+natives generally credited him with mystic powers. "Of course," he
+added, eyeing me suspiciously, "it cannot be true, still, it is
+current gossip in all the tea-shops."</p>
+
+<p>After a short pause I informed him confidentially that whatever other
+foreigners might or might not believe, I personally had considerable
+doubts as to the non-existence of supernatural agencies.</p>
+
+<p>Without looking up I could feel that his eyes were critically scanning
+my face in search of ridicule or sarcasm, but I managed to preserve a
+stolid demeanour, and purposely dropping further discussion of the
+matter, went in search of cigars and stimulants to help us while away
+the afternoon. At length he again broached the subject, which I could
+see was of great interest to him, and warming to his theme under the
+influence of a sympathetic listener and good cheer, he finally told me
+in a burst of confidence and with low, excited voice, the following
+<i>fact</i> relative to Y&uuml; Man-tze.</p>
+
+<p>At the outset of his lawless career this supernaturally gifted
+desperado, having collected a band of followers, fastened round their
+ankles such heavy weights that they were at first totally unable to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>move; but, as the fruit of continual exertions, they by-and-by managed
+to creep a few paces, later on they were able to walk easily, and
+finally even to run with their loaded feet.</p>
+
+<p>The time for action having come, Y&uuml; Man-tze removed the weights, when
+his disciples were so buoyant that they could all <i>fly</i>, and so were
+able to pass rapidly between places far apart, and to successfully
+avoid all attempts at capture.</p>
+
+<p>For those unacquainted with the East it is doubtless well-nigh
+impossible to credit that such rubbish as this could be implicitly
+believed by any considerable number of people, yet such was the case,
+and the fact that the Chinese government eventually bribed Y&uuml; Man-tze
+with official rank and a large sum of money to desist from his evil
+ways by no means tended to diminish the illusion.</p>
+
+<p>For several weeks we were continually threatened with a visitation
+from some predatory band of Y&uuml; Man-tze's followers, so that when one
+stormy night two large fires simultaneously broke out in different
+parts of the town we thought trouble was at hand. Our anticipations,
+however, were happily unfulfilled, the storm having prevented the
+rebels from descending the river as intended, though the fires, which
+evidently had been previously planned and timed, were ignited.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning my compatriot brought in word <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>that he had visited the
+scenes of the conflagrations, and that three victims, who had been
+fearfully burnt, were lying in the street covered with straw mats, but
+still alive. Being without medical comforts of any description I was
+powerless to render assistance, so refrained from even quitting the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>An hour later my countryman again rushed in, followed by two or three
+Chinese, to say that relatives of the sufferers had brought them to a
+piece of waste ground hard by, had heaped wood round them, had poured
+petroleum over them, and were now burning them as a sacrifice to the
+god of fire, he having already established his claim over them.</p>
+
+<p>What could be done in the face of such horrifying circumstances?
+Nothing, for the poor wretches were already beyond any human aid, and
+to have interfered would have brought on us instant vengeance from the
+excited mob, but never, to the end of my days, shall I forget that
+sickening feeling of enforced inaction.</p>
+
+<p>I especially record this incident as it is the only one of so extreme
+a nature that I have ever heard of as taking place amongst the
+Chinese, although it is a matter of common knowledge that they
+frequently refuse to rescue drowning persons for fear of displeasing
+the river god.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>We subsequently learnt with much satisfaction that the rebels, to the
+number of two or three hundred, on being turned aside by the storm,
+crossed the border into the province of Hunan, and there, after
+murdering an official, his women-folk and some servants, were
+surrounded in a swamp on the shores of the Tongting lake by Government
+troops and butchered to a man.</p>
+
+<p>Native breeds of swine are very coarse and always coal black, so that
+when a French friend of mine imported for the first time into Peking
+two white, foreign-bred pigs, they were objects of immense curiosity
+to the local Chinese, who thought them exceedingly uncanny, and
+considered it far from improbable that the departed spirits of former
+friends might well have migrated into forms so passing fair.</p>
+
+<p>After they had been carefully fattened, a kiddier was sent for to give
+them the happy dispatch, but no sooner had he set eyes on his quarry
+than he scuttled off in alarm, and nothing would induce him to return,
+nor could any other butcher be prevailed upon to officiate, so that,
+my friend declared, he was obliged to roll up his sleeves and perform
+the gruesome, though necessary operation himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Old custom" is almost a religion with the celestials, to subvert
+which requires great caution, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>persistency and strength. If anything
+can be justified by old custom, or even precedent, it is considered to
+be unassailable, no matter how harmful or irrational it may be.</p>
+
+<p>Take the matter of foot-binding.</p>
+
+<p>Laws have been passed, and are still extant, expressly forbidding this
+cruel and senseless habit, and the ruling race, the Manchus, have
+never practised it, still the Chinese, and the women more than the
+men, cling to it with fanatical stubbornness for the sole reason that
+it is old custom, and that if girls' feet were not bandaged it would
+outrage the universal sense of propriety.</p>
+
+<p>I have frequently talked the subject over with Chinamen, who readily
+acknowledge that it is useless, besides being extremely painful to
+young children, but they say if their daughters had natural feet they
+would most probably fail to get husbands, as no man wishes his wife to
+be in any way extraordinary or different from other women. "In any
+case," they frequently retort, "we do not know that foot-binding gives
+much more pain than do the tight-laced stays of foreign women, and
+certainly it is not so ugly or prejudicial to the health."</p>
+
+<p>The Chinese, contrary to ourselves, look back to the past for
+inspiration and guidance, and to concern oneself about novelty or
+change appears to them as savouring strongly of shiftiness and want of
+tone.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>A curious instance of how quickly precedent can be established, and of
+its binding force, came to my notice some years ago at Peking.</p>
+
+<p>At a certain point the now shallow waters of the moat encircling the
+city wall had for long years been spanned by a foot-bridge, but which,
+having become rotten and weak, duly crumbled away.</p>
+
+<p>With Oriental dilatoriness no attempt was made to rebuild it for some
+months, and it was then found that two men, who during the interval
+had been earning a livelihood by wading to and fro carrying
+pedestrians between the opposite banks, strongly objected to a new
+bridge on the ground that it would take away their occupation now
+fairly established. Backed by numerous relatives and by public
+opinion, these two miserable coolies had successfully resisted the
+proposed reconstruction when I left the capital, and it is highly
+probable that they or their sons still monopolise passenger traffic at
+the ford.</p>
+
+<p>To many even in this country, and to far more on the Continent, where
+Christmas is observed solely as a religious festival, the New Year
+with its train of bills, gifts, junketings and holidays is a period of
+abomination, when all business is dislocated and servants run mad.</p>
+
+<p>At such places in the East as Hankow, where a considerable Russian
+colony exists, there are three New Years of progressive virulence. The
+first of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>January is observed by all Europeans as a general holiday,
+when the ladies stay at home to preside over elaborate teas, at which
+all gentlemen of their acquaintance are expected to appear if only for
+a few minutes, while the men, both married and single, taking a large
+supply of cards, sally forth to call at the house of each lady in turn
+to wish her a Happy New Year, a proceeding which takes up several
+hours and necessitates a surprising amount of endurance. Dinners,
+dances, complimentary visits from Chinese friends, and other social
+functions help to swell the list of New Year obligations.</p>
+
+<p>Things have scarcely settled down again when the Russian New Year is
+at hand, for in the dominions of the White Czar time is still reckoned
+by the old style, and as Russians are particularly keen and very
+pronounced in their observance of anniversaries and <i>f&ecirc;tes</i>, the place
+is again turned topsy-turvy for several days beneath floods of
+excellent sweet champagne.</p>
+
+<p>The Chinese calendar marches coeval with the moons, which fact
+generally places their New Year some time in February, the exact date
+fluctuating from year to year to the extent of three or four weeks.</p>
+
+<p>The last few days of the old year is a great time of reckoning, when
+all outstanding debts must be paid so as to commence the New Year with
+a clean slate, and woe to the man who fails to meet his obligations.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>From faces clouded with anxiety during this trying period there is a
+sudden revulsion on the stroke of midnight to countenances wreathed in
+smiles, as for weal or woe the New Year is ushered in with deafening
+fusillades of fire-crackers and a great beating of gongs. In the
+morning all China is astir betimes, dressed in gala attire and
+interchanging congratulatory visits. Business is entirely suspended
+for several days, it being the one great annual holiday, and it is
+extremely difficult to get even your own servants to pay so much as a
+minimum of attention to their household duties; in fact, I yearly
+register a mental vow not to lose my temper with them on any account
+during New Year week, for besides being useless it would probably
+entail the additional discomfort of having to engage and train new
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>At this season native officials as well as merchants are in the habit
+of making presents indicative of good-will to those foreigners with
+whom they have business relations.</p>
+
+<p>Your boy brings in a bright red visiting-card eight inches by three,
+coming from an official who begs you will deign to accept his best
+wishes for the New Year, together with a few trifling presents.
+Immediately three or four coolies arrive, groaning as loudly as
+possible beneath the weight of hams, boxes of cigars, jars of dried
+fruits, boxes of tea, oranges and champagne. You inspect the presents
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>with exclamations of appreciation and then privately consult the boy
+as to what you should retain, it being the general practice to return
+the greater part. A box of tea, a jar or two of dried fruits, some
+oranges and perhaps a box of cigars are selected, while a few dollars
+are presented to the coolies, by whom you forward in return your own
+Chinese card to the official with seasonable wishes and thanks for his
+thoughtful kindness.</p>
+
+<p>As I was reading by my fire one afternoon in Shanghai the door was
+quietly opened, two hands gently pushed an enormous live turkey into
+the room and the door was again closed. The turkey commenced to stalk
+about with an occasional gobble. After watching the intruder for a few
+seconds I started to catch him, but found it was no easy matter. He
+flew on to the sideboard, from there to the mantelpiece and then to
+the window-sill, scattering knick-knacks and photographs far and wide.
+He ran under the sofa and table, finally escaping into my bedroom,
+where, with a desperate effort, I caught him by his legs under the
+bed. While dragging him out he beat his wings with great force, and as
+the bed had evidently not been swept under for months, drove forth
+such a cloud of dust and fluff as to almost choke me, while filling
+the whole room.</p>
+
+<p>Round his neck was tied a red label bearing New Year greetings from a
+Chinese merchant.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep189" id="imagep189"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep189.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep189.jpg" width="85%" alt="Fishing-Junks in Macao Harbour at Chinese New Year." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">Fishing-Junks in Macao Harbour at Chinese New Year.</p>
+<p class="right2" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;"><i>To face page 189.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>The entire boating population cease work at New Year, and tying up
+their craft in convenient places give themselves up to such few
+pleasures as their primitive mode of life allows.</p>
+
+<p>At Macao, hundreds of fishing-boats, which supply the market both
+there and at Hongkong, assemble and anchor close together in orderly
+rows, both in the inner harbour as well as in the bay facing the Praia
+Grande, under strict supervision of the Portuguese authorities. Mat
+awnings are erected over the decks, thus forming commodious rooms,
+which are decorated with scrolls and lanterns, and in which feastings
+and family gatherings take place for several days, after which the
+whole fleet, gaily decked with flags, puts again to sea.</p>
+
+<p>Fish of any kind is a favourite article of food, and the methods of
+catching them are extremely numerous. Otters, cormorants, nets,
+baskets and hooks without bait, all meet with due measure of success,
+but by far the most remarkable manner of fishing was that which I saw
+from the bows of a steamer made fast to the hulk at Hankow.</p>
+
+<p>It was mid-winter and bitterly cold, the ground being covered with
+almost a foot of snow. I had been to tiffin with the captain and was
+just coming away when, pointing to some natives in a sampan close
+alongside, he said, "Have you ever seen those men dive for fish?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>I never had, and being glad of the opportunity, stopped to watch.
+There were three men in the boat, of whom one worked the paddles,
+while the other two, stark naked, crouched on the forepart, sheltering
+themselves from the biting wind with an old straw mat. Having come to
+a suitable spot, where the depth may have been from ten to fifteen
+feet, the boat was stopped, and the two divers instantly plunged into
+the turbid water, to reappear some seconds later with a live fish in
+each hand, while one of them had also a third fish in his mouth. The
+diving was repeated several times with varying results before I took
+my leave, and the captain assured me that this was a common sight on
+the Yangtse in winter, when the fish were probably lying in the mud
+torpid from the cold.</p>
+
+<p>When returning to Kiukiang from a fortnight's shooting trip in the
+neighbourhood of Ngankin, my boat was much delayed by light and
+contrary winds, which frequently obliged us to anchor in order to
+avoid being swept back by the strong current. On one of these
+occasions three of the crew took the jolly-boat and rowed ashore, a
+distance of some hundred yards, and while smoking on deck I could see
+them wading along by the bank, groping in the mud and occasionally
+putting something into a bucket which they had taken with them.
+Questioned as to what they were doing, the lowdah <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>replied, "Fishing,"
+and my astonishment was not diminished when they returned on board
+with the bucket half-filled with fine perch, varying from perhaps
+eight ounces to a pound in weight. Until then I was unaware that perch
+existed in Chinese waters, nor have I since seen any.</p>
+
+<p>The nearest approach to this kind of fishing that I know of is down in
+my old home amongst the Norfolk broads, where on warm days, when lying
+in the weeds, tench can be tickled with the fingers and caught by a
+sudden nip behind the gills; but the art requires intimate knowledge
+of local waters, much patience and great skill.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most frequent questions that I am asked at home is, "Do not
+Chinamen wear the finger-nails very long?" They do. Scholars perform
+no manual labour, in visible token of which they allow the nails of
+the left hand to grow an inch or an inch and a half in length, but the
+nails on the right hand, while also long, are short in comparison with
+those on the left.</p>
+
+<p>To be classed with literary or educated men is the greatest of all
+considerations, for which reason there is always a tendency for anyone
+and everyone to wear a long coat and to don huge tortoise-shell-rimmed
+spectacles, such as are affected by the <i>literati</i>, as well as to
+cultivate the nails of the left hand. As the use of the word <i>esquire</i>
+has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>degenerated in this country until not to apply it to all and
+sundry is considered to be almost a snub, so the habit of wearing long
+finger-nails in China has descended through every rank of Society
+until it is now more often the badge of envious imitation than of any
+scholarly attainments. So precious to the owners are these claw-like
+nails that I have often seen them protected by silver sheaths, and
+have heard that for cases of extraordinary growth the whole of the
+left hand is even carried in a bag.</p>
+
+<p>There is much outcry in these latter days against the newly-formed
+habit of cigarette smoking cultivated by ladies of the West.
+Condemnation of the practice seems if anything to act as an incentive,
+so, yielding to the pleasant temptation of palliating faults in pretty
+women, I would suggest as an excuse that they are but following in the
+foot-steps of their sisters of the Far East, where, it may be roughly
+stated, the women-folk of a third of the human race smoke pipes.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot say that very young girls appear to indulge much, though
+women of all ages do to a great extent, inhaling the smoke and puffing
+it through the nose in thick clouds. The pipes in general use are
+either small brass ones, having straight wooden stems a foot in
+length, with clumsy porcelain mouthpieces, or brass water-pipes, which
+when being smoked make an unpleasant gurgling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>sound. The bowl of
+either kind is so tiny that it will only hold a pinch or two of very
+fine tobacco, which three or four whiffs consume, when it has to be
+refilled and lighted from a slow-match held ready in the hand until
+the smokeress has smoked enough. The picture is neither winsome nor
+sweet.</p>
+
+<p>The Chinese have very few amusements corresponding to our outdoor
+games, although at treaty-ports, and in those places where there are
+any roads, men are taking readily to cycling, albeit, from the flowing
+nature of their garments they generally use ladies' bicycles. Of these
+few pastimes archery is considered the most <i>distingu&eacute;</i>, while boys
+attain to great skill in playing shuttlecock with their feet, being
+able to keep up the feathered cork for a dozen or twenty times, and
+passing it considerable distances from one to another. Judge then of
+my surprise when, on asking a young Chinaman at Peking how he had
+spent his holiday of the previous day, he replied quite naturally that
+he had passed the afternoon at his cricket club.</p>
+
+<p>I could hardly believe my ears, for as far as I knew a game of cricket
+had never been played at Peking, even by Englishmen, there being no
+suitable ground, and it was only by plying him with questions that I
+elicited it was the cricket of the hearth to which he alluded, and
+that his club was a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>gambling-house to which young men brought their
+crickets, there to fight grim duels in a basin for the championship,
+while noble owners staked considerable sums on the prowess of their
+diminutive gladiators and stimulated their energies by tickling them
+with straws.</p>
+
+<p>On all the waterways of China enormous flocks of tame ducks are to be
+seen. These flocks generally number several thousands of birds each
+and are carefully herded by the duck farmer and his sons, who swim
+them about from place to place in search of suitable feeding-grounds.
+On the Yangtse I have seen them in mid-stream floating down in compact
+masses with the racing current and surrounded by their guardians in
+tubs, who, armed with long bamboos, smartly whack any bird which may
+happen to stray away from the flock until it rejoins its companions.</p>
+
+<p>These ducks are apparently always of one age, be it a month, three
+months or full-grown, which fact had ever been a source of mild
+surprise to me, in view of the number of simultaneous broods which
+would be necessary to hatch off such swarms, until the matter was
+explained.</p>
+
+<p>A friend of mine gave a tiffin party of four good men and true on his
+stern-wheel house-boat, the motive power for which was supplied by
+half-a-dozen coolies driving the wheel with their feet, on the same
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>principle as the tread-mill, and we were gliding up the Taipa Channel
+near Macao at about four knots, when suddenly our craft came into a
+sea of egg-shells sailing gaily before the breeze and having at a
+short distance much the appearance of water-lilies.</p>
+
+<p>For a quarter of an hour or so we ploughed through these shells, which
+must have numbered tens of thousands, making various conjectures as to
+their origin, until our host, who had been below superintending the
+icing of the champagne, came on deck and explained that they
+undoubtedly were from an incubator in which ducks had just been
+hatched. This was new to me, so I asked him for details, but he
+replied that beyond knowing of the incubators and that they were made
+of manure and lime in which eggs were buried until hatched, he had not
+been able to procure further information.</p>
+
+<p>Since then I have made many inquiries, but the Chinese will reveal
+little beyond the fact that incubators "have always existed" for the
+hatching of ducks and geese.</p>
+
+<p>A gentleman whose knowledge of the Chinese and their ways is
+unsurpassed has also kindly tried to find out, but with limited
+success, for, he says, it is regarded as a trade secret and the duck
+farmers will not divulge the process. However, he ascertained that the
+hatching takes place in early spring, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>when "a kind of primitive
+incubator is used. The eggs are placed in a big basket covered with
+straw or cotton wool, about a thousand eggs in one basket. Under this
+basket a charcoal fire is lit to keep the required temperature. The
+work is carried on in closed rooms and one man is always in attendance
+turning the eggs. Only eggs of ducks and geese are thus treated."</p>
+
+<p>Whether these incubators are made of manure and lime in the open air,
+whether they are in rooms heated by charcoal fires, or whether there
+are both kinds, the interesting fact is established that incubators
+"have always existed" in China, while results, as seen in the huge
+flocks of ducks, proclaim them as thoroughly successful. And this,
+too, when it has been unreservedly believed that the incubator was a
+modern triumph of Western science!</p>
+
+<p>Another little matter has attracted my attention. There have lately
+been paragraphs in several papers announcing the excellent results
+obtained from a new system of registering criminals by means of
+thumb-marks.</p>
+
+<p>Thumb-marking may be new to Scotland Yard, but in China it is a very
+ancient practice. I have seen illiterate men smear their thumbs with
+ink and make impressions at the foot of documents, such thumb-marks
+being accepted as in every way equivalent to full signatures.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE MARRIAGE TIE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>In the province of Kiangsi on the banks of the River Kan, which flows
+almost due north to the Poyang lake and so into the Yangtsekiang, is
+situate the town of Kanchow, on the outskirts of which dwelt a
+merchant named Chin Pao-ting with his wife and infant son.</p>
+
+<p>After the custom of all Chinese merchants, Mr Chin had a shop which,
+although used for retail purposes, was in reality the office of his
+not inconsiderable wholesale business. Mr Chin had some time previous
+to this date, the early spring of 1892, engaged a young man of the
+locality named Wang Foo-lin, as accountant and confidential clerk, and
+he had proved himself so intelligent and useful that not only did Chin
+regard him with feelings of friendship but even conceived the idea of
+subsequently taking him into partnership. What Chin's particular
+business was I do not know, beyond the fact that each year it took him
+away from home for several weeks, and sometimes months at a time, when
+he travelled to other provinces. This annual voyage <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>was now at hand.
+Four boats were filled with various kinds of merchandise, while a
+fifth and smaller craft was selected to convey Chin and his assistant,
+who now accompanied his master for the first time. This boat was
+fairly comfortable from a Chinese point of view, having benches on
+either side of the cabin and a kind of platform at the back, with a
+small, low table thereon bearing the customary incense-burner,
+containing fragrant joss-sticks, and also on this occasion a small
+<i>joss</i> or gilt image of Buddha, which Chin always took with him on his
+wanderings.</p>
+
+<p>All preparations having been slowly completed the day for departure
+arrived, and Chin, with much bowing and ceremonial posturing, having
+wished his wife and little son adieu, embarked with Wang, taking the
+equivalent of five thousand dollars<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> in sycee shoes and gold-dust,
+and amidst valedictory fusillades of fire-crackers, as well as a
+beating of gongs, the flotilla cast off and sailed away down river.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing of particular interest occurred during the voyage of two
+hundred miles to the Poyang lake beyond usual delays caused by the
+dried-up condition at that season of all waterways connected with
+China's mighty river.</p>
+
+<p>The sources of the Yangtse are to be found in the mountain ranges of
+Thibet, and as during winter <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>and early spring the deep snows of those
+lofty regions lie icebound and the great river is fed only by local
+rains, its waters dwindle in volume until they find a level forty feet
+below that of summer and autumn, when torrid heat and torrential rains
+thaw the snows in Central Asia and fill the river-bed with a thick,
+brown current which, after overflowing into and filling all lakes,
+tributaries and unprotected lowlands in the Yangtse valley, sweeps
+eastwards to the ocean, a foaming torrent of irresistible force.</p>
+
+<p>After about twenty days of incessant toil in tracking, poling and
+yulowing along the tortuous and mud-bound channel of the Kan, where
+sailing, owing to the low water and consequent towering banks which
+shut off the wind, was seldom possible, the small fleet emerged on the
+Poyang lake. Not, however, the magnificent sheet of water which is
+found there in summer, but the lake as it is in winter, contracted to
+one tenth of its maximum size, and little more than a wide and
+sluggish river flanked by boundless mud tracts swarming with snipe and
+wildfowl. Another few days' sailing, for the breeze could now be felt
+across the wide marshland, and Hukow (mouth of the lake) was reached,
+where the merchandise in the four small lake boats was transferred to
+a large and stately junk destined to carry it far up-river towards the
+West, while good accommodation was found on board both for Chin <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>and
+his assistant. As soon as the transhipment of cargo had been
+completed, and Chin had written a letter for transmission to his wife
+by the boats returning to Kanchow, sail was made on the junk, and
+passing out of the tranquil waters of the lake she was seen to shape
+an up-river course reefed close before a rising gale, until lost to
+sight in the rain and gathering darkness.</p>
+
+<p>The empty boats arrived in due course at Kanchow, when the letter was
+faithfully delivered, and this being the last communication that would
+be received from her husband prior to his return, Mrs Chin resigned
+herself to many weeks of dreary loneliness.</p>
+
+<p>Weeks lengthened into months, and the waiting woman began to feel
+anxious as to the well-being of her lord.</p>
+
+<p>The stifling, burning summer came and went, and still there was
+neither sign nor tidings of the absent one.</p>
+
+<p>Inquiries made of passing junks, to the crews of many of which Chin
+was well-known, ever elicited the invariable reply that nothing had
+been seen or heard of him.</p>
+
+<p>Autumn and winter still brought no tidings, and the poor, saddened
+woman yielded to the conviction that some disaster had overtaken her
+husband and that she would see him no more.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>Early Chinese marriages are almost invariably arranged by the parents,
+the young folks, even if old enough, having no voice in the matter.
+Later on, plurality of wives, though far from universal, is also quite
+common and of good repute.</p>
+
+<p>The lower orders generally have only one wife, not being able to
+afford more, although as soon as a man commences to prosper and rise
+in the social scale his first thought is to procure by contract or by
+purchase an additional helpmeet, who, however, ranks far below the
+<i>first</i> or <i>No. 1</i> wife. Similarly <i>No. 2</i> ranks before <i>No. 3</i>, and
+so on. Four or five wives is a common number in well-to-do households,
+though one old friend of mine, since dead, had taken to himself
+sixteen.</p>
+
+<p>Husbands regard the marriage tie as binding on them chiefly with
+regard to the material well-being of the family, whereas the honour of
+the family rests on the wife's steadfastness in maintaining sacred the
+nuptial vow, any detected laxity in this respect being visited on her
+with remorseless punishment both by her libidinous husband and by the
+whole of his clan. Widows seldom marry again, it being the duty and
+pride of a virtuous woman to remain faithful to the memory of her dead
+husband. Throughout the whole length and breadth of China memorial
+arches to widows who have been faithful to their troth till death are
+to be seen in almost every village.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>Mrs Chin may have been, and probably was, attached to her husband with
+that fanatical single-mindedness which belongs to women of the East.
+She may have considered it her bounden duty only. Whether love or duty
+furnished the motive I cannot tell, but after making all possible
+inquiries to no purpose she determined to set out herself and search
+for traces of the missing one. The shop and her belongings were sold
+to provide money for the way, and the poor woman, forsaking all and
+carrying the child strapped to her shoulders, turned with a bitter
+heart from her former prosperous home to face the world on her
+well-nigh hopeless quest. Of her wanderings I could get no record, and
+she would probably, with Oriental inscrutability, have refused to even
+talk about them, but wherever else they may have led her, in the
+bitter winter of 1893 she was twenty miles up-river from Hukow at the
+open port of Kiukiang and alone, her child having perished by the way,
+begging food and prosecuting her inquiries. Chance led her to shelter
+for a night in the ruined but beautiful pagoda which stands high above
+the river on the cliff outside the city wall. To the old Buddhist
+hermit in possession she told her oft-repeated tale, only once again
+to receive the usual negative reply.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, however, as she was moving off on her daily trudge,
+the hermit appeared, and after <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>the customary Buddhistic salutation,
+"O me tor foo,"<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> had been exchanged, he remarked that during the
+night it recurred to him that about eighteen moons had passed since he
+found the dead body of a man cast up naked on the opposite beach, and
+that following the rule of his order for acquiring merit he had
+carefully and reverently buried it.</p>
+
+<p>The poor wanderer seemed at last to see some faint possibility of
+reward for her dreary pilgrimage. She followed the hermit to the river
+side, where his small and leaky sampan was drawn up on the mud. After
+considerable effort the boat was launched by the feeble pair, and
+taking her place in it she was rowed by the old man across the heaving
+river, which is here more than a mile in width, to the opposite beach,
+where a little above high-water mark the grave was found. Scraping
+aside the loose sand and rubble, and raising the unfastened lid of the
+rough coffin, the mouldering skeleton was unrecognisable. Quick as
+thought the woman thrust her fingers into the crumbling mass and
+raised an arm of the dead, on which was seen to be the half of a jade
+bracelet. Immediately baring her own arm to the hermit's gaze she
+displayed on it the other half of the same jewel.</p>
+
+<p>A common Chinese practice is for man and wife to have one jade bangle
+split so as to form <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>two bangles, and to wear one each, with much the
+same idea as our Mizpah rings.</p>
+
+<p>The woman looked as if turned to stone. She moved not a muscle, but
+with livid face and hard, glassy eyes kept her position in the open
+grave, leaning on one hand across the coffin and grasping with her
+other the mouldering arm of the corpse, so that the two bangles were
+laid side by side.</p>
+
+<p>Silently and reverently the old hermit stole away, leaving the living
+with the dead, and rowed back across the river to his home without
+once turning his eyes, for curiosity he had none, but in its place the
+Oriental's deep and mystic knowledge of life and death.</p>
+
+<p>In the lonely grave amongst the rank grass and sand mounds the woman
+stayed, oblivious of the cold and soaking rain. For a long time she
+rested absolutely motionless as if also dead. Then a few upward
+movements of the head told of her silent agony. By-and-by a low,
+tremulous moan broke from her ashen lips. Almost inaudible at first,
+her sobs increased until her whole frame was convulsed. She called
+upon her husband, she poured blessings on his name, she craved
+blessings from his spirit. Long and loud, with all her soul, with all
+her strength and in most absolute sincerity, she bewailed her dead, as
+is the custom in the East, until exhaustion overpowered her and she
+slept.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>It was almost dark when the hermit returned and thus found the
+faithful woman, sodden by the rain, her hair unbound and trailing in
+the sand. Gently rousing her and speaking soothing words he held out
+his humble offering of two little bowls containing rice and samshu,
+some sticks of incense and a few tiny candles. These the poor woman
+took, but without a sign, for her gratitude was too deep to show, and
+reverently placed the bowls, the lighted candles and smouldering
+incense-sticks in position round the grave.</p>
+
+<p>Then, having kowtowed many times before the corpse, the lid of the
+coffin was replaced and covered with a few inches of sand, after which
+she turned as one in a trance and followed the hermit to his boat. Her
+husband was dead, she had bewailed him and burnt incense at his grave,
+and what further could this poor, broken woman do?</p>
+
+<p>What her intentions then were I do not know, but a few days later,
+when returning at dusk from Kiukiang to the pagoda, she was stopped in
+a lonely alley outside the western gate by a man who said, "Your
+husband was murdered eighteen moons ago by Wang Foo-lin, who is now
+living in Hankow." It was too dark to see the man's face and the voice
+she did not know, but it was probably one of the sailors of the
+missing junk who had some grievance to avenge. From the effect these
+words had on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>woman's fallen strength it might have been a message
+from the gods pointing afresh the path of duty. She sought her friend
+the hermit and related to him what had befallen her, and explained
+that she would now go to Hankow in quest of the murderer, for that her
+husband's spirit could never rest until his assassin had been brought
+to justice.</p>
+
+<p>How she travelled the one hundred and twenty miles from Kiukiang to
+Hankow I do not know, but it is certain that she appeared in the
+latter place begging from house to house, and after a time recognised
+Wang Foo-lin trading under an assumed name in a shop of considerable
+size. Wang on his part did not recognise the feeble and unkempt old
+beggar-woman, so changed was she from the prosperous Mrs Chin, and
+took but little notice of this one amongst many tens of other
+mendicants, so that she was able to stand for some time at the shop
+door without attracting undue attention, when she carefully noted the
+contents of the store, and amongst other things recognised the gilt
+joss which her husband had taken with him. Her next step was to
+procure an audience of the local magistrate, and to do this she was
+obliged to expend a considerable part of her remaining cash in bribing
+the yam&ecirc;n underlings ere they would consent to lay her case before the
+official or give her admittance to his court. After waiting many days
+the audience was granted, and kneeling on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>filthy floor before the
+judgment seat she unfolded her story, accusing Wang Foo-lin of the
+murder of her husband. The magistrate listened to her tale, but at the
+end said, "You accuse this man of murder but produce no evidence in
+support of your statements, and your bare word is not sufficient. If
+you can bring forward any actual proof I will then take action." Mrs
+Chin replied that in Wang's shop she had seen a gilt image of Buddha
+which her husband had taken with him on his ill-fated voyage. That
+many years ago at Kanchow she had knocked over and broken the nose off
+this same image, and that to repair the damage she had melted down one
+of her gold earrings and replaced the nose. If, therefore, it were
+found that this gilt joss had a gold nose then the magistrate would
+know her tale was true. The official replied that he would accept this
+as sufficient evidence and would at once put it to the test. Sending
+his runners with Mrs Chin to the shop, Wang was arrested, and together
+with the gilt joss taken to the yam&ecirc;n, where it was quickly found that
+the image actually had a gold nose as declared by the old woman.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing his case to be hopeless, and yielding to the racking torture
+which was quickly applied, the guilty wretch made a full confession of
+his crime. As a boy he had often heard of Chin Pao-ting's annual
+voyages to the West, while local gossip had so e<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>nlarged upon the
+merchant's wealth that the junk bearing him and his merchandise might
+well be a veritable treasure ship, so that when still a youth Wang had
+journeyed to Kiukiang with the deliberate intention of forming a
+scheme to waylay the annual expedition and thus acquire riches at a
+single stroke. As attendant in an opium den near the quay, he had come
+in contact with many low and desperate characters, amongst whom was
+the lowdah of a certain junk which plied for hire between the Poyang
+lake and the provinces of the West.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually an intimacy sprang up between these two, until at length the
+diabolical plot was hatched of murdering Chin and levanting with his
+goods. Wang now returned to Kanchow, and, as we have seen, not only
+contrived to enter the service of Chin Pao-ting but also to gain his
+esteem and confidence.</p>
+
+<p>For the next annual voyage a large river-junk to await the merchant at
+Hukow was, through Wang's astuteness, chartered on exceptionally
+favourable terms.</p>
+
+<p>This junk, needless to say, was that of Wang's confederate, and once
+on board the unhappy traveller was a doomed man. On the first night of
+the voyage he was pounced on in his sleep, stunned with a blow and
+thrown overboard. At Kiukiang, where the vessel stopped, the lowdah
+and his men went ashore after receiving the gold dust and sycee shoes
+as their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>share of the plunder, while Wang, taking the junk and cargo
+as his portion, shipped a fresh crew and sailed on to Hankow, where he
+set up in business with the proceeds of his ill-gotten gains.</p>
+
+<p>His examination finished and released from torture, Wang was led away
+in a swooning condition to a foul dungeon, where his silk garments
+were quickly stripped off and replaced by crimson clothes, stiff with
+clotted human blood and thick with vermin, but such as criminals
+condemned to execution are compelled to wear. By an iron ring
+mercilessly forced through his flesh and welded round his collar-bone
+he was chained to a stone pillar, and so left to await his doom or to
+rot on the reeking floor.</p>
+
+<p>After prolonged deliberations amongst the authorities, it was decided
+that the prisoner should be beheaded at Kiukiang, that being the
+centre of the district in which his crime was committed.</p>
+
+<p>Still clad in crimson clothes, the poor wretch was dragged by the
+chain from his cell, too emaciated and broken to even stand. His hands
+and feet were bound together with sharp cords and a bamboo pole thrust
+between them, and in such manner he was carried through the streets by
+two coolies, escorted by a few runners, to be thrown like a bundle of
+old clothes into the hold of a police junk, which bore him more dead
+than alive on his last voyage.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>Owing to information extracted from Wang two further arrests were made
+of members of the junk's crew, but the lowdah and one other succeeded
+in making good their escape.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style='width: 15%;' />
+<br />
+
+<p>It was now summer, and the view looking south from Kiukiang city wall
+was peaceful and grand. In the distance rose the majestic Lushan
+range, the peaks of which were illumined by the setting sun. Nearer,
+the low hills, clothed with firs and azaleas, rolled as a carpet to
+the lake, which lay between them and the city ramparts. A narrow
+causeway from the city to the hills, cut the lake in two. At the far
+end of the causeway was a plot of level ground, strewn with potsherds
+and heaps of refuse. Here, in contrast to its usual solitude, a dense
+crowd had collected in evident anticipation of some interesting event.
+Presently two or three horsemen and a motley gang of soldiers emerged
+from the city and proceeded quickly along the causeway. Closely
+following were coolies carrying three red burdens, on bamboo poles,
+and these in turn were followed by more soldiers and a few officials
+in sedan chairs. It was an execution. The hurrying cavalcade was
+swallowed up in the dense crowd which happily served as a curtain to
+hide this ghastly scene of human wrath from Nature's smiling
+landscape. Half-an-hour later the official procession returned as
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>quickly as it went, and gradually the crowd, sauntering by the water's
+edge, laughing, joking and making merry of the gruesome spectacle just
+witnessed, filtered back through the city gates.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning three wooden baskets on long poles were exposed from the
+top of an archway, and in each basket was a human head. Wang and his
+companions had met their just rewards.</p>
+
+<p>At Kanchow a pylow, or memorial arch, will eventually be erected in
+honour of the widow of Chin Pao-ting, so that to posterity may be
+preserved a just record of her virtuous devotion.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Then about &pound;600.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Untranslatable. "Peace be with you," or meaning to that
+effect.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER X<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>DISCUSSED POINTS</h4>
+<br />
+
+<div class="sidenote"><span class="sc">People.</span></div>
+
+<p>"How do you like the Chinese?" is the most common of all queries, yet
+each time it is made I have to reflect as to what my answer shall be.</p>
+
+<p>While unable to say that I like them, for, speaking collectively, they
+are an untaking, unlikeable people, still they possess many qualities
+and traits of character which <i>per se</i> must recommend them to all
+unprejudiced observers.</p>
+
+<p>The chief hindrance to a better understanding with them is their
+rooted antipathy to ourselves, generated by our pushing, masterful
+ways. With but few and unimportant exceptions they do not want us, and
+would be glad to see the last of all Europeans, together with their
+civilisation, their missionaries and their trade. This is not very
+flattering, accustomed as we are to regard ourselves somewhat in the
+light of pearls before swine, but it is the truth. On the other hand,
+we know that our footing in the country was gained and is maintained
+by force, which knowledge, in addition to that pressure of silent
+enmity of which we are at all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>times conscious, brings our minds into
+a hostile attitude <i>vis-&agrave;-vis</i> the Chinese. We are always in a state
+of antagonism, be it defensive or offensive. This mutual dislike,
+helped by the utterly different modes of life existing amongst
+Europeans and Asiatics, renders all other than business intercourse
+not only irksome but well-nigh impossible. Their ways not being our
+ways we do not want to know them intimately, and they on their part do
+not want to know us, wherefore, by tacit consent, we keep rigidly
+apart in social matters.</p>
+
+<p>Many people seem to imagine the Chinese as being romantic, artistic,
+quaint, effeminate and uncanny.</p>
+
+<p>Romantic they most certainly are not, but look at things with a brutal
+realism, of which their pet quotation is truly emblematical: "A man's
+greatest pleasure is found in reading his own essays and in making
+love to his neighbours' wives."</p>
+
+<p>Of their artistic qualities there are many favourable critics, though
+personally I consider them to be extremely poor. Their music, both
+vocal and instrumental, is worse than rubbish; in sketching and
+painting they are without sense of perspective; their architecture is
+clumsy and coarse; their much-vaunted pottery is full of flaws and
+blemishes, for which reason a perfect specimen is almost priceless and
+over which connoisseurs hypnotise themselves; dancing, except by
+flower-girls, is unknown; while in literature they are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>safe from
+adequate criticism, owing to the impossibilities of their language.
+Embroidery, bronzes, carving, and dyeing in both pottery and silks
+are, in my opinion, their best artistic productions, although it is
+said that the famous colouring of chinaware is now a lost art, as
+those clans which held the secrets were almost extirpated during the
+Taiping rebellion. Many articles of vertu are undoubtedly valuable,
+but is it not rather owing to their antiquity, to their rarity, or to
+the fact that they are good specimens of a certain workmanship,
+however bad, rather than to any inherent artistic merits?</p>
+
+<p>Quaint they indeed are from a European standpoint, but on more
+intimate knowledge this quaintness resolves itself into a slavish
+adaptability to the smallest circumstances in their daily struggle for
+existence. To a man who has been some years in the country, and who
+has tried to understand local conditions, the Chinese live on a dead
+level with matters of fact.</p>
+
+<p>To say that they are effeminate would be incorrect. In some things,
+from our point of view, they undoubtedly are; in others they are
+extremely virile.</p>
+
+<p>The captain of a British man-of-war told me that he considered them to
+be the poorest fighters in existence. That they habitually make a
+feeble show in battle cannot be gainsaid, but then they are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>a most
+matter-of-fact people, without any craving for military glory, and
+knowing beforehand that there is no possible chance of success, take
+time by the forelock and run away to escape a useless death.</p>
+
+<p>Select one of our very best regiments and stop their pay for several
+months, deprive them of officers, take away all doctors and medical
+comforts, half starve them, arm them with flags, pikes and
+muzzle-loaders, and then march them against a crack European regiment.
+You may be sure the Chinese example would be quickly followed. I do
+not say the Chinese are brave, but I do believe that, given a good
+training, just treatment and a fair chance of success, they would
+prove no mean antagonists.</p>
+
+<p>Possessing great natural aptitude, if it is made worth their while
+they will quickly become good riders, good shots, good at billiards
+and tennis, good sailors, etc., giving their whole attention to each
+matter, though without enthusiasm. It is this dull concentration on
+particular callings which has deprived their character of that vital
+force, initiative, which, while the greatest of safeguards to rival
+nations, has removed from the Chinese mind the power to comprehend and
+carry out large and complicated undertakings involving the handling
+and direction of modern systems and appliances. The Chinaman is at
+present content to supply labour, but whether in time he will be
+capable of also supplying the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>versatile, directing brain is a moot
+question. Anyhow, it will not be for long years and until he has lived
+under a modernised Government for several generations.</p>
+
+<p>Extreme consideration for infancy and old age, the growing of long
+finger-nails, the supposed debilitation arising from opium-smoking,
+the universal usage of fans, the wearing of flowing garments and
+braided hair, and the discharging of domestic duties which in other
+countries fall to the lot of women, are probably largely accountable
+for the charges of effeminacy.</p>
+
+<p>As to their uncanniness there is no doubt. We do not, and never shall,
+fathom the depth of a Chinaman's brain. After mutually looking at the
+same object from widely-different points of view <i>we</i> express our
+ideas, talk them over and invite criticism, while <i>he</i>&mdash;is silent. He
+listens to us and agrees, but keeps his own views to himself. We want
+to explain everything; he does not, but takes things on faith.</p>
+
+<p>In our inmost hearts we generally do not feel sure whether we believe
+or do not believe in spiritualism, in good spirits, bad spirits,
+ghosts, dreams, devils and manifestations. He believes in them all
+without a suspicion of doubt, but, knowing our wonted thoughtless
+scepticism, will frequently say he does not, as the easiest way of
+avoiding a useless discussion and condemnation of established facts.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>In dealing with educated Chinese many foreigners assume a forced,
+artificial manner, as though addressing themselves to an autocrat or a
+murderer, and are ever on the lookout for something to find fault
+with. My own idea is to maintain a naturally polite bearing and treat
+them precisely as you would your own countrymen of whatever rank in
+life. They strike me as being extremely responsive, and oftentimes
+even grateful for being taken simply as men and not as extraordinary
+specimens of another humanity.</p>
+
+<p>The dominating factor of their lives is "face." Whatever happens, so
+long as a man can save his face he has always the chance of righting
+himself. We continually hear of their commercial integrity, which is
+undoubtedly very great, though not springing from any innate
+principles of fair-dealing but from a desire to save face. I have very
+little doubt but that a Chinese merchant would immediately "do" you if
+he could be perfectly sure of not being found out, and so losing face,
+and that too without in any way violating his own feelings. "Face," or
+otherwise "appearances," is a Chinaman's passport to respectability,
+and therefore of great commercial value, but has nothing whatever to
+do with the hidden principles of honour and morality. That honesty
+pays better than dishonesty is a fact well known and firmly adhered to
+by merchants in a large way of business. To those in a small way of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>business, honesty does not pay, and consequently does not exist, but
+instead ability in squeezing is accepted as the gauge of capacity.</p>
+
+<p>The first essential in dealing with Chinese is control of temper. I do
+not mean that one should not possess a temper, on the contrary, it is
+a distinct advantage to have one, only it must be kept well in hand. A
+man of irritable, rasping temperament quickly loses respect and
+weakens control, while he who can keep calm under any circumstances,
+and only very rarely gives rein to a fierce outburst at the
+psychological moment, invariably compels admiration and obedience,
+for, it is reasoned, if a man who has command of his temper gets angry
+it is because he has just cause, and the fault must necessarily lie
+with those who call his anger forth.</p>
+
+<p>Under no circumstances, except in actual self-defence, strike a
+Chinaman. The pain or insult it may cause him is as nothing in
+comparison with the lowering effect it will have on your own status in
+native eyes. From being well-considered you will at once become an
+object of contemptuous dislike.</p>
+
+<p>The empire of China is considerably larger than the whole of Europe,
+contains limitless natural resources, and is inhabited by a hardy race
+of some four hundred million souls who are bound together by ties of
+blood, language, tradition and religion. This race, which until quite
+modern times existed as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>a world apart and was sufficient unto itself
+in all things, is highly developed both mentally and physically,
+though its government, as judged by Western ideas, is hopelessly
+obsolete.</p>
+
+<p>If left to themselves I see no reason why the Chinese should not
+slumber on as they now are till the crack of doom, but, the world
+having become so reduced in size through the agencies of steam and
+electricity, they never will again be left undisturbed, but more and
+more subjected to the pressure of other nationalities in the feverish
+struggle for domination and wealth. To this pressure they will surely
+yield in one way or another. Will they forestall the inevitable by
+reforming themselves, or will they for a time fall beneath the foreign
+yoke until they have learnt their lesson, and then reassert their
+solidarity and independence?</p>
+
+<p>In whatever light we may view these people or animadvert on their
+numberless contradictory qualities and failings, it is as certain as
+day and night that they are here to stay, if only by force of numbers,
+and that no political convulsions will wipe them out. They may be
+battered and even sundered for a time, but each successive shock will
+only serve to resuscitate their vitality.</p>
+
+<p>Already possessing an equipment of wealth, numbers, thrift, good
+physique and high mental power, they only await good government to
+start <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>them along the rails of progress. Whatever nations may rise or
+fall, the future is big with promise for the children of Han.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style='width: 15%;' />
+<br />
+
+<div class="sidenote"><span class="sc">Language.</span></div>
+
+<p>The Chinese language is like China itself: colossal!</p>
+
+<p>Roughly, the mandarin or official language is spoken by all officials
+throughout the empire and by all classes in those provinces which lie
+north of the Yangtse, while south of this line Cantonese is the
+principal dialect, although the number of others is legion, and so
+pronounced are the differences between them that countrymen dwelling
+but a few miles apart are frequently at a loss to understand each
+other.</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion, when making "a little trip to Japan," I took my
+Pekingese boy with me. Having missed the fortnightly mail-boat I made
+the passage from Chefoo in a small German collier, and on arrival at
+Nagasaki took rickshas to the hotel. In the streets were a goodly
+number of Chinese, members of a considerable colony of small traders,
+and the sight of compatriots in a foreign land greatly delighted the
+boy, who, on my departure after tiffin to make a tour of the town,
+asked if he meanwhile might go out to drink tea with his countrymen. I
+gave permission, but on returning some hours later to the hotel found
+him in a very <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>disappointed frame of mind, which was accounted for by
+his explanation that the Chinese residents in Nagasaki were all
+Cantonese, and that not being able to understand a word of mandarin
+they had perforce been obliged to converse with each other as best
+they could in pidgin English. He said, "Looksee b'long all same
+Chinaman, no savez talkee."</p>
+
+<p>The Pekingese are very discriminative and frequently condescendingly
+refer to all other Chinese as "outside men" or "foreigners."</p>
+
+<p>Pidgin English is a queer jargon composed of a verbatim translation of
+Chinese sentences together with a slight admixture of Portuguese and
+French, the frequent wrongful substitution of similar sounding words
+and a lavish use of the terminals <i>ee</i> and <i>o</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"S'pose you wantchee catchee olo chinaware, compradore savez talkee
+my," represents, "If you want to get some old chinaware your Chinese
+agent will let me know," while I have heard "two times twicee" for
+"twice two," and "last day to-night" for "last evening."</p>
+
+<p>The word <i>pidgin</i> means <i>work</i> of any kind, as in "plenty pidgin" or
+"no got pidgin," and <i>pidgin English</i> simply means a workable
+knowledge of colloquial English as picked up by tradesmen, servants
+and coolies, in contradistinction to English as taught in the
+schools.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>On the northern frontiers there is also pidgin Russian.</p>
+
+<p>The written language is the same everywhere, each character, of which
+the Chinese say there are between eighty and a hundred thousand,
+representing a complete word, so that before being able to read, and
+more especially write, a single sentence, each individual character in
+it must be closely studied and committed to memory, as we commit to
+memory the letters of the alphabet, but with the difference that
+whereas the alphabet consists of but twenty-six simple letters,
+Chinese caligraphy contains almost a hundred thousand characters of
+extreme complexity.</p>
+
+<p>From earliest boyhood to the grave Chinese students never cease, yet
+never complete, committing these characters to memory and welding them
+into those graceful verses and essays which are the pride of Chinese
+literature.</p>
+
+<p>Handwriting is accounted a fine art, and for many hours each day, year
+in and year out, characters are laboriously copied by means of a
+little brush filled with ink, which in the form of a cake or stick
+similar to Indian ink is moistened and ground on to a stone slab or
+"ink-stone," until the penmanship is frequently of a firmness and
+beauty surpassing that of copper-plate. In such veneration is the
+written character held that it is accounted wrong to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>debase in any
+way paper on which writing may be inscribed, wherefore conscientious
+<i>literati</i> sometimes pass along the streets gathering into baskets
+stray pieces of paper bearing written characters, to burn them
+reverently in miniature pagodas or towers erected on public ground for
+that especial purpose.</p>
+
+<p>The career of a student is considered to be the most honourable of
+all, but though chiefly restricted to handwriting, knowledge of
+characters, composition and national history, the Chinese admit that
+no man has ever yet thoroughly mastered his own language or even
+learnt all the characters.</p>
+
+<p>How then about foreigners' knowledge of the language? It is like the
+nibblings of a mouse at a mountain.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of two or three years a European by means of hard work,
+good memory and facile ear, may succeed in speaking one of the
+dialects so as generally to make himself understood, but to the end of
+his days his speech, for more than a few sentences, would never be
+mistaken in the dark by one Chinaman for that of another Chinaman.</p>
+
+<p>As for the written character, I do not believe it possible for any
+European to acquire more than a superficial general, or a mature
+one-sided, knowledge of it. Some missionaries, notably Jesuits, have
+given their lives to the work and have undoubtedly attained to
+considerable erudition in the classics and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>in subjects pertaining to
+religious doctrines, but in place give them some business papers or
+other documents in current use and they would be at once hopelessly
+nonplussed.</p>
+
+<p>A man may have mastered eight or ten thousand characters and may be
+able to read or dictate letters on any subject, but he probably would
+not be able to read a single line from most of the classics.</p>
+
+<p>I have heard, as a phenomenal thing, of a foreigner being able to
+write a letter himself, but the fact of its being phenomenal shows how
+unusual it was, and does not prove the absence of either crudities or
+errors.</p>
+
+<p>All Europeans, even the most competent, are <i>always</i> assisted by
+educated Chinamen when engaged on serious Chinese work. Unaided, they
+might read much correctly, but they might altogether miss the sense,
+and most probably would meet with characters they did not know.</p>
+
+<p>As for writing, it is impossible. Even if unaided one did manage to
+compose anything, it would be the work of a tyro and would never pass
+muster with literary Chinese, while the penmanship would be laboured
+and coarse, for the manner of holding the pen or brush is quite
+different from our own, and if not acquired almost from infancy the
+knack comes with difficulty when bones and sinews are more firmly
+set.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>With regard to mastering what is called the running character, which,
+by way of illustration, may be said to correspond to our shorthand,
+the thing is not to be thought of.</p>
+
+<p>To apply a general test, no European would ever have the slightest
+chance of passing even the lowest of the literary examinations.</p>
+
+<p>One may well ask what is the reason of this inability to reach the
+attainments of even a moderately well-educated Chinaman.</p>
+
+<p>No European can give his whole time from earliest childhood to the
+undivided study of Chinese, and even if he could, I very much question
+if the unattractive nature of native literature would satisfy his more
+versatile brain, while the absence of social intercourse between the
+two races removes the greatest of all incentives to perseverance.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the Chinese are saturated with a hereditary
+instinct for their own language and literature, which instinct,
+besides assiduous cultivation for thousands of years, is fostered from
+infancy by their surroundings, and is so exactly suited to their
+patient, phlegmatic temperament that it comes to them as naturally as
+the air they breathe, and even if unable to read but a few characters
+in a phrase, they will arrive at the meaning as surely as a well-bred
+hound will follow a trail.</p>
+
+<p>And so it follows that although Europeans of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>most brilliant intellect
+may devote long years and infinite labour to the study of Chinese,
+lacking this native instinct, they can never attain to that ripened
+and fluent knowledge which is a heritage of the Mongol race alone.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style='width: 15%;' />
+<br />
+
+<div class="sidenote"><span class="sc">Missionaries.</span></div>
+
+<p>What to say anent missionaries?</p>
+
+<p>In England alone the proselytising spirit is strong, and every parish
+subscribes liberally to missionary funds in order that labourers in
+the vineyard may not be wanting, and that the ends of the earth may
+know the tidings of joy.</p>
+
+<p>Most European residents in China are adverse to missionaries and
+express their opinions with such vehemence as to generally obscure
+criticisms of a more temperate nature. According to this majority the
+missionaries do nothing but harm. Frequently of poor education, and
+lacking altogether in tact and discretion, they thrust themselves in
+where they are not wanted, they interfere in local matters, ignore
+local customs, offend local susceptibilities, and by allowing young
+unmarried ladies without experience and frequently without suitable
+escort to wander about the country, to outrage all sense of decency,
+thus generating ill-will which not infrequently leads to riots,
+bloodshed and diplomatic trouble, while the good they do is
+microscopic and the number of converts or "rice-Christians" coincides
+with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>amount of alms distributed, and who, when nothing further is
+to be acquired, revert to the faith, or indifference, of their
+forefathers. Building fine residences with the funds provided by
+gullible folks at home, and constructing diminutive churches with the
+few remaining bricks, drawing fat salaries which increase <i>pari passu</i>
+with the number of their children, and taking long summer holidays in
+Japan or in the mountains when business men must be hard at work,
+nothing but condemnation is heard for the whole system which, they
+say, should be forcibly suppressed by the various Governments
+concerned.</p>
+
+<p>While enough of this loud-voiced deprecation may be true to lend a
+colouring to the whole, I have no hesitation in saying that the
+opinions of most of the critics are absolutely worthless. In fact,
+they know nothing whatever about either the missionaries or their
+work, but simply repeat, with their own additions, things they have
+heard from any and every source without ever troubling to verify them
+personally. Never was there a clearer case of "giving a dog a bad
+name," etc.</p>
+
+<p>We civilians in China frequently lead far from model lives and are in
+no position to throw stones, for which reason, probably, the mere
+sight of a professional good man is worse than the proverbial red rag,
+and the tendency is strong, I own, to disparage him <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>and all his
+works, while serenely forgetful of our own palpable shortcomings.</p>
+
+<p>I have known one or two missionaries commit shady actions. I have
+known several civilians commit crimes.</p>
+
+<p>Missionaries, like ourselves, it must not be forgotten, are very
+human, and contain in their ranks men widely differing in degrees of
+fitness.</p>
+
+<p>In various remote places I have met missionaries of many
+denominations&mdash;Jesuits, Anglicans, Non-conformists, etc.&mdash;and on
+closer acquaintance I have almost invariably found them at heart,
+whatever their methods, attainments or achievements, to be men of
+sterling worth, of lofty ideals, leading noble, self-denying lives,
+and fighting the good fight for love of God and man, and for the faith
+that is in them.</p>
+
+<p>From the militant nature of their calling they cannot avoid
+interesting themselves in the lives and customs of the natives, and
+that their message to the heathen, inviting them to forsake the gods
+of their fathers and embrace the only true faith, arouses hostility in
+the most conservative people on earth, is in no sense to be wondered
+at.</p>
+
+<p>Of medical missionaries who found hospitals and heal the sick, as well
+as of those who devote their lives to teaching the blind to read and
+the dumb to speak, adverse comment by anyone speaking with
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>sincerity and briefest knowledge of the facts would be impossible.
+These missions of mercy shine as great beacons of Christianity through
+the gloom of heathen darkness.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep228" id="imagep228"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep228.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep228.jpg" width="55%" alt="Buddhist Priest and Acolyte holding Book." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen sc" style="margin-top: .2em;">Buddhist Priest and Acolyte holding Book.</p>
+<p class="right2" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;"><i>To face page 228.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The greatest fault brought home to several missions is, in my opinion,
+their interference in legal quarrels between native Christians and
+their unconverted fellow-citizens. This interference has undoubtedly
+frequently occurred and with marked success, thereby causing extreme
+irritation to the Chinese officials, who dread possible complications
+with foreign consuls, and arousing the bitter resentment of the
+populace, not only against all Christians, but also against all
+foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>Indiscretion and want of tact are usually the fruit of enthusiastic
+inexperience, for veteran missionaries have generally tempered zeal
+with both suavity and cautiousness.</p>
+
+<p>That young, unmarried women, brought up in the pure atmosphere of
+Western homes and unaccustomed to the nauseous sights and insanitary
+surroundings of Eastern cities, should be allowed to ruin their
+healths, risk death by indescribable tortures, and in Chinese eyes to
+forfeit their reputations, for the sake of doing a very problematical
+amount of good is, I cannot help feeling, a great mistake and too
+heavy a price to pay. If there must be missionaries, at least let them
+be men, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>it would be far better and much more in accordance with
+the divine will if these girls settled in some one of our many
+colonies, married, and gave sons to the world, who then in due time
+might take up the cross of missionary endeavour.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, I should say that while missionaries are greatly
+over-condemned by Europeans residing in China, the good they do is
+over-estimated by people at home.</p>
+
+<p>Putting aside all criticism of missionaries themselves, the vital
+question is&mdash;"Will they succeed in converting China to Christianity?"</p>
+
+<p>I am not sufficiently versed in the necessary statistics to offer a
+very valuable opinion, but, such as it is, it tends to the conviction
+that they will not.</p>
+
+<p>It is a mistake to believe that persecution is an unfailing help to a
+religious cause. It is so only when the persecution is sporadic and
+fitful: storms succeeded by sunshine. When persecution partakes of a
+stern, unrelenting nature, such as has recently been meted out to
+Chinese converts, it certainly destroys, or at least stultifies,
+growth.</p>
+
+<p>Despite remonstrances from the great Powers and despite all treaties,
+I greatly fear that these persecutions will be more bitter and more
+general in the future than they have been in the past.</p>
+
+<p>While the progress of conversion is thus delayed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>and Christianity by
+drawing the fire of hate and intolerance absorbs all attention,
+Mohammedanism is silently making considerable strides, favoured by a
+period of bright sunshine, and unless storms of persecution soon burst
+again to roll back the tide, as after the last Mohammedan rising,
+when, it is said, loads of human ears were forwarded to Peking in
+token of successful repression, followers of the Prophet bid fair to
+establish a position in China which cannot be coerced and must be
+recognised, and which would oppose to Christianity an even stronger
+and keener influence than is exerted now.</p>
+
+<p>I have often heard the question asked&mdash;"Would the Chinese be any the
+better for becoming Christians?" and the reply has usually been that
+they would not.</p>
+
+<p>Personally, I believe that Christianity would supply the Chinaman's
+character with an element which it now altogether lacks&mdash;chivalry, and
+which, added to his many excellent qualities, would place him in the
+very forefront of the peoples of this earth.</p>
+
+<p>If China accepted Christianity her moral and material regeneration
+would be assured, stagnation would yield to progress, darkness to
+light and hostility to friendliness. Instead of the unwieldy mass now
+lying sulking at the feet of other nations, China would become a
+strong, self-reliant, prosperous <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>state, fearing none, but held in
+respect and friendship by all.</p>
+
+<p>Heathen China may possibly fall under the yoke of foreign powers, but
+the spirit of Christianity, bringing with it reformation and progress,
+having once been breathed into her nostrils, it would be just as
+possible to chain the waters of the ocean as to hold her in lasting
+bondage, and Christian China would be free.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style='width: 15%;' />
+<br />
+
+<div class="sidenote"><span class="sc">Chances.</span></div>
+
+<p>Forty odd years ago, at the close of the second great war, China was a
+veritable Eldorado for Europeans, where all turned to gold beneath the
+lightest touch of alien hands. Fortunes were made with startling
+rapidity, and money came in so freely that the standard of living
+amongst foreign merchants and their <i>employ&eacute;s</i> reached to such
+preposterous heights of luxuriousness, that when the inevitable
+reaction set in, want, and even ruin, supervened where plenty should
+have been found.</p>
+
+<p>From that date to this the descent from an inflated prosperity to a
+mean working level has been gradual and sure.</p>
+
+<p>What has been the cause of this descent?</p>
+
+<p>Forty years ago the foreign trade was practically monopolised by
+Englishmen, who had only to place their goods on the market of any
+newly-opened port for them to be snapped up at almost any price by
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>Chinese merchants, who then possessed but little knowledge of foreign
+wares and were exceedingly timid of their own officials. As time wore
+on this ignorance and timidity grew less and less, until the Chinese
+purchaser came to close quarters with the English importer,
+eliminating middlemen at the small ports and transferring operations
+chiefly to the great emporiums of Hongkong and Shanghai. Americans and
+Continentals of all nationalities arrived in rapidly-increasing
+numbers, bringing merchandise for the Chinese market, thus giving
+native buyers a much larger variety of goods from which to choose, and
+introducing a competition fatal to the former enormous profits.</p>
+
+<p>Although the volume of both import and export trade shows a continuous
+yearly increase, it tends more and more to centre in the hands of a
+comparatively few large European firms with which Chinese merchants
+from all parts of the Empire directly negotiate, to the exclusion of
+foreigners in a small way of business.</p>
+
+<p>Another reason for the decrease of profitable commercial openings is
+the practical extinction of China's tea trade with England, Ceylon and
+India now supplying the home-market, and although as great a quantity
+of tea is still exported from China as formerly, it nearly all goes to
+Russia, and this trade being in the hands of Russian monopolists,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>there is but little employment for other nationalities, while even
+here it probably will not be many years before the Russians largely
+follow our example in abandoning Chinese tea in preference for that of
+Ceylon and India.</p>
+
+<p>Similarly the steam shipping, which originally was almost exclusively
+British-owned, is gradually passing to the credit of Chinese
+capitalists, if not in name yet in reality, and any new development in
+this line is almost sure to be mainly financed from native sources.</p>
+
+<p>The opinion is largely held that accordingly as China is opened up by
+railways, by steam navigation on the inland waters, and by
+simplification of inland duties, foreigners will reap such advantages
+as may again enable them to quickly amass fortunes. Let there be no
+delusion on this point.</p>
+
+<p>Wherever openings for trade occur there will instantly be found shrewd
+Chinese business men backed by a plentiful supply of native capital,
+and the Westerner will get but little that is worth having.</p>
+
+<p>When the West River was thrown open to steamer traffic a few years
+since it was confidently predicted on all sides that it would cause a
+considerable development in foreign shipping. Nothing of the kind. On
+a recent trip to Wuchow I saw scores, and possibly hundreds, of small
+steamers and launches <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>crammed with cargo and passengers, or towing
+strings of deep-laden junks, but they were all Chinese-owned, while
+the only foreign-owned vessels to be seen were a few gun-boats and
+less than half-a-dozen steamers, which it is generally believed barely
+earn enough to cover expenses.</p>
+
+<p>The descent thus accounted for has chiefly then been caused by the
+competition amongst Westerners allowing Chinese merchants to get on
+even terms with them, when, being extremely good business men, holding
+absolute command of the native markets, and able to live much more
+cheaply than Europeans, they have generally ousted small foreign
+traders from the out-ports by carrying operations over their heads
+direct to well-known houses at the great centres of trade.</p>
+
+<p>Firms doing a large import and export business should prosper,
+although harassed by continual fluctuations in the value of silver,
+but their prosperity will redound to the direct advantage of a few
+only, while the chances of a man who comes out from home with a small
+capital being able to make for himself a successful commercial career
+are woefully meagre. Even representatives of wealthy syndicates, after
+investigating prospects on the spot, generally come to the conclusion
+that capital can be more profitably invested elsewhere than in China.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand there are a considerable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>number of official
+appointments to be obtained, carrying with them comfortable
+remuneration, but these are mostly filled up in England and in the
+several countries concerned.</p>
+
+<p>Professional men, such as doctors, lawyers and dentists, working both
+for Chinese clients and foreign residents, have capital opportunities,
+while for captains, officers and engineers for steamers, engineers and
+directors for docks and factories, professors for various colleges,
+mining experts and railroad constructors, there is an increasing
+demand at fair salaries, but, considering the trying climate, the
+banishment from home and the persistent decline in the value of
+silver, residence in the Far East, even on a large income, is a
+doubtful advantage.</p>
+
+<p>The collapse of silver has been so great that whereas twenty or thirty
+years ago four silver dollars would purchase a sovereign, and a salary
+of four hundred dollars a month represented twelve hundred pounds a
+year, now it takes more than twelve dollars to purchase a sovereign,
+so that a similar salary of four hundred dollars a month represents
+less than four hundred pounds a year.</p>
+
+<p>It is a common belief at home that fluctuations in the value of silver
+are not felt when purchases are confined to a silver-using country.
+This is quite a mistake. China is a silver-using country, yet the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>standard of value maintained by her four hundred million souls is
+neither silver nor gold but copper cash, and the ultimate cost of
+<i>everything</i> of native origin is regulated by its value in cash.</p>
+
+<p>A coolie's wages a few years ago may have been six thousand cash a
+month, and a dollar being then purchasable for say a thousand cash,
+you gave him six dollars a month. To-day his wages may still be six
+thousand cash but a dollar being now worth only five hundred cash, you
+are obliged to give him twelve dollars a month. Precisely the same
+rule applies to meat, coals, vegetables, etc.</p>
+
+<p>For all imported foreign articles, such as clothes, stores, wines,
+etc., you must give enough in silver dollars to make up the price as
+reckoned at home, that is, in gold, and as you now have to give three
+times as many dollars for a sovereign as formerly your imported goods
+are three times dearer, or, in other words, the value of silver has
+fallen and its purchasing power is very much less than it used to be
+the whole world over.</p>
+
+<p>For a man drawing his salary in dollars the cost of living in the Far
+East is more than double what it was twenty-five years ago. For those
+who direct big businesses the earnings of which are in silver and the
+expenses largely in gold, as well as for those who had already
+invested their fortunes in shares prior to the utter collapse of
+silver, the past few <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>years have been a period of crushing losses,
+while the future must be fraught with grave anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>In short, but few fortunes are to be made in China, while money is
+very easily lost, and unless a man before leaving home secures a
+definite position in a good business firm, in Government employ or in
+some profession, it would be most unwise of him to go out on the
+chance of finding employment after his arrival.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<h4>THE END</h4>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h3><i>Colston &amp; Coy. Limited, Printers, Edinburgh.</i></h3>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<div class="tr">
+<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p>
+<br />
+Page &nbsp;&nbsp;47: &nbsp;per excellence replaced with par excellence<br />
+Page &nbsp;&nbsp;76: &nbsp;averge replaced with average<br />
+Page 174: &nbsp;dogs-kin replaced with dog-skin<br />
+Page 193: &nbsp;bicyles replaced with bicycles<br />
+<br />
+<p class="noin">Notes to Readers:</p>
+<p class="noin">'Forrard' is a legitimate word, meaning "at or to or
+toward the front".</p>
+<p class="noin">On page 83, the word powed is a legitimate word, meaning "polled".</p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Life and sport in China, by Oliver G. Ready
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+</body>
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@@ -0,0 +1,6425 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life and sport in China, by Oliver G. Ready
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Life and sport in China
+       Second Edition
+
+Author: Oliver G. Ready
+
+Release Date: August 24, 2008 [EBook #26412]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE AND SPORT IN CHINA ***
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+    | Transcriber's Note:                                       |
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+    | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has     |
+    | been preserved.                                           |
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+    | Bolded text is marked with ='s, =like this=.              |
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+    | In the original text, Hai-tzu is spelled with the         |
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+
+LIFE AND SPORT IN CHINA
+
+
+
+
+LIFE AND SPORT
+IN CHINA
+
+
+BY
+
+OLIVER G. READY, B.A.
+
+
+_SECOND EDITION_
+
+
+LONDON
+CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED
+1904
+
+
+
+
+   [Illustration: PAGODA, NEAR HANKOW.
+   _Frontispiece._]
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S NOTE
+
+
+The British public is greatly handicapped in forming an intelligent
+appreciation of happenings in China by a lack of that initial
+experience which can only be gained by residence in the country.
+
+In this little work I have endeavoured to place before readers a
+sketch of things as I saw them, and to convey to their minds an idea
+of how Europeans live there, of their amusements, of their work, and
+of those things which are matters of daily interest to them, so that
+my book may serve as a kind of preface to that enthralling volume, the
+current history of China, as it is daily revealed in the press, in
+magazines and in learned works.
+
+While confining myself herein to the lighter side of narrative, I am
+not unconscious of those intricate problems and deep studies connected
+with the Far East, but to which profound research and matured judgment
+must be applied, though information thereon, even when collected and
+published, would appeal mostly to the narrow circle of experts on
+matters Chinese.
+
+The vast Empire of China with its hundreds of millions of toiling
+slaves, with its old, old civilisation reaching back for untold years
+prior to the dawn of history in the West, with its manners and
+customs so worn into the national character that they almost form the
+character itself, with its fertile plains, its sandy deserts, its
+lofty mountains, its mighty rivers, its torrid heat and arctic cold,
+its devastating floods, its cruel famines and loathsome epidemics,
+represents a _mass_, the contemplation of which staggers the mind and
+makes one ask, "What is Europe trying to do here? Does she hope to
+conquer, to change or to purify?"
+
+After a residence of twelve years in various parts of the country I
+instinctively feel that while military occupation by the Great Powers
+may be possible, not only is China in a sense unconquerable, but that
+she is eminently a conquering nation, though not by clash of arms.
+Insidiously, remorselessly and viciously she will subdue apostles of
+the West who are sent to her, and unless persistently restrained will
+overflow into adjacent lands and conquer there by cheap labour and
+unremitting toil.
+
+For the photographs I am indebted to the generosity of Mrs T. Child,
+as well as to T.T.H. Ferguson, A.J.E. Allen, Carlos Cabral and the
+late H. Hall, Esquires.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAP.                                                             PAGE
+
+   I. ANGLO-CHINESE LIFE                                             1
+
+  II. SERVANTS AND TRADESMEN                                        26
+
+ III. SHOOTING                                                      46
+
+  IV. RIDING                                                        73
+
+   V. SAILING                                                       96
+
+  VI. JAMBOREES                                                    119
+
+ VII. AROUND PEKING                                                139
+
+VIII. HERE AND THERE                                               169
+
+  IX. THE MARRIAGE TIE                                             197
+
+   X. DISCUSSED POINTS: PEOPLE, LANGUAGE, MISSIONARIES, CHANCES    212
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                     PHOTO BY
+
+PAGODA NEAR HANKOW                   H. HALL            _Frontispiece_
+
+THE BRITISH CONCESSION, HANKOW      _Chinese_         _To face page_ 3
+
+HOUSE-COOLIE, BOY, COOK,
+  AND "NO. 2."                      T.T.H. FERGUSON         "       37
+
+HOUSE-BOAT ON THE YANGTSE           A.J.E. ALLEN            "       50
+
+THE CAB OF NORTHERN CHINA           A.J.E. ALLEN            "       75
+
+THE OLD GRAND-STAND, HANKOW
+  RACES, 1888                       _Chinese_               "       87
+
+FOOCHOW JUNK, SHOWING EYE           T.T.H. FERGUSON         "       98
+
+PLAYING FANTAN IN PRIVATE HOUSE     CARLOS CABRAL           "      133
+
+THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA             T.T.H. FERGUSON         "      158
+
+AVENUE OF STONE FIGURES, MING
+  TOMBS                             T.T.H. FERGUSON         "      161
+
+A TYPICAL FARM-HOUSE                H. HALL                 "      177
+
+FISHING-JUNKS IN MACAO HARBOUR
+  AT CHINESE NEW YEAR               CARLOS CABRAL           "      189
+
+BUDDHIST PRIEST AND ACOLYTE
+  HOLDING BOOK                      T. CHILD                "      228
+
+
+
+
+VOCABULARY
+
+
+  =Bund.= The embankment or quay of a concession.
+
+  =Concession.= A strip of land conceded by China to another Power
+      exclusively for the residences of foreigners.
+
+  =Camoens.= Portuguese poet who wrote the Luciad at Macao.
+
+  =Chit.= Any letter or note, also an I.O.U.
+
+  =Chop chop.= Quickly. Hurry up.
+
+  =Compradore.= Chinese agent or partner.
+
+  =Coolie.= Chinese labourer.
+
+  =Cumshaw.= A tip or present.
+
+  =European.= In China this word is equally applicable to
+      Americans.
+
+  =Foreigner.= European or American in China.
+
+  =Gingall.= Heavy muzzle-loading musket requiring two men to
+      carry and fire it.
+
+  =Han, Children of.= Chinese.
+
+  =Kowtow.= To make obeisance by striking the head on the ground.
+
+  =Lowdah.= Sailing-master.
+
+  =Mafoo.= Groom.
+
+  =Native.= Chinese.
+
+  =Out-port.= Any treaty port except Shanghai, and Hongkong.
+
+  =Papico.= Junk from Ningpo, shaped aft like a duck.
+
+  =Pow.= To gallop.
+
+  =Praia Grande.= Esplanade facing sea.
+
+  =Pumelo.= A coarse fruit resembling an enormous orange.
+
+  =Punkah.= Large fan suspended from ceiling for ventilating
+      room.
+
+  =Ricksha.= Small gig drawn by a coolie, who plies it for hire.
+
+  =Runner.= Official underling. Police agent.
+
+  =Sai.= Here I am. A word used by servants combining Sir and
+      _Lai_, to come.
+
+  =Samli.= A fish resembling salmon.
+
+  =Sampan.= Small native boat.
+
+  =Samshu.= Spirit distilled from rice or millet.
+
+  =Settlement.= Where Europeans have settled on a limited strip of
+      Chinese territory.
+
+  =Shroff.= Chinese accountant, cashier and banker.
+
+  =Squeeze.= Recognised cheating.
+
+  =Sycee Shoes.= Rough lumps of silver cast in shape of
+      China-woman's small shoe or of half-globe.
+
+  =Tiffin.= Luncheon.
+
+  =Treaty-port.= Any port opened by treaty to foreign trade.
+
+  =Waler.= Horse from New South Wales.
+
+  =Westerner.= European or American.
+
+  =Yamen.= Official building.
+
+  =Yulow.= A scull worked over the stern.
+
+  =Zacousca.= Russian appetiser or snack taken before meals.
+
+
+
+
+Life and Sport in China
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+ANGLO-CHINESE LIFE
+
+
+Anglo-Chinese life is a sealed book to most people at home, who, if
+they ever think about it at all, do so with minds adversely biassed by
+ignorance of the conditions, a hazy idea of intense heat, and a
+remembrance of cruel massacres.
+
+"Going to China" always elicits looks and exclamations of astonishment
+at so rash an undertaking, but which the stock questions as to whether
+we eat with chopsticks, whether it is not always unbearably hot, and
+whether we like the Chinese, explain as disquietude arising from the
+idea of encountering "evils that we know not of."
+
+Our early business relations with the Chinese were conducted at
+Canton, to which port opium in particular was shipped direct from
+India, but owing to the hostility of Chinese officials towards British
+merchants and the legitimate expansion of their trade, quarrels were
+frequent, culminating in the so-called Opium War of 1840-42, resulting
+in the acquisition by us of the small, barren island of Hongkong, and
+the opening to foreign trade of five ports, including Canton and
+Shanghai, at all of which small plots of land some half a mile square
+were set apart for the exclusive residence of foreigners generally but
+of Englishmen in particular. Disputes, however, did not cease, so that
+twenty years later England and France in co-operation, attacked China,
+and wrung from her the right of foreign ministers accredited to the
+Chinese court to reside at Peking, and also that additional ports
+should be opened to foreign trade, with a plot of land at each for
+residential purposes.
+
+The treaties following on these two wars have since been supplemented
+by other treaties opening still more ports, at some of which also
+adjoining plots of land have likewise been conceded, and our position
+in China to-day is founded on the accumulated result of these various
+agreements, which, above all things, guarantee us exterritoriality or
+exemption from Chinese jurisdiction, so that Europeans for whatever
+misdemeanours, are amenable only to their own consuls.
+
+   [Illustration: THE BRITISH CONCESSION, HANKOW.
+   _To face page 3._]
+
+There are now about thirty treaty-ports, most of them having these
+residential plots or concessions some of which, however, have never
+been taken up and built on, but where they have been, although
+leased from the Chinese Government at nominal rents, they are to all
+intents and purposes little detached portions of the British Empire,
+kept scrupulously clean and in perfect order, where natives are not
+allowed to dwell, but where Europeans of all nationalities live in
+security and comfort.
+
+In each of them resides a British consul, who represents his
+Government _vis-a-vis_ the Chinese and foreign officials, and who
+holds the position of magistrate in relation to his own nationals. An
+English doctor also is generally in practice at all, except the very
+smallest, ports.
+
+In many instances walls have been built round these concessions, the
+gateways in which can be bolted and barred at night to keep out the
+natives, a good system of drainage introduced, wide roads laid out and
+lighted, public seats placed in pleasant spots facing the water, trees
+planted, palatial houses built with gardens attached, a church
+constructed, clubs founded, billiard-tables and other insignia of
+Western luxury imported, a municipal council elected for managing
+local affairs, and a force of native police or Indian Sikhs raised,
+with which, under English superintendents, to maintain order in our
+streets.
+
+Other countries, notably France, have similar settlements, though far
+less numerous, but I shall herein refer exclusively to our own.
+
+Off the frontage or _bund_ is frequently moored a line of hulks
+connected with the shore by pontoons, and which in their day were
+probably the finest ocean liners afloat, but now, worn out and
+dismantled, serve as floating warehouses, alongside which steamers
+come to discharge and load cargo. At other places vessels drop anchor
+in mid-stream, while between them and the various jetties large cargo
+boats constantly pass to and fro laden with merchandise, to be quickly
+shipped or landed by gangs of chattering coolies.
+
+Everywhere the foreshore is always crowded with a fleet of native
+junks, displaying half mast be it a bundle of wood, a rice measure or
+a coal scoop, to show that their cargoes consisting of wood, rice,
+coal, etc., are for sale.
+
+Either just on the concession, by permission of the consul, or in
+Chinatown immediately outside, are two or three general stores and
+butchers' shops, run by either Chinese, Parsees or Japanese,
+especially to supply the foreign community with groceries, bread, meat
+and other daily requisites.
+
+No one carries money in his pocket, for the Europeans being but few in
+number are well known by sight, and any purchase is made by signing an
+I.O.U., or _chit_, for the amount necessary in dollars or cents. At
+the club you call for say two sherries and one bamboo (half sherry,
+half vermouth) and the waiter brings them, together with a small
+chit-book in which he has already written down your order in pencil,
+and this, after inspection, you simply sign or initial, when it is
+torn out and dropped into the till and you see no more of it until the
+end of the month, when your club bill comes in, supported by all the
+chits you have signed.
+
+For the offertory, pencils and pieces of paper are distributed about
+the church, so that the congregation may easily write chits, which are
+folded up and dropped into the bag, to be presented at your house next
+day by the church coolie for payment. This system, though very
+convenient, is apt to prove something of a trap, for signing a chit is
+so much easier, and the amount appears to be so much less than if
+paying in hard cash, that when the monthly total is made up you are at
+first inclined to believe there must be some mistake; but alas!
+careful verification too plainly shows that you have signed for more
+than you had any idea of.
+
+Amongst Europeans the currency employed is the silver dollar, now
+worth about one shilling and sevenpence though formerly rated at five
+shillings, together with a subsidiary coinage of fifty, twenty, ten
+and five-cent silver pieces, as well as coppers of one and two cents
+each.
+
+The Chinese standard of value in universal use throughout the Empire
+is copper cash. A cash is about the size of a shilling and equivalent
+to one eighth of a farthing in value. Through the centre of each coin
+is a square hole large enough to admit a thick string. It is usual to
+thread cash, first into bundles of one hundred, each bundle being
+about the size and shape of a sausage, and then for ten bundles to be
+strung together in pairs, so that the full string of a thousand cash
+almost exactly corresponds to a double string of ten sausages. The
+value of this full string is about half-a-crown, and owing to its
+great weight is usually carried slung over the shoulder.
+
+The _tael_, pronounced tale, is not a coin at all, but means simply an
+ounce (of silver). There are many kinds of taels, each of a different
+value according to the purity or _touch_ of the silver, which is
+chiefly determined by the locality in which the metal is mined.
+
+When a Chinaman sells native produce to a European he always keeps in
+mind its value in cash, and wants a corresponding value in dollars or
+taels, whatever the price of silver may happen to be. The same with
+wages of all kinds; the amount required in each case is based on what
+each individual requires in cash.
+
+The whole monetary system, or rather lack of system, complicated by
+numberless local banks, each with its own issue of paper money, is so
+bewildering that European householders seldom bother about anything
+beyond dollars and cents, to which standard, for their especial
+benefit, all others are reduced, though always at a certain loss in
+the exchange.
+
+Some of these concessions, which are in reality little English towns,
+have greatly prospered since their inauguration and are now centres of
+voluminous and increasing trade; but others, belying their initial
+prosperity, have stagnated, and appear to be gradually slipping back
+to the Chinese, who, in contravention of treaty ordinances, have been
+allowed to acquire property on them and reside there in
+rapidly-increasing numbers.
+
+The thriving settlement of Shanghai, which is situated near the mouth
+of the River Yangtse, and which possesses a foreign population of six
+or seven thousand, may be considered the metropolis of other
+treaty-ports in the northern half of the Empire, or, as they are
+generally called, "out-ports"; while the British colony of Hongkong
+stands in the same relation to out-ports in the south.
+
+Hongkong has now no connection whatever with China, being entirely a
+British possession, and has been converted from a barren rock to a
+most lovely, thriving and important commercial town and naval base,
+and is the greatest triumph of British enterprise and material
+civilisation that I know of.
+
+Nearly all these out-ports are in telegraphic communication with
+either Shanghai or Hongkong, and through them with the outside world,
+while the postal service is conducted by means of coast and river
+steamers which, plying regularly with passengers and cargo, have bases
+in these two emporiums, so that in whatever port you reside your
+thoughts and your interests are daily and directly concerned with
+either one or the other. From them come the daily newspapers,
+arriving, maybe, several days after date of issue, but still fresh
+reading for those in distant places. From them come the gun-boats
+which, besides protection, bring the welcome society of jovial naval
+men, and from them come commercial travellers with assortments of
+hats, boots, guns, clothes and other necessaries; while to them we go
+to embark for home, or, when in need of a social holiday, to chip off
+the rust of out-port seclusion, until eventually we look to them for
+many of our creature comforts, and through them, as through a window,
+to the world beyond.
+
+Existence at both Shanghai and Hongkong is surrounded with so many
+Western accessories in the shape of good houses, electric light,
+excellent roads, horses and carriages, bands in public gardens and
+hourly telegrams, that life at an out-port, while at times very
+monotonous, is frequently more interesting, for there, being less
+overshadowed by the pleasure of foreign society, you may come into
+closer touch with things Chinese, so that if the study of a people the
+most antiquated and wonderful under the sun has attractions for any,
+this, together with the many facilities for the enjoyment of sport and
+outdoor life, should be sufficient to bring occasional contentment to
+even the most despondent.
+
+From the extreme north to the extreme south, and from the sea to the
+mean west, that is, along the coast line and up the River Yangtse for
+fourteen hundred miles to Chungking, these nests of British enterprise
+adhere like barnacles to China's stolid bulk, dominating her vast
+trade with other countries, appearing as bright oases in the desert of
+Eastern heathendom and unfriendliness, and ranging in numerical
+importance from say thirty to five hundred Europeans, in accordance
+with the amount of shipping which flows through them and is their very
+life-blood.
+
+Much depends on the residents themselves whether social life in these
+miniature colonies is to be very pleasant or only a deadly monotony.
+Nearly every man who comes out from home has been selected from among
+his fellows for some particular superiority. Either he is smart in
+business, has health and physique to withstand the extremes of climate
+to which he may be subjected, is clever and has gained his appointment
+in competitive examination, or he may have all these qualities
+combined; anyhow, he is a picked man, above the average all round, and
+as such has a corresponding force of character.
+
+A number of such men being thrown together in a small place either
+co-operate and become fast friends, their wives and children, if they
+have any, following suit, when existence is rendered charming, or, on
+the other hand, with their marked individualities and business
+rivalries they may quarrel, in which case the best thing is to forego
+all hopes of social pleasures and wrap yourself up in your own
+content. A quarrelsome port provides an amusing study for a short
+time, but after that, especially during the depressing dampness of the
+rainy season when it is too wet to go out, life becomes very
+monotonous and irritating, for the space being so limited you are
+continually brought face to face with people who are on bad terms and
+who try to attach you to their side. Trivial jealousies, mythical
+slights and insignificant nothings which would pass unnoticed in a
+larger world here assume such alarming proportions that the club
+languishes owing to numerous resignations, few attend church because
+one of the rival faction plays the organ, and the evening promenade
+beneath the trees along the bund is transformed from a pleasant family
+gathering into a funereal procession.
+
+In pleasing contrast is a _nice_ port, where people pull together,
+where good-fellowship and hospitality make one feel like the member of
+a large family, where you walk into the house of your neighbour, smoke
+his cigars and drink his whisky, brought to you while reclining in a
+long chair on the verandah with the punkah swinging lazily over you,
+waiting for the master's return. This is done with the pleasurable
+knowledge that your friend would naturally instal himself in your
+house under like circumstances. Here is real charm. Think, too, of the
+outdoor life, of those lovely evenings when the air is soft and warm,
+the moon at full and of a size never seen in England, when a party of
+us would sail out on the lake, drop anchor and dine in the cool
+breeze, and after cigars and coffee would sail on again, singing songs
+that carried us back to days of yore and bringing a sad yet sweet
+strain into thoughts and voices as we glided over the moonlit waters.
+
+Spring and autumn bring the two great events of the year--the races.
+
+Many ports have a capital race-course, which is always circular in
+shape, enclosing what are generally the grounds of the recreation
+club, while almost every sporting man trains a pony or two, which he
+frets and fumes over in a style that would not bemean a Newmarket turf
+magnate. Weeks before the meeting, increasing in intensity as the time
+shortens and decreasing slowly as the event recedes, the talk is
+purely of ponies, ponies, ponies--until the non-racing man droops and
+turns away, but without daring to utter one single word of protest
+against the prevailing epidemic of pony talk. Race lotteries at the
+club afford great excitement to the betting men, when the knowing ones
+make books which in the end leave them considerably to the bad, while
+those who know nothing rejoice with the joy of fools, thinking that to
+their own perspicuity is due the roll of dollars which wanton luck has
+thrust upon them.
+
+On the actual race days, of which there are generally two, with a
+third or off-day tacked on, things reach a climax. All business is
+curtailed or altogether suspended. Everyone wears colours, either his
+own or those of a friend, and at eleven o'clock the ladies are driven
+to the course in state by happy owners of various nondescript vehicles
+furbished up for the occasion. Everyone knows everyone else, the names
+of ponies entered have been household words for weeks, while their
+supposed merits are open secrets, the jockeys are personal friends,
+the weather is bright and warm, the ladies wear their smartest
+dresses, the course is kept and order maintained with the aid of
+bluejackets from the gun-boat in port, while her drum and fife band or
+nigger troupe renders selections of varied merits. A race over, the
+successful owner and jockey are seized and carried shoulder high to
+the bar behind the grand-stand, where winners and losers alike have
+preceded them to secure a glass of champagne at the owner's expense,
+with which to drink his health and show a befitting sense of joy at
+the victory which has just been achieved.
+
+An excellent champagne lunch is served in the grand-stand, and
+presided over by the clerk of the course, who, by virtue of his
+exalted office, ranks high in the community, when suitable toasts are
+proposed and cordially honoured, followed by an adjournment to the
+paddock for a stroll and a smoke, after which attention is again
+claimed for the business of the afternoon's racing.
+
+Riding is usually well to the fore, and on an afternoon parties of
+ladies with attendant cavaliers trot down the reach by the river and
+gallop home across the plain, or wend along the beach, walking their
+ponies in the salt water.
+
+For the sportsman game in abundance generally lies within reach, and
+nothing of its kind is more delightful than an afternoon with the
+spring snipe, or a shooting trip of a few days in company with a
+kindred spirit.
+
+Tennis is still a favourite amusement during summer months, and
+garden-parties, comprising almost the whole community, meet
+frequently, be it on the club grounds or at private houses, when those
+who do not play come to watch and chat while partaking of ices and
+other refreshments, or smoking peacefully in the cool shade of leafy
+trees.
+
+In many places there are good turf courts, but at others, where grass
+will not grow sufficiently well to be of any practical value, recourse
+is had to either cement or cinders.
+
+Chinese lads in neat cotton uniforms are always in attendance to field
+the balls, which they do remarkably well, thereby adding greatly to
+one's enjoyment of the game.
+
+Golf has of late years come greatly into prominence, a frequent place
+for the links being on the recreation ground enclosed by the
+race-track, for which reason it is generally the case that they are
+too flat to afford much variety of play, although near to Macao there
+are some very rough links which, from the natural advantages and
+lovely scenery, could be made almost ideal.
+
+Our club there consisted of six members when at its zenith, and
+occasionally two in times of dearth. We had three miles to bicycle
+out, and part of the way over a fearful stone road through nauseous
+burial-grounds, but once there, a round or two in cool, fresh air,
+amongst the hills and pines, overlooking both sea and river, amply
+repaid one for the toilsome journey.
+
+Of rowing there is very little, except at Shanghai and Hongkong, where
+there are large and flourishing clubs.
+
+Hongkong being on the sea it is not practicable to use light ships,
+which, of course, is a great drawback.
+
+At Shanghai there is the harbour and also a small creek about the size
+of the Cam, both of which afford ample facilities. The club has two
+excellent boathouses and plenty of boats, and is composed of the
+finest material possible, all the best men in Shanghai, as is ever the
+case elsewhere, going in for rowing at one time or another; but the
+rowing is not first-class, and unless things have greatly changed
+since I was an active member, a crew capable of sitting a light cedar
+ship could not be mustered, all the racing being done in clinker
+boats.
+
+The reason for this lack of watermanship is partly due to the
+difficulty in coaching otherwise than from the stern of a boat, there
+being no towing path on which the coach can ride or run alongside his
+men, as is done at Oxford or Cambridge, while the hire of launches is
+too expensive. Also, part of the reason is due to beginners being
+seldom taken out and coached in tubs by expert senior men who have
+had the benefit of a professional or scientific training, but are put
+into a bad four and left to develop themselves as best they may. It
+would well repay the club to have a path made alongside the creek and
+to get a professional out from home for a year or two to initiate a
+high-class style, after which the traditions, once firmly established,
+would pass down naturally to succeeding generations of oarsmen.
+
+The coxing is on a par with the rowing. I have seen a length lost at a
+corner, the rate of striking reduced by ten a minute and the crew
+badly pulled to pieces, through the rudder being hard on when the oars
+were in the water.
+
+After all, skill in rowing is but a question of degree and of no vital
+importance in a place so isolated from other rowing centres as is
+Shanghai, while the club is certainly one of the best to get into on
+arriving there, especially for youths, as plenty of good, open-air
+exercise can thus be obtained in the society of strong, healthy-minded
+men.
+
+If hills or mountains be within easy distance bungalows are there
+built, to which most ladies and children retire for the hot weather,
+the men snatching hasty visits when business allows them to leave the
+settlement. At one place down south such bungalows are built on a tiny
+island four or five miles out at sea, and there it is never very hot,
+while in the evenings it is delightful to bathe, stroll along the
+sands, or sit with the pilot on watch up by the old ruined fort, where
+you can see rays from the lighthouses flashing far, far across the
+waves, watch the lights of steamers as they pass beneath and listen to
+the cadenced throbbing of their screws. For those residing in Central
+China a sanatorium has lately sprung up near Kiukiang, at Kuling, a
+valley some 4,000 feet above sea-level in the Lushan mountains, which
+overlook the Yangtse on one side and the Poyang lake on the other.
+This valley was unknown to Europeans a few years ago, but has now the
+appearance of a country town, there being probably a hundred and fifty
+well-appointed bungalows strongly built of stone quarried on the spot,
+a church, shops, laundry and a network of roads and paths.
+
+When feeling run down after a long spell of intense heat in the
+plains, a trip to this resort is most refreshing, for there it is
+always cool enough to wear light tweeds during the day and to sleep
+under a blanket at night. The mountain rambles are lovely, be it over
+the lofty peaks, through the trees and scrub in the valleys or along
+the bed of a stream, where frequent pools of running, crystal water
+afford good bathing or a little fishing for those addicted to the
+gentle art.
+
+Never shall I forget one glorious day when, accompanying two friends,
+we crossed to a far side of the range and looked down on the Poyang
+lake. The view was magnificent, and on our return journey the setting
+sun flashed every imaginable hue on the mists rolling close above our
+heads, on the landscape changing as we moved, on mountain crags and on
+the lake, unfolding at each turn dissolving scenes of surpassing
+loveliness.
+
+On arrival at Kiukiang by steamer you hire a chair with four bearers
+for the ten or twelve miles' journey up the mountains, with additional
+coolies to carry your luggage. For half the distance you follow
+ordinary country roads, but during the last few miles the path, though
+well constructed, is very steep in some places, while in others it
+overhangs yawning valleys, where you instinctively grip the sides of
+your chair and fervently hope the bearers will not trip.
+
+In the north, Chefoo, Wei-hai-wei and Pei-tai-ho attract a goodly
+number of visitors to the seaside during summer months, while others
+desiring greater change sail to earth's fairyland, Japan, or even make
+the voyage to Canada and back.
+
+We dance whenever and wherever we can. The houses being generally
+large, with fine rooms often but lightly furnished on account of the
+summer heat or our own nomadic habits, and servants being both
+plentiful and willing, the giving of a dance presents no great
+difficulties.
+
+It is a common thing at a dinner-party of twelve or fourteen to have
+the drawing-room cleared during dinner, so that with the help of a few
+more friends who come in afterwards, the evening's entertainment can
+be pleasantly varied with a few dances.
+
+I was once at a small port where for a long time there had been only
+one lady, who was naturally regarded as the belle of the place.
+Presently a rival appeared, and with her two pretty, unmarried
+sisters; whereon my messmates and I forthwith gave an impromptu dance.
+
+We cleared our dining-room for the occasion, but found the carpet to
+be so old and so tightly nailed down that it would not bear removing,
+and we decided to dance on it.
+
+No sooner, however, had we commenced to the strains of an accordion,
+not having a piano, than the floor, which was laid on round joists
+over the entrance hall, began to vibrate so violently that glasses on
+the sideboard were smashed and ornaments fell from the walls, while
+dust from the carpet, which evidently had not been beaten for years,
+rose in such clouds that, coupled with the heat of a stifling night,
+we were literally choked off and obliged to take refuge in the garden.
+Fortunately it was a beautiful night and full moon, so we diverted our
+dance to a game of hide-and-seek, and a merrier evening I have seldom
+spent.
+
+The annual out-port subscription ball keeps everyone in a ferment for
+weeks. Owing to the cosmopolitan nature of the community due care must
+be taken that the various nationalities are represented on the
+committee, to avoid giving offence.
+
+Then the committee has to decide, amongst other things, who are to be
+invited and who not, and it invariably happens that some are for
+including all, irrespective of station, while others desire to draw
+the line after what they consider to be the _elite_. In either case
+there is bound to be a certain amount of friction, which at times
+rises to a very heated pitch.
+
+One of the leading ladies superintends the decoration of the ballroom,
+another is responsible for the supper, while another sees that the
+floor is properly waxed and arranges for the piano, as the music is
+provided by leading amateurs, there being no band.
+
+After endless discussion and elaborate preparation the important night
+arrives, when the guests assemble, frequently with strained feelings
+but with a fixed determination to enjoy the passing hour.
+
+Men are largely in the majority, so that ladies of all ages, ranging
+say from fourteen to forty, are requested as a favour to dance, and
+are assured beforehand of a full programme.
+
+Those men who cannot get partners, or do not care to dance, spend the
+evening between cards and occasional visits to the ballroom to watch.
+
+The supper is always very good and not hurried through with that undue
+haste so noticeable at home. The assembly, being considerably leavened
+with people who are, to say the least, well out of their teens, makes
+itself comfortable for an hour or more, doing ample justice to the
+delicacies provided; indeed, after the ladies have all departed,
+bachelors and wayward husbands usually return to the attack once, and
+even twice, so that it is not uncommon to hear an incoherent "For he's
+a jolly good fellow" from a belated band of revellers returning home
+shortly before daylight.
+
+At Peking, Hongkong and Shanghai dances and balls are very frequent
+and carried out on a scale comparable with that of similar festivities
+at home.
+
+The club is always a popular institution, where the male element of
+the community, frequently representing many nationalities, gathers for
+a game of billiards and a chat, and where the home and local papers,
+together with a fair number of books and magazines, are to be found.
+One evening during the tea season, just before dinner, I counted at
+one time fourteen nationalities in the bar of the Hankow Club.
+
+I like those friendly gatherings at the round table, when sport and
+other topics of our limited world are discussed, and when one
+generally manages to give or to receive an invitation to pot-luck,
+with a rubber or a gentle poker flutter to follow.
+
+There, too, is sometimes an American bowling alley, where on cold
+nights, or hot, for the matter of that, we roll huge wooden balls down
+a raised track for twenty yards, to scatter nine pins at the bottom.
+There are two parallel tracks and we make up two bowling parties of
+three or four aside, the losers to pay for the game and provide
+refreshments all round.
+
+China is so enormous in extent that it embraces almost every variety
+of climate, though, speaking generally, the summer is everywhere very
+warm, while the winter, from being almost of arctic severity in the
+northern provinces, where the sea is frozen and all navigation stopped
+for six weeks or two months, gradually becomes milder in lower
+latitudes, until snow and frost are seldom experienced, and finally
+never seen in the sub-tropical region of the extreme south. Many years
+ago snow fell at Canton and the astonished natives are said to have
+collected it in bottles to keep, believing that it was a kind of
+cotton.
+
+In the Yangtse valley during July, August and September, the heat at
+times is well-nigh intolerable both by day and night. You arise in the
+morning played out after a comfortless night under a punkah, which,
+hung over your bed in the limited space of a mosquito house, is
+pulled with a rope passing through the wall by a coolie stationed on
+the verandah outside. With the thermometer standing at ninety degrees
+in your bedroom you frame the mental query "Can I last through the
+day?" as you crawl on to the verandah in pyjamas wet through with
+perspiration, to watch the sun rise, hoping, but in vain, for a breath
+of air. The insects buzz, a scorched smell pervades everywhere, the
+birds hop listlessly about, gasping with wide-open bills, the fans of
+coolies who have been sleeping on the grass, beat with hollow flap,
+the sun rises like a furnace, and you must retreat again to the shadow
+of your room to avoid sunstroke.
+
+As the day advances the temperature creeps up until it is over a
+hundred and you feel your eyes dry and heavy in their sockets, with a
+throbbing in your ears, when for full-blooded people of any age it
+becomes highly dangerous, death by heat apoplexy being painfully
+common.
+
+In the evening, after dinner, long chairs are taken out on the bund
+and many assemble there in silence, betrayed only in the darkness by a
+continual popping of corks and glowing cigar-tips, to catch what
+little air there may chance to be, and to watch the lightning in hopes
+that the oft-threatened storm will burst and break the heat.
+
+I remember at Kiukiang the daily temperature rising to over a hundred
+degrees in the shade for nearly three weeks at a stretch, culminating
+in one hundred and seven, when a break came which, at any rate, saved
+_my_ life and practically ended the summer.
+
+Many a time, when too hot for sleep, have I played whist till three
+o'clock in the morning. Selecting the corner of an upstairs verandah
+where there might be some possibility of a faint draught, and having
+cigars, whisky and iced soda well within reach, we would take off our
+white jackets for greater coolness and sit perspiring in singlets
+round the table between guttering candles, when with bare heads and
+naked arms we must have had the appearance of desperate gamblers,
+though only playing the regulation twenty-five cent points with longs
+and shorts and a dollar on the rub, so that the damage could not be
+very extensive.
+
+The winter in this locality is very much on a par with that in
+England, only shorter, there being generally some frost with a good
+deal of snow and occasionally enough ice for skating.
+
+Dinner-parties are very numerous, being the chief method of
+entertainment. The _menu_ is, as a rule, excellent, and the import
+duty being almost nominal, wine is both plentiful and good.
+
+After a few mental twinges endured by leading personages consequent on
+somewhat exaggerated ideas of precedence, the company is seated, and
+a good dinner, aided by a lively flow of chit-chat, makes the evening
+speed pleasantly and well.
+
+But, you will ask, what besides amusing themselves have these
+Anglo-Chinese to do? British steamers swarm throughout the China seas
+and up the Yangtse for a thousand miles to Ichang, and it is in
+controlling the working of these vessels, in importing and selling
+manufactured goods and opium, in buying and exporting tea, silk and
+other products of the country, as well as in filling positions in
+Government services or any professional calling that agents,
+merchants, officials and the professional classes find employment, so
+that if in exile we surround ourselves with such luxuries and
+enjoyments as are reserved for the wealthy at home it is because they
+are ready to hand at but little cost, and that they serve in a degree
+to compensate us for the sweet pleasures of home-life which are
+forfeited by those who leave Old England to push their ways in distant
+lands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SERVANTS AND TRADESMEN
+
+
+On your first arrival at an out-port, and as you are crossing the
+pontoon which leads from the steamer to the bund, a most beaming
+celestial meets you and presents an open letter, which runs something
+like this:--
+
+    "I hereby certify that the bearer, Lao San, was my boy
+    for eight months, and I found him honest and willing.
+                                               TOM JONES."
+
+The celestial smirks and jabbers something in pidgin English, which
+not being able to understand you answer with a grunt and pass on.
+
+The celestial says, "All right, savez, can do," and vanishes.
+
+Reaching your quarters, you find two or three more beaming natives,
+also armed with letters of recommendation, probably borrowed for the
+occasion, and who severally inform you "My b'long welly good boy."
+
+These letters of recommendation become kinds of heirlooms, and as
+foreigners seldom know the correct names of their Chinese servants,
+they are, for a consideration, handed about from one to the other
+when seeking employment.
+
+You must have a boy anyhow, and are just beginning to inspect the
+candidates when a friend suddenly turns up.
+
+"I'm awfully sorry, old man, I couldn't manage to come and meet you on
+board, but the steamer arrived earlier than was expected, so I came
+straight on here, and knowing you would require a boy, brought one
+along who wants a job. I don't know anything about him, but he says
+he's all right, and they are mostly pretty much alike. Anyhow, you
+might give him a trial, and if he doesn't suit, just kick him out."
+
+Before you can reply the door is thrown violently open, and your
+luggage, which you had left for the time being in your cabin on the
+steamer, is brought in on bamboo poles by half-a-dozen coolies and
+dumped on the floor, the beaming celestial who met you on the pontoon
+following close behind, carrying your collection of sun hats,
+umbrellas and sticks. He immediately pays the coolies, unstraps rugs
+and trunks, and commences to arrange the room.
+
+Your friend says, "Oh, I didn't know you had brought your own boy,"
+and goes on to talk of other things.
+
+You feel rather pleased at all the luggage having turned up without
+any effort on your part, pleased at being freed from the importunities
+of out-of-work boys, and dumbly acquiesce, so that Lao San remains
+until you have the time or inclination to engage a really good boy;
+but as you seldom have the time, and never the inclination, he is
+already pretty firmly established.
+
+In the course of the day he introduces a cook as well as two or three
+coolies that you do not want but must have, and explains that all
+these men are of exceptionally good character, and that he "can secure
+b'long all ploper." You submit, of course, and so your household is
+arranged by the boy without you really having had a word to say. A day
+or two later you suddenly remember that nothing has been said on the
+subject of wages.
+
+You ring up the boy, and after a short discussion it is arranged that
+he is to receive eight dollars a month, the cook ten, and the coolies
+six and five. Everything is arranged with the boy, the other servants
+not appearing on the scene at all, and so it is that, having obtained
+situations for his friends, they are by "olo custom" obliged to pay
+him a squeeze on their salaries, the cook probably two dollars a month
+and the coolies one each. Without your consent or knowledge the cook
+introduces a young friend of his into the kitchen to be known as the
+"second cook," or simply "No 2." His position corresponds to that of
+the scullery-maid, washing up pots and pans, lighting the fire and
+running errands, in return for which he receives very little, if any,
+pay, but learns the art of cooking. Your house is now in going order,
+and at first things really work very well under the boy's supervision.
+
+A few weeks later it suddenly dawns on you that expenses are mounting
+up in rather an unaccountable way, and you look into matters.
+
+Nothing very serious comes to light, and any doubtful little points
+are most clearly explained away by the boy. However, it is not long
+before you again begin to feel uneasy and insist on knowing details of
+the various small accounts which are monthly presented to you by each
+individual on the premises.
+
+You are being squeezed by all!
+
+The boy charges for a number of small items such as lampwick, matches,
+soap, candles, etc., that you have never had, or in half the
+quantities stated. Also, on things which you have had, a large
+percentage over cost price is levied. All the native tradesmen are in
+league with your servants, and while you know that you are being
+swindled it would be quite impossible to prove it, for should a
+shopkeeper or butcher tell you what his prices really were he would
+lose much of his business, as servants in foreign employ would, in
+time, by some means or other, take the custom elsewhere.
+
+You are the means whereby a large but limited circle of Chinese manage
+to live and oftentimes save money. All members of the circle regard
+you as their prey, and tacitly combining to play into each other's
+hands they fleece you with impunity, it being extremely difficult, if
+not impossible, to get one Chinaman to expose or bear witness against
+another, especially if it be with the object of benefiting the
+foreigner.
+
+The best way for a bachelor to run his house is to set aside a certain
+sum which he knows should be sufficient for monthly expenditure. If he
+can keep his expenses below this figure so much the better. If he
+cannot, and they exceed it, he should cut down the various accounts
+until a sufficient reduction has been reached. It is useless trying to
+argue the case, he would always come off worsted.
+
+I heard of one bachelor who had been drawing a salary of six hundred
+dollars a month, but he kept up such style that he could only just
+cover expenses. After a time his business partly failed, so he sent
+for the boy and explained he could only spend four hundred dollars.
+The domestic pulled a long face, but the style of living was not
+altered in the least.
+
+Again bad times came and expenditure had to be further reduced to
+three hundred dollars a month. The bachelor informed his servant that
+he had better get another situation as he feared it would be difficult
+for him to come down from six hundred dollars to three hundred, and
+that it would be wiser to start a fresh establishment more in
+accordance with his reduced circumstances.
+
+After reflection the boy decided to struggle on, and this he did with
+such success that the style of living was exactly the same as it had
+ever been.
+
+The word "boy" bears no reference whatever to the individual's age,
+which may be anything between sixteen and sixty. It is merely a term
+applied by foreigners to their personal attendants.
+
+The duties of the boy are those of the ordinary housekeeper in
+England, with several additions.
+
+He looks after the other servants and is generally responsible for
+their good behaviour. He pays all wages and the accounts of the local
+tradespeople, on which, of course, he levies a recognised squeeze. He
+waits at table, answers the bell, makes the beds and brushes his
+master's clothes, in fact, makes himself generally useful.
+
+As a rule, he accompanies his master to all dinner-parties to assist
+in waiting. Also, it is a common and recognised practice for the boy
+of a house where a big dinner or a dance is being held to borrow
+requisites from the boy of another house, and often without reference
+to the owner, so that when dining out you not infrequently drink from
+your own glasses, use your own knives and forks, see your own lamp on
+the dinner-table and are waited on by your own servant.
+
+A Scotchman who had recently married brought from London a goodly
+supply of fine glassware for the new home. At one of the
+dinner-parties given in honour of himself and bride, after replying to
+the toast of the evening he proposed the health of his host and
+requested the company to drink it with Highland honours by placing one
+foot on the table and one on the chair. Bumpers having been tossed off
+he added that it would not be fitting for glasses consecrated by such
+distinguished service to thereafter descend to ordinary usage, and
+suiting the action to the word, flung the tumbler over his shoulder,
+so that it was shivered to atoms against the wall, the other guests,
+numbering upwards of a dozen, following suit.
+
+His boy's placid comment on the proceeding was, "Truly master b'long
+too muchee foolo, he no savez b'long he new glass."
+
+They were indeed his own beautiful tumblers, borrowed for the occasion
+without his knowledge.
+
+If anything is lost in the house, the boy, being answerable, is
+supposed to make the loss good, although he seldom does so. It may be
+imagined that his post is no sinecure with an exacting master, but it
+is lucrative and one much sought after.
+
+The custom of servants mutually guaranteeing each other's good conduct
+is a great safeguard, for in the case of theft or other misdemeanour
+by one of them, all the others are responsible and severe measures may
+be taken against them with the view of discovering the culprit, so
+that in reality while subject to numberless irritating, petty
+pilferings, against which there is no guarding and for which it is
+impossible to obtain redress, it rarely happens that any serious
+offence is committed.
+
+Amongst themselves the Chinese carry this principle of responsibility
+to such great lengths that if after committing a crime the culprit
+flees from justice, the officials can, and often do, arrest his
+father, mother, wife and whole family, and both imprison and persecute
+them until the fugitive gives himself up; and such is the strength of
+the family tie that this arbitrary method is seldom known to fail.
+
+The cook is, next to the boy, the most important of the other
+servants, and as a rule is fairly efficient, some indeed being
+excellent, although great care must be taken to guard against their
+natural love of filthiness. A kitchen into which the master or
+mistress of the house does not go once or twice every day should
+never be visited at all if one wishes to enjoy one's meals.
+
+This is also a lucrative post, for besides wages and a heavy squeeze
+on every article brought into the kitchen, the remains of each meal,
+whether half a chicken, half a leg of mutton, or both, are regarded by
+the cook as his perquisite and carried off for sale to native
+restaurants, unless special orders have been given to the contrary. A
+reason for this is that in hot climates food, if not eaten at once,
+quickly becomes worse than useless. Also, owing to the cheapness of
+meat, eggs, vegetables, etc., it is by no means the serious loss that
+it would be at home, and so the householder is generally not sorry
+that the remains of each meal should disappear and thus get fresh food
+at every repast.
+
+The cooking in foreign houses is entirely European, the Chinese
+cuisine being of a very different and truly wonderful kind, although
+excellent in quality. Western ladies have often taken great pains to
+train their cooks to a high standard of proficiency, a well-served
+dinner in China not uncommonly far surpassing in excellence the
+corresponding meal at home. Of course, the reverse is frequently the
+case, still, it serves to show that the Chinese have a great faculty
+for the culinary art.
+
+In England a dinner-party must be arranged some days beforehand in
+order that the necessary preparations may be made, and it is
+practically impossible to suddenly announce at tea-time that there
+will be eight people to dinner instead of two.
+
+This matter is certainly managed better in China.
+
+Oftentimes on returning from office at five o'clock I have sent for
+the cook and said, "To-night eight piecee man catchee dinner. Can do,
+no can do?" and the reply has invariably been a laconic "Can do."
+
+At once there would be great bustling but no confusion, and it has
+always seemed to me that these sudden demands on the kitchen staff,
+instead of evoking complaints and sullen looks, are regarded rather as
+a source of pleasurable excitement. "No 2" hurries off to market and
+quickly returns with fish, chops, chickens, eggs and fruit. Meanwhile,
+the cook dashes another pint or two of water into the soup and gets a
+jam pudding well under way.
+
+On returning from the club at seven o'clock you find that the boy has
+tastefully laid the table and decorated it with leaves and flowers.
+After seeing to the wine and cigars you go up to dress, and on
+receiving your guests at half-past seven the dinner is ready.
+
+I remember with feelings of pleasure the following incident which
+occurred at Chinkiang.
+
+For some days I had been engaged to dine with friends living in the
+next house, and was actually on my way there, when an old
+acquaintance, who had just arrived by the steamer from Shanghai, met
+me in the garden and wanted particularly to see me with regard to some
+private affair. As the steamer would be leaving again in two hours and
+my friend was obliged to continue his voyage to Hankow, I had no other
+means of meeting his wishes than by forfeiting my engagement. This I
+did in a hastily-written chit, making the best excuses I could, and
+then sent for the cook. On his appearance I informed him that I wanted
+dinner for two--chop chop! Without moving a muscle he answered, "Can
+do." Thinking to hurry up matters a little I went to the kitchen, but
+found it in darkness and without any fire. The servants meanwhile had
+all disappeared, and I returned to my friend with the information that
+we must possess our souls in patience, so we settled ourselves on the
+verandah for a serious talk, but hardly had we done so than the boy
+announced dinner.
+
+Following him in considerable amazement I found that, the night being
+warm, he had laid a small table on the lawn and that the soup was
+already served. It was delicious, as were also the samli, the
+woodcock, the lamb cutlets and the ice-cream. Things having taken so
+happy a turn, I uncorked a bottle of champagne and we had a banquet
+fit for a king.
+
+   [Illustration: HOUSE-COOLIE, BOY, COOK AND "NO 2."
+   _To face page 37._]
+
+My friend complimented me on the prowess of the cook, and we smoked
+our cigars and chatted over the coffee until the steamer's whistle
+announced that, cargo being finished, she was ready to start. After
+seeing him off I joined the party next door in order to offer
+apologies and explanations to the hostess, who freely forgave me,
+though her husband lamented that I had missed the samli, the woodcock
+and the lamb, which were the first of the season.
+
+I discreetly held my peace, but inquiries next day confirmed my
+suspicions that prime helpings from each course of my neighbour's
+dinner had been carried off by my cook.
+
+Immediately under the boy for indoor work is the "house-coolie," whose
+business it is to swab floors, polish grates, light fires, trim lamps,
+clean knives and boots and make himself generally useful about the
+house. Oftentimes he is unable to speak any English, wears a short
+coat in contradistinction to the boy's long one, and while ranking
+below the boy is considerably above the other coolies as having better
+pay, pleasanter work and holding a position of trust.
+
+At the chief entrance to most residences is a gatehouse, tenanted
+during the day by an old man who serves as gatekeeper, and who is
+responsible for keeping bad characters off the premises as well as for
+not allowing anything to be taken away. At sunset he goes home, being
+relieved by the night-watchman, who remains on duty till sunrise. He
+also is responsible for the general safety, and is not supposed to
+sleep during the night, but to be on guard. Every two hours, that is,
+at each of the five watches into which the night is divided, he should
+make a round of the outbuildings to satisfy himself that all's well.
+This he does not do quietly, but to the beating of a bamboo rattle, so
+that thieves may know he is on the lookout and run away. Sometimes, in
+order to keep up his courage, I have even heard him shout "I see you,"
+"I know who you are," "I'm coming," "Who's afraid?" etc.
+
+Ridiculous as this may appear to English burglars it is yet very
+effective, though for a very curious reason.
+
+China is the country of guilds, every trade being in the hands of a
+certain section of the population, who combine against all intruders.
+There is a guild of water-carriers, a guild of fortune-tellers, a
+guild of pipe-makers, and even a guild of _thieves_. This last is a
+recognised body, and is treated with by all householders, until it has
+become a kind of insurance agency against theft. All gatekeepers and
+night-watchmen pay a small monthly fee to this guild in order that no
+thieving may take place on the premises over which they have control,
+and the system works well, for not only is anything rarely stolen,
+but if, occasionally, something does go it is almost certain to have
+been taken by a free lance, who would be promptly done to death should
+he fall into the clutches of the guild thieves.
+
+A friend of mine who employs many hundreds of coolies pays a regular
+monthly salary to the head of the thieves in that district. This man
+comes to the office on pay-days like other _employes_ to draw his
+wages. If, however, anything has been missed from the factory during
+the month the value of it is deducted from his salary until the
+article is restored, which is invariably done.
+
+I have heard of a case where a reforming spirit determined not to
+submit to such an iniquitous tax. The gatekeeper and night-watchman
+immediately resigned and could not be replaced, while by the end of
+the month most of his portable belongings had been surreptitiously
+removed. Thoroughly cowed, he recalled the two servants and instructed
+them to pay the tax, whereupon the stolen articles promptly reappeared
+and security was again restored.
+
+Largely owing to the influence of Buddhism, cattle are regarded by the
+Chinese solely as beasts of burden, it being seldom that any are
+slaughtered for food; and although many natives will eat beef when it
+comes conveniently to hand, still, there is a strong prejudice against
+it. This prejudice extends both to milk and butter, neither of which
+is a common article of celestial food. From this it may be easily
+imagined that Europeans are often put to considerable inconvenience in
+securing an adequate supply of these daily necessaries. Good milk is
+especially hard to get. So long as it is white the native dairyman
+considers that his obligations to customers are discharged, while the
+more water he can add, the better it is for his own pocket. At Hankow
+the supply was so adulterated that a friend of mine actually found a
+small live fish in his morning cupful. With a view to exposing fraud I
+purchased a lactometer and found the usual proportions of milk and
+water to be half and half.
+
+This was too much, so calling the dairyman to the house I abused him
+roundly and threatened that if he did not send pure milk in future I
+would ask the consul to punish him severely. He vowed and declared
+that the lactometer "no talkee true," and that no water whatever had
+been added to the milk, adding, that if I did not believe him he would
+bring a cow to the kitchen door and I could see it milked myself.
+
+This seemed satisfactory, so I got up early next morning, and after
+shivering in my dressing-gown during the milking, carried off the pail
+in triumph, fully convinced that I should now be able to enjoy the
+pure article. Vain delusion! On testing it there was still a large
+percentage of water, and the dairyman, beaming with justified
+satisfaction, ambled off, leading his cow.
+
+Feeling sure that the lactometer must be at fault, I consulted my
+friend the doctor, who examined and found it quite correct.
+
+How to reconcile these discrepancies seemed an insoluble problem.
+
+After pondering over the matter for several days, I determined on
+milking the cow myself, this being an accomplishment of my boyhood. To
+the celestial's amazement I did so and instantly tested the proceeds.
+Pure milk!
+
+I seized the dairyman with a hazy idea of making an end of him, when,
+lo and behold, there slipped from his capacious sleeve a piece of
+thick bamboo containing about two pints of water. From the lower part
+of this wooden bottle projected another piece of bamboo about the
+thickness of a cigar, which served as a tube.
+
+The swindle was now discovered, and the culprit, after the first shock
+to his feelings had abated, showed me, with evident if subdued
+satisfaction, how the ingenious device worked.
+
+Concealing the bottle and letting the sleeve fall well down over his
+wrist, he held the bamboo tube and a cow's teat in one hand, and so,
+the moment one's eyes were averted, he was able to turn on the tap
+and let water flow into the pail together with the milk.
+
+I now had the upper hand and promised to refrain from taking steps
+against him if he would in future furnish me with a pure supply. This
+he cheerfully agreed to do, and for a time I fared sumptuously, but it
+was not long ere my boy informed me that, the cows having run dry, the
+dairyman had returned to his home in the country.
+
+Prior to the Manchu conquest of China two hundred and fifty years ago,
+men allowed the hair to grow long and then rolled it up in a tuft on
+the top of the head.
+
+The Manchus, however, introduced the custom of partly shaving the
+scalp and braiding the back hair into a pig-tail, any man not
+conforming to this rule being considered a rebel, and as such liable
+to summary decapitation. This visible token of loyalty to the present
+dynasty is therefore universal, and obtains from the cradle to the
+grave, it being a matter of considerable importance to all who value a
+whole skin, and "Olo custom" being an extremely strong _motif_, it
+would now be well-nigh impossible to abolish this badge of servitude,
+even were the enforcement of it abandoned. In addition to this
+national obligation it is the custom for men to clean shave until they
+become grandfathers, when a moustache is cultivated, and later on
+sometimes a beard, though these hirsute appendages are of a lean and
+meagre kind.
+
+As you may readily imagine, the amount of tonsorial operations
+indulged in by so dense a population call for an unlimited number of
+shavers and braiders of hair, albeit it is considered an employment of
+the lowest grade; but although the number of barbers is legion there
+are none who know how to _cut_ hair until taught to do so by
+Europeans, so that in out-of-the-way places it is often very difficult
+to get the operation performed. On several occasions I have been
+obliged to rely on my mafoo, who with horse-clippers and iron scissors
+proved to be effective if somewhat unartistic.
+
+Of course, a Chinaman will soon learn, and at treaty-ports barbers are
+a convenient luxury, for at the cost of a few dollars a month one will
+come to your bedroom every morning at a stated time to perform the
+daily shave, as well as cut the hair when required. Oftentimes I have
+been still asleep when, leaving his shoes outside the door and
+creeping in noiselessly with bare feet, he has adjusted the towel,
+lathered and shaved me in bed without my having had more than a dim
+consciousness of what was going on.
+
+Tailors are cheap and plentiful. A West-end cut is not achieved, but
+for flannels, light tweeds and all such clothes as are worn in the
+tropics, they are very passable.
+
+"Boy."
+
+"Sai."
+
+"Talkee that tailor-man four o'clock come. Wantchee new clothes."
+
+At four o'clock the tailor is there with a bundle of patterns from
+which you select a thin serge and a white flannel, and order a suit of
+each. On asking the price you are informed that the serge "b'long
+welly cheap" at fourteen dollars and the flannel at twelve.
+
+Your surprise and indignation are great at the exorbitant figures, and
+after a good deal of haggling, eleven dollars and ten respectively are
+agreed upon, the clothes to be finished in two days.
+
+"Can do."
+
+Out comes the tape and he measures you all over, taking mental notes
+but writing nothing down, the Chinese having marvellous memories.
+
+Next morning he appears with the garments loosely stitched together to
+try on, draws a chalk line here, puts in a pin there and hurries off.
+
+The following day you discover both suits neatly folded up on your
+bed, and on inspection find them to be of good and comfortable fit.
+
+Another plan is, after selecting the material, to hand the tailor an
+old suit with instructions to make the new one a counterpart of it,
+which, as a rule, he will do to perfection. In fact, he has been known
+to let a couple of patches into the seat of the new trousers in order
+to make them correspond exactly with the pattern.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+SHOOTING
+
+
+To anyone who is fond of shooting, certain parts of China offer a
+veritable paradise. When I say shooting I do not mean the kind of
+sport to which one is accustomed at home, where to trespass a few
+yards on the grounds of another man will probably result in legal
+proceedings, where keepers flourish and wax fat on contributions
+levied on the friends of mine host, where hand-raised game is driven
+into the jaws of death, and where the sportsman's friend and delight,
+his dog, is practically banished. No, I mean where one can look on the
+whole empire of China and say, "Here is my ground, here I can take my
+gun and my dogs and go just wherever, and do whatever, I please,
+without let or hindrance; shoot what I will, stay as long as I like
+without asking anyone's leave, and where keepers and game licences are
+unknown."
+
+Throughout China, pheasants, deer, quail, wildfowl and snipe abound,
+but woodcock, partridges and hares are less numerous and less evenly
+distributed. Bustards, plover and many other migratory birds appear
+only in winter, while for hunters of big game, tigers, leopards,
+horned deer and wild boar are found in certain localities.
+
+Northern China offers the best opportunities, and while from Mongolia
+to Ningpo game is plentiful enough, the mighty River Yangtse is _par
+excellence_ the sportsman's elysium. Of course, one must have good
+dogs and know the country, or go with someone who does, otherwise the
+most ardent spirit would soon be cooled to freezing point and disgust
+instead of delight would be the result of his endeavours. Along the
+banks of this noble river, from the sea for hundreds of miles into the
+interior, I have enjoyed as good sport as lies within reach of only
+the very rich in western countries.
+
+The Chinese are not often sportsmen, and away from foreign influence
+but rarely molest wild animals of any kind.
+
+Owing, however, to the increasing European colony at Shanghai and the
+numerous mail steamers which daily arrive there, a profitable market
+for game has sprung up during the past few years, to supply which
+there are now a number of native gunners who, as a means of
+livelihood, scour the country with foreign breech-loaders in search of
+pheasants, wildfowl, etc., so that, being capital shots, within a
+considerable distance of this port the shooting is not so good as
+formerly, although in all other parts of the Empire it still remains
+practically untouched until the advent of Europeans.
+
+That there are not more aboriginal sportsmen is partly due to a law
+which forbids the people to possess firearms, though this law has not
+been rigidly enforced, and partly due to the primitive construction
+and consequent unreliability of the few native fowling-pieces which do
+exist.
+
+Well away from beaten tracks I have occasionally met local sports
+carrying guns together with slow-matches of smouldering brown paper.
+They are remarkable weapons, with single iron barrels some four feet
+and a half long, about twenty bore and without stocks, but having
+pistol handles. There are no locks or springs, the hammer and trigger
+being in one piece, working through the handle on a rivet. The hammers
+have slits in them as if to hold flints, but which really are intended
+for the slow-match. Sometimes these men had good bags of snipe, but
+only once have I seen such a gun fired, which was at a pigeon sitting
+about fifteen yards high in a tree. The gunner blew his slow-match
+into a glow and pressed it into the slit in the hammer, placed the
+pistol handle to his hip and pulled the trigger, which brought the
+hammer slowly forward until the slow-match rested on the powder in the
+pan, when the gun went off and the pigeon fell dead. Whether birds
+are shot on the wing with these guns I cannot say, but remembering
+that a hundred and fifty years ago it was accounted an extraordinary
+thing to attempt flying shots even in this country, I should think
+probably not.
+
+Old muzzle-loading rifles of European make, striking either flints or
+percussion caps, are also in occasional use as shot-guns, in
+preference to native weapons.
+
+The shot are always of iron, which is far cheaper than lead, and
+extremely liable to cause great injury to the teeth, while the powder
+is very poor, burning slowly with much smoke and smell. No cut wads
+are used, but pieces of paper, rammed home with a rod, which instead
+of being carried attached to the gun is held in the hand together with
+the slow-match.
+
+These same sports catch snipe in long, light nets which they carry
+stretched out horizontally some two feet above the grass, so that a
+bird on rising as it passes overhead, flies into it and is at once
+secured. Snares of wire and string, ingenious traps of bamboo which
+impale the birds on wooden spikes, and wicker traps closely resembling
+the straw plaiting on bottles of olive oil, I have seen set for snipe
+and quail in various places.
+
+I once travelled from Shanghai to Nanking with an aged French Jesuit
+priest and a Chinese official then returning from the Black Dragon or
+Amour river. The former told me that, shortly after the Taiping
+rebellion, pheasants were so numerous and tame in the devastated
+fields around Nanking that natives speared them in the grass; while
+the official said that in the almost deserted Black Dragon river
+district these birds were so little afraid of man that on his approach
+they would conceal only their heads in the grass, when it was possible
+to capture them by the tail with the hand. Although personally unable
+to guarantee either of these accounts, still, judging from the manner
+in which they were narrated, I am inclined to believe both.
+
+The first essential for shooting-trips up the Yangtse is a good
+house-boat or light draft yacht of from ten to fifteen tons, into
+which you pack every requisite, and which is in reality your floating
+shooting-box for the time being. You have only to choose your field of
+operations, sail there, and enjoy yourself to your heart's content in
+luxury, fine bracing air, grand scenery and jovial company. What can
+one wish for more!
+
+Having decided on a trip you tell your boy in the morning that you
+will leave that afternoon for so many days, and at the appointed time
+step on board to find everything in readiness--guns, dogs, provisions,
+and a good fire in the saloon. You give the lowdah his orders, and in
+less than a minute are under way. All bother is at an end and you
+make yourself comfortable, have afternoon tea, read, smoke, dine, chat
+with your friend over the fire, and after spending the evening as
+comfortably as if in your own house, retire to rest, awaking next
+morning to find yourself on the scene of action and very possibly to
+hear the pheasants crow while still in bed. A good beefsteak breakfast
+and you are ready for the fray. After your day's sport you come back
+to a hot bath and the comfort of a cosy cabin. Should you desire to
+try fresh ground on the morrow, the lowdah will get the boat there,
+either by sailing or tracking during the night, while you are enjoying
+your well-earned sleep.
+
+   [Illustration: HOUSE-BOAT ON THE YANGTSE.
+   _To face page 50._]
+
+Pheasants afford the principal sport and are identical with the
+white-ringed English birds, only, if any thing, bigger, stronger in
+flight and much more wily.
+
+A hundred miles up the Yangtse and then along the Grand Canal, in
+districts that were overrun by Taiping rebels, fine sport with
+pointers may be had over what were formerly cultivated fields but are
+now still lying waste, with here and there the ruins of a village
+destroyed forty years ago, the inhabitants of which were either
+extirpated, dragged off in the rebel army or fled to other parts of
+the country. These abandoned fields, interspersed with ridges of low
+hills clad with young pines, are generally dry and covered with fine
+grass, in which the pheasants are fond of lying, and on a bright,
+frosty morning it is truly delightful to walk across such country with
+a couple of good pointers, watch your dogs work and bowl over the
+birds as they rise.
+
+At other places higher up river the low hills are covered with
+acorn-bearing oak scrub, a favourite cover both for pheasants, which
+feed on the acorns, as well as deer. This scrub, although very trying
+to walk through, is not high enough to prevent pointers working
+freely, and many a good bag have I made there.
+
+Along the banks of the lower Yangtse, and on numerous islands in the
+stream, are dense reeds, which, being flooded to a depth of several
+feet in summer, grow from fifteen to twenty feet high, as thick as a
+man's thumb, and almost as strong as bamboos. In these impenetrable
+thickets, left dry as the waters fall in autumn, the pheasants
+congregate in great numbers, but it is not till late winter, when the
+reeds have been mostly cut for fuel, that it is possible to get them
+out. About the end of December the reeds still uncut, stand in square,
+even patches, the sides of which tower up like the walls of a house.
+The best way is to select clumps of medium size, place a gun on either
+side to keep well in advance, and turn two or three dogs, spaniels for
+choice, in at one end. As these dogs hunt the reeds all the way down,
+the pheasants will creep to the very edges, watch their opportunity,
+and be off like cannon balls. Then is the time for a quick eye and
+steady hand, but as you have probably been running to keep up with the
+dogs, they are by no means the easy shots that one might imagine, and
+many a time the "dead certainty" has slipped gaily away.
+
+Other denizens of these swamps are woodcock, snipe, deer, and
+occasionally racoons and wild cats, which follow the pheasants, so
+that a mixed bag is frequently the product of a successful day, when
+twenty-five head, including seven or eight brace of pheasants, would
+represent a fair average per gun. With the exception of spring snipe,
+enormous totals like those we gloat over in England are but rarely
+made. It is the absolute freedom which is so charming, the hard work,
+the bright atmosphere, the thick cover, and the excitement of
+following the dogs.
+
+Wildfowl of every description swarm during the spring and autumn
+migrations, for after nesting on the Siberian steppes they go down to
+the Sunny South in winter. Swan, geese, mallard, teal and countless
+varieties of duck literally cover the waters of the Yangtse for miles
+at a stretch, and will hardly rise to avoid the river-steamers as they
+pass, although extremely shy of approaching small boats, while every
+little pond or creek affords the probability of a shot.
+Wildfowl-shooting, however, is not largely gone in for, why, I can
+hardly say, unless it is that they are so superabundant as to make
+them seem hardly worth the powder and shot, that the distances to go
+for them are too great and the work of stalking too cold and tiresome,
+or that other kinds of shooting are more attractive.
+
+Woodcock are often found in bamboo groves from which it is generally
+hard to flush them, while the cover is so thick that it is impossible
+to shoot until they come out, though be it only for an instant, when,
+topping the bamboos, they alight again on the opposite side. I have
+spent nearly an hour in killing a brace which, although I saw perhaps
+twenty times, I had the greatest difficulty in getting a snap at. They
+also frequent pine woods and heather on the hills, and are identical
+in appearance with the woodcock found in England.
+
+During a severe winter at Chinkiang, word was brought in by natives
+that some children had been carried off by "dog-headed tigers," which
+monsters, after making lengthy inquiries, we assumed to be wolves.
+
+With a view to getting a shot at these brutes, a friend and I went out
+overnight to the community bungalow, a distance of seven miles, and in
+the morning ranged warily through the pines and over the snow-clad
+hills, seeking for traces of the man-eaters, being joined towards noon
+by the British Consul. Carrying my twelve-bore fowling-piece loaded
+with a bullet in the right barrel and a charge of big shot in the
+left, the latter being full-choke, I was passing along the side of a
+steep hill at the foot of which, and some fifty feet below me, lay a
+frozen stream, when my dog-coolie, pointing downwards, cried, "Look at
+the fish!"
+
+Beneath the clear ice, of perhaps a quarter of an inch in thickness, a
+mass of fish was swimming with the current. Instinctively I fired the
+left barrel at them, and was greatly surprised to behold a jet of
+water, broken ice and fish shoot up two or three feet high from a hole
+made by the shot. The dog-coolie rushed down and filled his cap with
+our unexpected prey, which we subsequently found to number twenty-two,
+varying from about two to four ounces in weight each. Concussion from
+the blow on the ice had stunned many, but others were bleeding from
+shot wounds.
+
+After a fruitless search for the "dog-headed tigers" we walked back to
+Chinkiang that evening.
+
+The cold weather having brought wildfowl of all descriptions I was off
+betimes next morning to some islands in the Yangtse, a few miles down
+river. An hour's sailing with wind and stream brought me to the
+desired spot, where I landed on the sandy beach, when my dog, glad to
+escape from confinement on board, ran to the top of a high dyke, or
+wall for preventing floods, some hundred yards distant, and put up
+hundreds of wild geese which had been preening themselves in the sun
+on the other side, where they had also found shelter from the cutting
+wind. The mighty roar of wings was the first intimation I had of their
+presence, and as they were well out of range, my dog came in for a
+reminder that his place for the time being was close to heel. Had they
+not been thus scared away I could have walked unobserved to within
+five yards of them.
+
+Following the beach a little above high-water mark, I presently came
+to several small ponds surrounded with willows, out of the first of
+which some teal rose in a close bunch, when firing into the brown I
+knocked them all down except one, and that I accounted for with the
+other barrel. Falling into the pond, some that were winged gave a good
+deal of trouble by diving, but eventually they were all secured, being
+eight in number. Several ducks were scared away by my shots, but I
+here added half-a-dozen snipe to the bag.
+
+Coming to some wide ditches choked with reeds and willows my dog put
+out pheasant after pheasant, but as they generally got up on the
+opposite side, where there was no gun, I only managed to secure seven,
+besides two woodcock.
+
+While eating my lunch of sandwiches under the lee of a reedstack, I
+observed that numerous flights of wildfowl on passing from one branch
+of the river to another crossed a low, marshy corner of the island, so
+that presently I made my way there and crouched down amongst the
+rushes behind a dyke, having a small lagoon immediately at my back.
+Mallard, widgeon and many other kinds of fowl came over in such quick
+succession that for two hours I was kept fully occupied, and it was
+highly gratifying to hear a heavy splash in the lagoon after each
+successful shot.
+
+As soon as the light began to fail I ceased firing and retrieved my
+birds, which numbered twenty-seven, including several varieties of
+fish ducks with serrated bills and, as I have subsequently learnt
+although then mistaking them for large divers, three goosanders. On my
+way back to the house-boat I surprised and shot a goose which was
+feeding close under the river bank, so that my total bag consisted of
+fifty-one head, and I always look back on that day as one of the most
+enjoyable I have ever spent.
+
+The snipe-shooting cannot be surpassed anywhere in the world. In
+spring, after spending the winter in rich southern climes, these
+birds, following the returning warmth, slowly migrate to Siberia for
+nesting. They pass through Central China during May, arriving almost
+simultaneously, when for about three weeks one can have superb sport,
+and then they depart as suddenly as they came. One day they will
+swarm, and the next hardly a bird is to be seen.
+
+Snipe-shooting at home one always associates with long boots, cold
+water, mud and marshes. Spring snipe-shooting in China is of a totally
+different kind.
+
+Imagine a bright, warm day, with the sun almost too powerful, dry
+meadows with fresh, green grass, and clover about six inches high,
+fields of wheat and barley in ear and beans in flower, all Nature at
+her best. You take your gun with a plentiful supply of cartridges, a
+coolie to carry bottled beer and sandwiches and to pick up the birds,
+and sally forth into the meadows and fields, dressed in an ordinary
+light summer suit or flannels, terai hat and low shoes, with the
+bottoms of your trousers tucked into your socks to keep out the
+insects.
+
+You have not gone far before one, two--half a dozen birds rise within
+easy range, and perhaps you make a right and left. What birds they
+are, too, fat as butter!--in fact, so fat and heavy that they often
+rip quite open merely from the force of falling to the ground. In this
+way you go on, firing until the gun becomes so hot that every now and
+then you must wait to let the barrels cool. My best bag for one day
+was forty-one and a half couples, but this has been doubled by sports
+who have shot to make a record.
+
+Autumn snipe, or spring snipe returned, on passing from Siberia to
+winter in the south, are not usually in very good condition, owing
+probably to the nature of the country from which they come, and
+strangely enough they appear to be less numerous and do not arrive so
+simultaneously as the spring birds, though remaining longer, many
+staying on through the winter. These do not frequent the dry meadows
+and fields, but belong to the long boots, mud and marsh category.
+
+I have never seen but one jack snipe, though the painted variety is
+fairly common.
+
+In the neighbourhood of a creek seven miles below Hankow is to be had
+the best spring snipe-shooting that I know of. One bright May morning,
+in response to the invitation of an old friend, I joined him and two
+other guests aboard his house-boat and sailed down the Yangtse to this
+well-known spot. On landing I shouldered my bag, containing fifty
+cartridges, and told my coolie to bring a new box of a hundred in the
+game-bag.
+
+The plan was to send the house-boat to a place three or four miles
+further down river, where, after shooting through the fields, the guns
+would meet for tiffin.
+
+Just as the lowdah was casting off our host asked if he might put a
+few bottles of beer into my game-bag as it was a warm and thirsty
+morning; so, to make room, and thinking that the snipe had not yet
+fully arrived, in which case the spare cartridges would not be
+required, they were replaced on board. We had not, however, walked
+many yards along the river bank before it became apparent that there
+were any number of birds, and I already regretted having so few
+cartridges with me. After crossing the creek in a crazy sampan the
+party separated, each taking his own line of country. Presently a
+tremendous fusillade commenced from all the others, and as the snipe
+were rising around them continually and making for a large swamp to my
+left, I concealed myself in some millet, where, the birds coming
+before the wind directly over my head, I enjoyed for half an hour or
+so some excellent shooting and made a number of very sporting shots.
+
+I now started for the swamp, but ere reaching it passed through some
+grass patches between fields of barley and beans. The birds here rose
+by the dozen, and standing on the same spot, without advancing a yard,
+I shot eight, which were all on the ground at one time. My gun became
+so hot that it was necessary to open it to let the barrels cool, while
+the cartridges were all gone in less than an hour, so that carrying my
+now useless weapon and boiling with rage, I had to start in pursuit of
+the house-boat, with the shots of the others ringing merrily all
+round, the snipe rising at almost every step, and the coolie laden
+with beer and dead birds lagging far behind.
+
+I arrived on board simultaneously with a party of ladies, who, under
+the aegis of my friend's wife, had come down by launch to join us at
+tiffin; at the conclusion of which long and sumptuous repast it was
+time to start back to Hankow rather than again attack the snipe.
+However, two of us landed with our guns and walked hurriedly across
+country towards a point about three miles up river, there to rejoin
+the party on the boat. Of course we kept them waiting, the sport was
+so good, but satisfaction at the total bag of some two hundred snipe
+did much to smooth matters over. Indeed, the bag would have been still
+larger except for the vile shooting of one gun; but as a few days
+later his engagement to one of the ladies of the tiffin-party was
+announced, the mystery was explained, and when in a few weeks the
+wedding bells rang, we all forgave him.
+
+Four or five miles outside the principal gate of Peking is the Nan
+Hai-tzu, or Imperial Hunting Park, where a few years ago there were
+herds of far-famed hybrids known as the "four unlikes," since they
+possessed certain attributes of, I believe, the horse, the deer, the
+ox and the sheep, without belonging definitely to either family.
+Unfortunately, Europeans were not allowed to enter this preserve, so I
+was unable personally to see these curiosities, although their
+existence was well authenticated.
+
+Outside the lofty wall enclosing this park is a kind of common
+interspersed with marshland through which a small stream flows, and
+there I have bagged as many as ten couple of snipe in an afternoon,
+with an occasional wild duck.
+
+Sending out the cart with gun, dog and provisions in charge of the
+head mafoo at about eleven o'clock on Saturday morning, as soon as
+work was over at one I would mount my pony, held in readiness by the
+second mafoo, and gallop with him after the cart, to find tiffin
+awaiting me spread on the grass.
+
+In this way I was comfortably ready to shoot by half-past two, which
+would allow of about two and a half hours' sport before returning.
+
+On one of these occasions I saw several large flocks of sand grouse,
+which, I believe, are native to Mongolia, but only once managed to get
+within range, killing a brace. They are beautiful, gamey-looking
+birds, of a very light brown or sand colour, mottled on the back and
+with legs and feet thickly feathered. Their flight much resembles that
+of golden plover, only sharper.
+
+Having finished shooting, my gun was again placed in the cart and we
+started leisurely for home, I riding a short distance in advance,
+followed by the second mafoo, while my pointer rambled over the grass.
+One evening, when thus returning, two medium-sized eagles swooped at
+the dog and commenced to regularly hunt him, much to his
+consternation. To dismount and get my gun out of its case again was
+the work of a couple of minutes, when I shot one of the birds at a
+distance of twenty yards, the other, instead of being alarmed,
+immediately swooping at its fallen comrade, to meet with a similar
+fate.
+
+I could not get them stuffed, so had their wings and claws mounted as
+fans, which I still have somewhere in my possession.
+
+The common deer are small, from thirty to forty pounds in weight, and
+without horns. They have a thick, bristly hide, and the buck has two
+tusks of from two to four inches in length projecting downwards from
+the upper jaw, with which he tears up the ground in search of roots,
+and it is to these peculiarities that the name of "hog-deer" is due.
+They mostly lie in the grass on forms, like hares, but sometimes in
+thick scrub on the hillside, and can be knocked over at forty yards
+with pheasant shot. I have bagged four in a day more than once. If
+well cooked the venison is delicious.
+
+Partridges are only found in certain districts. A few miles from
+Chefoo excellent sport is to be had, but in Central China they are not
+often seen, although they do exist, as I have shot one myself near
+Ngankin. Down south the bamboo partridge abounds in places, but it is
+a very different bird from the ordinary partridge, and takes its name
+from the fact that it lives, moves and has its being in bamboo
+coppices.
+
+In the vicinity of Hongkong and Macao the partridge, although far from
+numerous, is quite common, and a bag of three or four would represent
+a good day's work. These birds resemble the red-legged variety so
+common in England, but are considerably larger, while the plumage,
+although practically identical in colour, is far more brilliant. A
+curious feature about them is that they are never flushed in coveys
+and very rarely in pairs, but are almost invariably single birds,
+which fact, together with their large size and gorgeous plumage, leads
+me to think that they must represent a distinct branch of the family,
+to which the name "solitary" would be highly applicable.
+
+Quail are numerous and in all respects resemble those found in this
+country. They are chiefly prized by the Chinese for their pugilistic
+qualities, for after being caught and having had their wings clipped
+they are disposed of to various purchasers, who take them to miniature
+cock-pits and there back them to fight the birds of other gamblers for
+considerable sums, the combats being fierce and often deadly.
+
+The hares are wretched little animals, all bones and felt, and not
+larger than the English rabbit. They usually lie in the open, though
+often found in graves and in holes in the rocks, from which I have
+thought that they might be the "coney" mentioned in Scripture.
+
+Bustards, or wild turkeys, are found at certain periods all over
+China. They are very shy, always settle on wide plains, and are
+extremely difficult of approach--a shot being only obtainable after
+long and careful stalking.
+
+Although tigers are occasionally to be found in most of the southern
+provinces, there are but few places easily accessible to Europeans
+where they exist in any number, and not having been in one of these
+favoured spots I have had no opportunity to try my hand at this
+exciting sport, but a friend of mine, who has earned considerable fame
+at it, and who keeps a row of grinning tiger skulls on his
+drawing-room mantelpiece as mementoes of successful hunts, described
+to me how operations are conducted.
+
+At Amoy, which is probably the best known of these districts, when
+natives from the surrounding country bring word into the settlement
+that a tiger has been seen, preparations for the hunt are quickly
+completed, and a party of sportsmen repairs to the scene of action.
+
+The country being exceedingly rocky, the tigers make their lairs in
+caves and rocks, approached by long tunnels or holes just large enough
+to admit the beasts, so that to get them out is both difficult and
+dangerous.
+
+Having traced spore to the entrance of one of these tunnels, my friend
+crawled in first with his rifle, immediately after him coming a native
+shikarri, who thrust forward over my friend's back a long bamboo
+bearing at the end a lighted torch. Next followed three more
+shikarries, holding long spears, which they similarly thrust in
+advance, so that the attacking force consisted of a torch, three
+spears, the Englishman with his rifle and four shikarries, in which
+order they slowly crept along the passage, the sides of which were
+worn smooth by continual friction of tigers passing to and fro, until
+growls and snarls proclaimed that their quarry was near at hand.
+
+Presently two green, shifting eyes could be distinguished a few feet
+beyond the torch, when, carefully aimed between them, a hollow,
+express bullet crashed through the monster's skull, killing him on the
+spot.
+
+What would happen in case the brute was only wounded and charged I
+have never heard, but personally I should be somewhat chary in
+trusting to the protection of a torch and three spears.
+
+It is related that a practical old Yankee sport, desirous of slaying
+his tiger, joined in one of these expeditions, setting out from the
+rendezvous armed to the teeth, in company with another hunter, but
+before very long came stepping briskly back, and by way of explanation
+_guessed_ "the tiger's footprints were getting too durned fresh."
+
+I consider he showed true American acumen.
+
+Spear-grass one often hears of but seldom sees, and until making
+acquaintance with the real thing I had always imagined that the barbed
+grass seeds, which are such a harmful worry to dogs, were practically
+identical with it. Not at all.
+
+Before leaving Ichang for a trip to the Yangtse gorges I expressed my
+intention of trying to get some of those beautiful Reeves pheasants,
+having tails several feet in length, which are indigenous to that
+locality, but was warned that it would be necessary to take long
+leggings as a protection against spear-grass. Not having any with me,
+and believing I knew what spear-grass was, I refrained from borrowing,
+so that on landing at Nantou with my dog and gun, it was in an
+ordinary shooting suit and worsted stockings.
+
+Inquiries of natives as to the whereabouts of these birds soon led me
+up the mountain-side to a rocky plateau, which looked extremely
+likely, and where I even saw traces of them. My dog commenced to work,
+and I followed him into the light, dry, crackling grass, but suddenly
+became conscious of a smarting in the legs as though walking through
+nettles, and noticed that the grass was adhering to my stockings.
+However, I pushed on, my dog being hot on the scent, but presently we
+both came to a standstill--I, because of cramp in both legs, each of
+which was now enveloped in grass to the size of a bee-hive; while the
+dog's shaggy coat had collected it till he appeared as large as a
+sheep, and could no longer force his way along, besides being in much
+pain.
+
+It was a short half mile down hill to the boat but the difficulty and
+discomfort of getting there were considerable. When at length the boy
+proceeded to take my stockings off it was found that they were
+practically sewn to my skin by the spear-grass, the tiny barbed points
+of which had passed in hundreds through the wool and worked like
+fish-hooks into my calves. Without penetrating deep enough to more
+than slightly draw blood, they had one and all to be forcibly dragged
+out as the stockings were peeled off. For days I was lame and sore,
+while my dog lived in misery for weeks. I did not even see a Reeves
+pheasant.
+
+At Nantou I gathered delicious oranges from the tree for one cash
+each, or, eight oranges for a farthing.
+
+A twelve-bore is the best gun for use in China, from the fact that
+cartridges are everywhere procurable, whereas for other sizes they
+have frequently to be imported from home, although I must admit that
+a twenty-bore is preferable for snipe-shooting in warm weather, owing
+to the lightness of both gun and cartridges.
+
+It seems to be the general opinion, with which I agree, that pointers
+and spaniels are the most suitable dogs to keep, for they appear to
+work the cover and to stand the climate better than other breeds.
+
+As European dogs seldom live in China more than three or four years,
+and often less, it is necessary to always have puppies coming on if
+you do not want your shooting to be spoiled, for it is useless to try
+and get pheasants out of the thick cover without them. Dysentery is a
+very prevalent canine disease, but their most deadly enemy, and one
+existing in no other country that I know of, is worms in the heart.
+How the germs get into the blood no doctor has yet been able to say,
+but thin, white worms resembling vermicelli cluster round the heart,
+living on the blood, until they become so numerous as to eventually
+choke an artery, when death is instantaneous. In the case of a
+favourite dog, on which a doctor kindly performed a _post-mortem_
+examination, these worms were in such numbers that I positively could
+not see the heart at all.
+
+Native dogs are useless for sport, as they seem to be devoid of that
+friendly intelligence so noticeable in our own breeds, while their
+powers of scent are much inferior. I have heard that in the island of
+Hainan a certain breed exists which is very good for hunting leopards
+and wild boar, but this I cannot guarantee.
+
+In the winter of 1889 I was invited by a friend to join him in his
+house-boat a few miles below Chinkiang, when we could shoot together
+next day and then have Christmas dinner on board.
+
+I hired a small sampan to sail me down, together with my boy, taking
+only a bottle of whisky, a few things for tiffin and a plum cake, the
+last being a Christmas gift from a Norwegian lady.
+
+Starting at noon, it was about three o'clock and near the rendezvous,
+when we sighted a flock of geese asleep in the sun on a mud-bank. I
+ordered the sampan-man to get as near as possible, and when the geese
+rose at a distance of about sixty yards, knocked down a couple with
+two charges of S.S.G. A minute later another came flying overhead
+calling to its wounded mate, and this also I dropped without pity. The
+first two, being only winged, gave a lot of trouble, as they swam and
+dived with great speed, but all three were eventually secured.
+
+There was still an hour before dark, and seeing no signs of my friend
+I went on shore and bagged three pheasants before returning to the
+boat. Next morning, after passing a cold and miserable night in the
+tiny cabin of the dirty little sampan, I started with gun and dog at
+about eight o'clock--fully expecting that the house-boat would turn up
+during my absence--and shot all day, killing eleven pheasants, two
+deer, three woodcock, seven duck and one pigeon. As by dark there were
+still no signs of my expected host I had no choice but to return home.
+
+It was a lovely night, bright, frosty and star-light, with a nice,
+crisp breeze, which, the river being there about two miles wide,
+raised quite a sea. Thousands of wildfowl, all on their way south,
+were flying, whistling and whirring about in every direction, and
+rising from the water quite close to the boat. My dog "Snipe" and I
+crept into the cabin out of the cutting wind, which was dead ahead,
+and proceeded to discuss our impromptu Christmas fare, which, after
+all, was not so bad, and reflected great credit on the boy's cooking
+powers. I noted down the _menu_, and here it is:--
+
+    1. Pigeon Soup.
+    2. Woodcock.
+    3. Boiled Pheasant.
+    4. Cold Roast Beef.
+    5. Plum Cake ablaze with Whisky.
+    6. Cheese.
+    7. Pumelo.
+    Whisky and Water.
+    Tea.
+
+There was no holly or mistletoe to remind one of Merrie England, but I
+drank to "the Old Folks at Home" with the sadness peculiar to
+wanderers on such occasions, and then gave myself up to nicotine and
+reflection for the rest of the evening, arriving home at midnight to
+find that my truant friend was ill in bed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+RIDING
+
+
+No country in the world is so badly supplied with horses as China,
+both as regards quantity and quality.
+
+The reasons for this are largely owing to the peculiar and wretched
+condition of internal communications, and to the fact that horses are
+seldom employed in cultivation of the soil, which is mostly performed
+by manual labour, supplemented by water buffaloes in the central and
+southern provinces and by oxen in the north.
+
+Wherever rivers and lakes exist there is found a dense boating
+population, whose occupation is the conduct of every kind of traffic.
+
+On the large fluvial highways stately junks laden deep with cargo pass
+backwards and forwards in unending procession. In shallower waters the
+vessels are smaller but more numerous, and this adaptation to
+circumstances goes on until the smallest streams and canals, which
+invariably cover the valleys of China's mighty rivers as with a net,
+are blocked with tiny craft, each bearing its load of merchandise or
+its quota of passengers.
+
+In such districts, where everything is carried by water and where
+roads are few, there is little or no work for the horse, which, beyond
+a few wretched specimens attached to the various yamens and military
+camps, is seldom seen.
+
+Where waterways do not exist, and traffic must necessarily be carried
+overland, the highways are either narrow paths paved with large blocks
+of stone and suitable only for wheelbarrows and pack-animals, or
+tracks picked out at random over a width of perhaps a hundred yards,
+along which lumbering, ill-constructed and springless carts plough
+their ways, and strings of pack-animals wend slowly to and fro. The
+numberless creaking wheel-barrows, bearing heavy loads, are propelled
+by coolies, who, the yoke across the shoulders, stagger along between
+the shafts, helped occasionally by a small sail set to catch a
+favouring wind, or by another coolie harnessed to the vehicle by
+ropes. The pack-animals mostly consist of camels (especially in the
+north), mules and donkeys, ponies being used in more limited numbers.
+As a rule, the carts are supplied with mixed teams of very poor class
+animals, mules largely predominating, although ponies are also
+numerous.
+
+Europeans, accustomed to see carriages, dog-carts and all kinds of
+horse-drawn conveyances circulating freely on macadamised roads, find
+it difficult to realise that, in the oldest civilised empire in
+existence, there are, outside the treaty-ports, not only no
+macadamised roads, but not even roads that could possibly be compared
+with our most out-of-the-way and most ill-kept country lanes, and that
+consequently there are neither carriages nor dogcarts, but only
+springless tumbrils, which, covered with a wain, discharge the
+functions of the celestial cab, and plough through deep mud with their
+massive wheels, or jolt over stone causeways to the intense discomfort
+of luckless occupants.
+
+   [Illustration: THE CAB OF NORTHERN CHINA.
+   _To face page 75._]
+
+There being then practically neither roads nor carriages, the demand
+for draught horses is very small, while for riding purposes Chinamen
+prefer either the taller and more dignified mule or the ambling pony.
+
+This latter has a rolling, pacing gait which enables the horseman to
+sit quietly in his high wooden saddle without any necessity of rising
+in the stirrups. He possesses great speed and endurance, and wealthy
+Chinese will give as much as four or five hundred taels for a good
+one. With his rider leaning well back and pulling hard at the reins
+the animal tears along at fifteen or sixteen miles an hour, but when
+the reins are loosened he immediately slackens and pulls up. They are
+a common sight in the neighbourhood of Peking, where ambling contests
+frequently take place outside the city wall. In these contests each
+pony in turn is ridden at full speed past the judges, who proclaim the
+winner on his general merits and not with exclusive reference to pace.
+
+For agricultural work the horse is not employed. In wheeling barrows
+coolies perform the work of beasts of burthen. As pack-animals camels,
+mules and donkeys have the preference, so that although the "noble
+animal" is to be met with almost everywhere, he is not considered
+indispensable as in Western lands. He is unhonoured, ill cared for and
+very cheap.
+
+There may be several breeds in China, although personally I have seen
+but four, of which a small, well-shaped pony from Turkestan; a large,
+stringy horse from Ili; and a weedy, cowhocked pony from Szechuan
+deserve here no more than passing notice, for they are seldom seen in
+the Eastern provinces, where alone the Mongolian, or, as it is
+commonly called, the "China pony," is found in considerable numbers.
+
+This China pony, with which Europeans in the Far East are so well
+acquainted, is a native of the Mongolian plains. He stands on an
+average about thirteen hands, and is a coarse, thick-set, cobby
+animal, with a large, ugly head carried low on a wedge-shaped neck,
+so that when mounted you have practically nothing in front of the
+saddle. He much resembles, and is evidently closely allied to, the
+Russian pony, which is now so commonly met with in this country.
+
+I have heard it stated that, at the conclusion of the Second Chinese
+War, to avoid the expense of transport back to India, the Arab horses
+of our cavalry were sold at Tientsin, and being mostly purchased by
+native dealers, were sent to Mongolia and crossed with the native
+breed. If this be true it accounts for the traces of Arab blood which
+may occasionally be observed in a smaller head, finer points, wavy
+tail and gentler manners.
+
+Mongol princes have long had, by imperial decree, the sole right of
+horse breeding in the north, every year paying tribute to the Emperor
+of so many head; and as this breed is much superior to the others I
+have mentioned, the monopoly practically extends to the whole Empire,
+and is most jealously guarded.
+
+Geldings only are allowed to leave the breeders' hands, and that not
+before the advanced age of seven or eight, which partly accounts for
+the shortness of the time during which China ponies are in their
+prime, and for the fact that after two or three years' work they
+commence to age and deteriorate.
+
+Mares it is impossible to purchase on any terms, the Mongols
+absolutely refusing to part with them, and I have only seen two
+during the whole of the twelve years I have spent in China--one at
+Peking, the property of a Russian prince, and one with its foal,
+belonging to a native official at Kiukiang.
+
+In the late autumn of every year the tribute ponies are brought down
+to Peking. I have seen them in large droves coming across country at
+full gallop, enveloped in clouds of dust, with mounted Mongol and
+Chinese drovers, carrying long bamboo poles, riding on the outskirts
+of each mob and directing its course. Villagers, on seeing the clouds
+of dust and hearing the thunder of hoofs, hurry out to try and divert
+the equine torrent from their crops, but in vain. The whirlwind rushes
+by, leaving a broad, well-beaten track, whereon few signs of banks,
+gardens or vegetation can be discerned. It is the Emperor's tribute
+and there is no redress.
+
+After tributary obligations have been fulfilled in kind or in value,
+large numbers of these ponies are thrown on the market, and on an
+average can be secured for twenty or thirty dollars each--that is, for
+two or three pounds.
+
+The best market is provided by Europeans, and dealers forward the
+finest-looking animals to Tientsin, Shanghai, Hongkong, Hankow and
+other places where racing is carried on, to meet this demand.
+
+When such mobs of raw ponies reach a treaty-port they are known as
+"griffins," which term applies to all that have not previously run at
+any race-meeting; and with their tails sweeping the ground, their
+hogged manes and their long coats clotted with mud, they present a
+very dismal appearance, and one not at all in keeping with the
+accepted idea of race-horses.
+
+These griffins mostly pass through the hands of racing men, who, with
+a view to securing a good animal, either arrange with the dealers for
+private gallops, when the various performances are carefully timed by
+stop-watch, or buy their fancies at public auction without speed tests
+having previously been made.
+
+Owing to expenses of transport, be it by steamer or by road, the
+further south the greater the average value of griffins, and as only
+picked animals are supplied to the foreign market, the price is
+everywhere far higher than at Peking, and may be said to range from
+fifty to five hundred dollars. Those ponies which do not prove to have
+sufficient speed to warrant their being trained as racers are resold
+as hacks, or filter away at lower prices to the Chinese.
+
+I may here say that although at several of the treaty-ports there are
+a few good roads made by the European residents, and along which
+imported carriages are occasionally seen to pass, it is only at
+Shanghai that vehicular traffic has attained to any considerable
+degree of importance. Here the foreign settlements are traversed in
+all directions by excellent highways, which extend through the suburbs
+for several miles into the adjoining country, and which the Chinese
+avail themselves of to a large extent, driving out in thousands every
+afternoon to tea-houses and pleasure-gardens.
+
+Besides most well-known varieties of conveyance the celestial mind has
+evolved one or two remarkable models of its own, notably, a kind of
+victoria, the body of which takes the form of two large inverted
+sea-shells gaudily painted with flowers and butterflies, and running
+on light iron wheels with bright spokes and rubber tyres. A liveried
+coach-man on the box, a footman with a smart rug over the arm standing
+on an iron step behind and balancing himself by grasping two straps
+attached to the back corners of the carriage, a shabbily-harnessed
+China pony in the shafts, and the equipage is complete.
+
+The occupants of this triumphal car are either three or four
+prosperous-looking Chinamen, clothed in many-coloured silks, or a
+posse of gaily-dressed celestial beauties, who, with faces painted
+white, lips dyed vermilion, hair caked with oil, garlanded with
+flowers, laden with jewels, displaying their tiny satin shoes and
+toying with fans in their small and beautiful hands, furnish a
+_tout-ensemble_ sufficiently original if not too painfully grotesque.
+
+At Shanghai, certainly, many thousands of ponies are employed, but it
+is owing entirely to the influence and example of Europeans.
+
+The majority of men taking up appointments in China are barely out of,
+if not still in, their teens, and whether they come straight from
+school, from business in the city or from the universities, it is
+seldom they have had any large experience of horses. In very many
+cases they do not even know how to mount, but finding ponies so cheap,
+or, better still, getting a discarded racer as a cumshaw, they take to
+riding as naturally as if to the manner born, so that there are but
+few residents of either sex who cannot ride, and China ponies
+consequently hold a place in the estimation of foreigners which is
+altogether denied them by the natives.
+
+From hacking to racing is but a step. The man who has learnt to ride
+(or thinks he has), being already a member of the race club, takes his
+steed for a quiet canter round the course. The old racer no sooner
+finds himself on the familiar track than he is off with the speed of
+flames, and our young friend, being powerless to check him, with his
+feet out of the stirrups and hanging on to the back of the saddle for
+dear life, is carried a mile or so before a sudden swerve at the exit
+rail deposits him on the turf.
+
+No bones are broken but the damage is done. Unless the dismounted
+cavalier be devoid of all enthusiasm the spirit of racing has
+assuredly entered his veins!
+
+In future he will haunt the course with his own luckless hack, he will
+attend the training regularly each morning in hopes of getting a mount
+on any rank outsider, and will think of little else all day than
+riding and ponies.
+
+To some men riding comes naturally, like cricket, while others can
+never acquire a good seat.
+
+A light-weight who is fortunate enough to possess the necessary knack
+will soon be in request as jockey at the forthcoming meeting, when, if
+he should happen to secure a win, the confidence it immediately gives
+him does more than any other thing to transform him into a really good
+horseman.
+
+It costs no more to feed a good pony than it does a bad one, so he now
+decides to dispose of his hack for a trifling sum, and in its stead to
+purchase a griffin, which may be a potential winner of the champions.
+He orders his mafoo to inspect the new season's griffins as they
+arrive, and arrange with the dealer to bring three or four of the best
+for his approval. This the mafoo does with great pleasure, as, apart
+from the keen interest he takes in racing--all Chinese being
+inveterate gamblers--it is an understood thing that he will receive a
+good cumshaw from his master for each race that his stable wins.
+
+In due course the unbroken, shoeless, mud-covered animals arrive, and
+the dealer, perched on a high wooden saddle, trots them up and down to
+show off their paces.
+
+In England the would-be purchaser of a horse carefully feels each leg
+to make sure that there be neither splint nor curb, lifts up and
+examines the hoofs, grasps the lower lip with one hand and draws out
+the tongue with the other to study the teeth, and peers closely into
+the animal's face to see that his eyes are unblemished.
+
+On approaching a griffin one becomes conscious of being closely
+watched by a vicious eye, and oftentimes the brute, snorting with
+anger and alarm at the unaccustomed sight and smell of a European,
+attempts to rush at one, while the idea of feeling his legs, drawing
+out his tongue, examining his hoofs or peering into his eyes quickly
+evaporates. One would rather fondle a Bengal tiger!
+
+An adjournment is next made to the race-course, where the ponies are
+powed by the dealer for half-a-mile, when the action of each can be
+observed and the times taken by stop-watch.
+
+In this manner a rough idea can be formed as to which of the animals
+are likely to possess the necessary turn of speed, and that is as
+much information as can now be obtained, for as to soundness, age and
+stamina the dealer's assurances on these points must be accepted as
+the only evidence procurable.
+
+In the end one, and very probably two, are purchased at from sixty to
+seventy dollars each, and the erstwhile embryo jock has blossomed into
+the dignity of ownership.
+
+The first thing to do with a griffin is to get him shod, which is not
+quite so simple a matter as one might imagine, for he has hitherto
+never passed through the farrier's hands and will be certain to
+fiercely object. No attempt is made to perform the operation by
+gentleness, and he is forthwith led under a kind of oblong, wooden
+arch about six feet high, constructed of four firmly-planted posts,
+connected on top by cross beams.
+
+Ropes passed under his belly and over the cross beams keep him from
+throwing himself down, while each leg is securely lashed to one of the
+posts, and thus being rendered absolutely powerless, the work is
+quickly put through.
+
+There is generally a struggle in mounting each new arrival, but with a
+couple of mafoos hanging on to his ears, and sometimes by enveloping
+his head in a horse-cloth, it is eventually managed.
+
+The first timidity soon wears off, and you find that after a short
+distance there is no more trouble, the animal being probably in poor
+condition and lacking the nervousness of finer breeds.
+
+Several days of scraping and grooming having removed the dust and dirt
+with which his shaggy coat was filled, he is clipped and his tail
+shortened. The transformation is almost startling. You now have quite
+a smart-looking mount as China ponies go, and while riding him daily
+to improve his condition you will soon discover any marked
+characteristics.
+
+He rarely gets over his dislike for Europeans although perfectly
+docile with Chinese, and it is seldom that he will allow even his own
+master to enter the stall. A black griffin which I bought at Peking
+seemed to me so quiet that on an expedition of some days into the
+country I fed, groomed and saddled him myself, until quite convinced
+that we had become friends, and it was not till after my return that,
+in passing through the stables, he rushed at me with open mouth, only
+the strength of a raw-hide headstall saving me from being savaged.
+
+What applies to one applies to all. Their tempers are untrustworthy.
+
+Many have the disagreeable trick of "cow-kicking," which usually
+occurs on mounting, when they kick forward with the near hind leg and
+may inflict a nasty blow.
+
+Invariably hard-mouthed, occasionally buck-jumpers, altogether
+without manners, and in trotting mostly slow and jerky, they are but a
+poor apology for the gentle and graceful horse as found in Western
+countries. On the other hand, they make capital race-ponies, for they
+are fast gallopers, and for their size can carry astounding weights.
+They are also very good for cross-country work, as, in addition to
+being fair jumpers, their great strength enables them to plough
+through country which would tax the powers of an English hunter, but
+the greatest consideration of all is their cheapness, for it places
+them within the reach of sporting men with small incomes.
+
+A certain number of Australian horses are now imported into Hongkong
+and Shanghai, but owing to the stringencies of the Chinese climate it
+is very doubtful whether so great additional outlay as the long sea
+voyage involves is compensated for by the walers' evident
+superiorities.
+
+Assuming that, having had a griffin for some time, he is in good
+condition, a period of six or seven weeks is sufficient in which to
+prepare him for the races.
+
+For training purposes, oats and hay imported from California are
+preferable, but adhering to native produce, a diet of boiled barley,
+chopped straw and bran will do nearly as well.
+
+Most of the important exercise is gone through at early morning
+between six and half-past seven, when the ponies are trotted and
+galloped on the course, and when all sporting members of the
+community, stop-watch in hand, assemble at the rails, or follow
+proceedings from the grand-stand while breakfasting on hot rolls and
+coffee. On return to stables, thorough dressing, with much rubbing of
+the legs, takes place, while an hour's brisk walking from eleven
+o'clock to twelve, and again in the afternoon, completes the day's
+work.
+
+   [Illustration: THE OLD GRAND-STAND, HANKOW RACES, 1888.
+   _To face page 87._]
+
+Each animal requires individual treatment, and it is the owner who
+best knows how to apply it that will bring his ponies to the post in
+the fittest condition.
+
+Carrying from ten to eleven stone according to measurement, good time
+for half a mile would be fifty-nine seconds, for a mile, two minutes
+eight seconds, and for a mile and a half, three minutes fifteen
+seconds.
+
+In dry weather it is an advantage for ponies to race without shoes,
+but if the course be wet or muddy they are absolutely necessary to
+prevent slipping.
+
+The jockeys are all amateur and mostly personal friends, as also are
+the clerk of the course, starters, judges and stewards, so that
+instead of a race-meeting being a gathering of complete strangers,
+bookmakers and professionals, it partakes more of the social nature of
+a huge picnic.
+
+During the winter months a great feature of sport in Shanghai is
+paperchasing on horseback.
+
+The meets are usually held on Saturday afternoons, when business
+offices are closed, and a field of seventy or eighty is no uncommon
+sight.
+
+Two members of the club lay the scent, but while free to choose any
+line of country, they must not lead the trail over jumps or obstacles
+which their own ponies have failed to negotiate.
+
+At the hour advertised the Master gives a signal and the hunt is away.
+
+Through wades and creeks, over water-jumps and graves, across gardens
+and paddy fields, the gay throng sweeps on at high speed, until a
+welcome check brings relief to man and beast and allows the stragglers
+to close up. After a short delay the trail is again hit off and the
+field streams away, but in ever-decreasing numbers, until a mere
+handful sight the flags which mark the finish, and ride their hardest
+at the final jump, the first light-weight and the first welter to
+cross which are thereafter entitled to sport pink and gain the honour
+of laying scent for the succeeding hunt. The sport is extremely good
+though very rough, which is mainly owing to the marshy nature of the
+soil and the fact that as the Chinese do not here raise banks or
+hedges between their fields the jumping is mostly over water and dry
+ditches of considerable width and depth, which accounts for a goodly
+number of nasty spills. Although compensation for damage to crops is
+awarded by the hunt club, considerable care must be taken to guard
+against traps wilfully laid by the natives, who frequently remove the
+trail from its proper course and lay it over almost impossible jumps,
+which they further render extremely dangerous by digging holes in the
+opposite banks and covering them with leaves and rubbish, after doing
+which they take up safe positions of vantage to enjoy the fun.
+
+In autumn, when the waters of the Yangtse commence to fall and the
+inundated districts along its banks become dry, the plain at Hankow
+affords excellent riding, where for miles one can swing along at a
+hand-gallop without once having to draw rein. In spring, when covered
+with fresh, green grass, it possesses an additional charm, and until
+rising waters once more confine riding to the race-course and the
+river bank, there are few places in China where such magnificent
+gallops can be obtained.
+
+When summer floods at Kiukiang drove our ponies from their mat stables
+on the other side of the creek to the higher ground of the concession,
+and turned most of the surrounding country into an immense lake, we
+were in considerable perplexity as to where we should take our
+afternoon rides, until the brilliant idea was conceived of utilising
+the city wall, which stands about twenty feet in height, and is four
+miles in circumference.
+
+Entering by the western gate and turning sharply to the right we rode
+up the stone steps, much worn by time and human feet, to the top of
+the wall, which is some twelve feet in width. Picking our way
+carefully, for the route was strewn with loose stones and bricks, we
+usually made the circuit twice before descending. Where the steps
+adjoin the wall two large right angles are formed, into which Chinese
+houses have been built in such a manner that their roofs are
+conterminous with, and slope at the same angle as, the steps,
+rendering it possible to pass from one to the other with the greatest
+of ease.
+
+As a friend of mine was passing this point for the second time his
+pony tried to bolt down the steps with the intention of returning to
+stable. A violent pull at the near rein brought the brute's head
+round, but without stopping him, so that he passed sideways from the
+steps on to the roof of one of the houses, and together with his rider
+instantly disappeared through it, amidst a cloud of dust, a crashing
+of timbers and the rattle of falling tiles.
+
+Emerging from the _debris_, and smothered with dust, my friend led his
+pony through the front door into the street, where a crowd had already
+collected, neither apparently any the worse for their remarkable
+feat. An old woman who was in the building at the time had a narrow
+escape from being crushed by the falling animal, but she soon
+recovered from the shock, and a liberal sum in dollars with which to
+repair the roof probably caused her to regret that similar accidents
+did not more frequently befall.
+
+At Peking, where for a time I was clerk of the course, a most
+remarkable incident occurred, for the accuracy of which I had
+irrefutable proof.
+
+A pony named "Chalk," which I had purchased from a Chinese soldier for
+twenty-five dollars, had carried all before him at the previous autumn
+meeting, for which reason I was naturally greatly attached to him, and
+he, although an extremely vicious animal towards others, tolerated me
+with a forbearance but rarely met with in a China pony.
+
+At the succeeding spring meeting Chalk was a hot favourite for the
+principal events. The evening before the races I passed with several
+friends, when the chances of different ponies, and of Chalk in
+particular, were discussed till a late hour. That night I dreamed that
+after I had been riding Chalk, I was standing dismounted and holding
+the reins, on a plot of grass surrounded with trees, while the pony
+was lying on the ground. Raising his head and neck two or three times
+in attempts to get up he finally struggled into a sitting position,
+standing on his forelegs but with his haunches on the ground, and then
+sank back dead.
+
+The dream was so vivid and left such an impression on me, that by way
+of conversation, and without attaching the slightest importance to it,
+I related the circumstance in practically the same words as employed
+here, to a Russian friend, who accompanied me early next morning to
+the course.
+
+Again, on the grand-stand, a quarter of an hour or so before the races
+commenced, I laughingly told a son of the Dutch minister of my dream,
+explaining the circumstances and the scene in full.
+
+Looking in the pink of condition, Chalk came out for the first event,
+one mile, and won hands down by several lengths. After dismounting in
+the enclosure and weighing in, I was being convoyed by my friends to
+the bar in order to celebrate the victory in champagne, when I heard
+someone say, "Look at Chalk!"
+
+Turning round, I saw him staggering backwards as if he had been struck
+a heavy blow on the head. As I rushed forward and seized the reins by
+which the mafoo had been leading him, he fell to the ground, and there
+on the club lawn, surrounded with trees, exactly as seen in my dream,
+he attempted to rise two or three times, eventually getting into a
+sitting position, and then falling back was dead in less than ten
+seconds.
+
+My Russian friend was aghast, and pressed into my hand a small coin,
+which he said would keep off the evil spirits, but I was then too much
+concerned at the loss of my favourite to pay heed to either spirits or
+dreams, although I had instantly recognised both the scene and the
+locality, the only difference being that the sympathising crowd which
+now pressed round me and my fallen steed had been absent in the
+vision.
+
+I am not a believer in dreams, and possessing an excellent digestion
+but rarely have any, and for this one can offer no explanation beyond
+that it was a most remarkable coincidence.
+
+At the time it created quite a mild sensation amongst the European
+community, while the Chinese who heard of it were extremely
+interested.
+
+My Russian and Dutch friends I have since met on several occasions,
+when, in the presence of others, we talked of my dream and its
+fulfilment.
+
+Both in Peking and in the various parts of China where I have since
+been stationed, I have frequently related the occurrence to Chinese
+acquaintances, and they have always given an interpretation of it
+which has invariably been to the effect that in this world, or in a
+previous existence, I either lent money or did a great service to some
+friend, who, dying before repayment had been made, came back to earth
+in the form of a horse, and after winning for me sufficient money to
+discharge his debt, returned to the realms of departed spirits.
+
+
+                                                 "THE HAGUE,
+                                         "_26th March 1903_.
+
+    "MY DEAR READY,--In reply to yours of 23rd I will certainly
+    gladly corroborate the incident regarding Chalk's death. I do
+    not remember exactly the details as you put them to me now,
+    though I have not the least doubt they were the true features
+    of the case. What I do still remember is this: that you gave
+    ---- and myself a somewhat circumstantial account of your
+    dream shortly before the race; that immediately after the
+    death of the pony you came up to us and called attention to
+    the remarkable fulfilment of your dream, and that I was at the
+    time much impressed with the case, both as regards the main
+    fact and the details, which tallied remarkably with what I
+    could then still remember of your prophetic account of the
+    event. Whether to look upon this as some 'Borderland'
+    manifestation or merely as a remarkable coincidence does not
+    belong to the province of,--
+
+                                          "Yours very truly,
+
+                                               "T.T.H. FERGUSON."
+
+My Russian friend has long since returned to the dominions of the
+Great White Czar and I have not his address, otherwise I feel
+confident that he, too, would gladly support with his testimony my
+account of this remarkable occurrence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+SAILING
+
+
+A good national motto for the Chinese would be "_Semper idem_," for of
+a truth they change not and as yet the shadow of turning is but
+ill-defined.
+
+The same types of junk that called forth the admiration of Marco Polo
+may be seen to-day, not only along the internal waterways of the
+Empire but far afield, at Singapore, in Siamese waters and amongst the
+East India Islands, and it may be interesting for yachtsmen to know
+that the problems of water-tight compartments, centre-boards, balanced
+and perforated rudders, which during the past few decades have
+exercised the minds of designers and builders in this country, were
+solved many centuries ago by the Chinese, and almost every junk afloat
+contains some, and not unfrequently all, of these equipments.
+
+In the stormy waters of the Formosa channel, where the monsoons raise
+a mountainous sea, thousands of fishing-boats, far out of sight of
+land, ply their business in weather which would cause the masters of
+English smacks to run for shelter.
+
+Mail steamers on the voyage between Hongkong and Shanghai pass through
+these fleets and their miles upon miles of bamboo-floated nets, and
+oftentimes it occurs that a good view of some of the craft may be
+obtained from deck at the distance of only a few yards, when it can be
+seen that their crews consist not of men alone as in other countries
+but of whole families--fathers, mothers, children and infants--whose
+home is in reality on the rolling deep.
+
+That many of these hardy souls perish at their work is a certainty,
+for it frequently happens that steamers sight their luckless craft
+bottoms upwards or rescue survivors from the wreckage.
+
+Out of Shanghai harbour cumbersome junks make their ways across the
+Yellow Sea to ports along the northern coasts or to the hermit kingdom
+of Corea. These vessels have frequently five or six masts spread out
+like a fan, from the foremast, which rakes forrard at an extraordinary
+angle, to the mizzenmast, which shoots well out over the stern.
+Ill-shaped sails of matting, ropes made of twisted bamboo splits,
+hemp, or cocoa-nut fibre, huge wooden anchors, and a total absence of
+paint lend to them a most ramshackle and unseaworthy appearance, while
+clothes drying on the line, cocks crowing, pigs rambling about at
+will, plants growing in pots and old tins, together with the presence
+of women and children, introduce a rustic and farmlike element, and
+it is always a matter of wonder to me how these floating curiosity
+shops are able to thread their ways unaided through tortuous channels
+and crowded shipping out to sea, and when once there, why they do not
+succumb to the first rough weather they encounter.
+
+Taken as a whole, Chinese junks are but roughly built, and though
+generally excellent sea-boats and easily handled, their sailing powers
+are poor when compared with corresponding European craft of similar
+tonnage.
+
+A peculiar custom is the supplying of all vessels, whether steamers,
+junks or sampans, with large eyes, which are painted one on either
+side of the bows and as a reason for which any Chinaman will explain
+to you--"S'pose no got eye, no can see. S'pose no can see, how fashion
+can walkee."
+
+Another thing to be noted is that all sails without exception have
+bamboo reefing battens, which although destroying the smooth set of
+the canvas are infinitely superior to our reefing points, inasmuch as
+the largest sail can be reefed from deck, or rather reefs itself, just
+as quickly as the capstan can lower it, and without that hard work,
+waste of time and risk which going aloft or along the spars in bad
+weather necessarily entails.
+
+Up the mighty River Yangtse different types of junks may be
+numbered by the hundred, all varying in tonnage, dimensions and
+draught according to the waters they are designed to navigate.
+
+   [Illustration: FOOCHOW JUNK, SHOWING EYE.
+   _To face page 98._]
+
+In the estuary, and as far up as Chinkiang, sea-going papicoes from
+Ningpo are to be seen in great numbers. These gaily-painted vessels of
+from twenty to eighty tons, with their high freeboards, wide sterns,
+raking masts, tanned sails and gaudy vanes, are extremely quaint and
+picturesque.
+
+_Via_ the Grand Canal, which connects Tientsin with Hangchow, great
+quantities of tribute rice are forwarded by Chinese officials from the
+Central and Southern provinces to their Manchu rulers in the north,
+every Manchu, owing to the bare fact that he is of the ruling race,
+being entitled from his birth to a monthly allowance of rice and
+silver, and as the canal crosses the Yangtse at Chinkiang many
+deep-draught grain junks may be seen arriving there with cargoes from
+various places on the river.
+
+A few miles higher up, at a place called Iching, there are always
+scores of junks anchored in orderly rows waiting to load salt as it
+arrives overland from the sea-coast, where, being a Government
+monopoly, it is manufactured in saltpans under official supervision.
+
+Both the grain junks and the salt junks possess a certain official
+status, and are therefore kept in far better trim than the ordinary
+trader, and ranging anywhere from sixty to one hundred and fifty tons,
+are probably the best class of craft which frequent inland waters.
+They are heavily built, with good beam and watertight compartments.
+Their lines, while forbidding any thought of speed, are not
+ungraceful, and eminently suitable for weight carrying. With square,
+massive bows they thicken away aft, until, curving upwards with a bold
+sweep of the gunnels, their covered-in sterns, high above the balanced
+rudder, form good quarters for the lowdah and his family, where from
+tiny windows women and children peep in shy curiosity at the foreigner
+sailing by.
+
+The mainmast, an enormous spar of some sixty or seventy feet in
+length, is stepped almost amidships in a kind of tabernacle, and has
+neither stays nor shrouds, its only visible support being a wooden
+prop, which a few feet above the deck takes part of the pressure when
+running before the wind, so that on gazing up at its dizzy height one
+continually wonders why in heavy weather it does not go by the board
+or pound its way through the bottom of the vessel. The foremast, which
+is considerably smaller and stepped well forrard, is in like manner
+devoid of any kind of stay. Each mast sets one enormous sail of
+graceful shape, and but loosely made of a coarse, native material,
+resembling cheap calico. The cloths, running vertically, are
+interwoven with the bamboo reefing battens, and though but lightly
+stitched together, seem capable of withstanding an enormous strain.
+
+Varnished a light yellow, which shimmers in the sun, and displaying
+gaudy banners on which the signs of the guilds to which they belong
+are printed in large characters, it is a beautiful sight to watch a
+fleet of these stately ships glide by, with their towering sails
+goose-winged before the breeze, and churning up the waters with their
+blunt, unyielding prows.
+
+Amongst the elaborate system of guilds which permeates Chinese
+society, one of the most meritorious is the lifeboat guild. Apart from
+official aid and direction, it is mostly supported by voluntary
+contributions, and to an extent which allows of lifeboats being
+stationed at many points of danger.
+
+In fine weather these "red-boats," as, owing to their usual colour,
+they are commonly called, lay up in creeks or shelters while the crews
+pass their time at leisure, but as soon as a storm arises they
+immediately put out and ride to a drift-anchor, ready at a moment's
+notice to hoist sail and dash to the rescue of any craft in distress.
+
+At Hankow, where a north-easterly gale against a four-knot current
+raises a choppy and heavy sea most dangerous for small craft, I have
+seen four red-boats racing from different directions to rescue the
+occupants of a capsized sampan. With sails fully hoisted before the
+gale and smothered by the waves, in an incredibly short time they were
+on the scene of the accident, where, rounding to, the work of salvage
+was carried out in a most plucky and seamanlike manner. These boats
+have no stem, the bows, which are square and about four feet in width,
+sloping away underneath in a gentle curve, so that their tendency is
+to skim over the water like a dish instead of cutting through it. They
+are decked forrard flush with the gunnel for nearly half their length,
+when a low cabin takes up the space as far as the well, which is quite
+aft.
+
+Flat-bottomed, and using lee-boards, they draw very little water,
+while a single mast and sail of the light and convenient Chinese
+pattern render them extremely handy. Hand-lines are looped round the
+sides in the customary manner, but there is no cork belt.
+
+Their qualities are so good that our own National Lifeboat Institution
+would do well to study the model for use in places where a sandy beach
+and shoal water make it sometimes impossible to launch the type of
+lifeboat now in general use.
+
+Gun-boats, or police junks, are ubiquitous. A very low freeboard and
+no cabin, with the exception of a kind of deck-house quite aft, where
+the helmsman stands, one mast hoisting a gracefully-cut sail with
+alternate blue and white cloths, a small muzzle-loading cannon in the
+bows, and a crew of ten or a dozen in quaint uniforms, who, when wind
+fails, take to the sweeps, and standing up facing the direction in
+which they are going, and keeping good time, propel the boat at a fair
+pace. When at anchor an awning in blue and white stripes affords a
+commodious shelter. Being official vessels they are spic and span in
+light yellow varnish, and frequently fly a number of really beautiful
+flags of marvellous design and brilliant colouring. The
+_tout-ensemble_ is smart, weird, pleasing and eminently suitable for a
+Drury Lane pantomime. Of shallow draught, and of size varying in
+accordance with the waters they are destined to patrol, I have seen
+them as large as twenty tons and as small as a skiff, having an old
+flint gingall mounted forrard with all the circumstance of a 12-inch
+gun.
+
+Between the treaty-port of Ichang, which is a thousand miles from the
+sea, and the treaty-port of Chungking, which is four hundred miles
+higher up, lie the celebrated Yangtse Gorges.
+
+Ichang is, for all practical purposes, the present terminus of
+steamship traffic, for although a few small steamers have passed
+through the Gorges and reached Chungking, there have been many
+failures, and one German vessel, the ss. _Shuihsiang_, built
+expressly for the run, was dashed on the rocks and sank when on her
+maiden trip.
+
+The scenery of the Gorges is the grandest I have ever seen, and made a
+greater impression on me than even that of the Rocky Mountains.
+
+My trip there was in the month of November, when the river was low and
+the current slack, albeit it raced by at five or six miles an hour.
+
+Having hired a suitable boat at Ichang we set sail before a strong
+up-river breeze, and by carefully following all indentations of the
+river bank managed to keep in fairly slack water, until we reached a
+point where the Gorges actually commence. Here a tow-line was got out,
+and by the frantic efforts of half-a-dozen trackers, in addition to
+the sail, we slowly forged ahead but at not more than two miles an
+hour, although the foam breaking over our bows and a broad wake astern
+showed that we were passing through the water at the rate of eight or
+nine.
+
+The Gorges are where the mighty river has forced a passage through a
+lofty range of mountains, which barred its progress to the sea.
+
+Seated on my tiny craft, and gazing up at the towering cliffs which
+rise almost perpendicularly for hundreds and sometimes thousands of
+feet on either side, I could see caves, terraces and strata, which
+indicate with a marvellous distinctness the different levels of the
+river, as during untold ages it has eaten its way through solid rock
+and stone to its present bed. This manifestation of the irresistible
+forces of nature produces a singularly sobering effect on the mind by
+making one keenly feel how utterly insignificant we mortals really
+are. Along ledges on the beetling cliffs the ubiquitous Chinaman has
+built his home and planted orange groves, so that far overhead rich
+clusters of golden fruit lend an effective touch of colour to the
+beauty and majesty of the scene.
+
+All junks in use between Chungking and Ichang are built with a view to
+navigating the numerous rapids occurring in the Gorges, and are
+chiefly remarkable for their abnormally high sterns, which, in the
+event of grounding on a sandbank while descending with a ten-knot
+current, serve as a protection against being pooped.
+
+One or two masts with the ordinary Chinese sails, an immense sweep in
+the bows as an aid in turning, and a strong rudder with an enormous
+tiller, are the chief items of equipment.
+
+On the voyage down, which takes less than a week, a crew of ten or a
+dozen would be sufficient for a medium-sized junk, but for the return
+journey against stream, and which takes from four to eight weeks
+according to the strength of the current, from forty to a hundred
+trackers are necessary in addition to the regular hands.
+
+As in the Gorges the river is liable to freshets, which in a few hours
+may cause a rise of thirty or forty feet, the foreshore is at an
+uncertain height, for which reason, probably, no towing-paths have
+been made.
+
+Upward-bound junks, in addition to their sails, have an immense
+hawser, made of twisted bamboo splits, leading from the top of the
+mainmast to the river bank, and to the shore end of which, for a
+length of about forty to a hundred feet, the trackers fasten the
+yokes, with one of which each man is supplied, and which are long
+enough to admit a play of ten or fifteen feet on either side of the
+cable.
+
+It is a stirring sight to see a big junk being bodily forced by wind
+and manual power against a strong current. The trackers swarm over
+rocks and mounds along the foreshore like a pack of hounds, singing,
+laughing and shouting as they go, the mainmast bends beneath the heavy
+strain, the hawser is cleared from jutting boulders by intrepid
+swimmers, who in pursuit of their vocation must often plunge into the
+racing torrent, and the vessel roars through the water with foaming
+bows, though the progress made may be but a few yards within the hour,
+while if, as frequently occurs, the hawser carries away, she is
+whirled three or four miles down stream before the crew can again
+bring her to anchor by the bank.
+
+Wrecks are numerous in this seething maelstrom, and a heavy toll in
+lives is taken from the brave and hardy fellows whose lot is cast by
+these waters of strife.
+
+It was on this trip that I saw a Chinaman fishing with the help of an
+otter.
+
+The animal had a long cord fastened round its neck like a ferret, and
+was attached by it to the bows of a sampan, which was rowed by a
+woman, while the fisherman, standing on the fore part, gathered in his
+hands a net, circular in shape and having a hole in the centre large
+enough to admit the otter.
+
+On arriving at a suitable spot the net was cast with a sweep of the
+arm, so that like a spider's web it spread over a considerable area of
+water.
+
+Heavily weighted at the edges it sank quickly until the leads rested
+on the bottom of the river. The fisherman then hauled at a line until
+the hole in the centre appeared above the surface, when the otter,
+plunging through it, dived inside the net, quickly to reappear with a
+fish in its mouth, whereon he was unceremoniously hauled on board and
+his prey taken from him, after which he was again ushered through the
+hole into the folds of the net.
+
+While stationed at Kiukiang I possessed a teak-built four-oared gig
+which, being heavy and strong, I rigged with a jib and mainsail,
+besides adding six inches to her keel, when she proved to be a handy
+and seaworthy little craft. An iron framework could be erected over
+the stern-sheets and covered with a canvas hood, thus forming quite a
+roomy and comfortable cabin, while a light awning protected the well
+of the boat, so that I was quite able to make trips in her extending
+over two or three days.
+
+From time to time natives had spoken to me of a Purple Lake where,
+they said, but few Europeans had ever been, and along the shores of
+which good shooting could be found.
+
+This sounded sufficiently alluring, so, the opportunity offering, I
+started on a voyage of discovery in my gig, taking with me a couple of
+trusty native boatmen. Mounting the Yangtse for a short distance we
+entered a narrow creek, along which we were carried by a swift current
+between walls of reeds so tall that they effectually shut off the
+wind. At dark we tied up near a village, from which dozens of dogs
+presently arrived, and which when not fighting amongst themselves
+barked at us throughout the night with the most exasperating
+persistence. Mosquitoes also were particularly numerous, so that with
+the first streak of dawn we were only too thankful to cast off and
+continue our journey. During the morning we passed through pleasant
+scenery, and I observed a heronry in some dead trees on the left,
+while a deer swam the creek two hundred yards ahead of the boat; the
+lake being reached shortly before noon.
+
+It was a refreshing sight. Clear, sparkling water dotted with
+fishing-boats and wild-fowl, little green-capped islands with white
+cliffs and a range of lofty mountains in the background. After a swim
+and a hearty tiffin we sailed on with a good breeze, exploring the
+different arms of the lake, until about three o'clock, when I landed
+with my gun.
+
+The country, though hilly, was richly cultivated, the principal crop
+being tobacco, and after a delightful walk I returned on board with a
+brace of pheasants and a woodcock. That night we passed in comfort
+anchored in a tiny bay sheltered by lofty cliffs, and the morning was
+well aired before our cruise was resumed.
+
+At the further end of the lake what at first appeared to be a stately
+town was seen rising from the water's edge and reflected on its
+glistening surface, but a nearer approach revealed the inevitable
+shabbiness and ruin which distance had concealed and mirage had
+beautified. A fisherman informed us that it was the "Purple City."
+
+Later on I landed on some low ground, and walking amongst the paddy
+fields bagged ten couple of snipe in less than an hour, after which
+we sailed on again up a narrow arm of the lake with beautiful cliffs
+and wooded hills on either side. Arriving at the end of this inlet we
+anchored for tiffin, and early in the afternoon commenced to beat back
+against a northerly wind.
+
+During the morning I had observed a number of boats crossing the lake
+from all directions and converging on a certain point, and now, on
+rounding a sharp headland, we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of
+hundreds of craft of many descriptions, each bearing a load of
+gaily-dressed holiday-makers, while several long canoes, each paddled
+by twenty or thirty men, raced backwards and forwards to a great
+beating of gongs and a firing of guns. It was the dragon-boat
+festival, and no sooner were we observed than all these boats
+immediately closed round in order that their occupants might more
+closely inspect the European and his strange-looking craft.
+
+Far from my presence being resented I was most courteously treated,
+and after many questions had been put and answered by either side, a
+race of the dragon-boats was given for my particular edification,
+while as they sped by I fired a salute from my Winchester, which
+evidently gave immense satisfaction.
+
+I would here observe that wherever my wanderings in China have led me
+I have never been molested, nor, beyond the epithet of "foreign
+devil" applied freely by boys from a safe distance, have I been
+insulted. While this is not the experience of many, I am obliged to
+confess that the fault does not lie wholly with the natives.
+
+I have noticed men enter a village with guns, dogs and a tribe of
+beaters, and to an old inhabitant, who courteously bowed his welcome,
+one of them shouted roughly, "Well, Johnnie, how are you?"
+
+The aged celestial, not understanding a word though comprehending the
+roughness, remained silent, whereon the European exclaimed insolently,
+"Who are you staring at, you old fool?"
+
+At this point the village dogs, excited by such an unexpected
+invasion, commenced to bark, and were instantly stoned by the
+intruders, so that the old Chinaman, to avoid being struck, hurried
+into his house and closed the door, while the sportsmen and their
+troop passed through the sleepy hamlet like a whirlwind, scaring
+women, children, fowls and pigs and disgusting the inhabitants by
+their uncouthness. Such behaviour, I fear, is only too common.
+
+In my experience it is seldom that a courteous bearing does not meet
+with immediate friendly response.
+
+As the wind was dropping and there were signs of rain I left my
+new-made friends and returned to the little bay beneath the cliffs,
+where we had spent the previous night. Before dark the rain was
+coming down steadily, but having rigged tarpaulins over the hood and
+awning we so far kept dry and comfortable.
+
+In the middle of the night I was awakened by a torrential downpour and
+by the roar of a heavy gale as it swept over the cliffs high above our
+heads. Despite the tarpaulins the wet found its way in and soaked us
+to the skin, so that with daylight we were glad to make preparations
+for returning to Kiukiang.
+
+The awning we took in, but the lashings of the tarpaulins which
+covered the hood were so tightened by moisture that it was impossible
+to unknot them, and so the structure was left standing.
+
+Starting off under the jib alone with the wind dead astern, it was not
+until the shelter of the cliffs had been left and return was already
+impossible that I realised what we were in for.
+
+The gale was a perfect hurricane, before which we flew at a tremendous
+pace. The further we left the land the higher the swell became, until
+it suddenly dawned on me that our chances of covering the four or five
+miles before reaching the creek were not very bright.
+
+I have not been in many tight places, but this certainly was one.
+
+The boatmen had realised our dangerous straits, and failing at the
+pinch, as I have seen Chinamen do before and since, crouched down with
+faces blanched to putty and almost too terror-stricken to bail out the
+water which we shipped in ever-increasing quantities.
+
+A thick mist of driven spray covered the surface of the lake, and the
+boat rolled wildly in the waves, which although not very high were
+short and heavy and hissed as if in a rapid.
+
+We should have been swamped over the stern again and again had it not
+been for the hood, which more by good fortune than by design I had
+left standing. The tiller happily was a long one, and by exerting all
+my strength we kept a fairly straight course, eventually dashing
+through clouds of driven foam into the creek, though in a half-swamped
+condition. We had got off scot-free, but it had been touch and go. If
+the hood and tarpaulins had failed to keep out the seas we should have
+been pooped, and if the jib-sheets had carried away or the rudder
+become unshipped we should have broached to, when immediate
+destruction would have been our lot.
+
+The remainder of the journey was simple enough, and in a few hours we
+were safely back in port.
+
+Both at Hongkong and Shanghai, where the European population numbers
+several thousands, there is a yacht club, each containing several
+up-to-date classes, ranging from half-raters to fifteen-tonners, and
+regattas under various conditions are of frequent occurrence. These
+clubs, as well as the yachts, being practically identical with those
+in this country, it is unnecessary to enter into details.
+
+At Hongkong the sailing is on a bright, blue sea, whether in the
+magnificent harbour or amongst the numerous lovely islands, while at
+Shanghai it is on the muddy waters of the Whangpoo, which, except for
+the fact that it is the harbour of this thriving settlement, where
+scores of vessels of all sizes and nationalities ride at anchor or are
+berthed alongside wharves, is a small and uninteresting river flowing
+into the estuary of the Yangtse.
+
+From the ancient Portuguese colony of Macao, distant forty miles from
+Hongkong and celebrated as the home of the poet Camoens, come fleets
+of fishing-boats, which, in pursuit of their calling, cruise amongst
+the islands in the delta of the West River.
+
+These "Macao junks" are about the best sea-boats and the fastest
+sailers of all Chinese vessels.
+
+Built on graceful lines, and of light material, they possess the
+buoyancy of a duck, rarely shipping water even in the heaviest sea,
+while with two masts carrying well-shaped sails of matting, immense
+perforated, balanced rudders, and being of light draught, they handle
+so well that they can turn a complete circle in their own length.
+While unable to sail as close to the wind as a yacht, their chief
+point is in running, when with huge sails set on either side they
+will tear along at a pace perfectly astounding for craft of their
+unpretentious build and rig.
+
+During a pleasant two years' sojourn in this colony I sailed a smart
+little cutter of about one and a half tons, so that I was able to
+thoroughly test the merits of these junks, and while rather more than
+holding my own on all points in a light breeze, I could only make a
+good show in strong winds and rough water when sailing full and by,
+and was considerably outpaced in running free.
+
+Although these waters are infested with pirates and smugglers, as
+evidenced by such names as "Dead Man's Grave," "Robbers' Point,"
+"Grave Island," "Pirates' Creek" and the like, Europeans are but
+seldom molested, and although generally taking my Winchester as a
+precautionary measure when going any distance from port, I have spent
+many delightful days in standing out to sea, sailing through the
+numerous creeks with which the hinterland is intersected, or in
+cruising amongst the islands, on which sometimes I would land, and
+creeping round the rocky shores with my gun would frequently surprise
+wildfowl feeding amongst the shallow bays and pools.
+
+At other times, in company with a convivial friend, I would get under
+way in the cool of the evening, and after running out to sea for an
+hour or so to enjoy the night breezes setting in from the Pacific,
+and perhaps laying to for a swim, we would return to the lovely bay,
+and dropping anchor off the Praia Grande dine by moonlight to the
+strains of the Portuguese military band, which played two or three
+times weekly either at the Governor's Palace or in the public gardens,
+both of which overlooked the sea.
+
+When on a trip up the Sikiang or West River from Canton to Wuchow, I
+observed many junks fitted with what may be described as an adjustable
+cut-water or bow-board.
+
+These vessels, having great beam and perfectly flat bottoms, would
+only draw a few inches, and as their provenance was evidently from
+shallow waters, where neither keels, centre-boards nor lee-boards
+could be employed, recourse was had to enormous rudders and these
+cut-waters as a means of hauling a wind, the device apparently
+answering fairly well.
+
+As far as I could see, a deep groove was cut along the stem, and the
+bow-board, perhaps three feet in width, was slipped into it and made
+fast at the top with a lashing.
+
+In beating to windward these cut-waters were in position, but when
+running free they were unshipped and laid on the foredeck.
+
+Wherever foreigners congregate, but more especially at Shanghai and up
+the Yangtse, the house-boat, combining comfort, convenience and fair
+sailing powers, is a favourite means of getting about on shooting
+trips and picnics, and altogether forms an important feature of the
+pleasant existence which we lead in the Far East.
+
+The hull usually resembles that of a light-draught yacht, with either
+a drop-keel or lee-boards, so that shallow creeks may be readily
+entered.
+
+In rig they are semi-Chinese, the shape of the sail being that of the
+ordinary balanced lug, which bamboo reefing battens with a sheet-line
+leading from the extremity of each to the main-sheet render extremely
+handy and safe. A jib can also be set, but as it destroys the
+simplicity of the rig it is greatly disliked by the crew and therefore
+seldom utilised.
+
+The particular craft which I have now in mind is an excellent
+sea-boat, fast and comfortable, has a fine cabin with four berths,
+tables folding on either side of the centre-board well, and capable of
+seating a dozen, stove, gun-racks, glass and bottle brackets and
+numerous lockers. There is also a bathroom and lavatory, a kitchen
+with good cooking range, quarters forrard for the crew--which consists
+of the lowdah and four sailors, together with cook, boy and
+dog-coolie--while on deck are the water-tanks, kennels, and a small
+sampan by way of a jolly.
+
+Replete with every comfort, a shooting-box for the sportsman and a
+sure refuge for the overworked, the house-boat represents to me the
+acme of leisure and repose.
+
+    "And the night shall be fill'd with music,
+      And the cares that infest the day
+    Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,
+      And as silently steal away."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+JAMBOREES
+
+
+It is nearing twenty years ago since I celebrated my last bump supper
+in my old college at Cambridge, but the remembrance of it is so bright
+and cheering in the monotony of daily life that time is much abridged,
+and it seems but yesterday that the two pailfuls of smoking milk punch
+worked such deadly havoc amongst four crews of well-trained men that
+ultimately they were mostly laid out in a row, with consequent sore
+heads and interviews with the dean next morning. A bump supper is an
+orgy never to be forgotten.
+
+A jamboree is a very analogous function. Where and what the word comes
+from I do not know, but its meaning in the Far East is universally
+understood to be a bachelor entertainment consisting of an enormous
+dinner with plenty of wine, tales, songs and general hilarity,
+occasionally verging on riotousness with breakage of household
+furniture and other effects.
+
+As I glance back over the past fifteen years such wild nights stand
+out like beacons in pleasing relief from the many respectable
+gatherings, be it in Church or Society, at which I have had the honour
+of assisting, but which have left no impressions sufficiently vivid to
+class them with treasured souvenirs or even provoke a smile.
+
+Some years since there visited Hankow a personage of exalted rank,
+who, being a near kinsman of one of the most powerful of Europe's
+present rulers, was received with patriotic enthusiasm by the large
+colony of his nationals domiciled there, and with every mark of
+respect by all other members of the cosmopolitan community.
+
+His arrival in one of the fine Chinese river-boats was signalised by
+what might have been a fatal catastrophe but for the skilful
+manoeuvring of his ship by the veteran American skipper.
+
+Just as the vessel had threaded her way through numerous ocean
+steamers and foreign gun-boats anchored in the stream, and was slowly
+approaching the hulk alongside which she was to be made fast, an
+enormous raft of timber, bearing a whole village of huts and a
+considerable population of raft navigators, caught by the swirling
+eddy caused by a freshet from the River Han, which 200 yards above
+this point was pouring at right angles into the mighty Yangtse's
+five-knot current, bore swiftly down on the steamer, threatening to
+strike her amidships and either pin her to the hulk or crush her
+against the stone-faced bund, when she must have been immediately
+sunk. Unaware of the danger until it was almost upon him, the captain
+had just time to reverse his engines, and by going full speed astern
+with the helm hard over bring his ship round so as to receive the
+threatened blow end on instead of abeam. The impact nearly drove the
+vessel's stern into the hulk, but with her engines now going full
+speed ahead, and churning up two white lanes of foam with her
+paddle-wheels, she rammed her bows into the raft, and just managing to
+deflect its course they floated down with the stream locked together,
+until by a miracle they had passed clear of all the shipping, though
+at times only by a few feet, and the steamer with her illustrious
+passenger again bore up for her berth, after the narrowest of escapes
+but without having sustained the slightest damage.
+
+These enormous rafts, composed chiefly of bamboos and pines, generally
+come from the forests of Hunan, and after crossing the Tongting lake
+float down the Yangtse to places where wood is scarce and a good
+market obtains. They vary in size, but sometimes are a hundred yards
+in length by twenty in breadth, and draw probably from ten to twenty
+feet. With their huts of bamboo and matting, with long sweeps both
+ahead and astern for steering, and great coils of plaited bamboo ropes
+for mooring purposes, they present an extremely picturesque
+appearance.
+
+Amongst other festivities arranged by his compatriots in honour of the
+distinguished visitor, a banquet, preceded by a reception of prominent
+residents, was given at the club. It being almost midsummer, the
+weather was fearfully hot, the thermometer registering over ninety
+after sundown, and as a notification had been issued with all
+invitations that black evening dress would be _de rigueur_ we were
+debarred from wearing our cool, white mess jackets, and all arrived at
+the club almost melting inside thick broadcloths.
+
+A very amusing little episode occurred at the reception.
+
+Amongst the few ladies present were the wife and daughter of a Western
+official. They had evidently been "raised" away from the beaten tracks
+of Society and crowned heads had not been their daily companions. On
+this party being presented, the official and his wife preserved a
+diplomatic silence, but mademoiselle was not inclined to take things
+for granted, and seeing neither golden crown nor purple robe she
+evidently had misgivings. "Are you really the grand duke?" she
+inquired with striking accent; "are you really a prince?" The prince
+smilingly replied that such was the case, on which his fair
+interrogator exclaimed, "Oh, my! I _am_ surprised," and then slowly
+retired from the front but with many backward glances of unconcealed
+disappointment.
+
+A large number of residents had received the honour of an invitation,
+probably a hundred sitting down, and, as is customary in China, each
+guest brought his own servant, so that from a hundred and fifty to two
+hundred people were assembled in one large room, which together with
+the hot dishes and a great many lamps caused the temperature to go up
+several degrees, adding greatly to the discomfort we already
+experienced owing to our thick clothes.
+
+To still further increase the torture, a crowd of Chinese which had
+collected in the streets below commenced to throw stones through the
+open windows. One passed between my right-hand neighbour and myself,
+shivering my wine-glasses to atoms. The windows and shutters were
+hastily closed, and very shortly the temperature must have still
+further increased by several degrees. Champagne flowed in streams, a
+short speech of welcome was made by the local sport, to which the
+guest of honour replied, "White Wings" was sung by the doctor, and the
+parboiled throng descended to the lower precincts of the building to
+watch a display of fireworks. The heat was awful. Not a breath of air,
+and the sulphurous smoke from the fireworks hung low on the ground in
+white masses, and seemed to seek shelter in the club, for in a very
+short time the place was flooded with the choking fumes which caused
+one to feel a tightness across the chest and a stinging in the eyes,
+and which made it impossible to see across the room.
+
+The prince withdrew at a somewhat early hour, and after a time the
+guests commenced to disperse.
+
+The heat, the champagne and the sulphur smoke had proved too much for
+me. I attempted to walk straight, but the power to do so was gone.
+First one foot would strike a hill, then the other would go down into
+a deep hole, and so on, while lamp-posts and buildings seemed to whirl
+past and round at a fearful pace.
+
+When nearing my quarters I heard a faint "hillo" from a by-street, and
+a continental mess-mate stumbled almost into my arms. He fully
+intended to do so and I had no wish to avoid him but somehow we missed
+each other and both fell prostrate on the pavement. Far from feeling
+any ill-humour at this catastrophe, we both thought it a capital joke,
+and I can distinctly remember our sitting side by side in the gutter
+and swearing eternal friendship. After this things are vague, and the
+next I remember is going upstairs on all fours and then opening my
+bedroom door. A most remarkable sight presented itself. I have seen
+mirage in the Arabian desert, but I have never seen anything like
+that. There was my bed, shrunk to the size of about one inch in
+length, at the top corner of the room near the ceiling, dancing up and
+down at the end of a bright and circling tunnel. How to get there I
+did not know. I can just remember sinking on hands and knees in order
+to attempt the climb, when the floor struck me so violently in the
+face that I lost consciousness, awaking late next morning to find
+myself reclining on the bed, but still in my dress clothes. My friend,
+it was said, attempted to go to bed in his bath, where he was
+discovered in full evening dress, scooping the water over himself and
+complaining that he could not keep the sheets up. But this is by the
+way.
+
+At Kiukiang, where I happened to be a few years later, the community
+was small, consisting of a few married couples and perhaps half a
+dozen bachelors.
+
+Time hung like lead, and small wonder that now and again we young men
+would foregather round the festive board, when high spirits long pent
+up would burst forth with a _vim_ that is but rarely attained in
+places offering perennial sources of amusement.
+
+On the occasion in question the dinner was at our mess, which, besides
+myself, consisted of an Italian and a tall American of stern and
+unbending nature. Our guests were two Russians and two Scotchmen, all
+we could muster, but excellent in quality. After a jovial repast we
+sallied forth on to the bund, and being a bright moonlight night,
+romance entered into our souls, and we started to serenade the various
+ladies of the port. First to the Consulate, where we drew up in line
+on the lawn, the time being 2 a.m., and rendered "God Save the Queen"
+with great execution and considerable pathos, notwithstanding
+pronounced differences in American, Italian, Scotch, Russian and
+English accentuation. Subsequently visits were made to all the other
+houses, with the exception of one, where we rather feared to intrude,
+as the good lady, while very affable as a rule, would stand no
+nonsense, and when she did not wish to be pleasant could treat one to
+a touch of sarcasm which would last for some time. However, we finally
+summoned up courage and approached the house as noiselessly and
+guiltily as a gang of thieves. The front gate was locked and eight
+feet high, but after some delay we scaled it, ranged ourselves on the
+lower verandah and were halfway through "My Bonnie Lives over the
+Ocean," when a crash overhead announced that we were in for a storm. I
+have never in my life seen seven men break and fly in such utter
+terror. Once off the verandah into the moonlight we were in full view
+of the outraged dame, who stood in a commanding attitude on the upper
+verandah in her dressing-gown, almost speechless with emotion, but
+gesticulating frantically. We rushed at the gate, and in our eagerness
+to be on the other side fought and wrestled with each other for first
+place. The upper bars broke away in our hands, bricks came off the top
+of the adjoining walls, and it was fully five minutes before we were
+in the road, breathless, with torn clothes, and I, personally, with a
+sprained wrist.
+
+We now felt we were in for a bad time next day, and so, to revive our
+drooping spirits, repaired to the house of one of the Russians. Here
+vodka, caviare, salmon-back, sardines, Bologna sausage and other
+little dainties common to the _zacousca_ furnished us with a most
+_recherche_ supper. We ate everything and drank a good deal. By this
+time we were again in the wildest spirits and fit for anything. Our
+tall American friend was still somewhat unbent, and being of an
+inquiring turn of mind was examining the trap-door through which the
+dinner is handed by the cook from the pantry into the dining-room. No
+sooner was his head well through than he was pounced on by the two
+Caledonians, who, seizing him by the legs below the knee, shot his six
+feet odd through the trap-door as if they had been tossing the caber.
+A terrific crash of crockery told its own tale; the Russian's best
+dinner service was no more. Rising from the fragments the victim
+declared it to be his opinion that all, with the exception of
+himself, were inebriated and unfit for the society of respectable
+citizens, after which delivery he withdrew to his own quarters.
+
+Next we heard female shrieks and screams, accompanied by a heavy
+tramping of feet down the stairs, and two of our joyous band appeared,
+bearing in triumph by her head and her heels, the struggling form of
+our host's Chinese housekeeper, clad in nothing but her night
+garments. She was laid tenderly on the dining-room table and comforted
+with some _Veuve Clicquot_ champagne, for the poor creature had been
+somewhat upset by being pounced on when asleep in bed and hauled off
+with so little ceremony and preparation into the publicity of a
+well-lighted room full of masculine visitors.
+
+Shortly after daylight the company separated with many expressions of
+mutual esteem. On my way to bed I thought our American chum should be
+interviewed and an explanation made that no offence was intended by
+the recent treatment of him. He was in bed and sleeping heavily, so I
+was obliged to wake him in order to fulfil my mission of peace. To say
+that he received these overtures in a friendly spirit would be
+incorrect. He seemed to be preparing for immediate hostilities, and
+so, not to be taken at a disadvantage, I closed with him as he leaped
+out of bed. The _melee_ lasted probably five minutes, during which
+brief period his furniture was hurled in chaotic profusion all round
+the room, my black mess jacket was divided up the back from the tail
+to the collar, his pyjamas carried away, and the skin was detached
+from his bare feet by my boots. So ended a glorious evening. Next day
+we all lay low, but learnt that a certain person had interviewed the
+Consul with a view to legal proceedings for alleged housebreaking. Our
+enemy, however, was check-mated, and ourselves saved, by the veracious
+testimony of a dear old Scotch lady, who lived in the adjoining house,
+and who declared that our serenade was "verra nice though a wee bit
+muxed," and that she herself had enjoyed it immensely.
+
+One often hears of the flower-boats of Canton, and immediately
+associates them with gaily-painted gondolas, tenanted by captivating
+sirens and decorated with perfumed flowers and plants, growing with a
+luxurious profusion common only to the Flowery Land. "Flower-girl" is
+the universal Chinese term for those young women who dance and sing in
+public, and who for regular fees attend at Chinese dinner-parties,
+composed exclusively of men, to flirt with the guests while filling
+their pipes and pouring out their wine. Poor parents having larger
+families than they can support frequently sell one or two of their
+best-looking daughters to professional trainers, who, after teaching
+them to dance and sing, send them to the flower-boats in hopes that
+they may there captivate wealthy _habitues_, when handsome prices
+would be realised.
+
+These girls are frequently not of bad character, but being on the
+marriage market employ their wiles to secure husbands, in which they
+sometimes succeed, passing into the hands of rich Chinese for three,
+four or five hundred dollars, according to their merits, as wives of
+an inferior rank, say number four or six.
+
+At various places in the south, but especially at Canton and Wuchow, a
+number of large, ugly junks with spacious cabins are moored alongside
+each other in a certain locality. They possess no very striking
+features, and those I have seen at Wuchow were absolutely devoid of
+flowers or plants of any kind, the name "flower-boat" signifying
+nothing more than the haunt of the flower-girl.
+
+In the cabins of these craft it is the fashionable thing amongst
+well-to-do Chinamen to hold their jamborees. They hire a particular
+junk for a certain date, and at the appointed hour the party assembles
+there, being received by two or three unprepossessing servants.
+Dinner, or whatever form the entertainment may take, is commenced, and
+as general mirth rises with the good cheer, guests write on a slate
+provided for the purpose the names of such flower-girls as they may
+fancy. This slate is quickly carried to where the girls live, hard by,
+and shortly they will appear, staying for a time to dance, sing and
+dally with their admirers, after which they will pass on to other
+boats to fulfil further engagements.
+
+The singing is execrable, being a high, nasal falsetto, and the
+dancing, or rather swaying on their tiny feet while waving overhead a
+dirty cloth in their beautifully-shaped hands, is feeble in the
+extreme. A band of musicians is usually engaged, after protracted
+haggling, to enliven the proceedings. Two or three native fiddles of
+most primitive make wail incessantly, cymbals clash recklessly, a kind
+of flute resembling bagpipes in sound squirls, while a wooden drum
+adds to the deafening din. The girls squeak and posture, the place
+reeks with pungent tobacco smoke and the smell of garlic, the guests
+munch dried melon seeds, spitting the husks on to the floor, and shout
+to make each other hear above the general uproar.
+
+To escape from this inferno was the chief pleasure of the evening, and
+any romantic ideas I may have had with respect to "flower-boats" will
+remain shattered for ever.
+
+Macao has been a Portuguese colony for upwards of three centuries, it
+having been ceded to its original settlers by the viceroy of Canton in
+recognition of services rendered by those intrepid buccaneers in
+freeing neighbouring waters from pirates and robbers. It is a most
+quaint and interesting little place, wearing a look of mediaeval
+times, and still possessing many traces of former prosperity, though
+now chiefly remarkable for its legalised gambling facilities, for
+which reason it is frequently called the Monte Carlo of the Far East,
+there being also a certain natural resemblance.
+
+At Hongkong gambling is strictly prohibited amongst the Chinese, while
+at Canton gaming-houses are heavily taxed, so that natives come in
+great numbers from both places to Macao in order to play _fantan_
+without constant dread of police interference. All fantan shops, as
+they are called, contain but one gambling-table each, which is on the
+ground floor. This table is covered with a fine grass mat and
+surrounded on three sides with benches for the players, while on the
+fourth side sit the croupier and the banker or shroff. In the ceiling
+a large hole has been cut immediately over, and corresponding in size
+with, the table, and a railing placed round it in the room above, so
+that players can mount to the first floor, and bending over the
+railing look directly down on the gambling. In the centre of the table
+lies a thin slab of lead about six inches square, the sides of which
+represent the numbers one, two, three and four.
+
+The croupier has immediately in front of him a pile of bright copper
+cash, perhaps two pints. From these he takes a large double-handful,
+which he places well on the table and covers with a small metal
+bowl. Now is the time for making bets on the four numbers. Suppose we
+put a dollar on number three. In the course of a few minutes all those
+who desire to bet have done so, stakes from the first floor being put
+into a basket by an attendant and lowered on to the table by means of
+a string, and the little square of lead is surrounded with coins,
+notes and counters arranged by the shroff. Now the croupier, with a
+thin stick about a foot in length, commences to scrape away four coins
+at a time from the double-handful of cash. One, two, three, four. One,
+two, three, four, and so on. The little heap begins to diminish. The
+eager gamblers, who are generally all Chinese, bend forward with
+straining eyes to within a few inches of the croupier's stick, so that
+any cheating would be well-nigh impossible. One, two, three, four.
+Only a few more cash. The excitement is intense. One, two, three....
+Three cash remain!
+
+   [Illustration: PLAYING FANTAN IN PRIVATE HOUSE.
+   _To face page 133._]
+
+Number three wins. All those who bet on one, two and four lose their
+stakes, while those who bet on three receive five times the amount of
+their stakes after a deduction of twenty-five per cent. has been made.
+We put a dollar on number three; well, after deducting twenty-five per
+cent. from it as profit for the table, seventy-five cents are left,
+and we receive five times that amount, which is equal to three
+dollars and seventy-five cents.
+
+These fantan shops, of which there may be twenty or thirty, are all
+licensed and kept under strict supervision, being farmed out to rich
+syndicates by the Portuguese authorities, the large sums thus realised
+forming no inconsiderable part of the colony's revenue.
+
+Play goes on day and night all the year round, Sundays included, and
+is practically unlimited, for it is possible to bet from five cents to
+five hundred dollars at a time. Large sums are continually won and
+lost, it being a common thing to see gamblers, both men and women,
+after staking their last cash hand over watches, jewellery and other
+valuables to the shroff for valuation, and hazard all on a final throw
+to retrieve their losses.
+
+This standing temptation of the fantan shops is a fertile source of
+crime, especially amongst domestic servants, for apart from the
+Chinaman's inborn love of gambling, in the event of their being in
+financial straits, as is frequently the case, a possible way out of
+such difficulties is by stealthily taking certain objects from their
+master's house, say a clock and a dozen silver spoons, pledging them
+at one of the numerous pawn-shops and gambling with the proceeds. If
+fortune be favourable the clock and spoons are immediately redeemed
+and returned before being missed, while the servant has found an easy
+way out of his difficulties. On the other hand, should luck be against
+the player, he either bolts to another part of the country or brazens
+out the theft by declaring that the house has been broken into by
+burglars.
+
+Trusted servants who have been many years in one employ frequently
+yield to this alluring but hazardous appeal to chance.
+
+One morning as I was leaving Macao for Hongkong by the daily steamer a
+Chinese passenger suddenly leaped overboard. The ship was stopped and
+a boat quickly lowered, while a Portuguese police launch also dashed
+to the rescue, but although we could see the suicide's head above
+water for some time he sank before help arrived. Having ruined himself
+at fantan he dared not return to Hongkong.
+
+And such is the fate of many.
+
+A Chinese banquet is a weird festivity, and once gone through will
+never be forgotten.
+
+On the occasion which I will attempt to describe invitations were
+issued for 10 a.m., but in accordance with celestial custom the guests
+did not arrive till about 11.30, when, after waiting half an hour,
+during which the company chatted, drank tea and smoked, we were
+ushered into a large hall with brick floor and paper windows, where
+the repast was spread on three round tables, at each of which were
+three Europeans and five or six Chinese, our hosts, clad in their
+beautiful silk official robes, while we wore black morning coats.
+
+The tables were of plain wood and without table-cloths, while the
+luxuriously-cushioned divans of Far East imaginings were hard wooden
+stools.
+
+Numbers of little dishes containing dried fruits, sweets, pickles,
+slices of ham, preserved eggs (more than a year old, black and highly
+offensive), vegetables, etc., loaded the festive boards.
+
+Each feaster was provided with a pair of chopsticks and two small
+sheets of brown paper with which to wipe them after each course.
+
+Warm yellow wine of a peculiar musty flavour and sadly lacking in
+potency, was poured by attendants from pewter kettles into small
+wine-cups, to be tossed off in bumpers all round with great frequency,
+each guest immediately presenting his empty cup to the gaze of his
+neighbours to show that there had been no heel-taps. It looked as
+though we were simultaneously levelling revolvers at each other's
+heads.
+
+At a given signal the fray began. All the Chinese rose up, took their
+chopsticks, and plunging them into various dishes began helping us,
+the guests of honour. On my one small plate were quickly deposited
+some sweets, sour pickles, dried fruit, slices of ham, and one of the
+notorious eggs.
+
+Now we in turn were expected to rise up and return the compliment by
+helping our helpers. I clutched my sticks, drove them into a piece of
+fish and dropped it into my neighbour's wine. Tableau! Never mind, I
+tried pickles and preserves in detail with about an average success.
+No good came of my efforts, but neither did any harm, for our
+entertainers smiled and bowed and rose from their seats in gracious
+acknowledgment of our strenuous but futile attempts to do the correct
+thing.
+
+All this was but a preliminary canter taking the place of our dessert,
+albeit coming before the meal instead of at the end.
+
+Hot courses were now placed on the table, our Chinese friends helping
+us from them with their chopsticks, which they manipulated with
+marvellous dexterity.
+
+   1. Puddings of several kinds              Too sweet.
+   2. Fresh-water Fish (boiled)              Insipid.
+   3. Chickens (boiled)                      Fair.
+   4. Sea Slugs                              Passed.
+   5. Shrimps                                Nasty.
+   6. White Mushrooms                        Good.
+   7. Eels                                   First-rate.
+   8. Sea-weed                               Tough as leather.
+   9. White Bait                             Good.
+  10. Interiors of Fish                      Good heavens!!!
+  11. Lotus Nuts and Milk                    Very good.
+  12. Chicken (boiled in different manner)   Passed.
+  13. Rissoles of Frogs                      Je ne sais pas.
+  14. Pork and Rice Flour                    A curious mixture.
+  15. Sugared Rice                           Too sweet.
+  16. Duck (boiled)                          Excellent, the best dish.
+  17. Shark's Fins                           Very good.
+  18. Porridge                               No thanks.
+  19. Soup                                   Passed.
+  20. Opium, cigars, etc.                    On this occasion opium
+                                               was not smoked.
+
+This long _menu_ was gone through accompanied with an abundance of
+talk, compliments, jokes and the emission of various sounds peculiar
+to the Chinese while feeding.
+
+Immediately on rising from table we donned our hats, saluted _a la
+Chinoise_ by shaking our clasped hands in each other's faces, "Nin
+ching. Poo sung, poo sung," and took our departure, bowing repeatedly
+and walking backwards.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+AROUND PEKING
+
+
+The translation of the word Peking is "capital of the North," and is
+so called in contradistinction to Nanking[1] or "capital of the
+South."
+
+Peking is not a Chinese city at all, although generally supposed to be
+so, but a Tartar city, which, instead of the jumble of narrow, paved
+streets habitually found in all Chinese towns, was originally designed
+and laid out on a plan probably excelling in grandeur that of any
+other city in the world. That the result, as seen in the city of
+to-day, is but a mockery of the magnificent idea which possessed the
+master mind that conceived it, is due to that trait of the Mongolian
+temperament which exhausts itself in the conception and completion of
+some gigantic undertaking, leaving it thenceforth to moulder and
+decay, until in succeeding ages it stands gaunt witness of human
+wisdom, folly and neglect. Such are Peking, the Great Wall and the
+Grand Canal.
+
+Although adjoining the Tartar, there is a Chinese city, it is so
+squalid and of such mean pretensions that with the exception of a
+single street it is of but little interest to Europeans, so that when
+speaking of Peking it is the Tartar city alone that one has in mind.
+
+Surrounded by an immense rectangular wall, some sixty feet in height,
+with a width of twenty feet at the top and forty feet at the base, and
+pierced at regular intervals by picturesque and towering gateways,
+between which wide boulevards traverse the city from end to end and
+from side to side, but which, instead of being paved and lighted, are
+but lanes of filth, ankle deep in dust during dry weather, to be
+quickly changed by rain into rivers of black mud, continuously churned
+up by the wheels of springless carts, and spattered far and wide by
+the plunging feet of straining quadrupeds.
+
+On either side of, and frequently several feet below, these highways
+are mud paths, along which pedestrians wend a varied way, avoiding
+cesspools, stepping over transverse timbers or circumventing
+squatters' huts, showered on the while by splashings from the highroad
+or blinded by clouds of refuse-laden dust.
+
+The only attempt at lighting is by means of lanterns, which, with
+heavy wooden frames covered with paper instead of glass and placed at
+intervals of perhaps a quarter of a mile, throw out rays to the
+extent of one candle-power each.
+
+From the streets very few buildings of any pretensions can be
+discerned, while from the dominating eminence of the city wall a sea
+of roofs monotonous in equality of height and greyness of colour meets
+the eye, which sameness is mostly due to the facts that but few upper
+storeys exist, and that the residences of the wealthy, besides being
+screened by high outer walls, are so blended with shops and hovels
+that it is difficult to discriminate them.
+
+In the heart of Peking, and surrounded by a twenty-foot wall coped
+with tiles glazed yellow and green, is the forbidden city, where the
+imperial palaces are grouped and from which Europeans were until
+recently jealously excluded.
+
+The city walls; a few temples in varying stages of magnificence,
+tawdriness and decay; the remains of sewers which, built of solid
+blocks of stone and large enough to admit a donkey, show that formerly
+a scheme of drainage and sanitation existed although to-day there is
+nothing of the kind; an insignificant canal and a hill rumoured to be
+made of coal heaped there as a supply in case of siege; and one has
+seen the architectural wonders of the capital.
+
+"Legation Quarter" prior to the Boxer troubles was but an indefinite
+area of the city in which the legations "happened" from time to time
+amongst a squalid entourage of native buildings, and connected one
+with another by means of impossible thoroughfares which passed for
+streets.
+
+A Russian diplomat once said to me that he considered Peking "dirty
+but nice," and this description exactly coincides with my own idea.
+This wasted body on a majestic frame carries one back with a single
+step to civilisation of a thousand years ago. Not the remnants
+displayed to tourists in Greece or Rome but the real thing, over which
+the Western spirit of change has as yet worked but little alteration.
+
+In this vast museum of antiquities one finds at every turn objects of
+engrossing interest, and personally it seemed to me that many of the
+scenes depicted in Prescott's enchanting book, _The Conquest of
+Mexico_, might almost as well have been laid in this far-famed capital
+of the North. Great antiquity, isolation from the Western world, pride
+of race and empire, veneration for their own colossal literature,
+arrested civilisation and profound contempt for all things foreign,
+create a picture rich in detail, very mournful in subject and
+marvellous in perspective.
+
+The means of getting about are by cart, on horseback or afoot, the
+sedan chair, which in other places furnishes the most comfortable
+conveyance, being here reserved for members of the Imperial family
+and for high officials both native and foreign.
+
+The carts, which ply for hire like cabs, are massive, springless
+tumbrils covered with a wain. In fine weather the passenger, with a
+view to less discomfort, usually sits on the splashboard with his back
+rubbing against the hind-quarters of the pony or mule and his feet
+dangling in front of the wheel, which plays on to them a continuous
+stream of dirt and dust. In windy weather one must crawl inside and
+sit on the floor tailor fashion, there being no seat, and then let
+down the curtain, thus effectually blocking all view but keeping out
+most of the dust, which, flying in blinding clouds, would quickly
+reduce one to a state of absolute filth, filling the clothes, hair,
+ears and mouth and guttering down from the nose and eyes. To this foul
+dust is due the terrible amount of ophthalmia and consequent blindness
+so prevalent throughout the East.
+
+In rainy weather carts sink up to the axle in black liquid mud, which
+flies in all directions from the wheels, and at each footfall of horse
+or mule, splattering pedestrians and shop-fronts on the sidewalks and
+smothering other vehicles as they pass.
+
+To such an indescribable state are the streets reduced by heavy rains
+that I actually remember a mule being drowned in the shafts by the
+side of one of the main thoroughfares in the very heart of the city.
+
+Luckily for all concerned there is a large percentage of beautiful
+weather, when mud and dust alike are absent and when one can canter
+noiselessly along the soft, yielding roads, which are then in much the
+same condition for riding as is Rotten Row.
+
+On such mornings as these Peking is delightful, with its bright sun,
+cool, bracing air and interesting sights, while through the cloudless
+sky flocks of pigeons, having whistles of wood or clay fastened to
+their feet and tails, make strange yet pleasing sounds varied with
+every twist and turn of flight.
+
+A noticeable trait of Chinese character, and one fostered, if not
+generated, by Buddhistic teaching, is an undemonstrative fondness for
+animals, or, I might rather say, a passive admission of their right to
+considerate treatment, and strangely enough animals, both wild and
+domesticated, appear to comprehend this sentiment, for while greatly
+scared at the approach of a European they usually take but little heed
+of the presence of Chinese.
+
+It is a common thing to see a well-dressed Chinaman sauntering along
+holding up a bent stick to which a bird is attached by a string some
+four feet or so in length, so that the little prisoner can make short
+flights to the limit of its tether and return again to its perch,
+gaily chirping and singing the while.
+
+Another stroller will be carrying a wicker bird-cage on the hand, bent
+back and upraised to the shoulder, much as a waiter carries dishes,
+containing generally a Tientsin lark or other celebrated songster, and
+on arriving at some open spot will place the cage on the ground, and
+retiring to a short distance whistle to the bird, which will shortly
+burst into song, to the evident delight of both owner and bystanders.
+
+Outside one of the gateways is a kind of bazaar, which we foreigners
+generally called "Bird-cage walk," for there the bird-fanciers lived,
+and birds of many different kinds were exposed for sale, not in cages,
+but quite tame, and quietly sitting on perches--parrots, larks, Java
+sparrows, etc., some of them tied by the leg, but not all.
+
+Here, too, were to be seen wicker baskets, much resembling orange
+crates, full of common sparrows, representing a regular supply for a
+regular demand. Benevolent old Chinamen, _flaneurs_ and _literati_
+would visit this bazaar of an afternoon with the sole object of buying
+a few of these little birds for two or three cash each and then
+letting them fly away, a beatific smile betraying the salve to inward
+feelings generated by a knowledge of merit acquired, any miseries
+inflicted on the sparrows by capture and confinement counting for
+nothing in the balance against the good work accomplished by their
+purchase and release.
+
+The Chinese ideas of life and death are very dissimilar to our own.
+
+With us, the responsibility of parents for the bringing up and
+well-being of the children is paramount, the fulfilment of such
+obligations being enforced both by legal and social pressure, while
+the responsibility of children for the care of their aged parents is
+almost _nil_.
+
+Amongst the Chinese, children are considered to be the absolute
+chattels of the parents, with whose treatment of their offspring
+neither public opinion nor the country's laws have any right of
+interference. Infanticide can be, and undoubtedly is to a certain
+extent, practised, while the father is even said to be legally
+entitled to punish his grown-up children with death.
+
+Children, on the other hand, are bound by every tie to obey, respect,
+support and even worship the authors of their being. Filial duty is
+the greatest of all virtues, and the man who fails in this respect is
+despised by everyone and takes rank with worthless characters and
+outcasts.
+
+Our view of life is very finite. We are born, we die, are relegated to
+the unknown and quickly forgotten.
+
+A Chinaman regards himself as a disseverable part of the stream of
+life, by which he is borne into this world to live his life here, and
+then is borne on again to the abode of departed spirits without
+continuity of existence having been interrupted. At his death he is
+mourned with a whole-hearted sincerity by his entire family, who
+perform the obsequies with great respect and as much display as is
+compatible with their station in life. An imposing grave is built in a
+spot facing a pleasant prospect, while trees are planted, and
+sometimes even artificial pieces of water made, so that the
+disembodied spirit may be able to enjoy shady groves and cooling
+breezes. Sacrifices are offered at this shrine not once, but year
+after year, and by his children's children, with an absolute certainty
+of the spirit's existence and approving knowledge. This is the
+practice of ancestral worship, and greatly to be pitied is the man who
+leaves no son to perform sacrifices at his grave.
+
+In Peking funeral processions assume gigantic proportions.
+
+I have seen them more than a mile in length, and of such barbaric
+magnificence that they must have cost many thousands of ounces of
+silver.
+
+Life-sized horses, camels, ostriches and other animals made of
+cardboard or cotton wool, houses of lath and paper, as well as strings
+of imitation gold and silver money to be burnt at the grave and so
+wafted to the next world for use of the departed spirit, tablets
+embossed with golden Chinese characters, and lanterns of varied size
+and shape are carried in advance by an army of riffraff. A band of
+priests chanting, or playing weird dirges on instruments much
+resembling bagpipes in sound, immediately precedes the catafalque, an
+immense edifice from ten to fifteen feet in height, containing the
+coffin and covered with beautiful hangings of embroidered silk, and
+which is carried bodily on massive red poles some nine inches in
+diameter, by as many as forty or fifty bearers. Mourners with
+dishevelled hair and clothed in long white gowns follow on foot, in
+carts or in chairs, according to the rank held by the deceased.
+
+Winter in Northern China is extremely severe, and Tientsin, the port
+of Peking, is yearly closed to navigation for six or eight weeks
+through the sea and river being frozen. The thermometer frequently
+falls below zero, but owing to a bright atmosphere the cold is not
+felt so much as might be expected. At night the stars blink and blaze
+with intense brilliancy, and the still, frosty air seems almost to
+ring with a metallic voice. Beggars and homeless wanderers are nightly
+frozen by the dozen, and the whole land lies powerless in the grip of
+King Frost.
+
+My bedroom I could keep fairly warm by means of a large American
+stove heated up till it was white, but in the mornings, on passing
+into my bathroom, which boasted a brick floor and paper windows, I
+found the temperature almost coinciding with that of the open air,
+albeit a small stove roared in the corner, while steam from the hot
+water in a wooden bath was so thick as to make the daylight dim.
+Ablutions were a hurried function, ending in precipitate retreat to
+the warmth of the bedroom. The small stove would burn itself out, the
+steam would congeal and disappear, and the bath water, unless removed,
+would be quickly frozen.
+
+As winter wore on the sides of my bath-tub became coated with ice,
+which increased with every splash until there was a thickness of three
+or four inches, for it would have injured the bath to keep breaking it
+off, so that, ultimately, I took my morning tub in a nest of ice, only
+the bottom of which was completely thawed by the daily supply of hot
+water.
+
+Along the streets, well-to-do Chinese appear swelled to double their
+usual proportions by furs and successive layers of wadded clothes,
+which are of such thickness as to hold the arms propped out at almost
+right angles to the bodies, while their heads are enveloped in
+bright-coloured hoods buttoning tight under the chin. Poor, half-naked
+beggars, clasping their rice-bowls and bent double by the cold,
+shamble along, muttering and moaning, while their starving, rolling
+eyes scan the faces of passers-by in mute appeal for help or pity.
+
+One evening, as I was riding along one of the principal streets, I saw
+a Chinaman carrying home a hot, steaming cake, something like a
+Yorkshire pudding with raisins in it, which he had just bought at a
+wayside cook-shop, when a beggar suddenly seized him by both wrists,
+and taking as large a mouthful as he could bite out of the pastry,
+shuffled off, heedless of the blows rained on him by the irate
+purchaser.
+
+On the coldest days I have seen beggars collected in groups and
+gambling for the few cash they possessed, the total sum probably not
+exceeding a halfpenny. Naked, hungry and frozen, they watched with
+tense features and straining eyes the fatal issue of their throw for
+either a meal or death that night by cold and starvation.
+
+Accustomed to want and misery, they appear pleased with any trifle
+that may fall into their hands, and on a bitter, windy day I have seen
+grown-up beggars on a waste patch flying a kite and enjoying the
+pastime with a gusto denied to more _blase_ pursuers of this aerial
+sport.
+
+Ice in Northern China is seldom good, as owing to the frequent winds
+it is generally covered with dust, although occasionally at the
+beginning of winter it is possible to get some fair skating before
+the first dust-storm.
+
+At Peking an enormous mat shed is erected to keep out the dust, while
+the ground inside is flooded daily so as to secure good ice. This rink
+is a favourite afternoon resort of the European community, but the
+space is too limited and the attendance too crowded to admit of any
+really enjoyable skating by the light of a few oil lamps.
+
+I have skated on the moat outside the city wall but it was not very
+good, the chief attraction being to watch Chinese performers. As a
+rule they wear only one skate, on which they propel themselves by
+striking the ice with the other foot until a certain speed has been
+attained, when they spread out their arms, bend forward until their
+noses almost touch the ice and raise the skateless foot high over
+their backs. This bird-like skim on one leg seems to be their ideal of
+graceful skating.
+
+At this season the stately, two-humped camels, with beautiful coats of
+brown wool a foot in length, come down from Mongolia, bearing loads of
+meat and furs, together with frozen game and fish from Manchuria and
+the Amoor river, and coal from the mines north of Peking.
+
+The Mongol teamster, clad in skins with the hair inside, trudges in
+front, leading the first camel by a string attached to its nose, while
+a cord tied to its tail links it with the nose of the second camel,
+and so on, till the whole team of eight or ten are securely connected.
+They move along with graceful, easy stride, the only sound being the
+dull clanking of a heavy bell suspended from the leader's neck.
+
+On one of the animals the Mongol's whole family is sometimes carried
+in two immense panniers, and the round, yellow faces of tiny children
+peer down from their lofty nursery on a strange and passing world.
+
+I have also seen a calf camel, evidently cast by the way, being
+carried in a litter strapped to the back of its dam.
+
+It has been told me by reliable Chinese that in winter upwards of ten
+thousand camels daily pass in and out of the gates of Peking. They are
+beautiful animals, of great height, and appear to be very meek and
+docile.
+
+On one occasion, when returning at daylight from duck shooting near
+Marco Polo's bridge, I was tightly wedged in by several hundreds which
+were waiting to enter the western gateway. They looked down at me with
+their patient eyes as I shouted and prodded them with my whip in order
+to clear a way for my pony, but attempted neither to bite nor kick.
+
+In spring their wool peels off in large flakes, giving them a ragged
+appearance, and is collected and woven into the celebrated Tientsin
+rugs.
+
+In summer, like the wildfowl, they disappear and go north to seek cool
+pastures in the Mongolian highlands.
+
+Peking not being a seaport, and as yet but little influenced by
+foreign trade, the European community settled there is solely composed
+of the _corps diplomatique_ and the legation guards, of the
+inspectorate of maritime customs, of professors of the various
+colleges, of missionaries and a few storekeepers.
+
+During winter, when communication with the outer world is a matter of
+considerable difficulty, Peking society, which is naturally of a
+highly cosmopolitan order, amuses itself by a constant round of
+dinners, balls and receptions carried out with lavish hospitality, and
+to which the novelty of Oriental surroundings supplies an additional
+attraction.
+
+In company with a French friend, who lived in Dry Flour Alley, I made
+an expedition to the Great Wall, which is two days' journey from the
+capital.
+
+Mounted on ponies, with provisions and bedding packed into a cart
+drawn by two mules, we started while it was yet dark on a cold
+winter's morning.
+
+Slowly making our way along frozen roads outside the walls of the
+forbidden city, we arrived at one of the gateways by daylight and
+passed out of Peking, following a wide and dusty road, where we
+presently met streams of camels, mules, ponies, donkeys, carts and
+coolies, each bearing a load of some kind of produce wherewith to
+supply the markets of the great city.
+
+It was early and bitterly cold, while everyone was too intent on his
+own business to do more than bestow a cursory glance on passers-by, so
+that our little caravan, freed from importuning curiosity, made good
+progress.
+
+At about eleven o'clock we were scourged by a blinding dust-storm
+raised by a strong wind, to avoid which we were not sorry to take
+refuge in a wayside inn and there discuss an early tiffin. It was now
+discovered that the supply of bread necessary for our three days' trip
+had been left behind, so that we were obliged to content ourselves
+with native dough cakes, sticky and heavy as lead.
+
+The room we occupied opened on to the courtyard of the inn, and being
+doorless, a small crowd of interested spectators quickly assembled to
+watch our every movement. This crowd continuing to grow until it
+consisted of several tens, my friend went out to expostulate with the
+innkeeper, but found that worthy busily engaged at the outer gate
+granting admission at five cash per head to all and sundry desirous of
+seeing the Europeans feed.
+
+The wind having suddenly dropped and the sand-storm subsided we
+continued our journey, arriving by nightfall at the village of Yang
+Fang, where we had arranged to sleep.
+
+It was here that I came very near to shuffling off my mortal coil.
+
+Throughout the North of China brick beds called _kangs_ are universal.
+They are built about two feet in height, are oblong in shape and
+hollow inside, with a small aperture at one end, while the top is
+covered with grass matting. During the day a charcoal fire is lighted
+in this aperture, the hot air from which fills the interior of the
+structure and gradually warms the brickwork, which retains its heat
+throughout the night. The fire is then allowed to die down, when a
+wadded quilt, a thick blanket and a pillow will be found sufficient to
+make a most comfortable couch.
+
+I had not seen one of these kangs before and the method of heating it
+had not been explained to me, so, the cold being intense, I placed
+fresh fuel on the smouldering embers the last thing before turning in.
+How long I had been asleep I do not know before I became conscious of
+a frightful nightmare. I was very hot and had lost all power to move.
+My tongue felt swollen and heavy, and my throat so dry and sore that
+when I tried to cry out it refused to utter a sound. My eyes were
+smarting, and having once opened them they would not close again. My
+senses were clear and I knew that I was being asphyxiated, but was
+powerless to help myself. Horror-stricken, I watched the bright
+moonlight shining on the paper window until I lost consciousness.
+
+The next thing I remember was cold air beating on my face, water in my
+mouth and trickling down my neck and chest, strong arms supporting me
+and the voice of my friend's mafoo calling to his master for a light,
+the moon having set.
+
+I owed deliverance to the fortunate breaking of my pony's halter, as,
+having been freshly clipped, he had become restive from the cold,
+thereby causing the mafoo to enter my room for a spare one, which I
+always carried with me. The following morning I felt very shaky and
+had a splitting headache, but was able to continue the journey,
+gradually recovering as the day wore on.
+
+It is perhaps needless to add that putting fresh charcoal on the fire
+was the cause of this _contretemps_, but I was then unaware of there
+being no flue to carry off the fumes.
+
+Leaving our ponies and the cart at Yang Fang, and mounted on mules as
+being more surefooted, though the high wooden saddles and short
+stirrups were most uncomfortable, we started betimes.
+
+After crossing a plain about ten miles in width, strewn with rocks and
+boulders, we reached Nan K'ow, or Southern Pass, where we entered the
+mountains.
+
+The road was fairly good for pack-animals, although crossed at
+frequent intervals by the beds of partially-frozen streams, the
+swift-flowing waters of which were sweet and clear as crystal.
+Mountains shut us in on either side, while we met an unending
+procession of men and beasts conveying loads of merchandise from
+Mongolia to Peking.
+
+The scenery was lovely, and all along the route were to be seen
+crumbling forts and walls built many centuries ago to defend this, the
+principal pass, against invading enemies.
+
+We saw three or four pheasants and heard several more, so that there
+probably is good sport to be had amongst these rugged hills. After
+halting for tiffin under a fine archway of Indian architecture we
+arrived at Pa-Ta-Ling (eight lofty peaks), where we obtained a good
+view of the Great Wall.
+
+Scrambling to the top at a place where it was partly in ruins, my
+friend was soon busy with his camera, whilst I proceeded to
+investigate this world-famed structure.
+
+My feet are rather long and it was just fourteen of them across the
+top, which is evenly paved with square bricks, while the height of the
+wall I judged to be between twenty and thirty feet. At irregular
+intervals there are towers, in one of which was a pile of antique
+carronades about two feet long, of equal size all the way down and
+bound round with iron hoops for additional strength. Much resembling
+old rain-pipes, they had not a very formidable appearance, and were
+probably more dangerous to those who fired them than to the enemy.
+
+Built two hundred years before Christ, and upwards of thirteen hundred
+miles in length, the wall is certainly a gigantic monument, well
+constructed of large bricks, and here, at any rate, in good
+preservation and by no means whatsoever a mass of stones and rubbish
+as asserted by some describers.
+
+Instead of winding along the line of least resistance it follows the
+sinuosities of the country, surmounting crags and delving into
+valleys, so that it can be seen topping height after height as it
+climbs the mountain range until it becomes a mere thread and finally
+is lost to view in the far distance. Walking along it for some little
+way I found that it scaled almost perpendicular cliffs, up one of
+which I passed, the top of the wall here taking the form of steps,
+while down the opposite side the descent was so steep that for greater
+security I made it backwards on hands and knees.
+
+The wall was built with the object of protecting China from the
+inroads of wild Tartars, who came down in hordes from Manchuria,
+Mongolia and the steppes of Northern Asia to seek plunder in the
+plains.
+
+   [Illustration: THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.
+   _To face page 158._]
+
+Chinawards there is a low parapet, while stone stairs built into the
+middle of the wall lead from the top through doorless gateways to the
+ground, giving means of ingress and exit to defenders, but on the side
+facing towards Mongolia the wall is crowned with battlements some four
+and a half feet in height, affording ample protection and pierced
+about every five feet with loopholes and embrasures.
+
+One of the wonders of the world, its construction lasted ten years,
+and at the date of completion was probably as futile to bar the
+advance of a resolute foe as it would be to-day _vis-a-vis_ modern
+artillery.
+
+Wishing to secure a suitable souvenir of my visit I selected a
+well-preserved brick, which, by means of knotted handkerchiefs, I
+slung over my shoulder and so commenced the return journey. For three
+or four miles all went well, but after that the brick commenced to get
+rapidly heavier, until it became almost insupportable, while its
+constant tapping in the small of my back, caused by the jerky trot of
+the mule, was well-nigh intolerable. I tried to fasten it to the
+saddle, but, simple as it may seem, it would not hold, besides making
+the mule altogether unmanageable, so that after a desperate struggle
+for a few miles further I cast it from me with mingled feelings of
+disgust and thankfulness, and in all probability it remains in the
+same spot to this very day.
+
+We reached Yang Fang before dark and much enjoyed a rest and some
+dinner, but as it was full moon and we were anxious to be back in
+Peking early next day, my friend proposed that we should press on for
+a couple of hours that evening.
+
+With fresh ponies in place of the jaded mules, and feeling much
+happier on our doeskin saddles, we went along gaily for some distance,
+but the extreme cold and our own weariness soon began to tell, and we
+became so drowsy that we determined to off-saddle at the next inn. We
+had reckoned, however, without our host, for the inn was crammed full
+and we were obliged to take to the road once more, and that in no very
+amiable frame of mind. The next inn was if anything more crowded
+still, and the next, and the next. For five mortal hours we plodded
+on, more asleep than awake, and I retain but a misty recollection of
+the snow-covered ground, of my pony slipping while crossing a frozen
+ford, and of my continual efforts to keep in the saddle. At one in the
+morning we hammered at the doors of yet another inn, only to be again
+repelled with the frightful words, "All full."
+
+My friend, who spoke the vernacular fluently, was now doing his best,
+and with such effect that the door was cautiously opened a few inches,
+when with one bound I was inside, and seeing a kang with only one man
+on it I tumbled him off and flung myself down, just conscious of acrid
+opium smoke, a great uproar and streams of the most insulting
+abuse.
+
+   [Illustration: AVENUE OF STONE FIGURES, MING TOMBS.
+   _To face page 161._]
+
+On awaking I found my friend by my side still asleep and the morning
+well aired. The squalid inn was almost deserted, for the overnight
+lodgers had departed with their carts and pack-animals before dawn, so
+that I had not to face the individual whom I had so unceremoniously
+dispossessed of his bed, although I left a dollar for him with the
+innkeeper, knowing full well it would never reach him, but choosing
+thus to ease a somewhat guilty conscience.
+
+We had not much further to go and were easily back in Peking before
+tiffin.
+
+Another expedition I made that winter was to a burial-place of
+emperors of the late Ming dynasty, commonly known as the "Ming Tombs,"
+consisting of several immense temples or pagodas possessing but little
+architectural beauty and now considerably dilapidated.
+
+One of these temples is approached by an avenue of gigantic figures
+representing warriors, statesmen, horses, camels, elephants, etc.,
+each figure apparently cut from a single block of stone.
+
+As two hundred and sixty years ago the Chinese Mings were dispossessed
+by the present ruling Manchu dynasty, no attempt is now made to
+preserve these interesting monuments.
+
+In summer the heat is often very great during the day, the
+thermometer frequently registering between ninety and a hundred
+degrees in the shade, and is rendered more trying by the unsanitary
+and neglected condition of the thoroughfares.
+
+At night, however, it is so pleasantly cool that one can sleep under a
+blanket, while punkahs over the bed are never necessary as in the
+central provinces. Riding outside the city walls in the cool of early
+morning or late afternoon is then most enjoyable, many interesting
+sights affording constant diversion.
+
+Acrobats practising their _tours de force_, tragedians with tense
+faces declaiming in a high falsetto to imaginary audiences,
+rag-pickers sorting their fulsome wares with iron-pointed sticks,
+herds of coarse, black swine being bought and sold, while in the
+shelter of the enormous buttresses archers erect paper targets some
+eight inches square and exercise their art with solemn dignity,
+elaborate posturing and considerable dexterity.
+
+A good deal of tennis is played at the club and on the various private
+courts, though most of the diplomatic body as well as missionaries
+migrate during the great heat to temples in the Western Hills, which
+are about twelve miles from Peking, or, now that there is railway
+communication, to the seaside resort of Pei-Tai-Ho.
+
+One afternoon another European and I rode some ten miles out of Peking
+to inspect the ruins of the celebrated Summer Palace, which, since
+its destruction in 1860 by the English and French forces, had remained
+a desolate and overgrown wilderness. Having put up the ponies at an
+inn, where an inquisitive old native wished to know whether our bright
+stirrups and bits were made of silver--the Chinese never dreaming of
+polishing their own--we proceeded on foot to the chief entrance, but
+as the work of restoration was then being commenced the gatekeeper
+refused us admission. Nothing daunted we strolled round to another
+side, and passing unobserved through a gap in the wall made careful
+inspection of a partially-destroyed pavilion overlooking a lake,
+interrupted only by a venerable guardian, who hobbled after us mildly
+requesting that we should depart. This we were preparing to do for
+another part of the extensive grounds, when suddenly we came into view
+of some scores of workmen who were engaged on the repairs. They
+stopped work and gazed at us but made no hostile move, and we could
+still have withdrawn in peace had not my companion, overcome by a
+desire to practise his Chinese, and in opposition to my urgent
+warning, advanced towards them with a beaming smile. No sooner was he
+within range than a shower of bricks and stones filled the air and we
+were both constrained to turn tail and make for the gap at full speed,
+closely followed by the howling mob. We did not pause before reaching
+the inn, and then only to secure our ponies and continue our
+undignified flight. I was uninjured, but my companion had received a
+nasty blow on the head, at which I secretly rejoiced, as owing to his
+action we had not only been exposed to considerable danger but had
+been prevented from further investigating a historical spot since
+strictly closed to all Europeans.
+
+I left Peking at the close of 1889, and there being then no railway
+the ninety miles' journey to Tientsin had to be performed either on
+horseback, by cart along cross-country tracks or _via_ the River
+Peiho, taking boat at Tungchow, which is fourteen miles from the
+capital. I decided on going by boat as being far more comfortable than
+the other alternatives.
+
+Winter had begun early and there was already a certain amount of ice,
+but from inquiries made the river was still open. My baggage was piled
+on to a long, narrow cart drawn by two mules, while I and my boy each
+bestrode a very small donkey, and so I passed out from the mighty city
+by the stone road which leads to Tungchow, as owing to heavy rains and
+subsequent frost the more comfortable country tracks were impassable.
+
+This road, or rather causeway, is another witness to the Chinese
+characteristic of constructing costly works and then leaving them
+thenceforth to fall into disrepair and ruin.
+
+From twelve to fourteen feet in width, it is built of massive granite
+blocks a foot square by perhaps three to seven feet in length, and
+originally must have been a magnificent highway of perfect evenness.
+Time and the grinding wheels of heavy-laden carts, however, have worn
+innumerable ruts seven or eight inches deep into the solid stone, so
+that in passing over it a springless cart crashes from side to side
+with great violence, almost throwing shaft animals to the ground and
+rendering it quite impossible for any European to ride in the vehicle,
+while crockery or any other fragile article, however carefully packed,
+is doomed to certain destruction.
+
+On arrival at Tungchow I saw a great deal of ice floating down with
+the current, but the boatmen declared, and I believe truly, that the
+river was still open to the sea, so having transferred the baggage to
+one boat, and embarking with my boy and pointer on another, we cast
+off at about three o'clock in the afternoon, expecting to reach
+Tientsin the following evening.
+
+Before dark the ice greatly increased in quantity, and from the cabin
+where, enveloped in rugs, I was having tea, the boatmen's excited
+voices could be heard making frequent inquiries of upward-bound junks
+as to our prospects of getting through, for they were Tientsin men and
+anxious to get their boats home before the river was frozen up. At
+six o'clock, however, when we had covered about twelve miles and it
+was quite dark, the boats suddenly crashed into a barrier of ice,
+which had but just formed, effectually stopping our further progress.
+By frantic efforts and with great shoutings both craft were warped to
+within a few feet of the bank, and there we lay, each moment becoming
+more firmly wedged in by fresh ice hurrying down with the stream, and
+which, driven by pressure of the frozen impact, piled up against us
+with a horrid grinding noise until large sheets an eighth of an inch
+thick and as clear as crystal came gliding, as though alive, on to our
+decks.
+
+There being no likelihood of our release I presently sent one of the
+crew back to Tungchow for carts with which to continue the journey,
+but to my dismay he returned at two in the morning with the
+intelligence that no carts could be hired.
+
+The position was a disagreeable one, as it was imperative that I
+should reach Tientsin in time to catch a steamer for Shanghai before
+the close of navigation, so I started off the boy, accompanied by
+another boatman, with instructions to get a conveyance of some sort
+and at any cost. This attempt was more successful, for at ten o'clock
+they returned with a farmer and his truly wonderful cart, drawn by a
+pony, a cow and a donkey, but which they had only been able to hire
+for the exorbitant sum of forty dollars.
+
+My goods and chattels were again transferred, and after making a
+present of five dollars to the disconsolate boatmen, we started off at
+something less than two miles an hour.
+
+If I rode on the piled-up baggage I was quickly numbed by the cold. If
+I walked I soon left the cart far behind, yet dared not lose sight of
+it for fear of its taking another route, so that my time was spent in
+walking ahead and then retracing my steps to meet the cart.
+
+Long after dark we halted at one of the usual wayside inns, a
+collection of hovels built round a dirty, open yard, filled with carts
+and animals, and the home of pigs and fowls, while I found
+accommodation on a brick bed in a comfortless room, or rather shed,
+with torn paper windows and uneven mud floor.
+
+Swallowing some cold food by the light of a tallow candle guttering in
+the draught, I was too tired and too disgusted not to sleep, and by
+three o'clock next morning we were again crawling on our way beneath
+the blazing stars and chilled by a piercing wind.
+
+All things have an end, and so after four days of absolute misery I
+arrived at noon, hungry, footsore and unwashed, at a friend's house in
+Tientsin and in time to catch the last steamer, which was sailing
+that night.
+
+After a hot bath and a good tiffin I retired gratefully to bed, but,
+such is the callousness of human nature, only to be routed out at
+three o'clock to play in a football match, which, the Fates be
+praised, our side lost.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Pe = North. Nan = South. King = Capital City.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+HERE AND THERE
+
+
+Of the three routes to China:
+
+    1. The overland, by rail through Europe and Siberia;
+
+    2. The westerly, across the Atlantic, North America and the
+        Pacific;
+
+    3. The easterly, _via_ the Mediterranean, Suez Canal, Red Sea
+        and Indian Ocean,
+
+the last is perhaps the most interesting and in many ways the most
+comfortable, for it is possible to take a magnificent mail steamer at
+an English port and remain on board, surrounded by as much comfort and
+luxury as is to be found in a first-class hotel, until you land in
+either Hongkong or Shanghai.
+
+The finest of these vessels are veritable floating palaces, the
+saloons of which are gilded and decorated regardless of expense,
+richly carpeted, illuminated with electric light, cooled by electric
+fans, and where meals are served which would not demean any restaurant
+in London or Paris. Music-room, library, smoking-room and bar,
+laundry, barber's shop and delightful marble baths all find place.
+
+On the crack German boats a band plays at frequent intervals, while I
+have actually seen cold stoves in some of the cabins, so that when
+passing through great heat in the Red Sea or elsewhere you could close
+your cabin door, draw up your chair and have a good cool.
+
+I am not sure how these stoves are worked, but believe they are
+connected in some way with the refrigerator, which makes ice for use
+on board and provides cold storage for meat and fruits, and that a
+current of ether or cold air is pumped through them.
+
+In appearance they resemble a French porcelain furnace, abutting on
+one side of the cabin, and by means of a regulator you are able to
+reduce the temperature almost to freezing point. Although undoubtedly
+very pleasant during intense heat, and invaluable for hospital
+purposes, I question if they will come into anything like general use,
+for it seems to me that instantaneous changes from a temperature of
+perhaps one hundred degrees on deck to say sixty degrees in the cabin
+cannot fail to produce bad effects on the health.
+
+Travelling by the easterly route you meet the sun, which causes each
+day to be shortened. By the westerly route you go with the sun, which
+causes each day to be lengthened.
+
+During the journey round the world the aggregate of these shortenings
+or lengthenings will amount to twenty-four hours, so that on arriving
+again in England by the easterly route you will have gained a day, and
+instead of its being Wednesday, as you might think, it would be
+Tuesday, wherefore you would be obliged to have two Wednesdays in one
+week. By the westerly route, on the contrary, you would lose a day, so
+that returning on a Wednesday by your reckoning you would find
+everyone else calling it Thursday, and the following morning you would
+be obliged to recognise as Friday.
+
+To avoid such confusion the date is always regulated when crossing the
+Pacific.
+
+Going east, the captain notifies that there will be two consecutive
+Mondays, or two Thursdays, as the case be, in order to use up the
+extra day.
+
+Going west, on the other hand, one of the days in a week must be
+omitted, there being no time for it if you are to arrive in port on
+the proper date.
+
+A common story told in this connection is that on a certain voyage
+from Vancouver to Hongkong some missionary passengers settled to hold
+service in the saloon at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, and posted up a notice
+to that effect in the usual place at the head of the saloon stairs,
+but omitted to previously consult the captain or ask his permission.
+
+The captain, having no desire to be ignored, even unintentionally,
+aboard his own ship, quietly regulated dates, the passengers next
+morning finding an official notice posted up immediately over that of
+the missionaries, saying that it would be Sunday until 10 a.m., after
+which it would be Monday, so that missionaries, Sunday and divine
+service were all simultaneously suppressed.
+
+The most comfortable and the most restful travelling in the world that
+I know of is on board the large river steamers running up the Yangtse
+for six hundred miles from Shanghai to Hankow, and then transhipping
+to somewhat smaller vessels, for the additional four hundred miles to
+Ichang.
+
+Scrupulously clean, good table, jovial captains, excellent Chinese
+stewards, electric light, luxurious saloons, state-rooms double the
+size of cabins on even the finest ocean liners, few passengers, no
+noise and no sea-sickness, you glide on day and night over calm waters
+in a dream-like peace, broken only for a short time every few hours by
+the necessary stopping at ports of call to work cargo, and at
+riverside stations for Chinese passengers, who, however, do not mingle
+with the Europeans, but have saloons set apart for their own exclusive
+use. Some of these boats were built in the golden days of the early
+sixties, upon American models, and were fitted up on a scale
+considerably reduced in newer vessels.
+
+The large bathrooms on these older boats are a great feature of
+comfort, and so numerous as to be almost bewildering to strangers; in
+fact, I have heard that a nervous young man fresh from home was the
+victim of an untoward mishap by mistaking the captain's bathroom for
+the one belonging to his own cabin, when on dashing in, the door
+having evidently been insecurely fastened on the inside, he found
+himself face to face with the captain's wife in her bath. Retreat was
+naturally instantaneous, but the position was so serious that his only
+course was to at once seek the captain and explain. This awkward task
+he started to perform, though in considerable trepidation, and found
+the husband reading in his cabin, and who, after listening calmly to a
+recital of the details, laconically remarked, "Ah, she has a beautiful
+figure, has she not?"
+
+And the incident was closed.
+
+The compass has been known for many centuries to the Chinese, but in
+accordance with their strange habit of doing so many things in an
+exactly contrary manner to Europeans, they "box" it the reverse way to
+ourselves, speaking of an east-north or a west-south breeze, and so
+on.
+
+The expressions "to the right" and "to the left" I have never heard,
+for it is the custom to say "go to the east-south" or to the
+"west-north," as the case may be. Even in cities, when asking your
+way, the natives will direct you by the points of the compass rather
+than by the names of the streets.
+
+Chinese screws turn from right to left, which is the opposite way to
+our own, and of this I had a practical demonstration when, on
+returning one morning from the mountains, a chair-coolie
+surreptitiously abstracted my flask from the tiffin-basket and tried
+to unscrew the stopper to get at the whisky, but being ignorant of the
+different method, he in reality screwed it on tighter, till at last it
+broke off, and when some hours later, on board the steamer, I
+discovered my ruined flask, an array of teeth-marks deeply imbedded in
+the metal plainly told the guilty tale.
+
+At Peking, when studying Chinese, my teacher would often come after
+dinner during the long winter evenings, when seated by a roaring fire
+we discussed for practice in talking any subjects of interest. Amongst
+many curious things which I thus heard the following has always
+puzzled me with the conjecture, "Can there possibly be any truth in
+it?"
+
+I had that day purchased some fur rugs of no particular value, and not
+being sure whether they were of dog-skin or goat-skin, asked the
+teacher his opinion. What his reply was I do not remember, but the
+conversation having turned on the subject of furs in general, he told
+me that some rare wolf-skins were exceedingly costly from the fact
+that the wolves, after being caught by Mongol hunters, had been
+skinned alive and the skins dressed in a particular manner. Rugs made
+of these, he declared, on the approach to the house of wild animals,
+robbers or of any threatening danger, would bristle up as if still on
+the back of the live animal when angered, and so give timely warning
+to the inmates; for which reason they were so highly valued.
+
+I have never seen what purposed to be such a skin, but repeat the
+story if only for its Oriental weirdness.
+
+Water buffaloes are a striking feature in Chinese rural life, more
+especially in the central and southern provinces. With a carcase almost
+as large and devoid of hair as that of an elephant, they have very
+short legs, and are consequently but little taller than the ordinary
+ox. Carrying on their heavy skulls enormous, semi-circular horns, they
+have a ferocious aspect, but strangely enough are exceedingly timid and
+docile. In summer, for the sake of coolness and to avoid mosquitoes,
+they plunge into streams or mud-holes, and lie there for hours with
+only their muzzles and eyes above water. It is rather a pleasing sight
+to see one of these unwieldy, dangerous-looking brutes being led
+quietly along, by means of a thin string attached to its nose, by a wee
+native girl, who, when tired of walking, stops the animal, draws its
+head down by the string, places her tiny foot on the massive horn and
+is slowly raised from the ground by the buffalo and placed gently on
+his back, which is so broad that she can kneel and play about on it
+while her charge is grazing. These buffaloes are chiefly employed in
+the cultivation of rice, and as the flesh of oxen is but rarely eaten
+by the Chinese, they usually die of old age.
+
+On one occasion I saw a large family of natives returning mournfully
+to their village from a neighbouring meadow, and on making inquiries
+was told that they had been to bury their water buffalo, which had
+just died after a faithful service of more than twenty years.
+
+When on a shooting trip far up the River Han I saw a large buffalo
+with four boys on his back, grazing by the side of a water-ditch,
+which lay between him and a steep bank some ten feet high. The grass
+being very soft, my close approach was unobserved, until a hare
+getting up I fired off my gun. Instantly the buffalo dashed through
+the ditch and up the bank, when the boys, having nothing to hold on to
+except one another, were shot off backwards into the water, where they
+formed a perfect heap of struggling arms and legs, to my great
+amusement.
+
+Chinese farm-houses are very different from the substantial,
+comfortable dwellings obtaining in this country, being primitive clay
+hovels with no upper storeys, having tile roofs, windows of oiled
+paper, and mud floors, while the furniture is home-made and of the
+roughest description. No walks or gardens surround the house, which
+stands in the centre of the farm-yard, outbuildings and cesspools,
+with the threshing-floor, as a rule, immediately outside the front
+door. Pigs, dogs, fowls and goats roam at will through the dwelling
+and about the premises, while the two or three buffaloes and oxen used
+for ploughing and threshing are tethered to neighbouring trees.
+
+   [Illustration: A TYPICAL FARM-HOUSE.
+   _To face page 177._]
+
+Although wheat, maize, barley and millet are largely cultivated in the
+north, rice is the principal crop wherever it can be grown, much water
+being necessary. It is first sown in quite a small, dry patch, to be
+subsequently transplanted, and comes up as thick as grass and of a
+most brilliant green. The fields, which rarely exceed half an acre,
+and are generally very much less, are now tilled. First, they are
+flooded by a careful system of irrigation to a depth of three or four
+inches, and when sufficiently soft turned over with a primitive,
+wooden plough, shod with a small iron blade or tip, and drawn by one
+water buffalo. After this they are harrowed, the farmer standing on
+the harrow and driving the buffalo as it wades along, until they are
+masses of rich, liquid mud. The young plants are now pricked out by
+hand, about six inches apart, and the fields kept just flooded by a
+constant stream of running water. When ripe the crop stands about two
+and a half feet in height, and the water having been cut off some
+time previously, reaping commences with the sickle.
+
+Into the harvest-field is often brought a large wooden tub about four
+feet in diameter by three feet high, and the reaper, having cut an
+armful of rice, takes it by the straw end and threshes the ears five
+or six times with great force over the side, so that the grain falls
+into the tub, which, when thus filled, is replaced by an empty one and
+taken to the threshing-floor, where the contents are thrown up by
+shovels-full into the air, the breeze blowing the chaff to one side
+and the winnowed rice falling in a heap by itself. When the crop is
+not thus threshed in the harvest-field it is stacked at the farm, and
+sometimes in the low forks of large trees to remove it from the danger
+of possible floods, subsequently to be trodden out by oxen on the
+threshing-floor or beaten out by the farmer and his family with light
+basket-work flails on bamboo shafts.
+
+In villages and small towns where many houses adjoin, it is a common
+practice to paint or dye young chickens as soon as they are hatched,
+so that each housewife may know her own. One woman will colour hers a
+bright red, another will use blue, another green, and so on, the
+appearance of these strikingly-coloured little creatures intermingled
+in the streets being exceedingly droll and novel to Europeans.
+
+Amongst all classes of Chinese, from beggars to Academicians, belief
+in ghosts, dreams and the supernatural generally is absolute and
+unshakable.
+
+If you express doubt or scepticism they will readily agree with you
+from a certain nervousness of being thought ridiculous, as well as
+from a feeling of the futility of any attempt to persuade Europeans of
+the soundness of such convictions.
+
+In the autumn of 1899, when at Shasi, which is an unthriving town nine
+hundred miles up the Yangtse, and where another Englishman and I were
+the then only Europeans residing amongst a dense, hostile population,
+which only a few weeks previously had burnt down all foreign houses
+and forced the inmates to flee for their lives in small boats, two of
+the most remarkable cases of this universal superstition came directly
+under my notice.
+
+At that time one of those rebellions which are a chronic feature of
+Chinese Society was in full bloom in the neighbouring province of
+Szechwan, where an individual named Yue Man-tze was heading a crusade
+against Christians and foreign influence, when at least one French
+father was slain and another held in prolonged captivity, despite all
+efforts of the local officials to effect his release.
+
+The doings of this redoubtable brigand were naturally our chief topic
+of daily conversation, and a very intelligent and highly-educated
+Chinese gentleman, who kept me informed of local events, said that the
+natives generally credited him with mystic powers. "Of course," he
+added, eyeing me suspiciously, "it cannot be true, still, it is
+current gossip in all the tea-shops."
+
+After a short pause I informed him confidentially that whatever other
+foreigners might or might not believe, I personally had considerable
+doubts as to the non-existence of supernatural agencies.
+
+Without looking up I could feel that his eyes were critically scanning
+my face in search of ridicule or sarcasm, but I managed to preserve a
+stolid demeanour, and purposely dropping further discussion of the
+matter, went in search of cigars and stimulants to help us while away
+the afternoon. At length he again broached the subject, which I could
+see was of great interest to him, and warming to his theme under the
+influence of a sympathetic listener and good cheer, he finally told me
+in a burst of confidence and with low, excited voice, the following
+_fact_ relative to Yue Man-tze.
+
+At the outset of his lawless career this supernaturally gifted
+desperado, having collected a band of followers, fastened round their
+ankles such heavy weights that they were at first totally unable to
+move; but, as the fruit of continual exertions, they by-and-by managed
+to creep a few paces, later on they were able to walk easily, and
+finally even to run with their loaded feet.
+
+The time for action having come, Yue Man-tze removed the weights, when
+his disciples were so buoyant that they could all _fly_, and so were
+able to pass rapidly between places far apart, and to successfully
+avoid all attempts at capture.
+
+For those unacquainted with the East it is doubtless well-nigh
+impossible to credit that such rubbish as this could be implicitly
+believed by any considerable number of people, yet such was the case,
+and the fact that the Chinese government eventually bribed Yue Man-tze
+with official rank and a large sum of money to desist from his evil
+ways by no means tended to diminish the illusion.
+
+For several weeks we were continually threatened with a visitation
+from some predatory band of Yue Man-tze's followers, so that when one
+stormy night two large fires simultaneously broke out in different
+parts of the town we thought trouble was at hand. Our anticipations,
+however, were happily unfulfilled, the storm having prevented the
+rebels from descending the river as intended, though the fires, which
+evidently had been previously planned and timed, were ignited.
+
+Next morning my compatriot brought in word that he had visited the
+scenes of the conflagrations, and that three victims, who had been
+fearfully burnt, were lying in the street covered with straw mats, but
+still alive. Being without medical comforts of any description I was
+powerless to render assistance, so refrained from even quitting the
+house.
+
+An hour later my countryman again rushed in, followed by two or three
+Chinese, to say that relatives of the sufferers had brought them to a
+piece of waste ground hard by, had heaped wood round them, had poured
+petroleum over them, and were now burning them as a sacrifice to the
+god of fire, he having already established his claim over them.
+
+What could be done in the face of such horrifying circumstances?
+Nothing, for the poor wretches were already beyond any human aid, and
+to have interfered would have brought on us instant vengeance from the
+excited mob, but never, to the end of my days, shall I forget that
+sickening feeling of enforced inaction.
+
+I especially record this incident as it is the only one of so extreme
+a nature that I have ever heard of as taking place amongst the
+Chinese, although it is a matter of common knowledge that they
+frequently refuse to rescue drowning persons for fear of displeasing
+the river god.
+
+We subsequently learnt with much satisfaction that the rebels, to the
+number of two or three hundred, on being turned aside by the storm,
+crossed the border into the province of Hunan, and there, after
+murdering an official, his women-folk and some servants, were
+surrounded in a swamp on the shores of the Tongting lake by Government
+troops and butchered to a man.
+
+Native breeds of swine are very coarse and always coal black, so that
+when a French friend of mine imported for the first time into Peking
+two white, foreign-bred pigs, they were objects of immense curiosity
+to the local Chinese, who thought them exceedingly uncanny, and
+considered it far from improbable that the departed spirits of former
+friends might well have migrated into forms so passing fair.
+
+After they had been carefully fattened, a kiddier was sent for to give
+them the happy dispatch, but no sooner had he set eyes on his quarry
+than he scuttled off in alarm, and nothing would induce him to return,
+nor could any other butcher be prevailed upon to officiate, so that,
+my friend declared, he was obliged to roll up his sleeves and perform
+the gruesome, though necessary operation himself.
+
+"Old custom" is almost a religion with the celestials, to subvert
+which requires great caution, persistency and strength. If anything
+can be justified by old custom, or even precedent, it is considered to
+be unassailable, no matter how harmful or irrational it may be.
+
+Take the matter of foot-binding.
+
+Laws have been passed, and are still extant, expressly forbidding this
+cruel and senseless habit, and the ruling race, the Manchus, have
+never practised it, still the Chinese, and the women more than the
+men, cling to it with fanatical stubbornness for the sole reason that
+it is old custom, and that if girls' feet were not bandaged it would
+outrage the universal sense of propriety.
+
+I have frequently talked the subject over with Chinamen, who readily
+acknowledge that it is useless, besides being extremely painful to
+young children, but they say if their daughters had natural feet they
+would most probably fail to get husbands, as no man wishes his wife to
+be in any way extraordinary or different from other women. "In any
+case," they frequently retort, "we do not know that foot-binding gives
+much more pain than do the tight-laced stays of foreign women, and
+certainly it is not so ugly or prejudicial to the health."
+
+The Chinese, contrary to ourselves, look back to the past for
+inspiration and guidance, and to concern oneself about novelty or
+change appears to them as savouring strongly of shiftiness and want of
+tone.
+
+A curious instance of how quickly precedent can be established, and of
+its binding force, came to my notice some years ago at Peking.
+
+At a certain point the now shallow waters of the moat encircling the
+city wall had for long years been spanned by a foot-bridge, but which,
+having become rotten and weak, duly crumbled away.
+
+With Oriental dilatoriness no attempt was made to rebuild it for some
+months, and it was then found that two men, who during the interval
+had been earning a livelihood by wading to and fro carrying
+pedestrians between the opposite banks, strongly objected to a new
+bridge on the ground that it would take away their occupation now
+fairly established. Backed by numerous relatives and by public
+opinion, these two miserable coolies had successfully resisted the
+proposed reconstruction when I left the capital, and it is highly
+probable that they or their sons still monopolise passenger traffic at
+the ford.
+
+To many even in this country, and to far more on the Continent, where
+Christmas is observed solely as a religious festival, the New Year
+with its train of bills, gifts, junketings and holidays is a period of
+abomination, when all business is dislocated and servants run mad.
+
+At such places in the East as Hankow, where a considerable Russian
+colony exists, there are three New Years of progressive virulence. The
+first of January is observed by all Europeans as a general holiday,
+when the ladies stay at home to preside over elaborate teas, at which
+all gentlemen of their acquaintance are expected to appear if only for
+a few minutes, while the men, both married and single, taking a large
+supply of cards, sally forth to call at the house of each lady in turn
+to wish her a Happy New Year, a proceeding which takes up several
+hours and necessitates a surprising amount of endurance. Dinners,
+dances, complimentary visits from Chinese friends, and other social
+functions help to swell the list of New Year obligations.
+
+Things have scarcely settled down again when the Russian New Year is
+at hand, for in the dominions of the White Czar time is still reckoned
+by the old style, and as Russians are particularly keen and very
+pronounced in their observance of anniversaries and _fetes_, the place
+is again turned topsy-turvy for several days beneath floods of
+excellent sweet champagne.
+
+The Chinese calendar marches coeval with the moons, which fact
+generally places their New Year some time in February, the exact date
+fluctuating from year to year to the extent of three or four weeks.
+
+The last few days of the old year is a great time of reckoning, when
+all outstanding debts must be paid so as to commence the New Year with
+a clean slate, and woe to the man who fails to meet his obligations.
+
+From faces clouded with anxiety during this trying period there is a
+sudden revulsion on the stroke of midnight to countenances wreathed in
+smiles, as for weal or woe the New Year is ushered in with deafening
+fusillades of fire-crackers and a great beating of gongs. In the
+morning all China is astir betimes, dressed in gala attire and
+interchanging congratulatory visits. Business is entirely suspended
+for several days, it being the one great annual holiday, and it is
+extremely difficult to get even your own servants to pay so much as a
+minimum of attention to their household duties; in fact, I yearly
+register a mental vow not to lose my temper with them on any account
+during New Year week, for besides being useless it would probably
+entail the additional discomfort of having to engage and train new
+hands.
+
+At this season native officials as well as merchants are in the habit
+of making presents indicative of good-will to those foreigners with
+whom they have business relations.
+
+Your boy brings in a bright red visiting-card eight inches by three,
+coming from an official who begs you will deign to accept his best
+wishes for the New Year, together with a few trifling presents.
+Immediately three or four coolies arrive, groaning as loudly as
+possible beneath the weight of hams, boxes of cigars, jars of dried
+fruits, boxes of tea, oranges and champagne. You inspect the presents
+with exclamations of appreciation and then privately consult the boy
+as to what you should retain, it being the general practice to return
+the greater part. A box of tea, a jar or two of dried fruits, some
+oranges and perhaps a box of cigars are selected, while a few dollars
+are presented to the coolies, by whom you forward in return your own
+Chinese card to the official with seasonable wishes and thanks for his
+thoughtful kindness.
+
+As I was reading by my fire one afternoon in Shanghai the door was
+quietly opened, two hands gently pushed an enormous live turkey into
+the room and the door was again closed. The turkey commenced to stalk
+about with an occasional gobble. After watching the intruder for a few
+seconds I started to catch him, but found it was no easy matter. He
+flew on to the sideboard, from there to the mantelpiece and then to
+the window-sill, scattering knick-knacks and photographs far and wide.
+He ran under the sofa and table, finally escaping into my bedroom,
+where, with a desperate effort, I caught him by his legs under the
+bed. While dragging him out he beat his wings with great force, and as
+the bed had evidently not been swept under for months, drove forth
+such a cloud of dust and fluff as to almost choke me, while filling
+the whole room.
+
+Round his neck was tied a red label bearing New Year greetings from a
+Chinese merchant.
+
+   [Illustration: FISHING-JUNKS IN MACAO HARBOUR AT CHINESE NEW YEAR.
+   _To face page 189._]
+
+The entire boating population cease work at New Year, and tying up
+their craft in convenient places give themselves up to such few
+pleasures as their primitive mode of life allows.
+
+At Macao, hundreds of fishing-boats, which supply the market both
+there and at Hongkong, assemble and anchor close together in orderly
+rows, both in the inner harbour as well as in the bay facing the Praia
+Grande, under strict supervision of the Portuguese authorities. Mat
+awnings are erected over the decks, thus forming commodious rooms,
+which are decorated with scrolls and lanterns, and in which feastings
+and family gatherings take place for several days, after which the
+whole fleet, gaily decked with flags, puts again to sea.
+
+Fish of any kind is a favourite article of food, and the methods of
+catching them are extremely numerous. Otters, cormorants, nets,
+baskets and hooks without bait, all meet with due measure of success,
+but by far the most remarkable manner of fishing was that which I saw
+from the bows of a steamer made fast to the hulk at Hankow.
+
+It was mid-winter and bitterly cold, the ground being covered with
+almost a foot of snow. I had been to tiffin with the captain and was
+just coming away when, pointing to some natives in a sampan close
+alongside, he said, "Have you ever seen those men dive for fish?"
+
+I never had, and being glad of the opportunity, stopped to watch.
+There were three men in the boat, of whom one worked the paddles,
+while the other two, stark naked, crouched on the forepart, sheltering
+themselves from the biting wind with an old straw mat. Having come to
+a suitable spot, where the depth may have been from ten to fifteen
+feet, the boat was stopped, and the two divers instantly plunged into
+the turbid water, to reappear some seconds later with a live fish in
+each hand, while one of them had also a third fish in his mouth. The
+diving was repeated several times with varying results before I took
+my leave, and the captain assured me that this was a common sight on
+the Yangtse in winter, when the fish were probably lying in the mud
+torpid from the cold.
+
+When returning to Kiukiang from a fortnight's shooting trip in the
+neighbourhood of Ngankin, my boat was much delayed by light and
+contrary winds, which frequently obliged us to anchor in order to
+avoid being swept back by the strong current. On one of these
+occasions three of the crew took the jolly-boat and rowed ashore, a
+distance of some hundred yards, and while smoking on deck I could see
+them wading along by the bank, groping in the mud and occasionally
+putting something into a bucket which they had taken with them.
+Questioned as to what they were doing, the lowdah replied, "Fishing,"
+and my astonishment was not diminished when they returned on board
+with the bucket half-filled with fine perch, varying from perhaps
+eight ounces to a pound in weight. Until then I was unaware that perch
+existed in Chinese waters, nor have I since seen any.
+
+The nearest approach to this kind of fishing that I know of is down in
+my old home amongst the Norfolk broads, where on warm days, when lying
+in the weeds, tench can be tickled with the fingers and caught by a
+sudden nip behind the gills; but the art requires intimate knowledge
+of local waters, much patience and great skill.
+
+One of the most frequent questions that I am asked at home is, "Do not
+Chinamen wear the finger-nails very long?" They do. Scholars perform
+no manual labour, in visible token of which they allow the nails of
+the left hand to grow an inch or an inch and a half in length, but the
+nails on the right hand, while also long, are short in comparison with
+those on the left.
+
+To be classed with literary or educated men is the greatest of all
+considerations, for which reason there is always a tendency for anyone
+and everyone to wear a long coat and to don huge tortoise-shell-rimmed
+spectacles, such as are affected by the _literati_, as well as to
+cultivate the nails of the left hand. As the use of the word _esquire_
+has degenerated in this country until not to apply it to all and
+sundry is considered to be almost a snub, so the habit of wearing long
+finger-nails in China has descended through every rank of Society
+until it is now more often the badge of envious imitation than of any
+scholarly attainments. So precious to the owners are these claw-like
+nails that I have often seen them protected by silver sheaths, and
+have heard that for cases of extraordinary growth the whole of the
+left hand is even carried in a bag.
+
+There is much outcry in these latter days against the newly-formed
+habit of cigarette smoking cultivated by ladies of the West.
+Condemnation of the practice seems if anything to act as an incentive,
+so, yielding to the pleasant temptation of palliating faults in pretty
+women, I would suggest as an excuse that they are but following in the
+foot-steps of their sisters of the Far East, where, it may be roughly
+stated, the women-folk of a third of the human race smoke pipes.
+
+I cannot say that very young girls appear to indulge much, though
+women of all ages do to a great extent, inhaling the smoke and puffing
+it through the nose in thick clouds. The pipes in general use are
+either small brass ones, having straight wooden stems a foot in
+length, with clumsy porcelain mouthpieces, or brass water-pipes, which
+when being smoked make an unpleasant gurgling sound. The bowl of
+either kind is so tiny that it will only hold a pinch or two of very
+fine tobacco, which three or four whiffs consume, when it has to be
+refilled and lighted from a slow-match held ready in the hand until
+the smokeress has smoked enough. The picture is neither winsome nor
+sweet.
+
+The Chinese have very few amusements corresponding to our outdoor
+games, although at treaty-ports, and in those places where there are
+any roads, men are taking readily to cycling, albeit, from the flowing
+nature of their garments they generally use ladies' bicycles. Of these
+few pastimes archery is considered the most _distingue_, while boys
+attain to great skill in playing shuttlecock with their feet, being
+able to keep up the feathered cork for a dozen or twenty times, and
+passing it considerable distances from one to another. Judge then of
+my surprise when, on asking a young Chinaman at Peking how he had
+spent his holiday of the previous day, he replied quite naturally that
+he had passed the afternoon at his cricket club.
+
+I could hardly believe my ears, for as far as I knew a game of cricket
+had never been played at Peking, even by Englishmen, there being no
+suitable ground, and it was only by plying him with questions that I
+elicited it was the cricket of the hearth to which he alluded, and
+that his club was a gambling-house to which young men brought their
+crickets, there to fight grim duels in a basin for the championship,
+while noble owners staked considerable sums on the prowess of their
+diminutive gladiators and stimulated their energies by tickling them
+with straws.
+
+On all the waterways of China enormous flocks of tame ducks are to be
+seen. These flocks generally number several thousands of birds each
+and are carefully herded by the duck farmer and his sons, who swim
+them about from place to place in search of suitable feeding-grounds.
+On the Yangtse I have seen them in mid-stream floating down in compact
+masses with the racing current and surrounded by their guardians in
+tubs, who, armed with long bamboos, smartly whack any bird which may
+happen to stray away from the flock until it rejoins its companions.
+
+These ducks are apparently always of one age, be it a month, three
+months or full-grown, which fact had ever been a source of mild
+surprise to me, in view of the number of simultaneous broods which
+would be necessary to hatch off such swarms, until the matter was
+explained.
+
+A friend of mine gave a tiffin party of four good men and true on his
+stern-wheel house-boat, the motive power for which was supplied by
+half-a-dozen coolies driving the wheel with their feet, on the same
+principle as the tread-mill, and we were gliding up the Taipa Channel
+near Macao at about four knots, when suddenly our craft came into a
+sea of egg-shells sailing gaily before the breeze and having at a
+short distance much the appearance of water-lilies.
+
+For a quarter of an hour or so we ploughed through these shells, which
+must have numbered tens of thousands, making various conjectures as to
+their origin, until our host, who had been below superintending the
+icing of the champagne, came on deck and explained that they
+undoubtedly were from an incubator in which ducks had just been
+hatched. This was new to me, so I asked him for details, but he
+replied that beyond knowing of the incubators and that they were made
+of manure and lime in which eggs were buried until hatched, he had not
+been able to procure further information.
+
+Since then I have made many inquiries, but the Chinese will reveal
+little beyond the fact that incubators "have always existed" for the
+hatching of ducks and geese.
+
+A gentleman whose knowledge of the Chinese and their ways is
+unsurpassed has also kindly tried to find out, but with limited
+success, for, he says, it is regarded as a trade secret and the duck
+farmers will not divulge the process. However, he ascertained that the
+hatching takes place in early spring, when "a kind of primitive
+incubator is used. The eggs are placed in a big basket covered with
+straw or cotton wool, about a thousand eggs in one basket. Under this
+basket a charcoal fire is lit to keep the required temperature. The
+work is carried on in closed rooms and one man is always in attendance
+turning the eggs. Only eggs of ducks and geese are thus treated."
+
+Whether these incubators are made of manure and lime in the open air,
+whether they are in rooms heated by charcoal fires, or whether there
+are both kinds, the interesting fact is established that incubators
+"have always existed" in China, while results, as seen in the huge
+flocks of ducks, proclaim them as thoroughly successful. And this,
+too, when it has been unreservedly believed that the incubator was a
+modern triumph of Western science!
+
+Another little matter has attracted my attention. There have lately
+been paragraphs in several papers announcing the excellent results
+obtained from a new system of registering criminals by means of
+thumb-marks.
+
+Thumb-marking may be new to Scotland Yard, but in China it is a very
+ancient practice. I have seen illiterate men smear their thumbs with
+ink and make impressions at the foot of documents, such thumb-marks
+being accepted as in every way equivalent to full signatures.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE MARRIAGE TIE
+
+
+In the province of Kiangsi on the banks of the River Kan, which flows
+almost due north to the Poyang lake and so into the Yangtsekiang, is
+situate the town of Kanchow, on the outskirts of which dwelt a
+merchant named Chin Pao-ting with his wife and infant son.
+
+After the custom of all Chinese merchants, Mr Chin had a shop which,
+although used for retail purposes, was in reality the office of his
+not inconsiderable wholesale business. Mr Chin had some time previous
+to this date, the early spring of 1892, engaged a young man of the
+locality named Wang Foo-lin, as accountant and confidential clerk, and
+he had proved himself so intelligent and useful that not only did Chin
+regard him with feelings of friendship but even conceived the idea of
+subsequently taking him into partnership. What Chin's particular
+business was I do not know, beyond the fact that each year it took him
+away from home for several weeks, and sometimes months at a time, when
+he travelled to other provinces. This annual voyage was now at hand.
+Four boats were filled with various kinds of merchandise, while a
+fifth and smaller craft was selected to convey Chin and his assistant,
+who now accompanied his master for the first time. This boat was
+fairly comfortable from a Chinese point of view, having benches on
+either side of the cabin and a kind of platform at the back, with a
+small, low table thereon bearing the customary incense-burner,
+containing fragrant joss-sticks, and also on this occasion a small
+_joss_ or gilt image of Buddha, which Chin always took with him on his
+wanderings.
+
+All preparations having been slowly completed the day for departure
+arrived, and Chin, with much bowing and ceremonial posturing, having
+wished his wife and little son adieu, embarked with Wang, taking the
+equivalent of five thousand dollars[2] in sycee shoes and gold-dust,
+and amidst valedictory fusillades of fire-crackers, as well as a
+beating of gongs, the flotilla cast off and sailed away down river.
+
+Nothing of particular interest occurred during the voyage of two
+hundred miles to the Poyang lake beyond usual delays caused by the
+dried-up condition at that season of all waterways connected with
+China's mighty river.
+
+The sources of the Yangtse are to be found in the mountain ranges of
+Thibet, and as during winter and early spring the deep snows of those
+lofty regions lie icebound and the great river is fed only by local
+rains, its waters dwindle in volume until they find a level forty feet
+below that of summer and autumn, when torrid heat and torrential rains
+thaw the snows in Central Asia and fill the river-bed with a thick,
+brown current which, after overflowing into and filling all lakes,
+tributaries and unprotected lowlands in the Yangtse valley, sweeps
+eastwards to the ocean, a foaming torrent of irresistible force.
+
+After about twenty days of incessant toil in tracking, poling and
+yulowing along the tortuous and mud-bound channel of the Kan, where
+sailing, owing to the low water and consequent towering banks which
+shut off the wind, was seldom possible, the small fleet emerged on the
+Poyang lake. Not, however, the magnificent sheet of water which is
+found there in summer, but the lake as it is in winter, contracted to
+one tenth of its maximum size, and little more than a wide and
+sluggish river flanked by boundless mud tracts swarming with snipe and
+wildfowl. Another few days' sailing, for the breeze could now be felt
+across the wide marshland, and Hukow (mouth of the lake) was reached,
+where the merchandise in the four small lake boats was transferred to
+a large and stately junk destined to carry it far up-river towards the
+West, while good accommodation was found on board both for Chin and
+his assistant. As soon as the transhipment of cargo had been
+completed, and Chin had written a letter for transmission to his wife
+by the boats returning to Kanchow, sail was made on the junk, and
+passing out of the tranquil waters of the lake she was seen to shape
+an up-river course reefed close before a rising gale, until lost to
+sight in the rain and gathering darkness.
+
+The empty boats arrived in due course at Kanchow, when the letter was
+faithfully delivered, and this being the last communication that would
+be received from her husband prior to his return, Mrs Chin resigned
+herself to many weeks of dreary loneliness.
+
+Weeks lengthened into months, and the waiting woman began to feel
+anxious as to the well-being of her lord.
+
+The stifling, burning summer came and went, and still there was
+neither sign nor tidings of the absent one.
+
+Inquiries made of passing junks, to the crews of many of which Chin
+was well-known, ever elicited the invariable reply that nothing had
+been seen or heard of him.
+
+Autumn and winter still brought no tidings, and the poor, saddened
+woman yielded to the conviction that some disaster had overtaken her
+husband and that she would see him no more.
+
+Early Chinese marriages are almost invariably arranged by the parents,
+the young folks, even if old enough, having no voice in the matter.
+Later on, plurality of wives, though far from universal, is also quite
+common and of good repute.
+
+The lower orders generally have only one wife, not being able to
+afford more, although as soon as a man commences to prosper and rise
+in the social scale his first thought is to procure by contract or by
+purchase an additional helpmeet, who, however, ranks far below the
+_first_ or _No. 1_ wife. Similarly _No. 2_ ranks before _No. 3_, and
+so on. Four or five wives is a common number in well-to-do households,
+though one old friend of mine, since dead, had taken to himself
+sixteen.
+
+Husbands regard the marriage tie as binding on them chiefly with
+regard to the material well-being of the family, whereas the honour of
+the family rests on the wife's steadfastness in maintaining sacred the
+nuptial vow, any detected laxity in this respect being visited on her
+with remorseless punishment both by her libidinous husband and by the
+whole of his clan. Widows seldom marry again, it being the duty and
+pride of a virtuous woman to remain faithful to the memory of her dead
+husband. Throughout the whole length and breadth of China memorial
+arches to widows who have been faithful to their troth till death are
+to be seen in almost every village.
+
+Mrs Chin may have been, and probably was, attached to her husband with
+that fanatical single-mindedness which belongs to women of the East.
+She may have considered it her bounden duty only. Whether love or duty
+furnished the motive I cannot tell, but after making all possible
+inquiries to no purpose she determined to set out herself and search
+for traces of the missing one. The shop and her belongings were sold
+to provide money for the way, and the poor woman, forsaking all and
+carrying the child strapped to her shoulders, turned with a bitter
+heart from her former prosperous home to face the world on her
+well-nigh hopeless quest. Of her wanderings I could get no record, and
+she would probably, with Oriental inscrutability, have refused to even
+talk about them, but wherever else they may have led her, in the
+bitter winter of 1893 she was twenty miles up-river from Hukow at the
+open port of Kiukiang and alone, her child having perished by the way,
+begging food and prosecuting her inquiries. Chance led her to shelter
+for a night in the ruined but beautiful pagoda which stands high above
+the river on the cliff outside the city wall. To the old Buddhist
+hermit in possession she told her oft-repeated tale, only once again
+to receive the usual negative reply.
+
+In the morning, however, as she was moving off on her daily trudge,
+the hermit appeared, and after the customary Buddhistic salutation,
+"O me tor foo,"[3] had been exchanged, he remarked that during the
+night it recurred to him that about eighteen moons had passed since he
+found the dead body of a man cast up naked on the opposite beach, and
+that following the rule of his order for acquiring merit he had
+carefully and reverently buried it.
+
+The poor wanderer seemed at last to see some faint possibility of
+reward for her dreary pilgrimage. She followed the hermit to the river
+side, where his small and leaky sampan was drawn up on the mud. After
+considerable effort the boat was launched by the feeble pair, and
+taking her place in it she was rowed by the old man across the heaving
+river, which is here more than a mile in width, to the opposite beach,
+where a little above high-water mark the grave was found. Scraping
+aside the loose sand and rubble, and raising the unfastened lid of the
+rough coffin, the mouldering skeleton was unrecognisable. Quick as
+thought the woman thrust her fingers into the crumbling mass and
+raised an arm of the dead, on which was seen to be the half of a jade
+bracelet. Immediately baring her own arm to the hermit's gaze she
+displayed on it the other half of the same jewel.
+
+A common Chinese practice is for man and wife to have one jade bangle
+split so as to form two bangles, and to wear one each, with much the
+same idea as our Mizpah rings.
+
+The woman looked as if turned to stone. She moved not a muscle, but
+with livid face and hard, glassy eyes kept her position in the open
+grave, leaning on one hand across the coffin and grasping with her
+other the mouldering arm of the corpse, so that the two bangles were
+laid side by side.
+
+Silently and reverently the old hermit stole away, leaving the living
+with the dead, and rowed back across the river to his home without
+once turning his eyes, for curiosity he had none, but in its place the
+Oriental's deep and mystic knowledge of life and death.
+
+In the lonely grave amongst the rank grass and sand mounds the woman
+stayed, oblivious of the cold and soaking rain. For a long time she
+rested absolutely motionless as if also dead. Then a few upward
+movements of the head told of her silent agony. By-and-by a low,
+tremulous moan broke from her ashen lips. Almost inaudible at first,
+her sobs increased until her whole frame was convulsed. She called
+upon her husband, she poured blessings on his name, she craved
+blessings from his spirit. Long and loud, with all her soul, with all
+her strength and in most absolute sincerity, she bewailed her dead, as
+is the custom in the East, until exhaustion overpowered her and she
+slept.
+
+It was almost dark when the hermit returned and thus found the
+faithful woman, sodden by the rain, her hair unbound and trailing in
+the sand. Gently rousing her and speaking soothing words he held out
+his humble offering of two little bowls containing rice and samshu,
+some sticks of incense and a few tiny candles. These the poor woman
+took, but without a sign, for her gratitude was too deep to show, and
+reverently placed the bowls, the lighted candles and smouldering
+incense-sticks in position round the grave.
+
+Then, having kowtowed many times before the corpse, the lid of the
+coffin was replaced and covered with a few inches of sand, after which
+she turned as one in a trance and followed the hermit to his boat. Her
+husband was dead, she had bewailed him and burnt incense at his grave,
+and what further could this poor, broken woman do?
+
+What her intentions then were I do not know, but a few days later,
+when returning at dusk from Kiukiang to the pagoda, she was stopped in
+a lonely alley outside the western gate by a man who said, "Your
+husband was murdered eighteen moons ago by Wang Foo-lin, who is now
+living in Hankow." It was too dark to see the man's face and the voice
+she did not know, but it was probably one of the sailors of the
+missing junk who had some grievance to avenge. From the effect these
+words had on the woman's fallen strength it might have been a message
+from the gods pointing afresh the path of duty. She sought her friend
+the hermit and related to him what had befallen her, and explained
+that she would now go to Hankow in quest of the murderer, for that her
+husband's spirit could never rest until his assassin had been brought
+to justice.
+
+How she travelled the one hundred and twenty miles from Kiukiang to
+Hankow I do not know, but it is certain that she appeared in the
+latter place begging from house to house, and after a time recognised
+Wang Foo-lin trading under an assumed name in a shop of considerable
+size. Wang on his part did not recognise the feeble and unkempt old
+beggar-woman, so changed was she from the prosperous Mrs Chin, and
+took but little notice of this one amongst many tens of other
+mendicants, so that she was able to stand for some time at the shop
+door without attracting undue attention, when she carefully noted the
+contents of the store, and amongst other things recognised the gilt
+joss which her husband had taken with him. Her next step was to
+procure an audience of the local magistrate, and to do this she was
+obliged to expend a considerable part of her remaining cash in bribing
+the yamen underlings ere they would consent to lay her case before the
+official or give her admittance to his court. After waiting many days
+the audience was granted, and kneeling on the filthy floor before the
+judgment seat she unfolded her story, accusing Wang Foo-lin of the
+murder of her husband. The magistrate listened to her tale, but at the
+end said, "You accuse this man of murder but produce no evidence in
+support of your statements, and your bare word is not sufficient. If
+you can bring forward any actual proof I will then take action." Mrs
+Chin replied that in Wang's shop she had seen a gilt image of Buddha
+which her husband had taken with him on his ill-fated voyage. That
+many years ago at Kanchow she had knocked over and broken the nose off
+this same image, and that to repair the damage she had melted down one
+of her gold earrings and replaced the nose. If, therefore, it were
+found that this gilt joss had a gold nose then the magistrate would
+know her tale was true. The official replied that he would accept this
+as sufficient evidence and would at once put it to the test. Sending
+his runners with Mrs Chin to the shop, Wang was arrested, and together
+with the gilt joss taken to the yamen, where it was quickly found that
+the image actually had a gold nose as declared by the old woman.
+
+Knowing his case to be hopeless, and yielding to the racking torture
+which was quickly applied, the guilty wretch made a full confession of
+his crime. As a boy he had often heard of Chin Pao-ting's annual
+voyages to the West, while local gossip had so enlarged upon the
+merchant's wealth that the junk bearing him and his merchandise might
+well be a veritable treasure ship, so that when still a youth Wang had
+journeyed to Kiukiang with the deliberate intention of forming a
+scheme to waylay the annual expedition and thus acquire riches at a
+single stroke. As attendant in an opium den near the quay, he had come
+in contact with many low and desperate characters, amongst whom was
+the lowdah of a certain junk which plied for hire between the Poyang
+lake and the provinces of the West.
+
+Gradually an intimacy sprang up between these two, until at length the
+diabolical plot was hatched of murdering Chin and levanting with his
+goods. Wang now returned to Kanchow, and, as we have seen, not only
+contrived to enter the service of Chin Pao-ting but also to gain his
+esteem and confidence.
+
+For the next annual voyage a large river-junk to await the merchant at
+Hukow was, through Wang's astuteness, chartered on exceptionally
+favourable terms.
+
+This junk, needless to say, was that of Wang's confederate, and once
+on board the unhappy traveller was a doomed man. On the first night of
+the voyage he was pounced on in his sleep, stunned with a blow and
+thrown overboard. At Kiukiang, where the vessel stopped, the lowdah
+and his men went ashore after receiving the gold dust and sycee shoes
+as their share of the plunder, while Wang, taking the junk and cargo
+as his portion, shipped a fresh crew and sailed on to Hankow, where he
+set up in business with the proceeds of his ill-gotten gains.
+
+His examination finished and released from torture, Wang was led away
+in a swooning condition to a foul dungeon, where his silk garments
+were quickly stripped off and replaced by crimson clothes, stiff with
+clotted human blood and thick with vermin, but such as criminals
+condemned to execution are compelled to wear. By an iron ring
+mercilessly forced through his flesh and welded round his collar-bone
+he was chained to a stone pillar, and so left to await his doom or to
+rot on the reeking floor.
+
+After prolonged deliberations amongst the authorities, it was decided
+that the prisoner should be beheaded at Kiukiang, that being the
+centre of the district in which his crime was committed.
+
+Still clad in crimson clothes, the poor wretch was dragged by the
+chain from his cell, too emaciated and broken to even stand. His hands
+and feet were bound together with sharp cords and a bamboo pole thrust
+between them, and in such manner he was carried through the streets by
+two coolies, escorted by a few runners, to be thrown like a bundle of
+old clothes into the hold of a police junk, which bore him more dead
+than alive on his last voyage.
+
+Owing to information extracted from Wang two further arrests were made
+of members of the junk's crew, but the lowdah and one other succeeded
+in making good their escape.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was now summer, and the view looking south from Kiukiang city wall
+was peaceful and grand. In the distance rose the majestic Lushan
+range, the peaks of which were illumined by the setting sun. Nearer,
+the low hills, clothed with firs and azaleas, rolled as a carpet to
+the lake, which lay between them and the city ramparts. A narrow
+causeway from the city to the hills, cut the lake in two. At the far
+end of the causeway was a plot of level ground, strewn with potsherds
+and heaps of refuse. Here, in contrast to its usual solitude, a dense
+crowd had collected in evident anticipation of some interesting event.
+Presently two or three horsemen and a motley gang of soldiers emerged
+from the city and proceeded quickly along the causeway. Closely
+following were coolies carrying three red burdens, on bamboo poles,
+and these in turn were followed by more soldiers and a few officials
+in sedan chairs. It was an execution. The hurrying cavalcade was
+swallowed up in the dense crowd which happily served as a curtain to
+hide this ghastly scene of human wrath from Nature's smiling
+landscape. Half-an-hour later the official procession returned as
+quickly as it went, and gradually the crowd, sauntering by the water's
+edge, laughing, joking and making merry of the gruesome spectacle just
+witnessed, filtered back through the city gates.
+
+Next morning three wooden baskets on long poles were exposed from the
+top of an archway, and in each basket was a human head. Wang and his
+companions had met their just rewards.
+
+At Kanchow a pylow, or memorial arch, will eventually be erected in
+honour of the widow of Chin Pao-ting, so that to posterity may be
+preserved a just record of her virtuous devotion.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] Then about L600.
+
+[3] Untranslatable. "Peace be with you," or meaning to that effect.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+DISCUSSED POINTS
+
+
+[Sidenote: PEOPLE.]
+
+"How do you like the Chinese?" is the most common of all queries, yet
+each time it is made I have to reflect as to what my answer shall be.
+
+While unable to say that I like them, for, speaking collectively, they
+are an untaking, unlikeable people, still they possess many qualities
+and traits of character which _per se_ must recommend them to all
+unprejudiced observers.
+
+The chief hindrance to a better understanding with them is their
+rooted antipathy to ourselves, generated by our pushing, masterful
+ways. With but few and unimportant exceptions they do not want us, and
+would be glad to see the last of all Europeans, together with their
+civilisation, their missionaries and their trade. This is not very
+flattering, accustomed as we are to regard ourselves somewhat in the
+light of pearls before swine, but it is the truth. On the other hand,
+we know that our footing in the country was gained and is maintained
+by force, which knowledge, in addition to that pressure of silent
+enmity of which we are at all times conscious, brings our minds into
+a hostile attitude _vis-a-vis_ the Chinese. We are always in a state
+of antagonism, be it defensive or offensive. This mutual dislike,
+helped by the utterly different modes of life existing amongst
+Europeans and Asiatics, renders all other than business intercourse
+not only irksome but well-nigh impossible. Their ways not being our
+ways we do not want to know them intimately, and they on their part do
+not want to know us, wherefore, by tacit consent, we keep rigidly
+apart in social matters.
+
+Many people seem to imagine the Chinese as being romantic, artistic,
+quaint, effeminate and uncanny.
+
+Romantic they most certainly are not, but look at things with a brutal
+realism, of which their pet quotation is truly emblematical: "A man's
+greatest pleasure is found in reading his own essays and in making
+love to his neighbours' wives."
+
+Of their artistic qualities there are many favourable critics, though
+personally I consider them to be extremely poor. Their music, both
+vocal and instrumental, is worse than rubbish; in sketching and
+painting they are without sense of perspective; their architecture is
+clumsy and coarse; their much-vaunted pottery is full of flaws and
+blemishes, for which reason a perfect specimen is almost priceless and
+over which connoisseurs hypnotise themselves; dancing, except by
+flower-girls, is unknown; while in literature they are safe from
+adequate criticism, owing to the impossibilities of their language.
+Embroidery, bronzes, carving, and dyeing in both pottery and silks
+are, in my opinion, their best artistic productions, although it is
+said that the famous colouring of chinaware is now a lost art, as
+those clans which held the secrets were almost extirpated during the
+Taiping rebellion. Many articles of vertu are undoubtedly valuable,
+but is it not rather owing to their antiquity, to their rarity, or to
+the fact that they are good specimens of a certain workmanship,
+however bad, rather than to any inherent artistic merits?
+
+Quaint they indeed are from a European standpoint, but on more
+intimate knowledge this quaintness resolves itself into a slavish
+adaptability to the smallest circumstances in their daily struggle for
+existence. To a man who has been some years in the country, and who
+has tried to understand local conditions, the Chinese live on a dead
+level with matters of fact.
+
+To say that they are effeminate would be incorrect. In some things,
+from our point of view, they undoubtedly are; in others they are
+extremely virile.
+
+The captain of a British man-of-war told me that he considered them to
+be the poorest fighters in existence. That they habitually make a
+feeble show in battle cannot be gainsaid, but then they are a most
+matter-of-fact people, without any craving for military glory, and
+knowing beforehand that there is no possible chance of success, take
+time by the forelock and run away to escape a useless death.
+
+Select one of our very best regiments and stop their pay for several
+months, deprive them of officers, take away all doctors and medical
+comforts, half starve them, arm them with flags, pikes and
+muzzle-loaders, and then march them against a crack European regiment.
+You may be sure the Chinese example would be quickly followed. I do
+not say the Chinese are brave, but I do believe that, given a good
+training, just treatment and a fair chance of success, they would
+prove no mean antagonists.
+
+Possessing great natural aptitude, if it is made worth their while
+they will quickly become good riders, good shots, good at billiards
+and tennis, good sailors, etc., giving their whole attention to each
+matter, though without enthusiasm. It is this dull concentration on
+particular callings which has deprived their character of that vital
+force, initiative, which, while the greatest of safeguards to rival
+nations, has removed from the Chinese mind the power to comprehend and
+carry out large and complicated undertakings involving the handling
+and direction of modern systems and appliances. The Chinaman is at
+present content to supply labour, but whether in time he will be
+capable of also supplying the versatile, directing brain is a moot
+question. Anyhow, it will not be for long years and until he has lived
+under a modernised Government for several generations.
+
+Extreme consideration for infancy and old age, the growing of long
+finger-nails, the supposed debilitation arising from opium-smoking,
+the universal usage of fans, the wearing of flowing garments and
+braided hair, and the discharging of domestic duties which in other
+countries fall to the lot of women, are probably largely accountable
+for the charges of effeminacy.
+
+As to their uncanniness there is no doubt. We do not, and never shall,
+fathom the depth of a Chinaman's brain. After mutually looking at the
+same object from widely-different points of view _we_ express our
+ideas, talk them over and invite criticism, while _he_--is silent. He
+listens to us and agrees, but keeps his own views to himself. We want
+to explain everything; he does not, but takes things on faith.
+
+In our inmost hearts we generally do not feel sure whether we believe
+or do not believe in spiritualism, in good spirits, bad spirits,
+ghosts, dreams, devils and manifestations. He believes in them all
+without a suspicion of doubt, but, knowing our wonted thoughtless
+scepticism, will frequently say he does not, as the easiest way of
+avoiding a useless discussion and condemnation of established facts.
+
+In dealing with educated Chinese many foreigners assume a forced,
+artificial manner, as though addressing themselves to an autocrat or a
+murderer, and are ever on the lookout for something to find fault
+with. My own idea is to maintain a naturally polite bearing and treat
+them precisely as you would your own countrymen of whatever rank in
+life. They strike me as being extremely responsive, and oftentimes
+even grateful for being taken simply as men and not as extraordinary
+specimens of another humanity.
+
+The dominating factor of their lives is "face." Whatever happens, so
+long as a man can save his face he has always the chance of righting
+himself. We continually hear of their commercial integrity, which is
+undoubtedly very great, though not springing from any innate
+principles of fair-dealing but from a desire to save face. I have very
+little doubt but that a Chinese merchant would immediately "do" you if
+he could be perfectly sure of not being found out, and so losing face,
+and that too without in any way violating his own feelings. "Face," or
+otherwise "appearances," is a Chinaman's passport to respectability,
+and therefore of great commercial value, but has nothing whatever to
+do with the hidden principles of honour and morality. That honesty
+pays better than dishonesty is a fact well known and firmly adhered to
+by merchants in a large way of business. To those in a small way of
+business, honesty does not pay, and consequently does not exist, but
+instead ability in squeezing is accepted as the gauge of capacity.
+
+The first essential in dealing with Chinese is control of temper. I do
+not mean that one should not possess a temper, on the contrary, it is
+a distinct advantage to have one, only it must be kept well in hand. A
+man of irritable, rasping temperament quickly loses respect and
+weakens control, while he who can keep calm under any circumstances,
+and only very rarely gives rein to a fierce outburst at the
+psychological moment, invariably compels admiration and obedience,
+for, it is reasoned, if a man who has command of his temper gets angry
+it is because he has just cause, and the fault must necessarily lie
+with those who call his anger forth.
+
+Under no circumstances, except in actual self-defence, strike a
+Chinaman. The pain or insult it may cause him is as nothing in
+comparison with the lowering effect it will have on your own status in
+native eyes. From being well-considered you will at once become an
+object of contemptuous dislike.
+
+The empire of China is considerably larger than the whole of Europe,
+contains limitless natural resources, and is inhabited by a hardy race
+of some four hundred million souls who are bound together by ties of
+blood, language, tradition and religion. This race, which until quite
+modern times existed as a world apart and was sufficient unto itself
+in all things, is highly developed both mentally and physically,
+though its government, as judged by Western ideas, is hopelessly
+obsolete.
+
+If left to themselves I see no reason why the Chinese should not
+slumber on as they now are till the crack of doom, but, the world
+having become so reduced in size through the agencies of steam and
+electricity, they never will again be left undisturbed, but more and
+more subjected to the pressure of other nationalities in the feverish
+struggle for domination and wealth. To this pressure they will surely
+yield in one way or another. Will they forestall the inevitable by
+reforming themselves, or will they for a time fall beneath the foreign
+yoke until they have learnt their lesson, and then reassert their
+solidarity and independence?
+
+In whatever light we may view these people or animadvert on their
+numberless contradictory qualities and failings, it is as certain as
+day and night that they are here to stay, if only by force of numbers,
+and that no political convulsions will wipe them out. They may be
+battered and even sundered for a time, but each successive shock will
+only serve to resuscitate their vitality.
+
+Already possessing an equipment of wealth, numbers, thrift, good
+physique and high mental power, they only await good government to
+start them along the rails of progress. Whatever nations may rise or
+fall, the future is big with promise for the children of Han.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Sidenote: LANGUAGE.]
+
+The Chinese language is like China itself: colossal!
+
+Roughly, the mandarin or official language is spoken by all officials
+throughout the empire and by all classes in those provinces which lie
+north of the Yangtse, while south of this line Cantonese is the
+principal dialect, although the number of others is legion, and so
+pronounced are the differences between them that countrymen dwelling
+but a few miles apart are frequently at a loss to understand each
+other.
+
+On one occasion, when making "a little trip to Japan," I took my
+Pekingese boy with me. Having missed the fortnightly mail-boat I made
+the passage from Chefoo in a small German collier, and on arrival at
+Nagasaki took rickshas to the hotel. In the streets were a goodly
+number of Chinese, members of a considerable colony of small traders,
+and the sight of compatriots in a foreign land greatly delighted the
+boy, who, on my departure after tiffin to make a tour of the town,
+asked if he meanwhile might go out to drink tea with his countrymen. I
+gave permission, but on returning some hours later to the hotel found
+him in a very disappointed frame of mind, which was accounted for by
+his explanation that the Chinese residents in Nagasaki were all
+Cantonese, and that not being able to understand a word of mandarin
+they had perforce been obliged to converse with each other as best
+they could in pidgin English. He said, "Looksee b'long all same
+Chinaman, no savez talkee."
+
+The Pekingese are very discriminative and frequently condescendingly
+refer to all other Chinese as "outside men" or "foreigners."
+
+Pidgin English is a queer jargon composed of a verbatim translation of
+Chinese sentences together with a slight admixture of Portuguese and
+French, the frequent wrongful substitution of similar sounding words
+and a lavish use of the terminals _ee_ and _o_.
+
+"S'pose you wantchee catchee olo chinaware, compradore savez talkee
+my," represents, "If you want to get some old chinaware your Chinese
+agent will let me know," while I have heard "two times twicee" for
+"twice two," and "last day to-night" for "last evening."
+
+The word _pidgin_ means _work_ of any kind, as in "plenty pidgin" or
+"no got pidgin," and _pidgin English_ simply means a workable
+knowledge of colloquial English as picked up by tradesmen, servants
+and coolies, in contradistinction to English as taught in the
+schools.
+
+On the northern frontiers there is also pidgin Russian.
+
+The written language is the same everywhere, each character, of which
+the Chinese say there are between eighty and a hundred thousand,
+representing a complete word, so that before being able to read, and
+more especially write, a single sentence, each individual character in
+it must be closely studied and committed to memory, as we commit to
+memory the letters of the alphabet, but with the difference that
+whereas the alphabet consists of but twenty-six simple letters,
+Chinese caligraphy contains almost a hundred thousand characters of
+extreme complexity.
+
+From earliest boyhood to the grave Chinese students never cease, yet
+never complete, committing these characters to memory and welding them
+into those graceful verses and essays which are the pride of Chinese
+literature.
+
+Handwriting is accounted a fine art, and for many hours each day, year
+in and year out, characters are laboriously copied by means of a
+little brush filled with ink, which in the form of a cake or stick
+similar to Indian ink is moistened and ground on to a stone slab or
+"ink-stone," until the penmanship is frequently of a firmness and
+beauty surpassing that of copper-plate. In such veneration is the
+written character held that it is accounted wrong to debase in any
+way paper on which writing may be inscribed, wherefore conscientious
+_literati_ sometimes pass along the streets gathering into baskets
+stray pieces of paper bearing written characters, to burn them
+reverently in miniature pagodas or towers erected on public ground for
+that especial purpose.
+
+The career of a student is considered to be the most honourable of
+all, but though chiefly restricted to handwriting, knowledge of
+characters, composition and national history, the Chinese admit that
+no man has ever yet thoroughly mastered his own language or even
+learnt all the characters.
+
+How then about foreigners' knowledge of the language? It is like the
+nibblings of a mouse at a mountain.
+
+In the course of two or three years a European by means of hard work,
+good memory and facile ear, may succeed in speaking one of the
+dialects so as generally to make himself understood, but to the end of
+his days his speech, for more than a few sentences, would never be
+mistaken in the dark by one Chinaman for that of another Chinaman.
+
+As for the written character, I do not believe it possible for any
+European to acquire more than a superficial general, or a mature
+one-sided, knowledge of it. Some missionaries, notably Jesuits, have
+given their lives to the work and have undoubtedly attained to
+considerable erudition in the classics and in subjects pertaining to
+religious doctrines, but in place give them some business papers or
+other documents in current use and they would be at once hopelessly
+nonplussed.
+
+A man may have mastered eight or ten thousand characters and may be
+able to read or dictate letters on any subject, but he probably would
+not be able to read a single line from most of the classics.
+
+I have heard, as a phenomenal thing, of a foreigner being able to
+write a letter himself, but the fact of its being phenomenal shows how
+unusual it was, and does not prove the absence of either crudities or
+errors.
+
+All Europeans, even the most competent, are _always_ assisted by
+educated Chinamen when engaged on serious Chinese work. Unaided, they
+might read much correctly, but they might altogether miss the sense,
+and most probably would meet with characters they did not know.
+
+As for writing, it is impossible. Even if unaided one did manage to
+compose anything, it would be the work of a tyro and would never pass
+muster with literary Chinese, while the penmanship would be laboured
+and coarse, for the manner of holding the pen or brush is quite
+different from our own, and if not acquired almost from infancy the
+knack comes with difficulty when bones and sinews are more firmly
+set.
+
+With regard to mastering what is called the running character, which,
+by way of illustration, may be said to correspond to our shorthand,
+the thing is not to be thought of.
+
+To apply a general test, no European would ever have the slightest
+chance of passing even the lowest of the literary examinations.
+
+One may well ask what is the reason of this inability to reach the
+attainments of even a moderately well-educated Chinaman.
+
+No European can give his whole time from earliest childhood to the
+undivided study of Chinese, and even if he could, I very much question
+if the unattractive nature of native literature would satisfy his more
+versatile brain, while the absence of social intercourse between the
+two races removes the greatest of all incentives to perseverance.
+
+On the other hand, the Chinese are saturated with a hereditary
+instinct for their own language and literature, which instinct,
+besides assiduous cultivation for thousands of years, is fostered from
+infancy by their surroundings, and is so exactly suited to their
+patient, phlegmatic temperament that it comes to them as naturally as
+the air they breathe, and even if unable to read but a few characters
+in a phrase, they will arrive at the meaning as surely as a well-bred
+hound will follow a trail.
+
+And so it follows that although Europeans of most brilliant intellect
+may devote long years and infinite labour to the study of Chinese,
+lacking this native instinct, they can never attain to that ripened
+and fluent knowledge which is a heritage of the Mongol race alone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Sidenote: MISSIONARIES.]
+
+What to say anent missionaries?
+
+In England alone the proselytising spirit is strong, and every parish
+subscribes liberally to missionary funds in order that labourers in
+the vineyard may not be wanting, and that the ends of the earth may
+know the tidings of joy.
+
+Most European residents in China are adverse to missionaries and
+express their opinions with such vehemence as to generally obscure
+criticisms of a more temperate nature. According to this majority the
+missionaries do nothing but harm. Frequently of poor education, and
+lacking altogether in tact and discretion, they thrust themselves in
+where they are not wanted, they interfere in local matters, ignore
+local customs, offend local susceptibilities, and by allowing young
+unmarried ladies without experience and frequently without suitable
+escort to wander about the country, to outrage all sense of decency,
+thus generating ill-will which not infrequently leads to riots,
+bloodshed and diplomatic trouble, while the good they do is
+microscopic and the number of converts or "rice-Christians" coincides
+with the amount of alms distributed, and who, when nothing further is
+to be acquired, revert to the faith, or indifference, of their
+forefathers. Building fine residences with the funds provided by
+gullible folks at home, and constructing diminutive churches with the
+few remaining bricks, drawing fat salaries which increase _pari passu_
+with the number of their children, and taking long summer holidays in
+Japan or in the mountains when business men must be hard at work,
+nothing but condemnation is heard for the whole system which, they
+say, should be forcibly suppressed by the various Governments
+concerned.
+
+While enough of this loud-voiced deprecation may be true to lend a
+colouring to the whole, I have no hesitation in saying that the
+opinions of most of the critics are absolutely worthless. In fact,
+they know nothing whatever about either the missionaries or their
+work, but simply repeat, with their own additions, things they have
+heard from any and every source without ever troubling to verify them
+personally. Never was there a clearer case of "giving a dog a bad
+name," etc.
+
+We civilians in China frequently lead far from model lives and are in
+no position to throw stones, for which reason, probably, the mere
+sight of a professional good man is worse than the proverbial red rag,
+and the tendency is strong, I own, to disparage him and all his
+works, while serenely forgetful of our own palpable shortcomings.
+
+I have known one or two missionaries commit shady actions. I have
+known several civilians commit crimes.
+
+Missionaries, like ourselves, it must not be forgotten, are very
+human, and contain in their ranks men widely differing in degrees of
+fitness.
+
+In various remote places I have met missionaries of many
+denominations--Jesuits, Anglicans, Non-conformists, etc.--and on
+closer acquaintance I have almost invariably found them at heart,
+whatever their methods, attainments or achievements, to be men of
+sterling worth, of lofty ideals, leading noble, self-denying lives,
+and fighting the good fight for love of God and man, and for the faith
+that is in them.
+
+From the militant nature of their calling they cannot avoid
+interesting themselves in the lives and customs of the natives, and
+that their message to the heathen, inviting them to forsake the gods
+of their fathers and embrace the only true faith, arouses hostility in
+the most conservative people on earth, is in no sense to be wondered
+at.
+
+Of medical missionaries who found hospitals and heal the sick, as well
+as of those who devote their lives to teaching the blind to read and
+the dumb to speak, adverse comment by anyone speaking with
+sincerity and briefest knowledge of the facts would be impossible.
+These missions of mercy shine as great beacons of Christianity through
+the gloom of heathen darkness.
+
+   [Illustration: BUDDHIST PRIEST AND ACOLYTE HOLDING BOOK.
+   _To face page 228._]
+
+The greatest fault brought home to several missions is, in my opinion,
+their interference in legal quarrels between native Christians and
+their unconverted fellow-citizens. This interference has undoubtedly
+frequently occurred and with marked success, thereby causing extreme
+irritation to the Chinese officials, who dread possible complications
+with foreign consuls, and arousing the bitter resentment of the
+populace, not only against all Christians, but also against all
+foreigners.
+
+Indiscretion and want of tact are usually the fruit of enthusiastic
+inexperience, for veteran missionaries have generally tempered zeal
+with both suavity and cautiousness.
+
+That young, unmarried women, brought up in the pure atmosphere of
+Western homes and unaccustomed to the nauseous sights and insanitary
+surroundings of Eastern cities, should be allowed to ruin their
+healths, risk death by indescribable tortures, and in Chinese eyes to
+forfeit their reputations, for the sake of doing a very problematical
+amount of good is, I cannot help feeling, a great mistake and too
+heavy a price to pay. If there must be missionaries, at least let them
+be men, and it would be far better and much more in accordance with
+the divine will if these girls settled in some one of our many
+colonies, married, and gave sons to the world, who then in due time
+might take up the cross of missionary endeavour.
+
+On the whole, I should say that while missionaries are greatly
+over-condemned by Europeans residing in China, the good they do is
+over-estimated by people at home.
+
+Putting aside all criticism of missionaries themselves, the vital
+question is--"Will they succeed in converting China to Christianity?"
+
+I am not sufficiently versed in the necessary statistics to offer a
+very valuable opinion, but, such as it is, it tends to the conviction
+that they will not.
+
+It is a mistake to believe that persecution is an unfailing help to a
+religious cause. It is so only when the persecution is sporadic and
+fitful: storms succeeded by sunshine. When persecution partakes of a
+stern, unrelenting nature, such as has recently been meted out to
+Chinese converts, it certainly destroys, or at least stultifies,
+growth.
+
+Despite remonstrances from the great Powers and despite all treaties,
+I greatly fear that these persecutions will be more bitter and more
+general in the future than they have been in the past.
+
+While the progress of conversion is thus delayed and Christianity by
+drawing the fire of hate and intolerance absorbs all attention,
+Mohammedanism is silently making considerable strides, favoured by a
+period of bright sunshine, and unless storms of persecution soon burst
+again to roll back the tide, as after the last Mohammedan rising,
+when, it is said, loads of human ears were forwarded to Peking in
+token of successful repression, followers of the Prophet bid fair to
+establish a position in China which cannot be coerced and must be
+recognised, and which would oppose to Christianity an even stronger
+and keener influence than is exerted now.
+
+I have often heard the question asked--"Would the Chinese be any the
+better for becoming Christians?" and the reply has usually been that
+they would not.
+
+Personally, I believe that Christianity would supply the Chinaman's
+character with an element which it now altogether lacks--chivalry, and
+which, added to his many excellent qualities, would place him in the
+very forefront of the peoples of this earth.
+
+If China accepted Christianity her moral and material regeneration
+would be assured, stagnation would yield to progress, darkness to
+light and hostility to friendliness. Instead of the unwieldy mass now
+lying sulking at the feet of other nations, China would become a
+strong, self-reliant, prosperous state, fearing none, but held in
+respect and friendship by all.
+
+Heathen China may possibly fall under the yoke of foreign powers, but
+the spirit of Christianity, bringing with it reformation and progress,
+having once been breathed into her nostrils, it would be just as
+possible to chain the waters of the ocean as to hold her in lasting
+bondage, and Christian China would be free.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Sidenote: CHANCES.]
+
+Forty odd years ago, at the close of the second great war, China was a
+veritable Eldorado for Europeans, where all turned to gold beneath the
+lightest touch of alien hands. Fortunes were made with startling
+rapidity, and money came in so freely that the standard of living
+amongst foreign merchants and their _employes_ reached to such
+preposterous heights of luxuriousness, that when the inevitable
+reaction set in, want, and even ruin, supervened where plenty should
+have been found.
+
+From that date to this the descent from an inflated prosperity to a
+mean working level has been gradual and sure.
+
+What has been the cause of this descent?
+
+Forty years ago the foreign trade was practically monopolised by
+Englishmen, who had only to place their goods on the market of any
+newly-opened port for them to be snapped up at almost any price by
+Chinese merchants, who then possessed but little knowledge of foreign
+wares and were exceedingly timid of their own officials. As time wore
+on this ignorance and timidity grew less and less, until the Chinese
+purchaser came to close quarters with the English importer,
+eliminating middlemen at the small ports and transferring operations
+chiefly to the great emporiums of Hongkong and Shanghai. Americans and
+Continentals of all nationalities arrived in rapidly-increasing
+numbers, bringing merchandise for the Chinese market, thus giving
+native buyers a much larger variety of goods from which to choose, and
+introducing a competition fatal to the former enormous profits.
+
+Although the volume of both import and export trade shows a continuous
+yearly increase, it tends more and more to centre in the hands of a
+comparatively few large European firms with which Chinese merchants
+from all parts of the Empire directly negotiate, to the exclusion of
+foreigners in a small way of business.
+
+Another reason for the decrease of profitable commercial openings is
+the practical extinction of China's tea trade with England, Ceylon and
+India now supplying the home-market, and although as great a quantity
+of tea is still exported from China as formerly, it nearly all goes to
+Russia, and this trade being in the hands of Russian monopolists,
+there is but little employment for other nationalities, while even
+here it probably will not be many years before the Russians largely
+follow our example in abandoning Chinese tea in preference for that of
+Ceylon and India.
+
+Similarly the steam shipping, which originally was almost exclusively
+British-owned, is gradually passing to the credit of Chinese
+capitalists, if not in name yet in reality, and any new development in
+this line is almost sure to be mainly financed from native sources.
+
+The opinion is largely held that accordingly as China is opened up by
+railways, by steam navigation on the inland waters, and by
+simplification of inland duties, foreigners will reap such advantages
+as may again enable them to quickly amass fortunes. Let there be no
+delusion on this point.
+
+Wherever openings for trade occur there will instantly be found shrewd
+Chinese business men backed by a plentiful supply of native capital,
+and the Westerner will get but little that is worth having.
+
+When the West River was thrown open to steamer traffic a few years
+since it was confidently predicted on all sides that it would cause a
+considerable development in foreign shipping. Nothing of the kind. On
+a recent trip to Wuchow I saw scores, and possibly hundreds, of small
+steamers and launches crammed with cargo and passengers, or towing
+strings of deep-laden junks, but they were all Chinese-owned, while
+the only foreign-owned vessels to be seen were a few gun-boats and
+less than half-a-dozen steamers, which it is generally believed barely
+earn enough to cover expenses.
+
+The descent thus accounted for has chiefly then been caused by the
+competition amongst Westerners allowing Chinese merchants to get on
+even terms with them, when, being extremely good business men, holding
+absolute command of the native markets, and able to live much more
+cheaply than Europeans, they have generally ousted small foreign
+traders from the out-ports by carrying operations over their heads
+direct to well-known houses at the great centres of trade.
+
+Firms doing a large import and export business should prosper,
+although harassed by continual fluctuations in the value of silver,
+but their prosperity will redound to the direct advantage of a few
+only, while the chances of a man who comes out from home with a small
+capital being able to make for himself a successful commercial career
+are woefully meagre. Even representatives of wealthy syndicates, after
+investigating prospects on the spot, generally come to the conclusion
+that capital can be more profitably invested elsewhere than in China.
+
+On the other hand there are a considerable number of official
+appointments to be obtained, carrying with them comfortable
+remuneration, but these are mostly filled up in England and in the
+several countries concerned.
+
+Professional men, such as doctors, lawyers and dentists, working both
+for Chinese clients and foreign residents, have capital opportunities,
+while for captains, officers and engineers for steamers, engineers and
+directors for docks and factories, professors for various colleges,
+mining experts and railroad constructors, there is an increasing
+demand at fair salaries, but, considering the trying climate, the
+banishment from home and the persistent decline in the value of
+silver, residence in the Far East, even on a large income, is a
+doubtful advantage.
+
+The collapse of silver has been so great that whereas twenty or thirty
+years ago four silver dollars would purchase a sovereign, and a salary
+of four hundred dollars a month represented twelve hundred pounds a
+year, now it takes more than twelve dollars to purchase a sovereign,
+so that a similar salary of four hundred dollars a month represents
+less than four hundred pounds a year.
+
+It is a common belief at home that fluctuations in the value of silver
+are not felt when purchases are confined to a silver-using country.
+This is quite a mistake. China is a silver-using country, yet the
+standard of value maintained by her four hundred million souls is
+neither silver nor gold but copper cash, and the ultimate cost of
+_everything_ of native origin is regulated by its value in cash.
+
+A coolie's wages a few years ago may have been six thousand cash a
+month, and a dollar being then purchasable for say a thousand cash,
+you gave him six dollars a month. To-day his wages may still be six
+thousand cash but a dollar being now worth only five hundred cash, you
+are obliged to give him twelve dollars a month. Precisely the same
+rule applies to meat, coals, vegetables, etc.
+
+For all imported foreign articles, such as clothes, stores, wines,
+etc., you must give enough in silver dollars to make up the price as
+reckoned at home, that is, in gold, and as you now have to give three
+times as many dollars for a sovereign as formerly your imported goods
+are three times dearer, or, in other words, the value of silver has
+fallen and its purchasing power is very much less than it used to be
+the whole world over.
+
+For a man drawing his salary in dollars the cost of living in the Far
+East is more than double what it was twenty-five years ago. For those
+who direct big businesses the earnings of which are in silver and the
+expenses largely in gold, as well as for those who had already
+invested their fortunes in shares prior to the utter collapse of
+silver, the past few years have been a period of crushing losses,
+while the future must be fraught with grave anxiety.
+
+In short, but few fortunes are to be made in China, while money is
+very easily lost, and unless a man before leaving home secures a
+definite position in a good business firm, in Government employ or in
+some profession, it would be most unwise of him to go out on the
+chance of finding employment after his arrival.
+
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Colston & Coy. Limited, Printers, Edinburgh._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Typographical errors corrected in text:                   |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Page  47: per excellence replaced with par excellence     |
+    | Page  76: averge replaced with average                    |
+    | Page 174: dogs-kin replaced with dog-skin                 |
+    | Page 193: bicyles replaced with bicycles                  |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Note to Readers:                                          |
+    | 'Forrard' is a legitimate word, meaning "at or to or      |
+    | toward the front".                                        |
+    | On page 83, the word powed is a legitimate word, meaning  |
+    | "polled".                                                 |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Life and sport in China, by Oliver G. Ready
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